Powery Reappointed as Dean of Duke Chapel

Dean Powers

The Rev. Luke A. Powery has been appointed to serve a fourth term as dean of Duke University Chapel, President Vincent E. Price announced this week. 

The reappointment follows a scheduled administrative review conducted this spring by a committee of faculty members and administrators and chaired by Leigh Goller, Duke’s chief audit, risk and compliance officer.

“Luke is an outstanding leader of Duke Chapel and ambassador for spiritual and religious life at Duke,” said Price. “He embodies the Chapel’s mission of bridging faith and learning and, through his broader engagement with religious life at Duke and in Durham, he has helped build a strong sense of community and connection across diverse beliefs, traditions, and institutions. I look forward to his continued leadership and the many ways it will support our community.”

Powery has served as Dean of the Chapel since 2012 and holds faculty appointments in both Duke Divinity School and Trinity College of Arts & Sciences.

As dean of the Chapel, Powery leads and oversees the staff of Duke University Chapel and Religious Life at Duke, the latter representing 24 multifaith groups. He is responsible for liturgical leadership and sermons at significant university events and Sunday morning worship services, and plays an active role in the university’s administrative, academic, and campus life. 

Since his reappointment to a third term, Powery has helped expand Duke Chapel’s ministry and programming across the university as well as opportunities for the broader Durham community to engage in religious life through worship, music and the arts, interfaith dialogue, and the new Few lecture series and Pluralism lecture series.

He has overseen an expansion of the Chapel’s ministry and Religious Life at Duke through the appointments of Duke’s first Hindu and Buddhist Chaplains; the introduction of the QuadEx Chaplains team that integrates undergraduate pastoral care with the university’s residential education experience; a nearly 300% increase in student participation in the Duke Chapel Scholars program; the launch of the Purpose Project-funded ‘Say the Thing’ program that offers students an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of life and their purpose; the creation of the summer Bridge Internship residential program with North Carolina Central University that brings students together from both institutions to learn across faith traditions and backgrounds; and the launch of the Interfaith Campus Pilgrimages program that supports graduate students in learning across religious traditions.

Powery has also initiated the engagement of campus partners in a formal advisory capacity through the Religious Affairs Advisory Council.

His new term will begin July 1, 2027.