SERVING A GREATER PURPOSE Malone University continues to innovate, yet remains true to its mission of preparing students for meaningful lifelong work By KATHY AMES CARR Crain’s Content Studio-Cleveland
in technology, workforce needs, students’ expectations and evolving learning models.
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“This has been a decade of turbulence and disruption,” King said. “We recognize the marketplace we inhabit is demanding a greater pace and magnitude of change. We have to harness what others see as a challenge or a disruption. Which levers do we pull to realize new opportunities through change? As we do that, we cannot lose our laser-like focus of continuing the continuity and integrity of our mission.”
Walter and Emma Malone had a vision of founding a school that would train students to provide practical mission work on the streets of Cleveland and throughout the world. The Quaker couple secured an old rented home on Carnegie Avenue and prayed for a small class, due to the modest size of the home — their prayers ultimately were answered. On a blistery winter’s day in March 1892, the Christian Workers Training School opened with six registered students. By 1957, then-named Malone College relocated to Canton, a city that at the time had a population of about 110,000 residents, and which was the largest city in Ohio without a college or university. The institution’s move propelled its goal of enlarging its curriculum to include liberal arts and developing service-oriented students. Now in its 129th year, Malone University has evolved into a Christian university with extensive opportunities for students to acquire a valuable mission-driven education through liberal arts, sciences, athletics and other professional degrees. Malone University president David King considers the last few years as particularly formative in shaping the institution’s development amid the strong current of change in higher education that has been influenced, in part, by shifting dynamics
The pillars of the Pendle Hill Pledge
The underpinning of a Malone University experience includes core services of the Pendle Hill Pledge, an initiative unveiled in fall 2020, which aims to meet students’ needs for mentoring, experiential learning and career support. “The Pendle Hill Pledge is a solid example of our faculty working together around the concept of adaptation,” King said. The pledge provides first-year students with faculty advisers who assist them in navigating their college experience. Undergraduate students are assured their studies include experiential learning through internships, off-campus studies, service learning or a student research project. The Pendle Hill Pledge also commits to providing students with careerreadiness services, so they are prepared to fulfill their life’s purpose. “The day you commit to Malone, we commit to walking beside you not just in
the educational sense but in a mentoring mindset,” King said. “The Pendle Hill Pledge reminds a student why God created him or her, why the person is a gift and how they are being called to serve vocationally and purposefully.” Students are first asked foundational questions, such as: • Who are you called to be? • What are you called to be? • Who will you surround yourself with? • What will you pursue in college? • What kind of community will you find? • What is your vision? • Where do you want to be in 15-20 years? “We focus on welcoming, mentoring and serving each student. Welcoming is about cultivating a deep sense of belonging, and that you are welcome here,” said Jason Moyer, an associate professor and vice president for enrollment management. “Mentoring involves fostering one-on-one relationships. Our other core initiative is service, which involves character formation. We ask each young student to describe a time in their life that gave them joy — not fleeting joy, but deep joy. Our goal is to help students find this repeated sense of true joy through the service of others.” Throughout their journey, the Malone experience pledges that each student will feel appreciated and loved, said Laura Foote, assistant professor of management studies and coordinator of the accelerated degreed programs in management studies. “Your child will love the college they go to, but, as a parent, you want your child to be loved by the college they attend,” Foote said. “We understand students need community, and they are not just here to attend classes and take tests. Students develop and graduate feeling valued and supported by people who have walked with them.”
Mission Statement: “The mission of Malone University is to provide students with an education based on biblical faith in order to develop men and women in intellectual maturity, wisdom and Christian faith who are committed to serving the church, community and world.” 4
2021 CRAIN’S CONTENT STUDIO PRIVATE SCHOOL PLANNER
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