2019 PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Leadership... 10
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...through BOLD VISION: In August, the Business Roundtable, a national association of CEOs, announced a new Statement of Purpose espousing the same approach Lipscomb has been advocating since 2008 when it launched the Dean Institute for Corporate Governance and Integrity: there’s more to good business than pleasing shareholders. For the ninth year in a row, the institute held the Business with Purpose Awards, honoring Cal Turner Jr. (pictured second from left), former chairman of Dollar General Corp., and Steve Turner (pictured second from right), founder of MarketStreet Enterprises , in fall 2018. The two brothers are local philanthropists who shared their story of reconciliation and economic success. See more on how Lipscomb leads through bold vision on page 4.
...that EMPOWERS THE MIND: Nashville boasts one of the leading international research facilities focused on cancer drug development: Sarah Cannon Research Institute. In January 2019, Sarah Cannon CEO Deanna Smith (pictured) thanked Lipscomb researchers for working to refine the use of a breast cancer drug called lapatinib, that was used on a patient for the first time at Sarah Cannon. For the past four years, Lipscomb’s pharmaceutical researchers have been working to improve the ability to tailor the use of lapatinib to the patient, allowing for less risk of liver damage. “Research is the only vehicle that will ensure that patients get the right therapy for the right patient at the right time, and Lipscomb is a huge part of this,” Smith said. See more on how Lipscomb’s leadership empowers the mind on page 10.
...DRIVEN by COURAGE:
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In March and April, Nashville was united in supporting the Bisons as they fought their way to the finals of the National Invitational Tournament held at Madison Square Garden in New York City. On championship day, Lipscomb received numerous messages of support from Nashville Mayor David Briley, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, the Nashville Predators, the Tennessee Titans, former student and Country music star Thomas Rhett, and more. See more on how Lipscomb leaders are driven by courage on page 18.
...that EMBRACES THE HEART:
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For the past 12 years, hundreds of Nashville’s top leaders have made their way to Lipscomb each semester for the Nashville Business Breakfast to hear the latest from business or community leaders making a financial impact. In 2018, however, community leaders and Lipscomb students were honored to see a side of civic leadership not shared as often with the public—leadership of the heart. Gov. Bill Haslam (pictured praying over Lipscomb students at The Gathering), headlined the Nashville Business Breakfast in one of his final speaking engagements as governor, then remained on campus to share his faith journey at the university’s weekly chapel, The Gathering. See more on how Lipscomb embraces leadership of the heart on page 26.
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...FUELED by CREATIVITY: Michaela Kirk (’15) (pictured), Lipscomb alumna and business development engineer at Turner Construction, is working to help other young women discover a career in engineering or construction. She and her fellow female Turner engineers have established Girls Build It, a two-day camp held on the Lipscomb campus. Activities include visiting landmark construction projects and carrying out hands-on projects such as building concrete lamps to get a deeper view of trades, construction and engineering fields. See more on how Lipscomb is fueled by creativity on page 32.
Stepping out in faith to lead From the earliest days of Lipscomb University, less than 50 years after Nashville was named as Tennessee’s capital city, the people of Lipscomb—students and faculty—have stepped out in faith to lead in the city that surrounds the campus. David Lipscomb himself was known as a valued community activist, who not only served the city in times of need—during the Civil War and during a deadly cholera epidemic—but also led the city as a thought leader, influencer and advocate. David Lipscomb’s one-of-a-kind leadership—infused with a tender heart for the underprivileged and an unapologetically audacious vision to nurture Nashvillians through a Christian educational institution that “stands in the front ranks” of such organizations around the world—is the same leadership that fuels the university today. It is the same leadership that fuels the university’s latest investment initiative, LipscombLEADS, the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the university’s 128-year history. With bold vision, LipscombLEADS declares our intention to expand and extend Lipscomb-style leadership into every facet of our community and the world.
Perhaps due to divine planning, in the very school year LipscombLEADS was announced, the university experienced an unprecedented example of exactly that: Lipscomb leadership making waves throughout our city and state in frequency and ways never experienced before. This year has brought academic achievements such as five Fulbright fellowships and the university’s sixth Atlantic Sun Conference Academic Trophy; unmatched success in athletics including five NCAA postseason appearances; a record $37.5 million in contributions to LipscombLEADS; the hiring of a nationally renowned high school football coach; the largest grant in school history, $2.5 million, designated to train school principals in a unique way; and welcoming the first class of students in the physician assistant studies program. This past school year was a season of unusually positive achievements, but it wasn’t an atypical year in the life of a university continuing the same mission with which it was born. Whether it entails bringing a noted expert to the campus and Nashville community, helping restore the rubble of homes destroyed in a disaster, bringing knowledge to bear on an idea that could save lives or taking the next steps needed to boost financial resources to bring opportunities to the next generation, Lipscomb will continue to step out—in faith—to lead.
Leadership through bold vision
A bold step in 2019 The year 2019 launched with more than fireworks and party music at Lipscomb. It began with a January gathering at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center to make a historic announcement: the public launch of the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the university’s 128-year history: LipscombLEADS, an initiative to raise $250 million by the end of 2021.
Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry addresses the crowd at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, decked out in Lipscomb colors, at the January launch of the campaign. lipscomb.edu/leads
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LipscombLEADS t Lipscomb, our president is fond of telling students on graduation day, “You cannot become who God intends for you to be if you stay where you are.” His adage holds true for the university itself as well. Without a vision for the future, an educational institution won’t last very long. But Lipscomb’s vision is not only for itself; it encompasses offering solutions to society’s problems, through a Christ-driven approach, in our local community, the state and the world. Our vision involves not just new academic programs, but a best-in-class academic program with nationally recognized scholars, researchers and faculty. Programs that fill Nashville’s crucial marketplace needs for health care and hospitality leaders. Our vision involves not just expanding the physical footprint of our Lipscomb Academy campus, but expanding our services to bring special needs education integrated within a Christian learning environment to students with special needs and their families. Our vision is not just a new building with lab space for the arts college, but a new conference center—the George Shinn Center—providing a transformative experience for both students and the community, including multi-purpose spaces that welcome the neighborhood to enjoy arts performances, networking and educational events bringing cultural benefit to all. Lipscomb’s future is built not on a vision, but on a bold vision of leadership encompassing everyone around us.
Lipscomb’s future is the community’s future.
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Leadership through bold vision
Here’s How
Largest campaign in history launched
A bold step in 2019 The year 2019 launched with more than fireworks and party music at Lipscomb. It began with a January gathering at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center to make a historic announcement: the public launch of the most ambitious fundraising campaign in the university’s 128-year history: LipscombLEADS, an initiative to raise $250 million by the end of 2021.
Lipscomb President L. Randolph Lowry addresses the crowd at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center, decked out in Lipscomb colors, at the January launch of the campaign. lipscomb.edu/leads
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Five months into the public phase of the campaign, LipscombLEADS had brought together more than 43,000 investors providing $207 million toward the $250 million goal. The LipscombLEADS campaign is the culmination of an 11-year goal to build Lipscomb University and Lipscomb Academy into a premiere national Christian institution in the 21st century. The campaign was announced in late January when Lipscomb hosted nearly 1,000 donors and friends at Nashville’s Schermerhorn Symphony Center and held a campus-wide celebration in Allen Arena to introduce the Lipscomb community to the goals of broadening Lipscomb’s reach to the community, the economy, health care, spiritual health and many other aspects of our world. LipscombLEADS focuses on three main priorities: • A best-in-class academic program, nurturing nationally recognized scholars, researchers and faculty and offering solutions to society’s problems through a Christ-driven approach; • A transformative student experience, shaped by personal service, outstanding amenities, a 21st century Christian emphasis, an NCAA Division I athletic program that leads the nation and a diverse, multicultural campus environment; and • A model for sustainable impact, that fuels Lipscomb’s stability and success and includes endowed scholarships as a major component. “This is a significant moment in the life of this institution—and one that will make a profound impact on our students for generations to come,” said L. Randolph Lowry, president.
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RECORD YEARS Lipscomb has enjoyed three consecutive years of record giving, leading up to $37.5 million contributed in 2018-19.
LipscombLEADS by striving to grow its permanent endowment to more than $100 million to support students, faculty and programs.
LipscombLEADS
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IN THE NATION The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Lipscomb the sixth fastest-growing private doctoral university from 2001-2016. Enrollment grew by 80.6% in that time period.
TOP
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IN THE NATION U.S. News & World Report ranked Lipscomb’s undergraduate engineering programs among the top 100 in the nation in 2019.
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IN THE NATION Bestschools.org ranked Lipscomb Online’s organizational leadership program as the fourth best online program in the nation.
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IN THE STATE The undergraduate business program was ranked the top private program in the state by Poets & Quants.
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YEARS
IN THE NATION
The teacher preparation program has scored as one of the most effective in the state according to Tennessee’s Teacher Preparation Report Card for eight consecutive years.
The Military Times Best for Vets ranked Lipscomb’s programs for student veterans as 13th best in the nation.
t Lipscomb, our president is fond of telling students on graduation day, “You cannot become who God intends for you to be if you stay where you are.” His adage holds true for the university itself as well. Without a vision for the future, an educational institution won’t last very long. But Lipscomb’s vision is not only for itself; it encompasses offering solutions to society’s problems, through a Christ-driven approach, in our local community, the state and the world. Our vision involves not just new academic programs, but a best-in-class academic program with nationally recognized scholars, researchers and faculty. Programs that fill Nashville’s crucial marketplace needs for health care and hospitality leaders. Our vision involves not just expanding the physical footprint of our Lipscomb Academy campus, but expanding our services to bring special needs education integrated within a Christian learning environment to students with special needs and their families. Our vision is not just a new building with lab space for the arts college, but a new conference center—the George Shinn Center—providing a transformative experience for both students and the community, including multi-purpose spaces that welcome the neighborhood to enjoy arts performances, networking and educational events bringing cultural benefit to all. Lipscomb’s future is built not on a vision, but on a bold vision of leadership encompassing everyone around us.
Lipscomb’s future is the community’s future.
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Roll out the welcome mat The newest building on campus, the George Shinn Center, houses a multiuse design event hall, a creative hub for the arts and entertainment college, and a welcome center for prospective students.
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Lipscomb is only as great as the community that claims it. So this year Lipscomb is rolling out a new welcome mat to invite the community to engage even more actively with the university that already has more than 177,000 visitors a year. The George Shinn Center, recently completed, boasts an event hall with a multi-use design for a myriad of community and campus events; a welcome center with convenient parking and inviting spaces to greet visitors and prospective students; and the CEA Studios, an idea space designed to bring students and artistic professionals together to spark and nurture ingenious solutions for the future. The George Shinn Center centralizes Lipscomb’s community activities into a modern, inspiring 33,000-square-foot space with various options for meetings, activities, dinners and receptions, and artistic performances. Spaces vary from a grand two-story lobby to an event hall that can be converted into a black box theater or opened up to hold a 500-person dinner. For students looking to step out into the next phase of their lives, the George Shinn Center provides a warm welcome with an experiential space that “gives newcomers a great understanding of Lipscomb’s DNA,” said Byron Lewis, vice president for enrollment management. As the space where every campus tour kicks off, the Welcome Center includes presentation space, a meeting area, designated parking for visitors and exhibits on Lipscomb’s history, academics, campus life, career placement and the benefits of education in the city of Nashville. “We want to show every visitor that Lipscomb is a community that will shape you in profound ways,” said Lewis. With various performance spaces and studios for music production, film post-production and computer-generated imagery, the George Shinn Center serves as the new hub for the George Shinn College of Entertainment & the Arts, which operates in academic and performance spaces throughout the campus. But Shinn is where students in all artistic disciplines can come together to collaborate on ideas and projects, said college Dean Mike Fernandez.
LIPSCOMBLEADS
(At right) President L. Randolph Lowry participates in the April Day of Giving on-campus activities.
Investment in our children’s future
Rendering of the expected $25 million expansion of Lipscomb Academy’s Lower School.
The construction vehicles working at the corner of Granny White Pike and Battery Lane began working this spring on the largest capital project in Lipscomb Academy’s history, an expected $25 million expansion of the academy’s Brewer campus, site of the lower school. But those bulldozers and cranes represent much more than an investment in bricks and mortar for the pre-K through 12th grade school. They represent investment in quality Christian education for students with special needs. Thanks to the vision of donors Jim and Pam Griffith, whose 4-year-old grandson Solomon, or Solly, suffers from cerebral palsy, Lipscomb is bringing together a special needs education with a Christian environment to provide a combination rarely found in Nashville’s K-12 schools today. Called The Solly School, the pilot of the special needs program launched in fall 2019, and while this program will have its own space in the addition with the accommodations needed to ensure a successful educational, therapeutic experience, students with special needs will be as fully integrated as possible in appropriate grade-level classrooms, chapel, recess and lunch periods. Additional enhancements to the Brewer campus will bring additional instruction space, a new student commons area that will also serve as the cafeteria and a 21st century learning commons, with an innovative collaborative hub that offers students technology-rich research stations, flexible furnishings, collaborative instructional spaces, inviting reading areas, access to library materials and creative makerspace materials.
Inaugural Day of Giving Lipscomb’s first Day of Giving, March 12, exceeded expectations five times over with 2,741 investors giving $542,164 to support Lipscomb students and to fund various programs on campus including missions, athletics, Lipscomb Academy and individual colleges. The Day of Giving resulted in more individual gifts received in a single day than at any time in Lipscomb’s history.
DAY OF GIVING CONTRIBUTORS HAILED FROM
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NATIONS
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BOLD VISION “Phil is one of the most wellrespected businessmen and entrepreneurs in Nashville. He has led some of Nashville’s most successful companies and is still involved with cutting-edge business ventures. He is an inspirational role model for our students. Being able to spend time with someone of Phil’s caliber is a rare opportunity for any aspiring business leader.” —RAY ELDRIDGE
Dean of Lipscomb’s College of Business
Lipscomb Bisons impacting your world As Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s administration stepped into power, two leaders who once stepped on Lipscomb’s campus as students also took on their roles as the commissioners of tourism and health, two areas essential to the lives of Tennesseans today. Mark Ezell (’82) was appointed commissioner of the Department of Tourist Development. He is a member of the iconic Nashville business family that not only had Nashvillians drinking Purity milk for generations, but also got the nation hooked on milk with the famous “Got milk?” ad campaign. Ezell is a graduate of Lipscomb Academy as well as the university. Lisa Piercey (’98) was appointed commissioner of the Department of Health. She spent a decade in health systems operations, most recently as executive vice president of West Tennessee Healthcare. Piercey earned her Bachelor of Science in chemistry at Lipscomb and is certified by the American Board of Pediatrics in general pediatrics and in child abuse pediatrics. 10
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Pfeffer Graduate School of Business established Phil Pfeffer has been making a positive impact on the careers of Lipscomb graduate students in business since 2016, when the president and CEO of Treemont Capital Inc. and former chairman of the board and CEO of Ingram Distribution Group Inc. became the CEO-in-residence at Lipscomb’s business college. But now Phil and his wife Pam, both philanthropists, will be making a positive impact on generation after generation of Lipscomb business students, as their name is now connected to the Pfeffer Graduate School of Business, providing students a constant reminder of the ethical business practices and Christian education the College of Business advocates. The Pfeffer Graduate School of Business, created earlier this year due to the generosity of the Pfeffers, will house all graduate business programs including masters in accountancy, business administration, health administration and management as well as several related graduate certificates.
College of Business Dean Ray Eldridge (left) thanks Pam (center) and Phil Pfeffer for their generosity.
Lipscomb grads fuel health care, hospitality industries As a trailblazer in health care and hospitality, Nashville enjoys almost $53 billion in economic benefit and more than 373,000 local jobs from these two industries. Effective employees, managers, executives and successful leaders are crucial to continuing the city’s national leadership in health care and hospitality. Lipscomb graduates of two new programs which enrolled their first students this past fall will be ready and equipped to follow in the footsteps of alumni such as Mitch Edgeworth, chief administrative officer at HCA TriStar Division, and Rob Mortensen, president and CEO of the Tennessee Hospitality and Tourism Association, to take on influential roles in these vital areas shaping the future of Tennessee.
Master of Health Administration The College of Business developed the MHA after nearly two years of collaboration with an executive advisory board comprised of 17 industry executives, including senior leaders of organizations in the for-profit, nonprofit and government sectors. The curriculum is designed to be integrated, interactive and immersive, with students spending time focused in health care organizations and visiting leaders in their workplaces. In addition to targeting mid-careerists who want to build a successful career in health care leadership, the MHA degree is also designed for clinicians who want to learn the business of health care and individuals from outside of health care who want to transition to the industry.
Bachelor in Hospitality and Entertainment Management This bachelor’s degree has been designed to develop the multidisciplinary skill set needed in today’s hospitality industry: business practices, entertainment production, food and beverage, and event planning. Four of Lipscomb’s academic colleges have collaborated to design and offer the curriculum to prepare students for theme park, restaurant, catering, travel or hotel management, tourism and production planning. In addition, internships are offered including rotations in Lipscomb’s own on-campus learning labs: the Bison Inn hotel, entertainment and technical services department, event management office and food service and catering.
Lipscomb’s hospitality bachelor’s program provides internships at convenient on-campus operations including Bison Inn, the university’s oncampus year-round hotel.
“This program could not come at a better time for our industry. We look forward to working with Lipscomb to help create the best program possible. This announcement is a win for Lipscomb and a win for Nashville’s hospitality industry.” — BUTCH
SPYRIDON President and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.
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Leadership that empowers the mind
Teaching the world In the grand tradition of the Athens of the South, Lipscomb prepared two of this year’s Fulbright Student Program winners to teach in Tennessee’s classrooms… and now they are headed to the world’s classrooms. In fact, Lipscomb is sending more students and alumni than ever before to spread their influence in Asia, Europe and Latin America through the Fulbright program in 2019 and 2020.
Hannah Logsdon (left) and Lauren Borders (center) talk with Paul Prill, who serves as Lipscomb’s Fulbright Program advisor.
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Academics
mind needs to be more than fed, it needs to be empowered. Only then does it become the mind of a leader. A mind released to discover. A mind with the ability to successfully apply its knowledge to real-world problems. A mind that pursues solutions best for all. Lipscomb does more than impart knowledge; it empowers the minds of its students, faculty and those in the community to take action. Through practical, hands-on academics and workplace internships, one-on-one relationships with faculty experts and authorities in their fields, and facilities designed to promote collaboration and new ideas sparked from multiple disciplines, students stretch the boundaries of their education and become active tools for bettering our world. Examples of this empowerment abound, with a record number of Lipscomb students earning Fulbright fellowship offers, faculty carrying out close to $8 million in grant-funded research and community engagement projects, national awards granted to Lipscomb educators, the launch of programs in new career areas and national leaders drawn to join the Lipscomb faculty.
With Lipscomb leadership crafting it, knowledge truly is power.
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Leadership that empowers the mind Here’s How
Five students and alumni receive Fulbrights
Teaching the world In the grand tradition of the Athens of the South, Lipscomb prepared two of this year’s Fulbright Student Program winners to teach in Tennessee’s classrooms… and now they are headed to the world’s classrooms. In fact, Lipscomb is sending more students and alumni than ever before to spread their influence in Asia, Europe and Latin America through the Fulbright program in 2019 and 2020.
Hannah Logsdon (left) and Lauren Borders (center) talk with Paul Prill, who serves as Lipscomb’s Fulbright Program advisor.
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Seventeen Lipscomb students and alumni have been selected throughout the university’s history by the U.S. Department of State as Fulbright fellows, charged to travel around the globe to improve foreign students’ English language skills and their knowledge of the U.S. as well as to research pressing global issues. Twelve Lipscomb students and alumni have been awarded Fulbrights since 2006, and five were awarded in 2019. The university’s global focus in the new millennium and resources allocated to student research opportunities, global study, servicelearning and rigorous honors study have paid off with students and alumni travelling to Moldova, Indonesia, Spain, South Korea and other global locales. Lipscomb’s former Fulbright recipients have gone on to work with the U.S. state department, to attend Cambridge University and to enroll in law and medical schools, among other pursuits. Preparing students for these opportunities is a university-wide effort, with faculty providing research opportunities, one-on-one mentoring and personal recommendations, and the Honors College program, directed by Paul Prill, who serves as the Fulbright Program advisor, hosting workshops to raise student awareness of national competitive scholarships. The Student Scholars Symposium, with more than 300 students university-wide participating, spurs research opportunities, and expanded global learning and missions programs provided more than 400 students this past year with valuable global travel experiences before they graduate, an additional asset for Fulbright applicants.
12 of 17 FULBRIGHTS
Twelve of Lipscomb’s 17 Fulbright fellowship winners in its history have been awarded since 2006.
LipscombLEADS with nationally recognized scholars, researchers and teachers to teach the best and brightest students.
Academics
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STUDENT SCHOLARS Participation in the annual Student Scholars Symposium has grown from 48 to 332 since its establishment in 2012.
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GRANT-FUNDED PROJECTS The faculty carried out 40 grant-funded scientific research and community enhancement projects during 2018-19.
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NEW PAS Lipscomb will graduate its first cohort of physician assistants in a year’s time.
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GLOBAL SITES In semester-long study abroad or short-term travel courses, more than 400 students travel around the world each year for global study.
mind needs to be more than fed, it needs to be empowered. Only then does it become the mind of a leader. A mind released to discover. A mind with the ability to successfully apply its knowledge to real-world problems. A mind that pursues solutions best for all. Lipscomb does more than impart knowledge; it empowers the minds of its students, faculty and those in the community to take action.
Millions of dollars flow into Lipscomb each year from public and private grants, including almost $7.8 million in 2018-19.
Through practical, hands-on academics and workplace internships, one-on-one relationships with faculty experts and authorities in their fields, and facilities designed to promote collaboration and new ideas sparked from multiple disciplines, students stretch the boundaries of their education and become active tools for bettering our world.
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Examples of this empowerment abound, with a record number of Lipscomb students earning Fulbright fellowship offers, faculty carrying out close to $8 million in grant-funded research and community engagement projects, national awards granted to Lipscomb educators, the launch of programs in new career areas and national leaders drawn to join the Lipscomb faculty.
$7.8M GRANT AWARDS
ACCREDITED
Lipscomb is the only four-year university in the Southeast to receive the International Coach Federation’s Accredited Coach Training Program accreditation.
With Lipscomb leadership crafting it, knowledge truly is power.
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Margot Shetterly
Lipscomb gathers the city to learn from engineering pioneers The city’s engineers, public school students, Lipscomb students and African American leaders came together to learn at the feet of two influential women who have shaped the aerospace engineering field and how we think about its development. Margot Lee Shetterly (pictured above left), author of Hidden Figures, the 2016 historical book that told the true story of NASA’s African-American, female “human computers,” who began work in the 1950s, spoke to local public school students and the public, sharing why the computers’ story became a story of hope in “a fractured time.” Her appearance was the headline event for a daylong celebration of STEM education that engaged more than 500 public middle school students in hands-on science activities, many of which were carried out by scientists from Oak Ridge National Laboratory. One of the human computers herself, Christine Darden, was on campus in April to speak to local engineers about her 30-year career in high-speed aerodynamics and sonic boom research for the Global Day of the Engineer
Visiting experts left their mark on campus and city Elaine Ecklund
John Musker
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Experts in various fields and those who have experienced momentous events regularly come to campus to share their learned wisdom with the Lipscomb community and the broader Nashville community. John Musker(pictured bottom left), a 40-year Disney animation studio veteran, who co-directed and co-wrote seven features: The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Hercules, Treasure Planet, The Princess and the Frog, and Moana; spoke to the public about his prestigious career in animation and spoke to students about the art of caricature. Scott Hamilton, Olympic gold medalist in figure skating in the 1980s, spoke at Lipscomb’s Nashville Business Breakfast, a quarterly networking event for local businesspeople. Hamilton, who has faced cancer several times, shared lessons on how to press on in the face of life’s challenges. Joey Spann, survivor of the Burnette Chapel Church of Christ shooting in Antioch, Tennessee, in September 2017, shared his testimony with visitors on campus at Summer Celebration, an annual spiritually-focused three-day lecture series. As Burnette’s minister, Spann spoke on how he handles the aftermath with grace and forgiveness. Elaine Ecklund (pictured middle left), a noted researcher on the subject of faith and science, came to campus to relay the significance of studying religious identity. Ecklund is the author of five books, including Science vs. Religion: What Scientists Really Think.
ACADEMICS
800+ people from across the nation apply for first 34 PA spots Thirty-four students from 19 U.S. states out of 816 applicants were selected for Lipscomb’s inaugural class of the physician assistant master’s program. These new PAs will emerge from this highly selective and competitive program ready to provide patient care to our nation in about a year. Lipscomb’s program is only the second such program in Middle Tennessee, and students began their studies in newly renovated facilities in September 2018. The program holds provisional accreditation by the Accreditation Review Commission on Education for the Physician Assistant. Building on existing clinical partnerships in Nashville—one of the nation’s health care capitals—the Master of Physician Assistant Studies incorporates the university’s proven interprofessional education activities with nutrition, pharmacy, nursing and kinesiology, extensive hands-on clinical opportunities and exposure to modern technology, such as a 24-mannequin health simulation lab outfitted with a NICU unit, and an anatomy lab large enough to allow every PA student hands-on dissection with one cadaver for every five students.
Lipscomb’s first cohort of PA students are learning in a new anatomy lab large enough for a hands-on dissection ratio far above most other physician assistant programs.
Middle Tennessee native and aerospace leader returns home to train future engineers For more than three decades, Centerville, Tennessee-born David Elrod (pictured right) has designed wind tunnels, hypersonic propulsion units and space chambers, working closely with the United States Air Force, NASA and commercial aerospace customers. He has led operation of the world’s largest complex of flight simulation test facilities and managed multi-billion-dollar contracts. But this leader in the international aerospace industry didn’t need an introduction to Lipscomb University last year when he became the dean of the Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, because he is an alumnus of Lipscomb, having graduated in 1977 with a degree in physics. 2019 PRESIDENT’S REPORT
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EMPOWERS THE MIND
The nation’s most prominent public agencies and private foundations turned to Lipscomb this past year for almost $8 million worth of scientific discovery and community improvement from training principals in rural school districts to studying the best concrete mix for state highways to integrating mental health care in medical clinics serving at-risk populations.
Academic scholarship rolling up its sleeves for the community Here are a few of the 34 faculty members who carried out grant-funded research and engagement projects in the past school year: • • • • • • • • • • •
Stephanie Weeden-Wright (pictured left), National Science Foundation Lance Forman, Kern Family Foundation and Scarlett Family Foundation Joey Tipton, NASA Rachael Milligan, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Klarissa Jackson, National Institute of Health Ally Hauptman, Tennessee Department of Education Todd Lynn (pictured above) and Mark McDonald, Tennessee Department of Transportation Fort Gwinn, National Science Foundation Misty Parsley and Andrew Prewitt, U.S. Department of Education Douglas Ribeiro, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Chad Gentry, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Disease
ACADEMICS
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PERFECT SCORES Lipscomb Academy high school students have racked up six perfect ACT scores in six years (with two awarded in 2019).
Academy seniors’ ACT scores increase in 2018-19 Lipscomb Academy places a high priority on rigorous academic success, and this past year it certainly showed, as the top 10 percent of the senior class raised its average ACT score to 32.2, up from a 30 average score last year. Lipscomb’s successful pre-K-12 students attribute their academic success to one-on-one attention from teachers, project-based and problem-based learning programs like those carried out in the iWonder lab and various dual enrollment courses offered through Lipscomb University.
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EMPOWERS THE MIND
Lipscomb Bisons impacting your world One of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital’s newest research fellows is a Lipscomb alumna: Elizabeth Gibson (’15), a College of Pharmacy graduate who was the second student to complete Lipscomb’s pathway program feeding into the doctorate program at Vanderbilt University. At St. Jude, Gibson works to improve the use of chemotherapy drugs in infants and small children, particularly those with tumors. This work helps clinicians develop effective therapies and tailor doses of these powerful drugs to fit the disease and the patient’s age.
“Using the unique training I obtained from the Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy Pharm.D.-to Ph.D. Pathway Program, I am able to combine both clinical and research skill sets to improve treatment and outcomes for the pediatric population.” —ELIZABETH GIBSON (Pharm.D. ’15) Post-doctoral Research Fellow at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
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Students travel the globe for academic credit Lipscomb Academy offered two new global opportunities for academic credit to students this past year: a three-week study abroad course in Florence, Italy, and a 10-day travel course to Shenzhen, China (pictured above). “We want to prepare our students for the world they are walking into, which is much smaller than it used to be,” said Jesse Savage, Lipscomb Academy dean of academics. “The likelihood our students will find themselves in an entirely different culture during their lifetime is highly likely. We aspire to make students global change-leaders.” More colleges are offering or requiring study abroad programs, so as a college preparatory school, academy academic leaders felt it was important to “give students a taste of what that will be like,” Savage said. Partnering with Lipscomb University’s global learning department allowed the use of the university’s villa in Florence, which includes an on-site full-time resident director. “Because of those resources, we are able to offer a longer-term study abroad experience in Florence, one unlike any of the travel courses other schools in the city can do,” said Savage.
Campus improvements nurture both sides of the brain Lipscomb invested this year in its creative side, with a new headquarters for the School of Art & Design as well as an expanded visual arts gallery, and for its logical side the university renovated the James D. Hughes Center into a hub for the university’s health science programs. CREATIVE: The Hutcheson Art Gallery (pictured right), founded in 1986, moved to a new location that now includes an open space for receptions and 130 feet of well-lit wall space. Creating a new cultural hub in Beaman Library, the gallery’s grand re-opening featured illustrations by legendary Disney animator and Lipscomb animation faculty member John Pomeroy and an exhibit of works by Lipscomb alumni such as Paula Frizbe (’73), Anna Jaap (’87), Harold Kraus (’83), Michael Shane Neal (’91) and Dawn Whitelaw (’67). The new headquarters for the School of Art & Design, in renovated offices on the lower level of McFarland Science Center, includes more square footage for the school; graphic design, painting, drawing, printmaking and 2D animation studios; and an enlarged fashion design classroom. Further boosting creativity, the complex includes a long whiteboard wall where students are encouraged to doodle and draw whatever comes to mind and an innovation center focused on the intersection of art and engineering. LOGICAL: As a worldwide health care center, Nashville is a proving ground for interprofessional patient care, one of the key methods the industry is looking toward to enhance health care of the future. Lipscomb’s health science programs have been practicing interprofessional education and training for a decade, and now those efforts are set in concrete with the renovation of the James D. Hughes Center. The renovation provides increased access for health science students and faculty in every discipline to collaborate, commune and learn from each other. The new facility also provides expanded square footage in four health science labs and an additional cutting-edge anatomy lab (pictured above). Hughes serves as a hub for the School of Physician Assistant Studies, the Department of Nutrition and Kinesiology and the vice provost’s office for health affairs, housed in one building located between the headquarters for the School of Nursing and the Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Center.
“The Hughes Center renovation provides synergy for broader faculty interaction and collaboration to enhance interprofessional education opportunities, the lynchpin for progressive models of health science education.” —Roger Davis Vice Provost of Health Affairs
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Leadership driven by courage
Making History in the Big Apple Calling a ceasefire to the Battle of the Boulevard, Nashville was united in watching the final Tennessee team in national competition this past spring when the Bisons went to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The team showed athletic leadership on the court by progressing to the final game, and they showed spiritual leadership off the courts in their behavior and their final act of the tournament‌ a passionate prayer at mid-court. The Bisons certainly made an impression on the nation after winning their way to the finals of the NIT in the famed Madison Square Garden in April.
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Athletics
t is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;... who comes short again and again,... but who... at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -President Theadore Roosevelt Many leaders have the skills needed to guide a group to success; but leaders with courage are those willing to dare greatly and step in front of thousands of cheering fans in Madison Square Garden to take on one of the best teams in the nation. Many students have the determination and focus to excel in academics during college; but leaders with courage are those who dare to rise for early morning practice sessions in the chilly air and to stay up late to complete assignments missed in class. It’s also leaders with courage who dare to take on service to others, on top of academics and practice, as many of our athletes do each week when they volunteer at an after-school tutoring and sports enrichment program at a nearby public school. With almost 129 years of victories, growth and—yes, stumbles—behind us, Lipscomb knows what it means to harness courage and strive valiantly.
So when Lipscomb studentathletes face a new season, a new opponent, a new record, we know they will dare greatly.
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Leadership driven by courage
Here’s How
Bisons stampede to Madison Square Garden
Making History in the Big Apple Calling a ceasefire to the Battle of the Boulevard, Nashville was united in watching the final Tennessee team in national competition this past spring when the Bisons went to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The team showed athletic leadership on the court by progressing to the final game, and they showed spiritual leadership off the courts in their behavior and their final act of the tournament… a passionate prayer at mid-court. The Bisons certainly made an impression on the nation after winning their way to the finals of the NIT in the famed Madison Square Garden in April.
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The Lipscomb men’s basketball team carried its latest season as far as it could go. Since Lipscomb made the move to NCAA Division I in 1999, the university’s various athletic teams have advanced to their respective NCAA national tournaments 32 times, including the men’s basketball team’s first-time appearance in March 2018. During the five years leading up to that appearance, the Bisons were consistently at .500 or better in the Atlantic Sun Conference and earned their first 20-win season in 2016-17. In 2018, the team won 12 of its final 13 games to head to the NCAA, providing the entire nation with exposure to the name Lipscomb. Following on the heels of that success, the Bisons’ 2018-19 season was capped off by a bid to play in the NIT, where they set their sights firmly on getting to the finals in New York City. During a run of five games, two of which were played in the Garden, one of the nation’s most famous venues, Lipscomb became the topic of national chatter and has put its stake in the ground as a nationally recognized and highly competitive mid-major basketball program. Through the Bisons’ postseason run, March 10 through April 7, the men’s basketball team received extensive media coverage including nearly 1,000 local and national television hits and more than 1,350 print and online articles with a reach of 1.5 billion views.
1st
ASUN IN NIT The men’s Bison basketball team became the first Atlantic Sun Conference team to ever play in the National Invitational Tournament Championship.
LipscombLEADS by shaping each student’s college experience with a Christian NCAA Division I athletic program that leads the nation.
Athletics
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NCAA FINALISTS Since joining the NCAA Division 1, the Bisons have made 32 team or individual appearances in their respective NCAA tournaments.
8
87.5%
ATHLETES WITH 3.0+ The percentage of student-athletes with a 3.0 or higher GPA has earned Lipscomb six ASUN All Academic trophies.
8
ASUN CHAMPS
POSTSEASON VICTORIES
Lipscomb enjoyed its best sports season since joining the NCAA Division I with eight ASUN Championships in both regular season and conference tournament play.
This past year the Bisons earned eight wins in postseason play, the most in program history, in men’s and women’s soccer, men’s basketball and softball.
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16th
NCAA NET RANKING
IN THE NATION
Men’s basketball team was ranked 37th in the inaugural NCAA Net Rankings, making the Bisons the highest ranked ASUN team and the second-highest ranked Tennessee team.
The men’s soccer team earned their first national ranking in program history.
t is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;... who comes short again and again,... but who... at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -President Theadore Roosevelt Many leaders have the skills needed to guide a group to success; but leaders with courage are those willing to dare greatly and step in front of thousands of cheering fans in Madison Square Garden to take on one of the best teams in the nation. Many students have the determination and focus to excel in academics during college; but leaders with courage are those who dare to rise for early morning practice sessions in the chilly air and to stay up late to complete assignments missed in class. It’s also leaders with courage who dare to take on service to others, on top of academics and practice, as many of our athletes do each week when they volunteer at an after-school tutoring and sports enrichment program at a nearby public school. With almost 129 years of victories, growth and—yes, stumbles—behind us, Lipscomb knows what it means to harness courage and strive valiantly.
So when Lipscomb studentathletes face a new season, a new opponent, a new record, we know they will dare greatly.
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Leadership driven by courage
I’m a Bison fan now...
In addition to their athletic prowess, the Bisons also caught the attention of the nation though their on-court behavior. The following text selection is a portion of an email sent to President L. Randolph Lowry the morning after the NIT championship game. The author, John Collins, and his wife, Jo, live in Madison, Alabama. Collins sent the email as a daily devotional that he shared with friends and colleagues.
Making History in the Big Apple Calling a ceasefire to the Battle of the Boulevard, Nashville was united in watching the final Tennessee team in national competition this past spring when the Bisons went to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament in New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The team showed athletic leadership on the court by progressing to the final game, and they showed spiritual leadership off the courts in their behavior and their final act of the tournament… a passionate prayer at mid-court. The Bisons certainly made an impression on the nation after winning their way to the finals of the NIT in the famed Madison Square Garden in April.
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From: John Collins Date: April 5, 2019 at 6:49:43 AM CDT Subject: Fwd: Daily Devotional for April 5, 2019 “A true Cinderella Story...the little school from Nashville taking on Texas (yes, that Texas) at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the championship. Bright lights...big city...the opportunity of a lifetime...the stuff they make movies about. Unfortunately, this movie didn’t end well...unless you watched till the very end… “But that’s where this story gets really good... the cameras panned to mid-court where the team had formed a prayer circle around the MSG logo at mid-court. Yes, I know that lots of teams pray after games.... but this time the camera stayed on the circled team as one of their players delivered a passionate word of prayer… It was no coincidence that this team openly was sharing their faith in what many see as the most decadent city in the U.S., and it was certainly no coincidence that the man holding the camera stayed with them long enough to make sure the world watching knew what was going on. “ Yes, the players will always wish they had played better. But finishing up strong...are you kidding me. Talk about kids using the platform to build the Kingdom...double amen to that. Needless to say I’m a Bison fan now…”
Athletics
t is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles,... The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly;... who comes short again and again,... but who... at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” -President Theadore Roosevelt Many leaders have the skills needed to guide a group to success; but leaders with courage are those willing to dare greatly and step in front of thousands of cheering fans in Madison Square Garden to take on one of the best teams in the nation. Many students have the determination and focus to excel in academics during college; but leaders with courage are those who dare to rise for early morning practice sessions in the chilly air and to stay up late to complete assignments missed in class. It’s also leaders with courage who dare to take on service to others, on top of academics and practice, as many of our athletes do each week when they volunteer at an after-school tutoring and sports enrichment program at a nearby public school. With almost 129 years of victories, growth and—yes, stumbles—behind us, Lipscomb knows what it means to harness courage and strive valiantly.
So when Lipscomb studentathletes face a new season, a new opponent, a new record, we know they will dare greatly.
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In fall 2018 the women’s soccer team qualified for the NCAA national tournament for the first time.
Lipscomb Bisons impacting your world Former Lipscomb men’s basketball guard, 2019 ASUN Player of the Year and restorative criminal justice major Garrison Mathews (’19) agreed to a two-way contract to join the Washington Wizards following the 2019 NBA Draft. Mathews closed out his Bison career in New York City after leading the Bisons to the championship game of the National Invitational Tournament at Madison Square Garden. With this contract, Mathews became the first Bison to play in the National Basketball Association.
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Leading as the ASUN academic champs for the sixth time Lipscomb claimed the ASUN Conference All-Academic Trophy for the fifth time in the last six years and the sixth time overall. The trophy goes to the conference school with the highest percentage of student-athletes with a 3.0 or higher GPA. This past year, 87.5 percent of Lipscomb’s student-athletes hit that mark, a percentage that continues to increase each year. This award comes during a year in which the Bisons achieved more success in the postseason on the playing field than at any other time in the NCAA era. The men’s soccer team led the charge compiling the highest team GPA in a season that saw them reach the Sweet 16 in the NCAA tournament in November. Also leading the way for the Bisons was track and field’s Courtney Brenner who was named Scholar Athlete of the Year for cross country and indoor track, as well as winning three ASUN titles and earning two AllAcademic Team honors. A junior, Brenner compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA this year.
ATHLETICS
Basketball and Soccer win ASUN Beam Awards The ASUN Conference awarded its 2019 Beam Award to Lipscomb’ men’s basketball team and to the men’s and women’s soccer teams, all of which had a record-breaking season. The ASUN Beam Award recognizes a school program that breaks new ground in ASUN achievement and enhances the reputation for achievement at their school and the ASUN. Coming off the school’s first ASUN men’s basketball tournament championship in 2018, the Bisons were looking for more postseason success in 2019. A tough loss in the ASUN final left them on the NCAA bubble, and led them ultimately into the NIT. Lipscomb responded
with three consecutive road wins over Davidson, UNC at Greensboro and North Carolina State. In the semifinals at Madison Square Garden, the Bisons knocked out Wichita State, becoming the first ASUN team to ever play in the NIT Championship. In the fall of 2018, Lipscomb became only the fourth program to earn the NCAA bid as ASUN Tournament Champions in both men’s and women’s soccer. In the NCAA, Lipscomb became the first ASUN representative to win first-round games in both men’s and women’s soccer. The women defeated Mississippi State, while the men defeated Washington. The men advanced to the Sweet 16 with a second round win over UCF.
In fall 2018 the men’s soccer team defeated a Power 5 opponent to make it to the Sweet 16 in their NCAA national tournament.
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ATHLETICS
Five teams and two individuals were NCAA-Bound
“You have the opportunity to integrate faith and sport at Lipscomb in a way that you can’t almost anywhere else in the country. That’s part of what makes it special. That’s why we’re getting kids who want to be in this environment.” —KEVIN O’BRIEN Coach Women’s Soccer
Men’s and Women’s Soccer Both soccer teams made trips to their respective NCAA tournaments and bested their first-round opponents, universities with more established soccer traditions, facilities and larger fan followings. But a combination of togetherness, determination, passion and excellence fueled the women’s team to upset Mississippi State and the men’s team (in their second NCAA appearance) to upset Washington and Central Florida to move into the Sweet 16. Softball The Lady Bisons (pictured above) advanced this year to the NCAA tournament for the third time. Their tournament play ended a 13-game winning streak. Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Both men’s and women’s squads travelled to the NCAA tournament, with the women’s squad coming off their seventh ASUN title in eight seasons, the most prolific run of championships in conference history. The men finished 14th with a total of 346 points, the second-highest mark of any ASUN program. Courtney Brenner and Jonathan Imes, Track and Field Brenner (pictured right) qualified for the NCAA meet in the 5,000- and 10,000-meter races, and Imes (pictured left) qualified for the 400-meter sprint.
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“I understand the tradition that exists with Lipscomb basketball and I will do everything I can to continue to build upon that tradition. I have a tremendous amount of appreciation and respect for what has been here in the past. My family and I want to be a part of the community and we want to be a team player by supporting everything Lipscomb stands for. We are very excited to be a part of the Lipscomb family.” — LENNIE ACUFF New Men’s Basketball Coach
New era in Bison basketball Throughout its history, Lipscomb’s men’s and women’s basketball teams have amassed a long record of post-season play. Building on that historic success, 2019 marks a new era as both teams now have new coaches leading them into the 2019-20 season. Lennie Acuff (left)
Head Coach, Men’s Basketball The former University of Alabama in Huntsville head coach Lennie Acuff comes to town with more than 550 wins in his 29-year coaching career. For the past 22 years, Acuff has been at the helm of the Chargers program where he built them into a national power with a 437-214 overall record. Under Acuff, UAH won eight regular season and three Gulf South Conference tournament championships and earned 11 trips to the NCAA-DII tournament, including two trips to the Elite Eight after winning the NCAA-DII South Regional in 2011 and 2012. During that time UAH was ranked in the national polls for 44 consecutive weeks including a No. 2 ranking to end the 2011-12 season.
Lauren Sumski (right)
Head Coach, Women’s Basketball Sumski, former head coach for the Rhodes College women’s basketball team, is the first-ever female to lead the Lipscomb program in the NCAA Division I era. She comes to Lipscomb with a 35-21 overall record in her first head coaching tenure. In her first season at Rhodes, Sumski led the Lynx to an 18-9 overall record, which was a 13-game turnaround from the previous season’s record. It was the third largest improvement among all Division III teams in 2016-17. This past season, the Memphis native led Rhodes to a 1712 record and a Southern Athletic Association Tournament Championship. The season’s victories earned Rhodes its first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2015. During her career as a basketball player, Sumski played at the University of Tennessee, under the legendary Pat Summit, and at Rhodes. She was a two-time WBCA All-American, a National Player of the Year finalist, an SAA Player of the Year, a two-time SAA Tournament MVP, and an academic honor roll member.
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ASUN honors Bison top athletes and coaches Players of the Year Charles Morrow
Logan Paynter
Courtney Brenner, Track and Field Brenner was also awarded the ASUN’s Most Outstanding Indoor Track Performer and one of three ASUN Student Athletes of the Year named across all sports. Hannah DeVault, Softball Named ASUN Defensive Player of the Year for her second consecutive year, DeVault became the first player to win both awards in the same season. Olivia Doak, Women’s Soccer Doak was voted First Team All-ASUN, her third consecutive all-conference honor, and earned a United Soccer Coaches First Team All-Region spot. Vika Dzyuba, Women’s Tennis (pictured third from top) Dzyuba was named to the ASUN All-Academic Team and earned her third straight unanimous First Team selection. Garrison Matthews, Basketball This year was the third time Matthews made the all-conference team, and he was the only unanimous selection on the First Team.
Vika Dzyuba
Logan Paynter, Soccer (pictured second from top) Paynter is the only player in ASUN Conference history to be named the league’s Player of the Year, Scholar Athlete of the Year and Tournament MVP in the same season.
Coaches of the Year Casey Alexander, Men’s Basketball Former head coach Alexander led the Bisons to three 20-win seasons in a row, a spot in the 2018 NCAA National Tournament and to the finals of the 2019 NIT Tournament. Kristin Ryman, Softball (pictured fourth from top) This is the third time Ryman has been named coach of the year, having won the award in 2010 and 2008. Kristin Ryman
Charles Morrow, Men’s Soccer (pictured first at top) Morrow led the Bisons to their second straight NCAA tournament appearance in 2018. Bill Taylor, Women’s Track and Field Taylor’s teams have won 11 ASUN Conference Championships, and five of his athletes earned NCAA All-America recognition.
Mustangs welcome NFL veteran as head coach On Lipscomb’s campus, the NFL draft in Nashville was the second biggest football event to hit Nashville in 2019. The arrival of Super Bowl veteran Trent Dilfer (pictured above) to coach the Mustangs at Lipscomb Academy was the first. Hired in January 2019, the 14-year NFL veteran quarterback Dilfer was also an ESPN analyst for nearly a decade. He played for five teams during his career, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Baltimore Ravens, Seattle Seahawks, Cleveland Browns and San Francisco 49ers, and led the Ravens to a 34-7 victory over the Giants in Super Bowl XXXV. As a young adult, Dilfer made the decision to trust in Christ at a Fellowship of Christian Athletes camp, and today he is still involved in FCA and travels across the country speaking to youth about his life’s journey and his walk with Christ.
Tops in the state The following Mustang teams and individuals played in their respective state tournaments or were ranked within the top eight teams in the state. Girls’ Track and Field Team Girls’ Softball Team Boys’ Tennis Team Girls’ Bowling Team Samuel Griffith, Boys’ Bowling Maddie Yates, Girls’ Bowling
Cassie Clayton, Girls’ Golf Alex Peterson, Girls’ Cross Country Mikele Vickers, Girls’ Track and Field Levi Carter, Swimming Ethan Edgley, Swimming
“My family and I believe that God has led us specifically to this community at this time. The commitment Lipscomb Academy is making to build a premier football program is humbling and energizing, but most importantly it’s foundation is in building players into servants of Christ.” — TRENT
DILFER Lipscomb Academy Head Coach Football
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Leadership that embraces the heart
Community built in 3,000 hours Nashvillians are pretty used to seeing the city’s many college students on or near their campuses, but every March, Nashvillians see Lipscomb students all over the city… in schools, churches, homeless shelters, local parks and nonprofit headquarters, providing more than 3,000 hours of service to their community in one day.
Seventy College of Business students and faculty served the Carter-Lawrence Elementary Magnet School on Service Day in April, where they washed students’ feet and provided them with a brand new pair of shoes.
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Community Engagement
60K
45
GLOBAL MISSIONS Through Lipscomb’s missions department, students visit 40 to 50 cities around the world to carry out service and evangelism each year.
24%
MINORITY ENROLLMENT Almost a quarter of Lipscomb University’s student body is represented by minority students.
SERVICE HOURS
EACH YEAR Campus-wide projects and the SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program, spur students to provide thousands of hours of service to Nashville each year.
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SALT SCHOLARS May commencement brought a record number of SALT Scholars, who complete specific service-learning requirements and a semester-long capstone project to earn the designation.
40%
BOOST IN BIBLE The College of Bible & Ministry boosted their number of undergraduate Bible majors by 40 percent from fall 2017 to fall 2018.
eadership is about more than success. It’s about helping everyone succeed. That means keeping in mind the big picture; perhaps giving a hand to those who can’t keep up; keeping victories in perspective; walking the extra mile. In short, sometimes you need to lead with your heart, and Lipscomb has been practicing that kind of leadership since its earliest days. Each school year is filled with both local and global volunteer service. Almost 600 students participated in short-term mission trips this past year, and almost 1,000 students participated in the campus-wide spring Service Day. Students of all ages, even some of the youngest on the Green Team at Lipscomb Academy, take advantage of opportunities to strengthen the campus community’s, and the neighborhood’s, environmental sustainability, earning them national recognition from the National Energy Education Development Project Leadership can bring about individual achievement.
Lipscomb’s leadership with heart can bring about triumph for all.
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Leadership that embraces the heart Here’s How
Students put the community first on Service Day
Community built in 3,000 hours Nashvillians are pretty used to seeing the city’s many college students on or near their campuses, but every March, Nashvillians see Lipscomb students all over the city… in schools, churches, homeless shelters, local parks and nonprofit headquarters, providing more than 3,000 hours of service to their community in one day.
Seventy College of Business students and faculty served the Carter-Lawrence Elementary Magnet School on Service Day in April, where they washed students’ feet and provided them with a brand new pair of shoes.
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LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY
Lipscomb’s 2019 Service Day, a student-created event that has pumped free student labor into the community each year since 2002, involved almost 1,000 students who were released from their afternoon classes to spread across the city and provide volunteer service in 53 locations across the Greater Nashville area. Many on-campus groups such as social clubs, student groups or students in certain academic majors carry out specific service projects related to their interests or future careers. For the past two years, the College of Business has sent students and faculty to local schools on Service Day. Thanks to Snider Fleet Solutions, whose President Marty Herndon is on the Lipscomb COB Dean’s Board, every CarterLawrence Elementary Magnet School student received shoes from the non-profit organization Samaritan’s Feet, and the year before Cumberland Elementary School students received new books. Now in its 17th year, Service Day 2019 was expanded to include the Alumni Days of Service, coordinated by the Office of Alumni Relations. Alumni in Huntsville, Alabama; Chattanooga; and Memphis banded together to serve and invest in their communities during the same week as Service Day. Service Day is one of many universitycoordinated volunteer opportunities that students are encouraged to participate in throughout the academic year. Other opportunities include a service day for incoming freshmen and transfers at orientation, spring and summer mission trips, social club service events and SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program events.
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LOCATIONS Service Day provided volunteer service to Nashville organizations including: Habitat for Humanity, American Red Cross, Youth Encouragement Services and Thistle Farms.
LipscombLEADS by providing a recognizable 21st Century Christian emphasis tightly woven into all parts of the campus experience.
Community Engagement
60K
45
GLOBAL MISSIONS Through Lipscomb’s missions department, students visit 40 to 50 cities around the world to carry out service and evangelism each year.
24%
MINORITY ENROLLMENT Almost a quarter of Lipscomb University’s student body is represented by minority students.
SERVICE HOURS
EACH YEAR Campus-wide projects and the SALT (Serving and Learning Together) program, spur students to provide thousands of hours of service to Nashville each year.
32
SALT SCHOLARS May commencement brought a record number of SALT Scholars, who complete specific service-learning requirements and a semester-long capstone project to earn the designation.
40%
BOOST IN BIBLE The College of Bible & Ministry boosted their number of undergraduate Bible majors by 40 percent from fall 2017 to fall 2018.
eadership is about more than success. It’s about helping everyone succeed. That means keeping in mind the big picture; perhaps giving a hand to those who can’t keep up; keeping victories in perspective; walking the extra mile. In short, sometimes you need to lead with your heart, and Lipscomb has been practicing that kind of leadership since its earliest days. Each school year is filled with both local and global volunteer service. Almost 600 students participated in short-term mission trips this past year, and almost 1,000 students participated in the campus-wide spring Service Day. Students of all ages, even some of the youngest on the Green Team at Lipscomb Academy, take advantage of opportunities to strengthen the campus community’s, and the neighborhood’s, environmental sustainability, earning them national recognition from the National Energy Education Development Project Leadership can bring about individual achievement.
Lipscomb’s leadership with heart can bring about triumph for all.
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EMBRACES THE HEART
Disaster response from the soul Lipscomb Bisons impacting your world LeBron Hill (’19), an award-winning journalist at Lipscomb’s student news service Lumination over the past two years, is now the newest reporter on the USA Today Network in Tennessee opinion team. He is based out of The Tennessean offices and has already proved his journalistic prowess with a first-place award in op-ed writing from the Southeast Journalism Conference and becoming a regional Mark of Excellence finalist from the Society of Professional Journalists in online opinion and commentary. In July, in one of his first pieces for the Tennessean, Hill wrote about Nashville’s struggles to combat homelessness, referring to his own experience of finding himself homeless at the age of 18. Through his own efforts and the friendship of others, Hill was able to earn his GED, an associate’s degree from Motlow State Community College and his bachelor’s from Lipscomb. “What the people suffering from homelessness in Nashville need is not pity or sympathy but respect, a basic human moral,” he wrote for The Tennessean.
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Natural disasters have hit close to home recently, with hurricanes in the past three years impacting the hometowns of hundreds of Lipscomb students. Continuing a 2017 Crowdfunding effort that raised $61,000 to benefit the families of hurricane victims and support missions trips to the stricken areas, the university sponsored two mission trips to Florida in 2018 to provide relief to the victims of Hurricane Michael, the strongest storm to hit U.S. soil since Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The initial idea of sending hurricane relief teams was sparked by the students themselves, who sent a flood of emails and texts to Lipscomb missions leaders just hours after the first of the four deadly hurricanes that hit the U.S. in 2017. Then just weeks later, when a mass shooting took the life of a Pepperdine University student and wildfires threatened the California campus of Lipscomb’s sister school, students and faculty gathered in Bison Square (picture at right on opposite page) to pray for the safety and comfort of those involved.
Students show the power of one through on-campus shelter “After four seasons with Room In The Inn, it’s slowly becoming part of Lipscomb life.” That’s how the leaders of Nashville’s Room In The Inn, a non-profit that organizes 200 church congregations and organizations to host shelters for people experiencing homelessness throughout the winter, described Lipscomb’s oncampus, student-run shelter that has been providing overnight shelter for four winters now. The organization praised the Lipscomb student group in their #ThePowerofOne blog, lauding their willingness to give up nine Saturday nights a year to shelter those in need. Established in 2016 by student Macy Cottrell (’17), a native Nashvillian who grew up at Brentwood Hills Church of Christ and saw her church’s involvement in Room In The Inn, the Lipscomb shelter continues to operate and in 2018-19 was coordinated by Sarah Williams, an entrepreneurship major, and Brianna Young, an internet and social media marketing major. Eight students gathered to host 14 residents each week, providing two home-cooked meals and a sack lunch, a comfortable bed and opportunities to shower, do laundry and fellowship. The Room In The Inn blog praised Williams and Young for the work they put into promotions to make people aware of the issue of homelessness and to arrange for students volunteering with the shelter to obtain service-learning class credit.
Students, faculty and administrators gathered in the center of campus, Bison Square, to collectively pray for the Pepperdine University community this past fall, when the California university was mourning the death of a student and suffering the threat of wildfires near the campus.
“If we just provide and make a difference in one person, I think that should be enough.” —BRIANNA YOUNG Student Coordinator of Lipscomb’s Room In The Inn Shelter
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Dean of community life enhances campus culture As the world becomes increasingly diverse, Lipscomb is reflecting that diversity, weaving its campus community into a rich fabric of various cultural backgrounds and experiences. With a student body comprised of 24 percent ethnic minority students, Lipscomb increased its focus this past year on providing resources to serve this diverse community. Prentice Ashford (pictured above), completed his first full academic year as the university’s first dean of intercultural development and now has an expanded role as the dean of community life, overseeing the Office of Intercultural Development (OID), social clubs, student organizations, commuter student services and the Student Activities Board. During his first year, he expanded the OID to grow the welcoming campus climate for students of diverse backgrounds and to enhance university services and activities that promote inclusion. The OID office has grown to include three additional staff: Laia Jones, immigration compliance officer and principal designated school official; Juan Reveles, program and outreach coordinator; and Candace Williams director of student development. The OID works to grow and empower students through a wide variety of programming, special events, partnerships with organizations, service projects and weekly chapel services among numerous other opportunities.
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Diversity matters. Respect leads. In addition to the Dean of Community Life, who focuses on the student experience at Lipscomb, three other individuals work daily in academic, administrative and pre-K-12 areas to intentionally shape a campus community that is welcoming, engaging and respectful of all. Norma Bond Burgess Vice Provost for Diversity, Inclusion and Special Initiatives Burgess was appointed to increase diversity among faculty and students and to develop academic initiatives for cultural awareness on campus. Brittany Paschall Dean of Intercultural Development for Lipscomb Academy In this newly created position, Paschall works to create professional development for academy faculty and staff; to educate about all types of diversity, including race, culture, learning exceptionalities and disabilities; and to establish a student diversity committee. William Turner Special Counsel to the President for Diversity and Strategic Community Engagement Turner, a member of the president’s senior leadership team, takes an encompassing view of the university and advises the administration on strategies for increasing diversity, cultural awareness and a culture of respect for all.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Lipscomb Academy named national green leader for fifth time Around five tons of e-waste and other items bound for the trash were diverted from Middle Tennessee landfills in fall 2018 thanks to the Lipscomb Academy Green Team. That is just one of the many efforts that earned the team the National Primary School of the Year and Tennessee Primary School of the Year awards from the National Energy Education Development Project or NEED. Through the work of the Green Team, comprised of students from kindergarten through fourth grade who study ten sources of energy each school year, and its leaders, Ginger Reasonover and Becky Collins, academy faculty and coordinators of the environmental program, the Lipscomb Academy Lower School has become a five-time winner of the annual honor, bestowed by a program of the U.S. Department of Energy. The ambitious and pint-sized Green Team members hold an America Recycles Day event annually for the Green Hills/Oak Hill neighborhood to collect household recyclable waste; have restored a portion of the west fork of Nashville’s Brown’s Creek by discovering a chlorine leak and nurturing the plant life along the creek; and will assist in maintaining the environmental integrity of the lower school campus as work continues on a campus expansion project this year. Students are already at work determining new locations for gardens that will be moved during the construction, and discussing ideas for incorporating environmental elements such as sand pits, jumping stumps and plantings leading to new playground areas.
A sustainable model for sustainability. The lower school has been honored as a model for other schools in sustainability education and outreach since it launched the Green Team program nearly 20 years ago. • Six-time winner of top honors in the Good Sports Always Recycle program • Five-time winner of U.S. Department of Energy’s NEED program’s Primary School of the Year • U.S. Department of Education national Green Ribbon School designation (2013) • SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Environmental Excellence Award (2013) • Third-graders earned first-place honors in Tennessee as part of Disney’s Planet Challenge (2012) • Tennessee’s Recycling School of the Year (2011) • Governor’s Award for Excellence in Green Schools-K-12 (2009)
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Leadership fueled by creativity
Tennessee teachers empowered to lead Today’s school principal is much more than a teacher. They are businesspeople handling a budget often in the millions. They are human resources officers handling employee conflicts. They are public servants; and they are role models. Finding a winning talent combination to fill all those roles while also striving for instructional excellence is often difficult for school districts, especially in rural counties where leadership pipelines into the top job are often not as strong. That’s where Lipscomb University steps in.
Educators from Maury County are just a few of those who now have the capacity to become more effective teacher-leaders and principals in Tennessee’s rural public schools because of a Lipscomb leadership program. 42
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY
Innovation
90
$800K IN CHEMO DRUGS
RemediChain, a nonprofit drug delivery system Lipscomb helped establish in October 2018, already has $800,000 in leftover chemotherapy drugs donated for underinsured patients.
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NEW BUSINESSES Reimagining Educational Leadership, funded by a $2.5 million grant, will equip up to 90 educational leaders for, primarily, rural districts, over the next five years.
13
INTEGRATED CLINICS
GLOBAL LAUNCHES
Twenty Nashville health care clinics for the disadvantaged are benefitting from 52 mental health counselors placed on-site due to a $2.2 million federal grant.
At least 60 students in the Business as Mission program have spent time in other nations teaching business skills and helping launch 13 global businesses.
7 YEARS
any universities prepare their students to lead. But at Lipscomb, we prepare our students to lead with creativity, to see beyond their job to look for ways to make a difference that may never have been tried before. Most universities prepare educators to become school principals. But at Lipscomb, we craft educators into leaders, who will become principals who make an impact within education beyond their own school’s classrooms. Most universities prepare counselors to treat patients. But at Lipscomb, we prepare mental health counselors to work with doctors, pharmacists, nurses and nutritionists to treat their patients more holistically and bring about permanent life change. Most universities prepare students to run a business. But at Lipscomb, we prepare young businesspeople to operate a business that also makes a positive impact on the challenges facing the world.
At Lipscomb, leadership fueled by creativity is the difference maker.
TOP RANKED
Since 2013, the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has consistently ranked Lipscomb’s College of Education programs among the top 25 in the nation.
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Leadership fueled by creativity
Here’s How
Lipscomb awarded $2.5 million grant to create leaders in rural schools
Tennessee teachers empowered to lead Today’s school principal is much more than a teacher. They are businesspeople handling a budget often in the millions. They are human resources officers handling employee conflicts. They are public servants; and they are role models. Finding a winning talent combination to fill all those roles while also striving for instructional excellence is often difficult for school districts, especially in rural counties where leadership pipelines into the top job are often not as strong. That’s where Lipscomb University steps in.
Educators from Maury County are just a few of those who now have the capacity to become more effective teacher-leaders and principals in Tennessee’s rural public schools because of a Lipscomb leadership program. 44
LIPSCOMB UNIVERSITY
A grant from the Kern Family Foundation is the latest of numerous generous grants awarded since 2012 to fuel Lipscomb’s fresh approach to training educators as leaders, not just teachers. A nationally recognized teacher preparation program combined with a point of view that teachers can have impact on the future of education as leaders beyond the classroom have resulted in various grants and contracts since 2012 for Lipscomb to enhance educational leadership. Such grants resulted in the establishment of the Ayers Institute for Teacher Learning and Innovation, graduate-level leadership fellowship programs, free online web modules and MOOCs, state partnerships to enhance curriculum resources and now, the latest, the Reimagining Educational Leadership program, designed to develop principals’ skills in character development, conflict management and business acumen as well as academic excellence. “The Kern grant gives us the opportunity to better equip our educators to manage real-world demands they face as school leaders,” said Lance Forman, director of the new initiative. “This will also help us develop a network across the state to help schools and districts, including in more rural areas, build an internal leadership pipeline.” The College of Education previously provided leadership development to 28 districts in various areas throughout the state. The new program, launched this fall, adds eight new school districts with more to be added in the next two years.
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NEW PRINCIPALS The Reimagining Educational Leadership program, funded by a $2.5 million grant, will equip up to 90 educational leaders for, primarily, rural districts, over the next five years.
LipscombLEADS by offering solutions to society’s problems through a Christ-driven approach.
Innovation
90
$800K IN CHEMO DRUGS
RemediChain, a nonprofit drug delivery system Lipscomb helped establish in October 2018, already has $800,000 in leftover chemotherapy drugs donated for underinsured patients.
20
NEW BUSINESSES Reimagining Educational Leadership, funded by a $2.5 million grant, will equip up to 90 educational leaders for, primarily, rural districts, over the next five years.
13
INTEGRATED CLINICS
GLOBAL LAUNCHES
Twenty Nashville health care clinics for the disadvantaged are benefitting from 52 mental health counselors placed on-site due to a $2.2 million federal grant.
At least 60 students in the Business as Mission program have spent time in other nations teaching business skills and helping launch 13 global businesses.
7 YEARS
any universities prepare their students to lead. But at Lipscomb, we prepare our students to lead with creativity, to see beyond their job to look for ways to make a difference that may never have been tried before. Most universities prepare educators to become school principals. But at Lipscomb, we craft educators into leaders, who will become principals who make an impact within education beyond their own school’s classrooms. Most universities prepare counselors to treat patients. But at Lipscomb, we prepare mental health counselors to work with doctors, pharmacists, nurses and nutritionists to treat their patients more holistically and bring about permanent life change. Most universities prepare students to run a business. But at Lipscomb, we prepare young businesspeople to operate a business that also makes a positive impact on the challenges facing the world.
At Lipscomb, leadership fueled by creativity is the difference maker.
TOP RANKED
Since 2013, the National Council for Teacher Quality (NCTQ) has consistently ranked Lipscomb’s College of Education programs among the top 25 in the nation.
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FUELED BY CREATIVITY
Lipscomb counselors and local clinics join hearts, heads and hands
“By integrating counselors into the traditional primary care physician offices, the counselor and the physician can collaborate on-site about how to best serve the patient and to provide the needed care right away.” — DOUGLAS
RIBEIRO Assistant Professor of Psychology, Counseling and Family Science
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Nashville’s Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Clinic (pictured above), the city’s oldest non-profit health center, has been providing affordable health care for the most disadvantaged in our city since its founding in 1968. But after partnering with Lipscomb, as of 2017, the clinic has been able to expand its in-office behavioral health services and enhance its own suboxone clinic to help those suffering from substance abuse to overcome their addictions. The improvements have come due to a $400,000 federal grant awarded to the clinical mental health counseling graduate program in 2018. This grant builds on a $1.8 million grant awarded in 2017 from an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to support the Behavioral Health Initiative, a program to develop mental health professionals to work on-site in medical offices serving disadvantaged populations. The 2018 supplemental grant allowed Lipscomb to partner with two clinics, Nashville’s Matthew Walker Comprehensive Health Center and Neighborhood Health, located in the James A. Cayce Homes, both of which are using their own $400,000 portions of the total grant to combine behavioral health treatment with medication-assisted treatments specifically for opioid and substance use disorders. This pioneering method of integrated health care eliminates the traditional siloed model, improving patient care, impacting the health of Nashville’s underserved populations and decreasing per capita health care costs. The program has so far placed 38 mental health counseling interns in 14 clinics that serve immigrant and low income populations.
Leading missional businesses in 11 nations These days, even the smallest cities have locally run coffee shops, but only Nashville can boast it is the founder of coffee shops that not only caffeinate locals, but also hydrate disadvantaged populations around the world. Nashville’s The Well is now continuing to expand and open more locations, and co-founder Rob Touchstone (pictured right) is also expanding his successful social entrepreneurship business acumen through Lipscomb students in the Business As Mission (BAM) program. This past year was the first year of the BAM Fellowship program, an opportunity for undergraduate students to delve into social enterprise business concepts beyond the classroom, through strategically coordinated service opportunities, mentoring, experiential learning and a global learning experience. The Center for Business as Missions, founded in 2015, has served businesses and organizations in 11 nations so far including holding business accelerator courses locally for Nashville’s Hispanic Family Foundation and globally in Kenya; involving 40 students in five start-up businesses in Jamaica; and helping a company in Venice, Italy, to develop missional business strategies.
Lipscomb Bisons impacting your world Jason Carney (’16), owner of Energy Electives and current president of the Tennessee Solar Energy Association, was accustomed to being the only person of color present as he went about his work in the renewable energy industry in Nashville. He wants to change that. A July 2019 story on National Public Radio profiled his mission to bring solar and clean energy to black communities in Nashville and Tennessee. It highlighted the project he began during his master’s studies at Lipscomb to install a solar array at Whites Creek High School, a majority African-American, public school in North Nashville. Carney was the project advisor during the student-led design and construction of the 13.2kW ground-mount solar array. He has also become a guest lecturer around the state. He remains engaged with students and is developing a curriculum to enhance Whites Creek’s Academy of Alternative Energy, Sustainability and Logistics.
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Curing cancer patients, link by cyberlink
Making it easy to log on for a better future When is an online course more than an online course? When it has a real-world team ready to work individually with online students. When it allows flexibility in not only homework schedules, but in course schedules as well. And when it allows up to 30 course credits to be awarded based on skills and expertise already learned in the workplace. This past year, Lipscomb University made a significant investment in Lipscomb Online, the academic division offering 14 undergraduate programs and six graduate programs completely online. Recognizing the busy lifestyle of the typical online student, Lipscomb has gone beyond the norm to offer formats that provide affordable, flexible and convenient options for students to select from. In addition, Lipscomb Online incorporates credits earned through CORE, the university’s nationally recognized competency-based assessment program.
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The last thing a cancer patient needs to worry about is the cost of their treatments. Today fewer of Tennessee’s cancer patients have that worry thanks to a unique partnership between a Lipscomb professor, a Memphis pharmacist and a state legislator that changed state law to allow patients to receive leftover chemotherapy drugs at a fraction of the cost of new. Good Shepherd Pharmacy CEO Phil Baker—the Memphis pharmacist—wanted to find a way to put leftover medications to better use, and he thought blockchain technology, the secure database system behind the security of Bitcoin, might be one piece of the puzzle. Kevin Clauson—the Lipscomb professor—is a leading expert in blockchain technology in the health care arena, and he knew how to help Baker put the pieces together. “I thought it was one of the most pragmatic uses I had seen for blockchain. It was also a great fit for Lipscomb as we had started exploring blockchain for drug supply management with our students in 2015,” said Clauson. “I knew that reclaiming medicine would be a good use for blockchain technology but needed a partner who truly understood how blockchain works,” said Baker. Buoyed by Clauson’s expertise and network of blockchain users, Baker used the proven security of blockchain database technology to convince lawmakers to change the legal system and to secure a partnership with the FedEx Institute of Technology. Now Good Shepherd, FedEx and Lipscomb are all partners in RemediChain, a software platform using blockchain that has created a nonprofit delivery system for unused drugs, starting with chemotherapy drugs. Lipscomb is now the founding node in the RemediChain consortium, a network to build and maintain servers to collect and track data on donated medications in their local areas. “Our country needs a national repository for donated medication, and we intend to build it,” said Baker. “Universities and prescription donation programs in multiple states are partnering with us in this crusade. Lipscomb University has supported our work from day one.”
An extraordinary year led by the Master Artist In art, small brush strokes or paint dots on canvas can form a masterpiece when in the hands of a skillful artist. The Lipscomb administration, faculty and staff are some of the top professionals in their fields who work diligently to make a difference
in the lives of students and the broader communities we serve, but they are but the brush strokes. It was God’s hand that masterfully brought together people and resources to create this extraordinary year. How else do you explain the numerous record-breaking successes of our students and the faculty and coaches who led them? Is it coincidence that so much was achieved in one year? Maybe. Was it the result of great efforts of committed people? Certainly. But was it led and crafted by God’s hand and His mission? Most certainly. Like individual elements of art, we are made better together through His design. And that is why we can say, in bold confidence, that Lipscomb’s leadership is more than just leadership; it is leadership led by the Master’s hand.
Office of the President One University Park Drive Nashville, TN 37204-3951 T 615-966-1000 T 800.333.4358, ext. 1000 lipscomb.edu