The Seventh Warden
Andrew McGowan

The Revd Dr Andrew McGowan was the second former student of the College to be appointed Warden and, apart from caretaker head George Torrance in the 1870s, only the second to be a priest. 

McGowan was born on 17 August 1961 in Melbourne. As a teen, he moved to Perth and attended Christ Church Grammar School before studying classics and ancient history at the University of Western Australia, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in 1983.  

McGowan moved back to Melbourne to study at Trinity’s Theological School (BD Hons 1986). After a short stint in Perth following his ordination, McGowan undertook doctoral studies in Christianity and Judaism in Antiquity at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana, USA.  

Upon returning to Australia in 1996 he took a position lecturing in New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Notre Dame in Fremantle. In 1998, McGowan was appointed assistant professor in Early Christian History at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was promoted to associate professor in 1999. 

When the Director of Trinity’s Theological School, David Cole, resigned in 2003, McGowan returned to Australia to take the position, under then-Warden Don Markwell.  

After nearly eight years as Warden, Markwell took six months' leave from August 2005 until February 2006. During this time, McGowan was appointed Acting Warden, while remaining Director of Trinity’s Theological School.  

In January 2007, McGowan again took over as Acting Warden after the resignation of Markwell, who took the position of Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education) at the University of Western Australia. In November of the same year, the Trinity Council endorsed the Board’s recommendation to officially appoint McGowan as the seventh Warden of Trinity College.  

McGowan’s appointment felt like a new era for the College. As Warden, McGowan pursued parity with prestigious international colleges through academic initiatives. He also drove significant culture change. As he was a former student and a priest, there was a sense that McGowan’s appointment was returning the College to the care and nurture of the church after a period in which the academic side of its character had been foremost in strategic thought.  

Under McGowan’s leadership, a significant amount was achieved at Trinity including: 

• building the residential building known as ‘Gourlay’, which was opened on the site of the old ‘woodheap’ providing 22 ensuite rooms, a tutor's flat, two visiting scholar apartments, and a multi-purpose basement facility 
• launching Trinity’s sustainability policy and accompanying projects, which included rainwater tanks installed underneath the Bulpadock 
• renovating and expanding the Trinity College Theological School, including construction of a new lecture wing  
• refurbishing the Dining Hall and kitchens and adding an informal dining space facing Sharwood Court
  
• overseeing the Theological School’s joining with the University of Divinity.  

McGowan left Trinity at the end of 2014 after accepting a position as Professor of Anglican Studies at the Yale Divinity School and Dean and President of the Berkeley Divinity School, an Episcopal seminary affiliated with Yale since 1971.  

Jim Craig, Chairman of the Trinity College Board at the time, paid tribute to McGowan’s significant contribution to the College, both as Warden and earlier as Director of the Theological School saying ‘Andrew and his senior colleagues have led Trinity to a position of financial security and strong demand for its educational offerings. This positive base has enabled the Board to set more ambitious targets for the College, and pursue its goal of providing a world-class, transformative education to as many able and talented students as possible.’