HWS News
10 August 2022 Bicentennial Panel: Remember the Past, Imagine the Future
Bicentennial event will highlight accomplishments and examine critical aspects of Bishop Hobart and his era.
As part of Hobart College’s Bicentennial celebration, expert theological panelists will discuss the life and times of Bishop John Henry Hobart at 7 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 12. The hybrid webinar event will be held in the Vandervort Room of the Scandling Campus Center and through Zoom.
“Remember the Past, Imagine the Future” will feature Hobart Dean Scott Brophy ’78, The Right Rev. William Franklin and The Very Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas as panelists, discussing the many contributions of Bishop Hobart while asking critical questions about the complexities of the times in an effort to better understand the College’s legacy and imagine the future.
Members of Hobart College’s Druids, the College’s oldest honor society, and Chimera, the College’s junior class honor society, will select and ask questions submitted by the public.
The event will take place on John Henry Hobart Day, a day annually celebrated by Hobart and William Smith and the Episcopal Church in recognition of Bishop Hobart’s legacy.
Hobart and William Smith’s Dean of Spiritual Engagement and Chaplain The Rev. Nita C. Johnson Byrd will serve as moderator.
Brophy, a 1978 Hobart graduate, has served as the Dean of Hobart College since 2020. He joined the Colleges in 1981 and previously served as the Chair of the Philosophy department. He currently serves as a Professor of Philosophy.
Franklin serves as the Assisting Bishop of Long Island. Previously, he was the Bishop of the Diocese of Western New York from 2011-2019. He holds a B.A. from Northwestern University and a Ph.D. in Church History from Harvard University. He is the Dean Emeritus of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale University.
Douglas is the Canon Theologian at the Washington National Cathedral and Dean of the Episcopal Divinity School and Bill and Judith Moyers Chair in Theology at the Union Theological Seminary. She has been widely published nationally and internationally, including her books Sexuality and the Black Church: A Womanist Perspective, The Black Christ, What’s Faith Got to Do with It?:Black Bodies/Christian Souls and her most recent book, Stand Your Ground: Black Bodes and the Justice of God, released in 2015.
Douglas holds a B.S. from Denison University and master’s and doctorate degrees from the Union Theological Seminary.
