She comes highly credentialed from the state of Florida to take the reigns of her alma mater located at the Interdenominational Theological Center (ITC) in Atlanta’s historic Atlanta University Center (AUC).
Dr. Candace M. Lewis chose Gammon Theological Seminary to do her graduate studies after graduating from the University of Florida and has now come back to serve as Gammon’s new President-Dean. Her being named President-Dean is highly significant because in one hundred and thirty-eight years, Gammon Theological Seminary has never had a female president-dean.
Dr. Jonathan Holston, Chair of the Gammon Board of Trustees announced the election of Dr. Lewis, who began her tenure on April 1 of this year. Because of the advent of COVID, meetings with her Gammon staff have been virtual. Dr. Lewis is relocating to Atlanta from Ocala, Florida and will be physically in place in September 2021.
President-Dean Lewis is not only the first female president at Gammon, she also holds the distinction of being the first female denominational Dean in the ITC consortium. She is an ordained elder in the Florida Conference of the United Methodist Church. She was appointed as founding pastor of the New Life Community UMC in Jacksonville, Florida, 1997-2009. Dr. Lewis was then appointed as General Secretary in the New Church Starts Division and later as Executive Director of Path 1 New Church Starts at the General Board of Discipleship in Nashville, Tennessee. She comes to Gammon after serving as District Superintendent in the Florida Conference for four years.
In June of 2000, she graduated from the Harvard Divinity School’s Summer Leadership Institute on Faith-Based Community Economic Development. President-Dean Lewis earned a Ph.D. in Ministry in Church Leadership Excellence from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. in May of 2014.
Last updated on September 7, 2021