[Episcopal News Service] The General Theological Seminary, the historic Episcopal seminary in New York City, announced Aug. 11 that it had received state approval to lease its Chelsea neighborhood campus to Vanderbilt University.
The 99-year lease to Vanderbilt, which is based in Nashville, Tennessee, was first announced in September 2024 as part of General Theological Seminary’s increased emphasis on its hybrid Master of Divinity program, which required less in-person use of the New York campus, also known as the close.
Under New York law, the lease required authorization of the state Attorney General’s Office. Clearing that hurdle means General Theological Seminary will be able to maintain “its presence at its historic home in New York City for decades to come,” the school said in a news release.
The lease allows the seminary’s students to continue accessing the close for certain “intensive weeks” of in-person study in August and May, as well as alumni programming in June. The seminary also will hold its commencement and matriculation there, in the Chapel of the Good Shepherd.
“The lease agreement with Vanderbilt University ensures that General continues its sacred work of forming leaders for the church from our historic home in Chelsea,” the Very Rev. Ian Markham, president of General Theological Seminary, said in the news release. “It enables us to grow our innovative hybrid MDiv program and deepen our offerings for alumni, while securing our presence on the close for generations to come.”
Markham also is dean of Virginia Theological Seminary, in Alexandria, Virginia. The two seminaries entered into an affiliation agreement in 2022.
General Theological Seminary is the oldest of The Episcopal Church’s seminaries, founded in 1817. It was chartered by an act of General Convention, and its name was chosen to reflect its founders’ vision that it be a seminary to serve the whole church.
– David Paulsen is a senior reporter and editor for Episcopal News Service based in Wisconsin. He can be reached at dpaulsen@episcopalchurch.org.