PROFESSOR OF MINISTERIAL LEADERSHIP & PRACTICAL THEOLOGY

EDUCATION

  • PhD, Walden University, College of Management & Technology (Emphasis in Leadership & Organizational Change)
  • DMin, San Francisco Theological Seminary (GTU)
  • MDiv, Berkeley School of Theology (GTU)
  • MPH, University of California at Berkeley
  • BS, Hampton University
  • Certification Community Economic Dev. (SLI), Harvard Divinity School

CONTACT

Email: vmiles-tribble@bst.edu
Twitter: @CantBeStill

Ofc: (510) 841-1905, X235
Mobile: (510) 418-2694

VMT cropped

PHILOSOPHY OF TEACHING

My pedagogical approach in the MDiv, MCL, and DMin programs integrates a womanist theoethical and practical theological lens. My research in leadership theory, adaptive change theory, and organizational development examines behavioral ethics and justice dynamics in churches, communities, and society. I view public theology to be an essential component of practical theology as burgeoning fields of interdisciplinary scholarship and praxis. I love engaging clergy and lay leaders to develop their gifts as spiritual change agents. In this complex world, discipleship and positive social change must be viewed as interconnected. Prophetic ministry extends beyond the pulpit to revitalize hope in communities, challenge injustice, and help folks move from disenfranchised to empowered. From my multidisciplinary background in business, church, academy, and community activism, I encourage practitioners to be contextually creative and prophetically transformational in any leadership role they pursue.

GTU INVOLVEMENT

  • Core Doctoral Faculty – Theology & Ethics Department / Religion & Practices Department
  • Steering Committee – GTU Women’s Studies in Religion (WSR) Certification
  • Serve as faculty advisor and/or dissertation committee member for master or doctoral students

PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS

  • American Academy of Religion (AAR) – Womanist Theology /Ethics Group and Practical Theology Group
  • Golden Key International Honor Society (Leadership & Organizational Change)
  • PICO National Network – Community Organizing Clergy leader / Women’s Voices Initiative
  • Women of Color in Ministry National Network – National Council
  • Ordained Clergy, ABC-USA / Ministers Council, ABC-USA

CURRENT RESEARCH

  • Quantitative Research: Assessing Student Leadership Competencies and Preparation in Seminary Training

COURSE DEVELOPMENT AND SYLLABI

  • Practical Theology: Interdisciplinary Scope and Methods
  • Organizational Leadership and Behavioral Ethics
  • Womanist Theology / Methodological Approaches; Women’s Studies
  • Religion and Society

Course Sampling

  • FT-2537 How to Lead Almost Anything: Effective Leadership Ethics and Practices
  • FT-2771 How to Create and Sustain Social Ministries
  • CE-5015 Ethics to Lead & Transform
  • BSCE-2261 Morality in Social Life (also DM-5065 Morality & Society, as doctoral-level course)
  • RSCE-3400 Womanist Survival Ethic: Cultural Lens of Music & Lyric: Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill, Jill Scott
  • DM-5052 Womanist Thought
  • STCE-6007 Theology & Ethics Seminar (2017)
  • FTCE-4500 Public Theology: Praxis in Black Lives Matter Times (2017)
  • RSCE-4500 Restorative Justice: Intersecting Womanist / Feminist Theoethics (2017)

Links to Course Syllabi

  • FT-2537 Effective Leadership Ethics and Practices
  • BSCE-2261 Morality in Social Life

SELECT PUBLICATIONS

Article, Sojourners Online Magazine: “Are We Missing the Prophetic Connection?” (Advent Reflection series) https://sojo.net/articles/advent-reflections/are-we-missing-prophetic-connection/. (12-12-2014)

Wabash Center Book Review: Bonner, F; Marbley, A; & Truitt et al., Ed. “Black Faculty in the Academy: Narratives for Negotiating Identity and Achieving Success” https://www.wabashcenter.wabash.edu/resources/book_reviews/black-faculty-in-the-academy-narratives-for-negotiating-identity-and-achieving-career-success/ (7-15-2015)

Article, Sojourners Online Magazine: “Hell You Talmbout: Protest Music Meets the Church in the Streets” https://sojo.net/articles/hell-you-talmbout/. (8-21-2015)

Article, Sojourners Magazine (printed): “Can You Hear It? Hip-hop, Spoken Word, and the Voice of Prophetic Ethics” https://sojo.net/magazine/february-2016/can-you-hear-it/.  (February 2016)

Article, Sojourners Online Magazine: “Three Years Later, What the Movement Has Learned from Eric Garner” https://sojo.net/articles/what-movement-has-learned-eric-garner/.  (7-17-2017)

AAR / Reading Religion Book Review: Hayes, Diana L. “No Crystal Stair: Womanist Spirituality” (2017)

Article: “Restorative Justice as a Public Theology Imperative,” Special Issue: Seeking the Welfare of the City. (Sage Publishing: Review & Expositor 114:3 (September 2017) doi:10.1177/00346373172104

Article: “Leading with High Notes of Compassion and Harmonic Chords of Justice,” Reflective Practice: Formation and Supervision in Ministry, 38:1 (Spring 2018, ISSN:2325-2847). http://journals.sfu.ca/rpfs/index.php/rpfs/

Article: “Mrs. Lot: Vilified or Victim? Sinner or Salt?” Issue: Biblical Matriarchs. (Sage Publishing: Review & Expositor 115:4, Fall 2018). doi:10.1177/0034637318792858

Article: “Public Theology: Dilemmas for Embodying the Evangel,” (American Baptist Quarterly: The Church’s Public Witness, 2017 peer-reviewed; publication for 2019 release)

SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS

NorCAl MLK-2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuMUZDrfrAQ

GTU / WSR panel – Raising Our Voices, 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06Cj8hBmWkI

King & Faith Forum 2019, Grace Cathedral-SF
https://youtu.be/F3fxZcXM5iI