Dickinson Names New Director of the Center for Spirituality & Social Justice
Rev. Dr. Jessica Chapman Lape will be joining Dickinson as director of the Center for Spirituality & Social Justice (CSSJ).
Chapman Lape was assistant professor of interreligious chaplaincy and director of the interreligious chaplaincy program at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities in St. Paul, Minn. In these dual roles, Chapman Lape provided extensive curricular oversight to the interreligious chaplaincy program, taught courses related to qualitative research and spiritual care for both doctoral and master’s level students, and provided programming related to spiritual care for students and the broader Twin Cities community.
Chapman Lape is ordained in the United Church of Christ and has been a chaplain for over 10 years. Her chaplaincy experience spans across sectors to include care within nonprofit organizations, hospice, outpatient clinics and hospital systems. Chapman Lape is also a community birth doula trained through the Riverside County Health Foundation and Sankofa Birthworkers Collective. Her doula and chaplaincy practices are rooted in her womanism, her commitment to reproductive justice, as well as spiritual and reproductive care practices within her African American heritage.
Chapman Lape received her B.S. in community health education from Johnson C. Smith University and her M.Div. from Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She received her Ph.D. in practical theology from Claremont School of Theology, where she earned the Presidential Award for Academic Excellence and the Jack Coogan Award for the Creative Use of the Arts in the Life of the CST Community. Her dissertation, “MissTreated: A Womanist Clinical Pastoral Theology on the Mistreatment of African American Women in U.S. Healthcare,” explores Black women’s perception of cultural violence in U.S. healthcare systems and the subsequent role of spiritual care providers in interrupting such mistreatment.
Chapman Lape continues to advocate for the intersection of spiritual care and social justice with a focus on addressing systemic inequities. She has published several peer-reviewed articles and contributed chapters to multiple anthologies related to spiritual care and pastoral theology. Notable chapters include, “The Womanist Chaplain: Spiritual Care for African American Women in Systemic Injustice” in Injustice and the Care of Souls and an upcoming chapter titled “Gendering Trauma: A Womanist Psychospiritual Analysis of Stress, Trauma, and Resilience” in Reframing Trauma: A Psychospiritual Theory and Theology.
Through an extensive and thoughtful national search, it became clear to members of the search committee that Chapman Lape possessed a combination of experience, education, and passion to serve that were perfectly suited to lead the CSSJ. She articulated a comprehensive vision for the center—a vision that provided a framework for advancing social justice and advocacy as well as spiritual care for our community. With every interaction, she proved to be a leader that is compassionate, student-centered and strategic. Her work is grounded in theory, bolstered by experience, and informed by meaningful interactions with students and colleagues alike.
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Published October 22, 2024