Kenda Creasy Dean | Professor of Youth, Church, & Culture

An ordained United Methodist minister, Kenda teaches practical theology, youth ministry, education and formation, and social innovation at Princeton Theological Seminary, where she serves as the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture. She has extensive experience in new ministry development, grant writing, and nonprofit ministry, especially with young people. Kenda is the author of a dozen books including Delighted: What Teenagers are Teaching the Church About Joy (with Wes Ellis, Abigail Rusert, and Justin Forbes); Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church; and The Godbearing Life (with Ron Foster). She is a frequent speaker and consultant on young people and church innovation and has worked with dozens of seminaries, judicatories, congregations, and other faith-based entities.

A graduate of Miami University in Ohio, Wesley Theological Seminary, and Princeton Theological Seminary, Kenda served as a pastor in suburban Washington, DC, and as a campus minister at the University of Maryland before coming to Princeton. She and her husband Kevin live on campus and love hanging out at the beach with their grown children.