School of Religious Education and Social Service, 1918-39
The School of Theology created a special department of religious education in 1911, one of the first to be established in the United States. In the spring of 1917, representatives of Morgan Memorial and the New England Deaconness Association sought the cooperation of Boston University in the development of their educational work. The increasing difficulty in securing religious workers for New England had led the New England Home Mission Council to appoint a committee to investigate and report on the advisability of establishing in Boston, a New England School for the Training of Christian Workers. After some deliberation it was decided that the trustees of Boston University, Morgan Memorial and the New England Deaconess Association would jointly operate such a school.
Dr. Walter S. Athearn, who was a faculty member of the Graduate School of Boston University, was chosen as the first director. In the spring of 1918, a tentative educational program and the nucleus of a faculty were approved, and in September of that year, the new department opened at 525 Boylston Street, in connection with the School of Education.
In 1921 the school outgrew its building, and moved to Beacon Hill at 18 Derne Street. By 1922, Boston University assumed both the financial responsibility and administrative control and direction of the school, and it became the School of Religious Education and Social Service, a recognized department of the university, with its own Dean and standing committee. It was the first school of its kind.
The School of Religious Education and Social Service was intertwined with the School of Theology, both in its inception and in its operation. Students from the School of Religious Education and Social Service frequently took
courses in the School of Theology. However, they remained two separate entities. The School of Religious Education and Social Service was distinguishable from the School of Theology in the following particulars:
- The former was a college, admitting students directly from High School, while the latter was a Graduate School requiring a collegiate degree fro admission.
- The former trained lay workers for the church, while the latter trained ministerial leaders.
- The former conferred the degrees of Bachelor, Master, and Doctor of Religious Education, while the latter provided an S.T.B. degree with a concentration in Religious Education.
1921
B.R.E.
Laura May Armstrong — Dwight Sylvester Banks — Edna May Baxter — Jacob Harold Bishop — Jessica Blair — Letha Bell Butman — Lucia Joan Coffin — L. M. Griffith — Laura Grundy — Mabel Guttery — Joanna Golden Hubbard — Grace Hunt — Clarence Kulp — Alfred Motyer — Ruth Nuzum — Grace Sloan Overton — Esther Nora Rahorn — Stella Ritchie — Albert Scott — Fern Scribner — Claudia Smith — Walter Scott Wood, Jr.
M.R.E.
George Wayne Baney — Henry William Bock — Sara Fails Brown — Helen Rowland Burr — Frances Craig — Josiah Kirkwook Craig — Harold Franklin Humbert — Daniel Abner Lough — Goldie Opal McCue — Jacob Crawford McMorries — Minor Cline Miller — Erskine Roy Myers — Delbert Clayton Ostroth — Cellis Vielle Smith — Mary Olive Wight — Thomas Alfred Williams
1922
B.R.E.
Willard Increase Allen, Jr. — Clarence Royalty Athearn — Levon Nazareth Boshgezenian — Charles Frederick Boss, Jr. — Emily Grace Brown — Blanche Carrier — Ruth Agnes Carter — Laura Margaret Corlett — Jessie Dell Crawford — Martha Jeannette Daniels — Alice Edith Davidson — Mabel Hannah Eddy — Helen Duncan Flynn — Gertrude Evelyn Gamsby — Gertrude Louise Gibbons — Earle Benjamin Grundy — Harold Mansfield Hayward — Robert Hermansen — Janet Nguk Long Ho — Bessie Alice Hollows — Violet Wilhelmina Johnson — Khosrof Kiatibian — Roland Thomas Moores — Hulda Niebuhr — Hazel Viola Orton — Joaquim Mendes Reis — Mary MacSorley Russell — Albert Franklin Ruth — Frances Willard Shattuck — Mary Oswald Sheldrake — Edith Lovell Thomas — Hazel Ethel Wetmore — Esther Luella Woodcock
M.R.E.
Martha Elizabeth Bennett — Ralph Marshall Davis — Austin Wilfred Guild — Leila Erdine Jordan — Helen O’Rear — Edgar Howard Stranahan — Hayden LeRoy Stright — Lulu Vaughan
1922
B.R.E.
Marian Carolyn Armstrong — Gertrude Elizabeth Athearn — Margaret Elizabeth Bee — Robert Blair — Margaret Katherine Breese — Paul Austin Callender — Elsie Marjorie Carney — Charlotte Viola Chambers — Lilliam Ripley Chambers — Madge Dunton — William George Fagan — Hattie Estella Fisher — Grace Evelyn Fox — Esther Emma Freivogel — Evelyn Grant Johnson — Harold Gilbert Jones — Charles Clarke Keith — Hannah Isabel Latimer — Mona Mildred Mayo — Frederico Ramos Medina — Katheryn Coder Minnich — Eva Alice Peterson — Faye Haldimand Robinson — Mary Carol Searles — Charlotte Shelton — Sophia Viola Tice — Mary Genevieve Townsend — Jessie May Van Moll — Ellen Emeline Webster
M.R.E.
Frank Edwin Billington — James Harold Bishop — Jessie Blair — Rhoda Ann Brown — Percival Norman Caven — Dora Lucina Dexter — Theodore Bryant Dunton — Constance Louise Geiger — Flossie May Hostetter — Martin Henry Keast — Octo Gerald Lawson — Joseph Quinter Miller — John Curry Milliam — Beverly Walter Leech Oaten — Roy Hurley Rickard — George Francis Sturtevant — Willard Morgan Wickizer
D.R.Ed.
Walter Eugene Bachman
1924
M.R.E.
Clarence R. Athearn — Stephen J. Callender — Julius Henry Carpenter — Marion E. Colman — Maude E. Davis — Linden E. Dodson — David Edward Evans — Alfred E. Gilbert — Ruth O. Halford — George C. Hester — Walter J. Homan — Jacob C. Hooker — Howard F. Legg — Margeret E. McBride — John W. Myers — Ebba Anna Norman — Elizabeth H. Nutting — Gladys Shaw — Frank A. Shultz — Harold A. Smith — Grace Thomas — Olive M. Wampler — Mary L. Yant
M.S.S.
Marianna Young
M.A.
C.C. Amendt — H. Parr Armstrong — Ruth A. Baker — Warren C. Campbell — Americo Capone — H.F. Chiang — Ruth Alma Eckhart — William G. Fagan — Lillian P. Greer — Oscar L. Gustafson — Charles C. Keith — Mary L. Mooney — Edgar L. Smith — Lena M. Speelman — Eunice T. Thomas — Dorothy Wittington
B.A.
Lily S. Abbott — Dorothy M. Alger — Ruby L. Anderson — Thelma L. Bishop — Alice E. Booth – John W. Buono — Viola G. Clark — Robert J. Coyne — John-Henry B. Fort — Lillian E. Foss – Harrison Fowler, Jr. — Ethel M. Galway — Salvatore Giabarresi — Dorothy Good — Ella C. Hamilton — Irene L. Hammers — Rhoda A. Hayes — Robert B. Henry — Ruth Holway — Edwin H. Hughes, Jr. — Emma L. Huse — Lillian La Forge — Grace R. Lamson — Edna M. Lawson — Dorothy Lucas — Mabel H. Meyer — Myrtle I. Milford — Hazel Miller — Esther C. Mooney — Alfred L. Murray — Jannette E. Newhall — Dorothy R. Pearson — Harry V. Peters — Bernice L. Quimby — Eunice C. Rice — Ethel L. Roberts — Laura K. Ruckman — Lauren Sheffer — Dallas A. Sisk — Adela R. Sterrett — Marioin F. Stickney — Nathalie E. Thibodeau — Frances Van Dyne — Ruth N. Watson — Mary S. Weagly — Dorothy H. Wells — Lola A. White — Anna M. Wilbur — V. Gertrude Williams — Nell Williams — Sterling Williams — H. Guy Williford — Gladys L. Wells — Elizabeth S. Whitehouse
1928
B.R.E.
Robin Ross Adair — Olivia Morgan Agar — Anne Eliza Atchison — Christine Elizabeth Burdick — Edgard Hugh Chandler — Ethel Viola Clayton — Catherine Mary Close — Ovil Bernice Cole — Evelyn Keays Curtiss — Esther Bates Cutler — Charles Isaiah Davis, Jr. — Elizabeth Adams Davis — Katherine Smith Diehl — Mary Dixon — Lillian Geneva Elmendorf — Marion Grace Evans — Olwen Evans — Grady Drawing Feagan — Byron McDonald Flory — Marjorie Lindsay Griffin — Albert Edwin Grimes — Harold Richard Halfyard — Maggie Hayton — Cyril Merle Hicks — Lillian Maria Hiester — Anne Elizabeth Hyland — Mary Ann Jefferys — Walter Lester Jenkins — Irene Elizabeth Johnson — Helen Liddelle Jones — Ellen Edgar Brown Kee — Percy Aquila Kilmister — Louise Magdelene Kippenhan — Max Miller Laufman — Edith Lawton — Ruth Hilda Lindseth — Mabel Elsie Locker — Florence Ora Lund — Leon Martorano — Margaret McKenzie Margaret McKnight — Etta Marion McLellan —Kenneth Tappin McQuide — Margaret Taylor Millar — Douglas Bruce Milligan — Edna May Moore — Muriel Minty Moore — Janet Gertrude Nute — Gertrude Christine Nyland — Helen Albro Park — Alice Gertrude Reynolds — George Ashel Roberts — Andrew Robb Sanson — Dorothy Mae Scott — Earl William Seibert — Ethel May Shelley — William Daniel Simmons — Mary Leonard Smith — Richard Wesley Smith — Ruth Elizabeth Smith — Maria Elizabeth Steele — Evelyn Elsie Stirk — Alice May Taylor — Maude Esther Terry — Carol Delphine Thompson — Roy Pinckney Tucker — Matthew Anthony Vance — Ralph Webb — Gordon Fisk Wells — Lucille Augusta Wheeler — Clara Lucile White — Lorna Dolores Whitney — Margaret Dennis Winn — Esther Mariette Wood — Bessie Catherine Woodward — Ruth Elizabeth Youmans