CCCU Advance Fall/Winter 2013

Fall/Winter2013

Flourish! Planting a Seed to Serve Underrepresented Communities

Washington Journalism Center Director Marks 25 Years ‘On Religion’

Student Success Centers Take Different Forms but Serve a Common Goal

INADVANCE TABLE OF CONTENTS

FEATURES

35 11 43 19

Flourish! Planting a Seed to Serve Underrepresented Communities

By Andrea P. Cook

Washington Journalism Center Director Marks 25 Years ‘On Religion’

By Julia Duin

Student Success Centers Take Different Forms but Serve a Common Goal

23 33

By Luke Reiter and Chris Turner

Raised Hands: LASP, ASP, and Immigration Policy

By Rose Creasman Welcome

THE MISSION OF THE CCCU is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to help our institutions transform the lives of students by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth.

DISTRIBUTION CCCU Advance is published each year in the fall and spring and is mailed to members, affiliates, and friends of the CCCU. It is also available online at www.cccu.org/advance. Direct questions and letters to the editor to editor@cccu.org.

ADVERTISING CCCU Advance accepts advertising from organizations that serve the students, faculty, or administration of our campuses. For more information and/or to receive a CCCU Media Kit, please email advertising@cccu.org.

REGULARS AROUND THE COUNCIL. . . . . . . 4

BESTSEMESTER: VOICES. . . . . 29

The news of the CCCU offices

By Rose Creasman Welcome

FULBRIGHT AWARDEES. . . . . . . 9

ON THE SHELF . . . . . . . . . . . . 35

FROM CAPITOL HILL . . . . . . . . 17

THE COUNCIL FOR CHRISTIAN COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES (CCCU) is an international association of intentionally Christ-centered colleges and universities. Founded in 1976 with 38 members, the Council has grown to 119 members in North America and 55 affiliate institutions in 20 countries. The CCCU is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization headquartered in the Historic Capitol Hill district of Washington, D.C.

What your peers are reading

By Shapri D. LoMaglio

PEOPLE William P. Robinson Interim President Pamela K. Jones Vice President for Communications Kami L. Rice Editor Katryn Ferrance Graphic Designer

WEB EXTRAS Throughout Advance you will see the Web extras icon.

This indicates exclusive resources located online for our readers.

Visit www.cccu.org/advance to access these extras.

Jason Hohertz Web Manager Ashley Walters Copy Editor Heather M. Surls Proofreader

Stay connected with the CCCU on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Vimeo, & Issuu. Visit www.cccu.org/connect.

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CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

A Letter from Our Board Chair Dear Friends of the CCCU, Thanks for your love and support of Christ-centered higher education. We are part of a great cause with deep commitment to what is best for preparing leaders for the future. These are challenging times in higher education—and in the CCCU as well. Having the right leaders in our colleges matters deeply and so does having the right leader for the CCCU. As most of you know, we have had a leadership transition that did not go as we had hoped, in spite of many hours of diligent work, prayer, and input from wise counsel. As a Board, we’re sorry for this result. We know it has affected many people, yet we’re committed to moving forward to a strong future for a great cause.

We are thankful that a respected leader has stepped forward to help us. Dr. William Robinson is well known to many people in the CCCU, having served for 17 years as the president of Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash. Before serving at Whitworth, Bill was president of Manchester College in Indiana for seven years. He is currently chair of the Board of Trustees of Princeton Theological Seminary and a board member of ING Educators Advisory Board, Max De Pree Center for Leadership, and the Stewardship Foundation. He has also written two outstanding books on leadership: Incarnate Leadership and Leading People from the Middle. We are blessed by his willingness to serve as interim president of the CCCU while we re-launch the search for our next president.

Bill leads with compassion, vision, energy, and wisdom, and the Board is deeply grateful that he is willing to step in to help the CCCU in this interim period. He will work until we find a new president, and he will be assisting us in the search process. Bill, the Board of Directors, and the CCCU staff remain deeply committed to the CCCU’s mission—the most important aspect of which is serving our member institutions so that they can further their efforts in Christ-centered higher education.

Another way that we are responding is through planning a thought-provoking and renewing conference, Engaged Community, in Los Angeles, Feb. 1214, 2014. This conference will bring together people from across our collective campuses and from universities around the world to think about the future of the CCCU and Christian higher education.

The new format will focus on plenary sessions, and we look forward to hearing from a great range of speakers.

We will kick off the conference with a charge from Bill on “The Marks of an Engaged CCCU Community.” We will also hear from Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, and Rev. Erwin Raphael McManus, lead pastor of Mosaic Church, addressing issues of racial and ethnic diversity within the body of Christ.

David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group and co-author of unChristian and You Lost Me, will speak to how this generation of Christian students is responding to the contemporary issues of faith.

Gabe Lyons, co-author of unChristian and

Dr. Charles Pollard author of The Next Christians, will lead a session that is an abbreviated version of a Q Conference, featuring 3-, 9-, and 18-minute talks from speakers on issues that impact our students and college campuses. This session will offer a taste of the very successful multi-day Q events that are being held in major cities across the country.

With her inspiring message on arts and Christian stewardship, opening speaker Roberta Ahmanson will remind us of the healing, connecting, and community-building power of the arts. Nancy Ortberg will present on spiritual life within the college community; and the concluding speaker, Makoto Fujimura, an internationally recognized visual artist known for his integration of art and biblical truth, will speak on forgiveness and reconciliation. The conference promises to be a fantastic three days together, and we invite you to join us.

Finally, we are grateful for the service of the many people whose work makes the CCCU successful. Throughout the transition, we have been very thankful for the CCCU staff, who have sought to serve our membership with excellence in our advocacy work, BestSemester programs, professional development and research projects, and communications

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A LETTER FROM OUR BOARD CHAIR

efforts. We also know that the CCCU cannot function without its committed volunteers on the peer commissions and other task forces or without the support of the presidents from our member institutions. We deeply appreciate the many people who give of their time, talent, and resources to encourage the work of Christ-centered higher education around the world through the CCCU. As Christians, we know that the world is not the way it is supposed to be, so we should not be too surprised when in our human institutions “things fall apart; the centre cannot hold” (Yeats, “The Second Coming”). However, we are also a people who know intimately and existentially that we have been forgiven because of the work of Christ on the cross. It is this historical fact that animates our engaged community and enables us to have hope in redemption and to come together to worship the one who truly is “at the still point of the turning world” (Eliot, “Burnt Norton”).

We look forward to such a gathering in Los Angeles in February, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Godspeed,

Dr. Charles W. Pollard Chair, CCCU Board of Directors President, John Brown University

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THE CCCU’S NEW INTERIM PRESIDENT: BILL ROBINSON degree from Wheaton College, and his Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh.

He also studied at Princeton Theological Seminary and Moody Bible Institute.

Most of his scholarly work focuses on organizational, cross-cultural, and interpersonal communication, while his informal research centers on religion and philosophy, his undergraduate majors.

William P. (Bill) Robinson, president emeritus of Whitworth University in Spokane, Wash., was named interim president of the CCCU on October 22, 2013. Robinson served as Whitworth’s 17th president from 1993 to 2010, after serving as president of Manchester College in Indiana from 1986 to 1993. Under Robinson’s leadership, Whitworth’s enrollment and resources grew dramatically. He attributes Whitworth’s prosperity to the “clarification of our mission and the enrichment of our culture.”

“During my years at Whitworth, I enjoyed being on the receiving side of so many CCCU programs and services,” Robinson says. “So I’m very revved up about moving over to the giving side of the equation. The CCCU claims a strong history of serving Christian colleges and universities in their efforts to enrich the world of higher education and advance the kingdom of Christ. I know I will enjoy being a member of the CCCU team as the Board searches for a new president.”

A communications scholar who has distinguished himself as a teacher, speaker, and community leader, Robinson earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa, his master’s

In 2010, a second edition of Robinson’s book Leading People from the Middle: The Universal Mission of Mind and Heart was released. Executive Excellence first published the book in 2002. Zondervan released his second book, Incarnate Leadership, in February 2009. Robinson also writes and speaks widely on leadership, organizational culture, and communication in corporate, nonprofit, and ministry settings.

Robinson is a past chair of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce (now Greater Spokane Incorporated) and a founding co-chair of the Higher Education Leadership Group of Spokane.

He has received numerous honors for his contributions both in and beyond higher education.

Born Sept. 30, 1949, in Elmhurst, Ill., Robinson has been married since 1974 to Bonnie Robinson, a classical musician who serves as principal organist for First Presbyterian Church of Spokane. The Robinson family includes: Brenna and Alan Stanfield and children Asher, Anna, and Brooks; Ben and Emily Robinson; Bailley and Mike Wootton and daughter Afton.

AROUND THE COUNCIL

The News of the CCCU Offices BOARD OF DIRECTORS APPROVES NEW MEMBER AND NEW AFFILIATE WILLIAM JESSUP UNIVERSITY in Rocklin, Calif., has joined the CCCU as a new member institution following approval by the CCCU Board of Directors. WJU is the Sacramento region’s only residential four-year private university. In addition to its main campus in Rocklin, WJU has a second campus in San Jose, Calif.

SOUTHWESTERN ASSEMBLIES OF GOD UNIVERSITY has been approved by the CCCU Board as a new candidate affiliate. Located in Waxahachie, Texas, just south of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, SAGU was established in 1927 and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees.

With the addition of these two institutions, the CCCU represents 119 member campuses in North America and 55 affiliate campuses in 20 countries.

CCCU MEMBERS & AFFILIATES | FALL 2013

119

MEMBERS

55

AFFILIATES

20

COUNTRIES

174 TOTAL

NUMBER OF INSTITUTIONS FILING SUIT AGAINST HHS INCREASES In our spring 2013 issue of Advance, we ran an article with comments from the 10 CCCU campuses that had then filed suit against the Department of Health & Human Services over the so-called “contraceptive mandate” decreed by HHS in conjunction with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Since that time, five more CCCU campuses have filed lawsuits against HHS, bringing the total to 15.

Barry H. Corey, Joe Aguillard, and Kenneth Smith (L-R), of Biola University, Louisiana College, and Geneva College, respectively, spoke regarding the lawsuits at the 2013 CCCU Presidents Conference.

Photo by Victoria Ruan.

These institutions are: Cornerstone University Dordt College Oklahoma Baptist University Oklahoma Wesleyan University Southern Nazarene University

The previously noted institutions are: Biola University College of the Ozarks Colorado Christian University East Texas Baptist University Franciscan University of Steubenville Geneva College Grace College & Seminary Houston Baptist University Louisiana College Wheaton College For more history and information about these lawsuits, visit www.cccu.org/advance.

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AROUND THE COUNCIL

CCCU ENCOURAGES U.S. REPRESENTATIVES TO PROTECT CHARITABLE DEDUCTIONS On Nov. 20, 2013, the CCCU sent a letter to the leaders of the House Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Finance Committee expressing concern over the possible restructure of laws governing tax deductions for nonprofit and charitable giving.

Sent by CCCU Interim President Bill Robinson, the letter underscores the importance of charitable deductions for the CCCU’s institutions, for the communities they serve, and for their more than 400,000 current students, 20,000 faculty members, and 1.7 million alumni.

“Our colleges and universities are doing everything possible to make college affordable and to increase access to students from all socioeconomic strata,” Robinson emphasized in the letter.

“Reducing the charitable deduction

would undermine both of these important objectives. Charitable giving subsidizes the cost of attending college for students, thereby helping to control tuition costs.

The generous giving of alumni and other donors creates scholarship funds that provide opportunities for students who would otherwise be unable to attend college. These are valuable public services as a college education remains the most successful vehicle for Americans to achieve economic success and social mobility.”

The charitable giving deduction became part of the tax code in 1917. Recent proposals have suggested replacing the deduction with a non-refundable tax credit for only those deductions above a certain percentage of income, capping the tax rate that can be applied to a

deduction, or applying a cap on the total amount that can be deducted.

Robinson encouraged lawmakers to evaluate the various options carefully: “The most reliable studies indicate that philanthropy will decrease if the charitable deduction is diminished.”

He concluded the letter by urging the committees “to protect and preserve the charitable deduction, and in so doing, protect and preserve America’s private colleges and universities.”

In addition to sending this letter, Robinson and CCCU Director of Government Relations Shapri D. LoMaglio participated, as part of the Charitable Giving Coalition, in several Nov. 20 meetings with House and Senate lawmakers to advocate for the charitable deduction.

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7/26/13 9:10 AM

AROUND THE COUNCIL

AKA | PRESIDENTIAL CHANGES The following institutions have experienced presidential transitions since our last published list in Advance. The presidents are listed with their start dates for each campus.

Eastern University (PA):

Ambrose University College & Seminary

Fresno Pacific University (CA):

(AB): Gordon T. Smith, August 2012

Pete C. Menjares, August 2012

Bethel College (IN):

Fuller Theological Seminary (CA):

Gregg A. Chenoweth, July 2013

Mark Labberton, July 2013

Briercrest College and Seminary (SK):

Grace College & Seminary (IN):

Michael B. Pawelke, April 2013

William J. Katip, May 2013

Calvin College (MI):

Greenville College (IL):

Michael K. Le Roy, July 2012

Ivan Filby, July 2013

Cedarville University (OH):

Hannibal-LaGrange University (MO):

Thomas White, July 2013

Anthony Allen, June 2012

Corban University (OR):

Huntington University (IN):

Sheldon Nord, July 2013

Sherilyn Emberton, June 2013

Covenant College (GA):

Indiana Wesleyan University (IN):

J. Derek Halvorson, July 2012

David Wright, July 2013

Crandall University (NB):

Judson University (IL):

Bruce G. Fawcett, August 2012

Gene C. Crume, Jr., May 2013

Crown College (MN):

The King’s University College (AB):

Joel Wiggins, July 2013

Melanie J. Humphreys, July 2013

Dordt College (IA):

LCC International University (Lithuania):

Erik Hoekstra, May 2012

Marlene Wall, April 2012

Robert G. Duffett, July 2013 Franciscan University of Steubenville (OH): Sean O. Sheridan, TOR, June 2013

Mount Vernon Nazarene University (OH): Henry W. Spaulding II, November 2012 Oklahoma Christian University (OK): John deSteiguer, April 2012 Oral Roberts University (OK): William M. Wilson, July 2013 Palm Beach Atlantic University (FL): William M.B. Fleming, Jr., May 2012 Providence University College and Theological Seminary (MB): David H. Johnson, July 2013 Seattle Pacific University (WA): Daniel J. Martin, July 2012 Spring Arbor University (MI): Brent Ellis, August 2013 Sterling College (KS): Scott Rich, May 2013 Toccoa Falls College (GA): Robert M. Myers, July 2012 Vanguard University (CA): Michael Beals, August 2013 Williams Baptist College (AR): Tom Jones, July 2012 Wycliffe Hall (United Kingdom): Michael Lloyd, September 2013

AKA | INSTITUTIONAL NAME CHANGES

Carson-Newman College (TN) is now Carson-Newman University.

King College (TN) is now King University.

Northwestern College (MN) is now University of Northwestern – St. Paul.

Philadelphia Biblical University (PA) is now Cairn University.

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AROUND THE COUNCIL

STUDENT STORIES ARE THE STAR OF THE SHOW IN BESTSEMESTER PRINT, WEB REDESIGN Stories from BestSemester alumni and current students have taken center stage in the completely redesigned BestSemester web and print materials.

Recognizing that actual students are best equipped to describe the BestSemester student experience, the BestSemester staff and a team of designers at The Image Group, a Michigan-based design firm, dreamed up “Get the Picture.”

The vibrant, image-driven campaign uses student photos to convey stories from BestSemester programs around the world.

The redesign process took nine months to execute from concept to architecture, design, and content. According to Sara Hogan, Image Group project manager, the new website is designed to complement the Instagram-inspired brochures, or lookbooks, that BestSemester distributes to pique students’ curiosity and provide basic information about its 12 off-campus study programs.

Launched on July 16, 2013, the new website is organized by program location.

Colorful tiles on the site’s homepage highlight student photographs from BestSemester programs. Selecting an image of the Capitol dome draped in snow or of college students walking the Great Wall of China results in an invitation to read the story behind the photo, a vignette authored by a recent student offering viewers a greater glimpse into the experience in the captured scene.

Deborah Kim, interim vice president for student programs, envisions a continuous stream of fresh, studentgenerated content on the site. A new initiative, “Share Your Stories,” prompts BestSemester alumni to submit photos and brief reflections online where they can be reviewed and published.

“We are thrilled to have launched this new platform that allows us to share compelling visual and written stories of

Ea ch ti me yo click your u pu sh came taking a pic ra, yo ture. You’r And that’s what this is It’s You to explo pl ac es o Your pass talents to the limit. Th io e Co ll eg es & Un iv er si Cou ti takes you there. That es ’ ’s been nearly 40 year you to en s: challenging s gage to interact in rigorous acad an the story of d better this world b Ch to use the rist. To be a servant amaz t to share your ing gifts God has giv en lo So have yo ve and knowledge with ur camera thi ready. Ther yo ur jo ur ne e’s mo y the eye, an th an me ets d yo Want to mi u won’t ss a thing.

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students, as well as the programmatic particulars of each program,” said Kim. “We now have the ability to show how the day-to-day experiences in BestSemester programs around the world are making life-changing impacts on our students and in the communities they are blessed to engage with each semester.”

To see the redesign and student photos, visit www.BestSemester.com.

BESTSEMESTER’S AUSTRALIA STUDIES CENTRE TO RELOCATE task of providing Christ-centered higher education to students studying outside of their home countries,” said Kimberly Spragg, ASC director.

Christian Heritage College, Citipointe Campus, is the new home of BestSemester’s Australia Studies Centre beginning in spring 2014.

At the end of 2013, BestSemester’s Australia Studies Centre marks 10 years of serving CCCU students in Sydney in partnership with Wesley Institute, a CCCU international affiliate. ASC launched in 2004 with 19 students and now has over 500 alumni.

“It has been such a blessing to partner with Wesley in the difficult but rewarding 7

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As announced this past summer, after this first decade in Sydney, ASC will relocate to Brisbane, Australia, beginning with the spring 2014 semester, partnering there with CCCU international affiliate Christian Heritage College.

“While this means a change in location,” said Spragg, “we believe that CHC has unique advantages for students studying in Australia especially in the range of classes it offers for ASC students in the areas of business, education, the social sciences, and ministries.”

Students studying at ASC in its new home will experience Australia in new

and exciting ways. “Brisbane is not only a beautiful river city filled with ferries and bridges and skyscrapers and quirky art installations,” explained Spragg, “but it’s foot-friendly and built for adventure and outdoor experiences.” Brisbane is also closer than Sydney to destinations such as the Great Barrier Reef, Fraser Island, the Sunshine Coast, the Gold Coast and Surfers Paradise, the Scenic Rim, and Steve Irwin’s Australia Zoo. ASC and the CCCU are excited about the future success of ASC, confident that it will continue to transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to biblical truth while offering expanded academic options to CCCU students in Australia. Additionally, the CCCU is grateful to Wesley Institute for its decade of partnership with ASC.

8/12/

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/13 4:27 PM

AROUND THE COUNCIL

CCCU NAMES MAGNUSON NEW BESTSEMESTER MESP DIRECTOR The CCCU has appointed Doug Magnuson to serve as the new director of BestSemester’s Middle East Studies Program. Magnuson took up his new post at the beginning of the fall semester, succeeding David Holt, who led MESP for more than a decade.

After completing undergraduate studies at CCCU member Bethel University in St. Paul, Minn., Magnuson received his M.A. and Ph.D. in anthropology from Brown University. Magnuson and his wife, Patti, have lived and worked in Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan and traveled to other countries in the region, including Israel, during their 30 years in the Middle East.

In recent years, Magnuson has led educational trips in Israel with Bethel University students, faculty, and administration. Much of his teaching has been on-site in the Middle East, guiding American students in experiential learning in the sociocultural context.

The Magnusons are enthusiastic about helping students understand how to deeply relate to people of different faiths and cultural backgrounds.

Holt’s tenure as MESP’s director concluded after 11 years, 548 students, hundreds of specialty guest lecturers, and countless miles logged on study tours.

The Holts have returned to Tennessee where Suzanne accepted a position at Lee University, an institution where she previously taught for many years.

Advertise in Advance!

David Holt and Doug Magnuson on-site at BestSemester’s Middle East Studies Program at Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, Israel. Photo courtesy of Doug Magnuson.

“What a privilege it has been for both Suzanne and I to be part of MESP,” Holt said. “We have so many people to be grateful for across the Middle East— Jewish, Eastern Christian, and Muslim.

In a Middle East region that must seem to many a harsh desert place, MESP students flourished in a secure oasis, drawing on [the region’s] deep well of hospitality, friendship, and wisdom.

Thanks to all the CCCU staff and students for allowing Suzanne and me to drink from this wellspring.”

“Doug will move the program forward in its newer Jerusalem setting at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute, adding fresh perspectives, activities, and content,” Holt said. “It is precisely the challenging nature of the Middle East today that requires a CCCU presence in the region. Our CCCU campuses and students deserve continued, safe access to the vocational and spiritual opportunities afforded by MESP, and I depart with full confidence that Dr. Magnuson and Patti are the chosen stewards of this worthy endeavor.”

Holt is pleased with the selection of Magnuson to succeed him as director.

For a lengthier profile of Doug Magnuson and MESP, please see page 29.

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CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

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AROUND THE COUNCIL

2013-2014 FULBRIGHT AWARDEES

Fulbright Awardee Destinations

ANDERSON UNIVERSITY (IN)

AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY (CA), continued

Jordan Koontz, 2013 graduate in Spanish and business/ information systems, to teach English and research the immigration system in Argentina

Aly Easton, a 2012 graduate in theater arts, to study deaf theater in Italy

ANDERSON UNIVERSITY (SC) Richard A. Williamson, professor of music, to develop a master’s degree in choral conducting at the National Conservatory of Music in Lima, Peru, and aid Peruvian composers in publishing their work

AZUSA PACIFIC UNIVERSITY (CA) Lauren Bugg, a 2013 graduate in English and communication studies, to teach English in Turkey Thomas Cairns, associate professor in APU’s School of Business and Management, to teach at the undergraduate and graduate levels and conduct research at the National University of Ireland, Maynooth Cameron Demetre, a 2013 graduate in global studies, to teach English in South Korea

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CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

Chad Richard, a 2012 graduate in English literature, to teach English in Brazil Justin Strong, a 2008 graduate in biblical studies, to conduct theological research in Germany Cheryl Westlake Canary, professor and associate dean of international and community programs, to teach heart failure care and conduct research in Quito, Ecuador, at Universidad de San Francisco

EASTERN MENNONITE UNIVERSITY (VA) Najla El Mangoush, Fulbright student from Libya, beginning a Master of Arts in conflict transformation at EMU’s Center for Justice & Peacebuilding Cynthia Nassif, Fulbright student from Lebanon, completing a Master of Arts in conflict transformation at EMU’s Center for Justice & Peacebuilding

AROUND THE COUNCIL

EAST TEXAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY (TX)

SOUTHWEST BAPTIST UNIVERSITY (MO)

Cassie Falke, associate professor of English, to teach American

Delta Cavner, associate professor of education, to teach education classes at Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia and conduct research

studies at the University of Bergen in Norway

LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY (TN) Jared Brett, 2012 graduate of the College of Education, to

TAYLOR UNIVERSITY (IN) Jonathan Bouw, professor of art, to conduct research in the Philippines

teach in Indonesia

MESSIAH COLLEGE (PA) Lucy Barnhouse, 2008 graduate in German and medieval and

TRINITY CHRISTIAN COLLEGE (IL)

Renaissance studies, to research 13th-century hospitals and

Mackenzi Huyser, dean for faculty development and academic

canon law in Mainz, Germany

programs and professor of social work, Fulbright Specialist award,

NORTH PARK UNIVERSITY (IL)

development, assessment of student learning, and faculty

to provide consultation in the areas of program and curricular

Timothy Ahlberg, 2013 graduate in business and economics with

development in overseas universities

a minor in Spanish, Binational Business Internship Grant to work

Patti Powell, director of graduate program in special education

in a business in Mexico City, Mexico

and professor of education, Fulbright Specialist award, to utilize

Samuel Auger, 2013 graduate in global studies with a minor in Spanish, to work as an English Teaching Assistant in a high

her education and background in service-learning by participating in international collaboration

school in Haskovo, Bulgaria

UNIVERSITY OF NORTHWESTERN – ST. PAUL (MN)

Bailey Schwartz, 2012 graduate in history with certification to

Anastasia Pederson, 2013 graduate in ESL education and intercultural studies, to work as an English Teaching Assistant in Levice, Slovakia

teach secondary education and an endorsement for ESL, to work as an English Teaching Assistant in Turkey

Charissa Doebler

In the spring 2013 issue of Advance, Fulbright awardee Charissa Doebler, who served as an English Teaching Assistant in Taiwan during 2012-13, was erroneously listed with the wrong institution. Doebler is a 2012 graduate in ESL education from the University of Northwestern – St. Paul in Minnesota.

Anastasia Pederson followed in Charissa Doebler’s footsteps this year by becoming the University of Northwestern – St. Paul’s 10 th Fulbright awardee. The 2013 graduate in ESL education and intercultural studies is an English Teaching Assistant in Slovakia.

Anastasia Pederson

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FLOURISH! Planting a Seed to Serve Underrepresented Communities

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CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

All photos courtesy of Warner Pacific College.

By Andrea P. Cook President, Warner Pacific College

FLOURISH

M

UCH IS BEING SAID about the stressors stretching the higher education fabric across our country. Some say that as the financial margins grow thinner and competition thickens, a bubble in our industry will burst. I have given 37 years of my life to the academy and have had the privilege of serving alongside some of the brightest minds, many of whom are suggesting that the math doesn’t add up.

The prediction is that many institutions will not be able to adapt quickly enough to the tides of change, and financial challenges will lead them to close.

I agree that this epoch of change in higher education will be dramatic. Some of the change variables can be controlled internally, such as a response to the demand for online education and MOOCs (massive open online courses), controlling the discount rate, etc. However, many of the changes will be driven by the need to respond to external variables, such as state and federal accountability measures, student loan markets, etc.

Transcending everything, though, will be the reality that our country’s student demographics are changing rapidly.

More than any other group of institutions, I believe the CCCU’s institutions are better poised to respond to and meet the needs of an emerging generation of students who will be more diverse than any other generation in American history.

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FLOURISH

Dr. Andrea Cook

Since long before I became president of Warner Pacific College, the institution has been committed to providing a Christ-centered liberal arts education that challenges students to see the interrelatedness of all things. Whether a student was passionate about the city, looking for a second chance, or desiring career advancement, our faculty and staff at Warner Pacific were and are exceptionally equipped to challenge students to think critically, adapt readily, and lead courageously.

However, early in my tenure at Warner Pacific, I began to develop concern that the institution was not fully capitalizing on the strategic position God had placed it in. Historically, Warner Pacific’s enrollment has fluctuated. I quickly realized that our inability to grow was tied to our lack of clarity regarding our institutional 13

CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

identity. When we considered our urban location, the changing racial demographics in our region, and our commitment to reflecting Jesus in our community, we became convicted that we were not intentionally creating strategies to serve underrepresented students from our region.

is challenging his followers to remember that

Jesus said the kingdom of God is “like a mustard seed, which is the smallest of all seeds on earth. Yet when planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all garden plants, with such big branches that the birds can perch in its shade” (Mark 4:31-32). I’ve been struck that the most common images Jesus used to describe life in the kingdom of God were things that grow. When you drop a mustard seed into the ground, it is nearly impossible to see. If it is in your pocket, it may be impossible to find. How could something so small become so impactful? Jesus

new seed at the college. We lowered tuition

the kingdom of God requires initiative and time. In due time, all will see the seemingly insignificant flourish!

In order for Warner Pacific College to live out our calling to serve students from diverse backgrounds, in 2008 we decided to plant a by 23 percent and launched a partnership to bring the Act Six Leadership and Scholarship Initiative to the college.

Since then, the seed has sprouted, and Warner Pacific is growing. In the last five years, we have completely altered our institutional trajectory as we consider our strategic future.

Our revenue and cost model has shifted, and we are investing much differently than before. We have pivoted our focus, and instead of hedging against the impact of the city, we are now rethinking how we serve students

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who otherwise would never dream of receiving a private, Christ-centered liberal arts education. This shift is evidenced by the fact that this fall, 52 percent of the students in our incoming freshman class are students of color, and perhaps for the first time in the history of Warner Pacific, our campus community reflects the ethnic diversity of the world in which we live.

The kingdom of God, Jesus of Nazareth’s central message while on earth, is reflected in a now-but-not-yet reality.

This upside-down worldview practiced by billions of Christ-followers all over the world calls for a value system different than social norms. I wonder if it is time for Christian higher education to explore how we determine what we value as we serve the next generation. In the year 2023, according to U.S. Census Bureau data, there will be more children of color in America than Caucasian children, and I am convinced that now is our most strategic window to commit our best thinking to serving students of color beyond the strategies we have employed in the past.

At Warner Pacific, as we have increased our intentionality in serving students of color, it has become clear that we still have a lot to learn. In many ways, we are just getting started. Whether it is our financial aid philosophy, our first year learning

communities program, or how we think about student support on campus, we are rethinking how the entire Warner Pacific model works so that both the students we serve and the institution we love will flourish in the days to come.

Of course, all variables are not the same

Many of my colleagues in the CCCU would agree that Christian colleges and universities have operated from a dominant structure perspective. Will what we have done in the past work in the future?

How might we take new risks now that will prepare us for tomorrow? Might now be the time to shift from a perspective of majority practice to one that is countercultural? Perhaps to flourish is to seek the answers to these questions: Who did God make us to be? How do we engage an increasingly diverse world as we live fully into our mission?

graduation. We challenge them to step

across all of the CCCU’s institutions.

However, in spite of our differences, we do share a common commitment to serving Christ as we prepare students to lead. We challenge our students to take risks upon courageously in the name of Jesus into the unknown future.

Now is our time to lead with courage.

Now is our time to take new risks. We must consider how our hiring practices, our financial decisions, and our mission commitments will reflect our commitment to our king and his kingdom. The future of our country and the future of higher education will be beautifully diverse. What seed are you planting today so you might flourish tomorrow?

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DIVERSITY CAN BE DETERMINED BY MORE THAN JUST ETHNICITY

By Heather M. Surls

AIMING TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE

individuals who want to make a change,” Cazares says.

Photo courtesy of Jose Joel Cazares.

MANY CONSIDER JOSE Joel Cazares a prime example of diversity at Warner Pacific College. The son of Mexican migrant workers, Cazares was born in California but returned to Mexico with his mom and sisters when he was one. His father, the family’s sole breadwinner, stayed behind to work at a ranch.

When Cazares was 14, he moved to Forest Grove, Ore., to live with his father, now a nursery worker. Cazares did not speak English and, for about a month, did not have the confidence to leave the one-bedroom apartment they shared with two uncles.

By the time Cazares was a high school sophomore, however, he was volunteering at the Centro Cultural, a Washington County community center serving the migrant worker population by offering English as a second language and computer classes. Since his father was usually working or sleeping, Cazares volunteered in order to stay busy.

As his English skills and confidence improved, Cazares also got more involved at his high school. He traveled to Arizona and Washington, D.C., representing his school’s 4-H program, which focused on technology and robotics, and helped lead the Chicano student group.

Noting his leadership potential, a school counselor encouraged Cazares to apply for an Act Six scholarship. Act Six, a Northwestbased, full-tuition scholarship program, selects young leaders who plan to use their education to improve their college campuses and their communities at home. “They’re looking for 15

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Cazares was awarded one of the scholarships, and in fall 2011 he started classes at Warner Pacific in Portland, Ore., which is one of the colleges participating in the scholarship program. Suddenly, he was surrounded by Americans who didn’t speak Spanish or understand his expressions and culture. Some students assumed he was on the soccer team just because he was Mexican and liked to play soccer. “Moving to Warner Pacific was a culture shock,” he acknowledges.

Now a junior history major, Cazares believes diversity is often misunderstood.

Instead of defining diversity solely on ethnicity, as many tend to do, Cazares says ideas, personal history, and future goals should be considered key elements of a diverse campus. “Everyone who comes into Warner Pacific is diversity, no matter where they come from or where they want to go,” he says.

Eventually, Cazares hopes to work for Washington County. His jobs the past two summers—first as an IT person and then as an appraiser for the county—gave him an insider’s perspective on county government and showed him how frustrated some people are with it. This is something he wants to change with his efficient leadership style and ability to keep others on task.

“There [are] those things you can do as a worker to help things move forward a little bit,” he says. “Not a lot of people are willing to step up and … change that.”

Warner Pacific College was the 2013 recipient of the CCCU’s Robert and Susan Andringa Award for Advancing Racial Harmony.

Heather M. Surls is a freelance editor for Tyndale House Publishers and enjoys writing creative nonfiction.

She lives in an international community near Chicago and is an alumna of The Master’s College and the CCCU’s BestSemester Washington Journalism Center.

Photo courtesy of Giuliana Ruiz-Moreno.

GIULIANA RUIZ-MORENO has already crossed international borders in her life.

The Huntington University senior was born in Argentina. When she was 10 years old, she moved with her family to Indiana.

But Ruiz-Moreno has also crossed borders of a less concrete kind: racial and ethnic borders that keep people separated. As a social work major at Huntington, located in Huntington, Ind., with minors in sociology and psychology, Ruiz-Moreno has been challenged by her professors and the curriculum of her major to “go outside the box” and have experiences that expose her to a diversity of perspectives and communities.

“It is extremely humbling to be among individuals who are different than me,” she says, “yet we can rejoice in sharing our humanity together.”

Ruiz-Moreno encourages her peers to respect and embrace the commonalities and differences of their humanity by reaching across socially constructed borders. She does so primarily through her involvement with Huntington’s Multicultural Activities Council, which promotes campus conversations around issues of race, ethnicity, and multiculturalism. Through MAC, Ruiz-

FLOURISH

By Kendra Langdon Juskus

MADE ONE THROUGH CHRIST

By Kendra Langdon Juskus

Moreno has been involved in chapel speaking, movie screenings to provoke thinking on these subjects, and “poetry tea houses” where students and staff share works of creative expression.

she was raised in a primarily white community. Many of the stereotypes and narratives others associate with her because of her race do not correspond to her life experiences or her understanding of self.

Ruiz-Moreno has seen many changes at Huntington since she first entered this “beautiful community.” She explains, “Ever since my freshman year, I have seen an extreme difference in the university’s culture. Our campus is majority white, though in the past years I have seen an increase in diversity and multiculturalism.

It is immensely exciting to [see] these changes just in a few years.”

“I never noticed the racial issues in life until I came here,” she says. “It is one of the hardest things to endure when even the professors want to hear your take on an issue, considering ‘you can give us an insight.’ How is it my job to educate students on something I’m just now learning about?”

Part of what has contributed to this diversification of Huntington’s student body has been the college’s partnership with Youth for Christ to create the Horizon Leadership Program in which RuizMoreno participates. Horizon scholarships enable academically strong minority students to attend the university, providing these students with opportunities for community service and professional development along the way.

Ruiz-Moreno will complete her Huntington education in May, and from there she will cross new borders into graduate work and a much-anticipated career. Already she loves attending conferences to develop her professional capacities, with a view toward working as a social worker at an agency where her skills and talents will continue to serve others.

“I want to know that I [am trying] to make the world a better place. Being a global citizen and identifying myself with the world rather than with a nationality is important. I want to expand my borders beyond the United States.”

Huntington University was the 2012 recipient of the CCCU’s Robert and Susan Andringa Award for Advancing Racial Harmony.

Photo courtesy of Nicole Ennes.

A GOOGLE SEARCH led Nicole Ennes to Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, Calif. The APU sophomore had typed “Christian colleges” into the search engine, prompted by a lifetime of strong Christian faith and the influence of a special aunt.

“My aunt was the one person that always tried to make my faith grow,” says Ennes, “and after she passed I was determined to do it. … I decided to attend APU because they are focused on community. I am probably one of the most social people you will ever meet.”

A social work major with a minor in ethnic studies, Ennes’s free time also revolves around community. Involved in the Best Buddies ministry (which pairs APU students with local, college-aged individuals with intellectual disabilities), the Black Student Association, and the campus step team, Ennes is also an intern at APU’s Student Center for Reconciliation and Diversity (SCRD) and an assistant in the ethnic studies department. During Ennes’s rare opportunities for a longer stretch of free time, she returns to the community that inspired her to attend APU in the first place: her family.

Ennes finds herself in a unique position at APU. An African-American student,

Racially based assumptions, comments, and questions have surprised and frustrated Ennes. But she also sees them as opportunities. They have spurred her nurturing of community, particularly through her work with SCRD. “Skin color, education, religion, and more should not differentiate us but unite us,” she explains. “God created each and every one of us with an intention. Who are we to diminish that? [SCRD is] in the process of creating a series that will ... discuss all aspects of culture and race and ask difficult questions.”

As Ennes looks to the future, she anticipates a career as a social worker in a hospital emergency room or involvement in a nonprofit that supports victims of domestic violence. For now, however, she is committed to her current community, daily endeavoring “to let people know that we are made one through Christ.”

Azusa Pacific University was the 2011 recipient of the CCCU’s Robert and Susan Andringa Award for Advancing Racial Harmony.

Kendra Langdon Juskus is an alumna of Wheaton College, where she works as the editorial assistant of the Marion E. Wade Center’s journal, SEVEN. Her poetry and nonfiction have been published in PRISM, Books & Culture, Ruminate, Fifth Wednesday Journal, and others. She lives in Wheaton, Ill., with her husband and son and is an MFA student at Spalding University.

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By Shapri D. LoMaglio, J.D.

FROM CAPITOL HILL

Holistic Kingdom Diversity: Is Racial Diversity Enough Diversity?

I

n June 2013, the United States Supreme Court decided its first race-based college admissions case in a decade. In Fisher v. University of Texas at Austin, the Court continued to allow public colleges and universities to consider race as a factor in admissions but shifted the burden of proof to the institution, requiring that it now prove it has considered “available, workable raceneutral alternatives.”

States’ changing demographics, the problem of limited numbers of minorities involved in certain programs may be reduced over time. Specifically, Justice O’Connor theorized that any such governmental consideration of race should expire within 25 years.

In the Court’s 2003 Grutter v. Bollinger decision—the case that allowed the University of Michigan Law School to consider race as a “plus factor” in admissions—the Court specified that each applicant must be “evaluated as an individual and not in a way that makes an applicant’s race or ethnicity the defining feature of his or her application” and that race must be necessary to achieve the educational benefits of diversity. Fisher further specifies that a college must prove to a court that “no workable race-neutral alternative would produce the educational benefits of diversity.”

This initial caution by the Court in Grutter along with increased minority populations within the United States and the presence of several new justices caused much uncertainty in Fisher regarding whether the consideration of race as a “plus factor” allowed in Grutter would continue to be permissible. While the legal principles of Grutter remain intact, this additional burden upon schools to prove that they explored and gave “serious, good-faith consideration [to] workable race-neutral alternatives” creates uncertainty as to whether schools will continue to use race in admissions. Will they instead find the burden to be too onerous and develop other methods of achieving a diverse student body?

In the lead-up to Fisher, many wondered if the Court would continue to allow any consideration of race in college admissions. One of the most notable features of the Grutter decision was the expiration date that Justice Sandra Day O’Connor suggested in her majority opinion. While her opinion stated that factoring race into admissions is currently a legitimate method by which schools can obtain diversity, it also noted that one aspect of ensuring that a race-based test remains “narrowly tailored” is to place sunset provisions on it. She reasoned that, with increased emphasis on admitting minority students and with the United

This increased legal burden of proof, Justice O’Connor’s admonition that racial preferences should not continue into perpetuity, and the increasing number of states barring consideration of race in admissions signal that the public’s appetite for race-based admissions policies is diminishing. Does reduced appetite for such policies indicate reduced appetite for a racially diverse student body? Not necessarily. It certainly does not within the higher education community. More than 40 higher education organizations submitted an amicus brief in the Fisher case affirming the value of a diverse student body.

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Without such policies in place, however, would diversity on campuses diminish?

There is evidence to suggest this could be the case. In California, 10 years after a 1996 law prohibited the use of race as a factor in admissions, the black student population had dropped from its all-time high of 8 percent to less than 2 percent. In Michigan, where voters passed a similar amendment in 2006, black student enrollment has dropped 33 percent at the University of Michigan.

If racial and cultural diversity in higher education institutions is still a goal, can other methods besides consideration of race for admission achieve diversity?

An increasing number of people suggest focusing on socioeconomic status rather than race as a more effective way to achieve diversity. They argue that diverse socioeconomic status encompasses experiential diversity as well as racial diversity. Helpful indicators of socioeconomic diversity include family income, family size, whether English is a student’s first language, and the percentage of free and reduced lunches at a student’s high school.

The University of Colorado at Boulder uses two highly sophisticated models consistent with this thinking. The first, the “disadvantage index,” helps admissions officials understand how an applicant’s socioeconomic background has influenced his or her chances to enroll in college. The other, the “overachievement index,” compares an applicant’s academic performance to that of students with similar backgrounds. Other schools are engaging in targeted outreach and recruitment or partnering with high

FROM CAPITOL HILL

schools through pipeline programs.

Some argue that this shift is necessary and preferable to considering only race in order to achieve diversity. In 1970, 12 percent of recent college graduates came from the bottom quartile of income distribution; today only 7 percent do.

Seventy-three percent of upper-income American teenagers will ultimately earn a college degree, whereas only 8 percent of low-income students will. Perhaps the focus on racial preferences has been at the expense of other types of diversity?

Higher education has long argued that there are many educational benefits that flow from a diverse student body but that each institution should be able to define diversity in a way that is consistent with its mission. It is worth asking then: how should CCCU institutions define diversity? As private institutions not bound by the constraints of Grutter or Fisher, CCCU campuses have the freedom to explore biblical models for considering these challenging questions. Driven solely by their gospel missions, they may consider what

diversity has to do with the kingdom of God and what types of diversity they should reflect. Is cultural diversity enough? Is racial diversity enough? Is socioeconomic diversity enough? Might holistic kingdom diversity include all of the above?

Certainly, CCCU institutions face unique obstacles to racial diversity. For example, most CCCU campuses attract their students predominantly from a U.S. subculture in which 90 percent of churches are racially homogenous. Only 7 percent of American churches are racially mixed, and only 2.5 percent of American congregations consist of 50 percent of one racial group and 50 percent of another. At CCCU institutions, in the 2006-07 academic year, 80.05 percent of enrolled undergraduate students identified racially as white non-Hispanic, compared to 70.81 percent at all private, four-year, not-for-profit institutions.

Colleges and universities have a unique opportunity, writes Julie Park in her book When Diversity Drops: Race, Religion, and Affirmative Action in Higher Education,

to help diverse student groups connect because they offer the organizational structures that allow people of different backgrounds to form a shared identity—a student club, residence hall, major, etc.

She also affirms that racially diverse campuses can foster social ties between different racial and ethnic populations that can help pave the way for racially diverse churches.

In Revelation 7:9, John writes that he “looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne” (ESV). What an encouragement that CCCU institutions are uniquely situated to help further societal goals of racial and economic equality while also helping further the kingdom of God here on earth as it will be in heaven.

Shapri D. LoMaglio is the government relations and executive programs director at the CCCU. A native of Tucson, Ariz., Shapri is a graduate of Gordon College and of the University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law.

CCCUCAREER CENTER The online source for Christian Higher Education jobs More than just a job-finding service, the CCCU Career Center links passionate people with meaningful careers in Christ-centered higher education.

To get started, visit www.cccu.org/careers.

CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

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25 YEARS ‘ON RELIGION’

Rev. Billy Graham and Terry Mattingly

Long-Running Column Impacts Religion News Coverage

By Julia Duin

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Photos courtesy of Terry Mattingly.

Washington Journalism Center Director Marks 25 Years ‘On Religion’

25 YEARS ‘ON RELIGION’

I

T WAS 1988. Terry Mattingly was a religion reporter for the Rocky Mountain News when he received an intriguing request from the newspaper’s corporate headquarters in Cincinnati. They were looking for someone in the Scripps Howard newspaper chain to start a religion column for all their newspapers. Would he do it?

That column, “On Religion,” turned 25 earlier this year.

And with the recently announced shuttering of the Scripps Howard News Service, the column will wrap this December.

Before the Scripps Howard execs approached him, Mattingly had already made himself a name as a keen analyst of religion reporting in American journalism. His January 1983 article “The Religion Beat: Out of the Ghetto, Into the Mainsheets” that ran in Quill, a journalism magazine, remains one of the definitive articles on the beat. Religion plays a huge role in the lives of Americans, he argued, so why aren’t journalists covering it? Why was there such hostility to the beat in the nation’s newsrooms? And why did the wire services assign a small army of reporters to cover sports but only have one staffer to cover all of the country’s religions?

Doug LeBlanc was a religion reporter at the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate when he stumbled across Mattingly’s Quill piece.

“Terry’s writing assured me that I should pursue the calling I sensed toward the religion beat,” says LeBlanc, now associate editor for The Living Church magazine. “The God beat in the United States would be far less interesting, and far more lonely, without Terry’s steady advocacy.”

“On Religion” produced many classic columns, such as “Liturgical Dances with Wolves,” which describes Mattingly’s 1993 visit to St. John the Divine Cathedral in Manhattan where worshippers prayed to the sun god Ra, among other deities. Mattingly also wrote about the difficulties of being a pro-life Democrat, the mislabeling newspapers accept on the abortion issue, and the deliberate ignorance of religion news in many newsrooms. Most top editors were not like the Scripps Howard executives who had sought out a religion expert to write a religion column. For years, Mattingly watched as many newspapers either left the religion beat empty or filled it with a reporter who knew little about the topic. “You cannot write a story if you do not know that it exists,” he wrote.

Bono and Terry Mattingly

“Terry was one of the journalists who became vocal about how coverage of issues and culture in America and worldwide is impoverished by lack of religious insight,” says Ann Rodgers, a former religion reporter for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and now the communications director for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

“He has been a consistent voice for the need to have religion reporters who understand the extremely complex and nuanced subject matter and can explain it clearly and correctly to the general public.”

Mattingly, now 59, began combining religion and journalism early on during his studies at Baylor University, where he double-majored in journalism and history as an undergrad and then earned an M.A. in church-state studies. There he encountered David McHam, a professor who taught Mattingly how to add insight to coverage.

McHam, now at the University of Houston, calls Mattingly “the best religion writer in America.”

“He has a way of seeing situations that tell the greater story of religion,” McHam says. “Then he talks with the people involved. He puts it all together in a meaningful way. And he does it again the next week. Writers like this don’t come around all that often.”

With the mid-November announcement that shifts in the media business and in religion reporting have finally spelled the end of “On Religion,” Mattingly acknowledged in a GetReligion blog post that “eventually, declining advertising revenues are going to affect the entire news and information marketplace, including wire services.”

Although Mattingly left daily journalism in 1990 to teach, he retained his column. On Feb. 2, 2004, he and LeBlanc co-founded getreligion.org, a blog that tracks how the secular media cover—or fail to cover—religion news. “This has developed into a savvy, must-read monitor of how religion is treated or mistreated in the mass media,” says Richard Ostling, a former religion editor at Time magazine who contributes to the blog.

“The bottom line,” he writes, is that he is “not surprised by this news, but it’s still rather stunning at the personal level. In recent years I’ve been telling friends that I hoped to make it to the 25th anniversary of the column last spring. Well, that came to pass. No doubt about it, a quarter of a century is a long time and writing the Scripps Howard column has been one of the defining acts of my life and career.”

Then, in the fall of 2005, Mattingly was appointed director of the new BestSemester Washington Journalism Center at CCCU headquarters in Washington, D.C. From there, he continues to train college students in how to become reporters.

For links to the articles referenced here, visit www.cccu.org/advance.

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25 YEARS ‘ON RELIGION’

Q&A what [trafficked] women face in a Muslim culture versus a Hindu culture and what issues unite them.

DUIN: So how do these verbal students learn to write?

MATTINGLY: Kevin Eckstrom, the head of Religion News Service, tells students to write the top three paragraphs of a story—for briefs—for three weeks. If they can get those three paragraphs right, they can get the rest of the story right. Kevin pounds away at them, and if they show initiative, if they do that extra phone call, he’ll give them 600 words for a story. Some of the best writers I’ve seen are sports writers or athletes. My theory: they are the only ones reading a newspaper. At least they have an idea of what an Associated Press story looks like.

Photo by Jacob Moore.

ON TEACHING JOURNALISM TO TODAY’S STUDENTS

By Julia Duin For eight years, Terry Mattingly has been the director of the CCCU’s BestSemester Washington Journalism Center, which is housed at the CCCU headquarters on Capitol Hill. In early October, Julia Duin, a journalist and journalism professor who has known Terry for more than 25 years, talked with him about the present state of journalism training.

JULIA DUIN: How has the typical student writer changed since you started college-level teaching in 1990?

TERRY MATTINGLY: The smarter the student, the simpler are the grammatical forms in which they write. The more they struggle, the more grandiose their grammatical styles. It’s insecurity in ink. Students write extremely well in first person: “I think this, I saw that.” But when you ask them to deal with information from other sources—books, interviews, online research—or the moment you ask them to go into third person, their writing falls apart or becomes so grandiose you can hardly read it. They are a verbal generation. We’ve struggled for years [against the assumption] that journalism is shallow, that its studies are not worthy of the liberal arts. I’d argue in this age— where there is a crisis of students not reading enough or longer than the screen of their phone—journalism becomes a frontline battle for reading and writing. [Thus], if you send students from one of our campuses to a Senate hearing on sexual trafficking around the world, [and] you then ask those students to write a 700-word report summarizing what they’ve heard, that is a difficult intellectual exercise asking them to synthesize what they’ve heard. They have to do the reading to prepare to go [to the hearing] and then they must understand what is there—like

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DUIN: What are some of the major changes you’ve seen in students during the 25 years you’ve had your column?

MATTINGLY: I think students today are more interested in niche topics and specialties than they used to be. When I was at Baylor, everyone wanted to do politics. They wanted to be the next Woodward and Bernstein. Today, more students are willing to specialize in subjects they are interested in. That’s a good thing for religion writing. They are raised in niche subjects, and they are used to plugging search words into Google.

I used to do a lecture called the pyramid lecture. I showed students a pyramid of journalism, and at the bottom were 100 lousy jobs that were entry level, bad hours, etc. Above that was basic regional journalism. That is a great place to stay. Some regional markets are quite interesting. For instance, if you are covering country music, would you rather be in Miami or Nashville? Above the regionals were the top 25 markets where everyone used to want to go. You were a star reporter or got a beat at a paper there. That was your career destination. Above that was national media, and above them were the journalists who influence the stage of discourse in journalism. Now, the top 25 markets are the least stable; they are the ones whose newspapers are falling apart. This is The Dallas Morning News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and The Boston Globe selling only for the value of the land it is on. Students used to head to the bottom of the pyramid and get up into the level of job they wanted to do.

For students today, that is not their world. I used to plead with students to not come to Washington [to job-hunt] but go into small- or medium-market journalism and see where they want to go. But Washington media has adapted to the Internet age faster than anyone else, so they are seeking younger Web producers, younger reporters. Younger students have a better chance of breaking into journalism here than they would in Memphis.

Washington is where the jobs are now.

25 YEARS ‘ON RELIGION’

DUIN: Should students even attend journalism school then?

MATTINGLY: I am less interested than ever in a traditional J-school curriculum. My dream J-student is a double major in mass communications and some liberal arts subject. In the mass communications degree, you could include courses you could teach at a Christian college but not at a J-school, like Introduction to Mass Media, Pop Culture, and Religion. You wouldn’t look at just film but film about religion, not just a class about radio but the history of Christians in radio. Now, there are no textbooks about these things. If you want to talk about the integration of faith and learning, you have to provide half of that equation.

DUIN: But do Christian colleges really want to teach journalism?

MATTINGLY: I ask them: “Don’t you want a value-added education? Don’t you want to wrestle with the big topics from a uniquely Christian point of view?” Some do. Some struggle with faith integration at the level of syllabi; for others it’s very pietistic, such as whether to pray with students before class. More schools are willing to wrestle with mass media than when I started beating my head on this wall in 1993. Back then, there were maybe five people on the faculties of those colleges who had ever written a lead sentence in the mainstream press. These were people

with practical journalism experience and enough academic background to make it in a university. Now we are up to 20 such people. But there are 119 schools [who are full CCCU members] and a long way to go. What usually happens is a college with a communications degree has an adjunct prof who is the school newspaper adviser and teaches one class. That has been the norm. Journalism is a topic that deserves better than that.

DUIN: Is anyone listening?

MATTINGLY: Colleges say, “We don’t want to do a practical degree in journalism.” I ask, “Do you have a music degree?” They say “Yes.” I say, “I want that degree, but I want to change the keyboard.

Music history equals journalism history; music theory equals journalism theory. You already have a degree structured in the way I’d like it structured. I want you to think of journalism as a cultural art—the creating of art—as you would for music or theater.” Some look at me as if I am crazy, and for others it sinks in.

Julia Duin is the former religion editor for The Washington Times and has written extensively for The Washington Post Magazine as well as the Economist, The Wall Street Journal, and CNN.com. She has moved into teaching the next generation of journalists and is getting a second master’s degree in journalism at the University of Memphis.

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All photos courtesy of Belhaven University.

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STUDENT SUCCESS CENTERS

Student Success Centers Take Different Forms but Serve a Common Goal

By Luke Reiter and Chris Turner

L

IKE MANY CCCU CAMPUSES, Belhaven University, in Jackson, Miss., offers a freshman seminar course designed to equip incoming students with essential skills for college life, such as time management, effective study techniques, and maximizing on-campus resources.

Price started at Belhaven in the admissions department and eventually became an adjunct instructor before leaving the school in 2008 to work at The University of Southern Mississippi. While at USM, she completed her doctorate in higher education leadership from Union University in Jackson, Tenn.

But Erin Price, Belhaven’s assistant vice president for student success, has also launched a more innovative initiative to help Belhaven students. In addition to giving them the tools to succeed, she and her colleagues strive to offer students the ideal space in which to use them.

For two years she worked as a student development specialist at USM’s Student Think Center, which included working with a team on a research grant studying how space affects learning.

They were implementing a design-thinking model into instructional design, learning space, and student development.

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STUDENT SUCCESS CENTERS

The concept was new for Price at the time. In fact, she says she had a difficult time at first visualizing what was being discussed. Because her colleagues had visited the d.school, the Institute of Design at Stanford, which has since published a 2012 book on manipulating space to ignite creativity, they had a better picture of the type of space being discussed. At the time of the USM team’s grant proposal, their research was cutting edge, though Price notes there is evidence that more institutions are now embracing the importance of active learning spaces.

When Belhaven hired Price back as part

of its student development team, she was asked if she had any thoughts about using space to augment student success.

“I said, ‘Absolutely I’ve got some thoughts about it,’” Price recalls.

The result was the Wynn Kenyon Think Center, a designated study and teaching facility located inside the school’s Hood Library. The center opened in September 2012.

What makes the Think Center unique, according to Price, is its adaptability: nearly every piece of furniture in the center rotates, slides, or modifies to accommodate

group sessions, backpacks, and laptops.

Likewise, the technology in the center is wired for networking: students using the center’s computers can share screens between units to collaborate with classmates, or they can connect laptops to one of several TV monitors for multiple viewers.

Additionally, writing surfaces are virtually everywhere, from moveable whiteboards to “paper tables” that allow students to map out their thought processes.

Unlike the traditional library setting, students appreciate the Think Center because each student has the option to create his or her ideal setting, Price says.

The mobility of the center’s equipment allows for varied learning preferences— from processing with others to writing material out to concentrating individually—to be accommodated. “We encourage them to do what they need to with the space,” says Price. And in contrast to a traditional computer lab, she explains, the Think Center is colorful, inviting, and flexible.

While the environment serves primarily as a study space, the abundant technology also lends itself to teaching. Price says professors are increasingly taking advantage of the Think Center for class sessions requiring intensive or collaborative use of technology that traditional classrooms do not accommodate.

While the Think Center provides students with freedom, it is also designed to offer ample support. Price, along with the rest of the student development staff, has her office inside the center. No one is ever more than a knock away from students in need, whether they have questions about using the computers or are seeking in-depth conversations about choosing majors and careers. Peer academic tutors are also stationed in the Think Center, so if a student or group hits a roadblock while studying, they can quickly find assistance.

Price says it is too early to determine the Think Center’s impact on student outcomes, but she’s excited for the potential

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STUDENT SUCCESS CENTERS

tors. This provided Kniseley with a muchneeded sense of accountability, because each she time she returned she would share her scores with tutors.

research it may yield. “This kind of space in higher education is kind of new, so there’s a good deal to be learned about it,” she says. According to Price, Belhaven is only the second school in Mississippi exploring space and student outcomes.

In the short term, the metric that Price says she is paying the most attention to is foot traffic. Part of the goal with the high-tech, customizable feel of the Think Center, Price explains, is to pique the curiosity of passing students. “We feel like we’ve done that,” Price says. “In my mind it’s just been a huge success.”

Price’s assessment is backed by many students, including Rachel Kniseley.

Kniseley, a junior majoring in psychology, says she has been hooked on the Think Center since she took a tour shortly after it opened last year. She recalls thinking the center was awesome.

Kniseley credits the Think Center with getting her study habits on track, leading to markedly different outcomes between her freshman and sophomore years. “My freshman year I’d be like, ‘Oh, let me call Mom, because she’s the only one who can help me with this,’” she says.

When the Think Center opened the following year, Kniseley discovered a place where she could study with some privacy when necessary but also connect with tu-

“They encourage you and they motivate you to continue with your work,” Kniseley says, noting that the laid-back and collaborative nature of the facility allows students to tackle homework assignments from all angles, which is especially helpful when working on a group project or presentation. “It really does help you think out loud, especially if you like to process things with other people,” she says.

In fact, Kniseley was so impressed by the center she took a student employment position there working as a desk assistant.

For many entering the Think Center for the first time, Kniseley is the first face they see—and that is just fine with her.

“I love the Think Center,” she says. “I want every student at Belhaven to use the Think Center.”

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STUDENT SUCCESS CENTERS

RESPONDING TO OBSERVED NEEDS While the Think Center at Belhaven reflects a new concept in higher education student success programs, the CCCU’s other campuses also work hard to provide just what students need to be successful, seeking to keep in step with changes in student needs over time.

For example, taking the lead to address an area of student need is exactly what Houghton College in Houghton, N.Y., had in mind when in 1989 it launched the Academic Support Center, now called the Center for Academic Success and Advising. The center was a response to a graduate intern’s observation of the need for a staff person dedicated to helping students with physical and learning disabilities. Since then, CASA has continued to evolve as the needs of students have warranted.

In the 1990s it began assisting students for whom English was a second language and eventually offered tutoring to the entire campus for integrative studies (general education) courses and to any

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student on academic guidance or probation or earning a D or an F.

counseling, guidance, or psychoeducational testing.

In 2004 tutoring was offered regardless of grade standing, and in 2013 an Intensive Academic English Program was developed to assist students who are non-native English speakers. IAEP aims to improve reading and writing abilities to the level expected at Houghton. Participating students take classes in reading, writing, speaking, and listening instruction as well as biblical literature. A College Study Methods course is also available to all Houghton students through CASA.

In addition to Hunter and two other full-time staff, CASA employs a half-time digital text coordinator, who prepares textbooks in a digital format for learning and physically disabled students. The initiative is part of CASA’ s larger goal to improve technology for visually impaired students.

“We desire that every Houghton student become academically successful and achieve their goals,” says Mark Hunter, CASA’s director. “Houghton College has high academic standards, and some students try to use their high school study methods in their Houghton classes and struggle with the academic demands.”

In one capacity or another, during 201213, CASA supported the needs of nearly a quarter of Houghton’s student population—22 percent—through tutoring,

“I believe the greatest difference between what we do at CASA as opposed to a similar program on a secular campus is an emphasis on relying on God’s grace to guide and assist students through college,” Hunter says. “Many of our conversations with students address how students are coping spiritually with the stress of college, and most meetings with students end in prayer for the student.”

ONE STUDENT AT A TIME Service is at the heart of Dordt College’s Academic Skills Center, which is called ASK. Originally called The Writing Center, the center at the Sioux Center, Iowa, college opened during the 1979-80 aca-

STUDENT SUCCESS CENTERS

demic year and was promoted as a service available for all students, not only those needing remediation. Services expanded in 1982 to address the growing realization that students were increasingly underprepared in other areas, such as reading, math, and study skills, as they transitioned from high school. Peer tutoring has been part of ASK ever since.

“My tutors choose to work in this capacity for a variety of reasons,” says Pam De Jong, director and department chair of ASK. “Most of them have a strong desire to serve. They regard their jobs as a way of serving their fellow students and building a stronger learning community.”

De Jong says there have been hundreds of peer tutors throughout ASK’s history. She says they are an important reason why the center has successfully helped ASK realize

learning while equipping them with the necessary skills to function both within an academic community and as lifelong, independent learners.

In each of the past few years alone, more than 600 students—approximately 40 percent of Dordt’s student body—have made more than 6,000 tutoring visits. Generally, half of the students accessing tutoring are freshmen, another quarter sophomores, and the remaining quarter juniors, seniors, or special enrollment students.

But De Jong says the impact is best seen on the individual level, beyond the numbers. She remembers one undecided student who eventually settled on majoring in elementary education. However, she had difficulty adjusting to the demands of college courses and professors. At the end of her first semester, she was still on academic probation but was allowed to continue under certain requirements. The student

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eventually improved but needed a recommendation to be considered for acceptance into the teacher education program.

“I provided that needed recommendation because I saw in her the makings of a wonderfully creative and caring teacher,” De Jong says. “Thankfully, she persevered.

By the time she graduated she had a contract to teach, and I don’t know who was most proud at commencement, the soonto-be teacher, her parents, or me.”

Luke Reiter, a graduate of Bethel University (MN) and an alumnus of the CCCU’s BestSemester Washington Journalism Center, is an editor at a community newspaper covering the suburbs of St. Paul, Minn.

Chris Turner is founder of D. Chris Turner Communications, a public relations firm specializing in social media strategies, writing, and crisis communications. A former overseas correspondent with the International Mission Board, Chris has lived in England and Panama and covered stories in 28 countries.

Good Food informs us of the injustices and

unsustainable practices in our current food systems, and it gives us hope we can do better by telling us

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By Rose Creasman Welcome

LEFT: Doug and Patti Magnuson sailing on the Sea of Galilee. RIGHT: Doug Magnuson and his wife, Patti (back row, second from the right), toured Nazareth Village with students in September. Nazareth Village is a living museum in Nazareth that replicates what life would have been like there when Jesus was growing up. Photos courtesy of Sari Heidenreich, MESP program assistant.

BESTSEMESTER: VOICES

Lengthy Middle Eastern Sojourn Prepares New MESP Director

W

hen Doug and Patti Magnuson talk about life in the Middle East, the excitement in their voices is almost tangible—even after 30 years in the region.

The couple raised their four children while living in Tunisia, Egypt, and Jordan. Doug, a cultural anthropologist, conducted ethnographic research, taught undergraduate and graduate students, led short-term educational trips, and trained Christians of different nationalities in intercultural competence. Somewhere along the way, he and Patti fell in love with the cultural and religious challenges that they now teach students to embrace.

“We got hooked on the experience of learning to live incarnationally as followers of Jesus, learning what it means to follow him alongside people of a different context,” says Doug, who is halfway through his first semester as the new director of BestSemester’s Middle East Studies Program. “It’s been incredibly satisfying and rewarding.”

MESP leadership. Doug and Patti first formed a relationship with MESP and its founding director, Rick Cahill, in 1996, when the program was located in Cairo and still in its early years of development. Doug taught each of the courses offered in the program and led the MESP Israel-Palestine trip in 2000.

Though the Magnuson family had moved to Jordan by the time Holt took over the program, Doug says he and Patti stayed involved with MESP whenever possible, hosting students for dinner at their house when the group traveled to Jordan.

Passionate about working with college students, and soon-to-be empty nesters at home, the two dreamed of working even more closely with the program in the future.

“We often said to each other, ‘Wouldn’t it be exciting to do MESP someday if it worked out?’” says Doug, who received his Ph.D. and M.A. in anthropology from Brown University. “But we had no idea until this past spring that it would be an opportunity.”

Doug succeeds former director David Holt, who this spring concluded more than a decade of leadership at MESP. Holt and his wife, Suzanne, returned to the United States where she now teaches at Lee University, a CCCU member in Cleveland, Tenn.

In fact, it was Doug’s work leading two short-term educational trips for CCCU member Bethel University, where he completed his own undergraduate studies in St. Paul, Minn., that confirmed God’s next call for their lives.

For the Magnusons, this new chapter represents the culmination of nearly 10 years working as colleagues and friends alongside

“We knew we were approaching the next phase in life,” says Doug. “Our youngest had started college two years ago, and as

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BEST SEMESTER: VOICES

we considered what lay ahead for us, we wanted to invest heavily in younger people in this region.”

The couple considered moving to the United States but wanted to keep their roots planted in the Middle East, says Patti. As they prayed about the best way to deepen their ties to the region, an opportunity opened up at Doug’s alma mater. In both January 2012 and January 2013, he led a three-week Middle East course for Bethel and loved every minute.

AN UNEXPECTED OPENING “Each day of those two January short-term trips, I kept thinking, ‘Man, I would love to be doing this every day,’” says Doug. “The closest thing to being able to do it every day was really MESP, but I knew the Holts had no plans to leave.”

Soon after, the Holts announced just the opposite: Suzanne had been offered a teaching position at Lee, where she had previously taught for several years. David and Suzanne would conclude their time at MESP after 11 years, during which they welcomed 548 students and hundreds of guest lecturers and logged thousands of miles on study tours. The Magnusons were thrilled about the opportunity and applied immediately. When Doug was offered the position, they were “incredulous,” says Patti.

“We love this program, and we love what we’re doing. Every day we have a sense of what a privilege it is to work with this program and [these] students, continuing upon the foundation laid by the Holts and the CCCU,” she says.

Sari Heidenreich, a spring 2011 alumna of MESP and currently the program assistant, said she was excited to learn from Holt that one of the candidates for the position was an anthropologist.

“I was secretly hoping for that one since that’s my particular area of interest, and I got my wish!” says Heidenreich, a graduate of Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. “But my confidence in Doug was really solidified after the first time we ‘met’ on the phone around mid-July. He and Patti have so much experience in this part of the world that you just can’t help but drink in their knowledge of this culture and context.”

INTERCULTURAL DEVELOPMENT INVENTORY Deborah Kim, the CCCU’s interim vice president for student programs, credits Doug’s extensive experience in the Middle East, anthropological approach to cultures, and previous experience teaching at MESP as reasons he stood out among other candidates. She and fellow BestSemester staff point to his work with the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI), a 50-question survey designed to gauge peoples’ intercultural competence, as one of the major assets he brings to the program.

ABOVE: In September, MESP students toured Nazareth Village, a living museum in Nazareth that replicates what life would have been life there when Jesus was growing up. Photos courtesy of Sari Heidenreich, MESP program assistant.

The test, which the Magnusons have administered before and after an intercultural experience, aims to help people become more self-aware about how they are encountering cultural differences, explains Doug. It lays out five phases people tend to go through in their experience of cultural difference: denial, polarization, minimization, acceptance, and adaptation. This semester, MESP students took the test online just before arriving and discussed the process and phases during orientation.

The Magnusons then met individually with each student to discuss his or her results and what the student could work on during the semester. Students will retake the test at the end of the semester to gauge their growth.

For the Magnusons, the IDI has been a crucial tool in helping students examine, confront, and improve their cultural competence, something that does not always happen through travel.

“Just traveling abroad doesn’t necessarily help you to grow in cultural competence,” says Patti. “A lot of times you actually stay within your cultural stereotypes. We’ve seen students grow

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BESTSEMESTER: VOICES

ABOVE: Doug and Patti with Sari Heidenreich, MESP program assistant, at a celebration dinner at a neighborhood restaurant the night before fall 2013 students arrived. Photo courtesy of Sari Heidenreich, MESP program assistant.

the night, celebrating birthdays, and sharing dinner together.

“They truly treat the students with the same love and care I have seen them show their own children,” Heidenreich says. “They truly are wonderful, caring people who jump right into all the student activities—Doug has already told the students that he’ll be starting a mud fight at the Dead Sea.”

TOP: At the beginning of the semester, Doug and Patti Magnuson hosted small groups of students for brunch at their apartment in order to get to know them better. BOTTOM: The MESP family celebrates a student birthday at Doug and Patti’s apartment. Photos courtesy of Sari Heidenreich, MESP program assistant.

[as a result of taking the IDI] because they have something to work with.”

Current MESP student Campbell McKinney was surprised that his initial IDI scores were low but is optimistic about seeing an upward tick at the end of the semester.

“My scores were a lot lower than I expected, but meeting with Dr. Doug helped me to understand that it wasn’t as simple as my being culturally ignorant,” says McKinney, a junior at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Ill. “We focused on the ways that I could improve my cultural understanding and ultimately get the most from my time and experiences here. When I take it again, I hope that it reflects a change in my willingness to involve myself in other cultures and [to] feel less apprehension towards cultures other than my own.”

REFILLING THE NEST McKinney is one of 18 students in the Magnusons’ first MESP cohort. Doug and Patti are extremely relational in their leadership, says Heidenreich, and seldom a day goes by without their “empty nest” filled with students playing games late into 31

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McKinney agrees, saying the Magnusons’ anecdotes and experiences have helped him process many of the things he is experiencing in the Middle East for the first time.

“I absolutely love to sit down and talk with them about just about anything,” he says. “They are extremely welcoming and caring towards us, and I can easily say that they are parental figures in my life.”

For the Magnusons, the MESP semester is all about students learning to “become the kind of people who have the capacity to live the incarnational life of Jesus in relationship to any different people they meet in the world.”

That goal is infectious, according to current MESP student Kelly Burke, a sophomore from Nyack College in Nyack, N.Y. “One of Doug’s favorite lines is from the movie The King and I: ‘It’s best not to assume anything.’ When living in this part of the world and learning to adjust to the culture, it is important to keep an open mind and to be flexible,” says Burke. “It’s helpful to know that although Doug and Patti are very experienced now, there was once a time when they were in our shoes. Knowing that they have lived in the Middle East longer than I have been alive gives me and others here a sense of security.”

An alumna of the CCCU’s BestSemester Washington Journalism Center and of Point Loma Nazarene University, Rose Creasman Welcome has worked as a copy editor and managing editor for several print and online newsrooms.

She presently serves as program coordinator and assistant instructor for BestSemester’s Washington Journalism Center.

BESTSEMESTER: VOICES

LEFT: David Holt and his wife, Suzanne. RIGHT: David Holt with students in Islamic Spain. Photos courtesy of David Holt.

MESP Alumni Honor Out-Going Director David Holt

By Rose Creasman Welcome In spring 2013, David Holt concluded his leadership of BestSemester’s Middle East Studies Program. As MESP director, he spent more than a decade developing and directing the program. Holt and his wife, Suzanne, have since returned to Tennessee, where Suzanne is teaching at Lee University.

MESP alumni say one of the most memorable aspects of Holt’s tenure is the relationships he formed with each of the 548 students he taught over the course of 11 years.

“Dr. Holt excelled at creating a sanctuary in a strange and bewildering culture—where all questions were safe and all students felt welcome and included,” says fall 2008 MESP alum Joel Veldkamp, who graduated from Dordt College in 2010.

Veldkamp attributes his current work with Christian Solidarity International-USA, a Christian human rights organization, to his experience at MESP. “Dr. Holt always made you feel important. He was very good at encouraging his students to excel,” Veldkamp continues. “He was also a master of breaking down his students’ preconceptions about the Middle East. My time in MESP forced me to rebuild my whole worldview. At the same time, he conveyed a peace and faith about the uncertainty. He told us, ‘No plan is going to save the world. Your job is to stand in the gap.’”

MESP during the Holts’ last semester this past spring, the couple’s passion for the Middle East was conveyed in their thoughtful approach to tough subjects.

“The Holts had an incredible gentleness, humility, and empathy in approaching the heated issues that we study in MESP,” says Dyk. “The way that they interacted with all guest speakers was so respectful and loving. They had so many connections that grew the program immensely.”

Fall 2011 alumna Mollie Moore says she continues to draw from Holt’s wisdom and leadership in her current role as an intern in the U.S. Senate.

“In every situation, conversation, and experience, David never failed to remind us that though we would learn much during our semester, there was a world of knowledge, understanding, and experience that takes a lifetime to harvest,” says Moore, a 2013 graduate of Baylor University. “By giving us that perspective, and even confessing his own lack of expertise after his many full years of life, he put our experience and identity in the proper perspective and set us up to be better learners and better disciples in every aspect of our lives moving forward.”

Read more alumni tributes to David Holt at www.cccu.org/advance.

According to Wheaton College student Ingrid Dyk, who attended

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By Rose Creasman Welcome

ABOVE: James McCament at a July 4, 2011, naturalization ceremony on the USS Constitution, “Old Ironsides.” Photo courtesy of James McCament.

LEFT: James McCament with Calvin Moret, Tuskegee Airman III, at a July 4, 2012, naturalization ceremony at the New Orleans WWII Museum. Photo courtesy of James McCament.

ABOVE: James McCament served as the U.S. Citizenship & Immigration Services representative this past July at the ceremony during which Lisa-Jo Baker, a native South African, became a U.S. citizen. Lisa-Jo is married to Peter Baker, director of the American Studies Program. All three are spring 1996 alumni of ASP. Photo courtesy of Lisa-Jo Baker.

Raised Hands: LASP, ASP, and Immigration Policy

J

ames McCament has watched tens of thousands of immigrants renounce “all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty.”

His right hand raised, McCament faces U.S. citizen candidates who together represent every country around the world. Hundreds of right hands rise with his as the immigrants recite the oath of allegiance during their final step toward becoming naturalized citizens of the United States.

and their staff on matters of legislative development, immigration policy, USCIS operations, and individual cases of interest. He has participated in military naturalization ceremonies around the world, including at George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, on Ellis Island, on U.S. aircraft carriers, and at Saddam Hussein’s former palace in Baghdad, Iraq.

He has been the keynote at several ceremonies and led the oath of allegiance at others. At one such ceremony, he met the last

“It all goes back to Reagan’s quote about naturalization: essentially, you can go to any country in the world, but it won’t make you a citizen,” says McCament, chief of the Office of Legislative Affairs at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, which is housed within the Department of Homeland Security. “But you can come to the U.S., and in one stroke, you can become as American as someone who stepped off the Mayflower.”

remaining Tuskegee airman and heard him sing. Former Secretary

McCament oversees USCIS interaction with members of Congress

at the Latin American Studies Program and American Studies

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of State Madeline Albright, herself a naturalized citizen, speaks occasionally. Once, says McCament, he watched a 100-year-old woman wave her American flag and proudly proclaim her new American citizenship, presumably not long before her citizenship no longer rested anywhere on earth.

McCament is also a BestSemester alum who cites his semesters

BESTSEMESTER: VOICES

Program as some of the greatest influences in the immigration policy work he does now.

accessibility and willingness to spend time hashing out questions about their calling and vocation.

THE LONG-TERM IMPACT OF A SEMESTER

“James comes across as a ‘complete’ person,” says current ASP student Connor Briggs, who attends Gordon College in Wenham, Mass., and is mentored by McCament. “When I speak with him, I feel as if I’m really getting to know him. More than anything, the example of his life has proved helpful to me. I appreciate his honesty and forthrightness about what he thinks and believes.”

“I came back from LASP with a better understanding of our ability to effect change in the U.S.,” says McCament, who attended LASP during the fall of 1993. “When we misstep, it affects other countries around the world. One of the big lessons I took away was how to responsibly use our power resources here in the U.S. while respecting our interactions with other countries.”

A social studies major from Mount Vernon Nazarene University, located in Mount Vernon, Ohio, McCament became fascinated with immigration policy during his LASP semester, and his LASP internship in the Costa Rican court system sparked an interest in law school.

Then, in the spring of 1996, McCament enrolled in LASP’s domestic counterpart in Washington, D.C. “ASP seemed like a domestic balance to the emphasis on levers of power I learned at LASP,” he says. “I wanted to further explore what it meant to live in the spirit of that—to act as a steward—and to work in the political sphere as a Christian.”

During ASP, McCament interned at the U.S. Department of Justice with Gary Haugen, who encouraged him to pursue law school. Under Haugen and the mentorship of ASP leaders, McCament became increasingly drawn to the idea of engaging his faith and the world within the practice of law, which he calls his greatest lesson from ASP. “As Christians we’re called to not only use the tools we’re provided, but also to hone those as sharply as possible,” says McCament.

“People of faith can stand strong with professionals in the secular world. You do not have to be ashamed of the gospel.”

Throughout his work with Haugen—who was at that time also in the early stages of founding the International Justice Mission, at which McCament is still said to have been the “first intern”— McCament “felt like God was affirming a path in international law.”

He was drawn to the University of Notre Dame for its reputation of a strong faith tradition integrated with the practice of law.

Following graduation from Notre Dame in 2000, he worked as counsel for the U.S. Treasury Department and transitioned to the Homeland Security Department in 2003.

GIVING BACK AS A MENTOR Seventeen years later, McCament continues to stay involved at ASP, mentoring a student each semester and holding briefings on immigration law for students in the public policy track. According to Elizabeth Pitts, ASP internship coordinator and faculty member, McCament is most appreciated among students for his

ASP Director Peter Baker, who attended ASP in the spring of 1996 with McCament, says his former classmate is a member of a robust alumni community that is “very loyal, active, and intentional in staying connected to the program and to each other in the city.”

“It’s a real gift to be able to offer students this built-in community of committed Christian young professionals to plug into,” says Baker.

McCament sees his relationship with ASP students as a way to give back to the program that invested heavily in his future. It is a different landscape on Capitol Hill these days, he says, but many of the issues he encountered as a student remain the same.

“Being a good mentor is being available. If I can give students some signposts to remember, some things I wish I’d known about what it means to serve the kingdom—that’s how I can give back to the people who poured into me, both in ASP and LASP,” he says. “I think LASP, ASP, and experiences with IJM showed me you can take on new and uncharted experiences in and outside the kingdom and thrive.”

According to Baker, his former classmate’s continued involvement in ASP is both a personal blessing and a professional benefit. This past summer, McCament presided over a naturalization ceremony that included Lisa-Jo Baker, wife of Peter Baker and an ASP classmate of both Peter and McCament in spring 1996. A native South African, she was sworn in as a U.S. citizen.

“Seeing James help lead Lisa-Jo’s ceremony made a meaningful event even more so,” says Baker.

“When students meet with James—or any of these alumni, really—they see two things: professional excellence and a Christian faith that shapes and guides their leadership in that office. It can be done. It is being done. And there are established leaders out there willing to mentor and encourage this next generation of CCCU students to join this community as we explore ideas of leadership and vocation together.”

An alumna of the CCCU’s BestSemester Washington Journalism Center and of Point Loma Nazarene University, Rose Creasman Welcome has worked as a copy editor and managing editor for several print and online newsrooms.

She presently serves as program coordinator and assistant instructor for BestSemester’s Washington Journalism Center.

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ON THE SHELF

What Your Peers Are Reading FAITH INTEGRATION AND SCHOOLS OF EDUCATION Edited by Marsha Fowler and Maria A. Pacino (Precedent Press, 2012) Review by Judith A. Gibson Professor in the School of Education Anderson University

In their book Faith Integration and Schools of Education, editors Marsha Fowler and Maria Pacino present a scholarly collection of 10 thoughtprovoking essays about faith-learning integration. The essay writers, all of whom are faculty or administrators at CCCU campuses, encourage Christian college faculty members to engage in “spirited conversations” that lead to collaborative and interdisciplinary efforts to provoke one another to “bring the wisdom of God to bear on our work as educators.”

The book begins by questioning what faith-learning integration is and what it is not. Believing that it is not a quick fix of just including a prayer before class or adding Scripture verses to course syllabi, the authors write that it is “hard scholarly work” that challenges Christian educators to rethink and, if need be, redesign curricula, programs, and instruction in order to lead, challenge, and support students in their spiritual development and growth.

Discussing contemporary and even controversial issues about social justice and liberation theology, several of the essay writers advocate that Christian teacher prep programs should intentionally integrate faith and reason across the disciplines. More than this, though, they also believe Christian schools of education are obliged to equip and train their students to advocate for the poor, addressing the inequities in school environments, programs, and students’ skills. They do not argue that Christian educators should be theologians but that they all should view their disciplines as opportunities to teach course content in the wisdom of God and the spirit of Jesus.

The book examines different challenges Christian educators face as they attempt to integrate faith and learning. The writers believe that many educators may not be quite sure how to do it or understand the necessity for this integration. They believe it should not be a peripheral matter. To illustrate procedures for

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implementation, they provide practical examples and strategies to design faith integration, even including sample syllabi and assignments.

The contributors believe Christian educators need to develop in students the “habits of mind” that emulate Christ’s character.

They can begin this development by questioning themselves and students about where and when faith-learning integration happens: in the students’ hearts, in the curriculum, in the whole academic community, or in the community of faith? Other questions educators can ask include: “Do I choose materials written with an explicit or implicit Christian theme?” “How do I create moral and just learning communities that enable all students to learn?” “How does teaching my content help my students understand God and his world?”

In response to these and other questions, the authors challenge us to consider what it means to “embody in our own small way the living presence of Jesus to our students.” They encourage Christian educators to collaborate with their colleagues across disciplines to engage in meaningful conversations about faithlearning integration, to create classroom environments that balance the “intellectual demands of the curricular with strong co-curricular programs specifically intended to nurture faith,” as well as to advance scholarship and practice for faith-learning integration. In order to advance such scholarship, they believe it is imperative that Christian institutions provide their faculties with resources to learn about how to integrate their faith and learning so they might foster environments for students and themselves to reflect upon their personal spiritual journeys and growth. This book would be a provocative study in the process of such integration.

ON THE SHELF

PLAYING GOD: REDEEMING THE GIFT OF POWER

By Andy Crouch (InterVarsity Press, 2013) Review by Jenell Paris Professor of Anthropology Messiah College

Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power follows well after Andy Crouch’s earlier book, Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling. There, he encouraged Christians not to just avoid or react to culture, but to innovate fresh ideas, products, and ways of living. In Playing God, he explores what culture making requires: using our power to change the world.

The book’s central thesis is that power is a gift. It is given by God so people can foster human and planetary flourishing; in fact, flourishing is the measure by which we can evaluate instances and organizations of power. By acknowledging and using our power, we are not (or should not be) playing God. Rather, we are image bearers that strive to responsibly use the power we are given.

Part one of the book, “The Gift of Power,” explicates this notion, using deep and extensive scriptural analyses as well as wideranging insights from politics, journalism, and science. These insights may be relevant to a variety of Christian traditions, but explicit connections are made to evangelical efforts to use power politically and socially.

Part two, “The Grip of Power,” analyzes and critiques Christian uses of power gone wrong: invisible power, force, coercion, violence, and the ways in which power tempts us to settle for privilege instead of service.

Part three addresses “Institutions and Creative Power,” exploring how power is organized in institutions and how the scriptural language of principalities and powers can help Christians see and understand how power flows through organizations.

All this analysis, of course, still leaves the question: how does one use power well? Part four, “The End of Power,” is not about the termination of power among believers but about its telos, its right purpose and use. Here, Crouch encourages traditional spiritual disciplines as practices that shape believers to better handle power. In particular, the Sabbath and worship are two practices that discipline power, reminding believers that they cannot play God because they are human. Humans need rest, and humans need to humble themselves before the sacred, not attempt to replace or overtake it.

In Christian colleges and universities, Playing God will be an

important resource for undergraduate and graduate classes on leadership, reconciliation, and service. One of the challenges of the book is that it is lengthy and dense (by undergraduate standards) and is not bound to a single discipline, which makes it more suitable as assigned reading in interdisciplinary programs and classes. It will also be helpful for organizational leaders in CCCU schools, helping them to think about how they view power and how their institutions organize the flow of power. Crouch is an evangelical thought leader, offering wise and intelligent advice here for Christians engaging a rapidly changing society and world.

THE EASY BURDEN OF PLEASING GOD

By Patty Kirk (InterVarsity Press, 2013) Review by Martha Smith Associate Dean of Student Life and Director of Counseling and Career Services Huntington University

When this book arrived in the mail, I opened it with excitement and read the title The Easy Burden of Pleasing God. I stared at it. Two words stood out to me: “easy” and “burden.” Was the word “easy” describing the word “burden”? Is that possible? I had to ponder that for a moment.

Then I remembered the important lesson I learned many years ago from a Huntington University alumna who taught me that considering a book’s title is only one aspect of selecting a book.

“Look at the author,” the alumna told me. So as I looked at the title of this book, I was curious about the author, interested to learn more about her.

Patty Kirk wove her spiritual journey and resulting discoveries throughout The Easy Burden of Pleasing God. Her life began with Catholic roots, then she had a period of atheism, and today she is a follower of Christ. Since she became a believer later in life, her questions and spiritual discoveries were tinted by her adult years. She shares her struggles and attempts to understand what it means to have a faith in God and do God’s work.

Some people might associate the word “work” with burden, and so the author considers the work God is asking of believers. Is he asking us to do work? Ultimately, the work the author is really referring to is believing in Jesus Christ. Our human nature tends to seek to do things for God. While that can be important, the author highlights Scriptures of faith and belief. At the end of each chapter, I found myself reflecting that life need not be so stressful and hard when we are truly believing in him and the CCCU ADVANCE | FALL / WINTER 2013

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guidelines he has created for our best.

effectively in business, education, even ministry.

As I finished the last chapter, I closed the book with a feeling of peace and contentment. I returned to the cover and looked at the title again—The Easy Burden of Pleasing God. I realized that God really does desire for us to live a life of contentment, rest in him, love for others, giving, and believing, to name a few. By doing God’s work one can really discover a happiness.

The myth of charismatic leadership, Cain argues, arose at about the time the United States was developing what Burton Bledstein calls a “Culture of Professionalism.” It was the Industrial Revolution. Cities were booming. Kids were, for the first time in U.S. history, leaving the farm in droves to go to college. And they were staying away to pursue success in a national era that defined that success in new ways. Gone—or rapidly diminishing—were the ways of mild-mannered men and women of the agrarian era. Replacing those values were admonitions to flee what European psychologists were, for the first time, calling “introversion.” Real winners in love, in war, in business—even in the growing world of sport—were those who were outspoken, showy, aggressive.

QUIET: THE POWER OF INTROVERTS IN A WORLD THAT CAN’T STOP TALKING

By Susan Cain (Broadway Books, 2012) Review by Michael A. Longinow Professor of Journalism Chair of the Department of Journalism & Integrated Media Biola University

If it’s not moving or making noise, we assume it’s dead.

And when we do, we’re wrong, says Susan Cain in Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking. Hers is an argument that she says grew as a research thesis over the last five years but began when she was a twenty-something.

Quiet people are the real power brokers, Cain argues. And she spells it out in a systematic, no-nonsense style that leaves the reader re-thinking the noise, glitz, and pushy people who have defined success in American culture for the last several decades.

This is a book that flies in the face of blaring exhaust pipes, blinding digital billboards, and wall-throbbing sound systems.

It’s a rejoinder to the enormous literature of self-help telling us we should speak up, take charge, claw our way up the ladder even when we think we can’t—or shouldn’t.

Susan Cain is a lawyer, but she got through Harvard Law School committed to figuring out a better way to win. Her specialty is arbitration—that delicate, almost inscrutable art of getting to yes. This book examines the ways that the journey to common ground is a road best taken with more thinking and less shouting.

Cain begins by examining and confronting the opposition: extroverts. She traces them through history, pointing at the rise of a “Culture of Personality” that she claims has forced as many as two-thirds of us into questioning—by others, but perhaps more so by ourselves—our ability to function

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Yet things are not as they appear, Cain says in the closing paragraphs of this book. Harvard Business School might be placing graduates in some of the most influential corporate centers of the United States and other developed nations.

Saddleback Church in Southern California might seem the model of power ministry applicable to Christian evangelicals anywhere in the world. But it’s not that simple. And shame on us for buying into the noisy distractions that take us away from the still, small voices that have things to say that deserve hearing.

The only questions this book leaves us with have to do with how to live in a world where extroversion and introversion are not as smoothly aligned as Cain describes in her telling anecdotes. We’re left wondering if the simplicity of her arguments begs a new look at a deeper complexity in our temperaments that is as profound as the God who made us.

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