Join Us at Auburn Theological Seminary's
14th Annual Lives of Commitment
Awards Breakfast

Honoring women who bridge religious divides, build community, and pursue justice:
Nurah Amat-ullah,
Violet L. Dease,
Emma Bronznick Goldberg,
Jacki Zehner

Thursday, June 3, 2010
7:30 to 9:00 a.m.
at Cipriani 42nd Street

For further information, please call the Breakfast Benefit Office at 212.888.7003 or email locbreakfast@auburnsem.org.

Nurah Amat-ullah was born in Trinidad and Tobago and immigrated to the United States in 1987. In addition to serving as a manuscript librarian at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Nurah is the founder and executive director of Muslim Women’s Institute for Research and Development, a nonprofit in the Southwest Bronx that seeks both to ease human suffering for marginalized populations – particularly new immigrants – and to bridge religious divides. Additionally, Nurah was a United Nations Volunteer in Seoul, Korea, holds a certificate in Islamic Chaplaincy, and will graduate this Spring with a Multifaith Doctor of Ministry from New York Theological Seminary in partnership with Auburn Seminary.

Violet L. Dease has shown her love for all God’s people as a social worker in North Carolina and Washington, D.C., as the Vice President of Family Services at the Abyssinian Development Corporation, and as a long-time educator and advocate on behalf of incarcerated women and men, those living with HIV/AIDS, and those in need of housing. As assistant pastor of the historic Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, Rev. Dease is the first woman in the church’s 202-year history to serve in such a capacity. A dynamic preacher and teacher, in 2005 the African American Pulpit honored Rev. Dease as one of the nation’s “20-to-Watch” emerging ministers under the age of 40.

As this year’s “Young Healer,” Emma Bronznick Goldberg is our youngest honoree – she’ll be 16 years old one week after the Lives of Commitment Breakfast. Already a vibrant young activist, Emma has addressed issues as diverse as genocide in Darfur (by leading a letter-writing campaign to the New York State legislature), rape in the Congo (by making and selling greeting cards to raise funds for a hospital), acceptance for lesbian and gay youth (through an exposé on words that hurt as editor of the newspaper at her Jewish day school), and cultural gender roles for Bedouin women in Israel (through an award-winning essay.)

In 1996, Jacki Zehner was the youngest woman, and first female trader, to be invited into the partnership of Goldman Sachs. After leaving the firm in 2002, she became a Founding Partner of Circle Financial Group, a private wealth management operation where 18 women work together to thoughtfully direct their time, treasure and talent to make a difference in the world. Motivated by her faith, Jacki is an impassioned philanthropic visionary committed to the economic empowerment of women. You can find Jacki leveraging her unique expertise to bridge the corporate, philanthropic, religious and nonprofit sectors on her Purse Pundit (blogpursepundit.blogspot.com).

Auburn Theological Seminary’s Lives of Commitment Awards were first presented in 1997 to recognize the unique contributions of women leaders to our society and the world. Notable past honorees include Lena Alhusseini, Dr. Johnetta Betsch Cole, Dr. Jane Goodall, Blu Greenberg, Wendy Kopp, Daisy Khan, Ruth Messinger, Sr. Helen Prejean, Mary Robinson, Dr. Ruth Simmons, Alice Walker, and Faye Wattleton.

“We are delighted to have the opportunity to honor all these magnificent women,” said Auburn Seminary’s President, the Rev. Dr. Katharine R. Henderson. “In a time when moral leadership is so much needed in our world, these women stand as beacons for all of us. It is a great privilege for Auburn Seminary to honor their vital contributions.”

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Auburn Seminary is a nationally recognized theological center that provides innovative educational programs for a religiously diverse world. Founded in 1818 to train Presbyterian ministers, today Auburn prepares leaders of many faiths to meet the challenges of religious and public life. Auburn shares a campus with Union Theological Seminary in New York City.