A recent gift to Emory’s Candler School of Theology can be traced to rural North Georgia a century ago. O. Wayne Rollins sat in the pews, sang from the songbooks, and took communion at Smith Chapel United Methodist Church near Ringgold—the church where his parents and grandparents were founding members.
An expression of their faith, his family’s first gift to Emory in the 1970s established the Rollins Center for Church Ministries at Candler School of Theology. The O. Wayne Rollins Foundation’s commitment to faith and education has only deepened since that first gift, including a donation in 2011 to create the Rita Anne Rollins Building. In November 2024, the foundation gave $20 million—its largest Candler gift—to support scholarships in the school’s Master of Divinity program (MDiv).
“Students in Candler’s MDiv program are seeking rigorous and relevant preparation for a variety of careers in ministry,” says Jonathan Strom, dean of Candler School of Theology. “These are students who feel called to bring about positive transformation in the world, and we want to support them in that call. We are grateful for this extraordinarily generous gift from the Rollins Foundation, which will allow us to strengthen scholarships for those pursuing vocations in ministry and at the same time affirm a core Methodist value of academic inquiry and ministerial formation.”
The Rollins Foundation has supported many areas of the university, and Amy Rollins Kreisler, granddaughter of O. Wayne Rollins, says her family is privileged again to invest in Emory—this time in Candler’s MDiv program. The gift will make a difference in the educational journeys of MDiv candidates, even as it carries personal meaning that dates back 50 years.
“This gift is special because it connects deeply with my grandfather’s first gift to Emory, which was to Candler,” she says. “It’s a way to maintain that connection to what he wanted to achieve: to support and encourage those who wanted to be Methodist ministers.”
With the solid foundation of its influential past, Candler School of Theology is very much looking ahead. This Rollins gift will help the school—and specifically its MDiv program—address financial challenges faced by many students, confront the impending shortage of clergy as increasing numbers of Methodist ministers approach retirement, and maintain its standing as a national and global leader among schools of theology.
“We hope this gift will enable students to immerse fully in their studies and in their spiritual formation,” says Kreisler. “By supporting those students who feel called to ministry, we intend for it to allow many of them to go on to serve in rural communities like the one in North Georgia where my grandfather grew up.”
“My family has deep and long-running ties to Emory and to Candler. This program to support the MDiv program just felt right for us. I think my grandfather would be proud.”
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