Meet the Staff

Rev. Dr. Ruth E. Shaver, Academic Dean, is an Intentional Interim and Transitional Ministry Specialist in the United Church of Christ. In that role, she has served four congregations as Intentional Interim Pastor, most recently the newly formed Covenant Partnership of Lakeville United Church of Christ in Lakeville, Massachusetts, and North Congregational Church United Church of Christ in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Shaver is an Interim Consultant in the Southeast Region of the Southern New England Conference, a role that is developing as the need for such consultants grows. She is also the Moderator of the Old Colony Association. Rev. Dr. Shaver is a faculty member of the Interim Ministry Network and serves as a member of the Manual on Local Church rollout team for the United Church of Christ. Her other interests lie in helping people discover that science and faith are not incompatible. Her doctoral dissertation from Lancaster Theological Seminary was an intergenerational, hands-on science curriculum for church use. She is also an alumna of the Sinai and Synapses Fellowship, 2017-2019 cohort. Rev. Dr. Shaver holds Masters of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology, and a Bachelor of Arts in Soviet and East European Studies from Boston University's Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies (then in the College of Liberal Arts). She resides in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, where she enjoys cooking, reading, and binge-watching science fiction television shows.