(RNS) Bill Leonard, the founding dean of the School of Divinity at Wake Forest University, will step down as dean in 2010 but will continue to teach there, the school has announced.
“The opportunity to work with Wake Forest undergraduate and divinity students has been one of the highlights of my time as dean and I look forward to continuing those classroom relationships,” Leonard said in a March 5 statement. “When I hear the seniors preach in weekly Divinity Chapel I know that this endeavor was worth the effort.”
Leonard, who turns 63 on March 20, will step down as dean on June 30, 2010. He came to Wake Forest, located in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1996 to establish the divinity school and it opened in 1999. The school has a current enrollment of 104 students and has graduated 163 students.
Leonard, author and editor of 16 books, is an expert on Baptists, including the battles between conservatives and moderates within the Southern Baptist Convention, and has served as a commentator on religious life in America. He will remain chair of church history at the divinity school.
School officials will begin a search for Leonard’s replacement later this year.
