Dianna Lynn Gwilliams DL (born 1957) is the current dean of Guildford.

Background

Gwilliams was born in

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

and grew up in California. She was educated at the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Franci ...

(BA Physics & Chemistry, 1978) and King's College London (MA, 2001) in Youth Ministry and Theological Education. In 1978, she travelled to the UK while she was on tour (as a

sound engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproductio ...

) for a musical called The Witness. She was a sound engineer for 12 years.

Clergy

Gwilliams was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the denominational hierarchy composed of other clergy) to perform ...

deacon A deacon is a member of the diaconate, an office in Christian churches that is generally associated with service of some kind, but which varies among theological and denominational traditions. Major Christian churches, such as the Catholic Chur ...

in 1992 and

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in partic ...

in 1994. After serving curacies at the St Saviour, Peckham
known locally as the Copleston Church and Centre
and St Barnabas, Dulwich she became

Vicar A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English pre ...

of Saint Barnabas, Dulwich and Foundation Chaplain of Alleyn's College in 1999. She was appointed Dean of Guildford in 2013 and instituted at

Guildford Cathedral The Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit, Guildford, commonly known as Guildford Cathedral, is the Anglican cathedral at Guildford, Surrey, England. Richard Onslow donated the first of land on which the cathedral stands, with Viscount Bennett, ...

on 15 September 2013. She was the first female Dean of Guildford and is one of the most senior female priests in the Church of England (alongside five other female Deans).

Personal life

She has three children (including a daughter who died in infancy), five grandchildren and her husband is a stonemason. She is a Deputy Lieutenant of Surrey.Deputy Lieutenants
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References

Living people 1957 births People from Colorado University of California alumni American audio engineers Alumni of King's College London Deans of Guildford Deputy Lieutenants of Surrey Women audio engineers {{Christianity-bio-stub