Staff & Leadership
Staff & Leadership
The Rev. Dr. Rosanna Anderson
Pastor
The Reverend Dr. Rosanna Anderson is the Pastor of Fishers Island Union Chapel and has been an ecumenical leader here since December 2021. She is an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA) with eighteen of experience, having served large churches in New York City and its suburbs and smaller churches in Nashville. She holds Dual Standing in the United Church of Christ as an authorized minister of the New London Association of the Southern New England Conference of the UCC.
Dr. Anderson serves on the Board of Directors of the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. She is the author of numerous articles, prayers, devotions, and Bible studies for youth and adults. She has spoken at conferences across the country. She previously spent four years on the denominational staff of The United Methodist Church at Discipleship Ministries, specializing in stewardship and intergenerational ministries.
Rosanna was raised in the Presbyterian Church (USA) in the San Francisco Bay Area and Washington, DC area, where her father was a researcher for the U.S. Department of Agriculture and an Elder in the PC(USA) and her late mother was a PC(USA) minister and Chaplain at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington, DC. Rosanna’s call to ministry was affirmed by the congregation of Little Falls Presbyterian Church during high school and was nurtured by National Capital Presbytery.
Ministry Experience
During graduate school, Rosanna was an intern at two large churches: the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, NJ, where she worked with high school students and was a worship leader, and at the First Presbyterian Church of West Chester, PA, where she assisted the ministries of the four pastors during the summer when one was retiring and another prepared for maternity leave. She honed her pastoral care skills as a Chaplain in the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program at Overlook Medical Center, a teaching hospital in Summit, NJ. She was a post-graduate Pastoral Intern at the First Presbyterian Church of Ramsey, NJ, and served as the Chaplain at the Woodlands Home for Seniors, also in that suburb of New York City.
At Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan, she enjoyed serving as the Director of Christian Education and youth ministry for four years, from 1999 to 2003. After marriage, she was the Associate Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in the colonial village of Cranbury, NJ, for nearly eight years. When her husband accepted an appointment at Vanderbilt University, she joined the staff of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Nashville, and later was Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, TN (now 5th Avenue Uniting Church).
Educational Background
Dr. Anderson received her Doctor of Ministry degree from Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Her dissertation was on “Preaching for Generosity: A Textual Analysis of Stewardship Sermons.” While there, she wrote “Jesus Is Our King” for the 2016 Lenten Devotional.
She did her Master of Divinity degree at Princeton Theological Seminary. In her final year, she won a national seminarian essay contest on “The Ecumenical Imperative of the PC(USA)” and was awarded a scholarship to the World Council of Churches’ Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland. At Princeton, she was elected a student representative on the Chapel Council, edited “Keeping Watch in the Garden,” the 1998 Lenten Devotional, and was elected to the Board of the Women’s Center, where she led the feminist theology discussion group and organized student lunches with women faculty. She was selected to represent Princeton in the interfaith dialogue program Seminarians Interacting and at the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Stamford, CT. She worked on an archaeological dig at Tel Beth Shemesh, Israel.
She received her Bachelor of Arts from Marymount University, with a double major in Philosophy and English and a minor in History of Art. During college, she was a peer tutor at the university library, volunteered in the music therapy program for Alzheimer’s patients at the Veterans Affairs nursing home, and was an intern at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.
Other Study and Credentials
While living in New York City, she completed a Certificate in Jewish Studies from Hebrew Union College – Jewish Institute of Religion. She holds a Certificate in Revenue Development from the Center for Nonprofit Management in Nashville. In the area of business management, she received a Verified Certificate from the University of Pennsylvania – Coursera. She is a Certified Supervisor of Field Education through Princeton Theological Seminary, where she completed the Certificate in Youth and Theology, and is a Certified Christian Educator of the PC(USA).
Publications and Presentations
Dr. Anderson presented the findings of her doctoral dissertation at the Christian Scholars’ Conference at Lipscomb University in Nashville in 2021. She gave presentations at “Momentum,” the UMC School of Congregational Development in San Diego, CA, and at “Curious Church,” the biennial conference of Christians Engaged in Faith Formation in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2018. She taught six webinars on generosity and intergenerational ministries for pastors and lay leaders of the United Methodist Church in America and around the world.
She is the author of God Loves Us adult student’s book, the Spring 2017 Bible Study in The Present Word series, as well as a series of devotions in These Days January 2015, and youth ministry curriculum We Believe: God’s Word for God’s People, which were used by thousands of churches in the PC(USA). A summary of her dissertation research titled “Text Mining Stewardship Sermons” was published in the journal Discernment: Theology and the Practice of Ministry Vol. 7, Iss. 2. Her article “Three Historic Approaches to Money in the Church: An in-depth look at Through the Eye of a Needle” was published in Giving magazine of the Ecumenical Stewardship Center and is a resource of the Lake Institute on Faith + Giving at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy at Indiana University.
The United Methodist Church published her 180 offertory prayers and litanies, thirty-one book reviews, and eleven articles on generosity, such as “How to Talk About Giving” and “Giving for New Life,” which encourages participation in a special offering in support of World AIDS Day, as well as thirty-two children’s messages, five family faith celebrations, and two Christian education leader retreats, such as “Using New and Traditional Tools in Faith Formation.”
She was also quoted articles such as “Let the Children Give,” and “Creating the Perfect Place for Preschoolers” in Children’s Ministry magazine.
Service to the Wider Church
Other service to the PC(USA) includes being a Reader of the standard Ordination Exams in Biblical Exegesis in Raleigh, NC, a Minister Commissioner to General Assembly in Minneapolis, MN, a member of the denomination’s Committee on Church Growth, Education and the Presbyterian Investment and Loan Program, and a Certification Advisor for candidates in Christian education. In the Presbytery of Middle Tennessee she was on the Finance Committee, Chair of the Fellowship of the Ordained for the Leadership Excellence Committee, and Moderator of the Christian Education Committee. In the Presbytery of the Coastlands (formerly Monmouth Presbytery), she was Co-Chair of the Committee on Preparation for Ministry.
Personal Life
Rosanna appreciates the natural beauty of Fishers Island and its community life. She has developed partnerships and hosted collaborative activities with other island organizations, including the Library and Lighthouse Works art studio. She was recently sworn in as a member of the Board of Education and serves on the Board of Elections. As a lifelong learner, she is a member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, a Graduate Gemologist of GIA New York, and takes weekly Chinese lessons. She enjoys walking her family’s Jack Russell terriers. Her spouse, Dr. Clifford Anderson, is the author of numerous books and articles and is the Director of the Divinity School Library at Yale University. Their son, Theodore, is a high school student at Fishers Island School who enjoys 3D printing, skiing, sailing and oceanography.
Laura Chapman
Director of Operations
laura.chapman@fiunionchapel.org
Laura Chapman is the Director of Operations at Union Chapel. She helps to manage the financial processes as well as the ongoing maintenance and improvement projects at our Chapel, Parsonage, Thrift Shop, courtyard and grounds.
Becky Walters
Administrative Assistant
becky.walters@fiunionchapel.org
Becky Walters is the Administrative Assistant of Union Chapel. She is available in the church office from on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from September through June and on Monday mornings in July and August.
Diane Dawson Dexter
Organist
After a long and distinguished career as a science teacher and holding other positions such as CEO, accountant, and stay-at-home Mom, Diane retired in 2001 to Fishers Island, where she had been coming during summers for most of her life. While intending to focus on her painting, Diane immediately dove into island life, serving in many capacities in the community. She was also very active at Union Chapel as moderator and deacon. We are very blessed to have Diane as our organist on Sundays.
Clifford Anderson
Director of Communications
Clifford Anderson is the Director of Communications at Union Chapel. He edits the church’s weekly email, News & Events at Union Chapel, as well as Chapel Happenings, our quarterly newsletter. He also connects with collaborators at community organizations and oversees the projects in our Media Lab for Good.
Wes Walters
Live Stream Technician
Wes Walters is the Live Stream Technician at Union Chapel. He runs the live stream for Sunday morning worship services in the building at 10:00 a.m. He also edits and uploads sermon videos to our YouTube channel.
Board of Trustees
Louise Burnham Packard, Chair
Anita Fritze, Clerk
Greg Lang, Treasurer
Susie Brinckerhoff, David Burnham, Sarah Porter, Janio Spinola
Church Council
Members of the Board of Trustees
Clifford Anderson, Krysia Burnham, HP Bunaes, Mere Doyen, Susie Ferguson