Bio – Olson, Reginald Dennis

Olson, Reginald Dennis

                                        Murmurmontis 1982

Born: September 11, 1942 (Cleveland, OH)

Died: April 23, 2017 (Mount Pleasant Retirement Home, Monroe, OH)

Education:

    • B.A. Ohio State University, 1964
    • B.D. Garrett Theological Seminary, 1968
    • M.A. Ohio State University, 1969 (Sociology, focusing on the Sociology of Religion)
    • Ph.D. Ohio State University, 1971
    • M.S.W. West Virginia University,

Taught:

  • Associate Professor of Sociology 1979-86
  • Professor of Sociology and Social Work 1986-88

Notes:

  • Rode the midnight bus from Columbus, OH to Washington, D.C. in 1963 and was present for the Martin Luther King, Jr. “I Have a Dream” speech.
  • January, 1969 to March 1971: Teaching Assistant in Sociology of Religion, and Social Problems, Ohio State University
  • September 1971 to 1979: Assistant Professor, Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio
  • 1972-1978: Assistant Professor, Ohio University, Zanesville, Part-time
  • January 1979 Sabbatical research at the World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland
  • Created the West Virginia Wesleyan Peace Award, which he personally presented to:
      • 1985 (April 13) Senator Jennings Randolph for his work to establish the United States Institute of Peace
      • 1985 (November 11) Jimmy Carter for the Camp David Peace Accords
      • 1987 (November 10) Retired Admiral Eugene Carroll, Jr. of the Center for Defense Information
      • 1988 (May 13) United Methodist Council of Bishops for their letter, “In Defense of Creation: The Nuclear Crisis and a Just Peace.”
  • Executive Director of the Campus Ministry Center (now the Interfaith Center) at Miami University (Oxford, OH) where he worked diligently for peace and justice initiatives, mediation and conflict resolution practices, and interfaith understanding.
  • He and his wife were active in the national (Methodist) Reconciling Ministries Network.
  • In 2002 he and his wife, Barbara, moved to Mount Pleasant Retirement Community (Monroe, OH) where they pursued political activism, community education, and justice issues.
  • Reginald and Barbara were activists, pushing for openness and reform within the United Methodist Church and worked to change the church’s official policy that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching. They advocated for a fully inclusive and loving church for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities at four international General Conferences between 2000 and 2012.

Carter, Jimmy and Reginald Olson 1979-82

Sources:

  • Murmurmontis
  • Sundial
    • Summer/Fall 1988

If you know this person and have information, stories, or photographs you would like to submit for consideration, please email historian@wvwc.edu.

PLM 1/20/2019