Frenchye Magee ’01 returns to Goshen College to celebrate 40 years of Women’s and Gender Studies

Frenchye Magee ’01 will return to Goshen College tomorrow, April 10, 2024, to help the Women’s and Gender Studies program celebrate 40 years since the graduation of its first minor, Karen Krabill Yoder ’84.

After studying chemistry at Jackson State University, Magee was drawn to GC’s commitment to peace and justice, as well as its vision for developing servant leaders. She recalls being drawn to the GC motto: “Culture for Service.” As an adult student, Magee achieved a BA (Honors) in PJCS and Women’s Studies. She later completed a Masters of Divinity degree from Duke University’s Divinity School in 2008, and went on to be ordained in the United Methodist Church.

Magee has built on her Goshen College education to become a pastor, professor and passionate change advocate in a variety of roles in the United States and globally. She was the first woman of color appointed as clergy to Hennepin Avenue, Minnesota’s largest Methodist congregation. She has also served at Camphor Memorial, the only historically Black Methodist congregation in the state. She is currently a Social Justice Leadership Fellow at United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities.

In 2023, she launched Altreius, LLC, a consulting firm whose mission is helping individuals and organizations of goodwill develop bold vision and sustainable practices through whole-system transformation.

Magee will be a part of the 8:30 a.m. welcome reception for the Academic Symposium tomorrow, April 10, 2024, in the College Mennonite Church Chapel. At 12:30 p.m., Magee will attend the session featuring a Women’s and Gender Studies (WGS) student panel titled “40 Years of Women’s and Gender Studies at Goshen College: Where we’ve been and where we go from here.” Additionally, Magee will join WGS faculty and students in a dinner celebration that evening.

On Thursday, April 11, 2024, Magee will give a presentation titled “Confessions of a Mennonite Marauder” for Dr. Regina Shands Stoltzfus’s Spiritual Paths of the Peacemaker. All are welcome to join the class in Newcomer Center 19 for the first hour.

Magee characterizes herself as a “strategic storyteller, innovative institutionalist, and collaborative communicator,” in the service of her work in public administration, higher education and ministry.

For more information, contact Beth Martin Birky (bethmb@goshen.edu) or WGS Program director Kendra Yoder (klyoder@goshen.edu).