Leslie  Veen

Leslie Veen, D.Min.

Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs

lveen@plts.edu
(510) 559-2737
2000 Center St 202

About

A native of Michigan and a long-time resident of San Francisco, the Rev. Dr. Leslie Veen in the Associate Dean of Academic and Student Affairs. This position affords her the opportunity to work with students in many ways throughout their program with the seminary. Leslie has a deep love for helping students to grow in their faith in God and in their sense of call. When she is not living out her call at the seminary or in church work, she enjoys taking advantage of the many opportunities available in the Bay area to walk, hike, kayak, and engage in various cultural events.

Prior to becoming the Associate Dean, Leslie was the Director of Contextual Education for PLTS of CLU for seven years after having served as the Director of Field Education and Placement for San Francisco Theological Seminary (part of the Graduate Theological Union with PLTS) for six years. Leslie is an ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and serves as a Parish Associate for Seventh Avenue Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.

Leslie brings her Doctor of Ministry dissertation studies into all of the work that she does for PLTS. She has a strong interest in the communal aspect that trinitarian theology brings to the broader religious culture. As Robert Bellah and Robert Putnam have shown, the dominant mainline culture in the United States of America has fully embraced rugged individualism as an important norm. This is in spite of being a largely Christian demographic that believes in a triune God whose very being is community. Religion and spirituality within this culture have also taken on an individualistic tendency. For her dissertation and project, Leslie brought together work from the social sciences along with a reexamination of classic Trinitarian theology, which gave rise to the idea of the perichoretic union of the Trinity, in conversation with Womanist and Asian feminist theologies to highlight the importance of community in the fields of religious studies and spirituality.

Brief Professional History
  • Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, PLTS of CLU (April 2020 -)
  • Director of Contextual Education and Lecturer, PLTS of CLU (August 2013 – April 2020)
  • Director of Field Education and Placement, San Francisco Theological Seminary (August 2009 – May 2013)
  • Director of Vocational Formation and Placement, San Francisco Theological Seminary (January 2007 – July 2009)
  • Ordained Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), April 2007
  • Spanish Teacher, San Domenico Schools (August 1994 – June 2000)
Interesting Tidbits

Leslie lives in the ever-bustling Lower Haight area of San Francisco with her dear companion Murphy the Cat.

Her favorite Bible quote is: “[Jesus said,] ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.” (John 10:10b)

Education

  • D. Min., San Francisco Theological Seminary, dissertation title: “Practicing Perichoresis: Expanding the models of spiritual practices for ministers-in-training.”
  • M.Div., San Francisco Theological Seminary
  • M.A. in Spanish and Latin American Literature, University of California, Santa Barbara
  • B.A. Calvin College, Spanish and Education

Publications

Book Review: Flanagan, Bernadette and Sharon Thornton, eds., The Bloomsbury Guide to Pastoral Care (London: Bloomsbury, 2014), 218 pp for the Journal of Reflective Practice, Vol. 35, May 2015. 

Book Review: Paterson, Michael and Jessica Rose, eds., Enriching Ministry: Pastoral Supervision in Practice (London: SCM Press, 2014), 234 pp for the Journal of Reflective Practice, Vol. 37, May 2017. 

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