Rev. Dr. Debra L. Duke has served as Interim Minister for PCC since September 2006. She is a graduate of Princeton Theological Seminary, where she earned both her Master of Divinity degree, as well as a Ph.D. in Mission, Ecumenics and History of Religions.
Her undergraduate degree is in Engineering Science from Dartmouth College and she holds a Master of Engineering degree in Engineering Management and Appropriate Technology from Washington University in St. Louis.

Prior to entering seminary, Dr. Duke's interest in missions led her first to a rural and impoverished area of Maine to serve as a summer youth outreach minister and then to West Africa, initially as a Peace Corps Volunteer and later as a researcher in the area of appropriate technology, particularly improved cookstoves and alternative fuels. While in Senegal and Niger, her job was to develop and disseminate safer, more economical and more environmentally sound ways for local women to cook their families’ meals. Back in the States, Dr. Duke also worked as a case manager and intake worker for a senior center in the Germantown section of Philadelphia. There she learned first hand of the plight of the urban and elderly poor. She worked with the elderly to gain the services and assistances they needed to survive.

While in seminary, her interest in ecumenics led her to found EcuMinistries of Olney (EMO), a community-based ecumenical organization which united approximately twenty churches of seven different traditions in the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia. The greatest joy of this work was the ecumenical Bible study series which brought Christians together, crossing ethnic and denominational boundaries to grow together in faith and reach out in solidarity to the community.

In addition to these mission and ecumenical ministries, Dr. Duke has served in interim ministry positions both in local church and Conference settings. She also serves on the New Jersey Association’s Church and Ministry Commission, and is a Boundaries Trainer.

Dr. Duke has three daughters and three cats who reside with her in Central New Jersey, where she enjoys running, leading a local Girl Scout troop, and continuing to explore the world's religions, cultures and cuisines.