Office of Student Services

Welcome to the Office of Student Services

The scope of responsibility of the Student Services Division can be realized when the following are considered:

• The first contact most prospective students have with the seminary is through the Admissions Office of the Student Services Division.
• At least five other offices and departments of the Student Services Division impact nearly every aspect of the daily lives of seminarians while they are enrolled and preparing for ministry.
• After graduation, other offices within the Student Services Division help graduates locate places to serve, keep in touch with alumni through the Southwestern News magazine, and host conferences for continuing education.

The spiritual, physical and emotional support of seminary students and their families has been the focus of Southwestern Seminary from the beginning. Through the early years from the founding of the seminary in 1908, responsibility for this was overseen by various offices including deans of students or seminary chaplain.

In 1972, the seminary trustees revised the seminary’s administrative structure and created the Student Affairs Division and the office of vice president for student affairs. After a two year vacancy, in 1974 trustees elected Felix Gresham to be the first occupant of that office. He had served the seminary since 1955 variously as seminary chaplain, dean of students, and director of admissions.

In 1980, trustees elected Lawrence Klempnauer to succeed Gresham. Klempnauer retired in 2002 and was succeeded by David McQuitty, who was succeeded by Rudy Gonza´lez in 2004. The division’s name was changed to the Student Services in 2004.

The Student Services Division is composed of the following departments and centers:

• The Admissions Office
• International Student Services
• Financial Aid
• Church Ministry and Denominational Relations
• Student Life
• The Recreation and Aerobics Center
• The Riley Center at Southwestern
• Campus Chaplain and ministry to families
• Communications

Office of the Vice President for Student Services

Thomas White, Vice President for Student Services and Communications
Serving since 2004

In October 2006, trustees elected Thomas White as vice president for student services after he served in that position on an interim basis for five months. White came to the office in 2006 after serving as the director of The Riley Center at Southwestern for two years.

White grew up as a country boy in South Carolina with a great spiritual legacy left by his father and grandfather who both served as Southern Baptist pastors. Elected at 33 years old White is one of the youngest men to serve as an executive administrator at Southwestern Seminary. A systematic theologian by training with a focus on the doctrine of the church, he can relate to seminary students on many levels. At one time or another, White has been a deacon, pastor, itinerant preacher, evangelism pastor, children’s minister, Royal Ambassador director, and even the owner and instructor of four karate schools in South Carolina. White holds a fourth degree black belt in karate, and was the Middleweight World Amateur Sport Karate international champion in 1993 in addition to two state championships.

White earned Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Divinity degrees from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, N.C., and Bachelor of Arts and Associate of Arts degrees from Anderson (S.C.) College. He is the editor of a three-volume work titled Selected Articles of James Madison Pendleton, and a contributor and co-editor of First Freedom: The Baptist Perspective on Religious Liberty published in 2007 by Broadman & Holman Academic.

In 2007, White co-authored with President Paige Patterson a book titled Calling Out the Called. It is designed to assist those who are called to Christian service choose a place for equipping and preparation. It is also useful for pastors to give as a resource to God-called men and women they are mentoring. This book is available for free to pastors or prospective students who contact the Admissions Office.

Kelly King, Administrative Assistant to the Vice President for Student Services
Serving since 2006

Jon Wood, Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Student Services
Serving since 2004

Administrators reporting to the Vice President for Student Services

Adam Groza, Director for Admissions
Serving since 2005

Anthony Moore, Director of Student Life / The RAC
Serving since 2005

Nancy Cathey, Director for Financial Aid
Serving since 1993

Karen Stetson, Director for International Students
Serving since 1997

Kent Sanders, Director of Student Development & Denominational Relations
Serving since 1989

Dean Nichols, Campus Chaplain
Serving since 2006

Evan Lenow, Director for the Riley Center at Southwestern
Serving since 2007