Alumna Returns to Alma Mater to Lead MLK Event

The Rev. Delois Brown-Daniels, a Cowpens, SC native and Converse College graduate, will return to her alma mater Thursday, Jan. 11 to discuss her life of service and scholarship and the critical ties between the two for responsible citizenship. Her presentation is in commemoration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and is the inaugural event of the colleges Nancy Oliver Gray Visiting Scholars Series. Dr. King served as a role model for me on the ways that service can be used in advancing justice in society, she said.

The event is scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Barnet Room of the Montgomery Student Center and is free and open to the public.

Known affectionately to others as Rev. Dee, she now lives in Chicago, where for over 25 years she has developed partnerships with Chicago-based clergy associations and community service organizations such as The Night Ministry, Casa Central and the Community Renewal Society. It takes all individuals to make a healthy community. And when you have a healthy community, everyone wins, she explained.

Since 1989, Rev. Dee has worked for the Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center (AIMMC), the largest fully integrated not-for-profit health care delivery system in metropolitan Chicago. The patient population is multi-cultural and multi-racial including people with roots in Africa, Europe, India, Latin America and the Middle East. The surrounding neighborhoods and communities are among the most well-integrated communities in Chicagoland.

At AIMMC, Rev. Dee serves in two capacities: vice president of mission and spiritual care, and vice president of community relations. For mission and spiritual care, I oversee a staff of seven chaplains, four pastoral care associates and a secretary who provide pastoral care to patients, families and staff in an interfaith environment. We also provide education and support to persons to in our community. I provide leadership related to the integration of spirituality, faith and healing within our medical center. I also help provide leadership and consultation for medical ethics in our organization, and leadership and direction for the Clinical Pastoral Education program which supplies 24 hours of pastoral care coverage for patients, families, physicians and staff, she said. In my community relations capacity, I develop partnerships with congregations and other community organizations to address the integration of spirituality and health to enhance the quality of life in the community.

Rev. Dee has served as guest preacher, speaker and leader of workshops throughout the country. She also talks to women’s groups each year to help them find purpose and ways that they can contribute to society, and has helped schools secure funding. I am always involved in something. I wait and see what the Lord is calling me to do next, she said.

A graduate of Cowpens High School, Rev. Dee earned her bachelors degree in humanities from Converse in 1976 and her masters of divinity from Yale University in 1980. She was ordained by the Connecticut Missionary Baptist Association in 1980 and has dual standing in the United Church of Christ. From 1991 to 1997, she served on the Accreditation Commission and the Board of Directors for the North Central Region of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education. She has been involved in hospital chaplaincy since 1980 and has been on various civic and religious boards of directors.

She has also held positions at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, Yale-New Haven Hospital and the Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System.