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Terri Cissé, MDiv

When you meet Terri Cissé, you are immediately drawn to her ebullient smile and regal bearing, to the comfortable mix of warmth and seriousness of purpose. Her favorite color, pink, is her trademark, whether she is dressed in a contemporary outfit or traditional African attire—a sense of fashion that reflects both her positive outlook and her ability to move across cultures and faiths.

Terri sees no contradiction between her Pentecostal roots and her preparation for ordination in the Presbyterian Church. She points out that "Pentecostalism is not a denomination. It's a movement. You can be a Pentecostal Catholic. You can be all kinds of Pentecostals." In fact, she says, some Pentecostal students are drawn to Harvard Divinity School because "there's a freedom of expression" here.

It is Pentecostalism—a movement whose catalyst was William J. Seymour and the Azusa Street Revival in the early part of the twentieth century—that informs her views on the black church and on issues of embodiment and freedom. "Given all that we've been through as a people, we need a space to shout," Terri says. However, she cautions that African Americans also need a sacred space where they can share what they are really going through: "After we're done shouting . . . we've got to help people move on psychologically, and I don't think there's enough of that." She is, however, optimistic that there is growing recognition of the importance of integrating psychological support into the African American religious experience.

At HDS Terri managed to balance motherhood and a demanding MDiv program, while also staying active in school and community life. For two years she served as president of Harambee, the HDS student group for students of African descent, and she accepted an appointment as seminarian with Harvard's Memorial Church, a position she is continuing to hold after her HDS graduation.

Terri traces her broad outlook on ministry to a call she received while an undergraduate at Mississippi University for Women. This call, in her college's undergraduate admissions office, led to a brief career in university administration. After graduation, while working as an administrator at Penn State, she came to the attention of a Saudi family. The family's patriarch, who was the head of the Islamic Society for North America, was looking for someone to homeschool his children, someone familiar with Islam who was also "a good Christian person." Terri, who was married to an African Muslim working in Timbuktu, felt called to accept the unique job offer and left her job in the French department at Penn State to be the full-time, live-in teacher to the family's five children. Looking back on the experience, she says, "I always felt I was a liaison between the cultures."

Terri next received an MA from Columbia Seminary in intercultural/interfaith studies, with a focus in Islamic studies. Her desire to learn more about African American religious history in a dynamic, pluralistic academic setting eventually led her to the MDiv program at HDS. Here, her interests included both African American religious history and pastoral care and counseling. In 2007-08, Terri begins her first year as Protestant Christian chaplain at Wellesley College—at the same time starting a dual degree program (MSW and DMin) in pastoral psychology at Boston University.

Profile Posted July 2007. Photograph by Stephanie Mitchell.