In a Tuesday interview with the Collegian, Associate Professor of Religious Studies Krista Dalton announced that she would be leaving the College to chair Denison University’s Department of Religion and launch its Jewish studies program.

According to Dalton, her name was originally mentioned to President of Denison University Adam Weinberg during the 2024-25 year, after Kenyon’s Curriculum Policy Committee had rejected a Jewish studies concentration. “Denison faculty heard what happened at Kenyon and saw an opportunity to bring Jewish studies to Denison,” she said.

Dalton expressed frustration with the process regarding her efforts to establish the Jewish studies concentration at Kenyon: “When I received the recent [Resource Allocation Committee] response, which came with a request for more revisions, I was disappointed, simply because it had felt like a demoralizing process over the past two years. I had felt like there was very little communication with me. I didn’t always feel valued as a leader or valued for my contributions to the College.” She added, “But I want to note that that was me, not necessarily how it was perceived by other faculty. I think other faculty and the president fully expected to establish Jewish studies, but I wasn’t sure I even wanted to anymore by the time I got [the decision].”

At Denison, Dalton is offered proximity to a community close to her heart. “The other thing the Denison president promised me was that we would be able to give back and invest in the local Jewish community, which is my local Jewish community,” said Dalton, who lives in Granville. “So being able to do partnerships with area synagogues whose rabbis are dear friends of mine, to be able to do programming for a very small Jewish community, that was something Kenyon couldn’t offer me.” She also noted that her new position comes with the perk of a shorter commute — instead of the 40-minute drive to Kenyon, Dalton will have just a 10-minute walk to Denison’s campus. 

Dalton remains hopeful about the future of Jewish studies at Kenyon. “Kenyon is prepared. I fully believe Kenyon and President [Julie] Kornfeld are prepared to establish Jewish studies at Kenyon, and I think the future will only be wonderful for Jewish studies,” she said. “I don’t think I’m that special. I think I’ve done a lot of work to get us to this point, and I’m so excited for someone new to come in and continue it.”

She also sees potential for a partnership between Kenyon and Denison. “I hope we can have partnerships between our religion programs and Jewish studies programs. … [Chair and Associate Professor of Religious Studies David Maldonado Rivera] and I have already been talking about ways we could partner to support student research and even establish an undergraduate conference for religious studies in the [Five Colleges of Ohio (Ohio 5)],” Dalton said.

Maldonado Rivera shared his thoughts on Dalton’s departure in a message to the Collegian: “While I am sad because Prof. Dalton’s departure is a genuine loss for our community, I am glad that her professional excellence will have the opportunity to continue to grow as part of the Ohio 5. We will miss her dearly; we are also excited to see what the future has in store.”

Dalton will continue to support Kenyon in every way, with one notable exception: “I will always be on Kenyon’s team, except when they’re playing Denison.”