The Very Rev. Dr. William S. Stafford, Ph.D.
Dean of the School of Theology
B.A., Stanford University, M.A., M.Phil, Ph.D., Yale University, D.D., Virginia Theological Seminary
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The Very Rev. Dr. William S. Stafford has been dean of The School of Theology since January 1, 2005. Dean Stafford also holds the Charles J. Quintard Chair of Dogmatic Theology. He came to Sewanee from Virginia Theological Seminary where he had served since 1976, finally as vice president and associate dean for academic affairs and the David J. Ely Professor of Church History. He is a specialist in the medieval and Reformation period. He did doctoral study at the University of Strasbourg in France and post-doctoral at Durham and Cambridge in England. Dean Stafford has been an Episcopal priest since 1982, serving in American and English parishes.
Stafford grew up in California between the coast and the Sierras, and likes few things better than long tramps through the Yorkshire Dales with a good fire, hot supper, and generous glass at the end of the road.
On Oct. 31, 2011, the Very Rev. William S. Stafford, dean of The School of Theology, announced his decision to retire, effective June 30, 2012. Read the full story and a personal letter from Dean Stafford.
