UCC minister named dean of chapel at Princeton

The Rev. Alison Boden, a UCC minister, has been named dean of religious life and the chapel at Princeton University, effective Aug. 1.

Boden comes to the Princeton post after 12 years as dean of the University of Chicago’s Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, where she also served as a senior lecturer in the divinity school and college. While at Rockefeller Chapel, Boden was commended for raising the chapel’s campus profile by creating programs that explored the intersections of religion, violence, human rights and social change.

“She has a national reputation as a preacher and leader, and she has a demonstrated and deep commitment to social justice and to interfaith collaboration and dialogue,” said Janet Dickerson, Princeton’s vice president for campus life, in a May 17 announcement.

Boden will provide leadership for more than 30 denominational and nondenominational chaplaincies and student religious organizations, and will be responsible for offering moral and spiritual guidance within the context of the University’s secular environment. As dean of the chapel, she will serve as liturgical leader to the University Chapel congregation.

She succeeds Thomas Breidenthal, who resigned earlier this year to become Episcopal Bishop of Southern Ohio.