Peters, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), was a pastor in Florida for 18 years before joining the seminary faculty in 1991. He has also been the Henry L. Hillman Professor of Urban Ministry at Pittsburgh.
He succeeds Thomas W. Cole Jr., president emeritus of Clark Atlanta University, who served as interim president after former ITC president, Michael A. Battle, was named U.S. representative to the African Union last August.
At PTS Peters taught courses in the areas of church and ministry, education, and ethics. An advisor on social witness policy and urban theological education for the PC(USA), Peters has conducted urban ministry workshops and preached in Botswana, Cote d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia and has observed urban theological education programs in Switzerland, Singapore, Thailand, and the Republic of China. His most recent writing was Urban Ministry: An Introduction (Abingdon, 2007). Peters is married with two adult children.
He co-edited Africentric Approaches to Christian Ministry: Strengthening Urban Congregations in African American Communities (University Press of America, 2006); edited Faith is Health: A Devotional Bible-Study Series on Health, Volume 1 (Pneuma, 2004) and Faith is Health: A Devotional Bible-Study Series of Health, Volume 2 (Pneuma, 2007); “Is This New Wine? Resistance Among Black Presbyterians” in Ronald H. Stone and Robert L. Stivers’ (eds) Resistance and Theological Ethics (Roman and Littlefield, 2004); and “Christian Discipleship” published by the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Men’s Ministry Unit, a seven-lesson Bible study series on Mark’s Gospel.
PTS President William J. Carl III said, “Ron Peters has certainly made his mark on Pittsburgh Seminary, the city of Pittsburgh, and the world, in both the classroom and on the street through his leadership of the Metro-Urban Institute. Although we will miss his effective bridging of the word and the world we celebrate with Dr. Peters this new appointment to lead an outstanding theological institution such as ITC and wish him well in this new endeavor.”
J. LaVon Kincaid, senior pastor of Laketon Heights United Methodist Church and chair of the Metro-Urban Institute Advisory Committee, said, “Dr. Peters has been an outstanding and prophetic educator at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary for nearly two decades. As the founder of the Seminary’s Metro-Urban Institute, he has made an indelible mark on the lives of many students and pastors around the country.”
— Compiled from various news reports
