Craig Kocher, University Chaplain and Jessie Ball duPont Chair of the Chaplaincy, will be leaving Richmond in June.
President Ronald Crutcher announced Kocher’s departure in an email earlier today. Kocher is leaving the university in order to be the Senior Pastor at Oak Ridge United Methodist Church in North Carolina, Crutcher wrote.
Kocher has spent seven years at Richmond and transformed religious life for students at the school. He helped hire the school’s first program coordinator of Muslim life and the first director of Jewish life, as well as the first director of Catholic campus ministries.
Kocher worked on multiple programs throughout his time here, including the One Book, One Richmond program and Consider This, a series he funded with a Teagle Foundation grant. He created the Multifaith Student Council, the Pilgrimage Program and the Chaplaincy Summer Internship program.
“I love working with students at the intersection of faith, academic life and personal discovery,” Kocher said in a Q&A on the Chaplaincy’s website.
In addition to serving as a faculty advisor and Roadmap instructor, Kocher has served as a lecturer in the Jepson School of Leadership Studies. For the Jepson Studies in Leadership series, Kocher co-edited and contributed to "Frontiers in Spiritual Leadership: Discovering the Better Angels of our Nature."
“Craig has also been a fixture of campus life,” Crutcher wrote. “He has built relationships with many faith leaders across the Richmond region.”
Before coming to Richmond, Kocher worked at Duke University and Davidson College. He has received many accolades throughout his time at Richmond, including the Jepson Student Government Association’s “Servant Leader Award” in 2013, Richmond College Student Government Association’s “Administrator of the Year” in 2012 and becoming an honorary member of the Golden Key Honor Society.
He has published columns in the Richmond Times-Dispatch and many of his sermons can be viewed on YouTube. Kocher has also had careers unrelated to faith, including working as a sportscaster for the UNC baseball and women’s basketball teams.
Kocher will be returning to his home state of North Carolina when he leaves this summer. His wife, Abby, will also be working at Oak Ridge United Methodist Church as a pastor.
The university will begin the search for a new Chaplain in August, Crutcher wrote in his email.
Contact reporter Dylan Rowell at dylan.rowell@richmond.edu
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