Dean of the Chapel reappointed for second term

Chapel Dean Luke Powery will serve another five-year term, President Richard Brodhead announced Monday. 

Powery, who came to Duke in 2012, oversees the staff of the Chapel as well as Religious Life at Duke. His reappointment, which will last through June 2022, came after a committee review led by Caroline Haynes, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences in the School of Medicine.

“In his four years as dean of Duke Chapel, Luke Powery has established himself as an eloquent voice in the pulpit and a major citizen of the Duke University community,” Brodhead said in a Duke Today release. “His personal warmth and his gifts as a listener and speaker have enabled him to connect the faith traditions of Duke Chapel to students, faculty and staff and to the Durham community beyond.”

Powery came to Duke from the Princeton Theological Seminary and also serves as associate professor of homiletics in the Divinity School. His studies focus on preaching, worship, culture and expressions of the African diaspora.

During his time at Duke, Powery has worked to develop a new strategic plan for the Chapel and has partnered with Duke Libraries and the Divinity School to digitize decades of chapel services and sermons.