GROVE CITY COLLEGE Kemeny is chosen as 2013 professor of the year

Staff report

Grove city, pa.

Paul Kemeny, Grove City College professor of biblical and religious studies, was named the 2013 Omicron Delta Kappa Professor of the Year at a ceremony earlier this month in Harbison Chapel.

A native of Sparta, N.J., Kemeny earned his bachelor’s degree from Wake Forest University and Master of Divinity from Westminster Seminary, his Master of Theology from Duke University and his doctorate from Princeton Seminary. He joined the Grove City College faculty in the fall of 2000.

Kemeny’s area of academic interests lies in 19th and 20th century American religious history. He created a course titled “The Search for Christian America” that was honored as Best New Course by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

“The Search for Christian America” examines efforts by American Christians to shape culture and society in accordance with their understanding of the Gospel and sheds light on the work of Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Horace Bushnell, Francis Willard, Reinhold Niebuhr, Martin Luther King Jr. and Ralph Reed.

Kemeny most recently published an edited volume of essays titled “Faith, Freedom and Higher Education.” The book argues that Christianity can still play an important role in contemporary American higher education.

He has taught at Calvin College, the College of New Jersey and Princeton Seminary. Kemeny serves on the Information Technology Committee and Campus Technology Committee for the College. In addition, he is co-chairman for the Ethics and Character Formation Working Group for The Center for Vision & Values at the College.

Kemeny and his wife, Betsy, a consultant for Alzheimer’s research, have two children and are members of the East Main Presbyterian Church in Grove City.

The professor of the year award was initiated in 2000 by the Omicron Delta Kappa campus leadership honorary and is sponsored by the Grove City College Alumni Association.