The Center for the Study of Theological Education (CSTE) offers research and consulting to strengthen the institutions that educate religious leaders. The Center studies a wide range of topics, including students, faculty, finances, administrative leadership, educational programs and the public role of theological schools. Using the Center's extensive data base, consultants from the Center help schools evaluate programs, balance budgets, plan strategy, forge partnerships with other institutions, organize searches, and support seminary leadership, especially new presidents. CSTE serves all religious groups and is the only research institute devoted solely to theological education. To learn more about this important research, click here.


On January 10th, Auburn’s Center for the Study of Theological Education hosted a webinar for financial aid officers, admissions staff and student personnel at theological schools on the latest government regulations for income-based repayment plans for federal educational loans.
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Auburn researchers studied seminary presidents and senior leaders over a four-year period to identify the elements of Leadership That Works.
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This report looks at the special challenges and opportunities that theological schools face in fundraising.
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Barbara Wheeler reports on the increasing use of lay pastors and their impact on the future of mainline Protestant denominations.
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Barbara Wheeler weighs in on the future of the seminary on Patheos, writes in Sojourners about religious leadership, comments in USA TODAY about seminary students, and speaks at Princeton Theological Seminary.
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Read Barbara Wheeler’s Westervelt Lectures from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.
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Strengthening theological education has been a priority at Auburn for decades. In the 1960s, Dean Robert Wood Lynn launched the first-ever study of the history of theological education in America. Building on this work and additional studies of innovative forms of theological education, President Barbara G. Wheeler founded the Auburn Center for the Study of Theological Education in 1991. She remained as the director for over twenty years. Currently, the Center’s interim co-directors are Anthony Ruger and Sharon Miller.