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Contact Us
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Pastor Ray Ranker
Ray is from Reisterstown, Maryland and graduated from the Univ. of Maryland in 2004. After college he spent a year serving in Argentina with Young Adults in Global Mission of the ELCA and spent another approximately two years serving in South America, Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe before starting seminary. After graduating from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Philadelphia (now United Lutheran), he was called to be the Lutheran campus pastor at the University of Maryland where he has been serving since 2011. He is a recipient of the James Carr Distinguished Service Award for Lutheran Campus Ministry and currently service as the vice-chair of the National LuMin (Lutheran Campus Ministry) board.
He and his wife, Karin, live in College Park and have two children. Ray likes to play basketball, listen to Taylor Swift, talk about politics and global affairs, travel, and learn from others while in conversation. He loves helping connect students with people and other resources as they seek to share their gifts and passion.
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Email: rranker@umd.edu
Phone: (410) 294 - 6691
UMD Chaplain
Beth Cooler
Beth is a graduate of a few schools and holds degrees in inconvenient subjects. She spent five years volunteering with Hospice where she learned to live . Allergic to sports, Beth enjoys books, animals and spending time with her best friend/husband.​
Email: office.HopeCP@gmail.com
Phone: (301) 927 - 5508
Chaplains Assistant
Nicole P. Roop
Nicole P. Roop is completing her internship with The Humble Walk as a student at United Lutheran Seminary (ULS) where she is working towards a Masters in Ministerial Leadership to be an ordained Minister of Word and Service in the ELCA. Nicole is also an administrator at the University of Maryland in the Clark School of Engineering and earned her doctorate in education at George Washington University. Upon completing her degree at ULS, she hopes to be called as a campus chaplain or a seminary administrator. In her home congregation, Keysville Evangelical Lutheran Church, she serves as vice president of the Key Women and is the church's communications point person. Nicole resides near Gettysburg, PA and enjoys powerlifting, hiking Civil War battlefields, fishing on the Potomac River, spoiling her nephew & nieces, and spending time with her dogs and cats.
Deacon Intern
Bailey Sullivan
Bailey Sullivan is majoring in Sociology and Economics as well as minoring in Spanish. She is a Peer Research Mentor for FIRE Global Development and Design and also an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant for ENGL101. She also helps teach a night class for ESL students. Other things that she is involved in include intramural sports such as volleyball, soccer, and flag football, ASTS tutoring, and CARing Kids- an after-school children’s program. She loves working with kids and is excited to continue to help serve the children's programs.
Peer Minister: Children's Programs
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