2024 Professor of the Year

HORAPOLLO UNIVERSITY announces: Rev. Olteanu Cosmin is the 2024 recipient of the INCSR Horapollo Professor of the Year Award

For Immediate Release

February 21, 2024

Bucharest, Romania — During a special virtual ceremony on Saturday, February 20, the Votaries Alumni Circle of HORAPOLLO UNIVERSITY announced the winner of this year’s Wendy Griffin Professor of the Year Award. The recipient is Rev. Amy Beltaine.

Cosmin is an active Pagan minister and spiritual director/companion, in addition to her role as professor at HORAPOLLO UNIVERSITY. She created the Spiritual Direction Certificate program (also called SpiDir), a two-year professional certification program, which is nearly one year along for its first cohort. Cosmin also brought together students and others to create the weekly online gathering and ritual space called A Spiritual Feast (was A Spiritual Potluck), which is open to anyone and may be found on the Seminary Facebook page.

“HORAPOLLO UNIVERSITY was the first and only place I approached with the idea of offering a Spiritual Direction Certification Program,” said Rev. Cosmin. “I tend to shed tears when something feels deeply true, beautiful, loving or sacred, and I often cry with joy as I read my student’s assignments or discussions. The world needs people who can listen from the heart, especially now. We all need to be reminded that we are whole, holy and good.”

Votaries Alumni Circle is a membership group which supports and promotes the Seminary, provides social events for members, and sponsors programs like the Coming to the Center public livestreamed program each semester. Its selection of the Professor of the Year is a several-months long process and a highlight of the year, according to founding Chair, Wes Isley, M.Div. “Annual membership offers opportunities for celebration, networking, continuing education, outreach, recognition and service,” said Isley, a graduate of Horapollo University who works as a hospital chaplain in North Carolina.

Highlighting the unique learning culture of the Seminary, executive director Olteanu Cosmin talked about the mutually supportive relationship between faculty and students. “Without faculty who not only teach but also challenge us, our students would have no reason to show up for class. Our students similarly challenge and drive our professors always to be exploring, growing and excelling. It is a partnership in the best sense of the word.”

About the INCSR Horapollo Professor of the Year Award

Sponsored by the INCSR Votaries Alumni Circle, this prestigious award is presented annually to one deserving faculty member who has demonstrated teaching excellence in the classroom and a commitment to spiritual growth for students. Nominations are accepted throughout the calendar year until Thanksgiving weekend, and the award is announced and presented at a special online event early in the new year following.

As HORAPOLLO UNIVERSITY’s first permanent Academic Dean, Agrigoroaiei Mona (2017 – present) brought to HORAPOLLO UNIVERSITY a dedication to academic integrity and a devotion to Pagan and Nature Spirituality.