Episcopal Press and News
Seabury-Western Names New Dean
Diocesan Press Service. June 1, 1972 [72080]
The Rev. Erwin M. Soukup, Editor, Advance, Diocese of Chicago
EVANSTON, Ill. -- At its May 31 meeting, the Board of Trustees of Seabury- Western Theological Seminary, Evanston, Illinois, gave unanimous endorsement for the election of the Rev. Armen D. Jorjorian, chaplain and director of Pastoral Care and Education, St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, and the Texas Heart Institute, Houston, Texas, to be dean of the Seminary. Father Jorjorian, a native of Chicago, will assume his duties upon the retirement of the Very Rev. Charles U. Harris, who has been dean of the Seminary for 15 years, on September first.
The dean-elect was educated at New Trier Township High School, and he received his B. A. at Northwestern University. He will be the first alumnus of Seabury- Western to be dean, receiving his Bachelor of Divinity degree, cum laude, in 1946. He was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity by Seabury-Western in 1971.
Father Jorjorian has had an extensive career in the educational and pastoral fields. He has been a group worker at both Benton House and Chase House in Chicago as well as chaplain for the Episcopal City Missions. Moving to New York, he was chaplain and instructor in religious education for St. Christopher's School, Dobbs Ferry, and curate of Grace Church, Hastings on Hudson. He has also been an instructor in the School of Education, New York University, lecturer at St. Augustine's Theological College, Canterbury, England, and lecturer in ministry at the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest, Austin, Texas.
The dean-elect's pastoral roles have included the position of senior chaplain and supervisor at both the New York City Penitentiary at Riker's Island and the Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City. He has held his present position at St. Luke's - Texas Children's - Texas Heart Institute since 1955.
During the past 16 years, Father Jorjorian has been responsible for the training of more than 250 seminarians in the intern training program at the Institute, and more than 100 clergymen and women Church workers have been certified to perform specialty ministries through participation in his advanced programs for clinical training. He is the author of numerous articles in nursing, pastoral care, and theological journals.
The new dean-elect has a wife, Jean, and is the father of four children, all of whom are in college or pursuing graduate studies.
Due to technical legalities of the By Laws of Seabury-Western Theological Seminary, the formal election of Father Jorjorian as dean will not take place until the next meeting of the Board of Trustees on August 15, but the unanimous endorsement of the Board at the May 31 meeting assures him the post.
Father Jorjorian was selected for the position from a list of 47 nominees which was screened by a special committee headed by the Rt. Rev. James W. Montgomery, Bishop of Chicago and chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Seminary. The committee's search and screening which culminated in the naming of Father Jorjorian, extended over a period of nine months.