Sharon Hunter-Smith's Bio
Sharon Hunter-Smith is a graduate of Wittenberg University, McCormick Theological
Seminary, and the University of Chicago Divinity School. She has been a member of
University Church in Hyde Park since 1981, where she sings in the choir, has served on
the Board and many committees over the years, and has taught adult church school
classes and preached from time to time.
Keenly aware of the privilege of having had an education, she joined the Board of the
Mary Herrick Scholarship Fund in 1994 to help provide college educational opportunities
to DuSable High School students and has been a member of the Board ever since. She
has enjoyed following the students’ achievements.
Since 2003, she has been deeply involved with University Church’s Guatemala
Partnership, accompanying people in a Mayan village as they have rebuilt their
community after it was destroyed in the Guatemalan Civil War. The Guatemala
Partnership now raises funds to provide scholarships for Saq Ja’s middle and high
school students so that they can continue their education past 6th grade.
Since 2005, she has worked as Office Manager and Human Rights Coordinator at the Chicago Religious Leadership Network on Latin America (CRLN), which forms
partnerships between organized communities and social movements across the
Americas for sustainable economies, just relationships, and human dignity. Since 2006,
CRLN has worked to end the inhumane mass incarceration and deportation of
undocumented immigrants, making connections with groups working to end mass
incarceration for African Americans so that Chicago might be a sanctuary for all of its
people.
She is married to Daniel Hunter-Smith. The couple has two adult daughters, Sarah and
May, and one granddaughter, Anna.