Parvey, Constance F.

One of the first women admitted to Harvard Divinity School (1955) and one of the first to be ordained in the Lutheran Church (1972), Constance F. Parvey received her B.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1952. She served as chaplain at Harvard (1955-1962), at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (1963-1965), at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1972-1977), and was the pastor at University Lutheran Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts (1972-1977). From 1977-1981 she was director of the Community of Men and Women in the Church study for the World Council of Churches. This study included 300 local commissions all over the world each of which reported on the roles of women in the churches in their area. Parvey edited the Ordination of Women in Ecumenical Perspective: Workbook for the Church's Future (1980) and The Community of Men and Women in the Church (1983). She has taught around the world, including at Harvard Divinity School, Vancouver School of Theology, and Bryn Mawr College.