In 2017, my alma mater matriculated two women doctoral students out of a cohort of ten, and the academic student journal that I edited received one submission from a woman. Frustrated and motivated, I co-sponsored an event with the Women's Center to try to encourage women to pursue further study. The theme, "The Joy of Being a Woman in the Academy," was selected because too often conversations around women in pastoral ministry at the school centered on the challenges faced, and while also valuable, it is not the whole story. 

Four women at different points of their careers—first-year MTS student, incoming PhD student, a pregnant PhD candidate about to defend her dissertation, and a retiring tenured faculty member—spoke about their experiences of representation and mentorship, expanding research topics, as well as exclusion and inclusion at the table to a room full of other women. Certain speakers had never been asked about their experience, and several attendees had never seen a scholar that "looked feminine."