In addition to a new crop of students this fall, Loma Linda University’s Faculty of Religion is welcoming a new name.

Effective July 1, 2007, the Faculty of Religion is now known as the School of Religion. The new school joins the schools of Allied Health Professions, Dentistry, Medicine, Nursing, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Science and Technology, as the eighth professional school of the university, along with the Faculty of Graduate Studies.

The transition from Faculty of Religion to School of Religion was voted by the LLU Board of Trustees in December 2006.

In addition to serving the broad spiritual needs of the university, the new school will feature a division of humanities.

Since 1990, when ties ended between Loma Linda University and La Sierra University—which from 1967 had been the undergraduate school of LLU—the religion curriculum at Loma Linda University has carried the name of Faculty of Religion.

The School of Religion, currently with 13 full-time faculty and more than a dozen adjunct faculty, teaches courses in religion for all of the schools of Loma Linda University. In addition, the School of Religion directs the master of arts programs in clinical ministry, religion and the sciences, and biomedical and clinical ethics.

Additionally, the School of Religion is responsible for the operation of the Center for Spiritual Life & Wholeness (in conjunction with Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center) and the Center for Christian Bioethics.

The Center for Christian Bioethics Thompson Library houses nearly 5,000 books and receives more than 20 journals in the area of ethics.

In the new Centennial Complex, the School of Religion will occupy a suite of offices on the third floor, on the north side of the building.

Jon Paulien, Ph.D., arriving from Andrews University, Berrien Springs, Michigan, began his tenure as dean of the School of Religion in July.