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Ashley Crowder Stanley is the Senior Pastor of Mills River United Methodist Church in Mills River, NC, a community close to Asheville, NC. Prior to this appointment, she served as the Director of the Transition into Ministry Program in Western North Carolina, a ministry program funded by the Lily Endowment.
Reverend Crowder Stanley has served as a hospital chaplain at Duke Medical Center in Durham and at Abbott-Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, MN. She has also served churches in both the Minnesota and Western North Carolina conferences of the United Methodist Church, including Golden Valley UMC in Minneapolis, Biltmore UMC in Asheville and Wesley Memorial UMC in High Point, NC. Her ministry passions are preaching and worship, community building and social justice work, especially with homeless and disenfranchised people.
Reverend Crowder Stanley earned both her B.A. and Masters in Divinity degrees from Duke University.
A Charlotte native, she and her husband, Dr. Thomas Stanley T'77 and M'81, have three children: Laura T'06, DPT'10; Catherine T'09; and Jake T'12 and one grandson Charlie.
Elected to the Duke University Board of Trustees in 2011, Reverend Crowder Stanley serves on the External Engagement Committee and the Duke and Durham Today and Tomorrow Strategic Task Force.
She has served as president of the National Alumni Association for Duke Divinity School and as a member of its Board of Visitors. In addition, Reverend Crowder Stanley has been an adjunct faculty member at Duke Divinity School.