Kelly Ryan

Director, Thriving Congregations Coordination Program

kryan@div.duke.edu

Kelly Ryan joined Duke Divinity School in February 2008. She became the director of the Thriving Congregations Coordination Program in February 2020 to facilitate a learning community of grantees committed to helping congregations thrive through understanding their changing contexts, exploring their values and mission, and engaging in Christian practices. Prior to that, she spent 12 years as senior director of communications for Leadership Education at Duke Divinity, overseeing its online learning resource Faith & Leadership. From 2003 to 2008, she served as a senior public relations specialist for Duke University's Office of the President and Office of News & Communications. Between 1995 and 2003, Ryan was a reporter for the St. Petersburg (now Tampa Bay) Times in Florida, where she covered public schools, city government, criminal justice and other topics.

She is a postulant for ordination to the vocational diaconate in the Episcopal Diocese of North Carolina. Previously, she was an active lay leader at her home parish of 18 years; leadership roles included two terms on the vestry, membership on the rector search committee and racial justice and reconciliation committee, and service as a children’s teacher in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. She has a master’s degree in Christian practice from Duke Divinity School and a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.