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Advanced Degree Programs

Being a pioneer is nothing new for the Rev. Dr. Margaret A. Krych, the seminary's Associate Dean and Charles Norton Professor of Christian Education and Theology.

In May 1977 she became the first woman to serve full-time on the faculty of the seminary and remembers being well accepted by "marvelous colleagues." She was engaged to teach Christian Education and Theology, having specialized in Systematic Theology as she earned a Ph.D. (with honors) from Princeton Seminary. She fondly remembers other faculty milestones that year with appointments of colleagues Richard Jeske, Timothy Lull, Helmut Lehmann, and David Wartluft, who was named director of the Library. She notes an early impression -- that the seminary at first had very few bathrooms earmarked for women. That quickly changed.

Now she's a pioneer again, guiding the seminary through the process of initiating a Th.D. degree, beginning in the fall of 2005. She's directed the seminary's Advanced-Level Degrees program (Graduate School) since 1997.

Margaret Krych -- she of the bubbly voice and a seemingly bottomless reservoir of energy. She is known for working extremely hard and effectively. Her energies have been the lynchpin in a Graduate School program that has nearly doubled in size over the past seven years, from just under 100 students to 164 currently. All this despite battling a life-threatening illness. In 1999, doctors discovered cancer. She persevered through treatments and chemotherapy. One faculty colleague noted, "You couldn't tell from her working schedule what she was going through." She's feeling fine now.

Dr. Krych explains the motivation that drove her through it all. "I think having an illness like that gives you a different view of life," she says. "When you face death, you realize what a gift life is. You want to use your life in a way that makes some kind of difference, that makes an impact. You want to make life as valuable as it can be."

As if her seminary duties are not enough, she plays a strong role too at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Springfield, PA (Delaware County) where her husband, Arden, is the senior pastor. Krych diligently trains the congregation's Christian Education teachers, sings in the choir and is a gracious host for many church functions.

Margaret Krych reflects on many joys. "The growth of the seminary is very exciting." (Enrollment of students overall is at 501, about double the size of the school 12 years ago.) "I rejoice that women are much more accepted as church professionals now." She recalls that when women clergy in the Lutheran Church in America was a novelty "open and hostile reactions were frequent. People left congregations over the change," she says. Now, women seminarians outnumber men in the LTSP student body. She appreciates the growth in the number of fine Christian Education professors throughout the United States and has partnered with professors in ELCA seminaries to write four books since 1987. Dr. Krych also appreciates the growth of cooperation within the Eastern Cluster of Lutheran Seminaries, which includes LTSP, Gettysburg and Southern seminaries. Now, for example, a scholar can study for a D.Min degree offered by LTSP by taking some of their courses at the other schools.

Margaret Krych values much of the changes taking place in Christian Education circles. She explains there is more emphasis these days on adult and youth education than in previous decades. "Most theological and biblical concepts can only best be understood when a person's abstract thinking capabilities mature beyond age 12," she says. She's been studying psychology since her undergraduate days as a psychology major at the University of Western Australia, and focused her graduate studies at the same school on cognitive psychology. (She is an Australia native.) Dr. Krych believes seminaries are an important locus for Christian Education teaching and training.

The seminary's Advanced-Level Degrees program is a remarkable setting for Christian Education study and reflection, she says. "The largest number of D.Min. degree projects are in Christian Education," she says. "These pastors are really taking Christian Education seriously." Many of them have been serving congregations for 10 or 15 years. They want to catch up on the latest background in the field, and they may have taken only one course in Christian Education in their original seminary study for an M.Div degree.

Most of the Graduate School scholars are parish pastors - two-thirds of them Lutheran and another third from some 28 denominations ranging from Roman Catholic and Episcopal to Pentecostal. They have a wide variety of areas of focused study. "Many of them tell me that the demands of parish work are such that they have little or no time for in-depth reflection and study unless required to do so by coursework in a degree program designed to strengthen their ministry.. They want to enhance their skills, take a new look at thinking about theology and reflect on the nature of worship and liturgy. They also want to get to know our new faculty members and interact with colleagues. These advanced degrees really offer pastors a chance to further explore the passion they have for ministry." She describes the evaluations scholars give the seminary in the programs she oversees as "overwhelmingly positive."

The new Th.D. degree will begin to be offered next year and is intended for those who aspire to positions as scholars, teachers and specialized church leaders. The school already offers the S.T.M. and D.Min. degrees. A total of 128 scholars have received S.T.M. or D.Min. degrees from the Graduate School since 1998, Krych says.

When asked how she relaxes, Dr. Krych is momentarily hard-pressed. But she says she and husband, Arden, especially enjoy traveling to such points as Greece, the British Isles, Australia, Singapore, the Netherlands and points in Europe. She is proud of her adult children, Meredyth, 31, who teaches cognitive psychology at Montclair State (NJ), and son, David, 23, a global quantitative analyst for an investment firm in New York City.

"We've moved from being a smaller seminary to being larger," she says. "It's exciting. We're more able to serve the church now. We have more programs and faculty colleagues, a greater number of Graduate School students taking classic course offerings. These kinds of courses in our Advanced Degrees program are intellectually stimulating. You get to meet and converse with many fine peers in ministry. The value is that you enrich yourself personally and enrich the church as well."