b'2 CampusDR. BRIAN BLOUNT Brian delivering his inauguaration speechFinal ThoughtsAs we gather this day to inaugurate not just my time in a new office, but to imagine the renewal of this venerable institution, we gather together in love for this communityfor what it has been and for what we believe God intends it can be. (from President Brian Blounts inauguration speech) The Black Alumni Association is an initiative begun by President Blount in 2009, when he engaged eight alumni and a student to lead its Brian with his wife Sharon, daughter Kaylin, and son Joshua in 2008 establishment, and it is thriving.As for my own personal faith journey, the pinnacle and unparalleledTheSeminaryhasbecomein experience has been serving as president of Union. Ive been a pastor at asome ways a magnet for people local church that I dearly love. I had a great and transformational time inintheCharlottecommunityto the Ph.D. program at Emory University, helping shape me as a theologicalthink theologically together and thinker. I enjoyed the 15 years I was a professor at Princeton Theologicalhaveaninterfaithconversation Seminary. But I would say all of those experiences allowed for a kind ofthroughtheCenterforSocial mountaintop experience here at Union. I was able to put to use all of theJusticeandReconciliationfor things that I learned in those places and see all of that come to a wonderfulpublicwitnessandconcern, kind of fruition for me in terms of my faith journey. connecting theological thinking with issues of the public square.Brian preaching atthe Charlotte campusIt was a privilege to have been the president during thebicentennialofthe Seminary in 2012 and to do all the things we were able to do to celebrate that. I hope I helped generate Travel seminars help shape students for ministry across the globe.an attitude of hopefulness President Blount led a trip to Ghana in 2014 to renew connections withabout the possibilities for alums and broaden understanding of the global church.the Seminary that reaches from potential, current, and future students to faculty, alumni, and trustees. Brian and Sharon Blount, along with the late U.S. Representative Donald McEachin, receiving a proclamation at the Virginia General Assembly for the Seminarys 200th anniversaryI want this community to know that they nurtured me in a way that enabled me to both thrive and sometimes survive, and, for that, Im deeply grateful.As part of the Seminarys bicentennial, President Brian Blount led an85-mile bike ride from Hampden-Sydney College to the Richmond quad a symbolic reenactment of the Seminarys 1898 journey from Farmville, the Seminarys birthplace, to Richmond. The ride marked a new era for both institutions, led for the first time by Black presidents.Sharon & Brook 2023 SUMMER ISSUE'