Started UPSem 2017: Rev. Marina Luckhoo (pursuing MDiv)

  1. Started UPSem 2002: Rev. Lori Raible (MDiv 2006)
  2. Started UPSem 2003: Rev. Dr. Ophelia Garmon-Brown (MDiv 2008)
  3. Started UPSem 2004: Rev. Nadine Ellsworth-Moran (MDiv / MACE 2011)
  4. Started UPSem 2005: Rev. Noe Juarez-Loayza (MDiv 2010)
  5. Started UPSem 2006: Rev. Lorenzo Small (MDiv 2013)
  6. Started UPSem 2007: Rev. Ken Fuquay (MACE 2011 / MDiv 2015)
  7. Started UPSem 2008: Rev. Jonathan Davis (MDiv 2014) 
  8. Started UPSem 2009: Rev. British Hyrams (MDiv/MACE 2016)
  9. Started UPSem 2010: Rev. Charmaine Smith (MDiv 2017)
  10. Started UPSem 2011: Rev. Vikki Brogdon (MDiv 2016)
  11. Started UPSem 2012: Rev. Dr. Doug Harr (MDiv 2018)
  12. Started UPSem 2013: Martin Pruitt (MDiv 2018 / MACE 2019)
  13. Started UPSem 2014: Rev. William Joseph “Joey” Haynes III (MDiv 2019)
  14. Started UPSem 2015: Rev. Gail Henderson-Belsito (MDiv 2020)
  15. Started UPSem 2016: Rev. Eric Tang (MDiv 2021)
  16. Started UPSem 2017: Rev. Marina Luckhoo (pursuing MDiv)
  17. Started UPSem 2018: Jason Smith
  18. Started UPSem 2019: Ryan Atkinson
  19. Started UPSem 2020: Sedae Slaughter (pursuing MACE)
  20. Started UPSem 2021: Matt Wiedle (pursuing MDiv and MACE)

The following is part of a series of 20 profiles that represent each year that Charlotte has been enrolling students. 

Clinical Pastoral Resident
Novant Spiritual Care Services
Charlotte, North Carolina

Growing up in England and the Caribbean, Marina Luckhoo now calls Charlotte, North Carolina, home with her husband and two children. Having felt called to ministry early in life, organized religion was less appealing than her more certain call to care for others. That desire to link faith with care drew Luckhoo to train as a nurse. Now a registered nurse, she has worked in cardiac care, oncology, and hospice. Later in life, she sensed the tug toward ministry renewed and sought ways to further connect her sense of calling with her passion for care. “The pull to engage in holistic care persisted. I explored chaplaincy through CPE (Clinical Pastoral Education) and discovered that a master’s degree was necessary to continue in this vocation.”

When Luckhoo decided to explore seminary more deliberatively, she surprised herself. The way the Union Presbyterian Seminary offered its courses to make attending easier was of equal surprise. She remembers, “I was astonished to find myself at the door of UPSem Charlotte as a mature student. It was an impractical time for my family, as my eldest was starting university. I met with Dean Richard Boyce and found that my general concerns about the church as an institution and my hopes for interfaith engagement were met with compassion and reason. Importantly, the flexibility of classes allowed me to honor my home and work commitments.” Luckhoo values the open and welcoming atmosphere of the campus and the ecumenical environment, particularly the idea that regardless of denominational or cultural background all are encouraged to engage and explore. The seminary, while affiliated with the PC(USA), has nearly 180 students from more than a dozen denominations, all working together to offer a bold Christian witness in the world.

After graduation, Luckhoo plans on becoming a hospital chaplain.