The next editor and publisher of the Presbyterian Outlook will be Teri McDowell Ott, a Presbyterian minister and current dean of the chapel at Monmouth College, a Presbyterian-related college in Monmouth, Illinois. Ott will start as the Outlook’s editor June 1.
Sharon Blount, president of the Outlook’s board, announced Ott’s election on May 11. Ott succeeds Jill Duffield, who left the editor’s role in November 2020 to become pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, North Carolina.
In her role with Monmouth College, Ott has raised funds to support the Lux Center for Church and Religious Leadership, which provides leadership and service opportunities for students at the college, and the Lux Summer Theological Institute for Youth, which gives high school students a chance to engage in theological inquiry – this summer about environmental justice – and to explore vocation.
She earned her undergraduate degree from Alma College in Michigan; a Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary; and a doctorate in ministry from McCormick Theological Seminary in Chicago.
Before beginning her work at Monmouth, Ott served in congregations as an associate pastor for youth at Spring Valley Presbyterian Church in Columbia, South Carolina, from 1998 to 2002; as an associate pastor for Christian education at First Presbyterian Church in Hartsville, South Carolina, from 2002 to 2005; and as a solo pastor at Cameron Presbyterian Church in Cameron, North Carolina, from 2005 to 2010.
Along the way, Ott nurtured her passion for writing — with her work being published in the Outlook and Christian Century; with a book “Necessary Risks: Challenges Privileged People Need to Face” forthcoming from Fortress Press; and creating a blog, “Something to Say: Honest words about religion, Scripture and life.”
Ott is a member of the Presbytery of Great Rivers in western Illinois, where she will continue to live.
Read previous Outlook articles by Teri McDowell Ott:
- Our college’s calling goes beyond the classroom
- Dear church: Please ask me about my college students
Click here to read a letter from Outlook board president Sharon Blount, and from Teri McDowell Ott.
