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June 5, 2026

Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis to Be Appointed Inaugural Occupant of the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts

Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States, June 5, 2026 — United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is elated to announce that Rev. Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis will be appointed as the first-ever occupant of the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts. Until now, he has served faithfully as the McVay Associate Professor of Christian Ethics and Social Transformation, as well as Director of the Social Transformation Program. Before joining United, Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis served as a congregational minister in Boston, Honolulu, and San Francisco, and was Director of Leadership Development for Metropolitan Community Churches, after which he joined the United Church of Christ (UCC). Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis’ ministry includes community organizing and advocacy. He has served as managing director at the Center for LGBTQ and Gender Studies in Religion (CLGS) as well as communications director for the Hawai’i Equal Rights Marriage Project, the National Center for Transgender Equality, and Out & Equal Workplace Advocates. He received his PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies from Graduate Theological Union in 2017, his DMin from San Francisco Theological Seminary in 2003, and his MDiv from Harvard Divinity School in 1990. His teaching experience spans courses at the University of Arizona, Pima Community College, Iliff School of Theology, and Pacific School of Religion. As an eminent academic and theologian, Dr. Sabia-Tanis’ scholarship has deepened the study of the intersection of art and LGBTQ+ religious identity. He recently completed writing Queer Spirituality, Sexual Orientation, and Gender Identity in Contemporary Visual Art, to be released later this year by Bloomsbury Academic. Dr. Sabia-Tanis also wrote the groundbreaking book Transgendered Ministry, Theology and Communities of Faith (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2003; Wipf & Stock, 2018) and authored a chapter in Transbiblical: New Approaches to Interpretation and Embodiment in Scripture (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2025).  In 2024, he gave a lecture in the art gallery of Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in Minneapolis, MN, on the life and art of Keith Haring. Dr. Sabia-Tanis is himself an artist, and he hones and cultivates the creative expression of the artist-theologians enrolled in his courses. In his announcement of the news to United students, Dr. Kyle Roberts—Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs—connected Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis’ education and qualifications to the field of theology and the arts. “Dr. Sabia-Tanis appreciates and champions the legacy of Dr. Yates and the leadership of United in the area of arts and theology,” Dr. Roberts asserted. “He also advocates for the intersection of the arts with movements for social justice and will bring to his teaching and leadership a synergy of theology and arts, along with his contributions to the education of social transformation at United.” Rev. Dr. Molly T. Marshall, President, commended the news for this esteemed member of the faculty. “The wide-ranging scholarship of Dr. Justin Sabia-Tanis will elevate this position as the arts serve as a medium for social transformation.” Established in 2025 by generous gifts from friends, alums, and former United faculty, the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts is an endowed faculty position named after Rev. Dr. Wilson Yates, President Emeritus and Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Religion, Society, and the Arts. Yates joined United’s faculty in 1967, became Dean in 1988, and was made President in 1996. He retired from the seminary in 2005, having led and innovated in theology and the arts, deepened scholarship, and integrated the subject as a pillar of United’s academic programs. Rev. Dr. Yates celebrated the news and is eager to see Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis installed into the chair. He reflects, “I am very excited about Justin’s selection for this role. His studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley will provide an important background to this work. Justin brings a solid understanding of the relationship to the arts in theology, the church, and everyday life. It is not incidental that he is also a practicing artist.” On his appointment to the chair, Rev. Dr. Sabia-Tanis shares, “United has valued and integrated the arts since our founding. They are critical to how our students are formed, and in the ministries and projects they will lead when they graduate. I am so honored to move into this important role at United and continue the incredible legacy of Wilson Yates. And I'm looking forward to the ways this program will evolve and grow in the coming years.” The installation of Dr. Sabia-Tanis into the Wilson Yates Chair in Theology and the Arts will be formally celebrated at Fall Convocation on Thursday, September 24, 2026. Details will be announced in the coming months. About United Founded by the United Church of Christ (UCC) as a welcoming, ecumenical school that embraces all denominations and faith traditions, United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities has been on the creative edge of progressive theological thought and leadership since it was established in 1962. Today, United continues to educate leaders who, through the eyes of faith, engage in the dismantling of systems of oppression, exploring multi-faith spirituality, and pushing the boundaries of knowledge. Contact Nathanial Green (he/him) Director of Marketing and Communications press@unitedseminary.edu • 651.255.6138 Admissions and Enrollment admissions@unitedseminary.edu

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August 30, 2018

Meet Terri Burnor, Director of Alumni and Church Relations!

A few weeks ago, I met with Terri Burnor, our new Director of Alumni and Church Relations. We were sitting in The Context Cafe, where, over the years, students have discussed homework and community, theological questions, politics and pop culture. It was the perfect milieu to talk with Terri about United’s alumni, our relationships with faith communities, and her experience as an alum of United. “I was a student here for four years doing my M.Div. program,” explains Terri, who graduated in 2015 with a concentration in women’s studies. “In some ways I feel like I haven’t left because I was a student, and then I was on the alumni council, and now I’m on the other side of it. I feel like I’m getting a really big gift in trying to see the institution in kind of a different way. You get to see the behind the scenes, how hard everybody is working, and how much people care about the school and where we’re going and what the possibilities are. And that is so energizing for me and why I wanted to come back on staff.” Terri’s excitement about working “behind the scenes” at United, meeting alumni and collaborating with staff, is consistent with her commitments to community. Earlier this year, Terri was ordained within the Unitarian Universalist church at First Universalist Church in Minneapolis. She has also been a participant and organizer for the Poor People’s Campaign here in Minnesota. But as Terri tells it, she has not always been involved with community organizing: “When I came to United back in 2011, my life before had been pretty ordinary, in the most mainstream definition of ordinary. I hadn’t really engaged much in social justice work, operating in my own little world doing my own little thing. Coming here and really learning and seeing and being with people who are living out their values in profound ways, that really started me on this crash course about movement work and organizing and social transformation and how that comes from your own faith or values or worldview––whatever theological, spiritual or philosophical perspective you may come from.” The activism she participated in as a student, and the activists she learned from in our faculty have profoundly impacted Terri’s current practice. “I was part of the steering committee of the Minnesota Poor People’s Campaign and seeing Carolyn Pressler and Sue Evans out there getting arrested, and two weeks later I was out there and I got arrested. There are connections between these different parts of community– United alums, current students, faculty, staff–– all engaged in the actual practice of living out who we are and why we came here in the first place.” “We’re a small institution, and yet, when you’re out on the street and in relationship with grassroots organizers, we’re the ones that show up. We’re the ones that you’ll see there. That to me is a testament to who we are as a school.” Terri’s experience in the UU church and her activism are grounded in relationship-building, which is likewise central to her work as Director of Alumni and Church Relations: “I am director of alum and church relations, so I get to do it both on the institutional side, what are our churches doing out in the world, as well as our individual alums. Part of what makes me so excited about this role is hearing stories, sharing stories, and making connections so that none of us are operating in isolation. We can see the different ways that we are engaging. Whether it is on smaller scales, within a church itself as a pastor or a priest working in ministry, we can see what they’re doing within and beyond their community. And then you have alums who came here who have no interest in working in a traditional religious institution working in what might seem like a purely secular venture, whether it’s corporate America or a nonprofit that has nothing to do with faith. And yet, they still chose to come here for a reason. How does that inform who they are in the work they do? I want to lift those up and see how the connections never end.” Terri’s words about continued relationship have particular resonance in light of our campus move to St. Paul in January 2019. “The move is something that I hold with great respect and great care, because place and physicality have a lot of emotional tenor and literal resonance for people,” says Terri. “I take great care in really recognizing and understanding the wide range of emotion and feelings that people have. This place out here was a place where so many of us deconstructed and reconstructed who we are and who we want to be. I really honor that. I also am really proud of United for taking this big step and recognizing what it needed to do and not being afraid of that. There is a lot of power in that, and we need to claim that power. We could have shied away from it and been afraid and not taken that big of a risk, but we didn’t. We are moving into the city, a vibrant location that has so many access points and so many opportunities that frankly are not possible here. My hope is that we can both grieve together and remember together and celebrate together. We can honor our past. We can share our stories and we can know that those stories will continue on into wherever and however United will become.” Reflecting on her time at seminary as well as the possibilities of the future, Terri sees that, at United “we are always striving and trying and growing and experimenting and seeing where we can push things and who we can be. The alums are doing the same thing! That continual relationship that we can share across and with each other doesn’t have to end: it’s dynamic. That is all part of the vision of what I want to engage with and bring forth at United. When you graduate that relationship keeps going in really positive, beautiful, and meaningful ways.” As United continues to foster relationships with current alumni, future alumni, and different communities of faith, Terri’s wisdom and passion are indispensable. Terri embodies the power of a United education and the vibrancy of our alumni community. I can’t wait to see what she brings in her new role!

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August 7, 2018
Culture Formation students Voice

Creating Culture Together

When I agreed to take the position as Director of Student Experience and Culture at United Theological Seminary, I struggled initially to describe what I would be doing to my friends. Before I could form a coherent presentation of my coming duties, they began to fill in the blanks because of the word culture. “So are you the school anthropologist?” “Oh I get it, you are like the cruise director on a boat.” “I see so you make sure the students have a good experience while they are being cultured by the great ideas and thoughts of theologians”. (more…)

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August 3, 2018
Announcements Campus News Chaplaincy interfaith justice ministry theological education united faculty

UNITED THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY OF THE TWIN CITIES HIRES DR. PAMELA AYO YETUNDE TO EXPAND INTERRELIGIOUS CHAPLAINCY PROGRAM

(NEW BRIGHTON, Minn., July 2017)—United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities is pleased to announce that following a competitive candidate selection process, Dr. Pamela Ayo Yetunde has been selected and appointed to the Faculty, effective July 1, 2017. In addition to serving as Assistant Professor for Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy, Dr. Yetunde will head United’s Interreligious Chaplaincy Program, which she will work to advance. (more…)

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August 3, 2018
Arts Events immigration justice peace resistance social justice spiritual practice

Lessons from May Day

2017 has been especially rife with protests, rallies, and marches. Nor has the call to action quieted in the last few weeks. There was the March for Science on April 22, and Tuesday, May 9 is the Medicare for All Rally. There are events popping up across the Twin Cities gearing up for Pride, and Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAc) has been fundraising and hosting trainings consistently over the last month. Indeed with the coming of spring, there is a sense of renewal, of hope in troubling times, and the timeless recognition that in this season- life returns to the world in abundance. (more…)

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August 3, 2018
Arts Easter Faith interfaith practice spiritual practice

Days of Counting

Miss Kitka scans the living room. She lifts her head and dampens the edges of the coach with her nose. She hesitates. There are so many hands at her eye level! Caught in a sort of trance, the entirety of her vision is overwhelmed with fingers folding, unfolding, aligning, re-folding, flattening, and finally cutting various hues of origami paper. Thankfully, my cat is more curious about the people than in tasting the paper scraps falling to the floor. (more…)

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