Presiding Elder Michael E. Ellis retires from Livingstone College

Rev. Dr. Michael E. Ellis, department chair for Religious Studies, is retiring from Livingstone College. Ellis has served Livingstone for 15 years as a leader, mentor, and academician.

A tenured professor, Dr. Ellis leaves the academy with multiple publications including his most recent text, A Royal Pulpit: Fifty Years of Preaching in the Classic Tradition. “It has been an honor and distinct joy these past years to serve the institution from which I graduated,” Ellis said. “I am a Livingstonian, a believer who has deep roots within the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, and someone who graduated from Livingstone with a bachelor’s degree in sociology in 1976. What I value above all are the people with whom I have worked and students I have taught.”

Known amongst his colleagues as someone whose involvements are undergirded with scholarship and class, Ellis is noted to bring about productive relations between the college and the denomination through exceptional campus and community programming.

13th President Dr. Anthony J. Davis said, “Dr. Ellis is a visionary educator both at Livingstone College and in the A.M.E. Zion Church. With a powered calling in the higher education arena, Dr. Ellis has been a beacon of light that will shine forever.” Some of his contributions to the college include being the advisor of Theta Alpha Kappa, an American national honor society for religious studies and theology students, grant awards through Interfaith America, chair of the Curriculum and Catalog committee, and a plethora of campus committees and community events from lecturer presentations to collaborative prayer walks with area colleges.

Dr. Michael E. Ellis is simply an academician with a head for high context-specific issues, a heart for service, and progressive hands—well done and happy retirement.