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PITTSBURGH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WELCOMES FOUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Pittsburgh Seminary has named four new members to the Board of Directors: Mathew J. Eardley, the Rev. Melanie Kim-Hamill, Josephine B. Moore, and Victoria Wellstead Murphy.

MATHEW J. EARDLEY

Miller Summer Youth Institute graduate (’09) Mathew Eardley lives in Boise, Idaho, where he was born and raised. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting from Whitworth University in Spokane and is a sales executive at Jitasa, the first and largest national bookkeeping and accounting services provider to the nonprofit sector. Eardley also serves the church in various capacities at the local, regional, and national levels. In his Boise congregation, he serves in the youth group, worship A/V, and multiple committees. At the regional level, he has participated in a Committee on Ministry, Financial Review Committee, Rural Church Task Force, and Presbytery Meeting Design Task Force.

Eardley currently serves on the Moving Forward Implementation Commission, and he has twice served as a Young Adult Advisory Delegate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). His passion for nurturing youth and leadership in younger generations has also found expression on the Design and Care Teams at several National Presbyterian Youth Trienniums.

MELANIE KIM-HAMILL

The Rev. Melanie Kim-Hamill ‘12 is parish associate at Pine Shores Presbyterian Church and resides in Bradenton, Fla. Previously she was a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) chaplain at the Ringling College of Art and Design, the New College of Florida, and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, all in the Sarasota, Fla. area. She also served for two years as the associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota. She knows the importance of creating a faith community where people can deeply connect with others, experience God’s presence, serve the community and recognize the gifts and blessings that occur daily.

During her time at the Seminary, she was both vice president and then president of the PTS Student Association and was a leader of the Presbyterian Student Fellowship. She views her experience in the M.Div. program as the foundation for her work in ministry: “My three years at PTS were a perfectly curated adventure,” she says. “They gave me the capacity to embrace the big wide openness of God’s mysterious work in this world, while tethering me to the firm foundations of our faith, rooted in Christ.”

JOSEPHINE B. MOORE

Josephine (Jodie) B. Moore ’96 was the president and co-founder of The Neighborhood Academy, a faith-based, independent, college-prep high school for Pittsburgh’s low-income youth. In addition to her M.Div. from PTS, she holds an associate’s in interior design from the New York School of Design and a bachelor’s in Russian history from the University of Pennsylvania. Moore holds many civic awards, including the 2017 March of Dimes Service to Humanity Award, 2016 Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, 2015 Business Women First (Pittsburgh Business Times), 2014 Woman of Achievement (Cribs for Kids), and the 2010 A Tribute to Women Leadership Award (YWCA).

She has served as a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh’s Committee on Racism, Schenley Heights Community Development Group, Women for a Healthy Environment, and the Energy Innovation Center (as a founding board member). She is still a lay reader and chalice bearer in the Episcopal Church and a member of the Women’s Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art. Moore continues to professionally create interiors for a few long-standing clients in addition to her ongoing volunteer work at The Neighborhood Academy and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

VICTORIA WELLSTEAD MURPHY

Victoria Wellstead Murphy ’21 practices law in Pittsburgh and is a member of Shadyside Presbyterian Church. In addition to her master of divinity from Pittsburgh Seminary, she holds a bachelor’s in biology from Wellesley College and both an MBA and JD from Tulane University. For the last two years, she has been learning chaplaincy ministry under the mentorship of a Presbyterian clergy member at a senior care facility near Pittsburgh. She has served on the boards of ARCS Pittsburgh and the Make-A-Wish chapter in Jacksonville, Fla.

Victoria has a keen interest in helping to advance the Seminary's ongoing mission of joining Christ's and the Spirit's work of forming and equipping people for ministry. She is particularly focused on identifying the best ways to keep the church and its leaders relevant in the world. Wellstead Murphy explains, “I share in the PTS vision of being a community committed to scholarship and service; spiritual transformation and reflection; and reconciliation, social justice, evangelism, and discipleship.”

PITTSBURGH THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY WELCOMES FOUR NEW BOARD MEMBERS

Pittsburgh Seminary has named four new members to the Board of Directors: Mathew J. Eardley, the Rev. Melanie Kim-Hamill, Josephine B. Moore, and Victoria Wellstead Murphy.

MATHEW J. EARDLEY

Miller Summer Youth Institute graduate (’09) Mathew Eardley lives in Boise, Idaho, where he was born and raised. He holds a bachelor’s in accounting from Whitworth University in Spokane and is a sales executive at Jitasa, the first and largest national bookkeeping and accounting services provider to the nonprofit sector. Eardley also serves the church in various capacities at the local, regional, and national levels. In his Boise congregation, he serves in the youth group, worship A/V, and multiple committees. At the regional level, he has participated in a Committee on Ministry, Financial Review Committee, Rural Church Task Force, and Presbytery Meeting Design Task Force.

Eardley currently serves on the Moving Forward Implementation Commission, and he has twice served as a Young Adult Advisory Delegate in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). His passion for nurturing youth and leadership in younger generations has also found expression on the Design and Care Teams at several National Presbyterian Youth Trienniums.

MELANIE KIM-HAMILL

The Rev. Melanie Kim-Hamill ‘12 is parish associate at Pine Shores Presbyterian Church and resides in Bradenton, Fla. Previously she was a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) chaplain at the Ringling College of Art and Design, the New College of Florida, and the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee, all in the Sarasota, Fla. area. She also served for two years as the associate pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Sarasota. She knows the importance of creating a faith community where people can deeply connect with others, experience God’s presence, serve the community and recognize the gifts and blessings that occur daily.

During her time at the Seminary, she was both vice president and then president of the PTS Student Association and was a leader of the Presbyterian Student Fellowship. She views her experience in the M.Div. program as the foundation for her work in ministry: “My three years at PTS were a perfectly curated adventure,” she says. “They gave me the capacity to embrace the big wide openness of God’s mysterious work in this world, while tethering me to the firm foundations of our faith, rooted in Christ.”

JOSEPHINE B. MOORE

Josephine (Jodie) B. Moore ’96 was the president and co-founder of The Neighborhood Academy, a faith-based, independent, college-prep high school for Pittsburgh’s low-income youth. In addition to her M.Div. from PTS, she holds an associate’s in interior design from the New York School of Design and a bachelor’s in Russian history from the University of Pennsylvania. Moore holds many civic awards, including the 2017 March of Dimes Service to Humanity Award, 2016 Distinguished Daughters of Pennsylvania, 2015 Business Women First (Pittsburgh Business Times), 2014 Woman of Achievement (Cribs for Kids), and the 2010 A Tribute to Women Leadership Award (YWCA).

She has served as a member of the American Institute of Architects, the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh’s Committee on Racism, Schenley Heights Community Development Group, Women for a Healthy Environment, and the Energy Innovation Center (as a founding board member). She is still a lay reader and chalice bearer in the Episcopal Church and a member of the Women’s Committee of the Carnegie Museum of Art. Moore continues to professionally create interiors for a few long-standing clients in addition to her ongoing volunteer work at The Neighborhood Academy and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

VICTORIA WELLSTEAD MURPHY

Victoria Wellstead Murphy ’21 practices law in Pittsburgh and is a member of Shadyside Presbyterian Church. In addition to her master of divinity from Pittsburgh Seminary, she holds a bachelor’s in biology from Wellesley College and both an MBA and JD from Tulane University. For the last two years, she has been learning chaplaincy ministry under the mentorship of a Presbyterian clergy member at a senior care facility near Pittsburgh. She has served on the boards of ARCS Pittsburgh and the Make-A-Wish chapter in Jacksonville, Fla.

Victoria has a keen interest in helping to advance the Seminary's ongoing mission of joining Christ's and the Spirit's work of forming and equipping people for ministry. She is particularly focused on identifying the best ways to keep the church and its leaders relevant in the world. Wellstead Murphy explains, “I share in the PTS vision of being a community committed to scholarship and service; spiritual transformation and reflection; and reconciliation, social justice, evangelism, and discipleship.”

Board of Directors Class of 2021