Dr. Beverly Wallace is currently the Assistant Professor of Pastoral Care and Counseling at Shaw University Divinity School. She is an ordained Lutheran Pastor and was formerly the Assistant to the Bishop for the Southeastern Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. In her capacity as Assistant to the Bishop, she was responsible for the candidacy for persons seeking rostered leadership in the ELCA and also served as the Coordinator of Pastoral Care for the Katrina Recovery Effort on the coast of Mississippi working with congregations - pastors and their members - and relief volunteers in the needed work after that disaster. After 9/11, Dr. Wallace was also involved in the Ambiguous Loss Project caring for persons in New York and is currently working on a research project to look at the impact of Hurricane Matthew on African Americans in rural areas in North Carolina.

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Dr. Wallace served as a hospital chaplain for a number of years in Atlanta and has also served as a University Chaplain at Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She has worked with women and children experiencing homelessness helping to develop a Mental Health Clinic at a Homeless Shelter in Atlanta and most recently opened her private practice in Raleigh, NC.

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Dr. Wallace holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Welfare from Adelphi University in New York, a Masters of Education in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, a Masters of Divinity from Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina and holds a Ph.D. in Family Social Science with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy from the University of Minnesota. She has authored several articles and book chapters including “Narratives of Grieving African Americans About Racism in the Lives of Deceased Family Members”, “A Womanist Legacy of Trauma, Grief, and Loss: Reframing the Notion of the Strong Black Woman Icon”, “Hush No More: Constructing an African American Lutheran Womanist Ethic”, and is the co-author of the book, “African American Grief”. Her current research agenda includes understanding Community Trauma and End-of-Life Decisions among older African Americans. She’s also in the process in writing her second book to be entitled, “African American Grief – Revisited”.

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Dr. Wallace considers herself a “womanist” and so embraces the wholeness of all people – both men and women. Dr. Wallace has a passion for healing and wholeness for God’s people – physical, psychological, and spiritual healing. A native of Brooklyn, New York, more recently residing in Atlanta, Dr. Wallace now lives in Smithfield.