Payne Theological Seminary in Wilberforce, which is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME), has named Dr. Michael Brown interim president. He will take over for Dr. Leah Gaskin Fitchue who retired in 2015 after serving as president for 11 years.
Brown, an AME ordained minister, came to the Seminary in 2014 to serve as academic dean, and will remain in that position while serving as interim president. He holds degrees from the University of Chicago and Vanderbilt University.
Before coming to Payne, Brown spent time at Wabash College as associate dean and director of the school's Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies.
Fitchue was the first African-American woman to be named president of any historical black theological seminary.