LeTourneau University NOW! Fall 2021 by LeTourneau University

FALL 2021

Prayer on the Pitch A group of student athletes prays together during the athletics prayer walk. Our athletic community comes together each year for a time of blessing of facilities and consecrating of the relationships, locations, and competitions that are wrapped up in the YellowJacket experience. 2

LETOURNEAU NOW

FALL 2021

CONTENTS

FEATURE STORIES 46

Heritage Upon Heritage A time, place, and purpose—reflections on home and history in a year of milestones: LeTourneau’s 75th, Longview’s 150th, and Texas Forever.

The Elements of the Strategic Plan Explore the elements of the university's 2021-2024 strategic plan—the four mission critical objectives that are our enduring charge and focus guiding the path ahead.

The Strategic Plan Prayer Plan Join the entire university community in a collective call to prayer—the catalyst for any successful, meaningful plan. The prayer plan incorporates specific daily prompts associated with each mission critical objective in the strategic plan, using the Lord's Prayer as a guide.

Let's Go Racin' The Automotive Society has been impacting campus and shaping lives for over fifty years, even through the art of gokart racing.

Maintaining Course We sat down with Fred Ritchey, Dean of the School of Aviation, to hear his perspectives on his LETU experience and his hopes for the future of our organization.

Connect With Us @letourneauuniversity facebook.com/myletu youtube.com/letourneauuniversity @letourneauuniv linkedin.com/school/letourneau-university

"Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold now is the day of our salvation" - 2 Corinthians 6:2

LETOURNEAU NOW

IN THE NOW 10

Presidential Inauguration Share in the celebrations of inauguration weekend, honoring the seventh president of LeTourneau University, Dr. Steven D. Mason, and a continued legacy of Christian Polytechnic education.

THE BUZZ 20

An Unassuming Champion Humble beginnings, humbling experiences, and the journey of a winner.

The Student Perspective Hear the encouraging perspectives of current student body executive cabinet (and future alums) on life and leadership at LeTourneau.

Student Activities Spotlight You never know what's coming next from this wacky group! The YellowJacket Activity Council (YAC) has always been the place to go for a good time.

THE POLYTECHNIC WAY 24

The Christian Polytechnic White Paper Fully claiming our identity with clarity and confidence: LeTourneau University as The Christian Polytechnic University—Embracing the Saga of our Unique Organizational Calling

Innovating & Claiming a Future of Co-Creating With innovation in our organizational DNA and a calling to co-labor with our Creator, how might we approach the world of claiming intellectual property?

ALUMNI NEWS 72

No Place Like Homecoming The university celebrates 75 years with a festive, memorable Homecoming & Family Weekend.

Class Notes Lasting connections & legacy—celebrate and honor classmates and fellow alums. PHOTOGRAPHY BY LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

FALL 2021

CONTRIBUTORS

Pat Mays, Ph.D.

PRESIDENT

Steven D. Mason, Ph. D.

Pat Mays, Ph.D., has served at LeTourneau University since 2003, currently as campus pastor and professor of Christian ministry. He uses his extensive international ministry experience and his education in theology and intercultural studies in helping students develop biblical models of ministry that reach across generational and cultural barriers. Dr. Mays is a Longview native who can be found cycling on city trails or hanging out with the School of Business dean.

BOARD OF TRUSTEES

Patrick Bertsche Phil Burks Tom Burt Doug Douglas Kimberly Fish Curt Fitchett Eugene Frost, Jr., Ed.D. Roger Kieffer Loren Leman Dale Lunsford, Ph.D. James Mauldin, M.D. Larry Mercer, D.Min. Nikita Mumphrey James R. Nolt, Jr. Cy Oatridge Rogers Pope, Jr. John Ross, D.D.S. James Schreder Michael Schutt John Solheim Wayne Steege Don Stephens Merle Stoltzfus Wayne Trull Wendy Turner Bob Walker

Gail Ritchey Gail Ritchey is the keeper of the Class Notes and a joyful presence in the Alumni & Parent Relations Office. She regularly interacts with alumni around the world, and LeTourneau has been much of hers. The whole Ritchey family are LETU grads, Gail included. She's especially fond of the dean of Aviation & Aeronautical Science featured in this issue.

Jake Hall Jake Hall has worked at LETU since graduating in 2017 as a Christian ministry & communication major, first in Student Life and now in University Marketing & Communications as the assistant director for content. His favorite things about LeTourneau are the unique Christian community and relationships that are formed here. Born and raised in East Texas, you're likely to spot Jake at Silver Grizzly, hanging out with friends, catching a movie, or dreaming of his next hike.

TRUSTEES EMERITI

Dr. Billy J. Harris Bud McGuire NOW EDITORIAL CONTACT INFORMATION:

WEB: www.letu.edu EMAIL: NOW@letu.edu

Sara Bryan

ADMISSIONS OFFICE

PHONE: 800-759-8811

Sara Bryan, a creative designer with an interest in print and identity design, joined the University Marketing & Communications team in 2021. Another Longview native, she's a Kilgore College graduate, and her graphic designs have regularly appeared in numerous East Texas publications. Her smile is extra bright when she's spending time with family, leading worship, or talking about her latest adventures with her vintage camera.

ALUMNI OFFICE

PHONE: 800-259-5388 DEVELOPMENT OFFICE

PHONE: 800-259-LETU

LeTourneau University is the Christian polytechnic university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs across a wide range of disciplines online and at LETU’s 196-acre residential campus in Longview, Texas, located 120 miles east of Dallas and 60 miles west of Shreveport, Louisiana. Academic majors include aviation, business, communication, computer science, criminal justice, education, engineering, health care administration, human services, kinesiology, the liberal arts, nursing, psychology, the sciences and theology.

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

COPY EDITORS

Donald K. Egle

Mark Roedel Nathan O’Day Rebekah Browning

MANAGING EDITOR

Kate Day CREATIVE DIRECTOR / PHOTOGRAPHER

LeTourneau NOW is published by LeTourneau University, 2100 South Mobberly, Longview, Texas 75602. Sent free upon request to Editor, P.O. Box 8001, Longview, Texas 75607. Postmaster: Send address changes to LeTourneau NOW, P.O. Box 8001, Longview, Texas 75607. Email us at NOW@letu.edu.

Jeremiah Shepherd CONTENT TEAM

Grant Bridgman Jake Hall DESIGN

Sara Bryan

LETOURNEAU NOW

ADDITIONAL CONTRIBUTORS:

Michael High Daniel Ostendorff, Ph.D PRINTING

Midway Printing Press

Printing Your Own Building Blocks Engineering students placing the final touches on their Senior Design project—a ten foot tall 3D printer that prints out concrete.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRANT BRIDGMAN

FALL 2021

FROM THE PRESIDENT

Greetings to our LeTourneau University family! It is a privilege to write my first LeTourneau NOW Magazine President’s letter. On March 1, 2021, life changed significantly for me and my family as I was named the seventh president of LeTourneau University. We love this university, its history, its heritage, its mission, its students, its faculty and staff, and its alumni and friends. I am honored and thrilled to be a part of advancing the unique Christian mission we are called to as an institution; and to continue the legacy of the six leaders that have gone before me. My anchor for this important role as president is the grace and power of Jesus to lead us forward with the wisdom and passion that only he can provide, “For from Him, through Him, and to Him are all things” (Romans 11:36). The call upon each of us—those of us who work here at LeTourneau and our friends and family around the world—is to join in what He is doing, according to His plans, and to take His gifts and apply those to His work. This transition in leadership is part of a remarkable season in the life of LeTourneau University. After a swift pivot to distance learning in March of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our University successfully built a campus environment that enabled full, in-person education for the entire 2020-2021 academic year. This includes celebrating two years’ worth of LeTourneau graduates with four in-person commencement ceremonies. This semester we also tackled the challenges caused by an unprecedented Texas snowstorm that shut down our campus for over a week. The LeTourneau University community spirit has stayed as strong and unified as ever through these unique circumstances. And now, we look forward to launching the new three-year strategic plan in September that will position the University for accelerated and sustained growth. I am excited for what God has in store for us as ‘The Christian Polytechnic University’! The unique story God has authored here at LeTourneau, as an institution committed to the Gospel and hands-

LETOURNEAU NOW

on, technology-centric education, is one our broken world needs now more than ever. As we move forward, it will take all of us working together, in common enterprise and commitment to prayer, to accomplish His will in this place as we trust and follow Jesus. It is my honor to lead LeTourneau University and serve this academic ministry alongside each of you. May God bless you, your families, your churches, and your workplaces. Please know that we consistently pray for all those associated with LeTourneau University. We are in this together. Great days are ahead! To God be the glory! Advent Blessings,

Steven D. Mason, Ph.D. PRESIDENT, LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY

FALL 2021

IN THE NOW

The Inauguration of LeTourneau University's Seventh President

Dr.

Steven D. by Kate Day

ARTICLE PHOTOGRAPHY BY LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

here is something about the pomp and circumstance of higher education. Regalia, symbolism, heritage, esteem... all in honor of a greater something bigger. Academia. Tradition. And at LeTourneau, God's provision, grace, and glory. In addition to semiannual commencement ceremonies, an inauguration is one of the most storied and ancient celebrations in higher education. Moments to pass the baton of leadership, reverently commemorate the past, honor the legacy of its stewards, and expectantly look to the future. tIn one passing moment, the morning of November 11, the latest chapter of the history of LeTourneau University was made official as we celebrated the formal investiture of our seventh president, Dr. Steven D. Mason. Throughout the ceremony, the following campus leaders, community members, and honored guests expressed the gratitude, excitement, reverence, and affirmation that mirror that of the Board of Trustees and our LeTourneau family. Please join us in sharing in these reflections and praying for Dr. Mason, his family, and his leadership. May the Lord be honored by the enduring faithfulness of this remarkable community as we support our presidential steward and strengthen our institution together.

To watch the full investiture ceremony, visit

letu.edu/inauguration

FALL 2021

SHIRLEY HOOGSTRA, J.D. President, Council for Christian Colleges & Universities

“Congratulations to the LeTourneau Board of Trustees in choosing Dr. Steve Mason as your next president. Dr. Mason already has an esteemed reputation within the CCCU. Steve and Bonnie, these 185 presidential individuals and couples around the world would also say ‘welcome to the club; the club of hard work, the club of humility, and the the front-row-seats-to-God-is- doing-extraordinary-thingst club’… Today we are also honoring you, an academic institution, and your academic mission. I love that in your inaugural program, and I see many of them, you listed the extensive faculty and administrators that are LeTourneau University. And we all know you’re a super smart school. These professorts serve students who want to learn in a context where the authority and truth of scripture is at the foundation of their studies. And where their lives, not just their learning, are shaped spiritually and emotionally through the lens of faith. Because of what you do here, these students will fan across the United States and the world to bring a global witness of the love of Jesus Christ… Here is where the LeTourneau community is so important: Community, on Inauguration Day, Steve and Bonnie are promising to serve you with all of their hearts. They’re promising to be people of integrity. They are promising to hold fast and to hold firm in good times and in bad. And those promises can only be accomplished by God completing the good work in them and by you praying that that good work will be completed.”

LETOURNEAU NOW

The Inauguration of LeTourneau University's 7th President Steven D. Mason

DALE A. LUNSFORD, PH.D.

ALVIN O. 'BUD' AUSTIN, PH.D.T

RANDY COMPTON, PH.D.

Chancellor

President Emeritus

Teaching Faculty Organization President

"One of our special symbols on campus is the presidential chain of office. The chain is a symbol of the authority and responsibility that's entrusted to the president. It's worn only by the president and on all special occasions. The chain includes a large medallion which is the symbol of LeTourneau University, and you know that symbol is symbolic of many things. It includes the year of our founding, 1946, 75 years ago this fall. It includes the theme verse of the university, Matthew 6:33, our continuing commitment that in all we do we will seek first the kingdom of God and God's righteousness. The chain includes a number of links. There's a link for each previous president of the institution and the newest link on the chain reads 'Steven D. Mason.' So on behalf of the board of trustees, Dr. Austin, the families of all the past presidents—Steve, congratulations."

“We acknowledge that this institution was founded by R.G. & Evelyn LeTourneau as a place where not only learning would abound but also where faith would flourish. You have been faithful to this end for 75 years. Today we look to the future as we bestow the stole of leadership upon the shoulders of Steven Mason. We know him to be a man imbuted with scholarship and a bright mind. Full of wisdom and energy for leadership. And most of all, a man of faith in your son Jesus Christ. We ask that you strengthen his walk, refresh his mind, and affirm his faith each step of the journey.”

“It is my pleasure to welcome you to LeTourneau as our new president. Steven, may God add His richest blessings of wisdom, joy, peace, and strength to you and to Bonnie as you embark on this new calling.”

Our campus family kicked off inauguration weekend with BBQ and games on the grounds, followed by Matt Maher in concert.

GEORGE M. HILLMANN, JR., PH.D.T Vice President for Education Dallas Theological Seminary

“On behalf of Dallas Theological Seminary and our fellow theological seminaries across the United States, I bring blessings to our alum and to the new president of LeTourneau University, Dr. Steven Mason. For professors in the room, it’s fun to see your graduates thrive. And it is an honor to be here and see one of our graduates thriving. We are proud to be co-laborers with LeTourneau University as your school seeks to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in every workplace, and as you raise up godly servant leaders. This is a unique, challenging time we find ourselves in. It is a unique, challenging time to be a president of an institution. But we pray God’s richest blessings on you as president, on you as faculty, on you as board members, and we are excited to see what God is going to do through the students of LeTourneau University. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all."

FALL 2021

JON & BECKY WOODWORTH LETU Missionaries in Residence

TIGER DAWSON

“It is our great privilege to bring greetings to our new president of LeTourneau University, Dr. Steve Mason, on behalf of over 400 LeTourneau alumni and their families who are in active missionary service and countless others who have served the Lord with their lives all around the world. We would like to say that our prayers are with you as you continue the God-honoring tradition of leading LeTourneau into the future with a continued vision of preparing all our students to bring the gospel of Jesus to every workplace and every nation.”

CEO and Co-founder, Edify Keynote Speaker & Personal Mentor

“Here now Steven, a charge from 1 Corinthians 16:13-14 'Be on your guard, stand firm in the faith. Be courageous, be strong.' You’ll have a great opportunity to stand for truth. You’ll have a great opportunity to be strong and be courageous. I charge you to continue to speak the truth and stand for all the things that LeTourneau is about and stand for Jesus but do it in love... [The same verse from The Message translation reads] 'Keep your eyes open, hold tight to your convictions, give it all you've got, be resolute and let love never stop.' May God bless you, Bonnie and the kids, and LeTourneau University as you lead as Christ has called you to, my friend."

LETOURNEAU NOW

NANCY BRICKHOUSE, PH.D. Provost, Baylor University

ARNOLD JOHNSON Church On Purpose

“On behalf of my pastor, Eric Love, from Church on Purpose, and the many churches representing the City of Longview, I offer greetings and congratulations to Dr. Mason on becoming the seventh president of LeTourneau University. May the Lord guide you, protect you, bless you, and direct you, as you serve Him in this role as president and as a leader for our community. I shall leave you with one of my most visited scriptures. It comes from Proverbs 3:5-6: ‘Trust in the Lord with all thy heart, and lean not on thy own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.’ May God be with you on this journey, and may He direct you as you direct LeTourneau University.”

“On behalf of universities across the state of Texas, I bring greetings, warm wishes, and a welcome. And congratulations to President Mason on the start of your tenure as president of LeTourneau University. When you and your wife Bonnie were students at Baylor, you never expected to be a college professor, let alone a college president. You majored in business. Your plan was to follow your father into banking, but while at Baylor you took a Christian Ethics class and found a new calling. It is clear that God had different plans for you. In the book of Esther, there is a moment when Esther faced uncertainty and a trusted mentor reminded her, ‘Perhaps this is the moment for which you were created.’ When leadership is challenging and when you face uncertainty, I hope you’ll remember these words, because there is a plan in place. And while foreknowledge maty escape us, God’s plan will prevail. Congratulations on your new positions and blessings to you and Bonnie and your family."

The Inauguration of LeTourneau University's 7th President Steven D. Mason

WENDY TURNER Alumna and Member, Board of Trustees

“On behalf of LeTourneau University alumni, we send greetings and a great sense of hope and excitement for today’s activities. We know that God has chosen Dr. Steve Mason for a time such as this, to be our seventh president. He knew this way ahead of time, which is simply amazing to me. And God has also put on Steve’s heart a passion for people. He is always wanting to help people, to help them strengthen their walk and have them follow hard after Jesus. He is truly a disciple maker. LeTourneau is incredibly blessed to have him serve in this way.”

FROM THE STUDENTS Have you had a chance to meet Dr. Mason? How do you feel about him?

JOE RYAN '22 Student Body President

“On behalf of LeTourneau University’s student body, I bring greetings to our new president, Dr. Mason. The students welcome you as our president. We are eager for the times to come under your new leadership, and we praise God for you and your family. We are excited to see how God has already used you and how He will continue to use you as an instrument of His will. May the Lord’s blessing be upon all that you undertake as you serve here at LeTourneau. The Lord bless President Mason.”

GABI PITMAN ('23) “I think he's so cool. He always remembers everyone's name, even though there's tons of students. He remembers my name even though I've only talked to him, twice, so I think he's the best.”

JESSI LANDRETH ('22) “Dr. Mason does a really good job of remembering everyone, and then also really pours into who you are as a person— remembers specific details about you—which is something that I don't think can be said about any other university’s president. He is truly one of a kind, and his family really invests in everyone. This university is awesome.”

"Dr. Mason does a really good job of remembering everyone, and then also really pours into who you are as a person—remembers specific details about you." FALL 2021

STONE RICKS ('21)

EMMA AKIN ('24)

MATTHEW STRONG ('22)

“Dr. Mason is extremely personable. He is super kind [and] compassionate. He shows up to all of the school events and hangs out with the students. He's always got a smile, and he's just a very loving guy—a joy to be around. I'm super excited that he's our president.”

“I love Dr. Mason. I really love his whole family, actually. He always has a smile. He's a very personal person. And I think [the Mason] family is really good at pursuing others and pouring into the campus as a whole."

“I am taking a class with him this semester and have had numerous small conversations with him around campus! I so appreciate how intentional he is with students, remembering their names and never hesitating to have a conversation with them.”

GABRIEL WILLIS ('23) ERIN TRANTHAM ('22) “Top-notch. Best guy I know. I have gotten to know Dr. Mason over the past couple of years. He is currently a professor of mine. There are no Christian presidents of universities who teach a class just to get to know the students. So, that is one of the main reasons why I think he's incredible. Also, he's just really knowledgeable in a lot of ways. He and Bonnie have shown up to so many different things and just been present and really gotten down to the student level.”

"[Dr. Mason] is super personable, super kind... Out of all the people he meets, he somehow remembered my name months after we very briefly met. It just really showed that he cared and that he was intentional about every person he meets. He won my heart right there very easily.” NATHAN MOYES ('23) "He's definitely very willing to get down on the same level of students in a lot of ways and interact with us on a personal sort of level. I think that's in some ways reflective of his character of wanting to bless the students in any way he can. I appreciate that.”

"I so appreciate how intentional he is with students, remembering their names and never hesitating to have a conversation with them.”

LETOURNEAU NOW

The Inauguration of LeTourneau University's 7th President Steven D. Mason

BILL ANDERSON '71 Outgoing Chair, Board of Trustees

"This investiture ceremony is really a formal recognition of the fact that the full weight, responsibility, and authority of being president of this university is conferred, is invested in, this man, God's chosen man, Dr. Steven D. Mason. This prayer of investiture is not ceremonial. It is essential. We are a university committed unabashedly to serve under the lordship of Jesus Christ, and we openly and expectantly acknowledge our dependence on God. We seek the Lord's leading and direction. We seek His favor and His blessing for our president, because as the leader goes, so goes the university. And as the leader's heart goes, so goes the leader, and so goes the university."

THE PRAYER OF INVESTITURE "Our Father in Heaven, we bow before you because you alone are God, and we glory in the fact that you are our God and our Father. We worship you, and we submit ourselves to you. We thank you, that you are the one who has created Steven D. Mason. You've created him the way you designed him, and you have brought him to know you. We thank you that he has come to know Christ as Savior and that he has committed his life to serving you. We praise you for that, and now as we pray for him together, as we join together, we come to you and ask that you would help him—that he would keep you, Lord, as number one in his life. That he would never lose his first love. That you would remind him that his time alone with you, his walk with you, can never be delegated. Neither can things like rest, and neither can things like his marriage and family responsibilities. So, we pray for Steve and Bonnie, that you would inhabit their marriage and continue to bless it and make it strong. Continue to make them exemplary to others who look on. Father, enrich their marriage. Help them to continue to complete and complement each other. I pray for Caroline and for William and for Christopher, that you would bless them as they walk in this large shadow. May it not create for them challenges that seem impossible. Would you put a hedge around each one of these five members of this precious family and continue to lead, guide, and bless them. Father, we pray for Steven's passion. It's alive and well. It's aflame. Would you continue to kindle his passion for you and for the

work you've called him to? Help him to keep focus not only in the long-term work, but in the daily grind of routine responsibilities as well. Would you give him great strength and endurance, and guard his health spiritually, physically, emotionally, and mentally? Would you give him wisdom and discernment in all that he undertakes, and all that he does, and all that he has to handle? Give him that in the successes and in the setbacks. In the successes, help him to retain his humility. In the setbacks, help him to see himself as God's student—not as life's victim. We pray that you would help him to be strong and courageous, and bold and stouthearted, and to do the right thing even when it's hard. Even when he knows that people won't like it. Even when he realizes upfront that he will be sorely misunderstood. Help him to still do what is right, good, and faithful in your eyes. Father, we pray that you would endow him with your vision and inspiration and direction. May he know that you are his senior partner like R.G. did. May he know that he is walking with you in the light, and when he runs out of light to stop and stay in the light that you've given him. Father, we pray that you would fill him with the knowledge of your will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that he would live a life worthy of the Lord and may please you in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, and being strengthened with all power according to your glorious might. We ask you to anoint him anew today and afresh every morning

with the power of your Spirit. For we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God, and not from men. We pray that you, the Lord who moved on R.G. and Evelyn to found this university, we call on you, that same God, to give great leadership, great vision, great protection—and lead, guide, and equip Steven D. Mason. Work in him what is pleasing to you and equip him with everything good for doing your will. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly

"We pray that you, the Lord who moved on R.G. and Evelyn to found this university, we call on you, that same God, to give great leadership, great vision, great protection— and lead, guide, and equip Steven D. Mason." more than all we can ask or even imagine according to His power that is at work within us, the power of your Spirit, the power of the Spirit of Jesus who is at work in Steven D. Mason, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. We pray in the matchless name of our risen Lord. Amen." FALL 2021

IN THE NOW DR. STEVEN D. MASON President, LeTourneau University

"I'm honored, I'm humbled, I'm blessed to become the seventh president of LeTourneau University. 'Then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said who am I sovereign Lord and what is my family that you have brought me this far?' (2 Samuel 7:18) Board of Trustees, thank you for guarding the mission of the institution and for the confidence you have placed in me to entrust me with it. Faculty, thank you for the camaraderie of almost 16 years together. For your dedication to the integration of faith and learning to the excellence of your discipline in your love and support of me. You are the educators, the scholars, the mentors, the inspiration of our students helping them to unleash their extraordinary potential. Staff, thank you for your tireless dedication to the advancement of this university and to each individual student's success. You are essential mentors as well. Alumni, thank you for heeding God's call for your life out in the world. You are our pride, our network, our ambassadors, and our support. Students, thank you for coming under our care and mentorship. You are our future. Each of you has a unique story, and each of you is adding your story to LeTourneau's story, to God's

story. The doors are open. The world awaits. The possibilities are endless, and we are in awe as we watch you make your way. One thing that I want us to remember in our work together at LeTourneau University moving forward, because this moment is really less about me and it's more about what the Lord is doing and will continue to do at LeTourneau University, is this: 'Continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it...' (2 Timothy 3:14). This has become my life verse. What Paul, and now Timothy, is convinced of, what Timothy has learned, is that the story of the world is the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and that true human flourishing is life in Christ through the Spirit. That's what I've become convinced of and learned from those who have gone before me. That's the message for LeTourneau University today. We've got to continue. We've got to keep going. We've got to keep running. We've got to stay the course, stay on mission, stay on task. To keep our Christian mission and identity is going to take fortitude and perseverance.

"No education is complete without understanding that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. That He is before all things and in Him all things hold together."

We live in a time when identifying as a Christian will have serious social and political consequences. Where Christianity is not just claimed to be false, but actually destructive, damaging, detrimental to human flourishing. And yet, we're called to persevere. Three things I've learned and become convinced of: Light shines brightest in the darkness. With any challenges that come our way as a Christian institution, we have exciting opportunities to speak the truth in love with compassion and care and charity. We can 18

LETOURNEAU NOW

The Inauguration of LeTourneau University's 7th President Steven D. Mason

be winsomely and unashamedly Christian and demonstrate that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. A Christian university like LeTourneau can come alongside the Church to speak into our society and our culture. No education is complete without understanding that from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. That He is before all things and in Him all things hold together. That the integration of faith and learning sits at the heart of how we know what we know and how we understand life and all the things in it: His world and His ways. Any education without Christ at the center is simply incomplete. We can talk at LeTourneau University about the ultimate goal of Christian leadership, which is creating thriving communities that bear witness to the un-breaking of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ. LeTourneau University is a very special place. Burton Clark says that distinctive colleges have a university and organizational saga. The campus and the people and the graduates are so enraptured by that story that it elevates into a stratosphere of legendary and heroic proportions. LeTourneau University is a school with a story worth telling, and worth leaning into, as the Christian Polytechnic University. We have a very unique institution, and I love it. We have remarkable students who love God and want to serve the world and their neighbor. We have a special vocation as a university, and that Christian polytechnic vocation will only grow in importance for the Kingdom's sake in the decades to come. This is a place of builders—building machines, building bridges, building relationships, building communities. It is my honor and privilege to carry the baton as President of LeTourneau University. Thank you for that honor and privilege. I'm so glad we're in this together. We've got great days ahead."

FALL 2021

THE BUZZ

AN UNASSUMING CHAMPION

by Grant Bridgman, in collaboration with Michael High & Dan Michalski

Lorien Nightingale is a name that has become synonymous with winning around LETU Athletics. A record holder multiple times over for both school and conference events, he also holds the school record for being selected as the American Southwest Conference ‘Runner of the Week’ the most times in a career. He finished the cross-country regular season 6-for6, finishing each race as the overall winner or the highest DIII competitor. Lorien additionally won the American Southwest Conference Championship for the second year in a row in his cross-country event this fall, the sixth in conference history to achieve this feat. PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREW SCHULZ

hile it may appear that this sort of excellence comes naturally to the Kenyan native, Nightingale’s story is proof of what can happen when desire, grit, and character are all at work in an athlete who was not always at the front of the pack. Growing up on the beautiful western slopes of Mau Narok, near Njoro Kenya, Nightingale describes his life before LeTourneau as “a magical experience.” Coming from a farming family which had built a reputation in Kenya as the leading breeders of Friesian cows and thoroughbred racehorses, Lorien had early exposure to both the hard work required for success, and the responsibility that comes with notoriety. Lorien attended St. Andrew’s School Turi, a private school in Kenya, where his athletic development was primarily focused on the traditional Kenyan school sports of field hockey, rugby, soccer, and cricket. He describes his athletic ability while in school as “never skilled enough to shine out,” he also began to notice that his work ethic allowed him to outpace others around him which “ignited the first embers of my running obsession and convinced me that I should start training and focusing more on running.” In addition to his love for running, Lorien has always been a self-described “aviation nerd,” and when he was looking for a university home, the LeTourneau aviation program stood out to him, being one of only a few universities world-wide that offered a degree program in both flight and maintenance. “After an extended three-day campus visit, I knew that LeTourneau was the place for me. The next day I cancelled all of my other

university visit plans, and I suppose the rest is history.” During his time at St. Andrew’s, the rigorous academic environment, positive athletic competition, and strong Christian focus made for “a seamless transition” to his university experience at LeTourneau. Although that transition may have been easy, Nightingale describes his first college crosscountry meet as a completely different story altogether. “My first race was a humbling experience, to say the least. I stepped on the start line completely unprepared and naive. I led the field through the first mile of the three-mile race. I ended up as the second to last finisher on our team despite running a time that I had previously thought was quite

good. I think this initial failure is in many ways the defining moment that shaped me into the athlete I am today.” While that ‘defining moment’ could very well have been discouraging enough to drive him away from collegiate athletics, Lorien instead approached each race from that point on with a desire to do “just a bit better than last time.” Striving for consistent improvement has become the hallmark of his success, and as LETU head Cross-Country Coach Dan Michalski (“Coach Mo”) states, “Lorien sets the standard for the team, never shying away from a challenge and taking on the best competitors at each meet.” That work ethic has served Lorien well during his college athletic career, and it has helped him achieve historic success in the LETU Cross-Country and Track and Field programs. In addition to developing his physical strength in order to create conditions for success on the course, Lorien shows his commitment to strength of character as well, as he attributes his success to “having access to, and relationships with, an extremely committed and skilled coaching staff and team, which has made training a joy.” With cross-country season behind him, he is pleased with his success, but certainly not resting on his laurels. “The wins are so rewarding and quite simply just fun! But being recognized for the training I put in every day just motivates me to do even better. I’m hungry for the opportunity to qualify for the NCAA national track and field meet next semester and can’t wait to see where my running career will take me next!” Some say life is a race—a marathon to be run. For Lorien Nightingale, distance running has become synonymous with life, and his success serves as inspiration to his teammates, classmates, and the entire LeTourneau community.

FALL 2021

THE BUZZ

Student Perspective:

Executive Cabinet Shares Thoughts on Leadership and Life at LETU As the Christian Polytechnic University,

Some of these roles are very relational and

campaign to be chosen by their peers. Once

we equip students with tools to nurture their

ministry-oriented in nature, and some involve

elected, these leaders meet with the Student

leadership skills, challenging them to grow

running important programs like Intramurals

Body President and the Vice President of

and serve while creating a more valuable

and New Student Orientation.

Student Affairs as a contact point between

college experience. IMPACT is the organization that carries

Within IMPACT, the Executive Cabinet

administration and students. Every year

is the main branch of student government,

they take on special projects, plan events,

out this mission, guided by Student Life, by

representing the entire student body

and address critical issues identified by the

overseeing the branches of student leadership

through elected leaders from LETU’s main

student body and its leadership.

on campus. Students who participate in

student organizations.

We spoke with the Executive Cabinet for

IMPACT can opt for various roles, such as

The YellowJacket Activity Council (YAC),

Peer Advisor, Resident Assistant, Activities

LeTourneau Student Ministries (LSM), and

2021-22, along with several other key student leaders, to hear their thoughts on student

Coordinator, and Spiritual Life Assistant.

Student Senate are led by presidents who

leadership at LeTourneau. PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRANT BRIDGMAN

LETOURNEAU NOW

Joe Ryan Student Body President Mechanical Engineering '22

What does student leadership at LeTourneau mean to you? "Something I've learned from others and tried to model is servant leadership. It's important to serve your community and try to be a link, a connection, for them to look toward. And that servant aspect is important: doing things behind the scenes and serving the population in ways they might never know."

What is something you feel like LeTourneau has always done well? "I think education, first and foremost...and through that, they've been able to proclaim the gospel, like we say, in every workplace and every nation. If you're not building a strong academic foundation the workplace recognizes as valuable, people are not going to hire you. And if they do, they're going to think, 'You're a lousy worker, why would I listen to anything you say?' That's something LeTourneau takes seriously, and I really appreciate that."

What excites you about the future of LeTourneau? "I am excited for the way our engineering program is going, and I'm also excited for the way that other programs are going. We're so renowned for our engineering, but I'm excited for Dr. Mason's Strategic Plan of developing our other majors and other education endeavors. You can have vanilla, and maybe all engineers are vanilla, but if you have all these different majors that are doing well, you'll have all the different flavors that add to it. Good variety."

Blake Everett

Joseph Wang

YellowJacket Activities Council (YAC) President Accounting '23

LeTourneau Student Ministries (LSM) President Computer Engineering '23

How is community at LeTourneau unique?

What does student leadership at LeTourneau mean to you?

"It's the people that make the community unique. I don't know too many places where there's such a high percentage of homeschoolers or veterans or commuters or people who are passionate about their floor life, and they're bringing in all kinds of their own community, whether they realize it or not. So my job is to unify that and see across borders, so to speak."

"For me, as president of Student Ministries, it's working with students who also care about ministry. It's working with and empowering other students who want to serve on campus, help build a house with Habitat for Humanity, or go on a big spring mission trip, and it's working with the student leaders."

What role do community and relationships play in impacting the world? "I think that's one of our great callings: to be involved in community, especially good, Christian-centered community. If we can start that here at LeTourneau, we can show people that they can have fun and it can be good fun. Then, they can go out after graduation and seek that same kind of experience and community."

How does leading in a Christian environment form and shape you? "As a Christian, your view on leadership is Christ, and where you're pulling your wisdom from is the Bible. So, you're leading with the Bible and you're led by Christ. So, part of my position is to reflect that, even through YAC Olympics or Nacho Bingo."

What does LeTourneau mean to you? "What stands out to me is that LeTourneau is both a place of deep Christian faith and of technical innovation. On one side we have chapel; we have a lot of spiritual, Christian things. And on the other hand, a lot of being a LeTourneau student is doing a lot of homework, classes, projects, and all that kind of stuff. So it's a very interesting intersection of seeing how our faith applies to our lives, our careers, and all of that.”

How would you say your position as President of Student Ministries has shaped or inspired you? "I think just stepping into work that God has been working in this university for many years--not just the three years I've been here-but since the school started. I feel like I'm part of something bigger, and I want to do a good job. But what matters during the year that I'm president is less important overall than what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future. I'm just a small part of that."

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Nathan Moyes Vice President/President of Student Senate Electrical Engineering; Computer Science/ Mathematics '22

How does Student Senate play a role in shaping the community at LeTourneau? "The success of any sort of change or culture in general is based entirely upon relationships. If we can establish that understanding on a relational level between students and the university and faculty, then our campus can get a lot done that is healthy for the culture and mission of LeTourneau moving beyond these 75 years that we've had."

What excites you about the future of LeTourneau? "For the student body, we're seeing a lot of good, positive change: people are really wanting to be passionate about their faith, their work, and engaging the community around them, whether that's here at LeTourneau or back home. I see this happening through discussion in Student Senate, external ministry opportunities in churches, or starting Bible studies with friends."

LETOURNEAU NOW

Luke Avent

Ally Busti

President Pro Tempore of Student Senate Homeland Security '23

Cabinet Manager Communication: Integrated Media Management '24

What does student leadership mean to you?

How has being involved in Student Government impacted you?

"The Biblical term would be priest. In Dr. Mason's leadership course, he talks about the kingly leadership, the priestly leadership, things like that. So, an intermediary is a particular type of leadership needed and sometimes not thought about."

"While I am not in a leadership role for the Executive Cabinet, I get to help make decisions and brainstorm with the other presidents about events and improvements. I am the media manager for the student body president, Joe Ryan. With my job, I get to help promote the things we talk about in our meetings through social media, graphics, and photography. This has allowed me to use my studies and my skills for the student body in informative and fun ways."

How does Student Senate play a role in shaping the community at LeTourneau? "The attempt is to be a bridge between the administration and between students, because oftentimes, students don't necessarily see the administration as working in their best interests for whatever reason. So, you have to stand between them and seek clarity in communication."

In what ways are LeTourneau students equipped to help the world? "LeTourneau offers its students the highest education it can provide while still maintaining Biblical principles. Not only are they taught everything they need to know for their majors, but they are taught theology, good communication, and excellent speaking skills. Students have many opportunities to work in student organizations, like Student Senate, YAC, or LSM. These organizations help students by applying their passions and their studies to benefit the student body."

YellowJacket Activities Council by Jake Hall The YellowJacket Activities Council (YAC) is a student organization responsible for all things FUN on campus! Comprised of 7-8 student representatives, including the YAC President which is an elected position, YAC hosts a wide range of events during the school year, providing original, fun-filled weekend entertainment for students. Annual events include a school dance, outdoor movie nights, laser tag, and a lake day. On a random morning, one might see a golf cart decked out in streamers and tiki torches cruising the campus, blasting music and passing out free donuts—just a typical Donut Thursday, brought to you by YAC. One of the most popular events is Acousticafe, a mini-concert for student bands and individuals to perform while their peers drink coffee and relax on couches. From solo mandolin acts to full-scale rock bands, this is one of biggest occasions of the year. YAC also plans and organizes Hootenanny, the annual LETU talent show, a 55-year tradition! Over the years, YAC has created many quirky traditions; the mascot is an actual yak (yep, there's a costume), the start time for most events is 8:17 pm (so people don't forget it), and every event is loaded with all the snacks and candy a college student can handle.

@letu_yac FALL 2021

THE POLYTECHNIC WAY

A Note from the NOW Magazine Editors: This special section of our Fall 2021 issue includes the full text of an essay that has not only meaningfully informed the university’s 2021-2024 strategic plan, but also daily inspires and influences our campus culture and commitments. Crafted by Dr. Steven D. Mason, when he was Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs, and released in the Spring of 2019, this white paper boldly unpacks and affirms our university identity as The Christian Polytechnic University. It is provided as both a proclamation of who we are and an aspirational compass guiding our future. Please join us in claiming our collective calling and staying true to the unique organizational saga God has authored for our institution.

Access the audiobook with this QR code or visit www.letu.edu/tcpu-audio

LETOURNEAU NOW

LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University Embracing the Saga of Our Unique Organizational Calling A Provost's Perspective Steven D. Mason

Spring 2019 Dear LeTourneau University Colleagues, I have interacted with enough faculty and staff over the years to know that our identity is important to each of us. Our university identity is a product of our distinct mission, and it reflects back to us, both individually and collectively, our context, trajectory, and expectations. It is a way of representing the gifts and goods we offer our world. It articulates who we are and what we are called to do as an organization. The congruence between who we say we are, who we actually are, and who we aspire to be within higher education is, above all else, a matter of institutional integrity. So, what does it mean to adopt the identity “The Christian Polytechnic University”? Does this align with our mission? Does this take our school in a different direction? Is there a place for all academic disciplines? Are we narrowing our scope and reach? Are we expanding it? Most important, is this trademark a promise we can keep? This essay is an attempt to address these issues and the university we have all come to love. My hope is that it helps us see that “The Christian Polytechnic University” is not only a fitting identity for our institution but also names the unique educational calling we have inherited and that now presses us forward. In fact, we fulfill our vocation as a university only if we fully embrace it as an emblem of our “organizational saga.” Blessings,

President Steven D. Mason, Ph.D. Provost & Vice President for Academic Affairs

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LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University

“ORGANIZATIONAL SAGA” LeTourneau University is a special institution. By “special” I mean two main things. First and foremost, our institutional commitment to Jesus and the gospel is becoming increasingly rare. We are a place that is decisively devoted to both the practice and proclamation of the gospel through the integration of Christian faith and learning and living. Customary patterns of life at LeTourneau are atypical within higher

the organization has been and what it is today—and hence by extension what it will be tomorrow....The institutional saga is a historically based, somewhat embellished understanding of a unique organizational development. It offers in the present a particular definition of the organization as a whole and suggests common characteristics of members. Its definitions are deeply internalized by many members, thereby becomes a part, even an unconscious part of individual motive. A saga is, then, a mission made total across a system in space and time. It embraces the participants of a given day and links together successive waves of

education, such as an extra five minutes added to each class period for

participants over major periods of time...Indications of an organizational legend

prayer and a devotional moment; an annual faculty commissioning

are pride and exaggeration; the most telling symptom is an intense sense of the

service that is similar to sending missionaries off to the mission field; and

unique.2

“all campus chapel” every week, where both faculty and staff are invited

Does LeTourneau University have a genuine “organizational saga”? Our

to close their offices to join the students in a community gathering of worship and Christian fellowship. And these are just a few of the ways we hope to reflect a thoroughly Christian academic ministry. LeTourneau University is a special institution in this way, and as we stay the course, we will continue to grow in these distinctives. LeTourneau University is a special institution for a second (and not unrelated) reason. We have a unique DNA and history as an organization. While no two schools share the same reasons for their founding nor the circumstances surrounding growth, change, and sustainability, the more one knows about the LeTourneau University story, the more one understands how distinctive this story is. In fact, LeTourneau’s unique life might be told more like a saga, a long narrative of events and incidents of historic achievement often involving a legendary hero or family.1 Sociologist Burton Clark published a book in 1970 called The Distinctive College. This influential work reflected Clark’s observations of successful colleges and how they were able to endure the challenges of the time. As the title of his book would suggest, the colleges that became top-tier were the truly distinctive ones. And the central feature of the most distinctive ones was a clear “organizational saga.” An organizational saga, as Clark

university mission statement reads: LeTourneau University is a comprehensive institution of Christian higher education where educators engage learners to nurture Christian virtue, to develop competency and ingenuity in their professional fields, to integrate faith and work, and to serve the local and global community.

Is our institution’s mission so proven at this point that it is now a storied, internalized, embodied, and even legendary raison d’être? Is there a longstanding and shared sense of the unique education (and experience) we offer such that we, the members, behold common characteristics— and even linked in this way with members of the past? Do we relish our organization’s development through the tests and trials we have confronted over the last seventy-five years? Have we achieved true differentiation as a university within the industry of higher education? Do we express organizational pride—and at times even exaggeration? The answer is yes. Though our genuinely humble membership may feel uncomfortable admitting it, LeTourneau University has indeed achieved saga status as Clark defines it. Even common knowledge of LeTourneau University’s history speaks to a mission transformed through the years into an organizational saga.

defined it, is an institution’s collective narrative of past and present

It does not take long after first stepping on campus to gain a sense of

that, when embraced with great fervor and loyalty, births an identity

the legendary and exceptional, both academically and otherwise. As a new

transcending the brute facts of its life story. The saga takes shape through

faculty member, I quickly noticed that our educational culture is distinctly

historical developments, unique conditions, key events, and special

technical and applied. But I also soon learned about “the Flooders,” the

memories connected to the institution’s mission and role. Organizations

expansive use of R.G.’s machines in World War II, the “Mom and Pop”

with a fully-embraced saga enjoy an institutional fortitude made of deep

conversation in flight over Harmon General Hospital, R.G’s relationship

roots and a compelling future. Clark comments,

with Billy Graham, the time students lifted a Volkswagen Bug on the

Successful missions in time become transformed to some degree into

dining hall, how close the school was to folding in the 1980s, and our

organizational sagas. Initially, the mission is simply purpose, something

pioneering success of online and adult education in the late 1990s and

[people] in the organization hold before themselves. But the mission tested and

early 2000s that helped revolutionize the residential campus. I continue to

successfully embodied through the work of a number of years does not remain

enjoy learning of the eras and events and heroes of our institution’s past,

a statement of intent, a direction, a guidepost. It becomes a saga that tells what

including the ups and downs inherent in our history. These and other

1. According to Merriam-Webster, a saga originally referred to “a prose narrative recorded in Iceland in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries of historic or legendary figures and events of the heroic age of Norway and Iceland.” 2. Burton R. Clark, The Distinctive College, 2nd ed. (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1992), 235. The impact of Clark’s “organizational saga” idea has been highlighted by many students and scholars of higher education since his sociological analysis. See for example, John R. Thelin, A History of American Higher Education, 2nd ed. (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2011), xxviii.

LETOURNEAU NOW

LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University

chronicles like it are part of the important artifacts that contribute to our story that would qualify us a “distinctive college” according to Clark.3 I do have a caveat, however. I wonder about the definitions that Clark refers to. A deeply rooted organizational saga characterizes a place where definitions “are deeply internalized by many members, thereby [becoming] a part, even an unconscious part of individual motive.” It seems that over recent years we have faced somewhat of an identity concern, if not a crisis, with the words we (and others!) use to describe LeTourneau University—and not just the words themselves but their meaning. This is no small concern since words matter, and they create certain realities and expectations for understanding who we are and our core purpose. I have personally witnessed a range of descriptors of our institution in both conversation and print, such as “engineering school,” “STEM school,” “liberal arts school,”“technical school,”“online school,”“Christian college,” and more recently now, “polytechnic school.” Maybe you have encountered others. Each of these has its rationale and justification. But if an organizational saga “tells what the organization has been and what it is today—and hence by extension what it will be tomorrow,” it is vital that the language we use to refer to our institution—our “saga”—be welldefined and understood. And so we come to the purpose of this essay. For all of us to embrace LeTourneau’s organizational saga, it is important that we have a shared understanding of our distinct university mission and identity as The

OUR SCHOOL AMID THE RISE OF TECHNICAL AND “POLYTECHNIC” HIGHER EDUCATION There really is no true consensus about the definition of polytechnic or the parameters for what constitutes a polytechnic university in America.4 The term polytechnic is often used to refer to the “practical arts” or “useful arts”; its etymology means “many arts,” and yet it arose as a sort of alternative to the pure liberal arts canon upon which the medieval and modern university was founded.5 The liberal arts as a canon of study have traditionally had little to do with direct industrial outcomes, while “polytechnic” generally is used to connote an applied science or technology intended to garner economic benefit with a precise, professional target. To find the beginning of the polytechnic university, some reach back to Napoleon’s establishment of École Polytechnique in France in 1794, the first university with “Polytechnic” in the name. The intent was to bolster France’s military status through scientific advancement as well as pursue future economic prosperity.6 Most scholars of higher education in America attribute significant credit to the Morrill Act of 1862, which established landgrant colleges for the rise of professional and technology-centered education in the United States.7 The 1862 Morrill Land Grant Act is conventionally described as an influential piece of federal legislation that fostered access to useful public higher education. . . . The state government was then required to dedicate land sale proceeds to establishing collegiate programs in such “useful arts” as agriculture, mechanics, mining, and military instruction—hence the “A&M” in the name of many land-

Christian Polytechnic University, especially as we embark upon the

grant colleges....Its institutional legacy was the accessible state college and

milestone of our institution’s seventy-fifth anniversary. The most

university, characterized by a curriculum that was broad and utilitarian.8

fundamental question at the fore is, Does this identity truly fit our organizational saga? If so, what does it mean as a differentiator, and what boundaries are being set by the moniker? Do we each still have a role in the story moving into the future? And finally, what opportunities are on offer if we fully embrace this saga? In what follows, I address our university identity and its component parts to answer the questions stated above. In so doing, my hope is that this brief treatment will show that “The Christian Polytechnic University” is indeed a fitting descriptor for LeTourneau University because it names the particular organizational saga God has authored for our institution. Moreover, we can only fulfill this unique calling when we contribute all of our gifts and areas of expertise collectively.

Other government legislation, such as the Hatch Act (1887), the second Morrill Act (1890), and the Smith-Lever Act (1914), continued to direct funding of education toward applied fields and broader student populations. These efforts, as well as the response to the Industrial Revolution and changing social class hierarchy in the early to midtwentieth century, began to shift higher education’s focus to the teaching of agriculture, science, and engineering rather than the historical emphasis upon the liberal arts. This shift changed the role of professional education in relation to one’s upward mobility and success in society. Traditionally, pursuing education in professional fields was perceived as narrow and delimiting, while a liberal arts education served as the doorway to financial security and social advancement.

3. See Thelin’s insightful section on the role of architecture in an institution’s saga (Thelin, History, xxix). This recalls how preservation of the metal buildings and the creation of the berm around the Memorial Student Center (now known as the Nursing Building) are examples of the ways our campus structures contribute to the organizational saga. 4. See L. Preston Mercer and Judith A. Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education: A Proposed Key to Regional Economic Development,” Synesis: A Journal of Science, Technology, Ethics, and Policy (2012): 45–51. The term seems to be used much more loosely in America than in England and Europe. Some of the history of polytechnic schools in the US and beyond was retrieved by Mercer and Ponticell by accessing the history sections of particular institutions’ websites. They name, for example, École Polytechnique: History and Heritage (2011), www.polytechnique. edu/home/about-ecole-polytechnique/history-and-heritage/ History; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (2010), rpi.edu/about/history.html; History: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (2011), www. rose-hulman.edu/about/history.aspx. 5. S. G. Brint, M. Riddle, L. Turk-Bicakci, C. S. Levy, “From the Liberal to the Practical Arts in American Colleges and Universities: Organizational Analysis and Curricular Change,” The Journal of Higher Education 76, no. 2 (2005): 151–80. 6. James Martin and James E. Samels, “Polytechnic Renaissance: The Rise of the Polytechnic University,” University Business 18 (October 2012). 7. See Thelin, History, 75–83, 86, 104–5, 135. 8. Thelin, History, 75–76.

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LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University

Liberal arts institutions generally offer a curriculum “aimed at imparting

1957. But with help from local leaders, the government chose not to assess the

general knowledge and developing general intellectual capacities, in contrast

property, and the Institute took full title without further payment.14

to a professional, vocational, or technical curriculum.” Liberal arts studies 9

often include literature, languages, philosophy, history, mathematics and science. Perspectives in these fields are studied broadly, while vocational and/ or technological education had historically been perceived as “insularizing” and “provincializing” rather than “liberating.”10

By the mid-twentieth century, technical education was no longer perceived as limiting, however, but rather liberating; and the US government’s stimulus efforts and industrial progress amplified the need for institutions to meet the demand. This only intensified after World War II, when thousands of returning veterans sought educational opportunities that suited their interests and experience. By 1946, the year of LeTourneau’s University’s founding, two million veterans enrolled in college through the GI Bill, which amounted to approximately half of all college students in the US.11 This totaled a federal government payout of over $5.5 billion.12 In fact, “The federal government realized the tuition payments did not provide for all of the costs of educating students, and, accordingly, it gave war surplus land, buildings, and equipment to nearly seven hundred colleges.”13 Enter R.G. and Evelyn LeTourneau and our organizational saga. Harmon General Hospital in Longview becomes LeTourneau Technical Institute of Texas for one dollar.

This wave of higher education students was seeking practical and hands-on programs that would readily launch them into the workforce. As Thelin notes, The pragmatic, impatient GI collegians shaped curricular enrollments by voting with their feet—that is, by opting for courses and majors in such employable fields as business administration and engineering. At times there was a substantial difference in perspective between professors (especially in the arts and sciences) and GIs.15

This was the general higher education context in America that created the ideal environment for the beginning of LeTourneau University’s organizational saga (with all of R.G.’s particular aims and objectives). And yet, while LeTourneau was one of many new schools meeting the GI and industrial movement, it has from its inception been, well, strange. In addressing what took place in Christian higher education during this era, Ringenberg notes, A few other unusual types of Christian colleges were appearing. Very few Christian institutions offered engineering curricula, primarily because of the costliness of the necessary laboratory equipment. While such schools as John Brown, Geneva, and Valparaiso operate programs of varying degrees of thoroughness, no Christian college has placed such a high percentage of its resources in technical education

On January 30, 1946, LeTourneau Technical Institute of Texas officially took

as has LeTourneau (TX). The school was founded by Robert G. LeTourneau, an

possession of the hospital property consisting of 156 acres and 232 connected

inventor-industrialist widely known for designing heavy-duty earth moving

barracks buildings. The hospital had cost $5 million but was essentially donated

equipment and off-shore drilling platforms and then donating most of his

to the fledgling school. The government handed over the entire facility to

earnings to missionary and evangelistic organizations. LeTourneau operated his

LeTourneau Technical Institute for a lease price of $870,000, less a one hundred

school as a technical institute from its beginning in 1946 to 1961, when it became

percent discount with a one dollar down payment. The property came with

a liberal arts college, adding baccalaureate programs in electrical engineering

some stipulations. For a period of ten years, from January 28, 1946 to January

technology, industrial management, mechanical engineering technology, welding

27, 1956, the U.S. government could repossess it during a national emergency.

engineering technology, and flight technology; and two-year programs in

As a lessee, the Institute had to operate a nonprofit technical school for veterans

automotive technology, aviation technology, and design technology.16

and submit semiannual curricular and financial reports with the War Assets Administration. Also, the Institute was prohibited from selling or leasing any of the property during the ten years without obtaining permission from the War Assets Administration. Failure to comply with all requirements could cause the government to demand the full $870,000. At the end of the ten-year period the War Assets Administration would have twelve months to assess the value of the property and require payment of its assessed value less depreciation. If the government failed to assess the property during that eleventh year, the Institute would take full title to the property by default, without payment, on January 28,

There are a few interesting points to glean from Ringenberg’s brief rehearsal of LeTourneau University’s history. The first has already been highlighted. LeTourneau Technical Institute of Texas was “unusual.” It was like a Christian college in that it had a thoroughly Christian ethos and intentionality within the academic experience but focused specifically on technical skills and applied education, most notably the expensive enterprise of engineering that had been atypical (unviable) for a small Christian college. According to Durham, “R.G. LeTourneau began

9. Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 46, quoting C. J. Ducasse, “Liberal Education and the College Curriculum,” The Journal of Higher Education 15, no. 1 (1944): 1–10, and then Brint et al., “From the Liberal to the Practical Arts,” 151–80. 10. Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 46. 11. William C. Ringenberg, The Christian College: A History of Protestant Higher Education in America, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), 202. 12. Thelin, History, 263. This was also the time when the federal government began accepting institutional team and self-evaluations on a ten-year cycle by regional accrediting bodies like SACS-COC. There was a need to sieve the diploma mills that quickly sprouted from the colleges and universities worthy of receiving federal funds for GIs (265). 13. Ringenberg, Christian College, 202–3. 14. Kenneth R. Durham, LeTourneau University’s First Fifty Years (Virginia Beach, VA: Donning, 1995), 48–49. 15. Thelin, History, 266. 16. Ringenberg, Christian College, 188; emphasis mine.

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LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University

purchasing millions of dollars of war surplus engines and supplies which

creation of an independent LeTourneau College Board of Trustees (apart

were unloaded all over the campus. Much of this war surplus material

from the “Foundation Board” that governed both R.G.’s factory and

was $4 million worth of LeTourneau earthmoving equipment that R.G.

campus), culminated in the official changing of the school’s name from

repurchased from the government for resale. The Institute was based on

LeTourneau Technical Institute to LeTourneau College in July of 1961.

R.G.’s philosophy of education, which combined strong academics with

The state of Texas issued new Articles of Incorporation. In summarizing

practical experience.”17

the growth and expansion of LeTourneau during the period of 1961 to

Due to the equipment on campus as well as the practical experience

1986, our own Dr. Kenneth Durham also refers to LeTourneau becoming

gained in RG’s factory, LeTourneau students received a one-of-a-kind, co-

a “senior engineering, technological, and liberal arts college,” achieving

op experience. Ringenberg puts LeTourneau in a league by itself

both regional accreditations through the liberal arts program as well as

among Christian institutions for the amount of resources devoted to

professional accreditation of our engineering program.21 He also notes

technical education. The description of R.G. himself as an eclectic and unique individual, and certainly as an unlikely founder of a school, adds to the peculiarity of a place like LeTourneau. The hands-on and practical, factory-learning approach best fit what one would find at a “technical school” or “institute.” But LeTourneau Tech was a four-year, bachelor’s degree–granting institution from the beginning.18 In 1946–1947, LeTourneau offered bachelor’s degrees in majors like electrical maintenance, building trades, combination welding processes, metallurgy, machinist, mechanical maintenance, lithography, and others. It also offered courses in nontechnical fields such as English, math, economics, and natural sciences, and the campus experience always involved chapel services. Bible courses were added to the curriculum in 1948, and in 1951 a Christian service degree was added to the slate of majors. Other curricular innovations, such as aviation, continued through the 1950s as well as efforts to create devotional time within the classroom.19

LeTourneau being named as “one of America’s best liberal arts colleges” in the early 1990s by U.S. News and World Report.22 This was after LeTourneau officially changed to “University” on September 1, 1989, to reflect the comprehensive nature of the school it had become over the decades.23 And yet, referring to ourselves as a “liberal arts” school is not something commonplace on our campus today. The old distinctions between colleges and universities have now been dissolved (as illustrated in the U.S. News and World Report categories). There are a number of examples of comprehensive institutions with a range of academic degrees and graduate programs that have elected to retain the name “College” (e.g. Wheaton College, Gordon College, Calvin College, Boston College, etc.). How one defines and/or determines when or how one is classified as a liberal arts college is debatable and perhaps best left to the “eye of the beholder.” According to the Carnegie Classification of 2015, a liberal arts college is one that emphasizes undergraduate education where at least 50

Yet it is also interesting that Ringenberg describes the transition

percent of the undergraduate degrees are conferred in academic majors

in 1961 as “becoming a liberal arts college.” It is true that at this time

of the fine arts, humanities, social, and hard sciences. But not everyone

an intentional liberal arts program of majors was added to the degree

feels bound to this way of measuring. Other common ways of categorizing

offerings at LeTourneau Tech since the Southern Association of Colleges

a liberal arts college include emphasizing distinct student outcomes like

and Schools did not grant accreditation to “trade schools” like LeTourneau

critical thinking, moral reasoning, intercultural competence, leadership,

but only to schools with at least eight or more liberal arts majors. So

and other conceptual skills useful for diverse contexts. Still others

LeTourneau Tech added degrees in Bible, English, history, math, physics,

emphasize a small residential environment with a low faculty-to-student

chemistry, education, and business.20 These changes, in addition to the

ratio and where teaching is the focus over research. Evidently,

17. Durham, First Fifty Years, 25. 18. There was a general misperception that LeTourneau Tech was a junior college because the Texas Department of Education only accredited the first two years of courses, and LeTourneau thus only competed against junior colleges in intercollegiate athletics. For LeTourneau’s first two years of existence, it offered three tiers of education: high school diploma degree completion, junior college level, and bachelor’s (“senior”) level. See Durham, First Fifty Years, 29–30. 19. The aviation department was added when courses in airframe and engine repair began in the fall of 1956, before expanding to ground and flight schools in summer 1961. See Durham, First Fifty Years, 30– 32. For the expanding commitment to Christian devotional practices, see 44–47. 20. Durham, First Fifty Years, 48. 21. Durham, First Fifty Years, 123. 22. Durham, First Fifty Years, 137. 23. The change from LeTourneau College to LeTourneau University was purely a strategic move of nomenclature to enhance public perception rather than a mission or curricular shift. See Durham, First Fifty Years, 128. The old distinctions between colleges and universities have now been dissolved (as illustrated in the U.S. News and World Report categories). There are a number of examples of comprehensive institutions with a range of academic degrees and graduate programs that have elected to retain the name “College” (e.g. Wheaton College, Gordon College, Calvin College, Boston College, etc.).

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any or all three foci—number of majors, particular educational outcomes, or a specific learning environment—are used to define a liberal arts college.24 This can keep the lines blurry, however, depending upon who is making the judgment call. At least for Ringenberg (and Durham), the small, residential undergraduate environment, even with the expansion of technical majors, constituted LeTourneau as a “liberal arts college.” Before we are quick to correct someone on this point, even as a comprehensive university today, our membership as part of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) and the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) is dependent upon the shared trait of a commitment to the liberal arts (and sciences).25 According to Hal Hartley, current president of the CIC, Traditional, residential, undergraduate, small size, small classes, rooted in the liberal arts, close student-faculty relationships, a co-curricular program that supports classroom learning, tuition dependent—these are characteristics that typify the independent colleges CIC serves.26 Hartley’s characterization does not seem to consider the rapid growth in higher education of the nontraditional (or “post-traditional”) student populations, online platforms, micro-sites, and commuter campuses, which are significant parts of colleges and universities. In fact, at certain points of LeTourneau’s history the student body, technically speaking, has been more heavily weighted in the nontraditional category—from those who worked full time for R.G. to recent years when we have had more adult and online students than residential undergraduate students. (See, for example, the university enrollment numbers in the year 2006, when our online and nontraditional programs peaked at almost 2,500 students.)

CATEGORIZING LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY Even the brief survey above outlining the atmosphere of higher education when our institution was founded, as well as a sampling of how our school has been described, attests to the fact that LeTourneau University has, in many respects, forged a category of its own. And perhaps this is fitting for a place with a founder who is also difficult to describe. Was R.G. primarily an entrepreneur? Engineer? Inventor? Evangelist? Missionary? It may depend on one’s point of contact, but it is also unnecessary to choose, since any would be true. Nonetheless, there

is something to the way an institution begins that forever impacts its ongoing life and personality. Though LeTourneau Tech eventually broadened into a comprehensive university, the circumstances of its establishment and the passions of its founder created a particular and lasting DNA (and culture) for the life of our organization. Even in becoming a comprehensive university, being hands-on, practical, professional, technical, and Christian—the foundation stones of our institution—remain deeply embedded in all that we do, as the apostle Paul might say, “from first to last” (Rom. 1:17). When exploring the aims and initiatives of the country’s most wellknown polytechnic schools, it is clear that LeTourneau fits within the same milieu.27 The core identity of our institution has been technical, applied, and Christian. This reality combined with the drivers of LeTourneau University’s founding and the sustained core competencies in applied and technical sciences quite genuinely leads to the identifier “polytechnic.” When one assesses current ways of describing a “polytechnic” education, we find a legitimate way of describing LeTourneau University. “Polytechnics are comprehensive universities offering professional, careerfocused programs in the arts, social and related behavioral sciences, engineering, education, and natural sciences and technology that engage students in active, applied learning, theory and research essential to the future of society, business and industry,” according to Chancellor Charles W. Sorenson, University of Wisconsin-Stout (Polytechnic).28 Polytechnics are designed to blend theory and practice to solve “real world problems for the benefit of society.”29

According to Mercer and Ponticell, features emphasized in polytechnic training are:30 • Emphasis on science, technology, and professional and technical programs, complemented by arts, humanities, and social sciences • Smaller class sizes • Integrated curriculum, practical and theoretical exercises throughout programs • Hands-on, project and team-based learning environment • Applied, collaborative research and technology transfer • Cross-disciplinary and co-curricular experiences, internships, and service learning across disciplines • Social responsibility

24. See N. S. Graham, Cindy A. Miller, Mark Archibald Kilgo, and Ernest T. Pascarell, “Amending the Liberal Arts: An Analysis of Learning Outcomes for Professional Majors,” in The Evolution of Liberal Arts in the Global Age, ed. Peter Marbe and Daniel Araya (New York: Routledge, 2017), 35–38. Interestingly, the main purpose of this article is to argue that students in professional programs (i.e., engineering, business, and nursing) score just as high in learning outcomes as those in the pure liberal arts, thus showing that growth in learning is not discipline specific. 25. The CCCU talks about its governing members being committed to an education “rooted in the arts and sciences” (among other criteria). The CCCU has approximately 180 full and affiliate members, and the CIC has approximately seven hundred institutional members. 26. Harold V. Hartley III, “An Overview of the Independent College Sector,” in The Challenge of Independent Colleges: Moving Research into Practice (Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2017), 3. 27. See, for example, the famous quote of Stephen Van Rennselaer reflecting his original vision for Rennselear Polytechnic Institute highlighted on their website: “instructing young persons ‘in the application of science to the common purposes of life.’” 28. Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 47. 29. Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 47. Here they are quoting the then–newly elected governor of Florida, Rick Scott (2010). 30. Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 48, table 2. For a list of ten universities in the United States with “Polytechnic” in the name, see table 1. Yet there are a number of strong schools across the country that reflect polytechnic characteristics but without “polytechnic” in the name, such as the state, land grant schools with “Tech” or “A&M” as modifiers.

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• Civic engagement

applied majors. When you add the other math and sciences students, the

• Innovation, entrepreneurship

percentage of residential undergraduate students in STEM majors climbs

• Leadership in scientific, economic, and community development

to 79 percent.34 That’s 10 percent higher than California Polytechnic

• Adaptation/responsiveness to needs/demands of business, industry,

Institute, which has a total undergraduate STEM percentage at 69 percent.35 And it is 8 percent higher than MIT, which has almost 71 percent

and society Most of these features are central characteristics of a LeTourneau

of undergraduates in STEM majors.36 Moreover, polytechnic institutions

University education, traits that have naturally grown out of our

report high job placement rates of graduates.37 LeTourneau continues

institutional hard coding. LeTourneau University has been especially well-

to score exceptionally high in job placement and ROI indicators.38

known for two leading technical and professional programs: Engineering

LeTourneau University is as authentically “polytechnic” as it comes when

and Aviation. LeTourneau was the first ABET-accredited Christian

one considers the natural academic traits of our school. These are core

university in the country (1978). ABET accreditation is proof that a

gifts and competencies that we should maximize even more. And yet,

collegiate program has met standards essential to provide graduates ready

embracing who we are as a “polytechnic” does not narrow our scope but

to enter the critical fields of STEM education. Graduates from an ABET-

rather names our genetic make-up and culture. In fact, it may surprise

accredited program have a solid educational foundation and are capable of

some that the leading polytechnic institutions in higher education are in

leading the way in innovation, emerging technologies, and in anticipating

fact also dynamic universities thoroughly committed to holistic teaching

the welfare and safety needs of the public.

and instruction.

At LeTourneau, we build upon this foundation in a number of ways. For example, LeTourneau’s SafeHome senior design engineering project won first place in 2018 in the Annual Disaster Shelter Design Competition sponsored by Samaritan’s Purse International with a lightweight

THE ROLE OF THE LIBERAL ARTS AT LEADING POLYTECHNICS What becomes abundantly transparent in investigating the scope and

shelter that withstood 130 mph winds. LeTourneau University is the

nature of polytechnic schools in America is that by emphasizing the

only comprehensive university aviation program in the state of Texas,

technical and applied arts, it is not necessary to deemphasize the liberal

sustaining more than sixty years of aviation excellence. Our students

arts as traditionally conceived. There need not be a dichotomy between

won first place in Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA)

a technical and applied education and a “liberal” one. The liberal arts

competition in 2018, and our STING Precision Flight Team won fifth

and sciences play a crucial academic role across polytechnic schools.

place in the nation (ahead of the US Air Force Academy) in the National

In fact, the original land-grant institutions viewed the technical and

Intercollegiate Flight Association (NIFA) competition in May 2018. The

mechanical programs as building upon and alongside the “classic arts,”

university was awarded the Loening Trophy for having the best collegiate

not marginalizing them.39 Today, the leading polytechnic and landgrant

aviation program in the country in 2009.

universities excel in the humanities and liberal arts and view them as

As of the fall of 2018 enrollment statistics, 63 percent of LeTourneau

critical to their educational mission. For example, Dr. Jeffrey D. Armstrong,

University’s residential and undergraduate student body majored in

president of California Polytechnic State University, comments, “Cal Poly’s

engineering, aviation, or computer science.33 So almost two out of every

distinctive Learn By Doing approach . . . provide[s] students with daily

three students on campus focus upon one of these three technical and

opportunities to apply classroom theory to real-world problems in the

31. Discipline-specific engineering majors were EAC-ABET accredited (back to 1978). The general engineering B.S. program at LeTourneau University was implemented in the 1987–1988 academic year and was first accredited by EAC-ABET in October 1988. 32. See “Why ABET Accreditation Matters,” www.abet.org/accreditation/what-is-accreditation/why-abet-accreditation-matters/, accessed April 4, 2019. 33. See LeTourneau University’s Fall 2018 Enrollment Statistics, published by the Office of Institutional Research and released on September 28, 2018. The enrollment numbers were: Engineering (475), Aviation (195), Computer Science (93). There were also 88 students in the graduate and online programs in engineering (9 graduate), aviation (48 online), or computer science (31 online). 34. Nursing (91), Kinesiology (47), Biology (28), Chemistry and Physics (27), Mathematics (10). 35. According to Cal Poly’s 2018 enrollment data numbering 21,037 undergraduates: Ag, Food, Environmental Sciences (4,005), Architecture and Environmental Design (1,840), Engineering (5,921), and Sciences and Math (2,784). See their quick facts at calpolynews. calpoly.edu/quickfacts.html, accessed April 4, 2019. 36. According to MIT’s 2017–2018 enrollment data numbering 4,547 undergraduates: Architecture and Planning (30), Engineering (2,455), and Sciences (737). See web.mit.edu/facts/ enrollment.html, accessed April 4, 2019. 37. Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 48. 38. For example, Seattle-based Payscale.com ranked LETU as second only to Rice University in Return on Investment (ROI) among private universities in Texas in its “Best Value Colleges in Texas” ranking for 2018 (www.payscale.com/college-roi/state/Texas). Also, from 2015 to 2017, our residential graduate placement rate averaged 96 percent, and our nontraditional rate was 92 percent. 39. See “What Is a Land-Grant College?,” Washington State University, February 24, 2009, ext.wsu.edu/documents/landgrant.pdf.

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context of a comprehensive polytechnic education, grounded in the arts and sciences.”40 The single-paragraph mission statement of Cal Poly also includes, “As a polytechnic university, Cal Poly promotes the application of theory to practice. As a comprehensive institution, Cal Poly provides a balanced education in the arts, sciences, and technology, while encouraging crossdisciplinary and co-curricular experiences.”41 Cal Poly’s College of Liberal Arts is one of six colleges within its university structure. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) also has a School of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (SHASS) as one of five schools within its academic structure. The reputation of MIT’s strength in the liberal arts and humanities while also being a world leader in technology is well-documented. In 2018, the Times Higher Education World University Rankings rated MIT the second-best university for arts and humanities, just behind Stanford. All MIT undergraduates must take at least eight semesters of courses (approximately 25 percent of total classroom time) in SHASS as part of the General Institute Requirements for a diploma. What these world-class polytechnics and land-grant institutions understand is that the liberal arts are not just complementary but central to educating today’s leaders. Any curriculum devoid of the traditional arts and sciences is deficient for preparing graduates for a motley world of applied technologies and problem-solving. There has been quite a swell of recent commentary and literature on the importance of the liberal arts in our world of innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship.42 Amid public comments by politicians and others about the value of studying the liberal arts at university, many return to the now-famous comments of Steve Jobs, for example, who lauded the humanities and liberal arts when he released iPad 2 in 2011: “It’s in Apple’s DNA that technology alone is not enough— its technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields us the result that makes our heart sing, and nowhere is that more true than in these post-PC devices.”

More recently, Jack Ma gave a speech at the World Economic Forum in 2018 stating that we must approach education differently if the human workforce wants to stay relevant in a machine-driven and technological age. He suggests that we must teach the soft skills to prevent an employment problem thirty years from now “so that a machine can never catch up with us.”43 Scott Hartley, a Stanford graduate and author of The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World, says it this way: Finding solutions to our greatest problems requires an understanding of human context as well as of code: it requires both ethics and data, both deep thinking people and Deep Learning AI, both human and machine; it requires us to question implicit biases in our algorithms and inquire deeply into not just how we build, but why we build and what we seek to improve. Fuzzies and techies must come together and the true value of the liberal arts must be embraced as we continue to pioneer our new technological tools.44

To use Jobs’s metaphor, it is the healthy marriage of liberal arts and technical competencies, rather than their divorce, that top polytechnic universities recognize as vital for preparing the next generation of innovators. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the oldest polytechnic in America (1824), has a School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (HASS) as one of six schools within its academic structure. In view of the institution’s bicentennial, Rensselaer recently launched a comprehensive revisioning plan of priorities titled “The New Polytechnic,” defined as “a paradigm for teaching, learning, and research that sees the technological university as a profoundly collaborative endeavor across disciplines and perspectives.” Rensselaer’s HASS has a central role in fulfilling this new polytechnic vision, as articulated in a university whitepaper called Wisdom Matters. The whitepaper argues for the critical perspective that the arts, humanities, and social sciences play in understanding “human agency,” the “immaterial,” and “wisdom” in a world dominated by “technologism” and “scientism.” The paper appeals to the unique opportunity of pursuing

40. Emphasis mine. This is a comment from the first paragraph of his welcome letter published on the university website, president. calpoly.edu/welcome-cal-poly, accessed April 4, 2019.

41. Emphasis mine. This comes directly from the mission statement from the website, president.calpoly.edu/welcome-cal-poly, accessed April 4, 2019. 42. See for example, Sydney Johnson, “As Tech Companies Hire More Liberal Arts Majors, More Students Are Choosing STEM Degrees,” EdSurge, November 13, 2018; Vivek Wadhwa, “Why Liberal Arts and the Humanities Are as Important as Engineering,” The Washington Post, June 12, 2018; Richard Feloni, “Microsoft’s President Says Liberal Arts Majors Are Necessary for the Future of Tech,” Business Insider, January 21, 2018; J. M. Olejarz, “Liberal Arts in the Data Age,” Harvard Business Review, July–August 2017; Christine Henseler, “Liberal Arts Is the Foundation for Professional Success in the 21st Century,” Huffington Post, September 6, 2017; Yoni Appelbaum, “Why America’s Business Majors Are in Desperate Need of a Liberal-Arts Education,” The Atlantic, June 28, 2016; George Anders, “That ‘Useless’ Liberal Arts Degree Has Become Tech’s Hottest Ticket,” Forbes August 17, 2015; Michael Rozier and Darcell Scharff, “On Academics: The Value of Liberal Arts and Practice in an Undergraduate Public Health Curriculum,” Public Health Reports 128, no. 5 (2013): 416–21. 43. Ma is the cofounder and CEO of Alibaba Group, a multinational technology conglomerate with an open market value of $352 billion dollars. He is recognized as one of the wealthiest people in the world. See this short clip of his speech at www.instagram.com/p/BkAZD9AAvtA. 44. Scott Hartley, The Fuzzy and the Techie: Why the Liberal Arts Will Rule the Digital World (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017), xi. For other recent books arguing for the necessity of competency in the liberal arts for success in today’s world of business and technology, see for example George Anders, You Can Do Anything: The Surprising Power of a “Useless” Liberal Arts Degree (New York: Little, Brown, 2017); Randall Stross, A Practical Education: Why Liberal Arts Majors Make Great Employees (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2017); Christian Madsbjerg, Sensemaking: The Power of the Humanities in the Age of the Algorithm (New York: Hachette, 2017); Joseph E. Aoun, Robot-Proof: Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2017); Cathy Davidson, The New Education: How to Revolutionize the University to Prepare Students for a World in Flux (New York: Hachette, 2017); Gary Saul Morson and Morton Shapiro, Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2017).

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complex questions of human flourishing at a polytechnic school. Consider, for example, these statements from the paper: From within the techno-scientific crucible that is Rensselaer, HASS faculty pursue cutting-edge research and develop unique academic programs that bring a humanities logics to bear on the Grand Challenges. We harness the scientific

education, what impact does it make to claim the most provocative of our descriptors—Christian? What if there were a Christian polytechnic? I contend that answering this fundamental question helps carve out our God-given and distinctive vocation as a particularly polytechnic university. This is central to our organizational saga.

and technological prowess needed to address problems of immense scale and complexity while situating them within the critically necessary socio-cultural context so often bracketed out of more conventional problem solving approaches. At Rensselaer we counter these forces by seeking to produce broadly educated, practical persons who have the capacity to ask wise questions that matter: “Just because we can, should we?” and “Where is the soul in social policy?” In HASS, we embrace the “diverse world of others.” Our experience has demonstrated to us that empathy, compassion, and wisdom emerge from attending to layers of social, political-economic, and cultural complexity through multisensory experience, fine-grained interpretation, and close attunement to dissonance. Yoked to the technoscientific sophistication of our students, the translational humanities at Rensselaer are poised to be transformational.45

What I find fascinating about Renssellaer’s Wisdom Matters is that with only a few Christian nuances to the document, this piece could easily resemble something we might publish at LeTourneau. It is very compelling and hits the felt needs of today’s students. Secular schools and scholars are realizing that today’s education, especially a polytechnic one, must address questions inherent to the humanities and liberal arts in view of alleviating suffering, solving societal problems, and promoting human flourishing. And yet, the piece also highlights the great void, and even danger, in attempting to answer such questions without a coherent account of what it means to be a human being, what human flourishing looks like, how we define wisdom, what metanarrative of the world governs the discussion, and to whom we are ultimately accountable. While secular institutions and the technology industry grow more sensitive to the role of social and humanitarian factors in our world of technological advancement, LeTourneau University’s unique call and contribution as an institution within higher education grows increasingly clear. If our school fits squarely into the polytechnic milieu of higher

THE CHRISTIAN POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY? There is a slew of great books on Christian higher education that help outline salient features of the enterprise.46 I would summarize the distinctiveness of Christian universities in contrast to secular ones in terms of possessing a particular coherence, which in turn yields a number of unique features and applications.47 We educate with an anchor lodged in a distinctly Christian story of the world. As Alasdair MacIntyre says, “I can only answer the question, ‘What am I to do?’ if I can answer the prior questions, ‘Of what story do I find myself a part?’”48 And this question applies to universities too. Another way to ask it is, Within what metasaga does our “organizational saga” fit? At LeTourneau we are unashamed in positing that our center of gravity for education is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the creating and redeeming work of the Triune God. We do not begin from a (false) position of neutrality but rather believe, “Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made” ( John 1:3); “for from him and through him and to him are all things” (Rom. 11:36); and “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Col. 1:17). We believe that while modern science and society pose complex questions and problems, Scripture outlines for us not simplistic answers but rather a clear vision for what human and societal flourishing looks like, what it means to be fully human, who created the world, how God is renewing all things, and to whom we will all one day give account. So, as admirable and compelling as Rensselaer’s vision is for educating students toward “wisdom” and “human flourishing,” for example, we offer a cohesive and true account of God’s purposes for the world and all of creation. Without a coherent and true account of life’s deepest and most

45. Access the full text from the HASS webpage at www.hass.rpi. edu/, accessed April 4, 2019. 46. The one I find particularly helpful for out context is Perry L. Glanzer and Todd C. Ream, The Idea of a Christian College: A Reexamination for Today’s University (Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2013). See also Perry L. Glanzer, Nathan F. Alleman, and Todd C. Ream, Restoring the Soul of the University (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2017); Joel Carpenter, Perry L. Glaner, and Nicholas S. Lantinga, eds., Christian Higher Education: A Global Reconnaissance (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2014); Michael Higton, A Theology of Higher Education (New York: Oxford University Press, 2013); Phil Eaton, Engaging the Cul-ture, Changing the World: The Christian University in a Post-Christian World (Downer’s Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2011); Perry Glanzer and Todd Ream, Christianity and Moral Identity in Higher Education (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2009); Nicholas Wolterstorff, Educating for Shalom: Essays on Christian Higher Education, ed. Clarence W. Joldersma and Gloria Goris Stronks (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004); Robert Benne, Quality with Soul: How Six Premier Colleges and Universities Keep Faith with Their Religious Traditions (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002); George Marsden, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996); George Marsden, The Soul of the American University: From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994); Jaroslav Pelikan, The Idea of the University: A Reexamination (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992); Arthur F. Holmes, The Idea of a Christian College, rev. ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1985); John Henry Newman, The Idea of a University (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1960). 47. Glanzer and Ream posit at least three central and overlapping qualities of Christian universities. Christian universities educate beyond pure biblical knowledge and calls to traditional Christian ministry. They focus on not only the transmission of ideas and practices but also the discovery, search, and creation of such. And they are devoted to the worship of God and the study of theology as the center of knowledge. See Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 8. 48. Alasdair MacIntyre, After Virtue (Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1984), 210.

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pervasive questions, it is at best uncertain how students are being formed,

brokenness and the sin of the human heart. While technology is constantly

including their version of flourishing.49 Education is inherently formation.

changing and advancing, there yet is still “nothing new under the sun.” In

An educational program with loose ends prides itself on so-called

this way, a truly Christian and polytechnic education is an inherently and

neutrality and doubt as virtues of inquiry. In contrast, Christian educators

robustly well-rounded one that takes into account what all disciplines have

work from and toward a particular version of human flourishing. In this

to offer in telling the most comprehensive story—that of creation, fall,

way, we teach and mentor in love, wonder, joy, and delight rather than

redemption, and restoration. The technical and the skillful is bound to the

doubt, in part because of Augustine’s notion of “moving to action. . . so as

thorough and thoughtful. Thus we understand that

to teach, to delight, to sway.” 1 5

In contrast to state and secular institutions that never held, or have lost,

a Christian university will continue to prize the relationship between the liberal arts and one’s vocation. Since it values placing everything in a larger story, it

a true commitment to a distinctively Christian approach (and purpose) to

will place a vocation in the context of theology, history, sociology, and other

education, a truly committed Christian university has at the very least a

disciplines. It will attempt to help students see God’s role in the story of this

common and overarching denominator for living and learning. In fact, a

vocation and the humanness of the vocation—the wondrous creative role it

Christian university fulfills the original idea of being a university at all. As one scholar notes,

plays, its limits in light of the larger human story and realm of knowledge, and its potential with the body of humanity for good. Without such a perspective, the university becomes little more than a technical school in that it focuses

In the Middle Ages, the very word “University” implied, as often recognized,

upon practical job skills and is reduced, in the phrase of one philosopher, to “the

the many turning toward the One: with the diversity of human labors and

barbarism of specialization.”53

vocations, we return—for reference, communion, corporate self-understanding, community, and a common sense of purpose—to that One in whom all our wisdoms are hidden, and whose members, like spokes of a wheel, we are to be as the world turns.52

There is a particularly Christian coherence at LeTourneau University,

Another way we talk about this storied polytechnic education is with the phrase we all have grown accustomed to: “the integration of faith and learning.”54 This is the commitment as scholars and educators to recognize the ways our Christian faith illumines and aligns our work, play, study, leisure, and everything curricular and cocurricular on a college campus. A

secured to the story of the gospel, that adds context and depth to our

truly integrated education eliminates a divide between the classroom and

polytechnic education. For example, by virtue of being distinctively

the athletic field, knowledge and application, and at times the sacred and

Christian, we help students not just create or apply the latest technologies

the secular. There is a coherence to learning and living that is bound to the

but also to evaluate them critically in light of what is good for humanity

Christian story and its telos. By virtue of being distinctly Christian, we

and creation. We prepare students to seek the ways modern innovations

remember that

can alleviate pain, suffering, and disease while also exploring how advances in technology can be used for evil, greed, pride, and domination. While

if Christian universities hope to remain more than training grounds for narrow forms of competence, they must avoid the secular temptation to be satisfied

working on the cutting edges of technological inventiveness, we also

with simply providing disciplinary expertise in a field of study Christian

help students understand that innovation will never remedy spiritual

universities must continue the grand quest to offer the world wisdom about

49.See recent literature about Christian education as formation rather than mere information dissemination. For example, James K.A. Smith, Desiring the Kingdom: Worship, Worldview, and Cultural Formation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006); Paul D. Spears and Peter R. Loomis, Education for Human Flourishing: A Christian Perspective Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2009). 50. “A Christian university will emphasize that one’s primary motivation stems not only from a concern for serving others, the common good, or the good of a particular group (e.g., citizens, shareholders), all of which secular universities will usually emphasize, but it will stem primarily from a sense of accountability to the One whose creation we are stewarding.” Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 72. See also 72–74. 51. For the idea of delight and the reference to Augustine’s comments in his Teaching Christianity, see the helpful essay by Susan Felch called “Doubt and the Hermeneutics of Delight,” in Christianity and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation for Intellectual Community, ed. Douglas V. Henry and Michael D. Beaty, 103–18 (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006), at 105. 52. David Lyle Jeffrey, “Faith, Fortitude, and the Future of Christian Intellectual Community,” in Henry and Beaty, eds., Christianity and the Soul of the University, 95. Clark Kerr coined the phrase “multiversity” to characterize today’s universities in his book The Uses of the University, 5th ed. (Cambridge: MA, Harvard University Press, 2001). 53. Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 73. For an even more dogmatic warning, see Reinhard Hütter, “Polytechnic Utiliversity: Putting the Universal back in University,” First Things (November 2013). www. firstthings.com/article/2013/11/polytechnic-utiliversity. 54. There is a generally accepted consensus that this phrase has its shortcomings, though it still holds currency across the Christian academy. See, for example, James K.A. Smith, “Beyond Integration: Re-Narrating Christian Scholarship in Postmodernity,” in Beyond Integration? Inter/Disciplinary Possibilities for the Future of Christian Higher Education, ed. Todd C. Ream, Jerry Pattengale, and David L. Riggs, 19–48 (Abilene, TX: Abilene Christian University Press, 2012); Perry L. Glanzer, “Why We Should Discard the Integration of Faith and Learning: Rearticulating the Mission of the Christian Scholar,” Journal of Education and Christian Belief 12, no. 1 (Spring 2008): 41–51.

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what God’s story of creation, fall, and redemption entails for the good life and a good world.55

This plays out in a number of ways on our campus through our teaching, scholarship, service, and mentorship of students.56 It begins the first time we meet a prospective student and family as we share our heart as a university. And it continues as we prepare students to procure a job, to locate a venue within God’s world to express their gifts and training. This Christian-storied philosophy of education means that we prepare students to find jobs, but even more, we prepare people, not just professionals, to love God and neighbor.57

“THE” Having a distinct, holistic, Christian approach to education—a particular coherence—is not all that unique. In fact, if one narrowed the scope to the CCCU, there are about 180 other colleges and universities claiming the same thing. What makes LeTourneau University special is our organizational saga, which has led to the reality that there is not another institution of our kind. There is no true parallel to LeTourneau University within the CCCU or otherwise. While other Christian colleges and universities may establish new engineering programs and other technical majors, none of them have the percentage of technical and stem majors that LeTourneau does nor the polytechnic history. While there are other universities that fit “polytechnic” (and it may even be in the name), none of them are distinctly Christian.58 Thus it is not just branding that constitutes the definite article in front of “Christian Polytechnic University,” but rather it is a reality that there is not a peer school with our composition. This is not to say that a student cannot get a quality STEM education at another Christian university, but it is to say that God has created a particular environment and culture, a particular DNA, and a particular institutional commitment to an education immersed in technical, applied, and Christian outcomes. This coherence not only requires that we approach things from a Christian point of view but that we also understand our organizational saga as a distinct calling. LeTourneau University has a specific vocation that was created and crafted by the Triune God for his kingdom purposes in this world. It is not by chance that LeTourneau University was founded in Longview, Texas. It is not by chance that our institution was first built upon, and remains gifted with, technical and professional competencies. And since we believe that the Lord established LeTourneau University at just the right time and within a distinct set of realities, that coding becomes a calling. LeTourneau University has developed a certain vocation within higher education that requires us to steward and maximize our institutional gifts for the good of the world. It is not by chance that, at least in this point and time, we are the Christian Polytechnic University.

And so the pressing question becomes, If we are indeed “The Christian Polytechnic University,” where does this call take us? How are we to steward our particular organizational saga? How does this shape us and help us make strategic decisions into the future?

EMBRACING “THE CHRISTIAN POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY” SAGA We are stewards of our organizational saga. The adventure story of LeTourneau University continues. There will be twists and turns and more heroic achievements to come. And all the while, as curators of the institution for this moment of LeTourneau’s history, we must press into our calling in deliberate and intentional ways to prevent mission drift from whom God has created us to be. What does it mean to be The Christian Polytechnic University into the coming decades? How do we maintain our core competencies while also expanding our influence? How do we not only preserve our unique niche within higher education but carve it out even more? How might we shape our university priorities together to achieve “a long obedience in the same direction”? Unfortunately, the medium of this essay only allows for a one-way exchange. I look forward to a much more collaborative and ongoing “So what? / Now what?” conversation, either over a cup of coffee or more formally. But for starters, here is a brief sample of what I view as fundamentals for responding to our calling on both the curricular and co-/ extracurricular levels.

Curricular We need to maintain a high percentage of undergraduate and residential majors in the technical areas. As a predominantly undergraduate institution with a longstanding residential identity, it is crucial that we anchor our identity to the Longview campus in this way. We need to maintain a target of at least 60–65 percent of our residential university majors in the technical and applied areas of Engineering, Aviation, and Computer Science, with an overall STEM enrollment target of 70–80 percent. This does not preclude the strong pursuit of growing other majors and programs. In fact, a solid and comprehensive polytechnic university means that non-STEM majors grow and flourish in their own right. Rather it is about the right balance of the overall composition to keep our unique polytechnic identity. That will place a healthy pressure on the institution to increase the enrollment growth of the technical and STEM areas as other majors prosper. As is commonly accepted in industry and academia, the liberal arts are of vital importance to a holistic polytechnic education, especially an intentionally Christian one. We need to highlight and reinforce the liberal arts at LeTourneau University. This entails creating opportunities to maximize our liberal arts faculty in both curricular and cocurricular

55. Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 149. 56. On the topic of Christian scholars’ call to engage in creative scholarly work for the good of student learning, see Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 64–65. 57. Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 147. 58. Not to mention that we are fundamentally a teaching institution and not an R-1 institution like the leading polytechnics in the U.S.

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formats as well as tailoring our liberal arts offerings to address the

Co- and Extracurricular

questions raised by technological innovations of our day.

The cocurricular activity and opportunities on campus should also accent what a Christian Polytechnic learning environment offers. For example, we already launched a lecture series this spring on faith, science, and technology, which is a good start for creating a more conversant context for challenging questions posed by technological advancement. I can imagine creating a Center for Faith, Science, and Technology that would not only facilitate faculty, staff, and student dialogue but also offer a range of other opportunities that enhance the curricular programming. I can imagine an arm of the Center partnering with our Department of Career Services to concentrate on what employers are looking for in today’s employees.61 Hartley writes,

All our academic programs, whether face to face or online, should have distinctly Christian polytechnic outcomes. In turn, we need to consider how to enhance liberal arts and other non-STEM degree programs (e.g., business, education, etc.) with a special polytechnic focus. Since all disciplines are impacted by technological advancement, LeTourneau should be the university of choice for these majors as all address cuttingedge questions about technical innovation in their field. In this way the LeTourneau University environment allows the non-technical majors to develop an identity that one would not necessarily find at the more traditional liberal arts university. Making all programs distinctly Christian polytechnic begins with

92 percent of nine hundred executives polled by the Wall Street Journal in 2016

our General Education. We need to redesign our General Education

stated that soft skills were “equally important or more important than technical

curriculum to reflect our Christian polytechnic focus. This would entail a thoughtful mix of courses in the liberal arts and sciences as well as a “Polytechnic Core” integral to 100 percent of university undergraduate degree program, both residentially and online. This Polytechnic Core is a balance of technical, applied, and liberal arts components. It might comprise a simple collection of three to five classes, but they would be courses thoroughly LeTourneau-esque and Christian polytechnic in nature.59 We also should require every non-engineering student at LeTourneau University to take a course like “Our World of Engineering and Design”60 and for every major to have a core/capstone class on technology and innovation in their given field. Our Theology and Vocation core should be bolstered by intentionally exploring how the fundamental questions around technological advancement and innovation must be answered and grounded by the biblical story and biblical vision for humanity and human flourishing. We all recognize how important our online and graduate programs are to our university and how the nontraditional population has always been an integral piece of LeTourneau. We need to expand our portfolio of technical programs in these areas. How can we capitalize on our ingenuity and creativity to enhance and grow engineering online, for example? What new graduate programs in technology should we be launching? How can we reach more nontraditional and working adults that would benefit from receiving vocational training certificates and badges, continuing education opportunities, and other industry-centric education besides the full degrees we offer? The Christian polytechnic thread should weave through all programs and platforms.

skills,” and 89 percent of those executives further stated that they had a “very or somewhat difficult” time find candidates with those requisite skills.62

This might include creating nonacademic certificates for all our graduates in areas like Soft Skills and Communication, Organizational Health and Wellness, Mindful Leadership, Life Balance, and so on. These are practical cocurricular programs not necessarily tied to academic credits, but they would enhance the skills and profile of our students. Student leadership programs like IMPACT also offer real opportunities to develop the soft skills of leadership in a technology-laden environment. Pursuing our identity as “The Christian Polytechnic University” also entails banding together as faculty and staff to create an extracurricular campus environment conducive to developing healthy people for a rapidly advancing technological world. Glanzer and Ream remind us that “the Christian university comes closest to fulfilling its mission when the curricular and the cocurricular, following the lead set by common worship, work in an integrated fashion to cultivate the whole being of all community members.”63 We need to thread Christian Polytechnic outcomes through the entire campus experience to appropriate the right virtues for living in our world of technology and innovation. Every unit on campus—from the chapel to the athletic field—should address the questions and conundrums of our technological way of life by assessing our learning and living spaces, places, and practices. LeTourneau University should be just the type of place maximizing the possibilities of technology while confronting the dangers of the unexamined consumption of it. It is widely acknowledged that depression and anxiety is on the rise in college students. Many are pointing the finger at technology as the leading factor in the general malaise of a

59. I can imagine classes like “Faith and Technology,”“The History of Technology and Innovation,” “Technology and the Liberal Arts,” and/or “Virtue Ethics and Technological Advancement,” for example. 60. “The polytechnic concept ensures that even graduates in degree programs outside of the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) areas will have training and education in those areas and develop skills applicable to the 21st century economy.” Mercer and Ponticell, “Polytechnic Education,” 49. 61. Perhaps we should rename this department to “Vocational Services” to indicate we think about careers differently. 62. Hartley, Fuzzie and Techie, 206. 63. Glanzer and Ream, Reexamination, 98.

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LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University

society that has drifted from a healthy view of what it means to be human. Can “The Christian Polytechnic University” craft learning outcomes, environments, liturgies, and curricula that inspire students to imagine a fuller vision of the good life than what society presents? And in doing so, can we create a healthier student body, which translates into healthier graduates for flourishing workplaces? These questions and ideas are just a start at imagining ways to respond to the call to be The Christian Polytechnic University as an academic community. I look forward to the collective and creative wisdom that will come with more campus conversation.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS I hope this essay has provided clarity and confidence for our shared work at LeTourneau University. We have a unique “organizational saga”

that is ordained and sustained by the providence of the Triune God. We can fully embrace our identity as “The Christian Polytechnic University” because it is an apt way of describing how we fulfill our mission. For this is who the Lord has gifted us to be. He began an exciting adventure-story of historic and heroic achievements in 1946 that continues to develop and take shape even today. We are a one-of-a-kind institution of higher learning (The) because of our abiding commitment to the Gospel story (Christian) in offering a technology-centric (Polytechnic) education, where all academic disciplines and community practices share their goods in common (University). May the Lord equip and empower us to fulfill this collective vocation with joy and passion for his kingdom’s sake to the glory and praise of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matt. 6:33)

Access "LeTourneau University as the Christian Polytechnic University" online at letu.edu/tcpu

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Faculty Snapshots:

School of Business Kathleen Mays, D.B.A. Dean, School of Business | Professor of Business and Entrepreneurship Dr. Kathleen Mays earned a Doctor of Business Administration from Anderson University and a Master of Business Administration in Management at Troy State University. She returned to LeTourneau in 2019. “Entrepreneurship is the running theme, the mindset, that all of our business students are introduced to, in year one. Engaging with them, and the entire business faculty, as they explore the entire creative business process, from ideation and trial & error, to actual business creation, and making the pitch, is incredibly rewarding. Having worked at LeTourneau for years, and returned, it feels like home—and it’s more ‘LeTourneau’ than it’s ever been. Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of working with a cross section of LeTourneau business & engineering students in our entrepreneurship classes, so I get to see the inspiration and legacy of R.G. LeTourneau come to life in such a modern, tangible way. Our engineers are exposed to foundational business principles as applied to tech-based companies, and nothing is more ‘Christian polytechnic’ than seeing the lightbulbs go off in a fresh way as they begin to see the path to bringing inventions to the marketplace."

Beverly Rowe, Ph.D., C.P.A. Professor of Accounting “The Bible says, ‘Acknowledge Him in all your ways,’ and at LeTourneau, I can freely acknowledge Christ in everything I do. Not only freely, but I am expected to do that. That gives me great joy and lets me walk the path that God has called me to walk. It allows me to use the gifts that God’s given me to build things here, to serve him.” Dr. Beverly Rowe holds a Ph.D. in Accounting from Texas A&M University and a Master of Science in Management from Purdue University. Her undergraduate background is in theatre. She returned to LeTourneau in 2016. “I do a whole lot more than teach accounting. Yes, I teach accounting. Yes, I prepare accounting students to get ready for a career. I help them find internships, I help them guide into those careers, but more importantly, I am called to help them learn more about how to walk with Christ, how to mature in the Lord, how to follow Him, how to trust Him when they really don’t have a clue what’s going on, and God has let me live that out. I can speak it with experience—my pathway looked pretty zig-zaggy, but God had a plan, and it was a pathway. I can honestly say to them, ‘Don’t be really concerned about whether God’s going to use this or do that or you have to do it this way because He doesn’t waste anything. There is nothing that will happen in your life that will ever be wasted.’” PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRANT BRIDGMAN & JEREMIAH SHEPHERD

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Business is inherently tied to the historic foundations of LeTourneau University, and today's School of Business is leaning into its entrepreneurial heritage now more than ever. The current suite of programs runs the gamut—accounting, business administration, finance, management, and marketing—but shares a unifying thread, all led by a team of faculty experts who truly 'get' that entrepreneurship is more than just a gig. It's a mindset that supersedes sectors of service, and a creative vehicle for a tangible, relational brand of business where earnings and engagement co-exist for kingdom glory. Nothing more 'R.G.' than that. These pages give a glimpse into the hearts of our full-time core business faculty, and touch on some of their ongoing contributions to business at LeTourneau. Meet the full suite of instructors at letu.edu/business.

Karen Jacobs, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Business “I love the fact that LeTourneau is faith-based. I get to preach to my classes about who I am and what I do. I mean, when I get to pray for students, they tell me that things are going on and sometimes it’s really hard stuff. But the cool thing is, I get to sit and pray with them, encourage them. Students have lived with me, students have traveled with me. We’ve gone through births, we’ve gone through deaths, gone through divorces with some... and the undercurrent is always the same: the fact that God is there.” Dr. Karen Jacobs has a Ph.D. from Northcentral University as well as Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Business Administration degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University. She began teaching at LeTourneau in 2002. “Part of what we do is research, which means we go into the community, we talk to business owners, we see what they do in their business, and we get to make suggestions. Small class sizes; there’s a benefit. So, students get to know the businesses, get to know the owners, get to understand why faith is important to them and what they do, and then hopefully, make those connections they’ll use the rest of their lives.”

Robert H. Roller, Ph.D. Calvin Howe Professor of Finance “I want my students to see how the Bible speaks to their situation, how the Bible speaks to economics, how the Bible speaks to finance, [and] how the Bible speaks to business ethics. Now, part of the reason we feel that it’s important in the School of Business is because we see business as a high and holy calling.” Dr. Bob Roller has a Ph.D. in Strategic Management & Organizational Theology and Finance & Research Methods from Oklahoma State University and an MBA in Finance from Oral Roberts. He returned to LETU in 2019. “We see business as a place where our graduates can go into the world and make a difference, not only by being excellent in terms of business, but by being a light in a place that’s often very dark, being a voice for the kingdom of God, being an example to others of how life should be lived to its fullest, how people can flourish.”

M. Isabella Cavalcanti Junqueira, Ph.D. Professor of Entrepreneurship and Marketing “I have always enjoyed my experiences of growing up in a family business. Our discussions around the dinner table revolved around business concepts coupled with conversations about art, history, classical music, and creativity. Over time, all these themes unfurled across the weaving threads of our stories. For this reason, I became fascinated with the study of entrepreneurship and marketing with a concentration on strategy. My commitment, therefore, is to foster sound research, strategy, and entrepreneurial mindset practices in the classroom." Dr. Isabella Junqueira joined the LETU business faculty in the Fall of 2021. She received her Ph.D. in Management from the Lancaster University Management School, in the United Kingdom, and her Master of Science in International Business Development from the École Supérieure de Commerce de Dijon-Bourgogne (Burgundy School of Business, in France). "I aim to provide learning opportunities for my students that inspire curiosity, analytical thinking, ethical actions, trust formation, and transformative faith-based experiences. Drawing on the example of Jesus Christ and His great love for people, we follow the entrepreneur and customer journeys through quantitative and qualitative methodologies. In this respect, I purposefully apply a scriptural perspective to the entrepreneurship and marketing curriculum to engender novel academic, professional, and faith-based discussions, and proficiencies.” FALL 2021

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Innovating & Claiming a Future of Co-Creating by Grant Bridgman

If necessity is the mother of invention, creativity must certainly be its father. What does it mean to be a creator? Does our world need more creators? If we are called to some aspect of original creation, how do we incorporate that into our lives and vocations? How does a Christian university respond to this need in the world? According to the U.S. Patent and Trademark office, the U.S. has declined in its overall percentage of patents filed over the past three years for the first time since 2009, while other countries show high percentages of patent filing growth. This statistic, however, is not necessarily an indication of a drop in creativity or innovation since it doesn’t account for the inventions or creations that were never submitted for patent status. Or is it? Is there a kink in the hose of ideation? Is it a resource in limited supply? Where's the source?

As Christians, we have a specific understanding of what it means to be creators, and why every person is designed to feel the urge to create something out of nothing. While there may be moments where creation is mandated by a job or a relationship of some kind, the deeper desire to create must certainly have been placed on us long before any external expectations came onto the scene. Creativity, perhaps, is hardwired into our DNA, as a gift from our Creator. As computer science professor and LETU inventor Dr. Glyn Gowing, states: “As Christians, especially as people working in the field of technology, I feel that by inventing and creating, we are even more so reflecting the image of God, and representing the image of God by doing the things that God does: Loving, caring for people and creating. Because, you know, God created all of this. And as a scaleddown version, ultimately, no, we're not creating universes and all that; but we are also creating

and innovating, making new things just like God did when he created the universe.” So what does that mean for us in the context of intellectual property? Should we claim intellectual property? Wouldn’t the Christian approach be to create something to share with the world without claiming “rights” to the creation, in the name of service? Or would it? Besides his work as professor of chemistry, LETU faculty member Dr. Gary DeBoer is the on-campus champion for faculty intellectual property as founder of the LeTourneau Innovation Center, and he is licensed to practice patent law. Addressing these types of questions, Dr. DeBoer believes that if we are called to be in every workplace in every nation, that realm includes intellectual property, and intellectual property law. He shares the following anecdote to further address these questions:

"There’s this Christian thought that we should just

just give our stuff away,

and that’s not always the best thing to do." PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRANT BRIDGMAN

LETOURNEAU NOW

"When we lived just north of campus, there was a vacant lot where our teenage boy and all his buddies played airsoft, and nobody cared. You know, we’re all happy to see the kids playing and have a good time being outside. We made sure the local police knew that they were playing. It was all good. Everybody had a good time. On the other hand, nobody wanted these teenagers playing airsoft in their house, right? That’s why we’re all happy for them to play in the vacant lot. The difference here, is we’ve invested in our house. So the point is if you have an invention that takes investment to bring it to a market, people aren’t going to invest unless they can exclude others from using it. You’re not going to buy a house if people can just walk through it without your permission. In order to claim the intellectual property, we need to know what the "rules" are, otherwise the work will never get to market. People will never build a house if they can’t exclude other people from using it. We need to know all the differences between a vacant lot and, you know, building a house. For Christians, we’ve been thinking everything’s a vacant lot, but everything is not a vacant lot, right? And we just need to educate ourselves as to what’s the best

way to bring these things to people to better their lives. That’s sort of the bigger picture. There’s this Christian thought that we should just give our stuff away, and that’s not always the best thing to do." DeBoer helps LeTourneau faculty and students pursue patent filings, most recently working with Dr. Gowing, and Mathematics Professor Dr. Curtis Wesley. Gowing invented a circuit trainer device which is able to test circuits and read/ compare target output values. “I came up with the idea of this device because I knew enough about electronics because I've been playing with microcontrollers for years. So I knew enough about these things like, ‘Hey, these things can read voltages so we can use this, you know, you do a circuit instead of the old fashioned way where you go and put your multimeter and test the circuit. Just connect it to the inputs and have it read the values and see if the circuits are right and have it put up lessons or assignments; engineers can just press the button and it tests to see if it's right.” Gowing’s device allows computer science students and engineering students to engage

in hands-on work related to their courses, even during times when classes might be held remotely. In the spirit of the cross-discipline collaboration that is so prevalent around LETU, the beginnings of this invention stemmed from an engineering faculty member reaching out to Gowing. "Dr. Hoo Kim contacted me one day and said ‘I have an interesting problem, and I wonder if you can help me figure out a solution.’ And he said ‘I want to find a way to be able to take electronics courses, like your basic circuit courses, and find a way to teach them online where they can still do hands-on labs." Gowing expressed his enthusiasm for inventing and creating, his passion for exploring new ideas, and how meaningful it is to him personally to "take simple things, put them together, make them more complex...make them more useful, make them more beautiful." As Gowing takes the simple and makes it more complex, Wesley strives to take something stereotypically complex and simplify it. Wesley invented a card game that is meant for introducing mathematical principles to all FALL 2021

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"take simple things, put them together, make them more complex...

make them more useful, make them more beautiful."

different kinds of people, especially children, as young as seven years old. This game is intended to be simple and intuitive. Knowing he had to do away with 'scary sounding' mathematics words, Wesley utilized basic shapes and colors on cards and created a game. The goal of the game is simply to build different combination of shapes/colors from different cards, and position the cards in different ways, to achieve the value of one. In addition to the basic goals of playing the game, Wesley highlights a deeper potential outcome of the game. “Many people approach math and say, oh it’s about equations, or about numbers, or about graphs, etc. But math is actually a language. Not only is it a language for communication, but a language which gives us a way to write out a story of how one thing can relate to another. This is what I wanted to convey in the card game. When you play this game, you are expressing an idea. It’s not about the symbols on the cards. It’s about the idea that’s conveyed." 44

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In discussing these deeper meanings of language and communication as they relate to our role as co-creators with God, Wesley went on to say: “There are mathematical relationships throughout our lives. There is an inherit logic behind all that we do. We get that logic from God. God breathed in us the breath of life, and gave us the ability to create, think, and discover. We can think deeply about our world, and our place in the world." With the guidance and expertise of Dr. DeBoer, Drs. Wesley and Gowing have provisional patents on file for their inventions, and plan to keep moving forward in the patent process. Their work individually, but even more-so, collectively, showcases the culture of innovation and cross-discipline collaboration that are distinctly 'LeTourneau'. Necessity drives many practical outcomes, but DeBoer, Gowing, and Wesley lead us to conclude that the creativity, logic, and beauty behind every valuable idea is ultimately a result of how we were created.

They exemplify how leaning into this part of our make-up could result in more Christian involvement and influence in the innovation voids and creative solutions in our world. Certainly our world is ever in need of new ideas and perspectives, and ingenuity and logic, for many of its problems. A certain amount of brokenness in our world will only be redeemed at the return of Christ; however, some redemption may take place through the work of the Creator in us, through our own creative solutions. Some of these solutions may actually need to be ‘claimed’ in order to reach their fullest potential and have the widest impact. As DeBoer states, "it’s not just about bringing in revenue. It’s about teaching students about the application of intellectual property and claiming the value in what you do. And where better to do that than at a polytechnic university? At the Christian Polytechnic University."

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UPON

Heritage Heritage

LeTourneau’s 75th, Longview’s 150th,

and Texas Forever

by kate day

ertain people are drawn to LeTourneau University. They skew curious, intentional, grounded, and practical. They know how to get from point A to point B, but are sure likely to pick an inventive way to get there. They know how to fix things. They’re familiar with effort, working hard and praying harder. They connect with a calling and aren’t in it for more than the satisfaction of a job well done—one done for a much higher purpose than what meets the eye. But this isn’t news to you. If you’re reading this, odds are you’re one of those certain people.

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Eyeball the lot of us, and you may not be able to see it by looking. The unique personalities, perspectives, areas of interest, and experiences are all over the map. But start to listen, and it’s clear. The ‘who’ may vary, but the ‘why’ is consistent. There’s an unspoken commonality, and it’s the magnetizing force that brings us together. The draw is in the drinking water, inherent from the get-go—a quality that flowed from R.G. and surfaces constantly to this day. A distinct thread linking the people who return, and the people who stay. As a Longview native, I sure didn’t mean to. Funny how that happens. Grew up here, and figured I’d get away. Went off to college, moved back home, and took a job working in LeTourneau’s marketing office. Thirteen years later, this university feels as much my home as Longview does. There’s a subtlety to this place. It isn’t flashy. It won’t coddle you, but it will care for you deeply. Christian conviction is the core of our common purpose, but that connection runs layers deep. It’s the bond of belief in practical solutions. That a spark of an idea might just ignite and turn into something that makes a difference. That the path from ideation to tangible invention is a traversable one, and that ‘back to the drawing board’ is a sacred destination. You can sense this unspoken manifesto in labs, at lunch tables, even in overheard conversations: “I believe in solutions. I believe in getting the job done. I believe there is something bigger at play here than what meets the eye. I believe that this is

meaningless without God guiding and being at the center of it.” There’s a concentrated intentionality to those drawn to Christian polytechnic education. People don’t end up here by accident. R.G. and Evelyn sure didn’t. And neither did you or I. Whenever I meet students, alumni, or new employees, I have a perpetual habit of asking them how they found LeTourneau University. In my years on staff, I’ve asked hundreds of people, and there is a curious congruity to most answers. For some, the logistical guide was Google. But for most, a seemingly coincidental introduction to the school feels like divine direction: “I stumbled upon Mover of Men and Mountains at my grandpa’s house,” or “My mom’s colleague had heard of it,” or “My cousin’s best friend went there and the way they spoke of it struck a chord.” Much to my grateful chagrin as a marketer, the Lord works in much more mysterious ways than advertising.

A Time, Place, and a Purpose LeTourneau University itself didn’t end up here by accident—neither in existence, nor in a particular spot called Longview, Texas. Our home, and tens of thousands of students’ temporary home-away-from-home, celebrated 150 years since its founding this past year. It all started in 1870 when farmer Ossamus Hitch Methvin, Sr., convinced the railroad to come through his neck of the good ol’ pine curtain. Rail expansion was continuing

westward after the Civil War, and with it followed the same thing that’s always lured folks west: promise. Methvin sold 100 acres to the Southern Pacific Railroad for one gold dollar to persuade them to build their line in the direction of the land he owned. A town site was assembled in advance of track construction, and that town was dubbed Longview. The heart of this initial outlay was near Center and Tyler streets, and the original 100 acres granted by Methvin is today the city’s downtown One Hundred Acres of Heritage. And yes, the town moniker was inspired by Mr. Methvin’s view atop his homestead, Rock Hill. Three quarters of a century later, along came an evangelizing industrial inventor with blueprints that would forever change not only south Longview, but countless lives—with jobs, education, and a faith that resonated because it worked. There’s nothing like a good origin story, and you know our part in this one: how Robert Gilmour and Evelyn LeTourneau came to town when they visited East Texas on the hunt for the site of their new manufacturing plant. Harmon General Hospital had recently been abandoned after serving its purpose, and 25,000+ GIs, as a World War II U.S. Army Hospital. It captured the eye of ‘Mom’ LeTourneau. Why not a school, in addition to the plant? With the help of Longview News publisher Carl L. Estes and other local civic leaders, the deal was made. Our founders purchased the 156 acres and 232 buildings of Harmon General from the United States government for, guess what? One dollar. LeTourneau

To get production know-how requires a combination of two things which are like

Peaches & Cream. Each is good, but they are far better together. We need the combination of the academic and the practical education in order to do the job.

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Sure, they traveled extensively, but

The Dean of Earthmoving made East Texas, and LeTourneau University, home.

University has now been around for half of Longview’s existence, celebrating 75 years in 2021.

The LeTourneau Way From there on out, The LeTourneau’s did what they always did: they dug in and built. They dug into the lives of the men in the alter-day program, making an education work for weary veterans after an era of the unexpected. As we know, Mom’s hospitality was legendary, and Pop’s make-it-work mentality was seemingly limitless. They built the legacy that is now LeTourneau University and was LeTourneau, Inc., inherently knowing the two—knowledge and practical application—went hand in hand. The Longview Daily News headline read “LeTourneau Plant Dedicated at Diamond Jubilee: Industrialist Stresses Need to Merge Education, Practical Work.” It was Tuesday, April 13, 1948, two years after ground broke on the LeTourneau plant, and 18 months after the first bulldozer rolled off its line. “To get production know-how requires a combination of two things which are like peaches and cream,” Mr. LeTourneau asserted. “Each is good, but they are far better together. We need the combination of the academic and the practical education in order to do the job. Nobody could relish living for years on peaches, nor does the idea of several

years on a cream diet appeal to many. But I’ll bet I could live a long time in a rowboat on both of them together.” He and Evelyn also dug into Longview. Literally, in some cases: Lake Cherokee was developed in the late 1940s by private interests, and the right man was on hand to get the forest clearing and excavation job done (all while testing the latest heavy machinery forged at his factory).

Some Things Change, But Some… It was a time of expansion—for the postwar nation, for East Texas with its oil & gas boom, and for LeTourneau. Things literally started to take flight around here with the dedication of the Gregg County Airport in the summer of 1947. Longview’s population had tripled in the 1930s and was on track to

hit another big growth spurt in the 1950s. LeTourneau Technical Institute grew right along with it, welcoming female students in 1961 and beginning a decades-long journey toward becoming an increasingly comprehensive university, drawing students from around the nation and embarking on the next chapter of working adult education, from VHS correspondence course tapes to fully online classes. Campus has transformed over time, but there’s something about LeTourneau that will always be recognizable. The way our 75 years have unfolded seems to have surprised no one. The fact that there used to be go-kart races on campus and students built their own out of whatever scrap was laying around? Nope. That students helped run and maintain the city’s ambulance service? Not that either. That as a wider variety of majors were offered, the heart of them all continued to be that faith-driven practicality? Not in the slightest. The decades of storied pranks, mattresses skidding down the berm, first solo flights, ingenious senior design projects, epic dorm lore… the list of nearly 30,000 individuals’ memories, proud moments, and unforgettable connections is beyond capturable. This university history of ours is short—a mere lifetime. The magnitude of transformation in this flash of time is remarkable, both for our alma mater and our PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF LLOYD AND LARRY SMITH

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backyard. And Longview, Texas, is a gift of a location, perhaps now more than ever.

Location, Location, Location Texas entered 2021 as the world’s ninth largest economy, according to data from the International Monetary Fund, and a recent Forbes report ranks Texas first in the nation for its growth prospects. Consult the myriad articles citing reasons people are relocating families and businesses to the Lone Star State, and common themes appear repeatedly: job opportunities, affordable housing, reasonable cost of living, diversity, family-friendliness, recreation aplenty, manageable traffic, and proximity to some of the largest cities in America with the highest standard of living. The same opportunity and practical promise our municipal and university founders saw

are alive & well, and make East Texas, more

for local school children. (Let the record

than ever, a desirable launchpad for our grads.

show, I once won $5.00 for some rudimentary

The Longview plant was R.G.’s last to

hand warmers, following in my older sister’s

establish. His previous manufacturing

shadow after her toothbrush timer victory).

facilities were in Peoria, Illinois; Toccoa,

Our family went to church on Mobberly

Georgia; Rydalmere, New South Wales,

Avenue, and countless members had their

Australia; and Vicksburg, Mississippi. But

own origin stories that involved LeTourneau

it was here in Longview that R.G. & Evelyn

drawing them to Longview. Even in these

chose to root. Sure, they traveled extensively,

initial experiences, it was clear. There was

but ‘The Dean of Earthmoving’ made East

something different about that LeTourneau

Texas, and LeTourneau University, home. It’s

crowd. Little did I know, I’d become a part

a great choice, in my biased opinion.

of it.

Growing up here, so many of the historical

A portrait of R.G. hangs in my office. I’m

figures in this city’s past were names I knew

honestly not sure of its provenance, but I get

from signs around town: Methvin, Estes,

a kick out of his toothy grin and iconic glasses

and Pegues (the first postmaster). I ‘met’

supervising my daily work. It reminds me of

LeTourneau as a kid, jumping in the new

what I love about this place, its history, and of

Solheim pool for a birthday party here and

the thousands of divinely orchestrated details

there or being bussed over, past the domes,

to shape the institution we know and love—in

for the university’s annual invention contest

a town so aligned with equal promise.

There's something about Letourneau that will always be

recognizable.

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eTourneau University is a committed academic ministry that continues to lead within Christian higher education. Our unique organizational saga positions our university to confront some of the world’s most significant challenges and pursue opportunities that serve students and prepare them to engage their workplaces around the world for the sake of the Gospel message.

The university's new three-year strategic plan is a reflection of this aim—and critical needs required to meet it in ways only we can. Its creation is a culmination of months of hard work and engaged conversations with campus leaders and members of the Board of Trustees. As alumni and friends of the institution, you have helped build LeTourneau University into what it is today, and we value your engagement as we move ahead together.

Our new strategic plan embraces four mission critical objectives that guide the university’s key priorities and initiatives: Academic Excellence & Ingenuity; Financial Strength, Stewardship, & Growth; Diversity & Hospitality; and Campus Culture, Health, & Well-Being. Details of our plan and updates on strategic progress may be found at letu.edu/strategicplan.

Among these strategic planning resources is our institutional call to prayer. Developed by Dr. Pat Mays, Campus Pastor, this weekly prayer guide is based on the Lord’s Prayer. The prayer plan is also presented on the strategic planning webpage. Please join us in praying for our university, our students, our faculty, our staff, and our alumni.

God has called each of us to His work during this very tumultuous time in our world. We embrace this extraordinary responsibility with humility and pray for God’s wisdom, discernment, and blessing as we steward this incredible gift we know as LeTourneau University.

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The LeTourneau University 2021-2024 Strategic Plan LeTourneau University has inherited a unique educational calling—a calling informed by our university identity as ‘The Christian Polytechnic University.’ This identity is a product of our distinct mission that articulates who we are and what we are called to do as an organization: We are a one-of-a-kind institution of higher learning (The) because of our abiding commitment to the Gospel story (Christian) in offering a technologycentric (Polytechnic) education, where all academic disciplines and community practices align for the common good (University). As we celebrate 75 years as an institution and embark on the next three, our priorities center upon this unifying identity and purpose. It guides our path, aligns our work, and presses us forward. With a solidified vision for who we are called to be, the future is clear. It is our obligation to flourish, to expand the ways and means through which God can use our campus community to impact His Kingdom. The Strategic Plan of LeTourneau University expresses a vision developed in partnership with our faculty, staff, students, alumni, parents, and friends. It reflects our institutional values. Four mission-critical objectives emerged as our focus as we established our three-year goals—essential steps required to bring our collective calling to life. These four MCOs are an enduring charge, a collective compass that supersedes one planning cycle and articulates our abiding aspirations and commitments. While our tactics will vary and our goals will evolve, our future strategic developments and initiatives will adhere to these foundational themes. We are confident in God’s proven, unwavering faithfulness and come together to own the next chapter in our institutional saga. LeTourneau University will be a community recognized for:

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LeTourneau University will lean into its uniqueness as the destination for Christian polytechnic education, with an ever-deepening commitment to academic excellence & ingenuity. We commit to offering academic programs that fulfill our educational promises and advance our institutional identity. This requires continual reinvestment in an academic enterprise that offers students dynamic educational experiences—both commensurate with a changing world of technology & innovation and reflective of the identity & experiences of ‘The Christian Polytechnic University.’ Central goals include reimagining our general education curriculum to robustly reflect our identity through a thoughtful mix of technical & applied courses in the liberal arts & sciences, as well as a “Polytechnic Core.” We will also strategically invest in existing academic programs with the highest potential for enrollment growth.

LeTourneau University will be an organization known for financial strength, growth & stewardship, where thoughtful business strategies benefit students and set the institution up for future success. We will prioritize strategies that foster financial sustainability and independence to negotiate external threats to Christian higher education. Areas of focus will include initiatives to grow financial health in the areas of academic programs, auxiliary enterprises, and capital management & fundraising. Central goals include establishing the largest comprehensive campaign in university history and strengthening the university’s financial position with annual net income gains. Campaign priorities will be informed by our strategic plan goals, as well as capital & facility needs, program needs, faculty support, & endowed scholarship needs.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMIAH SHEPHERD

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LeTourneau University will be a multi-cultural community that values the diversity of God’s creation while answering Christ’s call for unity. Embodying hospitality toward diverse communities we seek to serve, we will prepare people, not just professionals, to love God and neighbor. Our students will know the theology of diversity and develop cultural competence. The entirety of our campus community will reflect the diversity of our region and experience a strengthening familial relationship with our Longview neighbors. *Central goals include increasing ethnic diversity & representation of women within the university community. Guides in development will include a university-adopted theological statement on diversity, grounded in scripture, and a biblically-centered cultural diversity & cultural competence audit.*

LeTourneau University will be known for its efforts to address the health & wellness needs of students, faculty, & staff—a community where members band together to create a campus environment conducive to developing healthy people for a rapidly advancing technological world. It is well-accepted that young adults increasingly face significant mental health challenges; challenges that we will the resource and meet. We also aspire to be a workplace that pays close attention to organizational morale, health, and wellness, becoming a top workplace within the East Texas community and exemplifying the practices and behaviors that make it a career destination. *Central goals include expanding resources to support & treat student mental health through campus education, awareness, engagement, and provision of services. Simultaneously, we will advance positive employee engagement with workplace improvements and faculty & staff development efforts.*

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Crafted by Pat Mays

2021 is a banner year in the history of LeTourneau University. We are celebrating our 75th anniversary; we are making a presidential transition; we are initiating a new strategic plan; and we are launching the largest capital campaign in the history of the university. Any one of these events is significant. The confluence of all four indicate momentous and joyful opportunities. We also face uncertain and challenging times as a Christian institution, in a world with strong, opposing forces to our mission. These challenges and opportunities present a crucial moment to trust in the power and provision of Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, prudent for us as a Christ-centered community to answer an intentional call to prayer.

The three years that the disciples spent with Jesus in his ministry were intense. The entry of Jesus, God Incarnate, into the fabric of human history shook foundations and brought transformation both to corporate systems and individual lives. The disciples had a front row seat through it all. In the midst of those tumultuous times, Jesus prayed and taught his disciples to pray.

The prayer that Jesus taught, the Lord’s Prayer, has remained a constant in the practice and worship of Christ’s followers down through history. It has become a kind of rock, an anchor, when the joys and the troubles of this world have threatened to overwhelm.

As LeTourneau University boldly moves forward in faith, we place our confidence in the God who has led us in the past, leads us today, and will lead us into the future. Therefore, we, the people of LeTourneau University, are called to prayer for the 2021-2024 strategic plan. As was the case with the first disciples and with the historic church, we will be guided by the Lord’s Prayer.

There are many good resources on the Lord's Prayer that we encourage you to access to go deeper as we pray as a university community. One example is N. T. Wright’s book, *The Lord and His Prayer*. It is a short, yet thoughtful, reflection on The Lord’s Prayer and will encourage us as a community as we intentionally pray together. In it, he focuses on the Lord's Prayer in six summary sections as follows.

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A Summary Outline of the Lord's Prayer Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4 I. OUR FATHER IN HEAVEN: The Lord’s Prayer invites us with boldness to address our heavenly Father as the true God of the universe. The One who holds all creative and sustaining power of the universe counts us as children. With this comforting address, we bow in worship to the only God who is worthy of glory and honor.

II. THY KINGDOM COME: This first petition is a prayer of integration. God’s kingdom, indeed, will come, and there is no human act that can stop it. The prayer, then, is an obedient act of the human will to participate with God’s redemptive activity in the world.

III. GIVE US THIS DAY: God confronts human greed with His grace. The prayer for bread, and all that it symbolizes, is both a petition for and a recognition of God’s blessings that He graciously offers His children. Thus, all of God’s blessing should be received with thanksgiving.

IV. FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES: The plea for forgiveness is a reminder that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). The prayer reminds us that we are all prodigals, and God runs to us ready to offer forgiveness (Lk. 15:11-32). In turn, we should freely forgive others who have wronged us.

V. DELIVER US FROM EVIL: The world is dark with temptation and evil. Christ’s followers are not called to remove themselves from the world, but rather to be sent by Christ into it so that theworld will know the Father (John 17). The need for protection from evil in this callingis real.

VI. THE POWER AND THE GLORY: The concluding summation of the prayer clearly identifies that prayer is significant work that invites the establishment of the reign of God, a time and place in which creation is restored to its intended order. God is King, and He alone has the power to grant petitions, and He shall receive the glory.

Using the Prayer Guide The Strategic Plan Prayer Guide is set up on a work-week schedule and incorporates the six sections of The Lord’s Prayer. On Tuesday through Friday, one of the four Mission Critical Objectives (MCO) of the Strategic Plan will be highlighted each day. As you pray through each section of the Lord’s Prayer, we encourage you to reflect on the amplifications that are offered for each MCO. Please feel free to use these words and offer your own. For Mondays, we encourage you to pray for the university and the Strategic Plan in a broader scope, as we seek to be salt and light in our communities and in the world at large.

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Monday: Our World, Our Nation, Our Community

Tuesday: MCO 1 - Academic Excellence And Ingenuity

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name—

With both humility and boldness, we call on You, Our Father, the one, true, and holy God of the universe. As an extension of your love, You have created this world, and You sustain it in Your mercy and power. May Your name reign supreme in our world, our nation, and our community.

We thank You that our university calling invites us to use all our knowledge and skill for Your glory. We pray You will help us and guide us to recast, formulate, and execute academic programs for the redemption and benefit of our students and all of Your creation.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven— Your kingdom will, indeed, come. There is no earthly power or person that can stop it! Help us to be an obedient, insightful people, who joyfully participate where Your Spirit is moving mightily and who work for transformation in Your name where suffering and sin temporarily reign. May the leaders of our world, nation, and community be agents of Your kingdom values.

Give us this day our daily bread— You are the Bread of Life, who provides us nourishment physically, emotionally, and spiritually. As we are blessed, empower usto be Your servants in our world, nation, and community, bringing food to the hungry and Your saving word to all.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us— Lord, You are the Good Shepherd who gave Your life for Your sheep. You did this while we were still sinners and prodigals, yet You ran to us offering forgiveness and freeing us from guilt and shame. As recipients of Your grace, help us in turn to be agents of Your grace in our world, nation, and community through our shared life and work.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil— Dear God, as followers of Christ, You send us into our world, our nation, and our community in Hisfootsteps. As we engage with the temptation and evil that is present in these places, we ask for Your divine protection so that Your light will overcome the darkness.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever— God, You are the King! May Your kingdom reign in power and glory in each of our lives, in every thought and every decision, as we seek Your intended restoration of our world, our nation, and our community.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven— We pray that You would inspire us to create academic programs that truly would enact Your kingdom on earth. Help us to build more than things. Help us also to build ideas, shape values, and mold lives that move this earth toward restoration.

Give us this day our daily bread— We humbly ask for continued provision as we seek to recast a robust General Education program. We will need monetary and human resources to complete the task. Additionally, we ask for academic programs that will grow. May they grow in number of students, in influence around the globe, and in lives redeemed.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us— Please forgive us for being often ungrateful for the blessings we have received. We look to some institutions with jealously, and we sin. We look to other institutions, and we puff up with sinful pride because we have more. Lord, help us not only to be receivers of your forgiveness but also agents of your forgiveness to all who would seek to wrong us.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil— We pray that our academic programs will educate and enliven both employees and students of LeTourneau University. We pray that the outcomes and growth we hope for will shed light upon every workplace and every nation.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever— God, may our unique educational calling provide dynamic experiences for LeTourneau University to make Your kingdom a reality; bringing due attention to who you are as King.

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Wednesday: MCO 4 - Financial Strength, Growth and Stewardship

Thursday: MCO 3 - Diversity & Hospitality

Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name—

We honor and worship You as the Creator of the universe and all the goodness that it holds. As we look to the future, we endeavor as Your children to continue to give You praise for the material blessings to come.

The multi-faceted complexity of human cultures is emblematic of Your amazing character, so rich and so robust. For this we honor and glorify Your name throughout all the world to all peoples.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven— We pray that the way we budget and spend the monetary resources we receive will be used to extend Your restoration across this world according to Your pleasure.

Give us this day our daily bread— We ask that LeTourneau University be blessed with financial health. As we strive to use skillful strategies to maintain financial sustainability, we also pray that You will move in the hearts of potential donors. We pray You will continue to stir the desire in us to use the resources to further LeTourneau University’s holy educational calling.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us— Forgive us for greedily loving money more than we love You. We too often think that financial abundance will be the solution to our problems, and we neglect to seek You as our true hope.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil— As we thoughtfully and intentionally engage the financial realm of this world, please protect us from our desires that lead us astray and from our enemies who seek to ensnare us. Let our desire for financial independence be a platform for continued engagement with this world rather than an effort to build a barricade between us and this world.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever— When, in Your will, You choose to grant our desires, we commit to use them for participation in Your redemptive plan for the world, and may all glory and power be Yours forevermore.

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Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven— May Your kingdom value of diversity reign on the campus of LeTourneau University, and may we be agents of Your kingdom in our world. We acknowledge this can only happen at the foot of the cross, through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, who is the only One who can reconcile people to God and to each other.

Give us this day our daily bread— We need Your help to increase ethnic diversity and representation of women in our university community. We need Your guidance to pursue radical hospitality that extends beyond our comfort zones.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us— We have sinned because we have not loved our neighbors as we have loved ourselves. We are guilty of behavior that has built barriers preventing under-represented groups from equally sharing in the blessings You have bestowed on us. We pray that You will empower us to be extensions of Your forgiving love to all the peoples of the world, both across the street and across the ocean.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil— In the work of reconciliation and hospitality, we will encounter fear, distrust, and evil, both inside and outside our campus community. Help us to be bold when we face evil and untruth, and help us always to rely on You as our source of truth and goodness.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever— As with every person from every nation and culture, You are our Creator. In You we live, move, and have our being—for Your power and glory. With their voices, we join in their unending hymn: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”

Friday: MCO 4 - Campus Culture, Health and Well-Being Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name— Help us at LeTourneau University—students, faculty, staff—to flourish in Your goodness through our work and studies. May we give You honor in all we do.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven— We ask You to be our King, the King of our mental and physical health. Help us to put aside our own willful choices, so that we may lean into Your will for our lives and for Your kingdom work in this world.

Give us this day our daily bread— We ask You to provide the resources to meet our students’ mental health challenges and to make our workplace one where all employees flourish. As we strive toward mental, physical, and spiritual wholeness on our campus, please help us remember that You, and You alone, are the source of all truth and goodness.

And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us— Forgive us for not treating our students as whole people, thereby neglecting the mental anguish which many suffer. Forgive us, too, when we have contributed to poor morale by undermining and tearing down the LeTourneau University organization. As leaders, we are sorry for burdening our teams with unnecessary angst. As followers, we are sorry for shirking our responsibilities. Finally, we ask forgiveness for when we have made the concept of work an idol that speaks more about cultural values than godly kingdom value.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil— Please open our eyes that we may see the pain that many of our students and work colleagues carry. Empower us to be Your agents of healing. Use Your power and authority to rid our friends and ourselves of demonic evil, some that we have invited into our lives and some that have come uninvited.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever— We ask You to reign in us to bring healing and restoration to bodies, minds, and souls. We are faced with the question, “Who will you serve today?” May we always respond, “As for me, and my family, and my students, and my colleagues at LeTourneau University, we will serve the Lord.” May Your kingdom reign at LeTourneau University!

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LET’S GO

RACIN'!

A SAGA OF CARS, CHARACTER, AND COMMUNITY BY JAKE HALL

PHOTOGRAPHY BY GRANT BRIDGMAN

The Auto Society has found its own distinct, unconventional role at LeTourneau University.

he smell of gasoline drifts through the cool fall air, melding with scents of rubber, metal, oil, and sweat. Drivers are poised and ready in the pit, waiting to run to their vehicles at the drop of the flag. Spectators crowd the road, pinned back by piles of rubber tires marking the track, pushing and shoving for the best view before the race begins. Excitement is in the air. A man in a bright blue and white shirt stands with arms raised high, a crisp, green flag in one hand and a small, shiny airhorn in the other. All eyes are on him. Suddenly, the airhorn blasts, and the flag drops; the drivers sprint to their vehicles, hop in their seats, and the engines hum to life. A loud, high-pitched “BUZZZZZZ” fills the air like an angry swarm of bees stirred from their hive, as the fleet of go-karts zooms out of the pit, bumping into each other and skidding onto the track, dust and fumes trailing behind as they race towards the front of campus. That’s right, go-kart racing at LeTourneau University. The 1960s were a different era. Car manuals came with instructions on adjusting your own valves, asking YouTube how to change your oil wasn’t an option, and go-kart racing was a popular pastime. LeTourneau University was different, too, but in many ways, it was the same: an emphasis on practical, hands-on learning, a strong spiritual community, students who love to innovate and create. It was into this world that a campus relic was born: the LeTourneau University Automotive Society. Founded in the 1965-66 school year by a group of student automotive enthusiasts, the Auto Society (AS) was created as a Christ-centered organization where members could grow in fellowship while furthering their knowledge of automobiles. Practically, it also provided students with tools, equipment, and space for car maintenance. The original shop space was a building so old and drafty that, “if we were inside and it was raining, you had to go outside to get dry,” jokes Dan Larson, an LETU alumnus ('71), former automotive tech professor, and AS faculty sponsor for many years. As Auto Society grew during the 1970s, they began hosting several events that developed into campus traditions, including go-kart racing. Paul Long, a 1981 AS alumnus, won several races during his time at LETU, and it was a go-kart that drew him to the society shop for the first time. Relaxing in his dorm one day, Paul heard a loud noise zoom by outside. “I sorta followed the sound down to Auto Society and got to talking with the guys down there, and it went on from there. That was pretty much how I got introduced, was a kart flying by." For twenty years, Auto Society hosted three go-kart races on campus: a fall sprint, a spring sprint, and an Enduro. The sprint winners were the karts with the fastest time, but the Enduro was a different animal, designed to test the strength and endurance of one’s kart over a grueling, six-hour marathon race. In addition, the go-karts were homemade. The rule of the Enduro was that every go-kart must be designed and built FALL 2021

innovated ...whatever you could scrounge, that was the budget.

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“

You just kinda went along and

completely on campus, which is where the unique LeTourneau ingenuity kicked in. Poor college students grabbed whatever they could scrape together for parts: a Chevy 350 engine, a scrapped Apache aircraft frame, a motorcycle motor, a nose fork off a Cessna airplane. Anything was fair game, and any student or dorm floor could participate. Dorm 41 had a kart, AO and KZX each had their own, and a special kart was reserved for the females who participated. Hundreds of students lined the main Glaske Dr. each year to watch and cheer the competing karts. The real test of the Enduro, however, was whether your go-kart engineering would last during six hours of racing the old, worn campus streets. Mark Stevens, AS alumnus ('78), describes it like this: “We had cracks and dips and potholes that we had to go through, and there were many times that go-karts would be driving along and hit a pothole and just break in half. So, they would have to pick up the go-kart and take it back over to the welding shop and weld it back up and then get back out on the race!" People would slam into each other and bend tires, chains would fly off karts, wrecks were common, and someone even clipped a utility pole once, knocking it to the ground. LETU administration would not be excluded from the fun either, with former President Bud Austin driving a kart one year. At a college known for its engineering program, the go-kart races were a perfect testing ground for the theories and principles being taught in the classroom. Paul Long describes the process of building a kart: "You just kinda went along and innovated...whatever you could scrounge, that was the budget. It forced a lot of innovation that I think was really good in terms of provoking you to think about engineering. How am I gonna do this with what I got?" As the karts inevitably broke down, or hardware problems arose, students had to create solutions. “It was a real engineering practical learning experience, where you had to figure out, 'well, this isn't working... I gotta do something different.' You have to face the results of what you did." This particular, almost eccentric, style of learning within Auto Society extended beyond go-karting and continues today. Most people probably think of AS as the building in the back of campus where a bunch of guys just hang out and work on cars, but digging deeper, one uncovers an intriguing atmosphere. Students from multiple academic majors gather to escape the drudgery of school by operating on personal projects. Whether engineswapping an old Porsche, prepping motorcycles for a weekend cruise, or practicing burnouts in the driveway, something is always happening. In this environment, students are also learning from each other. Sam Hardin, a mechanical engineering student graduating in 2022, serves as the current Auto Society President. Hardin has been a member since his freshman year, and what’s impacted him the most are the people and the learning experiences. If he has a car

question, he can ask other members, or they can physically work on the problem together. Moreover, AS members can take what they’re learning in academic labs and classrooms and apply it in a practical, meaningful way. Hardin explains, “The abstract principles are what you learn in class, and it's really a wealth of information that until you apply, you'll forget about. That's been a huge thing that I've been able to see in my labs, but more specifically here (in AS): learning why these things are failing, seeing them actually fail, being able to rebuild, change materials and just learn what I can apply in different areas. So, whether that's my car that I've seen has failed or a tire has popped or something, wherever I work in the future...I can take those principles and use that." Stevens elaborates, “The practicality (of LETU) is the idea that it's one thing to have book knowledge, but it's another thing to actually sit down there and actually make your hands and your brain do something that you learned in a book, and how do you adapt that knowledge and become a very practical person?" He took these lessons from his time in AS and applied them to his career in mechanical engineering, enabling him to work with confidence in any environment. Another AS alumnus, Jon Woodworth ('90), is the current missionary-in-residence at LeTourneau, and the skills he learned in AS prepared him to live out his calling as a remote missionary in the Kenyan wilderness for 21 years. “I built houses, I welded up water stands, I did DC electricity with all of our solar stuff; I mean there’s so much stuff that we’ve done because of what we learned there (at AS) and life, and hanging out with those guys.” Within the greater LeTourneau community, this automotive society was shaping the lives of students, equipping them for a variety of careers, from the corporate business and engineering world to the African mission field. The time spent learning, laboring, and living together also creates a deep bond among Auto Society members. Alumni gather at car shows and races around the country regularly, proudly waving their LeTourneau AS banner. Woodworth’s fellow members were at his wedding, wearing their

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blue AS shirts. Local alumni stay invested in current students, helping with car shows and visiting the shop. Students and alumni alike tell a similar story: “I don’t think I would have stayed at LeTourneau if it wasn’t for Auto Society.” “If it hadn’t been for AS, I’d never have finished school.” “Auto Society has been the best decision I’ve made being here at school.” Stevens was so impacted by the Christ-like community that it led him to salvation: “I credit my accepting Jesus as my Savior to the guys from the auto society because they lived a really good testimonial life to me. Here were car guys, and they loved God, they loved Jesus, and they really showed me that Christianity can be fun. You don't have to be straight-laced and follow all the rules. You just have to have a good heart, and that's what these guys did." Clearly, this society has impacted the lives of many in the LeTourneau community, and the current members are working hard to maintain that heritage. The Car Show continues annually, a tradition now in its 45th year. Open House occurs each semester, with burnouts and free pizza drawing students from across campus to the society shop. Oil changes and other services are free for students and staff if they provide supplies and parts. Asher Ord, a senior mechanical engineering student ('22), sees the society as a ministry; he encourages students to email him for help, and he’s a regular at the shop on the weekends, airing tires up for people or doing heavy work on a professor’s vehicle. Hardin is focused on carrying the legacy of AS into the future: “All of the principles of the society, everything that the alumni have basically fostered and worked so hard to keep, if I'm not focusing on continuing to transition that, making sure that we're doing the same thing, that culture leaves.” If you're reading this as a LeTourneau alumnus, you surely have your own cherished memories of your time on campus. You can probably recreate specific instances in your mind: the sights, sounds, and smells of significant moments in your college experience. A professor whose instruction challenged your way of thinking, a roommate who dropped everything to stop and minister to you in a time of need, a significant other you met and pursued here, an organization that molded you into who you are today. Woodworth recalls, "I had a lot of good friends, but most of them were at Auto Society. I had a lot of good experiences, but most of them were at Auto Society. I learned a lot, but most of it was at Auto Society. LeTourneau helped me get a degree...but Auto Society formed me, it created me." LeTourneau has always been a unique place where hands-on learning intersects with Christian community to shape and form lives; it’s in our DNA. The Auto Society has found its own distinct, unconventional role within that calling.

Return of the Go-karts? Jon Woodworth and other AS alumni are hoping to host a race at Hootenanny Weekend next April. For more info, contact JonWoodworth@letu.edu. To keep up with current Auto Society adventures, follow @letu.autosociety on Instagram.

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take those

principles and use that.

“

Wherever I work in the future... I can

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A Dean’s Perspective with Fred Ritchey, School of Aviation Interview conducted by Kate Day and Grant Bridgman

In 1975, a small school in Longview, Texas, had just enjoyed its first decade of being “LeTourneau College,” after being known previously as “LeTourneau Technical Institute.” While the ‘technical’ may have been dropped from the name, the brochure’s depiction of hands-on training in a Christ-centered campus culture was enough to draw a certain young man to enroll, together with his father. This began a 40-year journey that would shape him into the man, and the School of Aviation dean, that we know today as Mr. Fred Ritchey.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMIAH SHEPHERD

HOW IT STARTED

Ritchey recalls his first semester as a new student, when his family moved to Texas from Pennsylvania and he, an aviation major, and his dad, a bible major, started classes as commuters at LeTourneau College. “My dad and I were in a few of the same classes, but in different sections. We were, however, in Intro to Chemistry and Physics together, and we were lab partners.” When he was finishing out his time in college, he married his high school sweetheart, Gail, and they moved into married student housing. After graduation, Ritchey didn’t go far. He began work out at the Gregg County Airport as a mechanic. Not long after that, he received a surprising phone call. “In the fall of 1984, the chair of the department of aviation, Floyd Bishop, called me. Lauren Bitikofer had moved out there as the director of maintenance, and they needed to hire someone to help. They wanted to know if I was interested in coming to work at LeTourneau College to teach and help. I had never considered it—it had never crossed my mind. The faculty I had as a student really stood out to me, but the one who stood out the most to me was Roger Carr. He was so relational and transparent about his life and struggles. He had teenage boys at home, a car that barely ran... Even though I was raised in a Christian home, that example really spoke to me as a student. So when I was on this call with Floyd Bishop, I thought 'wow, I could be like Roger Carr.'” That lasting impact from an influential faculty member spurred him on this new path: a course with a singular heading - Christian Polytechnic Education. “So I picked up an application, filled it out and went to turn it in at the student center (current nursing building). Richard Berry was the Vice President of Academic Affairs at the time. I’m on my lunch break. I mean, I’m turning wrenches on an airplane; I’m in my blue uniform. I walk in and hand my application to the assistant, and she asked if I could talk to Mr. Berry. I said ‘I’m not prepared for an interview. I mean, I’m not dressed appropriately or anything.’ She said it was okay, that he totally understands. So, I walked in his office, and sat down and talked with Richard Berry.” Berry asked several questions, including whether Ritchey would be interested in grad school. The answer was yes, and that was that. He’d gotten the job.

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THE LETOURNEAU HANGER AND CLASSROOM BUILDING AT THE GREGG COUNTY AIRPORT OPENED IN 1984 TO MEET AN INCREASING AVIATION ENROLLMENT.

CALLING OUT THE CONSTANTS

It goes without saying that Ritchey’s role has evolved since his days in the original hanger tuning up engines as Assistant Director of Maintenance and teaching the Propellers course. He has witnessed a tremendous amount of change over the course of his 35 years and counting at LeTourneau, but as he reflects, it’s striking what hasn’t changed: “Our number one constant has been our absolute commitment to maintaining our Christian identity. We have not compromised on our faith. LeTourneau University as an interdenominational institution has done an excellent job in our strength of consistency in the core beliefs that make us truly Christ-centered. People say that you can lose your faith as an institution, one hire at a time. I know Richard LeTourneau knew that, Bud Austin knew it, Dale Lunsford knew it, and Steve Mason knows it. And this has meant so much to me. Another constant is what we now identify ourselves as, THE Christian Polytechnic University. It reminds me of how in my day we were called ‘techos.’ We were proud to be ‘techos.’ No matter what, we knew we could get the job done. And that has been a hallmark of LeTourneau graduates. We find creative ways to get the work done. The creativity of our people, to find a way to make it work. We talk about ingenuity being in our DNA, and it’s true. There is just something in our culture... Buildings can change, people on staff or faculty can change, many things can and have changed, but these constants always remain.”

HOW IT’S GOING

There are inevitably numerous pivot points in an organization’s existence. Ritchey has been a part of half this organization’s history, experiencing more than a handful. When our institution’s current trajectory comes up, he speaks with an extra dose of confidence and conviction: “I am very optimistic about the future of LeTourneau University. For one, we have now embraced our identity as THE Christian Polytechnic University. You know, in the 70’s and 80’s we knew we were ‘techos’. Then, we went through a time when we weren’t sure who we were. That is not to speak ill of anyone or any decision that was made, but we did go through a bit of what I would call a ‘wilderness time’. We knew it in our gut, who we were, but it wasn’t something we were saying publicly, or confessing—I like the word confessing. Now, we have moved into a time where we are fully ‘confessing’ who we are. There is no one else like us. We are not better than everyone else, but we are different from everyone else. This, along with our position both geographically and within industry, is a very positive combination. God has orchestrated us to be in the space we are in. We are located in Texas, which we know in the world of higher education is the place you want to be. We offer the types of programs that are in demand, and are needed in our world. We have a track record of expertise and alumni within these industries that others dream of having. I may not be here for most of the fruit of it, but God has positioned us very well for the future of our world, and we are in a world that is desperately in need of graduates like ours who go into their communities and are salt and light.”

“WE ARE NOT UNIQUE IN BEING ABLE TO PARTICIPATE WITH GOD IN HIS WORK, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, THERE ARE FEWER AND FEWER COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES WHO MAKE THIS A PRIORITY.” 70

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MORE OF GOD

While our organizational calling is certainly unique, Ritchey’s personal call is very meaningful to him, and his response to that call points to both his inspiration and his focus:

“We talk here a lot about calling. This work is a calling. For me personally, I have always felt like this work is allowing me to do something bigger than myself, like I am part of something eternal. Honestly, I feel really blessed to be part of this. I never thought I would be in higher education, and truly never would have thought I would be a dean. The privilege of being a part of something that God is doing has been inspiring to me. Even though there have been a lot of days where I have felt frustrated, on the whole the good days far and above outweigh the frustrating days. I try to remember that when I pray for this place. I am not practicing it perfectly, but I have been trying to pray through the Strategic Plan prayer plan for LeTourneau University. I put the prayer plan in my calendar, and at times it is convicting. I pray for university leadership. I pray for all the folks here in aviation. And, I pray that we would be the institution that God wants us to be. I have my opinion of what it should be, but maybe that’s not what God wants LETU to be. No matter what we think our barriers are, or what the answers to our problems are, what we ultimately need is more of God.”

FRUITS OF A STEADFAST MINISTRY

“Jesus says ‘*…*If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, NIV). Ritchey references these words as he expounds upon his and the university’s abiding commitments, and the impact that outlasts even memory: “What this tells me is that I as an individual and we as a university cannot be who we were designed and called to be unless we remain constant in our Christian commitment. Without the power of God working through us, our words and works will be fruitless. By remaining faithful to our Christian mission and calling, we are in a position to be used by God and participate with Him in fruitful ministry and kingdom work. We are not unique in being able to participate with God in His work, but unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer colleges and universities who make this a priority. Over the years, I have been blessed to meet with and get to know a lot of alumni. I have heard numerous stories of how God used LETU to bless them and set them on a God-oriented life trajectory. And they remember things that I don’t remember. ‘Mr. Ritchey, you failed me in your class’, and I don’t remember that. ‘Mr. Ritchey, I remember this one devotional you gave’, and I don’t remember the one they’re thinking of; but you know... I do remember Roger Carr’s devotionals. What a blessing and privilege it is to be a part of this kingdom work. May God help us to remain constantly faithful to His calling and work.”

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ALUMNI

No Place Like

Homecoming

"Visiting with old friends, and making new ones." "Reconnecting with staff and professors." "Bodacious BBQ". "Boat races!" "Many smiling faces of students". "Getting to know our new president, and learning more about where our university is presently and where it is going in the future." These are just a few highlights from our alumni describing their experiences at the Fall 2021 Homecoming and Family Weekend. PHOTOGRAPHY BY LETOURNEAU UNIVERSITY MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS TEAM

LETOURNEAU NOW

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ALUMNI

LETOURNEAU NOW

A lot of things have changed, but the core hasn't changed...and what's core is the LETU DNA: innovation, ingenuity, the love, the care. But, what's also core is that

LeTourneau remains unabashedly and unapologetically Christ-centered."

The Event This Homecoming was a special one, celebrating the 75th Anniversary of LeTourneau, with an expanded schedule and many new events. Additionally, this was the first Homecoming celebration since Spring 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The atmosphere on campus was bright, energetic, and spirited as we celebrated the heritage of our past and anticipated the potential of our future. Attendance for the week was high, as over 1,000 alumni, family members, students, and parents gathered from across 38 states for a weekend of reflection and fellowship. Events began earlier this year with an opening night concert on Wednesday, featuring local band Covie, led by alumnus Covenant Olatunde (2018). The fun culminated on Saturday as KZX defeated AO and LAS in the Rope Pull at the Pond alongside the cardboard boat races,

another Homecoming classic. The LETU class of 1971 was honored at the Golden Jacket Luncheon while new classes were inducted into the Academy of Engineering and the Athletic Hall of Fame for both 2020 and 2021. Friday's Homecoming Chapel featured a virtuoso piano-playing performance by former Dean of Students Steve Adell, the honoring of 1957 graduate Frank Winscott, and insight into humor by comedian Bob Stromberg. Many new events were offered as well: the Auto Society held an Alumni Car Meet alongside Saturday's pond activities, Stromberg held a Friday night comedy show in the Belcher Center, and President Steven Mason and his wife, Bonnie, hosted alumni for a very special Breakfast with the President. In the midst of all the bustle, alumni were reuniting with old friends and professors, learning about current student projects, and FALL 2020

ALUMNI

“I just wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful events over this last week. In my seven years as an alum, this was one of the best times I have felt a real alumni spirit on campus, and it was wonderful!” – Anthony “Fro” Horner, 2017

marveling at the many changes to campus over the years.

A Pivotal Time For LETU While remembering the past and how far the university has come, vision was cast for the future direction and growth of the university. At the Golden Jacket Luncheon, Bill Anderson ('71), Outgoing Chairman of the Board of Trustees, shared his LeTourneau experience while encouraging alumni to partner with the university in various ways as we transition into a new era full of challenges and opportunities. Anderson graduated with a Biblical Studies and Missions degree in 1971 and enjoyed a career in the business, organizational leadership, and marketing industries. He is currently in retirement but serves as an executive mentor and consultant to CEOs across the country. Anderson said his time in student leadership at LeTourneau significantly impacted him and prepared him for a career in leadership. He served in Student Senate, was a dorm RA and chairman of student activities, and even created a student mission organization that spent a summer working with missionaries in Brazil. "When I look back over my life, I see things that I would have never dreamed of doing, never thought that I would be involved in, 76

LETOURNEAU NOW

and where God provided what I needed when I needed it, and a lot of that started right here [at LeTourneau]...There is no question that the foundations for my preparations through the education and training here at LeTourneau prepared me for what God called me to do, and I am a direct and grateful beneficiary of R.G. and Mom and this university." Many alumni could share similar stories of how they were affected by the holistic education and spiritual formation that occurs at LeTourneau University. Anderson encourages those alumni to join in on what God is doing at the university and to engage in four distinct ways: 1) praying for current students, staff, and faculty, and the campus as a whole; 2) sharing their individual LeTourneau experiences with high school students and other potential partners for the university; 3) introducing Christian schools and private academies to LeTourneau's dual credit program; 4) considering legacy gifts to the school. He closed the luncheon with these words: "This place touches eternity every day. To have a hand in helping young people get themselves ready to do in their lives what God has enabled you and I to do in our lives: we can be a big part of that."

Tom Ackerman

1971

Susan Till Carvella

1965

What did you enjoy the most about your time at LeTourneau?

What was it like being one of the first female students in LeTourneau history?

I enjoyed the combination of good, solid technical training, plus a solid, biblically-based education and knowledge...This is the only school I know of where you can get a good technical education that's also based in Christ. Can't do one without the other. You've got to have both, otherwise you're half of an engineer, technician, or anything else. We had the advantage of technical training and learning, which is great. But the inquisitive side of just going out and putting your hands on something and thinking about it—and working with it—is something LeTourneau gifts to its students that no other school does.

Well, I want to say it wasn't just me; it was all of us women that came and helped open those doors. Some of us were scared to death. And, I mean, there were six girls and 600 guys. My roommate was the first female student. She went over to the dining hall once and opened the door and there were two hundred guys. She closed the door and went back [to her room]. I don't know if she starved for two days or what, but she didn't go back to the cafeteria ‘til I got [there]. And then the two of us would go over there. It was like there's strength in numbers. But the girls didn't have cars; our only transportation was a local bus...And to get to church, we had to go with one of the guys that was going to the church we were going to. We had to sign off campus. We had to sign back in. The host mother needed to know where we were going, who we were going with, what time we were leaving, and what time we were coming back. The dorm was locked at nine o'clock at night. If you were gone beyond that, you were basically gone—if you couldn't get back in the dorm, they weren't going to keep you.

How did your LeTourneau education impact your career in management? I worked with people from MIT, Harvard, Stanford, you name it, but LeTourneau never took a backseat to any other school. If you worked hard, you could compete. What was missing with other graduates was the personal side. They didn't have a concern about people. Everything they were involved in was about them, [while] LeTourneau taught us pretty much the opposite; we’re individuals that are here to serve, not to be served.

How did your LeTourneau education impact your career as a special education teacher? Having the Christian background here, going back [after graduation], I demanded very high standards from my students, and they all rose to meet those standards. I did not degrade them. I respected them for who they were, and in return, I gained their respect. I taught them to do the best they could; everybody has a talent, and you have to find out what it is.

If you could share a piece of advice for current LeTourneau students, what would you say? They're getting a great education. They're getting a wonderful foundation in God and in caring for people and learning. Take everything you've learned here, and when you get into the workforce, use it. Stick to your faith, stick to your morals and your values, and go out and spread it among your friends, your work, and your people. Just be positive. FALL 2021

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Alumni Voices

"Visiting with fellow alumni and catching up -- casual conversations. The AO reunion was especially meaningful for us. The 75th video was really well done. The chapel speakers and events were exceptional!"

We loved hearing from many of you about your Homecoming experience! Here are some highlights, in your own words:

"Having spent most of my life in Nepal as a Bible translator, I particularly appreciated the focus on Jesus in the program as well as the evidence of Jesus in my talks with staff."

"Reconnecting with alumni, staff, and professors. Getting to see all the improvements on the campus." "Seeing old friends, of course, and reviewing (and learning new) facts about our beginnings and the LeTourneaus."

"Seeing all the changes to campus! Wow! I was impressed! Hadn't been back since I left in 1990!" "Getting to know our new president, Steve Mason, and his wife, Bonnie, alongside getting to know where our beloved university is presently and where it is going in the future."

"Time between alumni, current, and potential students was the best part."

"The online opportunities were so appreciated due to the COVID numbers in our area at this time."

Huge appreciation goes out to the university's Office of Alumni and Parent Relations for planning and executing such a warm, welcoming homecoming celebration honoring 75 years of not only one-of-akind learning, but also the one-of-a-kind relationships that come with it—lasting bonds built by hours in the lab, dorm floor living, and a brand of campus worship that comes to life through acts of love and service. Thank you to Dr. Daniel Ostendorff and the entire Alumni Relations staff for pouring yourselves into this memorable event and bringing us together! To view the special 75th Anniversary Video and join the celebration in other ways, scan this code!

“I wanted to thank you for all the hard work you and your team did to make this homecoming weekend a great one. Also, thanks for the dinner and recognition of us old grads. It was very special to us. The campus looks amazing. Never could have dreamed it would look so beautiful. Thanks again for a memorable weekend.”

– David Seaton, 1965 78

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Lisa Skielnik 1988 How did your education at LeTourneau prepare you for your future? I think people at LeTourneau have the opportunity to learn how to work with other people and value them...The professors were very caring, and it was a Christian environment. So, we got used to treating people kindly, and that was noticed [in my job]. The people-oriented aspect of working, that meant a lot to them.

How did your time at LeTourneau impact you on a spiritual level? When I came [to the school], I knew Jesus as my savior and had a Bible background, but I was still thinking about life and trying to get my hands around it. At that point, it's good to be around people who are mature Christians. Several of my professors, especially Dr. Leiffer and Dr. Graff, were engineers, not pastors, but they were very godly men who lived out their faith. I also took advantage of the variety of spiritual things offered on campus: chapel, Spiritual Emphasis Week, Missions Emphasis Week, dorm devotions, etc. Looking back, I wish I took even more advantage of them.

Frank Winscott, Honorary Graduate Frank Winscott’s engineering education at LeTourneau Technical Institute was interrupted by his service in the Korean War. He began classes in 1951, served from 1953-55, and returned to complete his course requirements in 1957. However, he started a job at McDonnell Aircraft so quickly after his last final exam that he wasn’t able to participate in a graduation ceremony or receive his diploma. Sixty four years later, he was honored at this fall’s Homecoming chapel with a special presentation of his diploma by President Steven D. Mason and Chancellor Dale A. Lunsford. Bravo, Frank, and thank you for your service!

Peter & Sharon McMillan 1980 & 1981

How did the two of you meet? Peter: We met in class. By the end of the semester, we were sitting next to each other, and on the last day of school, I asked her to marry me in Speer Chapel. I gave her our first kiss down by the pond, too, so we have a lot of good memories here. Sharon: He sort of proposed to me in front of the grave, LeTourneau’s grave. Very romantic. Peter: Well, I didn't really propose to you then. I was testing the waters.

How did your time at LeTourneau impact you? Sharon: I was a Christian when I came, but I was just starting to get serious about following the Lord. That was the first time I'd been in a place where I had examples and peers who were more mature than I was— who I could look up to and be discipled by. I never dreamed that I would be a missionary one day, and I think God put them in my life to nudge me on to missions.

How did LeTourneau prepare you for your career? Sharon: It just helped me fall in love with God and realize that you're not by yourself. You need to be in community to be able to grow and be healthy. So, we've always emphasized that in our church planting and camping.

If you could share a word of advice to current students, what would it be? Peter: At LeTourneau, you meet a lot of friends, and it's easy to spend a lot of time in intramurals, classes, and studying. But, I think it's also important to develop good friends at a local church and be connected to one where godly men and women can mentor and care for you. That's been one of the best things for me over the years. Sharon: Don't be afraid to try something new. Fear holds you back from a lot of things...We [instilled in] our kids—we have three children with families of their own—the importance of getting plugged into a local church and being around families, not just your peers. Don't lose that. FALL 2021

ALUMNI

PHOTOGRAPHY BY SARA BRYAN

LETOURNEAU NOW

t this year's Homecoming, we spoke with several alumni to hear their stories about life and LeTourneau. Each individual shared testimonies of God's goodness and faithfulness through the years, but one of the most fascinating tales was that of Lloyd and Larry Smith. Twin brothers Larry and Lloyd have done everything together; they were born five minutes apart (or three, depending on who you ask), attended LeTourneau together, and both spent their careers in public education despite graduating with engineering degrees. As they like to put it, they are "womb-mates." One day in 1956, their father was walking out of the machine shop where he worked for Tucker Sno-Cat Corporation in Medford, Oregon, and noticed a magazine in the trash can. Recognizing the name LeTourneau on it, he pulled it from the trash and brought it home to his family, who was already familiar with R.G. LeTourneau and his machines. Their mother immediately subscribed to the magazine, and for the next few years, the boys would "voraciously" read every page. As their interest in LeTourneau Technical Institute grew, their parents encouraged them to pursue an education in engineering, which they began in 1960. The Smiths still have the NOW Magazine their father pulled from the trash in 1956; it is framed in remembrance of how special this university is to them. You can even see the oily, mechanic fingerprints still on the cover, a reminder of the day one man's trash became another family's treasure and changed the direction of Lloyd and Larry's lives forever.

Lloyd & Larry Smith 1964 What is it like visiting campus this year? Larry: It's really interesting to see, coming back 60 years later, the influence that the LeTourneaus had on this campus. And even though they've been gone for 50 years or more, their presence is still here in the sense of Christ, their testimony, and the Christian influences here.

How did your time at LeTourneau influence you spiritually? Lloyd: Everywhere you went, you were influenced spiritually—by other students, Bible studies, Spiritual Emphasis Week. It was a flow, a continuum of spiritual education. Then, we come back sixty years later, and the needle has not moved. So many schools change their values to keep up with the world, and LeTourneau has not; they've stayed on their principles Larry: I wish Dr. Bob Selby knew the influence he had on me and on this place...everybody loved the guy, and boy, could he get across the concepts that he was teaching. I remember going and just talking to him in his office, and saying, ‘I don't know what to do with my life.’ And he would just sit and talk to you.

What is a fond memory from your time at LeTourneau? Larry: R.G. would have Bible studies and talks at the Big House where he and Mom lived, and he’d come in and sit down and [say] ‘Okay, ask questions.’ And someone said, ‘You don't make any mistakes, do you Mr. R.G.?’ And he had a big belly laugh and said, ‘That's why I have a steel mill. I melt them all down.’ Lloyd: Once, I picked up this kid from the airport to take him back to the school, and in our conversation, I asked him, ‘Are you a Christian? You're going to a Christian school.’ And he just said, ‘Um…’ And then in the next night or two, we led him to the Lord. And he sent me a note two years ago...that the ride in that Volkswagen that night changed his life...60 years later, and he is still on fire for the Lord and involved in ministry.

If you could share a piece of advice with current students, what would it be? Lloyd: Make life-long friends. I think they probably will, but it's so important to come out of here with friends you stay connected with. And they come from all over the world to LeTourneau, so then you've got friends around the world. FALL 2021

ALUMNI

Class Notes MEMORIALS

Cletus Creach (’55 MES) of Mabank, Texas died July 27, 2021. His career was in the manufacturing of oilfield related tools, and he enjoyed playing golf, fishing, gardening and spending time with family and friends. He is survived by his wife, Barbara, stepson, Gary Lyons (Gayland), sons, David Carroll (Michelle), John Dennis, Terry Neal and extended family.

James A. Lewis (’58 MES) died at the age of 90 on May 15, 2021, in Springfield, Missouri. Jim served in the National Guard and worked as an electrical engineer for 30 years at Dayco, Springfield, Missouri. He holds six U.S. Patents, was inducted into the International Snowmobile Hall of Fame in 2020, earning the Edgar Hetten Memorial Award of Merit. He is survived by his four children, Cristy Baldwin, Scott Lewis, Farley Lewis (Kelly), Gary Lewis (LaCinda), 11 grandchildren, 8 greatgrandchildren, and extended family.

Thomas “Tom” Hunt (’59 ES) died on July 12, 2021, at his home in Longview, Texas. He retired from Siemens Energy and Automation and taught over 100 Defensive Driving courses. He loved spending time with family and friends, was passionate about bowling, and devoted much time to

LETOURNEAU NOW

his church. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Betty, daughter, Cynthia Hutton (Keith), son, Bradley ( Janay), four grandchildren, four great-granddaughters, and extended family.

William “Bill” Thompson (’61 MES/ IE) died on October 13, 2021, in Spring Hill, Florida. Bill served proudly in the United States Air Force and was a founding member of LETU’s Alpha Omega society. He is survived by his wife, Gloria, his children, and many extended family members and friends.

Paul Trimmer (’64 AMT) died on July 18, 2021, in Shawnee, Kansas. He worked at Phoenix Aerospace in the avionics department for more than 50 years, was a licensed pilot and a member of Lambda Alpha Sigma. He will be remembered most for his devotion to the church, his loyalty, his love of aviation, and his support of worldwide missions. He is survived by his daughters, Jennifer Richards and Jessica Brashears, six grandchildren and extended family.

Larry Dickson (’66 AET) died in Swanton, Ohio on January 1, 2021. Some things he was passionate about were tinkering on small engines and mechanical things and never taking his car to a mechanic. His insight for the potential of computers

and the internet led him to change spark plug cataloging from manual to electronic format for which he received a Catalog Award at Champion Spark Plug. Larry is survived by his wife of 52 years, Norma, daughters, Brenda Brough (Tommy), Rachel; six grandchildren, one great-grandson and extended family.

John Boone (’70 ATBS/ETMT) died October 6, 2020, in Mineola, Texas. He loved teaching others about solar energy, Ham Radio, computers and all things mechanical. He spent his last years building solar powered, Ham Radio communication modules for missionaries so they could communicate with the world. He is survived by his brother, Daniel Boone, grown nieces and nephews, and extended family.

Keith Carpenter (’80 AU) died on July 24, 2021, in Kansas City, Missouri. He had a 32-year career as an Aircraft Mechanic with TWA, which was acquired by American Airlines. He also enjoyed traveling and cruising with family, and motorcycle trips with his wife. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Patrice, daughter, Suzie Miles (Donnie), grandchildren Callie and Jaxon, and other family members.

James “Jim” Smith (’84 ATBS) of Rockford Illinois, died August 8, 2021. Jim received his pilot’s license before his driver’s license and spent

his career in the area of his dreams, aviation. Family was very important to him, and he is survived by his wife, Cheri, children Jack (24), Kate (24), James (21) and Meg (16), extended family, and special friends of the family.

Paul Beatty (’89 ME) of Ringgold, Georgia, died July 30, 2021. Paul worked mainly in the carpet industry as a Research and Development Mechanical Engineer and has three patents pending to his name. Paul was known as an avid mountain biker and hiker and had a loving, selfless, and humorous personality. He is survived by his wife, Carol, children: Elizabeth Estes ( Jesse), Scott, Christopher, Bethany Setzer, Johnmark, and Matthew; two grandchildren and extended family.

Adrian Bonilla (’92 ATBS) died October 25, 2021, in Houston, Texas. His professional career started as a flight instructor and led to over 20 years as a jet plane pilot. He had a commitment to live for Christ, was dedicated to his family, was an avid outdoorsman, and had a passion for motorcycling. He is survived by his wife of 32 years, Donna, children, Ashley Morgan (Micah), David (Brittany), Stephen, and Matthew; seven grandchildren, numerous family and friends.

Cody Hawkins (’05 BBA) died unexpectedly in his home on September 28, 2021. He was a Compliance Integration Manager with Enterprise Risk Management, Dallas, Texas. He is survived by his father, Wayne Hawkins and siblings, Keelie Davis (Greg), Cory Hawkins, Cortney Person ( James), and extended family.

BIRTHS

Eva Langton (’10 ELE1) and her husband, Jeremy, welcomed the birth of Calvin James, on April 24, 2021. He joins siblings Atticus (8), Rachel (6), and Simon (3) in their home in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Luke Sjoblom (’13 AFFS) and wife, Rachelle, welcomed their fourth child, Martin Davis, born on October 25, 2021. He joins siblings, Ransom, Adelaide, and Stephen. Mark (‘78 MI/ATBS) and Cheryl (’80 MABS) Sjoblom, are his very proud grandparents who serve with JAARS and live in Lancaster, South Carolina.

Natalie Neal (’18 EE) and husband Cameron, welcomed their first child, Daisy Grace, born June 12, 2021. Natalie works for Collins Aerospace as an Electrical Engineer and they live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Kourtney McLeese (’20 TEC6) and husband, Eric, and big sister, Adalynn (8) welcomed baby Oakley into their family in February 2021. The family lives in Gilmer, Texas.

CLASS NOTES

Michael Smith (’75 BUBS) is now retired and he and his wife, Sherry, live in Friendswood, Texas.

James “Jim” MacKay (’76 ATBS/ MI) recently retired as a full-time

professor of aviation technology and his wife Julie (Niewald) MacKay (’77 RE) also retired as an elementary teacher of science and social studies. They are co-owners of Winds Air, Owosso Michigan, an airplane rental and flight instruction company. They plan on staying active with Winds Air during retirement as well as with their seven grandchildren, traveling, and the grass runway airport (identifier 56M) on their 450-acre farm.

Donald Beiler (’81 ATBS) and his family are now living in Justin, Texas and he has been a pilot with American Airlines for 35 years!

Mark Williams (’82 MT/ATBS) recently retired and is now living in West Palm Beach, Florida.

Jeffrey “Jeff” Short (’90 EE) is now a Senior Design Engineer at Micro Technology Services, Richardson, Texas.

Brent Palmer (’94 ATBS/ATFL) celebrated 25 years as career staff with Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) in June 2021. After serving 17 years as a pilot and IT Manager in Indonesia, he now serves at MAF’s headquarters, Nampa, Idaho, on the Disaster Response Team as both Pilot and IT Specialist. He and his wife, Melanie, live in Meridian, Idaho.

David Huber (’99 EE) was recently promoted to Electrical Engineering Manager at Komatsu Mining Corp., Longview, Texas.

Anne Downer (’07 DW) debuts her middle grade novel, Best Friends Playbook, from Chicken Scratch Books, December 1, 2021. It was her creative thesis while earning her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She currently teaches English and Creative Writing classes online and locally to elementary and middle school students. She and her husband, Paul Downer (’11 MJE), and daughter, Hope, live in Molt, Montana. https://awdowner.com FALL 2021

ALUMNI

Caleb Gibson (’15 AAMM) was recognized as one of the National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) top 40 under 40 honorees for 2021. Caleb is a Pro Ownership Maintenance Specialist with Textron Aviation and lives in Wichita, Kansas with his wife, Corrie, and son, Samuel.

Paul Zettler (’15 BBM) has a new position at Texas State Technical College, Waco, Texas as Instructor of Industrial Controls and Robotics.

Amy Thompson (’16 MEA) was named the Region VII Teacher of the Year on August 3, 2021. She teaches digital media, computers and American Sign Language and is often described as her student’s favorite teacher at Lindale High School, Lindale, Texas.

Dorothy Cantu (’17 MBA) recently took the position of Associate Director at the University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas.

April Nenjerama (’17 LPC/LMFT) was recently promoted to Family Therapist at The Heights Treatment, Houston, Texas. She and her husband, Yeukayi, and their children, Tendayi, Tinashe, and Tanaka live in Richmond, Texas.

Zachary Anderson (’18 MJE) has taken a position as Materials and Process Engineer in the Process Control group with Lockheed Martin, Fort Worth, Texas.

Michael Simmons (’20 HRBB) says two weeks after graduation he accepted the position of HR Manager at Chelsea Building Products South, Greenville, Texas. “My dream job came true with the help of my degree. Thank you LETU for helping me to achieve this goal so quickly in such a competitive field!”

Gabrielle “Gabby” Gutierrez (’21 BBMK) is a Finance, Member Relations Specialist in Longview, Texas.

Chelsea (Hembrough) Garcia (’19 MCI-Med) has been promoted to Lieutenant in the United States Coast Guard and is at a new duty station, Coast Guard Forces Micronesia, Sector Guam.

The loss of a loved one, friend or colleague often inspires us to ensure that their memory lives on.  Many people find that supporting LETU is an ideal way to honor someone who has passed away.  Gifts made "in memoriam" offer lasting honor to a loved one while providing family and friends with the satisfaction of knowing they have helped others.  If you would like to give a memoriam to LETU, please call 1-800-259-5388 or donate online at www.letu/give.  The family will be notified of your generosity when a memoriam is made.

LETOURNEAU NOW

FALL 2021

It begins with a plan! The LeTourneau University Foundation wants to be a resource to you—and it begins with you and your unique needs and wishes! We can assist you in arriving at your ideal estate and legacy plan. As we work alongside your advisors, we can help you assure that the stewardship you have sought to consistently demonstrate throughout your life is reflected in your estate planning. The design of your giving solutions can then be one that first serves you. That purpose fulfilled, those giving solutions can then become a means to paving the way to obedience on the part of future generations. The LeTourneau University Foundation is the arm of the university charged with assisting our many alumni and friends with more complex forms of advantageous giving as we grow the university’s endowment. With more than 20 years of experience in estate and succession planning on our team, the LeTourneau University Foundation can help you in these allimportant areas. Do you have a comprehensive plan in place? Do you have questions about the most tax-efficient ways to give? We would love to be of service to you in this most strategic way. For assistance or questions, please reach out to our Executive Director Tom Bevan and the team he has supporting him at (903) 233-3833 or via email at leavealegacy@letufoundation.org.

How can we help? •

Seasoned guidance for what estate and legacy planning looks like—unique to your situation.

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Identifying the “building blocks” to any effective and intentional estate plan.

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Special situations, such as minor or special needs children, succeeding your business.

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Assuring that what God has done in your life becomes a powerful motivation to those who will follow you.

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Supporting intentional tax-efficient giving from within your plan.

What makes our due diligence so important right now? Consider just some of what the current tax code allows for … •

An unprecedented Federal Estate Tax threshold: $11.4 million level for individuals, doubled for married couples!

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Giving from appreciated assets: where you can eliminate the capital gains taxes on their appreciation! This can save at least 20% in unnecessary tax!

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“Two-Way” Interest Gift Designs: Gift designs such as Charitable Remainder Unitrusts, an alternative to a Donor Advised Fund, can provide supplemental or spousal income, with full control over the giving you want to accomplish once that income period ends!

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Giving from IRA’s: Beginning at age 70 1/2, giving from your IRA can qualify against your Required Minimum Distribution, starting at age 72, at up to $100,000 per individual, per year, and be considered a “non-event.”

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Higher Deduction Limits for Public Charities: Limits for charitable contributions to public charities (such as LETU) are lifted from 60% to 100% of your 2020 Adjusted Gross Income.

For additional information, visit letufoundation.org NOTE: While the LeTourneau University Foundation can be relied upon for its accuracy, always consult your tax advisor for the actual tax benefits that apply to your unique situation.

Take a moment to view these videos and hear more from Dr. Terry Zeitlow and Tom Bevan about the LeTourneau Foundation. •

letu.edu/tv/now-connect-sep2020

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letu.edu/tv/now-connect-oct2020

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letu.edu/tv/now-connect-nov2020

FALL 2021

LeTourneau NOW P.O. Box 8001 Longview, TX 75607

INSPIRING FUTURE GENERATIONS This fall the LETU Chapter of Women in Aviation hosted the international event, Girls in Aviation Day! The event allowed over 100 girls from the East Texas community to experience one of the top aviation programs in the nation, interact with our current students and faculty, and hear from amazing alums in the aviation industry.

letu.edu/LeTourneauBuilt t h e

PHOTOGRAPH BY GRANT BRIDGMAN

C H R I S T I A N

P O LY T E C H N I C

U N I V E R S I T Y

LeTourneau University NOW! Fall 2021

Articles inside

Innovating & Claiming a Future of Co-Creating

Class Notes