Associate Dean of the Faculty, Associate Professor of Unitarian Universalist History, Director of Certificate in Unitarian Universalist Studies, Full-time Core Faculty, Staff
B.A. Linguistics, University of Chicago
M.Div., Harvard Divinity School
Ph.D. Theology and Church History, Durham University, England
Rev. Dr. Meg Richardson joined the faculty of Starr King School in 2014 as Visiting Assistant Professor of Unitarian Universalist History. Dr. Richardson, a graduate of Harvard Divinity School and Durham University, has studied our living tradition in both the United States and Great Britain, and was mentored by scholars including Conrad Wright, James Luther Adams and Sheridan Gilley. In addition to serving as the Director for the UU Certificate program, Dr. Richardson teaches UU History and Polity.
Dr. Richardson grew up attending the Unitarian Universalist Society of Wellesley Hills, where she was a product of UU religious education and a member of Liberal Religious Youth. Her love of languages led to a BA in Linguistics from the University of Chicago but while there she discovered her passion was for meaning, not grammar. The search for meaning and its historical context led her to Harvard Divinity School and on to England: to Manchester College Oxford and Durham University. In England she studied 19th century British Nonconformism and explored the life and work of Francis William Newman, the Unitarian brother of Saint John Henry Newman. She earned a Ph.D. in Theology and Church History and wrote a chapter about the Newman brothers’ history for Oxford University Press’ The Oxford Handbook of John Henry Newman (2018). Her latest publication is a chapter in The Through Line: 200 Years of Berry Street Essays (2021).
Dr. Richardson is married to Paul, a biopolymer physical chemist. They live in San Ramon with their daughter Rebecca, and a rescued dog named Opal. For over fifteen years Dr. Richardson has been an autism advocate for Rebecca, as well as in the community. Another daughter, Abby is a PhD student at the University of Manchester in Theoretical Chemistry. Among the activities Dr. Richardson pursues with more enthusiasm than talent are singing, knitting, Zumba and volleyball. Dr. Richardson is a member of Mount Diablo Unitarian Universalist Church where she is an affiliated community minister
