Susan Pendleton Jones

The Rev. Susan Pendleton Jones serves as Senior Fellow of Christ-Centered Visioning and First Lady of Belmont University, where her husband Greg Jones began serving as President on June 1, 2021.

Prior to moving to Nashville, she served for several years as associate dean of ministerial formation at Duke Divinity School. She also has served as director of field education. Her teaching responsibilities at Duke have included courses on leadership, forgiveness and reconciliation, and the pastor’s vocation, team-taught with her husband. She and Greg have co-authored essays and articles as well as two books in the “Living the Good Life Together” series. Additionally, she was the project coordinator for Duke Divinity School’s award-winning 2005 building addition, which includes Goodson Chapel and the Westbrook Building.

Susan has been involved in leadership and board roles with a variety of community organizations and foundations, and cares deeply about children and families as well as the importance of innovative approaches to challenging problems. A retired elder in the Western North Carolina (WNC) Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, Susan has served pastorates in North Carolina and Maryland and as the former United Methodist campus minister at Duke. Since moving to Nashville, Susan has recently joined the boards of local nonprofits Siloam Health and The Store. Susan and Greg are the parents of Nate (and Amy), Ben (and Allison) and Sarah (and Joey Fala), and the grandparents of Clara Susan Jones, Audrey Catherine Jones, Sophie Elizabeth Jones and Hannah Marilyn Jones.