Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, announces the appointment of Kathryn L. Buermann-Riesmeyer as life transitions and community liaison director. Her responsibilities will include assisting students and their families in the transition to Concordia Seminary and in the transition from the Seminary to a church or mission field. Riesmeyer also will provide an important liaison between the Seminary community and resources available in the greater St. Louis area.

“Students and their families go through a great deal of preparation as they contemplate coming to Concordia Seminary,” commented Riesmeyer. “The life transitions department will equip families with knowledge of what to expect in different aspects of their lives, and to provide resources to the St. Louis area and the Seminary community.”

Concordia Seminary’s student body is comprised of second-career students (those who leave another vocation and move to St. Louis to prepare for the pastoral ministry), as well as those who come to Concordia Seminary immediately following college graduation. “It is very close to a fifty-fifty mix at this point,” commented Rev. Glen Thomas, vice president for seminary relations at Concordia Seminary. “We have been assisting in the transition to the Seminary community through the efforts of two part-time relocation counselors—Judy Voelz and Carol Iannelli. However, we wanted to expand our efforts in this area by creating this full-time staff position.”

Riesmeyer, a St. Louis native, obtained her undergraduate degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She worked for 13 years in business in St. Louis, Tampa and Chicago before deciding to pursue a graduate degree in counseling from Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. “I felt an intense desire to use the talents and gifts with which God blessed me, to do the work He would have me do,” commented Riesmeyer.

During her graduate studies, Riesmeyer completed a one-year internship at Concordia Seminary’s Counseling and Resource Center. A year after completing her master’s degree, she worked in the Seminary’s Counseling Center on a part-time basis. During that time, she developed a series of group lessons called Families and Individuals in Transition (F.I.T.) to assist families as they contemplate the transition from the Seminary to their future service.

Riesmeyer expressed excitement concerning her new position and outlined her immediate plans, “to expand the database of off-campus housing opportunities, employment, child care and health insurance resources, as well as to provide information on Lutheran and public schools.” She added, “All of this is to offer support and resources to students and their families as they find a home, school and various services.”

Riesmeyer may be reached at 1-800-745-0415, 314-505-7337; [email protected]; Concordia Seminary, 801 DeMun Ave., St. Louis, MO 63105.