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Dr. Jan Love, Deputy General Secretary, Women's Division
Image by:GBGM Administration
Source: Women's Division
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In August 2004, Dr. Janice Love began as the new chief executive officer of the Women’s Division with a vision that continues the legacy left by foremothers of the organization. One aspect of this vision is a commitment to women in higher education.
According to Dr. Love, women taking leadership roles in education is important to ensuring that the work and legacy of United Methodist foremothers continues.
“Education is essential to women all over the world. One of the ways women can ensure that educational opportunities remain open to us is to equip ourselves and prepare ourselves to be leaders at all levels of educational institutions,” Dr. Love says. ‘’The Women’s Division will remain committed to that as we have been from the very beginning of our work.
“Traditionally,” Dr. Love says, “institutions of higher education have been the slowest to embrace women’s education. This network of higher education institutions is important.
“We can always do more together than we can separately. Sharing information and opportunities and our models for responding to challenges is a good way to make us all tronger,” Dr. Love says.
Dr. Love comes to the Women’s Division following a 24-year career in academia. For the Women’s Division position, she left the University of South Carolina where she had been Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies. She earned her B.A. in African Studies at Eckerd College, her M.A. in International Relations at Ohio State University, and her Ph.D. in International Relations from Ohio State University. Her academic teaching experience includes courses on religion and world politics, globalization, and political economy.
Dr. Love’s work has come full circle as she returns to the Women’s Division of the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of The United Methodist Church. It was at GBGM that she first served on the Board of Missions, and then as a young director in 1970. In 1975, she became part of the youth delegation to the World Council of Churches (WCC). In 1995, she headed the WCC delegation to the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing.
Dr. Love has been a member of the boards of directors of the United Methodist General Commission on Christian Unity and Interreligious Concerns, Church World Service, and World Council of Churches.
She has spent the bulk of her church involvement over the last three decades in global arenas working to resolve some of the deep differences among Christians and doing social justice work to heal divisions across humanity.
She and her husband, Dr. Peter Sederberg, a dean at the University of South Carolina, are the parents of two children. Their daughter is a senior in high school and their son is working on a Ph.D. in Boston.
Date posted:
Oct 29, 2004
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