Dr. Carson Webb, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Eureka College in Illinois, has been named the Butman Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Piedmont College. Webb takes over the position from Dr. Barbara Brown Taylor, who joined Piedmont as the first Butman Professor in 1998 and retired in May.
At Eureka College, Webb has taught classes in historical and contemporary Christianity, world religions, and biblical studies. He is a graduate of Pepperdine University and earned a master’s degree in Philosophical Theology at the University of Nottingham. He holds a master’s degree in Religion from Syracuse University, where he also earned a Ph.D. in 2014. He has previously taught religion and philosophy at Le Moyne College and Syracuse University.
The Butman Chair at Piedmont College was created in 1998 and named in honor of the Rev. Harry R. Butman, a founder of the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches. Piedmont is affiliated with the NACCC and the related United Church of Christ.
Piedmont President Dr. James F. Mellichamp said that following a national search, the college was pleased to fill the position with a professor of Dr. Webb’s caliber. “The Butman Chair is the keystone for our Department of Religion and Philosophy, which in turn plays a central role in Piedmont’s liberal arts curriculum,” Mellichamp said.
Mellichamp also thanked Dr. Taylor for her 20 years of teaching as Butman Professor at Piedmont. “Barbara Taylor has taught and lectured at most of the top universities in the U.S. and abroad,” Mellichamp said. “To have her as part of the faculty at Piedmont College for two decades has been an invaluable experience not only for our students but also for all of us at the college.”
