About Matt
On August
1, 2010
Central
Unitarian
Church
welcomes Rev. Dr. Matt Tittle as its new minister. Rev. Matt comes to us
after six years as senior minister of Bay Area Unitarian Universalist
Church in
Houston,
TX.
He has also served congregations in
Illinois,
and
Indiana.
Ministry is
a third career for Matt. He is a 2004 graduate of
Meadville-Lombard
Theological
School
in
Chicago,
IL,
where he received a Master of Divinity degree. Matt was previously an
assistant professor of educational psychology at the
University
of
Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign, and the assistant director of the
Univ.
of
Illinois Campus Honors Program.
He earned a Ph.D. in educational psychology from the
Univ.
of
Illinois
in 2001. Matt also holds an M.A. in the teaching of Russian from the
Univ.
of
Illinois,
an M.A. in national security affairs from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate
School in
Monterey,
CA,
and a B.A. from the
Univ.
of
South Carolina.
He is a graduate of the U.S. Defense Language Institute, and is a
certified teacher for grades 6-12. Before his academic and ministerial
careers, Matt served on active duty as a naval officer for over eleven
years and as a reservist for another nine years. He retired from the
Navy in 2003 at the rank of Commander. During his naval career, he
served as a nuclear weapons inspector in
Russia;
conducted research for the Department of Defense POW/MIA Office; saw
combat action in
Grenada
and
Lebanon;
and had the opportunity to travel to over thirty countries on five
continents. Most of his military service was as an intelligence officer
specializing in Soviet/Russian military affairs.
Matt grew
up primarily in
Charleston,
South
Carolina.
His wife, Gail, is a social worker specializing in child welfare, and
was an Air Force officer for fourteen years. They have two children,
Alex (18) and Andy (14). Together, Matt and Gail co-authored
Harvest the Power: Developing Lay
Leadership (UUA, 2009),
and co-edited Bless All Who Serve:
Sources of Hope, Courage, and Faith for Military Personnel and Their
Families (Skinner House, 2010).
Matt is also the author of
Taking Back Faith: Heretical Thoughts for a New Century (iUniverse,
2006).
In his
spare time, Matt is an amateur marathoner and triathlete. He has
completed more than a dozen marathons and as many triathlons, including
the Ironman Arizona triathlon.
