https://www.uua.org/pressroom/press-releases/psc-nominee-president

November 15, 2022

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s (UUA) Presidential Search Committee is pleased to announce the nomination of the Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt for UUA President, for the 2023-2029 term. Rev. Dr. Betancourt is an experienced leader and theologian in Unitarian Universalism, including formerly serving as a professor at Starr King School for the Ministry and as Interim Co-President of the UUA in 2017. She currently serves as Resident Scholar and Special Advisor to the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.

Review the Nomination Process section of this announcement for more information on how the PSC made its determination, and for information on the process for running by petition in accordance with the UUA Bylaws.

The President is the primary public and spiritual leader of Unitarian Universalism, as well as the UUA’s Chief Executive Officer. The member congregations of the UUA, through their delegates, elect the President to represent and lead the faith on a path to Beloved Community, in which people of diverse backgrounds, identities and theological beliefs can thrive. The President must be committed to transparent, shared, and aspirational leadership, using their understanding of power and privilege to advance transformative faithful practices within the Association. At the heart of this work is the UUA’s commitment to dismantling oppressive societal systems and creating communities of equity, belonging and liberation. This requires centering the voices of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities, members of the LGBTQIA+ communities, people living with disabilities, and those with other marginalized identities. The President leads UUA staff, volunteers and members of the denomination to create a Unitarian Universalism that welcomes the questions, gifts, and talents of all who are attracted to this faith tradition.

Nominee Biography

The Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt currently serves as Resident Scholar and Special Advisor on Justice and Equity at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC). She previously served as interim Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Womanist Theology and Ethics at Drew University Theological School in 2021-22. From 2016-2021, she was on the core faculty of Starr King School for the Ministry, and served as its Acting President for a term. She was the UUA’s Director of Racial and Ethnic Concerns from 2005-2009. In 2017, she was appointed as one of the three-part team of UUA Interim Co-Presidents. She has been a member of the UUA Appointments Committee since 2016, and previously was a member of the UUA Nominating Committee.

Rev. Dr. Betancourt’s ministry centers on work that is empowering and counter-oppressive. Her academic work focuses on the environmental ethics of liberation through a womanist and Latina feminist frame. She previously served as the Senior Minister at the First UU Church of Stockton, CA, as Consulting Minister of the UU Fellowship of Storrs, CT, and as Interim Minister at the UU Church of Fresno, CA.

She holds a Ph.D. in religious ethics and African American Studies from Yale University, graduate degrees from Yale University in Religious Ethics and African American Studies, and an undergraduate degree from Cornell University with a concentration in ethnobotany. She is an ordained UU minister, with a Master of Divinity from Starr King School for the Ministry. Her book, Ecowomanism at the Panamá Canal: Black Women, Labor, and Environmental Ethics is available from Lexington Books (published February, 2022).

Nomination Process

Under the UUA Bylaws, the Presidential Search Committee (PSC) is responsible for nominating candidates for UUA President. The PSC is made up of seven members, five elected by the General Assembly and two appointed by the UUA Board of Trustees. The PSC was established in the UUA Bylaws in 2010 through a vote of the General Assembly, to support the democratic process of nominating candidates to serve as UUA President. Prior to the creation of the PSC, all candidates for the UUA Presidency ran by petition. The 2023 Presidential election is the second time the PSC has led the nomination process.

Two members of the PSC were appointed following General Assembly 2021 (one later resigned), and the five elected members were affirmed by the General Assembly in 2022. The PSC members are, in alphabetical order by last name: Rev. Jaimie Dingus, Denise Rimes, Cathy Seggel, James Snell, Rev. Theresa Ninán Soto and Marva Williams.

For this nomination, the PSC developed and led a fair and timely application and nomination process that was open to any leader who is a member of a Unitarian Universalist congregation. Over its first few months, the PSC reached out to a wide variety of stakeholders to provide feedback on the Presidential job description and key qualifications, the development of the application and interviews, the recruitment of potential qualified applicants, and on the overall nomination process. Congregations and members of the public were kept informed of the nominating process throughout the spring and summer of 2022.

In addition to opportunities for input from the general public, the PSC consulted key interested parties, including religious professional groups such as the Liberal Religious Educators Association (LREDA), the UU Ministers’ Association (UUMA) and the Association for UU Music Ministries (AUUMM); identity-based groups such as Diverse and Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM), Black Lives of Unitarian Universalism (BLUU), EqUUal Access, and Transgender UU Religious Professionals Together (TRUUsT); youth and young adult communities; and UUA staff. Based on this input, the PSC sought candidates who could address the current needs of the UUA, and support the UUA’s mission and its commitment to the recommendations of the Commission on Institutional Change’s 2020 report, Widening the Circle of Concern. The PSC worked with the UUA Board of Trustees to establish a presidential job description capturing these qualifications, which was approved by the Board in February 2022.

The application and nomination timeline of the presidential search process was:

• Applications opened on April 1, 2022
• PSC members engaged in outreach to potential leaders, encouraging applications, including through conversations at General Assembly in June 2022
• Applications were due on July 15, 2022
• The PSC conducted interviews, engaged with applicants and reviewed references from August through October 2022, in preparation for selecting its nominees

The PSC received applications from Unitarian Universalists who represented a range of experiences and talents, including ordained ministers and non-ordained leaders. The candidate pool was comprised of majority women and transgender/non-binary individuals, and a majority of people who are Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC).

At the conclusion of its process, the PSC unanimously nominated two exceptionally qualified leaders to be candidates for President. One of those nominees declined the nomination. Once the nominations were made, the committee determined that the only fair and appropriate course of action was to move forward with the nomination of Rev. Dr. Betancourt, rather than reopening the application process. The PSC members respect the decision of the nominee who withdrew, and will continue to honor their privacy, as was done throughout the interview process.

Nomination petitions from additional candidates may be submitted, according to the procedures described in the UUA Bylaws and Rules, by February 1, 2023. The election will conclude in June 2023, and the next President will be announced at General Assembly 2023. The current UUA President, Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray, will reach the end of her term and will serve until her successor takes office. As with the current President, the next UUA President will serve a single six-year term and will not be eligible for re-election.

Conclusion

The search for a President of the Unitarian Universalist Association asks us to live into our best selves and our most imaginative futures, working to fulfill our deeply held aspirations. The Presidential nomination process is a call to covenant and to making our values real in the world through our actions. As shared in the June 2021 Commission on Appraisal report, Rev. Carol Cissel notes:

We are the promises we make and the vows we break. In this faith, Unitarian Universalism, covenants bind us together and strengthen our relationships. They create a pathway toward inclusiveness and, in times of both joy and sorrow, remind us that we are tough, resilient, and thoughtful.

So may we, in faithful keeping of our promises as a movement, elect our next UUA president. The PSC was unanimous in its belief that UUs are blessed by the candidacy of Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt. Once the election process concludes and the new UUA President is announced at GA 2023, our Association will continue on its transformative journey to create the anti-oppressive, multicultural world we all imagine.

__

This announcement constitutes the PSC’s report for nominations, as required by UUA Bylaw Section 9.5.

For questions and additional information, please reach out to [elections@uua.org](mailto:elections@uua.org) and visit this elections page.

For more information contact [elections@uua.org](mailto:elections@uua.org).

Anyone else thinking about spinning up a uua.social Fedi server (like Mastodon)? We could crowd fund it on Faithify. I'd want the UUA folks to be aware of it and hopefully support it, at least in spirit.

Does anyone here have experience with Second Unitarian in Chicago? I live on the north side and am considering checking it out.

Hi there! I’ve recently started exploring UU churches in the area and it feels like a good home for me. I’ve been exploring all over the area (I’m in Boston) and while I’ve attended lovely sermons, I’m having trouble finding a congregation that has people my age (I’m in my 30s). Everyone at Sunday service seems to be over 60. I wonder if Sunday service may just not be the right place to start? Anyone in the are (or in general) have any advice?

I am an ex-Christian and I have religious trauma related to that. I went to an in-person UU service for the first time Sunday. I got teary-eyed multiple times because I was quite awestruck. I’ve never had the experience of walking into a sanctuary that displays pride flags or hearing the Reverend invite trans and GNC kids to join the Girl Scouts troop during announcements. I had a wonderful time overall, but I have a few concerns. I can mostly handle hearing the word “God” and there was no mention of Jesus. The Bible was used during the sermon (Genesis), but its validity was questioned in a way I can appreciate. I am just wondering… is UU the wrong place to leap to, in general, if I want no associations with Christianity whatsoever? Or could I potentially find a different church that doesn’t reference the Bible? I am atheist-leaning, definitely humanist, but mostly still figuring it out.

I am also thinking about the perpetuation of Christianity and wanting to avoid that. This article encapsulates my thinking perfectly: https://brill.com/display/title/37153 To me, secular and liberal Christians are still perpetuating the harm of all other Christians, or they would drop the religious moniker altogether. I am wondering if I’m being hypocritical by being UU. Also, I’m really sorry if I offend anyone by writing this post. Thanks for reading.

Hello, as the title says I'm trying to remember the UU book I was given to read for my Coming of Age journey though the UU church. It was black, and it had a chalice on it or maybe flames on it. I believe it had a history of the church, but don't remember much more than that.

I'm revisiting books of my late adolescent and young adult life. I stepped away about a decade ago from the UU church after attending a few years and then going off to college. Then work kept me from attending due to the hours I had been delt, then COVID hit, but recently I felt something come over me, and I'm wanting to reflect on things in my life.

I'll be elated if anyone knows what I'm talking about and I plan on attending my first UU service again very soon.

Im asking this in good faith but as a Jew I do not trust UU and dont really understand it. From my perspective, like Jews for Jesus, its essentially a Christian org that pretends its not despite having ministers, churches, celebrating Jesus, ect. I like all the left-wing aspects of UU but I have a hard time not seeing it as another way for Christians to destroy minority religions by assimilating them. I also find the using of our and others religious ceremonies and symbols and stripping them of their religious significance, presenting them as set dressing for a mostly Christian audience is offensive. Please correct me.

I especially want to hear from latecomers to UU: what was the moment you realized UU wasn't just something you do on Sunday, but had become an integral part of your life, your relationship/marriage, your family?

I think it hit me when I quoted a hymn to comfort my partner. She was feeling guilty about a struggle we'd had the night before. I had already forgiven her, but she was having trouble letting go. So I quoted #637, A Litany of Atonement: "We forgive ourselves and each other; we begin again in love."

It clicked for her, and I realized I was using words of comfort in much the same way I saw other religious traditions doing.

I get the impression Unitarians are more liberal, but do you tend to affiliate with a political party, or is it more about just accepting people?

I’ve been attending UU lately, and I’ve enjoyed it, so I feel it’s important to start contributing financially because I’m getting something out of it, but I want to find some financial transparency before I do.