Alice Ford named Adrian College Chaplain, Director of Spiritual Life
Posted Friday, September 18, 2026
Author: Mickey Alvarado
Adrian College has selected Alice Ford as its full-time chaplain and director of spiritual life for the 2026-27 academic year.
Ford has been leading services at the United Methodist Church-affiliated college on a part-time basis since 2023, with permission from Adrian First United Methodist Church where she served as pastor. With the bishop’s blessing, she recently accepted the full-time position at Adrian College.
Ford said she chose the United Methodist Church as a teenager while living in the Detroit suburbs because that’s where her friends went.
“My faith followed my friends,” she said. “That’s where we had the most fun and fellowship.”
Ford was confirmed in the United Methodist Church and has remained with the denomination ever since.
She earned a degree in social work from the University of Alabama and completed her master’s and doctoral work at the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee.
With limited job opportunities in the social work field, she found herself working in information technology, programming and networking for several years. During that time, she felt a compelling sense of “not being in the right place or doing the right thing.”
“In the evenings and on weekends, I did all of these caring volunteer activities that gave me a sense of personal fulfillment,” Ford said.
At age 39, Ford returned to seminary to pursue a second career in ministry.
“A lot of second-career people were in seminary,” she said. “I really like that because people come in with a variety of life skills and experiences.”
Since then, under a bishop’s appointment, Ford has served as either a lead or solo pastor at churches with Sunday attendance ranging from 30 to 600 people.
Her path to becoming Adrian College’s chaplain began with a simple introduction.
“In my Methodist world, there were a lot of people who knew Jeff Docking personally or certainly knew his parents,” Ford said. “Clergy person after clergy person, parishioner after parishioner and friend after friend would say, ‘When you get to Adrian, you have to go meet Jeff Docking.’”
She first looked to introduce herself to Adrian College’s chaplain but discovered there wasn’t one.
“I eventually set up an appointment with Dr. Docking to introduce myself, and at that point I said, ‘I noticed you don’t have a chaplain. How can I help? How can I step in? What can I do? What will you let me do?’” Ford said.
Ford then asked for and received permission to partner with Adrian College through Adrian First United Methodist Church while helping Thomas Doney, Adrian College Dean of Students, Student Affairs, search for a full-time chaplain.
“It’s so hard,” she said of the search. “Thomas [Doney] has been looking for a long time. It’s always been on his docket, and he’s had the position posted for years.”
Adrian College last had a chaplain and director of spiritual life in 2020, when the person serving in the role left during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I felt called to it,” Ford said of stepping in to help. “I felt really privileged to be allowed to come on campus and interact with the students with the approval of President Docking and Student Affairs. We just started trying to roll out the carpet again, welcome everybody back and get services back to normal.”
Ford said Adrian College has a strong spiritual presence among its student body.
“They are extremely respectful and kind students,” she said.
What Ford sees most are young men seeking a deeper understanding of faith and trying to find their purpose, especially after an athletic injury leaves them unsure of what they are capable of doing.
“The church is really resonating with them,” Ford said.
Ford has two student interns working with her this semester, Gregory Hagen and Maelynn Moffitt. Hagen is studying religion and is the intern to the chaplain. Moffitt is a music major. She’s the praise and worship leader.
“They love Jesus and want to help everybody else find their way, too,” Ford said.
A 25-minute service is held every Wednesday at noon, and everyone is invited to attend.
“I tell people to just come and rest for a minute, catch your breath and be in this beautiful place,” Ford said. “We sing a few songs led by the students and have a few quiet prayers.”
