Pittsburgh Theological Seminary has named five new board members—Tyler Bayless, Mary Jo Dively, the Rev. Larry Homitsky, the Rev. Dr. Kang-Yup Na, and the Rev. Dr. Joan Prentice.
Bayless is a 2015 graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (MDiv) seeking a call in the Presbyterian Church (USA). While in seminary he served as student associate at Mt. Hope Community Presbyterian Church in Penn Hills. Additionally, he is chaplain candidate (2nd lieutenant) in the United States Air Force Reserve and is involved with Beaver Creek Presbyterian Church Camp in Calcutta, Ohio. Previously Bayless was an emergency medical technician and volunteer firefighter in East Liverpool, Ohio. He is a graduate of Youngstown State University (BS).
Dively, a partner at the law firm Reed Smith and a nationally recognized expert in information law, serves as vice president and general counsel at Carnegie Mellon University. She lectures frequently on legal issues affecting electronic commerce and information law and was an active member of the American Bar Association’s committees addressing those issues. An active volunteer in the Pittsburgh community, Dively is a board member of the Children’s Hospital (former chair) and UPMC Health Systems and previously served Shadyside Hospital. She is a graduate of the Vanderbilt University School of Law and University of Kansas.
Homitsky is lead pastor for Pittsburgh Parish, consisting of five United Methodist churches, and director for United Methodist Church Union, a large non-profit with eight subsidiaries. He previously served as council steward of The Western Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church and pastorates in Irwin and Kittanning, Pa. While serving with the Conference, Homitsky worked with the UMCom to provide national media training and resource development as with McGraw Hill Publishing and Brothers Brother Foundation to distribute more than $1 million worth of books to Africa. He is a graduate of Drew Theological Seminary (MDiv) and Thiel College (BA).
Prentice, and ordained Baptist minister, has served as staff pastor to new disciples at Mount Ararat Baptist Church in Pittsburgh since 2000. There she focuses on pastoral care and spiritual counseling to new members as well as curriculum development and volunteer training. Additionally, she is executive director of the Ephesus Project, a nonprofit dedicated to creating a Christian environment of spiritual and educational excellence where clergy, laypersons, and community leaders can unite to transform lives and communities. She is a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (DMin and MDiv) and Carlow University (BA) and will serve as an alumnae/i representative.
Na has served as associate professor of religion at Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., since 1998. He was the first director of the All-College Honors Program (2008-2012). Na’s areas of specialty include New Testament and hermeneutics. An ordained Presbyterian Church (USA) pastor, he was born in South Korea and has served churches there as well as New Jersey, New York, Georgia, and Germany. He has served locally on the Committee on Preparation on Ministry in the Presbytery of Shenango and nationally on the Presbyteries’ Cooperative Committee. He is a graduate of Emory University (Ph.D., New Testament), Princeton Theological Seminary (MDiv), and Princeton University (AB).