Bethany Celebrates Commencement on May 10, 2025

Bethany Theological Seminary will honor the Class of 2025 during a Commencement Ceremony on Saturday, May 10, 2025, at 10 a.m., in Nicarry Chapel. The ceremony will feature a keynote address by Dr. Kathy Melhorn. Christine Langer, organist and pianist, will provide special music. Graduates and their loved ones will also participate in a baccalaureate service and a celebratory dinner on Friday.

The Seminary is awarding 11 master’s degrees and 14 graduate certificates and postgraduate diplomas in 2025. Following a list of the individuals who are earning Bethany degrees this year.

2025 Honored Graduates

Master of Arts: Theopoetics and Writing

Deborah Beddoe (Poulsbo, Washington)

Project: “Meditations in Certain Light: reflections of perspective and change”

Betty Ann (BA) Miskowiec (Charleston, West Virginia)

Project: “Theopoetics: For Such a Time as This” 

Courtney O’Banion Smith (Houston, Texas)

Project: “Mothering Theopoetics: Embodied Aesthetics and Imagined Futures” 

 Lauri Sorenson (Logan, Utah)

Project: “The Story is Found in the Gaps and Shadows: Creating Theopoetic Fiction”

Master of Arts in Spiritual and Social Transformation

 Matthew Adam Fulk (Broadway, Virginia)

Hayden Hobby (Richmond, Virginia)

Master of Arts in Spiritual and Social Transformation (graduating June 2025)

Julie Avila (Indianapolis, Indiana)

Master of Divinity

Liesl Eliana Higgins (Bellevue,Ohio)

Connor Ladd (Columbia City, Indiana)

Phillip Matarese (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Joey Moss (Sterling, Virginia)

Certificate in Peacebuilding and Neighborhood Engagement

Connor Ladd (Columbia City, Indiana)

Certificate in Peacemaking, Violence, and Power

Connor Ladd (Columbia City, Indiana)

Certificate in Theopoetics and Theological Imagination

Deborah Elena Baumgartner (Cincinnati, Ohio)

Kristine Grace (Austin, Texas)

Nathan Thomas Wheeler (South Lake Tahoe, California)

Postgraduate Diploma in Biblical Peacemaking  

Samuel Nggada Daniel (Nigeria)

Patricia Ezekiel Gwom (Nigeria)

Fubure Sati (Nigeria)

Bambiko Markus Wagereng (Nigeria)

Postgraduate Diploma in Biblical Peacemaking (graduating June 2025)

Chuckle Raymond Chifwang (Nigeria)

Jonathan Manya Dogo (Nigeria)

Yahaya Lazarus (Nigeria)

Victoria Yemisi Olaniyan (Nigeria)

Dominic Isaac Sauri (Nigeria)

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