Torrance comes to Princeton from Scotland, where he recently served as moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, dean of the faculty of arts and divinity at the University of Aberdeen and master of Christ's College, Aberdeen, where he also taught patristics and Christian ethics. He also is editor of the Scottish Journal of Theology.

Thompson told the commissioners: "At our best, Presbyterians are thinking people with warm hearts. It is clear that the people of God want our seminaries to serve as theological resources for the entire church. Our congregations have been (conditioned) to believe that theological education is one of our most remarkable Presbyterian strengths."

Thompson has served in parish ministry in West Virginia, California, Texas, and, most recently, West Virginia, where he was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Charleston. He has served as an adjunct faculty member at San Francisco Theological Seminary and at Union Theological Seminary/Presbyterian School of Christian Education and as an instructor at Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary.