Milligan Magazine Summer 2013

Milligan SUMMER 2013

Magazine

A Sacramental Loaf n Daniel Boone’s Steps n #KureKael

SUMMER 2013 | Volume 15, Number 2

Milligan PRESidEnt Bill Greer (’85) bgreer@milligan.edu

VicE PRESidEnt foR inStitUtional adVancEMEnt Jack Simpson (’92) jasimpson @milligan.edu

VicE PRESidEnt foR EnRollMEnt ManaGEMEnt and MaRkEtinG

A. Lee Fierbaugh (’94) lfierbaugh@milligan.edu

diREctoR of alUMni RElationS EDITOR Theresa Garbe (’91) tmgarbe@milligan.edu

diREctoR of PUBlic RElationS and MaRkEtinG ASSISTANT EDITOR

Letter from theEditor

Chandrea Shell (’00) chshell@milligan.edu

cREatiVE SERVicES cooRdinatoR GRAPHIC DESIGNER Art Brown atbrown@milligan.edu

coMMUnicationS cooRdinatoR FEATuRE WRITER Stories on 8, 12, 18

Melissa Nipper (’96) mhnipper@milligan.edu

SPoRtS infoRMation diREctoR Matt Laws sportsinfo@milligan.edu

coVER Photo © Aaron Jones (’10) contRiBUtoRS:

Photo on 2, © Mark Peacock Photos on 3, © Picsee Studio, contributed, staff Photos on 4-5, © Jones, contributed Photos on 6-8, contributed, staff Photos on 9-11, © Kathryn Handzlik (’14), © Peter Nelson (’13), © Alicya Suit, contributed, staff Photos on 12-13, © Mickey Brown (’13), archives Photos on 14-15, © Greg Kocher/Lexington HeraldLeader, Jim Dahlman (’80) Photos on 16-17, © Rob Witzel/Florida Trend, contributed, staff Photos on 18-19, © Picsee Studio, © Nathan Rodda (’13), staff Photos on 20, © James Douglas (’15), staff Photos on 21-23, contributed Photos on 24, staff Photos on 25, archives Photos on 26, © Lee Fierbaugh, © Bill Greer Photo on 27, © Fierbaugh

oUR MiSSion

As a Christian liberal arts college, Milligan College seeks to honor God by educating men and women to be servant-leaders.

Summertime at Milligan means our students depart; children and youth descend for sports camps, arts camps, and youth conferences; and construction work begins. This year, contractors are putting the finishing touches on our five new residence halls, and Hart is getting new outside steps.

Another big change is taking place in the McMahan Student Center, where the Grill has more than doubled in size and will soon be selling not just Starbucks® coffee, but also its specialty drinks. (I’m particularly looking forward to this as the Grill is a mere 30-second walk from my office.)

Contemporary colors, comfy furniture, an inviting atmosphere—the student center is definitely going to be a central gathering place.

Part of what makes the Milligan experience unique is that our students consistently demonstrate their ability and desire to come together, whether behind a cause, behind a person, or behind an idea, and their coming together is rooted in something bigger than themselves. It is rooted in faith and an understanding that true joy comes through serving one another.

This issue of Milligan Magazine recounts some of their work. Inside is a story about athletes and a student organization quietly rallying support for one of our coaches and his family, and there is a story about OT students working together to bring joy and confidence to a group of orphans.

Then there is the story of a young alumnus whose baking skill has been refined into a way of life— a faithful way of living that he shares through workshops, writing, and worship.

When students matriculate at Milligan, they come to a place that will nurture them. Through all of their classes and questions, they are sustained by a community that cares deeply about them. And that care extends well beyond commencement. Relationships are built here that last a lifetime.

Those who have been a part of this place surely would agree that it is a privilege to be both the recipient and bestower of such encouragement.

Nurtured and sustained,

oUR ViSion

As a premier Christian liberal arts college where Jesus Christ is exalted and excellence is the standard, Milligan will change lives and shape culture through a commitment to Christian leadership.

GEnERal infoRMation

The Milligan Magazine is published regularly by the Milligan College Office of Institutional Advancement for alumni and friends of the college and is distributed free of charge. The Magazine highlights the college’s vision to change lives and shape culture through a commitment to servant-leadership.

Copyright © 2013 Milligan College.

800.447.5922 | www.milligan.edu AlumniOffice@milligan.edu POSTMASTeR: Send address corrections to Advancement, P.O. Box 9, Milligan College, Tennessee 37682.

2 | SUMMER 2013

Theresa (Brown ’91) Garbe Director of Alumni Relations P.S. We’re expanding the magazine, moving from three to four issues a year! Two of these issues will be print, and two will be interactive, digital editions. If we don’t have a current email address for you, please be sure to get one to us. The first digital edition will be coming your way in September.

Table of Contents

6

14

FEATURES

DEPARTMENTS

4

4

24

16

A Sacramental Loaf

12 More Than A Paycheck 16 Sports Pioneer

2

Editor’s letter

9

faculty news

10 campus close-up 17 athletic news 21 class notes 27 letter from the President

18 #KureKael

18

26 Emerald Isle, Milligan Style

SUMMER 2013 | 3

~ A

Sacramental

LOAF “I WAS MAKING BREAD AS WORSHIP AS WELL AS FOR WORSHIP.”

^

“When I bake for churches my prayers, failures, and humanity get infused in the loaves. Following the bread’s consecration, the mouth of my mouth, the mouth of my soul, tastes grace entwined with the work of human hands. Any congregation can benefit from baking its own altar bread. Human handprints on the bread reinforce the basic pattern of the Eucharist: God takes something of us, sanctifies it, and returns it to us as blessing. Baking on behalf of this miracle, tasting our own handiwork in this miracle, can renew our sacramental appetites.

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Baking ourselves into our altar bread also requires baking ourselves into Creation. Wheat and wine, water and oil, God’s sacramental materialism disarms any fantasies of disincarnate holiness. Altar bread begins in the soil, absorbs sun and rain, cracks in our mills, blooms with our yeast, and burns in our ovens before it ever breaks at our suppers. The Eucharist invites us to ask not only What (does it do), but Where (it comes from) and Who (puts it on the table). Do we eat, even frail and inadequate as we are, with an attempt at integrity?

I do not believe God disdains our worship if machines make our altar bread, but I do believe with all my heart that handmade bread makes our worship more human.”

excerpted from Perspectives (2013-2014), a newsletter of the Duke Divinity School Anglican episcopal House of Studies.

aron Jones (’10) knows a lot about sourdough. In fact, around Durham, North Carolina, his expertise is sought after.

During his second year at Duke Divinity School, he operated a micro-bakery, crafting artisanal breads in his kitchen and delivering the fresh loaves to customers each Saturday on his bicycle.

Jones, who majored in humanities and English, did not come to Milligan to study bread making, but that is where a love for bread emerged.

It began his sophomore year when he took a class with Phil Kenneson, a class in which students had to prepare a weekly meal of soup and bread to be shared with classmates.

“Fresh bread became a meaningful part of our meals together,” Jones said.

At about the same time, he began attending morning communion services at Hopwood Memorial Christian Church, located on the college’s campus.

Jones reflects on that experience: “I was intrigued, my curiosity piqued, by tasting fresh bread around the communion table every day.”

Following his junior year, Jones married Megan (Bowser ’09), and that summer they worked on a small North Carolina farm owned and operated

by Milligan alumni Amos and Kaci Nidiffer. There Jones learned how to make handcrafted breads. When he returned to classes that fall, he began working for a local bakery and started making bread for Hopwood’s daily communion services. Jones recognized something significant was taking place when he prepared bread for communion.

“I didn’t have language for it at the time, but when I made bread for Hopwood’s services, I came away from those experiences of kneading and shaping dough feeling different, changed. I found in bread making a venue for prayer. I realized I was making bread as worship as well as for worship,” he says.

This discovery as an undergraduate contributed to Jones pursuing an M.Div. at Duke. As part of his program, he interned at Anathoth Community Garden in Cedar Grove, North Carolina, a faith-based organization committed to reconciliation “by using regenerative agriculture to connect people with their neighbors, the land, and God.” At the Garden, as he taught others how to make and bake bread in a brick oven, the connections between garden and worship and food and faith really began to take shape.

Meanwhile, back in the classroom, Jones delved into themes of food in scripture and explored how Old Testament themes are played out in New Testament writings.

“There are three major bread traditions in the Old Testament: Passover, signifying sacrifice; manna, signifying blessing and provision; and the Bread

A

of Presence, signifying covenant. Bread is fundamentally the experience of salvation. The Church’s language of sacrament is trying to capture what is already in place in scripture.”

Jones’ understanding of the place of bread in the Christian life led to the development of a bread making workshop he first led for the Garden in spring 2012. He had 12 students who spent a weekend making bread and praying together.

“That workshop was a dance between work and rest, work and prayer, back and forth,” a balance he acknowledges is not often seen in daily life. “I wanted students to recognize that they can be praying all of the time— working prayerfully or praying ‘workfully.’ Bread making is a great way to discover and think about this.”

Since conducting his first workshop, Jones has led many more similar to it in a variety of settings for people of all ages, including middle schoolers.

In fact, it was the culmination of a workshop with pre-teens that clarified his relationship with bread.

A few months ago, at a church down the street from his house, he was teaching a class of middle school girls how to make communion bread for their church. Four days following this class, one of the young girls was tragically killed in a gun accident in her home.

Reflecting on this poignant experience in his Perspectives article, he writes,“The very bread she kneaded became Eucharist at her funeral. You could taste her life imprinted in that bread, and because of this, you could taste the eternity of Jesus in it like fire. Her blood mingled with his, and resurrection was no far-off thing.”

Jones says, “Even in her death we were benefitting from her life. This was a redemptive work for her family—a redemptive taste within that space—a taste of resurrection.”

So what do his students learn when they come to his bread making workshops? They learn about flour and leavening, of course, but they also learn something more important: through bread—its kneading, shaping, baking, breaking—we can encounter God and grace. A sacramental loaf can nourish us in so many ways.n

Aaron will lead a workshop titled “Fire and Sacrament: Baking Bread as a Sign and Foretaste of the Kingdom” at Duke Divinity School’s Summoned Toward Wholeness: A Conference on Food, Farming, and the Life of Faith, held September 27-28. For more information, go to https://divinity.duke.edu/summoned. You may also contact Aaron at aaron.dbj@gmail.com.

SUMMER 2013 | 5

OT 6 | SUMMER 2013

Encouragers & Innovators S

tudents in Milligan’s Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) program are often asked what, exactly, occupational therapists (OTs) do. This question is not easy to answer, because OTs do so many different things. Generally, they work to help their clients participate in various occupations—the activities and actions that are meaningful in their clients’ lives. These occupations may include household activities like cooking, cleaning, or gardening. They may also include getting back to work, playing a favorite game, or interacting well with classmates at school.

Because every person is unique, OTs must customize their skill-building activities to meet an individual’s specific needs. They also are always looking for new applications for occupational therapy and new ways to assist under-served populations.

HOPE FOR HAITI

By Katie Boone (’11), Erica Hiteshew (’11), and Allison Nauman (’11)

This past year, three students—Katie Boone, Erica Hiteshew, and Allison Nauman—decided to explore pediatric occupational therapy in an international setting, which required them to study cross-cultural therapy techniques. Their research led them to Haiti, where they spent several weeks working with 25 girls, ages 2 to 14, at the House of Hope Orphanage located outside of Port-au-Prince. Following are their reflections on the time they spent working with the girls.

SERVING ONE ANOTHER While our goal at the orphanage was to get to know the girls and, through that, learn where they could most use our help, we discovered that the girls had not developed many of the skills we take for granted in children of a certain age in America, like scissoring and writing names. The children we worked with were focused on skills appropriate for their setting, skills that would allow them simply to survive.

Patricia, at age 14, was the oldest girl at the orphanage. She held her head high and was the leader of the older girls. Often, she could be found providing motherly nurture to the younger girls when they were upset. She willingly helped any of the adults at the orphanage, including us, with caring for the other girls, meal preparations, translating, hair braiding, and hygiene.

But Patricia was facing the harsh reality that she was just months away from losing the security, community, and overall well-being that the orphanage provided. The orphanage, a place of hope and safety, can only take in girls through age 14. At age 15, they must leave.

When we asked Patricia to participate in an art activity designed to help her express her fear about leaving, she painted a haunting image of Haiti outside of the orphanage. This strong, independent, God-fearing young woman inside of the orphanage shut down at the thought of becoming part of a sickening statistic of women who are taken advantage of and abused.

We learned from a House of Hope staff member that 50 percent of Haitian women are raped or sexually abused at some point in their life.

That’s 12 or 13 of the girls we had grown to love.

So what do occupational therapists do? In this setting, we realized that one’s emotional health, mental health, and connection to immediate surroundings can affect one’s ability to perform well in daily activities. We learned firsthand the value of helping one young woman develop not only daily life skills, but also a means to address issues that affect her emotional well-being.

We also witnessed this psychosocial connection through the relationships we developed with the younger girls. They loved having three additional “playmates” for the days that we were there. While the girls enjoyed the activities we prepared for them that actually worked on developmental skills, they were more concerned with the attention we could give them. Our evenings were spent drawing countless squares of hopscotch, running around in circles and giving hugs when we would catch a girl, and offering our hair to be braided time and time again. Though the knots were painful to brush out at night, it was worth the smiles and laughter that our silly hairstyles provoked. We noticed that as we built

relationships with the girls, it positively affected the learning that took place during our activities.

One of our favorite moments of the whole experience was giving each girl a handmade doll that had its own unique outfit. Through this, we brought the spirit of occupational therapy to Haiti when we connected with each girl on a level that is deeper than most can see. Giving them something to call their own also gave them a sense of hope and allowed them to be children, despite the chaos of the world around them.

We returned home with a better understanding of the different ways OTs can have an impact on individuals’ lives, no matter where in the world we serve. At House of Hope, we had an opportunity to minister to young girls through occupational therapy. We feel incredibly blessed to be preparing for a vocation at an institution whose very mission is founded on our calling to serve one another.n

“We feel incredibly blessed to be preparing for a vocation at an institution whose very mission is founded on our calling to serve one another.”

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OT EXPO “T

“Milligan does a great job of preparing us to serve our patients, to look at their whole story and not just a disability.”

he Comfy Cheeseburger” and “The Easy Reading Easel” don’t sound like chapters you’d find in a typical occupational therapy textbook. But the cheeseburger and the easel projects were important learning activities for the Milligan students who designed them.

These projects were two of 31 creative products developed by Milligan’s second-year Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) students.

The products were on display for the public April 17 at the college’s annual Occupational Therapy Expo in the Gregory Center for the Liberal Arts.

“The Expo is a comprehensive learning activity that prepares these soonto-be occupational therapists to be creative and resourceful in designing interventions and equipment to assist their future patients in any therapy setting,” said Dr. Jil Smith, associate professor of occupational therapy. “The students worked very hard to create individualized products that represented occupational therapy, as well as their own practice interests and knowledge.”

After the Expo, the students donate their projects to various agencies and patients that can benefit from them.

Molly Wilson, an MSOT student from Fall Branch, Tennessee, designed “The Comfy Cheeseburger.” The colorful, fun giant cheeseburger gained a lot of attention at the Expo. However, the real “meat” of the project is its usefulness for children who have sensory needs.

The cheeseburger is designed so that a child can lie underneath the bun.

The pieces, such as the cheese, lettuce, and top bun, are weighted to allow the child to feel the amount of proprioception they need.

The cheeseburger also helps children with tactile aversions because each element is made from different types of material. The cheeseburger allows children to touch and feel different textures and become comfortable with these.

The inspiration for Wilson’s cheeseburger came from her love of children and fun food projects she saw on Pinterest.

“Ideally, I’d like to work with pediatric patients in an outpatient setting,” said Wilson, who also earned her bachelor’s degree in child and youth development at Milligan. “Milligan does a great job of preparing us to serve our patients, to look at their whole story and not just a disability.”

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In August, Wilson will begin fieldwork at Duke University’s Lenox Baker Children’s Hospital. An occupational therapist at Duke saw a photo of “The Comfy Cheeseburger” on Wilson’s Facebook page and requested that she bring it with her to donate to the facility.

Highlighting the diversity of the projects, Anna Caffey’s “Easy Reading Easel” was designed with older patients in mind.

The easel is a multi-functional bed tray with collapsible legs and a pullout, tilting tabletop that can be used for reading books or electronic books.

When closed, the tray surface can be used for eating meals or writing.

It includes many helpful features such as retractable cords to hold the book open, side panels to prevent items from rolling off, and a removable clamp on a flexible magnifying glass with book light. It also has a hidden compartment underneath the frame lid to hold various items such as books, pens, and glasses.

“Anyone could use the easel, but my design was inspired by my grandma,” said Caffey, of Bluff City, Tennessee. “She loves to read, and she had a stroke in 1997 making it more difficult. She doesn’t have complete control of her arm or the muscle endurance to hold a book up, especially when she’s sitting or lying in bed. I wanted to create something she could use in bed.”

Caffey designed the easel, and her boyfriend helped her with the cutting and some of the assembly. Most importantly, her grandma, Vivian Caffey, tested it for its effectiveness.

As part of the Expo, all of the MSOT students prepared a booklet with detailed instructions on how they made their project, including materials lists, measurements, and directions. Caffey and Wilson said about 50 people signed up to receive a booklet about their respective projects.

The students and their professors were pleased with the results of the Expo.

“In my opinion, this was our best OT Expo ever,” Smith said. “The students’ investments of time, energy, and imagination were obvious in the scope and quality of the items they presented and in the writing of instruction manuals they each developed as part of the assignment.”n

Faculty News adMiniStRation & Staff Gary daught, director of library services, attended the American Theological Library Association’s (ATLA) annual conference in June (Charlotte, NC). lee fierbaugh, vice president for marketing and enrollment, gave presentations on organizational communication at the Tennessee Independent College & University Association’s (TICUA) annual meetings for enrollment officers, communication and advancement officers, and facilities management staff. She also served as the keynote speaker at the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Tri-Cities Chapter annual awards dinner.

G. Mary Jackson, research and instruction librarian, attended the Library Orientation exchange’s (LOeX) annual conference (Nashville, TN) and the Appalachian College Association (ACA) Professional Development Day at CarsonNewman (Jefferson City, TN) in May. She was also appointed to the user education committee of the ACA’s Bowen Central Library of Appalachia.

Matt laws, sports information director, received the Appalachian Athletic Conference Willie Belcher AAC Sports Information Director of the Year Award.

BiBlical lEaRninG curtis Booher, associate professor of Christian ministry, led a five-workshop, teacher training event at Severn Christian Church (Severn, MD). In May, he taught a course titled “Digging Deep Wells: Youth Ministry as Theological Work” at emmanuel Christian Seminary.

John R Jackson, assistant professor of Bible and humanities, taught a class, “The Justice and Holiness of God,” at Grandview Christian Church (Johnson City, TN) in May.

BUSinESS

carolyn Massello, associate professor of business, and her spouse, Tom Massello, M.D., a May 2013 graduate of Milligan’s MBA program, co-authored two mini-cases that were published in Case Studies in Organizational Behavior and Theory for Health Care, eds., Nancy Borkowski and Gloria Deckard, 2014, Jones and Bartlett Learning.

Victoria Sitter, associate professor of business, presented a program on leadership values to the Carter County (TN) Youth Leadership group in April.

EdUcation tausha clay, associate professor of education, and Angela Hilton-Prillhart, assistant professor of education, presented a session titled “early Interactions Matter: Strategies for Promoting Positive Child Guidance” at the 6th Annual Appalachian Association for the education of Young Children (AAeYC)’s Infant Toddler Institute in March (Blountville, TN).

Patrick n. kariuki, professor of education, authored a book titled Never Underestimate God’s Child, released in April (WestBow Press, a division of Thomas Nelson Publishing Company, 2013).

hUManE lEaRninG lee Blackburn, assistant professor of history and humanities, attended the Stone-Campbell Journal Conference in April (Nashville, TN).

Michael Blouin, assistant professor of english and humanities, continues to serve on the editorial board for the Journal of Popular Culture. His book, titled Japan and the Cosmopolitan Gothic: Specters of Modernity, was recently released (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013). ted thomas, professor of humanities, history, and German, presented “An Under-reported Hero: The Life and Work of Prälat Hermann Maas (1877-1970)” for east Tennessee State University’s Alliance for Continued Learning in March. His article, “‘Semper Apertus:’ Pastor Hermann Maas, the Theological Faculty, and the Reopening of the University of Heidelberg in 1945” appeared in Volume 6 (2012) of the Jahrbuch für badische Kirchenund Religionsgeschichte (Karlsruhe: Kohlhammer, 2012).

He continues to preach and teach for Oak Grove Christian Church (elizabethton, TN).

occUPational thERaPY christy M. fellers, associate professor of occupational therapy, along with Jil Smith, associate professor of occupational therapy, and Rachel Ellis, adjunct instructor of occupational therapy, coordinated and presented a conference focused on caring for caregivers titled “CARe for Life: Caregivers Adapting Routines to enhance Quality of Life” (Johnson City, TN). In April, Fellers represented Milligan at Governor Haslam’s Tennessee Graduate education Symposium with her project titled “Academic Integrity Issues in Occupational Therapy Programs: A National Study” (Nashville, TN). Also in April, she and Smith co-presented “dO Try: Combining Personal Goals with Individual Needs for effective Intervention” (Limestone, TN).

Jeff Snodgrass, program director and associate professor of occupational therapy, authored a book chapter titled “Work and Industry: ethical Considerations in Designing an Injury Prevention Program” in a recently published textbook. He also delivered a presentation in April at the annual American Occupational Therapy Association’s (AOTA) annual conference (San Diego, CA).

Jennifer Susong crowder, adjunct instructor of occupational therapy, presented a session titled “Television in the Child’s Bedroom: How Did It Get There?

Analysis of Family Interviews” at the AOTA annual conference in April (San Diego, CA).

PERfoRMinG, ViSUal & coMMUnicatiVE aRtS kellie Brown, associate professor of music and area chair, presented a workshop session at the Tennessee Music educators Conference (Chattanooga, TN) and conducted the musical Thoroughly Modern Millie at Sullivan South High School (Kingsport, TN) in April. Also this spring she presented a lecture on the Women’s Orchestra at Auschwitz at both Northeast State Community College (Blountville, TN) and John Sevier Middle School (Kingsport). noah delong, assistant professor of music, led the Concert Choir Spring Break Tour through Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., in March; presented a session called “Let’s Get Moving: Using Movement in the Choral Rehearsal” at the Tennessee Music educators Conference (Chattanooga) in April; and in May received the received the Sam Jack Hyder QeD faculty award at the Milligan faculty/staff picnic.

anne Elliott, assistant professor of the practice of music, directed Milligan’s women’s chorale in concerts at Airport Christian Church (Blountville, TN) in March and in the Mary B. Martin Auditorium, Seeger Chapel in April. In May, she presented a lecture titled “Human Temperament and the Teaching of Music” at the Appalachian Music Teachers Association. In June, she attended the University of Kentucky’s Creative Choral Conductor Workshop and served as music faculty for the Milligan Summer Fine Arts Academy. david Runner, professor of music, played an organ recital accompanied by elisa Wardeska on flute at Munsey Memorial United Methodist Church (Johnson City, TN) in April. He continues as a chorister and organ accompanist for the Johnson City Civic Chorale. kenny Suit, associate professor of communications, took a sabbatical in spring 2012 to write a book on James Friedrich, an episcopal priest who in 1939 founded an independent film studio in Hollywood called Cathedral Films that produced religious films during the 1940s and 50s. He plans to finish the book this year. In fall 2012, he took a leave of absence from Milligan to teach cinema at the German University in Cairo (egypt), where he also examined european pedagogical approaches to the performing, visual, and communicative arts.

SciEntific lEaRninG karen kelly, professor of biology and occupational therapy, attended the annual conference for the human anatomy and physiology society (HAPS) in May (Las Vegas, NV). She serves as a member of the HAPS cadaver use committee representing the southern region.

Social lEaRninG John Paul abner, associate professor of occupational therapy, psychology, and counseling, delivered the keynote address, “Great expectations: Building Hope and Positive expectations for our PCIT Client,” at the 3rd Regional Washington State Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) conference in April (Seattle, WA). He also participated in the PCIT international board meeting (Chicago, IL) in March and in April delivered an introductory PCIT seminar in grand rounds at eTSU Physicians (Johnson City, TN).

Joy drinnon, professor of psychology and director of undergraduate research, was appointed to the Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness (ARCH) board of directors in March. amy Edmonds, assistant professor of political science, authored an article titled “Moral Authority and Authoritarianism: The Catholic Church and the Military Regime in Uruguay” that appeared in the June 2013 issue of Journal of Church and State, 2013; doi: 10.1093/jcs/cst026.

SUMMER 2013 | 9

campus close-up

Treviño recognized by Tennessee College Republican Committee Milligan sophomore Luis A. Treviño was appointed state secretary at the Annual Tennessee College Republican State Convention in Nashville on April 27.

The Tennessee College Republican Committee (TNCR), the umbrella organization for all College Republican chapters in the state, is the voice of young conservatives in Tennessee.

Treviño was born in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, and later moved to Brownsville, Texas. While a student at Milligan, he formally organized the college’s student Republican group and made it an official organization under the Student Government Association. He recruited 30 members during the first sign-up period and created Milligan’s first official chapter of TNCR.

New major, minors now available

Milligan to offer 5 programs at Kingsport Center for Higher Education

Milligan continues to diversify its curriculum by adding several new programs this fall, including a new computer science major and minor, as well as minors in international studies, physics, and social work.

The new computer science major is Milligan’s second major focusing on computing. The college has offered a popular computer information systems (CIS) major for the past 16 years. Milligan’s existing CIS major, also offered in an online format, is part of the college’s business area. It prepares students for careers in web design, IT management, systems analysis and design, and operations management. It also prepares students for graduate school.

The new computer science major, which will be part of Milligan’s scientific learning area, prepares students for careers in programming, software development/testing, systems project leadership, and network administration. It teaches applications that are useful in business, industry, government, and as preparation for graduate school.

Milligan announced that it will partner with the Kingsport Center for Higher Education (KCHE) to offer five programs at their facility beginning in spring 2014.

The Milligan programs to be offered at the KCHE facility include undergraduate, graduate and executive certificate programs in business administration/operations management; an RN-BSN (nursing program); and an undergraduate degree program in early childhood education.

Students enrolled in these programs will be able to complete their coursework at KCHE, a $12 million, 54,000-square-foot facility that combines the resources of several regional colleges and universities under one roof. To learn more, visit milligan.edu/Kingsport.

Research round-up Milligan students achieved several noteworthy accomplishments in the area of undergraduate research during the spring semester.

In April, two students were recognized for their participation in the 20th Annual Blue Ridge Undergraduate Research Conference at Lincoln Memorial University (Harrogate, Tennessee).

Dillon Whittington Megan Guerra, a junior psychology major from Paoli, Indiana, presented a project titled “Strategic Caring: The Consumer’s Response to High and Low Involvement Products Using Cause Related Marketing,” for which she earned an “outstanding presentation” award. Senior Anneke Snyder, of Brownsville, Texas, presented “Himmler’s Lebensborn Program.”

In addition, senior Dillon Whittington presented a lecture titled “The History of Music in Video Games: Then and Today.” Whittington’s multimedia lecture, which was a culmination of his mentored research project, examined video game music through the decades—from Pong to 10 | SUMMER 2013

Pac-Man to Halo—and included audio and video clips of the music he studied.

At the conclusion of the semester, Milligan announced that two students will spend 10 weeks this summer working in important fields of study through Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) programs funded by the National Science Foundation.

Nate Andrew, a rising senior from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is assisting with research aimed at understanding and preventing societal violence. Andrew, along with several other students from colleges and universities across the nation, was selected to participate in Virginia Tech’s REU program. Andrew’s project is titled “Reinforcing Anti-Violence Attitudes through Exposure to Violent Media Content.”

A rising junior from Butler, Tennessee, Sterling Herron is participating in Penn State Hershey College of Medicine’s REU program. His research is focused on biomaterials and reducing blood clots.

Herron is working alongside Dr. Christopher Siedlecki, professor of surgery and bioengineering at the Hershey College of Medicine, on research about how biomaterials―specifically internal medical devices in the circulatory system―interact with the blood and certain proteins, looking for the cause of and reducing blood clots around these implants.

13 honored as Leaders in Christian Service Milligan College recognized 13 local leaders who have demonstrated servant leadership in their careers and community at the college’s annual Leaders in Christian Service program in Milligan’s Mary B. Martin Auditorium in Seeger Memorial Chapel.

Dr. George Karnes, a founder of the Keystone Dental Clinic, served as this year’s keynote speaker.

The 2013 honorees included: Larry Calhoun, of Johnson City, founding dean of the East Tennessee State University Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy; Tabatha Gonzales, of Johnson City, who works for Good Samaritan Ministries; Jim Heaton, of Johnson City, retired from Johnson City Schools; Jeff and Jennifer Keller, of Johnson City (Jeff works with the Social Security Administration and Jennifer is employed at Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell, and Berkowitz); Ann O’Quinn, of Johnson City, a private piano teacher; Lynn Parker, of Church Hill, retired from Eastman Chemical Company; Tom and Donna Seaton, of Johnson City, owners of The Firehouse restaurant; Mark Sitter, of Johnson City, who works at

May graduate chosen for prestigious fellowship Jordan Kinser, of Butler, Tennessee, is one of two students nationwide selected for the Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellows Program.

Kinser graduated from Milligan in May with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history and sociology.

This program is a two-year period of work and study at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund offices in Jacksonville, Florida. The Fund works to expand access and create opportunity through grants to more than 330 eligible organizations identified by duPont in her will.

Fellows work alongside senior staff, collaborate on projects, and independently manage projects and programs.

VinTech Manufacturing; Phillip Timp, of Bristol, Virginia, works with The Beth Foundation; David Torgerson, of Gray, retired from Washington County Schools; and Thomas Torbett, of Gray, retired from the Appalachian

Father, son share the spotlight The Milligan theater department’s spring production of The Odyssey was an epic collaboration of talented Milligan students and local artists who retold the ageless story in a fresh way.

The Odyssey was senior Colin Blowers’ last performance as a student on Milligan’s stage. A political science and humanities major, Blowers was no stranger to the Milligan stage; he performed leading roles in several Milligan productions.

However, The Odyssey was especially memorable for him because he performed his role of Odysseus alongside his father, Dr. Paul Blowers.

Paul, who portrayed the Old Poet/Beggar, teaches church history at Emmanuel Christian Seminary. A 1977 Milligan graduate, he is a longtime friend of the play’s director, Richard Major, professor of theater at Milligan, and the two have collaborated on theatrical work since the mid-70s.

Choir goes on the road again The Milligan Concert Choir revived a long-standing, favorite tradition as it embarked on a concert tour of the east coast of the United States during the college’s spring break in March.

Conducted by Noah DeLong, assistant professor of music, the 41member choir performed in churches in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. The choir wrapped up the tour with a final performance on March 23 in the Mary B. Martin Auditorium of Seeger Memorial Chapel.

SUMMER 2013 | 11

Staff SPotliGht:

Linda Lawson Editor’s note: This is the final installment in a series of stories highlighting some of Milligan’s longtime employees and their contributions to the college. Their work often is done behind the scenes, but their names and faces are familiar to the countless students and alumni whose lives they have touched through their service and commitment to Milligan.

(Hayden ’71) Lawson spends most of her work time in her LindaThe quiet second-floor office in McCown Cottage Business Office. nature of her job keeps her behind her well-organized

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desk and well outside of the public eye. However, the faculty, staff, and student workers who have received a Milligan paycheck in the last two decades know and appreciate Lawson’s diligent work.

As Milligan’s personnel director, Lawson is responsible for the college’s payroll, which includes processing more than 800 W-2 forms every year. She also coordinates hundreds of student work study assignments, while managing other personnel-related paperwork and tasks.

“Linda is responsible for paying the college’s employees every pay period and even schedules her vacations around payroll cycles,” said Jacqui Steadman, vice president for business and finance. “She works behind the scenes each year on health insurance renewals and other benefits available to college employees, always advocating for the employees’ needs during the process. Her contributions in this area are valued greatly by the college.”

While payroll is not as arduous a task as it was before Lawson implemented electronic timecards and direct deposit, it remains a critical and consuming component of her job.

“In the last 22-plus years at Milligan, I’ve done every payroll except three,” Lawson said. “And I’m happy to say that I’ve never had a payroll that wasn’t ready.”

“A lot of things have changed cosmetically at Milligan, but the heart, the core of this place, is the same.”

There was a close call one Thanksgiving when Lawson and her family were stuck in Corbin, Kentucky, after their car broke down on their way home to Elizabethton. She called her supervisor, Joe Whitaker (now retired vice president of business), and explained her predicament, offering to try to talk someone through the payroll process over the telephone.

“Milligan has come a long way and now has back-ups in place, but back then only Linda could do our payroll,” Whitaker recalls. “So another Milligan employee and I got in the car, drove to Kentucky, and brought Linda to campus so she could do payroll. She did it gladly, as she does her job every day. She is by far one of the most organized, dependable employees I have ever worked with.”

FAmILY TIES Payroll remains a large part of Lawson’s job, but her primary motivation for her work goes beyond her own paycheck. Lawson’s connection and love for Milligan are deeply rooted in her family.

The daughter of Edwin and Hester Hayden, Lawson and her siblings, Marshall (’63) and Nadyne, grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, where their father was a renowned Christian church leader and editor of the Christian Standard for over 20 years.

Lawson remembers a childhood trip to Milligan for a ministry camp.

During that visit, Milligan’s First Lady Dorothy Walker invited her and some of the other children in attendance to her home where she served them a bottle of Coca-Cola. Back then, the Milligan President’s house was in McCown Cottage, now the business office where Lawson works.

Marshall was the first member of the Hayden family to attend Milligan.

Now the retired minister of Worthington Christian Church in Worthington, Ohio, he remains connected to the college through his service on the Board of Trustees.

Lawson followed in her brother’s footsteps and enrolled in Milligan in 1967. She lived in Hart Hall, where Clarinda Jeanes (Milligan’s former first lady) was her freshman suitemate.

An English major, Lawson found her niche in the fine arts activities on campus. As a member of Milligan’s Concert Choir, she participated in a five-week choir tour of the western United States and sang at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1971. She also was active in the theater program, performing in 12 plays on Milligan’s stage.

While she didn’t pursue a career in music, her participation in Concert Choir had the greatest impact on her future plans because that is where she met her husband, Dan Lawson. Dan was an Emmanuel School of Religion (now Emmanuel Christian Seminary) student who sang with Milligan’s concert choir.

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Lawson, front row, 2nd from left

“Long before we dated, he was a friend to me and sat down and prayed with me when I learned of a devastating family illness,” Lawson said. The Lawsons were married in 1972 and embarked on a life of ministry that took them to several churches throughout the country, including ministries in Indiana, Kansas, Illinois, and Arizona.

In 1988, the couple returned to East Tennessee when Emmanuel asked Dan to serve as the seminary’s executive director of development.

Two years later, Linda heard about a job opening at Milligan and applied for the position. After interviewing for the job, Lawson wasn’t optimistic about her chances.

“No one was more surprised than I when Joe Whitaker offered me the job,” Lawson said. “This is the most demanding and satisfying job I’ve ever had. I am constantly impressed by the confidence and trust this institution has put in me to do things well and do the right thing.”

The trust was not hard to establish, Whitaker said. “Linda is superior in planning and implementation,” he said. “She’s realistically positive, meaning she’s realistic about what’s possible and she wants the best for the college and at the same time for its employees.”

When Lawson returned to her alma mater as an employee, she found herself working alongside several of her former professors such as Dr. Bill Gwaltney and Dr. Gary Wallace. In addition, some of her own classmates had returned as professors, including Dr. Jack Knowles (’69) and Drs. Lee and Pat Magness (’69).

“This was a place I was already comfortable with and these were people I knew,” Lawson said.

She added “Milligan parent” to her credentials when her son, John (’03), enrolled. John met his wife, Heather (Brandon ’03), at Milligan, and now they have two sons, Jude and Jonas. Lawson’s daughter, Andrea, graduated from Pepperdine University in California.

Though they have no immediate plans, the Lawsons have talked about retirement in the next few years and are looking forward to spending more time traveling.

“It doesn’t seem that long ago that I was a student,” Lawson said.

“My role has changed from student to alumna, employee and parent, and a lot of things have changed cosmetically at Milligan, but the heart, the core of this place, is the same.”n

SUMMER 2013 | 13

PROFESSOR'S JOURNEY TRACES

DANIEL BOONE'S STEPS

By Greg Kocher Lexington Herald-Leader, reprinted with permission

ummer is just beginning, but Jim Dahlman has already had his grand S adventure. The 54-year-old college professor traced Daniel Boone’s steps along the Wilderness Road, the path that brought settlers from points farther east to Kentucky and beyond.

“I was curious to see how it had grown up and how it’s developed, and if that might tell us something about the region as a whole and also how the United States has grown up over the last 240 years,” Dahlman said.

The Milligan College journalism professor left Elizabethton, Tennessee, on May 22. After leaving eastern Tennessee, he walked through southern Virginia, trekked through the Cumberland Gap near Middlesboro, Kentucky, and headed north past Barbourville, Corbin, London, Berea, and Richmond.

He finished the 275-mile-long walk on June 14 at Fort Boonesborough State Park in Madison County, where relatives presented him with a coonskin cap and toy long rifle.

Along the way, he interviewed people about the land and what it means to them.

“In some cases, people have just unpacked their entire life stories,” he said. “I think they’re eager to tell their stories. They don’t get many chances to do that.”

For example, in Virginia he met a 33-year-old man who is on disability because he has had seizures since age 17 when he was kicked in the head by a horse. The seizures mean he can’t have a driver’s license, and therefore, he has no job. But his full-blooded Cherokee grandmother taught him the medicinal value of wild plants, and he learned how to plow with a mule. He makes jewelry out of cedar wood and crafts elaborate walking sticks.

“It occurred to me,” Dahlman said, “here’s a guy who’s smart, talented, 14 | SUMMER 2013

and curious, and there’s no place in our economy for him, which is kind of sad.

“He has so much folk knowledge that I asked if he ever thought about going to a community college to teach a course, but he said, ‘No, no, they wouldn’t have anybody like me.’”

Serendipity struck in Mount Vernon, where Dahlman came upon a group of 21 Japanese tourists at an Arby’s restaurant.

“And it was fun just watching them and the Arby’s staff figure each other out,” Dahlman said. “But I get to talking to a couple of these guys, and they were original members of this bluegrass group back in the ’60s and ’70s called Bluegrass 45. I went online and Googled these guys, and they were really good. They played at the Grand Ole Opry.”

The group was eventually headed to the 47th annual Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana. “So that was kind of unexpected,” Dahlman said.

The Wilderness Road is the name for several pioneer routes that overlap each other for great distances, Dahlman said. When possible, he tried to follow a route that Boone and 30 ax men blazed in 1775. That was the year that Boone and Richard Henderson negotiated the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals, in which Henderson’s Transylvania Company bought a large part of Kentucky and a part of Tennessee from the Cherokee.

So Sycamore Shoals State Historic Park, 5 miles from Dahlman’s Johnson City, Tennessee., home, is where he began his walk. He thought that a fitting place to start, since Henderson hired Boone to improve the existing path used by bison and Native Americans to make it easier for settlers to make their way into the wilderness and the West.

SUMMER 2013 | 14

Lexington

Elizabethton

“Boone had wanted to move there for a long time, so this was on his agenda anyway,” Dahlman said. “So he and these 30 ax men took off in March 1775 ... and followed this trail, widened it, improved it, marked it better. It was still very rough. It was, at best, a bridle path. From that point up through the Cumberland Gap, and then up into Boonesborough is where they ended up.”

For 20 years, the path became the major way into the West. “Literally hundreds of thousands of people made their way from Virginia and North Carolina up through this way and began to settle,” Dahlman said.

In 1795, the Kentucky legislature allocated money to make the Wilderness Road suitable for wagons from Cumberland Gap to Crab Orchard in what is now Lincoln County. From there the road split west to Harrodsburg and north to Louisville.

Today, modern roads such as U.S. 25E between Middlesboro and Barbourville follow nearly the same route as the Wilderness Road.

The walk gave Dahlman a renewed respect for the people who followed the original Wilderness Road.

“Right now we cruise over these mountains and we cruise over these rivers, and we don’t give them a second thought,” he said. “But to these early settlers and travelers, the mountains and rivers were major obstacles.

“And when it’s one man going over a mountain, that’s one thing. But trying to take a family and all your earthly goods with you, and trying to get over a high ridge of mountains, that’s impossible.”

Dahlman, who grew up in New York City and Tampa, Florida, said he was impressed by the importance of the land to the people he interviewed, not just in terms of economics and livelihood, but in terms of identity.

“I get this from people who are gladly working in the coal-mining industry and mountaintop removal,” he said. “They see the land as important, but they also have the mentality that ‘The land is ours and therefore we need to use it.’ ... They see the value of the land and the need to take care of it, but they also see the need to make a living.”

Dahlman took the walk to help him complete his Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction degree through Goucher College in Baltimore. To complete the program, he must write 150 pages of publishable material. So describing the Wilderness Road and its people as they exist today, and reflecting on the issues that face the region, seemed like a worthwhile project. He hopes the experience will lead to a book.

Dahlman was a long-distance runner for several years, and he believes that conditioning helped his preparation. He typically walked between 10 and 15 miles a day, although he did 22 miles one day.

Each step meant carrying a 40-pound pack with three changes of clothes, a camp stove, freeze-dried food, instant oatmeal, flat bagels, peanut butter, trail mix, notebooks, a camera, and a voice recorder. A GPS tracker and cellphone kept him in touch with his daughters, Sarah Dahlman (’06) of Johnson City, Tennessee, and Rachael Warf and her husband, Corey, of Lexington.

Dahlman had scouted the exact route he wanted to take by car in October. As he walked along U.S. 25 north of Berea, he wore a floppy hat, long pants, and long-sleeved T-shirt. Two metal walking sticks helped him with his balance on uneven terrain.

Aside from learning how civilization has developed along the Wilderness Road, Dahlman learned new things about himself.

“I guess the first thing I realized is how much in a hurry I want to be,” he said. “I don’t think of myself as a speed demon or any kind of high-tech, let’s go, gung-ho kind of person.

“But when I go, I find myself wanting to go fast. So this has revealed that in me, and the need to figuratively and literally take my foot off the accelerator, and to try and enjoy and appreciate and notice things while I’m on the road.”n Jim Dahlman (’80), associate professor of communications, joined milligan’s faculty in 1999.

SUMMER 2013 | 15

SPORTS

By Amerrica Duggan (’14)

r. Ruth (Hammack) Alexander, 75, took full advantage of her Milligan education after she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in physical education and religious education in 1960.

She went on to earn a master’s degree from the University of Kentucky and a Doctor of Education degree from Indiana University. In 1969, she began a successful, 36-year career at the University of Florida, where she established the Lady Gator athletic program. This program paved the way for women to participate in intercollegiate athletics.

This spring, Alexander was recognized for her achievements when she received the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports & Nutrition (PCFSN) Lifetime Achievement Award.

Presented annually since 2007, the Lifetime Achievement Award is given to individuals whose careers have greatly contributed to the advancement or promotion of physical activity, fitness, sports, and nutritionrelated programs nationwide. Recipients are selected by members of PCFSN based on the span and scope of an individual’s career, the estimated number of lives they have touched, and the impact of their legacy.

Alexander was one of only five people selected for the award this year. With this distinction, she joins the ranks of past recipients, such as former University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach Pat Summitt, a 2012 honoree.

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Alexander’s lifetime achievement award comes just a year after her induction by Florida Governor Rick Scott into the Florida Women’s Hall of Fame. Hall of Fame nominees are chosen because they made significant contributions to the improvement of life for women and for all citizens of Florida. Prior inductees include several notable names such as former U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno; singer Gloria Estefan; and Congresswomen Carrie Meek, Tillie Fowler, and Ruth Bryan Owen.

“I am extremely proud of these achievements,” said Alexander, a native of Radford, Virginia, who now lives in Gainesville, Florida. “I’m interested in helping and preparing people in the field of physical education and sports administration, and I’ve enjoyed working with the Lady Gators.”

Alexander’s recent awards are part of a lifetime of achievements.

Alexander served as chairperson of the department of women physical education at UF. When she started teaching there, women were only allowed to participate in intramural sports. She wanted women to have the same opportunities as men, so she began efforts at UF to start intercollegiate sports for women. Her hard work and determination produced successful results.

In 1974, President Richard Nixon appointed Alexander as the first woman on the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.

athlEtic nEwS Baseball

The Buffaloes won seven of their first eight games to open the season as they finished with a 25-25 overall record and an 11-13 mark in AAC play. Milligan was led

by AAC All-Conference selections Tyree Jeffries (Jackson, TN), Brandon malone (maryville, TN), and Corey mcPherson (Johnson City, TN). In addition to Jeffries, the Buffaloes lost Cody Hyder (Elizabethton, TN), Jackson Farmer (Johnson City, TN), and Sean Robinson (Knoxville, TN) to graduation.

Dance

The dance team captured a pair of diamond scores and two first place finishes in their first season of competition. The squad competed in the pro-am division at the encore Dance Competitions in Greeneville, SC, and Gatlinburg, TN. The Buffaloes saw freshman molly Gumbert (Ashland, KY) become the first soloist in program history to record a platinum score and first overall finish. The squad featured two seniors in Tori Ryans (Knoxville, TN) and Rachel Owens (Jonesborough, TN).

men’s Golf Alexander with President Gerald Ford

The men’s golf team claimed their second AAC regular season title in three years and punched their ticket to their first NAIA Men’s Golf National Championships since 2007 with a direct qualifier victory. At the national tournament, the Buffaloes used a strong performance to become the first AAC team to make the cut as they rounded out the event in 14th. Milligan loses four seniors in Whit Brown (murfreesboro, TN), Kody Fawcett (manitoba, Canada), Hunter O’Neal (Bluefield, VA), and David Tedder (Bristol, TN).

Women’s Golf

Presidents Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan reappointed her. For six years, she served as a clinician and counselor for fitness programs in the council.

Through her work with the council, she established Vita Parcours, an exercise running trail popular in the 1970s.

In 1987, she was inducted into the National Association of Sport and Physical Education’s Hall of Fame, and UF named her a Distinguished Professor. She retired in 2005. Throughout her career, Alexander has written several books and articles about physical education and fitness. mILLIGAN ROOTS Even while she was a student at Milligan, Alexander showed a passion for fitness through her activities. She served on the intramural council, was treasurer of the Physical Education Club, and was captain of the cheerleaders. She also participated in as many sports as possible.

“There were only about 500 total students at Milligan at that time, so all of us had to participate to even make a sports team,” Alexander said.

Duard Walker, longtime coach and athletic director at Milligan, remembers her as one of his outstanding students.

“She was a great student and a great person to be around on campus,” said Walker.

Milligan recognized Alexander as a Distinguished Alumna in 1985 and inducted her into the Milligan Athletics Hall of Fame in 1988.

“Out of all my accomplishments, however, I am proudest of my four sons,” Alexander said.

All of her sons have advanced greatly in their careers. Her oldest teaches at the University of Zurich in Switzerland, while her youngest two sons are lawyers. Alexander’s middle son, F. King Alexander, was appointed president of Louisiana State University in March.

Alexander still attributes much of her success in her career to her coaches at Milligan.

“Both Duard Walker and Harold Stout (former Milligan baseball coach and Tennessee Baseball Hall of Fame member) were great influences on the college and me,” she said.

Walker feels the same way about his student of long ago.

“Character-wise and academic-wise, Ruth is great,” he said. “I am proud to know she was honored with a lifetime achievement award because she deserves it.”n

The women’s golf program recorded a second place finish in the AAC/NAIA Direct Qualifier to wrap up their third season of competition. The Buffaloes finished in fourth during the AAC regular season tournament. Milligan will return the entire top five from this season.

Softball Milligan battled back from a slow start to finish the season 15-22 overall and 10-8 in AAC action. The Buffaloes defeated top-seeded and nationally ranked Reinhardt University twice in the AAC tournament to advance to the championship game, but they came up short against Virginia Intermont. Milligan saw Chancli Connatser (maryville, TN) and Catherine mcGinnis (Knoxville, TN) named to the AllConference team. The Buffaloes lost three seniors in Emily Biggs (Kingsport, TN), Abby Hughes (Rogersville, TN), and Camille Olvey (maryville, TN) to graduation.

men’s Tennis The Buffaloes captured the first AAC regular season title in program history with a perfect 3-0 conference record.

Milligan finished the season with a 9-12 mark, but saw their season come to a close in the NAIA/AAC Direct Qualifier to nationally ranked Xavier (LA). The Buffaloes lost two seniors in Andy Pullen (Kingsport, TN) and mickey Brown (Kingsport, TN) to graduation.

Women’s Tennis The women’s tennis team finished 19th in the final NAIA Coaches Poll as they recorded a 19-3 overall record. The Buffaloes finished second in the AAC regular season race. Milligan lost just one senior in Halie Winfrey (Fayetteville, GA), who was a part of three AAC Championship teams during her time at Milligan.

Track and Field The track and field program saw seven athletes claim individual titles at the 2013 AAC Outdoor Track and Field Championships, and saw Natalia Rivas (Johnson City, TN) run to a 16th place finish in the marathon at the 2013 NAIA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. During the AAC Championships, freshman meagan Wright (Florence, SC) was named the most outstanding female athlete, while Shaka Andrew (Bristol, VA) captured the men’s honors. The Buffaloes also saw Brandon Sissel (Simpsonville, SC), mikayla Westgerdes (Fort Recovery, OH), and Andrew finish inside the top 10 collegiate athletes in their respective events in the state of Tennessee.

For more athletic news, visit www.milliganbuffs.com SUMMER 2013 | 17

Milligan community rallies around coach’s family as son battles cancer oach Brad Hill (’05) is accustomed to encouraging student-athletes, helping them overcome challenges and celebrating their victories with them.

As assistant baseball coach and the former head cycling coach at Milligan, Hill is a pillar of strength for his teams on the playing field. Last year, a frightening diagnosis in his family reversed the roles, and the coach drew strength from his players.

On June 21, 2012, Hill’s wife, Ashley (Lakins ’05), gave birth to their second son, Kael. After a week of grueling medical tests and a surgery, eight-day-old Kael was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer made up of cells that normally develop into skeletal muscle.

Word of Kael’s cancer spread to the Hills’ family and friends, including the Milligan community. Brad decided to take a leave of absence from his coaching duties in order to help care for Kael, who started chemotherapy treatments within a few weeks.

While Hill stepped back from his coaching responsibilities, his players and colleagues at Milligan stepped up to support the family with encouragement, fundraisers, and prayers for a victory over the biggest opponent they had ever faced as a team―cancer.

“I always knew in my mind that when there is a crisis or situation where a family needs help, the Milligan community is there,” Brad said. “But during this past year we’ve experienced what that really means. I don’t think we

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would have made it through this year without everyone’s prayers and support.”

A DEVASTATING DIAGNOSIS The Hills found out something was wrong with Kael about half-way through Ashley’s pregnancy. Since they have a 3-year-old son, Brody, the couple knew what to expect during Ashley’s regular prenatal visits. At first, the appointments were routine.

“When I went in for my regular ultrasound at 19 weeks, the tech looked at the screen and said she was going to pull in the doctor to talk to us,” said Ashley, an advertising account executive at Charter Media. “I knew something was abnormal because usually they tell you the gender and that everything looks good. They immediately told us that there was a mass on Kael’s left hip.”

Ashley saw specialists for the duration of her pregnancy, and the doctors told the couple they would likely remove the mass from Kael’s leg the day after he was born.

“At that time, they thought the least likely thing it could be was cancer,” Ashley said.

Immediately after Kael was born, an MRI revealed that the mass encapsulated all of the muscles in his upper leg, making it impossible to remove at that time.

The day after he was born, Kael underwent his first surgery, a biopsy.

The Hills had considered the possibility of cancer, but were shaken by the results a few days later.

“You never want anyone to have cancer, period, much less your own child,” Ashley said. “The birth of your baby is supposed to be happy, peaceful, a blessing. And Kael is very much a blessing, but the cancer diagnosis was devastating.”

With the support of their family and friends, the Hills dove into their new reality, which included things they never imagined for their newborn―another surgery to insert a broviac or “central line” for chemotherapy, CT scans, bone scans, bone marrow aspiration, and countless other medical tests.

Early on, there weren’t many choices to make. The Hills did what they had to do fight Kael’s cancer. But after a second round of scans showed Kael’s tumor was not shrinking as much as the doctors hoped it would, their doctor from St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital made a recommendation.

“They suggested amputation,” Brad said. “This type of cancer is a fairly aggressive and can move throughout the body quickly.”

The Hills sought a second opinion, and that doctor suggested waiting until Kael’s chemo was finished to see if amputation still was necessary.

“We prayed, we did a lot of research of prosthetics companies, reading testimonials of amputees,” Ashley said. “Ultimately, when Brad and I make decisions, we like to come to the decision on our own and not influence each other. So separately, we wrote on a piece of paper what we thought we should do, and we’d both written ‘amputate.’”

On November 1, 2012, the doctors amputated Kael’s leg. Kael healed from the surgery beautifully while continuing his chemotherapy, Ashley said.

In April, Kael completed his chemotherapy treatments and then underwent a full body scan to detect any additional tumors. On May 16, the Hills learned his scans were clear and he could begin his post-treatment plan, which include regular scans until he’s 5 years old. Now an energetic and healthy 1-year-old, over the coming months Kael also will learn to use his full prosthetic leg.

he wanted to do something to help the family with their medical expenses.

“Our baseball team is a family, and when Coach Hill was gone, we were missing a big part of our team,” said Clawson, a senior human performance and exercise science major. “I wanted to do something to help Coach because he had done so much to help our team.”

Head baseball coach Nathan Meade purchased the bracelets, and the players began selling them for $5 or a donation. They raised more than $2,100 to help the Hills.

In addition, the Milligan baseball team also undertook a season-long initiative to raise money to fight pediatric cancer through Vs. Cancer Foundation (also known as BaseBald for the Cure).

“We were excited about the chance to be involved in such a great cause,” Meade said. “Early this year our guys, on their own, started the #KureKael campaign, and it was really exciting to see them get involved and be so motivated to help fight this disease. When presented with the opportunity to help kids like Kael both nationally and locally, our guys didn’t hesitate to get involved.”

The team surpassed their goal of $2,000. As part of the awareness effort, the coaches and several players shaved their heads in support of the fight against cancer. Hill returned to campus to help shave the players’ heads.

Two weeks later, the players returned the favor and shaved Brad’s head to mark a significant milestone—Kael’s last chemo treatment.

Around the same time Kael’s chemo ended, the Hills received another surprise when a check came in the mail from Milligan’s Multicultural Awareness (MCA) Club. On April 12, the MCA club hosted its second annual fashion show at Milligan, and the organizers donated the proceeds to the Hills.

The show featured student and independent designers, as well as student models and performers from Milligan and East Tennessee State University. The event’s organizer, Milligan senior Elizabeth O’Neill, wanted the proceeds to benefit a good cause.

“I had heard about what the Hills were going through, and we wanted this show to have a bigger purpose and not just focus on the clothes,” O’Neill said.

A FAmILY EFFORT

THE NEXT STEP

A uNITED DECISION

Over the last year, there have been many dark times for the Hills, but the couple is thankful for their family and friends who helped them through.

“We can see the sunlight through the trees now,” Ashley said.

They point to many moments and gestures that helped them. Brad remembers going out to eat with Chris Gordon, another member of Milligan’s baseball staff, and spotting an orange and black bracelet on Gordon’s wrist imprinted with the word “KureKael.”

The bracelets were part of a fundraising effort spearheaded by Milligan baseball player Dustin Clawson. When Clawson found out Kael had cancer,

Brad and Ashley know there are several more hurdles to overcome as Kael learns to use his prosthetic leg. But in just a short year, the family has come a long way. This fall, Brad hopes to return to Milligan as an assistant baseball coach and to the players, faculty, and staff who have helped sustain them during a difficult year.

“Through Kael, the students and our friends at Milligan showed us how much they really care,” Brad said.n

SUMMER 2013 | 19

Commencement 2013 three generations of Milligan grads celebrated the 2013 commencement with taylor Speciale. Pictured here, left to right: Patricia thomas (wilbeck,’63), daughters laurie Speciale (Snyder, ’86) and lola Snyder (’89), and granddaughter taylor Speciale (’13).

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or the second year, Milligan hosted two commencement ceremonies to accommodate one of the largest graduating classes in the college’s history. Milligan awarded 219 degrees during the May 10 and 11 ceremonies held in the Mary B. Martin Auditorium of Seeger Memorial Chapel.

Milligan alumnus Gary Richardson (’78), co-creator of popular musicals such as The Rock & The Rabbi and The Witnesses, served as the keynote speaker.

During commencement, Milligan also presented its Fide et Amore award to Dr. Richard Lura for his loving and faithful service to the college. Lura joined Milligan’s faculty in 1971 and serves as professor of chemistry.

Retiring Faculty Ruth McDowell Lavender, professor of English and humanities since 1998, retired from teaching this spring. In the summer of 2008, she received a Fulbright-Hays award to travel with a group of high school and college teachers around the major cities of South Africa. In 2009, she received a stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to study “The Rule of Law and the Liberal Arts” for five weeks at the University of New England in Maine. In addition to her time in the classroom, Lavender spent almost three years working with the elderly in nursing homes alongside her students in a group called Service Seekers.

20 | SUMMER 2013

Lee Magness (’69), The Vera Britton Chair of Bible and professor of Bible since 1983, retired this spring after 30 years in the classroom. In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he chaired the Goah Scholarship Committee from 2007-2013. While at Milligan, he published dozens of articles in The Christian Standard, Leaven, and Priscilla Papers and authored five books, including Marking the End: Sense and Absence in the Gospel of Mark. Just days after announcing his retirement, he and wife, Pat (Phillips ’69), departed for Ireland to lead a group of Milligan alumni and friends in a 10-day, cross-country tour.

in Memoriam Col. Arvin Samuel Williams, uSAF (Ret.) (’42) passed away April 10, 2013. While at Milligan, Arvin played fullback and was cocaptain of the football team. Following graduation, he taught biology and chemistry and coached varsity football and basketball. In August of 1942, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserve and was called to active duty in March 1943.

Upon receiving his Pilot’s Wings in 1944, he piloted B-17 and B-29 bombers during World War II, serving throughout the U.S. and europe. Arvin returned to education in 1947 and began teaching mathematics at Randolph-Macon Academy (R-MA), in Front Royal, VA, where he also coached varsity football and swimming. In 1967, he received a Master of Arts degree in education from George Washington University. In 1969, Arvin was named president of R-MA, a position he held until 1978. He relocated to Richmond, VA, in 1980, to be closer to his family.

Survivors include his nephew Paul Williams (’76) and grandnephew Brian Williams (’12).

MMagazine illigan

Bettye Fuzek (’66) passed away on January 20, 2012, at the age of 87. John Frank Fuzek, her husband of 62 years, preceded her in death in 2005. Bettye taught science at Dobyns-Bennett High School (Kingsport, TN), substituted at Sullivan County Schools, and taught reading with the Kingsport Literacy Council. She learned to play the violin as a child and later taught Suzuki violin lessons. She played with the Knoxville and Kingsport symphony orchestras and also for many special occasions. Bettye researched the family genealogy and was a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She ran in races and won 4th place in “Queen of the Road” at age 59. She and John passed on to their children their love of nature, science, and astronomy.

They traveled the U.S. and many parts of the world, sometimes chasing solar eclipses. She and John enjoyed ballroom and other forms of dancing. Other interests included rose and flower gardening, creating beautiful floral arrangements and home decorations, and many forms of sewing and needlework. She is survived by three children, Mary Ann Fuzek (Knoxville, TN), M.L. Fuzek (Knoxville, TN), and Dr. Martha e. Fuzek (Johnson City, TN).

is expanding!

We’re moving from 3 to 4 issues per year:

& two digital

two print

Do we have your current email address?

Go to www.milligan.edu/alumni to update your info so we can send you a link to our first-ever interactive version of the magazine this fall! You may also mail an update to Alumni Relations, PO Box 101, Milligan College, TN 37682.

THANK YOu Eryn weeks Brown

new alumni donors ashley lawry Edens

March-May 2013 christine Goehner

Erica hiteshew

Marcia Vick Miller

chris Peterson

willie church

Philip fader

cody Greene

kristen lates holland

Jessica Miller

Bart Price

nathan clark

Undine Phillips fader

Joni Baer Guinn

Melissa hook

Elizabeth naberhaus

Sarah cooper Price

Jamie crosby

ken fisher

Bethany hamilton

kim cochran kiesewetter

Megan Gable noggle

Jes Sutton

dallas crouch

cindy davis frazer

kristie Strand henderson

drew knowles

duane Palmer

Robert white

Jennifer wakefield dunn

christopher Gardenhour

Jonathan herd

Jeanette nathan leathorn

kalyn Perrigan

Rick dunn

Gina Jury Gill

alexa higgins

david lichte

kristina Peters SUMMER 2013 | 23

campus close-up

Growing to serve Workers are putting the finishing touches on several campus improvement projects that will be ready for students when they return for the fall semester.

The Milligan Housing Village (top) is almost ready for its first residents. The Village consists of five residence halls, improved parking and green space. In addition, new steps leading to Hart Hall (left) will tie in with a sidewalk to the Village.

Another exciting “perk” of the summer construction is the newly renovated and enlarged Grill (above) in the McMahan Student Center.

The Fireside Lounge and Grill were combined to create more space for the renovations. In addition to its striking new look, the “Fireside Grill” will roll out a full Starbucks® coffee/drink service and food menu improvements.

24 | SUMMER 2013

As part of the new Residence Village, Milligan College wishes to name one of the new residence halls “Pardee Hall,� to honor the impact, the traditions, and spirit of Pardee.

Any donor whose gift of $50 or greater is received by August 1 will be listed on a commemorative plaque in the lobby of the new Pardee and also will receive a T-shirt as a thank you gift!

Long Live the Rowdies!!

For further details about this effort, go to www.milligan.edu/pardee or contact Jack Simpson (aka Webb Geek), Vice President for Institutional Advancement, at 423.461.8955 or jasimpson@milligan.edu.

SUMMER 2013 | 25

Class Challenge ad will go here Planned giving ad will go on back cover

Congratulations to the CLASS OF

1969! and the CLASS OF

1998! with the most members of your classes to support the school during our recently completed fiscal year, you are the winners of milligan’s 2013 HERD Class Challenge!

Emerald Isle, Milligan style The 4th annual Milligan Alumni and Friends Tour explored the best of Ireland on an 11-day land tour, May 27-June 6, led by professors Lee and Pat Magness and President Bill and Edwina Greer. Thirty-three travelers came from all over the U.S. to experience the beauty and history of the Emerald Isle, from the scenic Ring of Kerry to the mountainous Connemara region to historic Dublin. Along the way, they enjoyed each others’ company, as many Milligan memories and stories were shared. They also heard many new Irish tales and learned to write a few limericks along the way: From Waterford to Limerick to Galway, From highways to byways and small ways, Sean Walsh led us on With story and song Till we learned to love Ireland in all ways.

(By Pat Magness)

26 | SUMMER 2013

Thanks for your financial support of Milligan College.

With your partnership, you are helping current students enjoy the same great Milligan experience that shaped you—the exceptional education, the lifelong friendships, the professors, and even the pranks.

Help the HERD. Support Milligan’s Annual Scholarship Fund. Your annual gift makes a Milligan education possible for our students and could even propel your class to be the next HeRD Class Challenge Champion!

Visit www.milligan.edu/donate to make your gift today.

From the President Dear friends, Edwina and I just returned from a marvelous tour of Ireland with 33 Milligan alumni and friends, led by Professors Lee and Pat Magness. The scenery was beautiful, and the company was even better. If you get the opportunity to travel on one of our alumni and friend tours, I’d highly recommend it. While on this trip, I kissed the famed Blarney Stone, and now, according to legend, I will be blessed with eloquence.

Only time will tell if that comes true. Even if not blessed with eloquence, I was blessed with great company and the opportunity to see what makes Milligan so special through other’s eyes. Milligan and the people who love her are special, united by a common commitment to God. Being reminded of this was more than just a bit of good Irish luck.

Milligan has just wrapped up another successful school year, and we owe that to more than just Irish luck, as well.

This May, we graduated another record class—219 students.

Perhaps the most striking thing about this class, however, was not their size, but their sense of community. It was a raucous ceremony (in a good way), alive and electric with the energy of youth who have spent four years preparing to serve God and humanity, and are now ready for that mission. Seeing these students and their enthusiasm is both a blessing and an encouragement to me.

Graduation was just one of the blessings we enjoyed this year. With your prayers, support, and encouragement, we have overcome continued economic challenges and budget pressures, and have been able to maintain our firm financial footing at Milligan. Because of you, we have continued to successfully pursue the noble work of Christian higher education.

Clearly, we have enjoyed God’s providence this year. I continue to be amazed at the way the members of the Milligan family look after and nurture others. As you’ve seen in this edition of the Milligan Magazine, whether it is the baseball team who have worked with Coach Brad Hill or alumnus Aaron Jones’s workshops on the theological implication of bread, Milligan people exemplify care and compassion. This is the result of more than luck, as well; it is the product of our common commitment to Christ.

As we move rather rapidly through the summer, we will be preparing for new students, finishing new residence halls, remodeling and expanding the Fireside Grill, and exploring new programs that will continue to change lives and shape culture through our commitment to Christian leadership. In all these endeavors, we remain committed to scholarship, community, and our shared faith in Christ: in short, the same things that made the great alumni and friends who were in Ireland with Edwina and me such wonderful travel companions. I am grateful for them, and I am grateful for you, and that’s not luck—it’s a blessing.

Until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand,

Bill Greer (’85) Ph.D. President

SUMMER 2013 | 27

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