FORT WORTH (BP)—Benjamin M. Skaug and Colby T. Adams were elected to new roles in the senior leadership of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary during a special meeting of the seminary’s board of trustees Feb. 15.
Meeting via video conference, trustees unanimously elected Skaug as provost and vice president for academic administration and Adams as vice president for institutional administration. Skaug previously served as dean of Texas Baptist College, while Adams was vice president for strategic initiatives and chief of staff.
Following the trustee meeting, President Adam W. Greenway appointed M. Todd Bates dean and Micah D. Carter associate dean of Texas Baptist College, filling vacancies created by Skaug’s election.
Both elections and appointments are effective immediately.
“I’m delighted to have Dr. Skaug and Mr. Adams in these critically important senior leadership roles for our institution,” Greenway said. Together with Skaug and Adams, the president’s cabinet also includes F. Edward Upton, vice president for institutional advancement.
Provost committed to ‘big-tent’ vision
Skaug said he was “honored” to be given the opportunity to assume the new role at the seminary.
“I’m grateful for the confidence Dr. Greenway and the board of trustees have placed in me,” he said. “It is an incredible blessing from God to be called to this position, although I feel the weight of both the responsibility and the opportunity that accompanies this office. I’m committed to leading the academic administration division to fulfill Dr. Greenway’s ‘big-tent’ vision for this institution of a high view of Scripture, confessional fidelity, Great Commission priority, and denominational cooperation. I’m honored to serve our exemplary faculty, and I will do everything I can to make it even better.”
Skaug succeeds David S. Dockery, who was named interim provost and vice president for academic administration by Greenway in December 2020 after having served as distinguished professor of theology, theologian-in-residence for the B.H. Carroll Center for Baptist Heritage and Mission, and special consultant to the president since August 2019. Later, Dockery was named editor of Southwestern Journal of Theology, the seminary’s academic journal.
Dockery, a 1981 Master of Divinity graduate of Southwestern Seminary, formerly served as president of Union University and Trinity International University, as well as other leadership roles in Christian higher education.
Sign up for our weekly edition and get all our headlines in your inbox on Thursdays
Dockery, who will continue to serve in the roles he held prior to becoming interim provost, offered his congratulations to Skaug and said as a “gifted preacher and communicator” he will “draw on his years of pastoral experience to help strengthen the efforts of the Southwestern community to serve both Baptist and evangelical congregations in a faithful manner in the years ahead. I know the Southwestern faculty and staff will join me in praying for Dr. Skaug as he assumes these new responsibilities.”
As provost, Skaug will oversee the academic division, including four graduate schools and the undergraduate college, enrollment management and student life, and institutional effectiveness.
Skaug, who came to Southwestern in 2021, previously served as vice president for institutional advancement at Gateway Seminary and director of development at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He was ordained to the ministry in 2004 by Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, Idaho, and has pastored churches in California, Colorado and South Carolina.
He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree from Gateway Seminary, holds Doctor of Ministry and Master of Divinity degrees from Southern Seminary, and earned an undergraduate degree from the College of Idaho.
Adams demonstrated ‘extraordinary leadership’
Concerning the election of Adams, Greenway said: “When I came to Southwestern Seminary nearly three years ago, Colby Adams was the first person I appointed to serve on my senior leadership team. Since that time, his extraordinary leadership has demonstrated he is ready for this expanded role. The institution is blessed to have Mr. Adams guiding the institutional administration division.”
Adams was elected in April 2019 as vice president for strategic initiatives and chief of staff. In his new role, he will continue to oversee communications, campus technology and events management, while assuming oversight of finance and human resources to create the new institutional administration division.
Adams came to Southwestern after five years at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, where he was responsible for overseeing various aspects of digital communications, media relations, and marketing strategies. He has also served as the college pastor at Porter Memorial Baptist Church in Lexington, Ky. Before his service in Southern Baptist life, Adams spent several years working on political campaigns at both the state and federal level in Kentucky and Colorado.
A Lexington, Ky., native, Adams earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Kentucky. He is currently completing a Master of Arts degree at Southwestern Seminary.
Greenway’s appointment of Bates as new Texas Baptist College dean fills the vacancy created by Skaug’s election as provost, and his appointment of Carter as Texas Baptist College associate dean, fills the role previously held by Bates.
Bates, who has served as professor of philosophy since 2021, earned his Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Arlington, Master of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School and Bachelor of Arts at the University of Central Florida. He was pastor of churches in Alabama, Florida and Texas, and his academic experience includes roles at Criswell College, Patrick Henry College, California Baptist University, and Houston Baptist University, where he served as dean of the School of Christian Thought.
Carter, who also serves as assistant professor of theology, earned a Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Divinity from Southern Seminary and Bachelor of Arts from Blue Mountain College.
Carter was a pastor in Mississippi, Tennessee and Kentucky. He also served at Lifeway Christian Resources. He has previously taught as adjunct faculty at the Southern Seminary, New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Union University and Campbellsville University.
We seek to connect God’s story and God’s people around the world. To learn more about God’s story, click here.
Send comments and feedback to Eric Black, our editor. For comments to be published, please specify “letter to the editor.” Maximum length for publication is 300 words.