Dr. David L. McKenna receives an honorary doctor of divinity degree from Asbury Theological Seminary conferred during its May 23, 2009, commencement, Wilmore, KY.
McKenna, an ordained elder in the Free Methodist Church, was named Churchman of the Year for the Free Methodists in 1988, as well as their Author of the Quadrennium in 1999. President Emeritus of Asbury Seminary, where he served from 1982 to 1994, McKenna was president of Seattle Pacific University, WA, from 1968 to 1982, and president of Spring Arbor College (University), MI, from 1961 to 1968. He was founding chairman of the Christian College Consortium (1972) and director of the Christian College Coalition (now CCCU) from 1974 to 1982. The author of 25 books, McKenna is a resource scholar for “Christianity Today” and “Leadership.”
“During Dr. McKenna’s years as Asbury’s president,” said Dr. J. Ellsworth Kalas, Asbury Seminary president, “he not only changed the face of the campus by his vigorous leadership in our building program, but he enlarged the heart of our seminary through the founding of both the E. Stanley Jones School and the Beeson International Institute.”
McKenna earned an associate degree at Spring Arbor Junior College, a bachelor’s degree at Western Michigan University, a Master of Divinity degree at Asbury Seminary, and a master’s degree in counseling psychology and a doctor of philosophy degree in higher education at the University of Michigan.
McKenna was born in Ypsilanti, MI. He and his wife, Janet, are the parents of four children. They have 12 grandchildren.
Dr. and Mrs. McKenna reside in Kirkland, WA.