The SUMMA Team

Program Director and Principal Lecturer in Argumentation & Debate

Dr. Melody Lehn joined SUMMA as Program Director for Camp 2022. She is Associate Professor of Rhetoric and Women’s and Gender Studies and Co-Director of the Center for Speaking & Listening at the University of the South. Dr. Lehn holds a B.A. in communication studies from Furman University and an M.A. and Ph.D. in rhetoric from the University of Memphis. At Sewanee, she teaches courses such as Public Speaking, Argumentation and Debate, U.S. Public Address, Voices of American Women, and the Rhetoric of Mass and Social Media. Her teaching has been recognized with several awards, including the Dwight L. Freshley Early Career Excellence in Teaching Award from the Southern States Communication Association and Sewanee’s College Excellence in Teaching Award. She researches at the intersection of rhetoric, gender, politics, and religion and has published several books, chapters, and articles. Among her recent publications is Rhetoric, Race, Religion, and the Charleston Shootings: Was Blind but Now I See (co-edited with Dr. Sean Patrick O’Rourke) and One Hundred Years of Women Debating the Equal Rights Amendment: An Anthology, 1923-2023 (co-edited with Dr. Camille K. Lewis).

Associate Director and Camp Chaplain

The Rev. Warren Thomas Swenson is an Episcopal priest, serving as associate priest of Southeast Tennessee Episcopal Ministry (STEM), a system of yoked congregations on and around the Cumberland Plateau. In addition to his work with STEM, Warren is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Chester and has served as Visiting Instructor of Rhetoric at The University of the South. His research interests include queer theology, homiletics, and American presidential rhetoric. Warren also holds both Master of Divinity and Master of Sacred Theology degrees from the University of the South’s School of Theology.

Camp Director

The Rev. Gina Brewster-Jenkins returns to SUMMA Camp 2024 as the Camp Director. An alumna of The School of Theology at The University of the South, Gina is a school chaplain at St. Paul's Episcopal School in New Orleans. She has been a teacher and youth minister for over 20 years. She enjoys spending time with her family and two dogs Scooter and Tessa while kayaking, boating, and hiking. This will be Mother Gina's 7th year serving on the SUMMA staff!

H. Walker Adams is a graduate the University of Missouri and the School of Theology (SOT) at the University of the South who currently serves as the SOT's Director of Recruitment and Admission. Walker came to Sewanee to study theology after completing a bachelor of music education at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri, Kansas City. While there, Walker gained extensive experience working with young adults in The Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri leading mission trips, pilgrimages, and taking groups to General Convention in an effort to inspire, educate, and empower young people to a life with Christ. He brings that same passion for raising up the next generation of lay and ordained church leaders to his role recruiting for the seminary and the Beecken Center. Walker has an affection for coffee, white water rafting, and the Oxford comma.

Dr. Romulus Stefanut is the School of Theology librarian and faculty in library instruction and theology. He has been serving in this capacity since July 2016. Prior to coming to Sewanee, Stefanut occupied several teaching and librarian positions at Banat University, Dordt College, Lake Forest College, Wilbur Wright College and most recently at the University of Chicago’s Mansueto and Regenstein Library. He teaches classes on bibliography, research, and writing in the School of Theology as well as electives in Early Christian literature. Dr. Stefanut returns to SUMMA as a seminar leader for Camp 2025!

Mary Webster Burke (C'26) is from Mobile, Alabama studying American Studies and Rhetoric at The University of the South, where is a tutor in the Center for Speaking & Listening. She is also a member of Alpha Delta Theta sorority. One of Mary Webster's favorite quotations comes from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that." Mary Webster returns for her second year as a SUMMA counselor.

Erin Graffeo (C'26) hails from Birmingham, Alabama. She is pursuing a major in American Studies as well as minors in both Rhetoric and International and Global Studies at The University of the South. She is a member of the varsity track and field team, Alpha Delta Theta sorority, the Multicultural Law Society, the Sewanee Arcadians program, the Sewanee Outing program, and is a tutor at the Center for Speaking & Listening. One of her favorite quotations comes from the book The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab: "Here is one day, and here is the next, and the next, and you take what you can, savor every stolen second, cling to every moment, until it's gone." Erin returns to SUMMA for her second year as a counselor.

Aidan Jones (C'26) joins SUMMA this year as a new counselor. He is from Pulaski, Tennessee and is studying Philosophy and Rhetoric at The University of the South. He is very excited to join the SUMMA community and meet this year's campers!

Sloan Rogers is a senior pursuing a student-initiated major in "Rhetoric and Gender" at the University of the South. She is a senior from Nashville, Tennessee and Co-Director of the Bairnwick Women's Center and Kappa Delta sorority. A long-time serving Center for Speaking & Listening tutor, Sloan won the university-wide Public Speaking Contest in her first year at Sewanee. Next year, she will pursue graduate work in applied communication at Trinity University in Dublin, Ireland. One of her favorite quotations is by Eleanor Roosevelt: "It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness."

Former camper Bryce Timms (C'26) returns to SUMMA as a counselor for Camp 2024. A native of Savannah, Georgia, Bryce is studying Philosophy and Rhetoric at The University of the South, where he will join the peer tutoring staff of the Center for Speaking & Listening beginning in Fall 2024. There is a distinct possibility that Bryce will once again grace SUMMA with his musical gifts on the bagpipes.