Alice Hunt to lead AAR as Jack Fitzmier retires
The American Academy of Religion is committed to helping its members face an uncertain field, the leaders said.
Alice Hunt and Jack Fitzmier. Photo courtesy of the American Academy of Religion.
Jack Fitzmier is retiring July 1 as executive director of the American Academy of Religion after serving the organization for 12 years. He will hand over duties to Alice Hunt, former president of Chicago Theological Seminary.
During his tenure, Fitzmier has helped guide the organization through many highs and lows, including navigating AAR’s separation from the Society of Biblical Literature. The two groups have been closely associated since the 1960s but stopped holding joint ventures in 2008.
“We managed to reconcile the split,” Fitzmier said, noting that since 2011 the two groups have held concurrent annual meetings. “That was a lot of work, and a lot of hard feelings were sorted out.”
