Staff

To schedule appointments with Dean Powery, please email the assistant to the dean of Duke Chapel.

To request Dean Powery as a guest preacher or speaker, please fill out this form and email it to Ava West at ava.west@duke.edu.

The Rev. Dr. Luke A. Powery is the Dean of Duke University Chapel and Professor of Homiletics and African and African American Studies. He holds faculty appointments in Duke’s Divinity School and the Department of African and African American Studies in the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences. A national leader in the theological study of the art of preaching (homiletics), Dean Powery regularly delivers sermons at Duke Chapel as well as churches throughout the United States and abroad. He is often a keynote speaker and lecturer at educational institutions, conferences, symposia, and retreats.

His teaching and research interests are at the intersection of preaching, pneumatology, music, and culture, particularly expressions of the African diaspora. His book Becoming Human: The Holy Spirit and the Rhetoric of Race received the 2023 Book of the Year from the Religious Communication Association and also the Academy of Parish Clergy. He is also the author of Spirit Speech: Lament and Celebration in Preaching; Dem Dry Bones: Preaching, Death, and Hope; Ways of the Word: Learning to Preach for Your Time and Place (with Sally Brown); Rise Up, Shepherd! Advent Reflections on the Spirituals; Were You There? Lenten Reflections on the Spirituals; Getting to God: Preaching Good News in a Troubled World (with John Rottman and Joni Sancken); and most recently, Living the Questions of the Bible. He is a general editor of the nine-volume lectionary commentary series for preaching and worship Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship.

Dean Powery was ordained by the Progressive National Baptist Convention and has served in an ecumenical capacity in churches throughout Switzerland, Canada, and the United States. He is a member of the Academy of Homiletics, for which he has served as Secretary; the American Academy of Religion; the Society for the Study of Black Religion; the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality; and the Association for Chaplaincy and Spiritual Life in Higher Education. He served as a member of the executive lectionary team for The African-American Lectionary and is the recipient of numerous scholastic fellowships and awards. In 2008, the African-American Pulpit named him one of twenty outstanding black ministers under the age of forty who are helping shape the future direction of the church. In 2014, he was inducted into the Martin Luther King Jr. Collegium of Scholars at Morehouse College for his ethical and spiritual leadership in the academy, church, and broader society. In 2017, he was given the Speakman Chair of Preaching Award at the Massanetta Springs Camp and Conference Center.

Prior to his appointment at Duke, he served as the Perry and Georgia Engle Assistant Professor of Homiletics at Princeton Theological Seminary. He received his Bachelor of Arts in music with a concentration in vocal performance from Stanford University, his Master of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and his Doctor of Theology from Emmanuel College at the University of Toronto.

He is married to Gail Powery, and the couple has two children.

More information on education and work history can be found in Dean Powery's CV.

Download a high-resolution photo.

To schedule appointments with Dean Powery, please email the assistant to the dean of Duke Chapel.

To request Dean Powery as a guest preacher/speaker, please fill out this form.

Ava West, former chapter president of Kappa Delta Sorority, graduated Magna cum Laude from Pace University in 2010 with a bachelor of arts in communication studies and a minor in psychology. In 2013, she graduated as a juris doctor from the Law School at Campbell University. After working as a case manager in a criminal defense law firm for two years, she realized that a legal career is not the right fit for her. She joined the Duke Chapel in July 2015.

Ava grew up in Boston, Massachusetts, and went to college in New York City. She moved to North Carolina in 2010, and  now lives in Durham with her husband, Alden, their dog, Captain, and their twins, Owen and Naomi, born in July 2017.

As director of special Initiatives, the Rev. Leah Torrey is responsible for the design and implementation of programs that center storytelling and wrestling with questions that ask members of the Duke community: who have you been, who are you now, who do you hope to be?

Rev. Torrey joined the Chapel after many years of working at Dartmouth College as the assistant director of social impact leadership at the Dartmouth Center for Social Impact, and before that as the multi-faith advisor at the Dartmouth Tucker Center for Spiritual and Ethical Living. Prior to working in higher education, she was a community organizer and worked for close to a decade on creating systemic change and building grassroots power in poor and rural communities. She earned a master of divinity from Harvard Divinity School and a bachelor of arts from Oberlin College. She is an ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, and often finds herself called into working in liminal spaces and in roles of accompaniment.

The Rev. Bruce Puckett is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene. He has been part of the Chapel Staff since 2012. Prior to joining the Chapel staff, he served as the interim pastor for the Congregation at Duke Chapel for two years. He has a master of divinity from Duke Divinity School, and a bachelor of arts in religion from Olivet Nazarene University. He has enjoyed working on the Chapel staff as the director of community ministry, the director of worship and community ministry, and now as the assistant dean of the Chapel. These various roles have enabled him to engage his passion for connecting people with God and with one another. He is a regular contributor on A Plain Account, an online Wesleyan lectionary commentary resource for preaching and study, and is also a contributor to the commentary series titled, Connections: A Lectionary Commentary for Preaching and Worship.

Rev. Puckett and his wife Renee have been married since 2005. Their son Nolan was born in 2011. They love playing games and sports, attending Duke sporting events, and going to Disney World. The newest member of their family is a dog named Winslow. When he has time, he enjoys playing golf, basketball, and volleyball. He also occasionally enjoys running long distances because it allows him to be outside.

In her role as minister for intercultural engagement, the Rev. Racquel C.N. Gill offers spiritual guidance, mentorship, care, and programming to students, particularly students of color, and also deepens relationships between the Chapel and campus cultural and identity centers. Rev. Gill comes to Duke Chapel from Presbyterian College in Clinton, South Carolina, where she was the endowed Jack and Jane Presseau Associate Chaplain and also serves as a temporary member at large and pulpit supply minister for the Trinity Presbytery. An ordained Baptist minister, she previously served on the pastoral staff at the St. Paul Community Baptist Church in Brooklyn, New York. She grew up in Winnsboro, South Carolina, and is a graduate of Duke Divinity School.

As a music director for the Chapel's Student Ministries, Nicholas Venable assists with advising and leading the musical direction of the United in Praise student gospel choir. He provides leadership in rehearsals and performances for the group and also works alongside student choir directors in teaching and assigning parts in preparation for events. In addition to being a music director, he is a multi-instrumentalist and all-around lover of the arts. Originally from Raleigh, North Carolina, he has performed and taught professionally in numerous bands, schools, and events throughout the country and abroad for more than seventeen years. Outside of music, he loves to spend time with his family and enjoys participating in recreational sports.

A conductor, composer, and scholar of sacred music, Dr. Zebulon Highben serves as director of Chapel Music at Duke University Chapel and associate professor of the practice of church music at Duke Divinity School. He conducts the Duke Chapel Choir and Schola Cantorum, edits the Music from Duke Chapel choral series, teaches courses in music and liturgy, and oversees Duke Chapel’s extensive music program, which connects students, community members, staff singers, instrumentalists, and professional colleagues in myriad worship services and sacred concerts.

Choirs under Dr. Highben’s direction have been featured at numerous conferences and festivals, and have toured domestically and internationally. He has served as a guest conductor, clinician, and lecturer across the United States, and represented the U.S. in the American Choral Directors Association’s 2016 International Conductors Exchange Program with South Korea. He is a past recipient of The Dale Warland Award in Choral Conducting (College/University Division) from The American Prize.

As a composer, Dr. Highben is frequently commissioned by churches, schools, and arts organizations. More than seventy of his anthems, hymns, and liturgical works are published by eight major domestic publishing houses and by Gehrmans Musikförlag in Sweden. Compositional honors include awards from the American Composers Forum, the American Harp Society, The American Prize, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, ASCAP, the Bach Choir, and the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. His published scholarship includes numerous articles and essays on sacred music, two choral anthologies (the Augsburg Motet Book and the Augsburg Chorale Book), and a Festschrift in honor of composer Ronald A. Nelson.

Dr. Highben studied at Ohio State University, Luther Seminary, and St. Olaf College, and holds the doctor of musical arts in conducting from the College of Music at Michigan State University. He is an ordained deacon in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Explore Dr. Highben’s work at his website.

As conductor-in-residence, Dr. Philip Cave provides artistic and educational leadership for programs and performances relating to his expertise in early music. This includes directing the Chapel’s Vespers Ensemble, Bach Cantata Series, and Chorworks summer program for emerging singers.

Prior to his appointment as at Duke Chapel, Dr. Cave was associate musician at Grace Church in New York City; he was also organist and choirmaster at All Souls Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., at Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill in Alexandria, Virginia, and at St. James’s Church in West Hartford, Connecticut. He has taught at the University of Oxford, Central Connecticut State University, Grinnell College, and The College of New Jersey, and was the artistic director of the Oxford Harmonic Society and of Alexandria Choral Society. He is a recipient of the Byrne Award from the London Handel Society and the Noah Greenberg Award from the American Musicological Society, and is also an honorary fellow of London’s Guild of St. Cecilia.

More information on Dr. Cave and his work can be found in his extended biography.

Chad Fothergill serves the Chapel organist as well as the primary organist for Duke Divinity School. In conjunction with the university organist, Fothergill leads and supports congregational singing at Chapel services and university ceremonies in the Chapel. In addition to accompanying the Chapel Choir, he mentors the Chapel’s organ scholar and performs at weekly organ demonstrations as well as in Chapel concerts. At the Divinity School, he assists with the planning and leadership of weekday liturgies.

Prior to his appointment at Duke, he was interim co-director of the Institute of Liturgical Studies at Valparaiso University, editor of CrossAccent: Journal of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, and held visiting faculty appointments at Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Delaware. He continues to serve as cantor at the Lutheran Summer Music Academy and Festival, a four-week summer program in church music for high school students.

Fothergill completed degrees in organ performance at Gustavus Adolphus College and the University of Iowa. He is a doctoral candidate in musicology at Temple University, Philadelphia, and researches the social and vocational histories of Lutheran cantors from the Reformation through the time of J. S. Bach. As a scholar-performer, he is frequently engaged as a worship leader, speaker, writer, consultant, and composer. He is author of Sing with All the People of God: A Handbook for Church Musicians and has fulfilled commissions for articles, blogs, compositions, editorials, reviews, and reference entries for several worship resources and professional journals.

Fothergill has presented solo recitals, lecture-recitals, hymn festivals, workshops, and papers at gatherings of, among others: the American Guild of Organists; Haydn Society of North America; National Worship Conference of the Evangelical Lutheran and Anglican Churches of Canada; North American Conference on Nineteenth-Century Music; Society for Christian Scholarship in Music; and congregations throughout the United States.

As program coordinator for Chapel Music, David Faircloth is responsible for the logistics and financial operations of the Chapel’s concerts and music events, as well as for the Chapel’s resident ensembles and artists. He spent many years managing his own career as an opera, oratorio, and concert baritone, performing with New York City Opera, The Metropolitan Opera, Washington National Opera, Washington Bach Consort, and the Cathedral Choral Society, among others. He then worked in radio as an announcer and producer at WETA in Washington, DC. In 2006, he returned to his native North Carolina and after several years of working for various churches in the area, eventually began his association with Duke Chapel in 2017 as one of its staff singers.

He and his wife of more than thirty years share their home in Cary with their dogs Gomer (Border Collie) and Ellie (Pit Bull).

Dr. Robert Parkins is the university organist and a professor of the practice of music at Duke University. He first assumed the position of Chapel Organist at Duke in 1975, then joined the faculty of the School of Music at Ithaca College in 1982, returning to Duke in 1985. As the university organist, Dr. Parkins plays for university events and Chapel services on academic Sundays during the school year, and he directs the annual Organ Recital Series.

A graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the Yale University School of Music, Dr. Parkins studied organ with Gerre Hancock, Charles Krigbaum, and Michael Schneider, as well as harpsichord with Ralph Kirkpatrick. As a Fulbright scholar, he pursued further organ study in Vienna with Anton Heiller.

Dr. Parkins has concertized throughout the United States and Europe as well as in Central America. His organ and harpsichord recordings have appeared on the Calcante, Gothic, Loft, Musical Heritage Society, and Naxos labels. Still available are several solo CDs featuring the Flentrop, Aeolian, and Brombaugh organs in Duke Chapel, including Early Iberian Organ Music, Brahms: Complete Organ Works, German Romantic Organ Music, Iberian and South German Organ Music, and Organ Music of Frescobaldi. His most recent album, Salome's Dance (recorded on the Chapel's Aeolian organ), was released in the spring of 2019. Including music by late German Romantic and American composers, it can be obtained from Loft Recordings as well as from Duke's Gothic Bookshop.

As the Ethel Sieck Carrabina Curator of Organs and Harpsichords at Duke University, John P. Santoianni maintains and tunes the four pipe organs in Duke Chapel as well as the harpsichords and pipe organs in the Music Department and in the Divinity School.

As staff specialist, Katelyn designs and produces bulletins for all weekly Chapel worship services, as well as for regular concert series. She joined the Chapel in August 2021 after graduating from Duke Divinity with her Master of Divinity. While at Duke, Katelyn was a part of the Theology and the Arts Certificate program, and wrote numerous musical works that brought together her primary instrument, the saxophone, with her love of theology. Prior to moving to Durham, Katelyn served as choir and handbell director for several churches in her hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. Katelyn received her Bachelor of Arts in Music from Western Kentucky University in 2013, where she studied saxophone and composition. In her free time, Katelyn enjoys listening to audiobooks, brewing coffee, and walking her goldendoodle, Charlie.

As a Chapel carillonneur, Mitchell Eithun plays the Chapel carillon on Sunday mornings. Currently a student at Duke Divinity School, Eithun is a composer, mathematician, and lover of bells. He holds a bachelor of arts in mathematics and computer science and a minor in music from Ripon College and a master of science in computational mathematics, science and engineering from Michigan State University. He has over sixty published pieces of handbell music and has received commissions from community and church handbell ensembles. He has ministry experience as a handbell director, digital ministry intern, and campus pastor. His current interests lie in hymnody, digital ministry, and spiritual formation in music ensembles. He is a member of the Handbell Musicians of America and an associate member of the Guild of Carillonneurs in North America. In addition to serving as a Chapel carillonneur, he is the intern for worship and student engagement at the Chapel.

Katherine Johnson is the 2023-2024 American Guild of Organists Organ Scholar at Duke Chapel. As organ scholar, Johnson accompanies the Evensong Singers and Vespers Ensemble, assists with weekly rehearsals and worship services, and receives regular coaching from the Chapel Organist and the Conductor-in-Residence. She graduated from Oberlin College and Conservatory in 2023 with degrees in organ performance and English. During her time at Oberlin, she served as organist and music director at Church of the Redeemer in Lorain, Ohio. Prior to her time at Redeemer, Johnson worked as an organ scholar at Plymouth Church United Church of Christ in Shaker Heights, Ohio. She began her organ studies in Wilson and Greenville, North Carolina, where she served as organ scholar at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. In addition to her work as a church musician and performer, she has experience teaching secondary organ lessons at Oberlin and as an organ teaching assistant at Interlochen Arts Camp in 2019. When she is not making music, she loves to read and spend time outdoors.

Amanda Hughes comes to the Chapel from the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, where she has been the director of external affairs for eleven years. She has served as the museum’s lead development officer and helped to shape the organization’s identity and image. Amanda has a bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and a master of fine arts in art and religion from Goddard College. She is the author of several books, articles, blogs, and resource materials, including the Ackland’s Five Faiths Project curricular materials and A Place for Meaning: Art, Faith, and Museum Culture. Other publications include: Lost and Found: Adolescence, Parenting, and the Formation of Faith (Cowley Books, 2004) and Five Voices Five Faiths: An Interfaith Primer (Cowley Books, 2005).

Joni Harris is in charge of business and facilities for the Chapel. She comes to the Chapel after twenty-five years at Duke, most currently from the University Budget Office.

As communications manager, James Todd oversees and coordinates communications for the Chapel, including broadcasts, social media, this website, and publications. He came to the Chapel in 2014 from Duke’s University Communications office where he worked as a writer, producer and, then video manager. Before that, he was a production assistant on WUNC Radio’s The State of Things show. He went to Duke as an undergraduate, majoring in physics. He previously served as a deacon in the Episcopal Church.

Get to know James in this short video.

As associate director of development, Jeff Compton-Nelson works with the Chapel's leadership and National Advisory Board to set and reach its fundraising goals. He has served in different capacities at Duke for over a decade, in Student Affairs and at the Divinity School. During that time, he helped establish Duke’s first residential interfaith space (The Mosaic) and living-learning community (Eruditio et Religio) and spearhead Duke Divinity School's forthcoming Certificate in Chaplaincy. From 2017 to 2023, he also served on the Chapel's National Advisory Board.

Compton-Nelson has a bachelor of arts in theology and psychology from Point Loma Nazarene University in San Diego and a master of divinity and certificate in gender studies from Duke Divinity School. He is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and attends Church of the Holy Family Episcopal Church in Chapel Hill with his wife, the Rev. Angela Compton-Nelson, and two daughters.

As communications specialist, Nathan Dove producers visual media for the Chapel, including print materials, online graphics, vidoegraphy, and photography. He comes to the Chapel from UNC-CH’s Ackland Art Museum where he worked as the museum’s graphic designer and photographer. He also works as a freelance wedding photographer. He has a background in vocational ministry, having served in congregations in North Carolina and Virginia. He has a degree in religious studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master of divinity from Yale Divinity School.

As development marketing specialist, Jimmy Paton promotes the mission and ministry of the Chapel and Religious Life at Duke through strategic marketing and creative storytelling. He comes to the Chapel from Transportation Insight Holding Company, a top-ten logistics technology and service provider, where he worked as creative producer for the company’s three brands. Prior to his work with Transportation Insight, he served as the worship and media coordinator for the Florida United Methodist Children’s Home, cultivating skills in ecumenical spiritual care, trauma-informed worship ministry, and development storytelling. He holds a degree in broadcasting and digital media and a master of arts in ministerial leadership, both from Southeastern University.

As director of hospitality and building management, Beca Franca is dedicated to elevating the guest experience, overseeing facility operations, and optimizing efficiency at the Chapel. With over a decade of experience as a program director in Presbyterian camps across the U.S., she brings a wealth of expertise in fostering community and creating welcoming spaces. Originally from Brazil, she has lived around the world before settling in North Carolina. She holds a bachelor of arts in human development from Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida, and is fluent in Portuguese and Spanish. Passionate about travel and art, she finds joy in connecting with others and exploring the world through a creative lens.

Erica Thomas first joined the Chapel staff in 2017, after working in the Meredith College Admissions Office. She is also freelance bassoonist, holding degrees in instrumental performance from UNC-Greensboro and the University of Maryland, College Park. In her free time she enjoys traveling, cooking, and spending time with her husband, son and 2 lab mixes.

As the staff assistant for hospitality and wedding coordinator, Cristina van Werkhoven serves the Chapel and its visitors by assisting with all of its scheduling needs. She comes to the Chapel after completing a master of theological Studies at Duke Divinity School where she concentrated in theology and art and served as co-president of New Creation Arts. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, spending time with friends, and creating new dishes in her kitchen.

As a wedding director, Leslie Ballew works with the Chapel Wedding team in a variety of roles to ensure the joyous occasion of each couple’s wedding is handled with care and love. She brings to the role her chaplain background enabling her to be a non-anxious presence for each family. She also greets and assists visitors to the Chapel when working as a visitor relations assistant.

Ballew previously served at the Chapel as the intern for community engagement and religious life, when she was a student a Duke Divinity School. She graduated from Duke Divinity in 2023 with a master of divinity degree along with certificates in healthcare theology and Wesleyan theology. Before coming to Duke, she served in a variety of ministry contexts through the Methodist Church. She is an alumnus of Young Harris College in North Georgia where she received her bachelor of arts in interdisciplinary studies focusing on the intersections of economics, human communication, and religious studies.

As a wedding director, Paquita Burnette-Thorpe works with the Chapel Wedding team in a variety of roles to ensure the joyous occasion of each couple’s wedding is handled with care and love.

Ann Hall has worked at the Chapel in volunteer or staff capacities since 1982. As she goes about her responsibilities at the Chapel, she tries to welcome the visitor within the greater context of the Divine. She enjoys reading in the fields of Christian theology and spirituality, as well as American History, and can devour a good biography—Ola Winslow's Jonathan Edwards is her all-time favorite. She is a devoted “mom” to Sam, her black lab-spaniel and her two Chapel kittens, Chris and Andy, whom she named after Chapel staff members.

A prayer that is especially significant to her work at the Chapel comes from St. Stephen's church in London: “O God, make the door of this house wide enough to receive all who need human love and fellowship, narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride and strife. Make its threshold smooth enough to be no stumbling-block to children, nor to straying feet, but rugged and strong enough to turn back the tempter's power. God make the door of this house the gateway to thine eternal kingdom.”

In his role as a visitor relations assistant, Kenyon Davenport greets and assists visitors to the Chapel. He comes to the Chapel after a career as an educator in the field of history. A significant portion of his graduate research on the sources of a twelfth-century English cosmological treatise was at Duke, where, under the watchful eye of an armed guard, he read the fifteenth-century Latin version of the Introductorium of Abū Ma’šar, an eighth-century Persian astrologer. He finds his undergraduate design degree as well as his medieval master’s degree enhancing his appreciation of the structure of Duke Chapel. In addition to serving at the Chapel as a visitor relations assistant, he is also a Chapel docent and a member of the Congregation at Duke Chapel. To all of those roles, he brings the experience of his travels in Europe, the Middle East, and East Asia. In his spare moments, he enjoys continuing his study of Roman hydraulics and mosaic work, Gothic cathedral architecture, animal theology, and philosophical idealism.

In his role as a visitor relations assistant, Benny Edwards greets and assists visitors to the Chapel. He comes to the Chapel after a career in local church music ministry and fine arts higher education. Blending his skills in both music ministry and choral music education provides a unique perspective for visitors to the Chapel, whether their interest is religious, educational, musical, or simply as a curious tourist. His advanced study in music history interfaces well with the strong heritage of music at Duke Chapel, particularly English choral works. In his spare time, Benny enjoys gardening and birding, as well as keeping up with current trends of faith development for youth and young adults.

In his role as a visitor relations assistant, Larry Efird greets and assists visitors to the Chapel. He is a graduate of Bryan College in Dayton, Tennessee, as well as Dallas Theological Seminary in Dallas, Texas. He also studied for one year at the Capernwray Bible School in England. Now retired, he had a thirty-year career in education, having worked as both a teacher and a principal. He also served as an adjunct instructor in the Department of Religious Studies Distance Learning Program for Gardner Webb University for twenty years. The following verse from a poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson expresses his educational philosophy:

“Let knowledge grow from more to more
But more of reverence in us dwell
That mind and soul, according well
May make one music as before…”

He lives Durham with his wife Carla where he enjoys sharing his passion for art, history, literature, music, and theology with others.

In his role as a visitor relations assistant, Stanley Gilles greets and assists visitors to the Chapel. Born in Haiti, he speaks Creole, French, and Spanish. Studying with USAID, he earned certificates in languages and diplomacy.