Georgetown University has welcomed a new director for Protestant life.

Officials appointed Rev. Ebony Grisom, who has served in Georgetown Campus Ministry since 2019, first acting as a Protestant chaplain and then as the interim director for Protestant life, on Aug. 21 just as students returned to campus for the start of the fall semester. Prior to Rev. Grisom’s time at Georgetown, she served as the director of the Ecumenical Poverty Initiative in Washington, D.C. after earning her Master of Divinity from Duke Divinity School in 2013 and being ordained in 2016. 

Rev. Grisom said that in her new role, she looks to continue in building upon the foundation already established as Interim Director, especially in her more student-oriented and community-facing work.

“Part of my work includes accompanying students through life circumstances but also occasionally those facing significant crises. Lots of joy, as well.” Rev. Grisom told The Hoya. “A lot of formation in the faith, as well as what it means to be a person of faith for Christians here at Georgetown, and how to integrate faith into their lives.”

Fr. Mark Bosco, S.J., Ph.D., the vice president for mission and ministry, announced Grisom’s new position in an Aug. 21 email to the Georgetown community. 

Bosco said Grisom has a deep commitment to her values of faith and diversity.

“Rev. Grisom has established herself as a gifted spiritual leader with a commitment to living out a faith that does justice,” Bosco wrote in the email. “She has also embodied our community’s commitment to building an authentic community in diversity.”

While her new role will come with broadened administrative responsibilities, Rev. Grisom said she aims to maintain the close relationships she has fostered with many of the students involved in Campus Ministry.

“In some ways, it’s a continuation of the work that I’ve been doing,” Grisom said. “But a lot of the work that is most directed towards students actually will remain the same.”

She looks forward to the stability that the official role provides, for her, her students and her staff.

“I’m looking forward to a sort of settledness, I hope for not only me, but particularly for the students,” Rev. Grisom said. “A lot of our work together and now journeying in formation together will stay the same, but it sort of in theory removes the limbo.” 

Rev. Grisom participates in many programs at Georgetown outside of her work as Protestant chaplain, including the Let Freedom Ring initiative, which celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King’s legacy, and the Sister Thea Bowman Lecture Series, which focuses on African-American Protestant and Catholic spirituality.

The student-facing activities that Grisom has organized have impacted many Georgetown students, including Sam Lovell (CAS ‘25), providing an outlet and a sense of stability throughout the upheaval of the past few years. 

Lovell, a Protestant Ministry participant, said Grisom’s efforts provided him with a strong and loving community at Georgetown.

“Honestly life in Protestant Ministry has been bedrock for me since my freshman year,” Lovell told The Hoya. “It’s been really grounding. I would say that I think Rev. Grisom has done an amazing job at bringing students together.” 

Rev. TauVaughn Toney, who has worked under Rev. Grisom as a Protestant chaplain at the university since Spring 2022, said that he learned how to lead from Grisom’s deep connections with students and faculty.

“I’ve learned a lot and gleaned a lot from her leadership. She’s an amazing pastor and cares for students deeply, and watching her interact with students and faculty and just the Georgetown community has been a joy to see and it’s been great,” Toney told The Hoya. 

Rev. Grisom is looking forward to the expanded community and opportunity that this new role provides her, noting the multitude of colleagues who have reached out to her in the past few weeks to congratulate and support her. 

“In the last week or so I’ve heard from people around the department, around the university who I don’t even know which has been really nice. And all of them expressing congratulations, and in some cases, a desire to work together. And I’m looking, definitely looking forward to that,” Grisom said.