Valerie Rempel has been selected as dean of Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary and vice president of Fresno Pacific University starting July 1, 2019.
Appointed interim vice president in August 2018, Rempel has been dean since 2014. She is also an associate professor at the seminary, holding the J.B. Toews Chair of History and Theology. She joined the seminary faculty in 1996 and has a doctorate from Vanderbilt University, master’s degrees from both Vanderbilt and Mennonite Brethren Biblical Seminary (FPBS) and a bachelor’s from Tabor College.
Rempel’s primary mission in teaching is to encourage students to deepen their love for the church and its complexities, and to gain both knowledge and appreciation for the Christian tradition.
“I want students to think about what they believe and why they believe it and to see how those beliefs have been shaped by their theological tradition, their culture and their own experience,” she says. “As an Anabaptist, I am also committed to the belief that theological reflection is a community task. I want to encourage students to engage in theological conversation with each other as preparation for ministry in the church and world.”
Reporting to President Joseph Jones, as dean of Fresno Pacific Biblical Seminary and vice president, Rempel is a member of the President’s Cabinet.
Fresno Pacific University is California’s Central Valley’s only accredited Christian university, connecting every student’s untapped potential with unlimited opportunity for professional, personal and ethical growth. Nonprofit and independent, FPU offers more than 100 areas of study to about 4,000 traditional undergraduate, adult degree completion, graduate and seminary students at the main campus in Southeast Fresno and throughout the Valley at regional campuses in North Fresno, Visalia, Bakersfield and Merced as well as online.
