Rev. MacPherson will start at Syracuse University as dean of Hendricks Chapel on August 9, 2026.
Rev. Corey S. MacPherson, DMin, PhD, is the eighth dean of Hendricks Chapel at Syracuse University, bringing more than two decades of experience in religious and spiritual life leadership across higher education, ministry, and public service.
MacPherson most recently served as director of Penn State’s Center for Spiritual and Ethical Development, a role he stepped into during a period of transition for the office. There, he led a restructuring of the center, developed a new religious affiliate agreement to clarify the shared use of sacred campus spaces, and authored a strategic plan to guide the center’s future direction and student engagement.
From 2015 to 2025, MacPherson served as university chaplain and Protestant campus minister at Colgate University, where he supervised a team of chaplains and religious leaders supporting twelve religious and secular communities. He secured a major donor gift to bring Tim Tebow to campus for a speaking series on faith and purpose, and worked to rebuild donor trust that led to a bequest supporting the Protestant ministry staff role. He co-lectured with Rev. Al Sharpton, produced the annual Gospel Fest from 2016 to 2020 and again in 2023, and chaired multiple university-wide search committees, including for the associate university chaplain, the campus rabbi and the campus imam. He served as a voting member of the faculty, sat on the dean of the college’s managers and directors board, was a founding member of the president and provost’s task force on inclusive excellence, and served on Colgate’s Emergency Operations Command and its Sexual Intimate Partner Violence Coalition.
Before Colgate, MacPherson spent seven years as vice president for Spiritual Development and Church Relations and chaplain of the college at Eastern Nazarene College, a cabinet-level role advising the college president on spiritual life and church relations. He built and sustained relationships with more than 700 churches nationwide, generating over $1.3 million annually in support of the college’s mission. He established a partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission’s Homeless Service Bureau, launched the Church Bridge Program placing non-ministry majors in summer roles with local congregations, chaired the college’s Spiritual Formation Committee, and taught preaching to upper-division students.
MacPherson began his career as founding pastor of North Shore Church of the Nazarene in Stony Brook, New York, growing the congregation from a house church into a fully organized church recognized by the Metro New York District. He raised more than $300,000 to secure eleven acres of land for future ministry and developed a plan for workforce housing on church property.
He also serves as a chaplain in the U.S. Army Chaplain Reserve, holding the rank of captain in the 403d Civil Affairs Battalion, where he provides pastoral care to soldiers and their families and advises commanders on ethical and morale matters. For seven years, he served as the non-scientist ethicist on the federally mandated Institutional Review Board at Stony Brook University Medical Center, an experience that shaped his perspective on research ethics and one he expects to draw on as he joins an R1 research institution.
MacPherson holds a PhD in Leadership Studies from Gonzaga University, where his dissertation was titled Building Bridges: A Chaplain’s Autoethnographic Journey Toward a Pastoral Theology for the Local Church, and a Master of Arts in Organizational Leadership, also from Gonzaga. His theological training includes a Doctor of Ministry from Asbury Theological Seminary, where his dissertation examined The Use of Internet Sermon Resources in Christian Preaching, and a Master of Divinity from Nazarene Theological Seminary. He is an ordained elder in the Church of the Nazarene and holds an Executive Certificate in Religious Fundraising from the Lake Institute on Faith & Giving at Indiana University’s Lilly School of Philanthropy.
MacPherson was a regular contributor to HuffPost and other publications for several years. His most recent work is an upcoming chapter in Dispatches from Campus, edited by Michael Chan and Adam White, forthcoming from Augsburg Press in spring 2027.
MacPherson has been married to his wife, Edie, for nearly 30 years. They have two adult children: Katherine, who serves as the children’s director at a church, and Logan, a college senior. MacPherson is an avid runner. Running has become an important part of his life; he has completed 15 marathons and two 50-mile ultramarathons.