Harvard Divinity School Announces 2026 Gomes Honors: Leading with Courage and Humility

Since graduating from Harvard Divinity School, Rob Sánchez Nelson has been called to justice-rooted leadership. An Indigiqueer (Lipan Apache), and Chicanx leader, Sánchez Nelson is currently pursuing a doctorate in education at the University of Illinois. Now, as the director of JEDI & HR at Openhouse, a San Francisco nonprofit supporting LGBTQIA2S+ older adults, Sánchez Nelson advances institutional transformation grounded in dignity and care. Their ministry advances racial, queer, and Indigenous justice in both policy and lived practice. HDS recognizes Rob Sánchez Nelson, MTS ’16, as a Gomes honoree for advocating for equity and justice while building community rooted in our shared humanity. 
 

Gloria E. White-Hammond, MDiv '97, is co-pastor of Bethel AME Church and a retired pediatrician with nearly 30 years in clinical care. She co-founded My Sister’s Keeper, a faith-based, women-led organization advancing justice for women and girls in conflict zones. A former Swartz resident practitioner in ministry studies at HDS, she also co-directed the “Spirituality and Healing in Medicine” course offered at Harvard Medical School. HDS recognizes Rev. Dr. Gloria E. White-Hammond, MDiv ’97, as a Gomes honoree for healing with strength and humility—bringing medicine, ministry, and justice into faithful partnership.

In 1958, Martin Luther King Jr. personally recruited Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. as a 10th grader to attend Morehouse College. Twenty-one years later, Rev. Carter became the founding dean of the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel. He also became a tenured professor of religion, as well as the college archivist and curator during his decades at Morehouse.

An ordained American Baptist minister and renowned scholar, Carter earned a bachelor degree from Virginia University of Lynchburg in social science and psychology, as well as an MDiv degree in theology, a STM degree in pastoral care, and a PhD in pastoral psychology and counseling from Boston University. Additionally, he holds certifications in multidisciplinary clinical training, clinical pastoral education, the editing of historical documents, and community nonviolent training. Carter was a 1994 Fulbright-Hayes Scholar in Brazil, and twice a National Endowment for the Humanities fellow in 1993 and 1996. HDS recognizes Rev. Lawrence Edward Carter Sr. as a Gomes honoree for a lifetime of advancing civil rights advocacy, mentoring students through excellence in education, and building bridges across generations and faith traditions.