LSTC Welcomes Dr. Andrea Evans as Chief Operating Officer

The Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago is pleased to welcome Dr. Andrea E. Evans as Chief Operating Officer. Evans began her appointment on October 7 and will be responsible for strengthening and aligning the seminary’s finance, operations, infrastructure, technology, and organizational capacity.

Evans brings three decades of experience in education and organizational leadership to LSTC, with a career spanning teaching, scholarship, administration, strategic planning, and institutional management.

Most recently, Evans served as Interim Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs at Northeastern Illinois University (NEIU), where she oversaw four colleges as well as institutional research, teaching and learning, and other academic units, with responsibility for a $44 million budget. She previously served as Interim Dean of NEIU’s Daniel L. Goodwin College of Education and as Director of the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies.

Earlier in her career, Evans served as Dean of the College of Education at Governors State University and held administrative and faculty positions at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Northern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois Chicago. Her leadership experience has included strategic planning, budgeting, program development, assessment and accreditation, grants management, faculty and staff development, and community partnerships.

A published scholar, Evans’ work has explored educational and organizational leadership, policy, diversity and equity, and Black women’s leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in Education Policy Studies and a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Illinois Chicago, as well as an M.Ed. in Curriculum and Program Development from DePaul University.

Appointed by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Evans also serves as a member of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. She also serves as president of the District 157 Educational Foundation for Success.

For Evans, joining LSTC is an opportunity to bring her extensive leadership experience to a community whose values and sense of purpose immediately resonated with her.

“I am thrilled to join LSTC and what feels like a community of care,” she said. “It is my sense that each LSTC student and employee aim to reach beyond the campus to create a better world for every person who inhabits it. I am honored to become part of this kind of community.”

As Chief Operating Officer, Evans will work across the institution to strengthen the systems and structures that support LSTC’s mission, helping ensure the seminary has the organizational capacity to serve its students, partners, and wider communities now and into the future.