Seminary Staff

Linda Cannell (Ed.D., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) is the Academic Dean at North Park Theological Seminary. Formerly, she served as Lois W. Bennett Distinguished Professor of Educational Ministries at Gordon- Conwell Theological Seminary, in South Hamilton, Massachusetts; and was professor of Educational Ministries and director of the Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Studies program at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. She has served as a Minister of Education, as a faculty member at Winnipeg Theological Seminary (now Providence Seminary), Regent College, Vancouver, Ontario Theological Seminary (now Tyndale Seminary) in Toronto, and as a guest lecturer at colleges and seminaries in Canada, the United States, the Philippines, Kenya, Brazil, among other countries. In Canada, she directed EEQUIP Ministries for eight years serving as a consultant to churches, denominations, and theological schools in Canada and the United States. She is currently director of CanDoSpirit Network, (www.candospirit.org) which involves her in education and development internationally; and is director of the Ward Consultation (www.wardconsultation.org) a dialogical forum for leaders internationally to exchange ideas related to issues of local concern.

Ordained in 1981, Mary pastored for twenty years before becoming Vice-President for Administration for the Covenant. For twelve years she wrote a column in the Covenant Companion, has worked on many administrative boards in the denomination and community and has been a frequent speaker at special events as well. Mary has an M. Div from North Park Theological Seminary and a D. Min. in Spiritual Direction from Graduate Theological Foundation. Mary became Director of Making Connections Initiative at the seminary in 2005, administrating the five programs of the Lilly Endowment's $2 M grant to the seminary.

Deborah is a NPTS MDIV graduate, 2006. As an ordained Covenant minister she is serving as the Assistant Director of the Field Education Department.

Deidre J. Robinson joined the staff of North Park Theological Seminary in 2008 as the program assistant for the Lilly grant funded Making Connections Initiative (MCI). In the summer of 2009 she began splitting her time between MCI and Seminary Academic Services where she works with the Kern and Presidential scholars and coordinates transfer of credit. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from University of Illinois, Urbana and her Master of Education in College Student Personnel from Loyola University Chicago. She is married and the mother of two beautiful girls.