Kingdom Diversity

Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and The College at Southeastern are committed to equipping students to serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission.

Southeastern is committed to equipping groups who have been historically underrepresented on our campus to serve the church and fulfill the Great Commission. Our financial aid resources represent part of a holistic effort to support current and future students in an attempt to make our campus look more like the kingdom..

Our Goals

1. We strive to foster a campus environment that encourages God-honoring interaction across cultural lines.
2. Southeastern strives to raise historically underrepresented demographics on campus by working to be comprised of 20% culturally diverse faculty, staff, and students, and 35% female by 2022.
3. We work with the faculty by providing resources to assist them with curriculum development and to facilitate classrooms that equip every student to minister to people of different ethnic backgrounds.
4. We work to build and strengthen partnerships with diverse churches, church networks, and educational institutions.
5. We strive to serve SBC churches (and beyond) as a resource to help foster diversity within the church and the broader denominational environment.

The Kingdom Diversity Scholarship is comprised of several scholarship funds, including an endowment in honor of President Daniel L. Akin. In addition, for your convenience the Financial Aid office has compiled a variety of scholarships facilitated by other organizations.

Qualifications and Eligibility
A limited number of scholarship awards are made available each academic year under the following parameters:

• Student must be from an underrepresented culture or a woman in a doctoral program. Students of African descent
  • Students of Asian descent
  • Students of Hispanic/Latin descent
  • Students of Native American descent
  • Students of Middle Eastern descent
  • All women studying at the doctoral level
  • International Students
  • First generation immigrants
  • Those who serve on mission teams serving non-Western people groups domestically or internationally.
• Scholarships are open to prospective and current students.
• Show a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.5 in all previous undergraduate and graduate coursework.However, if your cumulative GPA is between 2.5 and 2.75, include an explanation of your GPA at the end of your personal statement.

Cultivating the academic gifts of women. 
The Society for Women in Scholarship seeks to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ by cultivating academic gifts, encouraging scholarly practices, and facilitating opportunities for women to contribute to the academy in order to serve the Church and fulfill the Great Commission.

What is The Society for Women in Scholarship?
The Society was created as a means to help women who are academically and theologically gifted gain valuable support during their time at the academy. It’s a member-based society with multiple levels of membership, depending on your relationship to Southeastern and your commitment abilities. The Society also seeks to give back to the seminary by holding academic events that will benefit and equip the entire student body. It’s not something only for women. While membership and meetings are female-only, events, and colloquiums put on by The Society are offered as a resource for the entire student body.

The Hispanic Leadership Development Office seeks to train Spanish speaking leaders throughout the world.
We believe that training Hispanic leaders is an essential aspect of making disciples of all nations. We do this by offering various degree programs through a variety of delivery methods. The initiative includes:

• Accredited Spanish language master’s degree education to leadership cohorts in various countries
• Spanish language certificate and master’s degree online education options for Spanish speakers in the United States
• Opportunities for Spanish speaking on campus students to get involved

The Persian Leadership Development Office seeks to train Farsi speaking leaders throughout the world. To our knowledge, this is the first accredited degree-level training in Farsi offered from a seminary.

This initiative will provide theological education to Farsi-speaking church leaders. Southeastern’s Global Theological Initiatives is partnering with a ministry organization that is offering free online training in Farsi since 2017. Ongoing strategy will include the development and offering of certificate and bachelor’s level training. This bachelor’s degree is the first ever of its kind offered by an accredited institution in the world. The later phases of the initiative will hopefully include masters level training in Farsi as well.

• Theological education in Farsi for Persian church leaders
• Accredited Farsi degrees

East Asian Leadership Initiative seeks to train and equip East Asian leaders for the Great Commission of Jesus Christ. We will focus on engaging leaders across East Asia who serve both in theological education and the local church.

• MTS, MA in CM and Certificate in Biblical Counseling starting in Fall in 2019 in East Asian Countries
• ESL Plan TBD
• Theological education in East Asian countries
• The first launch date for accredited master’s degrees in China and Korea in Fall 2019
• Different language certificate and master’s degree online education options for East Asians in the United States will be available in 2020
• Opportunities for on-campus Asian students to get involved.