October 2024 | LISLE, IL—InterVarsity Press (IVP) is pleased to announce that Noel Forlini Burt has accepted the position of Associate Editor for IVP Academic. In addition, Rachel Hastings, who has served as the Associate Editor for IVP Academic since 2022, has been promoted to Assistant Academic Editorial Director.
“Till now, Rachel has been our primary biblical studies specialist, so now that Noel joins the department, we can do even more in Old and New Testament studies,” said Jon Boyd, IVP’s Associate Publisher and Academic Editorial Director. “And since they both have serious chops in other fields too, like spiritual formation, psychology, and higher education, there’s a very nice domino effect that will widen the ‘beat’ for each editor at IVP Academic.”
Forlini Burt will work from her home in Birmingham, Alabama, where she most recently directed the preministerial scholars program at Samford University and taught courses in Bible and spiritual formation. She has also taught at Baylor University’s Truett Seminary, Baptist Seminary of Kentucky, and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.
Forlini Burt earned her PhD in Hebrew Bible from Drew University and is certified in both spiritual direction (George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University) and spiritual formation (Upper Room Academy). Her undergraduate degree is in journalism, a sphere she still loves. Forlini Burt is the author of Hope in the Wilderness: Spiritual Reflections for When God Feels Far Away.
Boyd said, “We see a striking fit for Noel among us at IVP. One interviewer jokingly asked, after meeting her, ‘Are we sure she doesn’t already work here?’ That’s how ‘all in’ she looks to us. As she herself put it in her application, her vision is ‘to nurture…authors as they produce scholarship in biblical studies that will enrich our academic conversations and our lives with God’—and we can’t wait to see the fruit of her work.”
Hastings joined IVP in 2021 as Assistant Project Editor and was soon promoted to Associate Project Editor for trade books before assuming the role of Associate Editor for IVP Academic.
“Rachel is well known not only within InterVarsity Press but also widely, even globally, for her smart editorial work with authors and her passion for the academy and the church,” Boyd said. “Her promotion to Assistant Academic Editorial Director will position her with even more people who will appreciate working with her.”
Hastings has two master’s degrees, one in Old Testament and one in New Testament, from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and she was the recipient of Gordon-Conwell’s New Testament and Greek Award in 2020.
Boyd said, “Life at work is so much better when you have trusted colleagues to collaborate with for mutual interdependence, for teamwork that makes everything better. Rachel Hastings is that kind of colleague, and her leadership in the IVP Academic Editorial team and beyond is already apparent and bearing fruit daily.”
Contact: Krista Clayton | kclayton@ivpress.com
