PATHWAYS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Rev. Sonja B. Williams, PhD, is a practical theologian, theological educator, ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, executive leader, curriculum designer, and chaplain whose vocation has been shaped by a commitment to accessible theological education, transformative leadership, and the flourishing of people and communities.
Williams brings extensive experience in theological education and academic leadership. She previously served as Dean of the Seminary and Chief Academic Officer of Eden Theological Seminary, where her responsibilities included academic administration, curriculum development, faculty leadership, enrollment, assessment, institutional strategy, educational technology, and the preparation of leaders for ministry and public life. Across her career, she has worked at the intersections of theological education, practical theology, organizational leadership, chaplaincy, grief and loss, culture, identity, justice, and human flourishing.
Her teaching and scholarship are grounded in practical theology and shaped by Black and womanist traditions, liberationist thought, queer theology, pastoral and spiritual care, and sustained attention to lived experience as a source of theological reflection. She is particularly interested in how theological education can respond faithfully and creatively to people whose vocations, identities, geography, finances, communities, or forms of ministry have not always fit traditional models of theological formation.
Williams has an established history with PATHWAYS as an educator and instructor and has also contributed to Project Proclaim. Her experience as both a theological educator and institutional leader gives her an appreciation for the multiple communities that sustain theological education, including learners, educators, administrators, denominational partners, congregations, and the wider church.
In addition to academic leadership, Williams has served extensively in professional chaplaincy and spiritual care and is a Certified Thanatologist through the Association for Death Education and Counseling. Her interdisciplinary work brings theological reflection into conversation with the realities of illness, grief, embodiment, community, culture, leadership, and institutional life.
Williams earned the Doctor of Philosophy in Practical Theology from St. Thomas University, the Master of Divinity from Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, and the Bachelor of Arts from Berea College.
As Executive Director of PATHWAYS Theological Education, Williams is committed to honoring the institution’s history while helping PATHWAYS strengthen its organizational foundation, deepen relationships throughout the United Church of Christ and beyond, expand strategic partnerships, develop sustainable educational and revenue models, and increase access to rigorous theological formation.
She approaches leadership with the conviction that institutions should not simply survive change but learn from it. Her work at PATHWAYS will build upon the organization’s legacy of accessible theological education while helping it respond courageously and imaginatively to the changing landscape of ministry, vocational formation, and theological education.
