status of homosexual acts. In 2009, Katherine Hancock Ragsdale became the Dean of EDS, the first openly lesbian person to be dean of an Episcopal seminary. However, in 2015, she indicated she would not seek an extension to her term as Dean – which expired at the end of June – after disputes with faculty regarding changes to the residential seminary model. Affiliation with Union Theological Seminary and move to New York In 2016, the school's board of trustees decided that the school would cease granting degrees after the end of the 2016–2017 academic year. After several months of evaluating how it could continue to support the school's mission of theological education, the board of trustees decided to affiliate EDS with Union Theological Seminary in New York City and sell its Cambridge campus. All of EDS' current students were transferred to other institutions, and contracts with all faculty and staff were ended. Despite being heralded as a "relocation," not a single human being from EDS in Cambridge was employed at Union. The City of Cambridge had expressed interest in reusing the campus for affordable housing. However, under the terms of a contract approved by the EDS board in 2010, Lesley University co-owned the campus and EDS could not sell the property without its permission. In 2018, Lesley purchased the rest of EDS's former Cambridge campus, making Lesley the sole owner. The move to Union, and thus New York, occurred despite the proximate location of the long-standing General Theological Seminary there. Deans Episcopal Theological School 1867 Francis Wharton 1876–1889 George Zabriskie Gray 1889–1893 William Lawrence 1894–1919 George Hodges 1920–1940 Henry Bradford Washburn 1940–1944 Angus Dun 1944-1956 Charles Taylor <episcopal news service Dec 20, 1979> 1957–1968 John B. Coburn 1969–1974 Harvey H. Guthrie Episcopal Divinity School 1974–1976 Harvey H. Guthrie and Edward Harris 1976–1985 Harvey H. Guthrie 1985–1993 E. Otis Charles 1993–1998 William Rankin 1999–2008 Steven Charleston 2009–2015 Katherine Hancock Ragsdale 2018–present Kelly Brown Douglas See also List of Episcopal Divinity School people References Further reading A History of Episcopal Divinity School: In celebration of its 25th anniversary by Matthew Peter Cadwell, published by The Trustees of the Episcopal Divinity School, 2000 Installation Address by Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, Dean and President of Episcopal Divinity School, October 23, 2009 A Brief History of the Episcopal Church by David L. Holmes External links Official website Episcopal Church (United States) Anglican seminaries and theological colleges