Staff

Rev. Ian Oliver, Pastor of the University Church and Senior Associate Chaplain for Protestant Life

Ian Oliver has served as Pastor of the University Church in Yale since 2008.  He also liaises between Yale and the many Christian student ministries on campus. He is an instructor in interfaith community building at the Yale Divinity School. and a Fellow at Berkeley College. Previously, he was University Chaplain at Bucknell University, and Associate Chaplain at the Kodaikanal International School in South India. Ian is a native of El Paso, Texas. He studied at Amherst College and the University of Chicago Divinity School. He was ordained to the ministry in the United Church of Christ at Wellington Avenue UCC in Chicago in 1990. His most recent publications on chaplaincy are a sermon “Dispatches from the Front Lines” in the Yale Divinity School magazine “Reflections” an essay “Real Security in Perilous Times” also in Reflections and an essay “In Coffin’s Pulpit:  Re-envisioning Protestant Religious Culture” in College and University Chaplaincy in the 21st Century (Lucy Forster-Smith, ed., SkyLight Paths, 2013).  His peculiar interests of the moment are: Protestant identity in secular America, the nature of the secular in higher education and the changing landscape of young adult religious identity.

Rev. Jenny Peek, Associate Pastor/Associate University Chaplain

Rev. Jenny Peek has served as the Associate Pastor of the University Church in Yale since 2017. Through her role at UCY Jenny leads worship through preaching, presiding and prayer, offers pastoral care, and supports the Student Deacons. In addition to serving the UCY community, Jenny is also an Associate University Chaplain, working within the Chaplain’s Office to serve Yale’s wider community. Around campus, Jenny can be found meeting one-on-one with students, staff, and faculty, leading monthly W{holy} Queer discussions, facilitating retreats and Spring Break New Haven, planning programming for the graduate and professional community, and serving as a Fellow at Morse College. Jenny is ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church, (U.S.A.). She attended Yale Divinity School, where she received a Master of Divinity with certificates in Educational Leadership Ministry and Reformed Studies. Prior to her time at Yale, Jenny worked for the Network for Victim Recovery of DC as a case manager and Lutheran Volunteer Corps volunteer and earned her B.A. in Psychology from Grinnell College. In her free time Jenny can often be found exploring New England with her wife and daughter, listening to musicals, or enjoying breakfast at all times of the day.

Dr. Nathaniel Gumbs, Director of Chapel Music

Nathaniel Gumbs is a native of the Bronx, NY and has performed throughout the United States and abroad, including Antigua, St. Thomas, Ghana, Paris, and Munich.  He currently serves as Director of Chapel Music at Yale University where he works with students, faculty, and guests to coordinate music for three worshiping communities: the University Church in Battell Chapel, and at Yale Divinity School in both Marquand Chapel and at Berkeley Divinity School. Dr. Gumbs earned his undergraduate degree from Shenandoah Conservatory in Virginia, his Master of Music degree from Yale University, and in 2021 completed a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Eastman School of Music.  Nathaniel’s principal teachers include Steven Cooksey, David Higgs, and Martin Jean. Prior to his position at Yale, Dr. Gumbs served as Director of Music and Arts and Church Organist at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, where he led several hundred volunteer musicians and staff in four choirs and other ensembles.  He has also been a frequent guest musician at Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem and served as organist and clinician for the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference. In 2017 The Diapason magazine recognized Nathaniel as one of 20 outstanding organists under 30 years old for his achievement in organ performance and church music.  In 2018, Nathaniel curated the opening Hymn Festival (Singing Diverse Music in The New Church) for the Hymn Society’s annual conference.

Emily Farnell, Liturgical Coordinator 

Emily Farnell (she/her) is a second year Master of Divinity student at Yale Divinity School. Prior to her time at Yale, she received a B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.A. in Government from Georgetown, and worked for nearly a decade in the federal government in both North Carolina and Washington, DC.  Emily is seeking ordination as an Elder in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church. Her academic and pastoral interests are focused on the holy, chaotic mixing of politics, policy, liturgy, and practical theology. Outside of ministry life, Emily is an unabashed musical theater nerd, zealous UNC basketball fan, and is a “coffee monster”, according to her three-year-old niece. Emily is thrilled to be a part of the wonderful UCY community!

Lily Jurskis, Sam Slie Fellow and UCY Intern

Lily-Katherine Jurskis (she/they) is a third-year Master of Divinity candidate at Yale Divinity School, where she has focused on the intersection between faith and creativity. Prior to her time at Yale, Lily received a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Creative Writing from Marshall University in 2021. She was the editor-in-chief of the EtCetera literary journal in 2020, as well as the visual arts editor at Letters from 2022-23. Her creative and pastoral work is focused on the different forms prayer can take, and she seeks to make each work of art and writing a manifestation of worship and contemplation. Her poetry has been published in multiple journals, including Letters and The Blue Route. Her visual art has been featured in several galleries across the southeast United States, as well as on the cover of the poetry collection Much by Joel Peckham. In her free time, she works as a self-proclaimed “trash dragon,” and is an avid collector of trinkets, water-damaged books, shiny rocks, and plastic ephemera.

Sarah Shapiro, Choir Director

Sarah Shapiro is a conductor, composer, and mezzo-soprano pursuing a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music. Originally from New York City and the Chicago suburbs, she was brought up in an Episcopal church choir through the Royal School of Church Music before attending St. Olaf College, where she holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree and K-12 teaching licensure. During her undergraduate studies, she conducted St. Olaf’s vocal jazz ensemble, Ole Ave Vocal Jazz, as well as St. Olaf’s student composer choir, Spiritus Novus. Sarah has attended a variety of summer music programs, including Aspen Music Festival, Sarteano Chamber Choral Conducting Workshop, Cascade Choral Conducting Masterclass, University of North Texas Choral Conducting Symposium, the Conductors Retreat at Medomak, and Amherst Early Music Festival. She has also been composing choral music for a decade and was recently named a National Finalist for the American Prize in Choral Composition for four of her pieces.

Mengfei Xu, Organist

Born in Dalian, China, Mengfei Xu earned keyboard performance degrees from Xinghai Conservatory of Music, Ithaca College, and UNC-Greensboro. Currently, Xu is completing her graduate studies in organ performance at Yale Institute of Sacred Music. Her primary teachers include Andrew Willis (piano and historical keyboard), Charis Dimaras (piano), Carole Terry (organ), Craig Cramer (organ), André Lash (organ), and Jean Radice (organ and harpsichord). As a soloist, Mengfei performed piano concertos with Shenzhen Philharmonic Orchestra, Ithaca College Symphony Orchestra, and UNCG Symphony Orchestra. As an organist, she performed in AGO Greater Greensboro Chapter organ recital in 2016. She was awarded numerous scholarships from multiple organizations, including 2016 Richard VanSciver Church Music Scholarship by Metropolitan Music Ministries, 2017 Montréal Organ Festival Young Organist Scholarship by Royal Canadian College of Organists, 2018 AGO National Convention Young Organist Scholarship, and 2022 Charles Ives Prize for outstanding organ student by Yale School of Music. At her spare time, Mengfei enjoys road tripping and hiking.