2023 Honorary Degree awarded to Rev. Dr. Nancy Steeves

St. Stephen's College is delighted to announce Rev. Dr. Nancy Steeves as the College’s honorary degree recipient for 2023. In various ways, Dr. Steeves has made substantive and lasting contributions to the fields of integrative and expansive spirituality, faith community leadership, spiritually-engaged social justice, and the 2SLGBTQIA+ community.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Steeves is recognized with the honorary Doctor of Divinity for her lifetime of service as an outstanding spiritual leader, wisdom-teacher, lover of nature, and compassionate activist for justice. Dr. Steeves was the longstanding and much-loved minister of Southminster-Steinhauer United Church (SSUC), which has the distinction of being Alberta’s first and oldest affirming faith community. Over almost twenty years of service, Dr. Steeves and her life partner Dr. Dawn Waring modeled and  encouraged a safe, welcoming, and participatory space which has caused SSUC to blossom into a home for members of Edmonton’s 2SLGBTQIA+ community. Under her leadership, Southminster-Steinhauer—also known as Spiritual Seekers United in Community (SSUC)—has become widely known as a spiritual home for those who are drawn to an expansive spirituality that integrates nature, poetry, books, film, music, science, and the wisdom teachings of many traditions. Dr. Steeves is passionate about a spirituality grounded in enchantment with the natural world, inspired by ancient and contemporary wisdom, and engaged in personal, social, and global change. In addition to leading and supporting various social justice causes, Dr. Steeves is also the author of Habits of the Heart: Practices for Spiritual Seekers (2023); Habits of the Heart is a collection of 31 reflections that reframe ancient stories from the Jewish Christian heritage in ways meaningful for progressive Christians, for those who are spiritual but not religious, and for those whose spirituality is deeply connected to the natural world.

Please visit our 2023 Award Recipients page to read more about Dr. Steeves and the contributions for which she is being recognized.

St. Stephen’s College confers honorary degrees and awards each year at the College’s convocation ceremony. This year, the 99th Annual Convocation will be held on October 23, 2023. Details can be found on our Convocation webpage. The convocation address will be delivered by Rev. Dr. Nancy Steeves on the theme, “To Live in Widening Circles”.

Since 1917, St. Stephen's College has granted honorary degrees in recognition of individuals who have made exceptional contributions of leadership or ministry, either to their faith community or in spiritually-integrated ways to the broader human community. Honorary degrees and awards are granted to individuals whose meritorious work embodies and extends the mission of St. Stephen's College. St. Stephen's College is an affiliated degree-granting graduate college of the University of Alberta.