A woman with short afro hairstyle, glasses, and earrings, sitting on a bench, holding a cup, wearing a dark long-sleeve top, light-colored pants, and a necklace, in front of large windows with geometric designs.
A woman with gray hair shaking hands with a shirtless man in a colorful loincloth in a forested area.
Close-up of a smiling middle-aged woman with gray dreadlocks, wearing large beaded earrings and a matching beaded necklace, outdoors with blurred greenery in the background.

IVA E. CARRUTHERS, PHD (AKA) Nana Aba Bentuma I

Rev. Dr. Iva E. Carruthers is affiliate faculty member at McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago, IL and

General Secretary Emerita of the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference (SDPC). SDPC is an interdenominational

organization within the African American faith tradition focused on justice and human rights issues. SDPC is

both a 501c3 and United Nations Non-Governmental Organization (NGO). Founding CEO and a trustee of

SDPC, she has steered the organization as a unique, influential and esteemed network of faith-based advocates

and activists, clergy and lay. Former director of the BlackTheology Project, Dr. Carruthers has a long history

of teaching, engagement in community development initiatives and social justice ministry, fostering

interdenominational and interfaith dialogue and leading interdisciplinary study tours and justice advocacy

delegations throughout in the United States, Caribbean, South America and Africa.

Dr. Carruthers is Professor Emerita and former Chairperson of the Sociology Department at Northeastern

Illinois University and was founding President of Nexus Unlimited, an information and educational technology

firm. She was appointed to the White House Advisory Council on the internet, "National Information

Infrastructure Mega Project” and the educational software she developed was awarded a ComputerWorld

Smithsonian Award. She is also founder of Lois House, an urban retreat center, Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Carruthers is a frequent guest speaker before various national and international forums, including U.N.

Civil Society Forums. She has served as a consultant and delegate to many organizations in the public and

private sectors. She is a former member of the National African American Reparations Commission and is

working on initiatives related to the U.N. Decade of People of African Descent, including establishment of the

Center for Reparatory Justice, Transformation and Remediation at McCormick Theological Seminary.

Dr. Carruthers is co-editor of the Illinois TransAtlantic Slave Trade Report and Blow the Trumpet in Zion:

Global Vision and Action for the 21st Century Black Church and has authored and edited a number of articles

and publications, in the areas of sociology, instructional technology and theology. Her many study guides on

African American & African history were developed as a co-producer of a multi-year educational television

program. She was a delegate to the 2001 UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination

Xenophobia and ,Related Intolerance; her publication, The Church and Reparations, was distributed by the

United Church of Christ, in several languages.

She received the B.A. degree from the University of Illinois; the M.A. and the Ph.D. in Sociology from

Northwestern University; a Master of Theological Studies from Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary and

a Doctor of Humane Letters, Meadville Lombard Theological School. Awards and postdoctoral fellowships

received by Dr. Carruthers include Northwestern University Center for Urban Affairs, The Russell Sage

Foundation, University of Chicago, Adlai Stevenson Institute for International Affairs and The National

Endowment for the Humanities.

Hermany awards and appointmentsinclude the 1999LifeAchievementAward by Northeastern IllinoisUniversity

and “Year 2000 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year” award, given by the National Foundation of Women

Legislators and the Small Business Administration. She was inducted into the National History Makers; was a

recipient of Ebony Magazine’s year 2001 Outstanding Mother Award for Mentoring; was included in Women

Alive! A Legacy of Social Justice Exhibit and most recently was honored by her oil portrait being hung in the

International Hall of Honor, Morehouse University Chapel. She serves as a Lifetime Trustee for the Chicago

Theological Seminary and is former trustee for HBCU, The American Baptist College, Nashville; Shared

Interest, New York and Breadfor the World, Washington, DC. In 2025 she was officially enstooled as

Developmental Queen Mother of Cape Coast, Ghana.

Dr. Carruthers is the mother of two sons.