A dual love for faith and learning, for church and academy, for Christ and culture, feeds the Rev. Southard’s passion for ministry within a seminary setting. As Pastor to the Community, her efforts focus on building connections within and beyond the walls of PTS. She works directly with seminary students and employees on campus and online, providing pastoral care and attending to worship services, as well as liturgical resources. Likewise, as Pastor to the Community in a broader sense, she participates in Tulsa events and organizations (such as the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice, Tulsa Metropolitan Ministries, and the Tulsa Interfaith Alliance) that reflect core values shared by PTS. The Rev. Southard regularly teaches Introduction to Theological Education for Master’s Students in its online format. Trained as a scholar in Hebrew Bible, she has also taught courses in Introduction to the Hebrew Bible (online and on campus), Biblical Hebrew, Five Festival Scrolls, and Jeremiah.
Publications include a book review of The Destiny of the Righteous in the Psalms by Jerome Creach in Encounter (Indianapolis) (2010), the ancient Israel and ancient Arabia sections of the Encyclopedia of Love, Courtship, and Sexuality (Greenwood Publishing, 2008), contributions to the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible (2006, 2007), articles on Daniel (2006) and Jeremiah (2005) for DisciplesWorld, and “Ruth and Naomi” in the Encyclopedia of Religion, 2d ed. (Macmillan, 2005). Recent presentations include “Women and Harvest: Filling Our Baskets” for NEACCO Disciples Women Retreat (Camp Christian, OK, 2011), “Waiting for Armageddon” on a film discussion panel for Tulsa Interfaith Alliance (Tulsa, 2011), “Reading Ruth with New Eyes” for the Seminary at Centenary series (Centenary UMC, Tulsa, 2011) and for the PTS Faith Matters series (Edmond, OK, 2010), “Interactive Biblical Timeline” for youth at Bartlesville District Leadership Training Day (UMC, Bartlesville, 2011), “Preaching: Lent and Easter” on a forum panel for the Oklahoma Institute for Biblical Literacy Foundation (Oklahoma City, 2010), “Excellence in Exegesis” for the United Methodist Kansas Area Seminar for Professional Ministry (Wichita, 2010), “Women Healing Women: Lessons from Ruth” for Northeast Area Disciples Women (Pawnee, 2009), “Hebrew Bible and Homosexuality” on a panel for First Presbyterian Church (Stillwater, 2009), “Faithful Response to Living in Hard Times: Biblical Witness” for First UMC (Independence, KS, 2009) "Daughters of Eve: The Places of Women in Classical Sources" for the Interfaith Trialogue (Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice), "Moses: The Man and the Manna" for the Institute for Theological Studies (Disciples of Christ), "Walking the Faith: Ruth's Adventure" for the PTS Faith Matters Series, “Ruth” at the South Central Jurisdictional Clergywomen’s Consultation (UMC), “Like Father, Like Son: the Levite in Micah’s House” at the Central States Regional SBL Meeting, 2006, “Woman to Woman: A Comparative Study of Women’s Status as Represented in Law Codes of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Nations” at the SBL Annual Meeting, 2004, and “At Home in Babylon? An Ideological/Rhetorical Consideration of Exodus 1” at the SBL Annual Meeting, 2003.
An ordained elder in full connection with the Kansas East Conference of the United Methodist Church with eleven years of full-time pastoral experience, the Rev. Southard is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) and Phi Beta Kappa. She received a Dempster Fellowship from the Board of Higher Education and Ministry of the UMC in 2003-04. She joined the PTS faculty in 2007.
Personal Message
I am also known around campus for my boisterous laugh, my love of singing, and my piano playing in worship.
My office has two doors, one from the Student Commons and the other from the west hall, so I'm readily accessible to you.
Email is my friend and I check it regularly. Please feel free to contact me any time or to schedule an appointment in person, on the phone, or via Skype, ooVoo of Google+ Hangout.
Thanks to Brandon Scott for this photo from a faculty meeting. 