MOUNT VERNON NOW SPRING 2023

N O W

ENGAGING THE WORLD

Samantha Scoles

Center for Global Engagement is at the

Since Day One, students, faculty, and staff of Mount Vernon Nazarene (College) University, have been molded to serve others. Founding President Stephen Nease established our motto, “To seek to learn is to seek to serve.” It’s engraved on the Eternal Flame. It’s incorporated in the classroom, in athletics, in Student Life, and of course through Campus Ministries.

Today, it is woven into the fabric of our Center for Global Engagement. In this magazine, we are excited to introduce you to the Center and hope you quickly realize it is a testament to President Nease’s challenge and a commitment to our students and the world steps and miles beyond 800 Martinsburg Road.

Already the Center has opened our students to new cultures and traditions by partnering with global faculty members and other campus offices. We are introducing students — and faculty and staff — to new countries and cultures without leaving campus.

of it all

The Center is creating collaborations and intentional connections to the work of the Church of the Nazarene that will place our students throughout the world to learn, to practice their skills, to minister, and so much more as they establish themselves as global citizens. We are also strengthening long-term partnerships that have been successful endeavors for all involved.

In these pages, we’ll also explore the worlds that have opened to our students through academic, service learning, and study abroad opportunities. From Italy to Africa and from Ecuador to Cactus, Texas, we are leaving our footprint around the world and touching the lives of others by serving as the hands and feet of Jesus.

We hope you enjoy the stories you are about to see and look forward to sharing more with you about the amazing work happening on campus and around the globe through the Center for Global Engagement.

Samantha Scoles ('22) is the Assistant Director of Communications/ Public Relations and serves as the editor of The NOW.

center

“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace”

1 Peter 4:10

ENGAGING THE WORLD

President

Henry W. Spaulding II, Ph.D.

Vice President for University Relations

Rev. James Smith

Executive Director of Alumni Relations and Advancement

Rev. Mike Cheek

Assistant Director of Alumni and Church Relations

Heather Hoag

Assistant Vice President of Marketing

Katie Booth

Assistant Director of Communications/PR

Samantha Scoles

Creative Director Ben Eash

Art Direction/Design Caleb Williams

NOW Editorial Board

John Ballenger, Katie Booth, Mike Cheek, Ben Eash, Darrel George, Justin Nowicki, Samantha Scoles, James Smith, Tavaris Taylor, and Chip Wilson

Cover Photo

Keylor Vega León

Subscription

Introducing the Center for Global Engagement

Brit Eaton (’04)

“To seek to learn is to seek to serve” isn’t just a motto. It’s who we are at MVNU, who we’ve always been. Since 1968, MVNU has placed lifelong learning and global service at the center of all we do as an intentionally Christian university.

Our brand new Center for Global Engagement — the only center of its kind among Nazarene institutions — provides dynamic and transformative global learning and service opportunities. It ensures that global perspectives and opportunities to learn, serve, and engage needs locally, nationally, and globally are woven into the fabric of the student experience as a strategic imperative for the university.

“Most MVNU students come to campus eager to make a difference in the world,” says Dr. Brenita Nicholas-Edwards, newly appointed Assistant Vice President for Global Engagement and Director of the Center for Global Engagement. “But if we really want to make a positive impact in it, we first have to learn about it, develop relationships and serve throughout it, find passion and compassion for it, and develop skills and dispositions to work effectively in it.”

Nicholas-Edwards believes the new Center will produce highly engaged, purposeful students who are learning from global practitioners and engaging real world needs and challenges in real time, ultimately bridging the gap between MVNU’s mission and vision for the future.

Our university-wide Mission and Vision are focused on fulfilling the great commission. And that involves all of us — everyone who claims Christ around the world.

Mission: Mount Vernon Nazarene University exists to shape lives through educating the whole person and cultivating Christlikeness for lifelong learning and service.

Vision: To Change the World with the Love of Christ.

Dr. Nicholas-Edwards isn’t the only person on campus committed to providing global engagement opportunities for students. Her team is actively partnering with departments across the university to provide students with both curricular and co-curricular opportunities to explore, connect, and participate in global engagement.

Programs including nursing, engineering, art, our newly transformed intercultural studies co-major, and more are already leveraging the Center’s shared resources for curricular engagement. A crossing cultures service-learning immersive course, which meets a core general education requirement, is also available.

Outside the classroom, co-curricular engagement experiences are offered to all students, such as the Justice Project through Campus Ministries and Festival Latino through Intercultural Life. Adding to a rich array of opportunities, the Center’s cocurricular offerings range from an annual Global Engagement Expo and monthly Global Spotlight Events to cultural celebrations like Chinese New Year.

Brit Eaton is an author, speaker, discipler, and all-around pursuer of the Kingdom of God. She helps corporate, nonprofit, and ministry leaders find the words to say to move people to action.

Global engagement is more than what we do. It’s who we are; who we’re becoming, together.

The new Center includes a Service Learning Collaboratory — a global community of students, alumni, faculty, staff, and global partners committed to providing global engagement opportunities, hands-on training, and networking opportunities for MVNU students and graduates, now and into the future.

The Collaboratory is intentionally engaged with the work of the Church of the Nazarene around the world. “MVNU is committed to shaping students who will make a significant impact in their professions and on their world” says Nicholas-Edwards. “The Center’s partnership with Nazarene Global Missions is one way to operationalize this as it provides students with ways to meaningfully engage in what the church is doing around the globe building important cross-cultural skills necessary to work and serve in the world, as well as expanding their imagination about ways they may be called to use their gifts and passions in service to others."

Stephen Sickel, the Global Coordinator of Partnerships and Work and Witness initiatives emphasizes the synergies that take place within this collaboration.

“The Church of the Nazarene and Global Missions is a body made of individuals, churches, and schools around the world. MVNU represents an important part of that body. The opportunity to come together and learn from each other in and out of the classroom is priceless. MVNU has a lot to offer the Global church as a resource, from research projects to potential future missionaries. The church and her ministry are stronger as MVNU, the professors and students take their knowledge and meld it with the experience of church leaders to find solutions, learn, and grow together.”

Global awareness. Global responsibility. Global participation.

The Center for Global Engagement will provide three different ways for students to get involved: on-campus engagement through curricular and co-curricular opportunities; off-campus engagement locally, nationally and globally; and Collaboratory engagement — each designed so that our students, alumni, faculty, and staff will continue to build cultural humility and competence, preparing them to make a difference in today’s world.

Center for Global Engagement Opportunities

On-Campus Engagement:

• Courses throughout the curriculum that integrate global perspectives

• Co-curricular activities with global engagement components

• Global faculty members who come to MVNU from around the world to teach

• Purposeful connection with Nazarene Global Missions

Off-Campus Engagement:

• On-location courses immersed in different cultures

• Semester-long courses with 2-week spring break travel components

• Summer or semester-long study away opportunities, nationally or internationally

• Orientation and debriefing resources for on-location courses, study away, and ser vice-learning trips

Collaboratory Engagement:

• Collaboratory courses open to students, alumni, faculty, staff, and partners

• Global practitioners help MVNU students engage current needs and challenges

• Service and scholarship integration through project-based learning

• Students meaningfully connect with mentors and future employers

Off-Campus engagement includes serving in the local central Ohio community, participating in semester exchanges with partnering institutions, and studying away across the U.S. and around the world. Students can take on-location courses for a semester, a spring break, a summer, or even a year immersed in a different culture. The Center equips all students — as well as alumni, faculty, and staff who want to join us for short-term opportunities — with necessary orientation and debriefing to facilitate deeper and more meaningful learning experiences.

On-Campus engagement includes courseembedded service learning, co-curricular opportunities, intercultural events, global speakers, and real-life, project-based learning experiences, right here on campus. Students, practitioners, missionaries, and faculty will all have access to shared resources and year-round campus events featuring global practitioners and faculty who engage, teach, speak, and share wisdom with the campus community.

Collaboratory engagement is designed for anyone interested in offering or participating in hands-on, project-based learning, engaging problems, and addressing needs through partnering with and learning from global practitioners. This worldwide community is committed to providing global engagement opportunities, hands-on training, and networking opportunities for students and graduates, now and into the future. Collaboratory courses are available to anyone—and practitioners can come to the Collaboratory with short- and long-term project-based learning opportunities, accessing the expertise of faculty and student engagement to tackle current needs.

For students, this three-fold engagement approach helps them become better citizens of the world while producing portfolio-worthy experiences and meaningful connections with career mentors and even employers. For practitioners, it means access to a growing community of MVNU collaborators who are ready to learn and serve.

Current and future projects, immediate impact

In collaboration with global practitioners and academic programs, the Center for Global Engagement is empowering students to:

• Create an unmanned aircraft used for crop surveillance in Guatemala to increase food security

• Conduct an assessment of community health needs in Guyana to inform health-oriented services and programming in rural areas

• Develop a protocol to assess the feasibility of a tilapia fish farm in Mozambique to serve as an economic empowerment initiative for the Milange District Training Center

Bridging the

Gap

Fostering a global perspective doesn’t just happen—it’s something we cultivate together.

Gifts of time and talent from MVNU constituencies to the Center for Global Engagement are bridging the gap between knowledge and experience. Alumni, friends, and Collaboratory partners are not only proving faithful to share their vocational knowledge and insight with students, but mentor them meaningfully for a powerfully practical global engagement experience.

Gifts of treasure are bridging the gap between what tuition and student fundraising efforts can match so students can make a real difference in the world — now and after graduation. The University is eager to find partners to help us raise $1 million to endow the Center and honor E. LeBron and Anne Fairbanks, MVNU’s fifth president and first lady, who were integral in fostering MVNU’s global impact and setting the example of being global citizens.

Give to the Center for Global Engagement

Mobilize our students to engage current needs and challenges and prepare for civic life and service— while making an immediate impact.

The endowment will help provide project grants, travel stipends, global events, student scholarships, a Global Learning Academy, and more.

The Fairbankses were integral in fostering MVNU‘s global impact and setting the example of being global citizens. In Dr. Fairbanks’ final address to faculty entitled One Final Recommendation in August of 2006, he said, “I urge you to require a cross-cultural component to what we expect of every student who graduates from MVNU. This component needs to be added across the curriculum to emphasize the distinctiveness that MVNU graduates experience face-to-face immersion within a culture other than their own. It reflects our intentionality to prepare students to become global Christians.”

Some initial lead gifts have already been pledged. University leadership is seeking additional partners to expand the possibilities offered through the Center. There are multiple opportunities to honor or remember a family member, former pastor, or favorite missionary by naming one of the various programs of the Center. If you’d like to partner as a lead or supporting donor, please contact our Vice President of University Relations, James Smith at james.smith@mvnu.edu, or join us at this summer’s MVNU General Assembly Alumni Luncheon for the public launch of the Center for Global Engagement.

Gifts to the Center create more opportunities for students who might not otherwise be able to participate in global engagement learning experiences. What’s more, these funds will empower our faculty and partners to identify new places for MVNU students to learn and serve locally, nationally, and globally, cultivating the Christ-centered leaders we all want to see in the world.

Are you interested in participating in a trip or project, have ideas for collaborations or want to discuss giving opportunities?

With your support, the Center for Global Engagement will equip a new generation of MVNU graduates to find their purpose, to engage real-world challenges in real-time, and to serve the world as Christ-centered leaders.

Global Expo & Spotlights bring world to 800 Martinsburg Road

Connecting students with the world is a major initiative for the Center for Global Engagement. On-campus events such as the Global Engagement Expo and monthly Global Spotlights are convenient ways to introduce students to opportunities for academic travel, study away programs, groups, clubs, and experience international culture and cuisine.

“Some students come to the Global Engagement Expo just to sample desserts from different countries. But while they are there, the world begins to open up for them,” said Brenita NicholasEdwards, Director of the Center for Global Engagement.”An opportunity for off-campus engagement captures their imagination and a desire to learn and serve in a different context begins to grow.”

Chelsea Porter, FaithWorks Coordinator co-led a February 2022 trip to Los Angeles where students ministered to the unhoused. She was excited to be part of the Fall 2022 Expo and talk with students about how they can get involved in service-learning experiences including Los Angeles.

“Not only does this event show students the opportunities to explore various cultures, but it also shows them all these various cultures through food, pictures, and experiences shared by the table leaders,” Porter said.

Dr. Bob Tocheff, Professor of Music, remarked that trips follow the university’s guiding purpose, saying, “I have participated in eight concert trips with Collegians Chorale, alumni and other interested

students, and it changes your life. These trips help us to fulfill the Vision of MVNU — To Change the World with the Love of Christ.”

A partnership between global faculty members and the Center for Global Engagement has resulted in the popular monthly Global Spotlight events. These 90-minute, drop-in events highlight the home cultures of our global faculty including food and trivia. Students, faculty, and staff learn about other parts of the world directly from the global citizens who know it well.

Participation in the Expo and Spotlights is transformative for students to decrease barriers by intentionally integrating experiences on campus where students can engage and connect.

Global Spotlights feature faculty from the following countries or territories:

Brazil

Cameroon

China

Costa Rica

Ghana

India

Indonesia

For more information on future events hosted by the Center for Global Engagement, visit mvnu.edu/events.

Puerto

Rico

Singapore

South

Korea

MVNU hosts Global Mission Forum

MVNU’s Center for Global Engagement was pleased to host 16 missionaries and mission leaders from each region of the Church of the Nazarene in Fall 2022 for the Global Missions Forum and Strategic Planning. They were joined on the MVNU campus by leadership from Nazarene Compassionate Ministries Global Office and Work & Witness to discuss short-term missions and identify new and different ways to equip and mobilize the global church.

“Hosting the team is a way for us to move even deeper into collaboration by inviting a broader audience of Nazarene missionaries and MVNU faculty and staff to engage in discussions about how we might work together in very concrete ways,” said Dr. Brenita Nicholas-Edwards, Director of the Center for Global Engagement.

“The Church around the world has opportunities for engagement and service. We are also called to be in a relationship with various parts of the body of Christ,” said Stephen Sickel, Global Coordinator of Partnerships and Work & Witness for the Church of the Nazarene. “MVNU represents an important part of that body, and, as we develop training and opportunities, we want to do that with some of our Nazarene schools. MVNU invited us into a partnership, and we are exploring ways to meet common objectives, build relationships and expand the kingdom across all disciplines.”

Missionaries served as guest lecturers in classes, where students heard about what the church is doing in various contexts. In

addition, missionaries served on two panel discussions — “Missionary Call and Preparation” and “Cultural Humility and Hospitality.”

It was a meaningful time of sharing and engagement as some missionaries shared their stories of call and how God prepared them for the work they are doing. Other panelists spoke about cultural humility, what they have done to develop this posture, and things we might do to be more intentional in this area, as well as hospitality and how that is expressed and received in varying cultural contexts. Throughout the engagement, students were able to catch a vision for how God may use their skills and interests for Kingdom purposes.

Sickel was pleased with the forum and the dialogue that transpired between participants, faculty, staff, and students.

“We enjoyed listening to what is going on in the classroom, having our missionaries share what God is doing where they are working, and how we can combine efforts so that both sides can learn from each other,” Sickel said. “We are honored to be invited to walk with MVNU on this journey as we build relationships and connections around the world.”

The Church of the Nazarene's global network includes nearly 500 missionaries serving in over 90 countries.

For more on Nazarene missions, visit opportunities.nazarene.org.

Finding Christ in Cactus, Texas

Zachary Strouse (’22)

Cactus, Texas, smack dab in the middle of the panhandle is where the Lord planted me to grow and deepen my faith. I had no idea how deep my roots would grow during my first service-learning trip to the Cactus Nazarene Ministry Center (CNMC) or how much I would see Him at work in this special town.

I really enjoyed being able to spend time with the people of Cactus. The town has a population of about 3,000 people with more than 20 nations represented. There is more diversity in this small town than some major cities around the world. My first experience in Cactus was incredible and set up my desire to go back the next year.

Before my second trip to Cactus (my junior year), the director of CNMC came to Mount Vernon and spoke at a few Nazarene churches to fundraise for the ministry. He said CNMC’s summer needs included an English as a Second Language teacher/BLAST coordinator and helper. Immediately the Lord plucked my heart and told me that I needed to go and volunteer for the summer.

During my second service-learning trip to Cactus, I continued to think and pray about how the Lord could best use me there for the summer. In that week, the Lord once again assured me that Cactus and CNMC was where He wanted me. I met with the director and at the end of the trip, I was officially offered a summer internship!

This experience opened the door for me to use the skills acquired in the classroom and continue the center’s vision to be the hands and feet of Jesus while preaching that Jesus saves and provides for all their needs.

I adored the kiddos of Cactus and spending time with them. It was so awesome and amazing to see how they worked hard in their academics and to support their families, but also had so much tendered-hearted joy as they went about their lives.

The adults I taught did not know English, but used the gifts the Lord gave them to work hard to learn the language. Their goal was to become United States citizens and help bring the rest of their family to the U.S.

Every single day I was in Cactus was a huge blessing because one minute I would be hanging out with a group of funny, smart, and spunky kiddos during BLAST or playing soccer with them. Later, I would be interacting with people from Cameroon, South Sudan, Cuba as well as many different countries. That night, I would be riding in a firetruck with screaming sirens to do my best to help someone in their darkest hour.

In Cactus, I was able to look at the world through a different lens, and I found God everywhere! You see the Lord is working in so many areas of life which gives us a great reminder that we are not at the center of our own worlds, but we are blessed to be a part of what Christ is doing throughout the world.

Each morning, I would immediately see the Lord through his beautiful creation of the plains of Texas. I would see Him in the joy of the children as I picked them up every day for summer BLAST; and in the kind and gentle smiles or the waves of the men and women as they walked across town to their job at the local meat packing plant. But it wasn’t just in these mornings that I saw Christ in Cactus.

I saw Christ in the dedication older siblings had to their brothers and sisters. Because both parents would be working at the meat packing plant to make ends meet, the older children were often responsible for their siblings.

I saw Christ through the teachers and administration at Cactus Elementary in how they cared for their students and in their desire to be at Cactus Elementary teaching their students even though most of them struggle with English.

I saw Christ in the principal of Cactus Elementary’s leadership and the constant Godly encouragement that he brought to students and teachers. He was also provided the same leadership as a board member at CNMC.

I saw Christ in the first responders of Cactus; in the firefighters, captain, and chief I worked alongside. They practiced Christlike hospitability in letting me, a 20-year kid who is certified firefighter/EMT in Ohio, join their department in Texas. Christ was also in the Cactus police officers who supported firefighters in responding to every call no matter the situation.

I saw Christ in the care and compassion of the ministry teams that came to CNMC to help support what the Lord was doing in Cactus as well as love on the people of town.

Zachary Strouse earned a degree in Middle Childhood Education in 2022. He is the House Coordinator at Lazarus Life Ministries in Mount Vernon, Ohio.

I saw Christ in the ministry center director and the other ministry interns and coworkers as we collaborated to do our best to be the hands and feet of Christ and bring the saving message of Jesus to the people of Cactus.

All throughout this tiny town that is full of beef cattle, goats roaming the streets, hardly any cacti (which is ironic because the town is called Cactus) and many different people from many different places, God was working and is still working!

My experience with CNMC gave me the opportunity to practice what I learned in MVNU’s freshman core competency class called Discipleship of The Christian Mind, taught by Dr. Christina Jones (the best Discipleship of the Christian Mind professor). In this class, she taught us how, as Christians, we should look at the world

through a different set of glasses — from a different perspective than our own. When we examine a new worldview, we begin to see how life is for others and how their perception of things is different than ours. This allows the student to have more Christlike compassion towards others even when we don’t understand their circumstances.

Service learning trips are important to MVNU students because they allow the opportunity for God to spark their hearts to go out and serve. I know for me, Christ sparked a huge flame in my heart for Cactus during those two trips and then he graciously opened the door for me to fan that flame even more during my summer internship. In fact, that flame is still burning as I hope the Lord will use me once again in Cactus.

Strouse honored for servant leadership

Strouse, a 2022 alumnus, invested in other students at MVNU by serving as a student mentor, resident assistant, and tutor. A certified firefighter and EMT, he traveled on several service trips, and was the men’s baseball team manager for a year. He also volunteered with HOLA at First Church of the Nazarene assisting students who do not speak English as their first language with their schoolwork.

Zachary Strouse was presented the 2022 Clayton J. Meyer Award which honors a student at the Nazarene Student Leader Conference host school who exemplifies silent servant leadership qualities.

Serrão: Travel opens doors to world, history

Dr. Jeanne Serrão, Professor of Biblical Literature, has hosted or cohosted 12 trips since 2007, guiding 450 people to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. We posed a Q/A session with her to discuss the intent and outcome of the trips and the impact the Center for Global Engagement will have on future trips.

Why are academic international trips important for students (and guests)?

MVNU academic international trips are distinctive in the sense of their overall purpose. I designed these to expose students to the ancient and/or current cultures we are visiting and to attempt to understand and relate to the people we encounter. They are different from mission trips, because we go to listen, learn, and observe other peoples and cultures, not to bring our ideas of how we can help them. They are different from pilgrimages in that, while in the Bible lands we have the privilege of walking where Jesus, the apostles, and Old Testament personages lived. We are also there to learn the geography, the formation and function of ancient villages and cities and the cultural contexts of the Bible so that we can interpret and understand the Bible better.

While you can learn much in a campus class, travel and experience teach us what we could never learn in a classroom. Those who travel to Capernaum on the Sea of Galilee, carry those sights, smells, and physical orientations with them back home. When travelers read the Bible, they recall the locations they have visited, know what it feels like to be there and what surrounds the story location of the Bible. One student reported to me that after hearing her pastor preach about a location she had visited, she realized that he had never been there.

How do you decide the destination and itinerary?

I gather a small group of faculty whom I think could create classes that would benefit from a specific trip. At the beginning, I focused primarily on Bible lands and Bible classes. Our first trip was to Turkey and Greece in 2007 to trace the steps of Paul and early Christian missionaries. I soon realized that these trips also introduced our students and guests to the current cultures and to important Church history locations. Therefore, in subsequent trips, I invited church historians, a nurse who taught a nursing diversity class, literature professors, and we now have an ecology professor who is planning to join the next Israel-Egypt trip to expose his students to the diversity of environments of the Middle East.

The next trip was to Israel and Egypt in 2009 to visit the lands of the Old and New Testaments. We visited not only Joppa, Jerusalem, Galilee, Judea, and Caesarea Philippi that are referred to in the New Testament, but also Megiddo, the City of David, and Mount Carmel that are common places in the Old Testament. In Egypt, we visited the traditional site where Mary, Joseph, and Jesus lived when they fled Judea before the slaughter of the innocents (Matthew 2:13ff). We also traveled through the ancient sites where the Israelites lived for 400 years before the Exodus.

After a return to Turkey and Greece in 2011, I collaborated with the art department in 2012 for a co-led trip. We added both a diversity class on the modern culture of Italy, and a Bible class on Romans, to study first century culture.

In 2017, we had the opportunity to journey to Germany and Switzerland to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. We visited sites related to Luther, Calvin, and Zwingli. We partnered with the Nazarene Theological Seminary on this trip.

This spring 2023, we expanded the traditional Italy trip to a joint Bible and art Greece-Italy tour, giving the art students the opportunity to see the original classical art in Greece before journeying to Italy to see the Renaissance art (a revival of classical art). At the same time, we introduced the students to the contemporary cultures of Greece and Italy as well as the locations where Paul and his co-workers went to preach the Gospel.

How many trips have you guided? Where?

Overall, I have hosted or co-hosted 12 trips and 450 people since 2007 to Israel, Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Greece, Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Art professor, John Donnelly, and I planned the 2023 trip to Greece and Italy, and I’m exploring the possibility of a return to Israel and Egypt in spring 2024.

Can you share some memorable moments?

They are too many to mention, but highlights include camel rides, floating in the Dead Sea (the lowest point in the world), baptizing in the Jordan River, walking on the Temple Mount, praying at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, visiting the walled-off Palestinian city of Bethlehem, and the traditional location of the birth of Jesus. Taking communion in the theater in Ephesus where the silversmiths tried to have Paul arrested for preaching the gospel, as we are told in Acts 19:23-41. Entering the ancient city of Petra in Jordan. Students whistling the Indiana Jones’ theme song while crawling into Egyptian tombs and pyramids. Standing where Martin Luther declared “Here I Stand!” and where reformer John Hus was burned at the stake.

How is the Center for Global Engagement assisting you with next trip?

The new Center for Global Engagement is a great addition to our university. It helps localize into one office all of the protocols and assists students with fundraising, as well as provides trip leader training and pre-departure orientation. This administrative support helps us focus on the dynamics of the trip.

Final thoughts regarding the experiences and lessons you have witnessed?

One of the travelers gave me a plaque that sums up how I feel about these trips: “Travel: The only thing you pay for that makes you richer.” My passion is to see students and guests come alive to the wonder and diversity of our big, beautiful world! When I see our trip participants catch the travel vision and launch out on their own, the hours of planning, advertising, and hosting these trips are completely worth it!

Want to know more about future trips?

mvnu.edu/undergraduate/academics/travel

Short-term missions yield long-term collaboration

You don’t have to fly around the world for cross-cultural experiences. You don’t have to leave North America. In fact, you don’t have to travel far from campus at all.

Inez, Kentucky is just 225 miles from Mount Vernon, Ohio, but the cultural differences are staggering. Martin County, Kentucky, has a population of 11,140 people with a median household income of $40,826. The poverty rate there is 40.5 percent. Knox County, Ohio, boasts a population of 62,897 with a median household income of $64,439. The poverty rate here is 12.5%. The national poverty rate is 11.6 percent.

Dwayne Mills (’96), Executive Director of Appalachia Reach Out (ARO), headquartered in Inez, can tell you even more about the disparity of wealth in Martin County and how the opioid crisis has further devastated the area that was ground zero for President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 War on Poverty. ARO is working to break the cycle of poverty and addiction.

“I can drop you into the head of a holler that’s four or five miles deep, and you would think you’re in a third-world country,” he said. “Families without electricity, without running water, without indoor plumbing. Those are the folks God has called us to serve. We do it willingly and cheerfully, but it is a challenge.”

One of the ways Mills takes on the challenge is to collaborate with partners to bring in teams for short-term missions. Don’t be fooled by “short-term.” He’s looking for long-term commitments through true partnerships that continue to contribute to their mission and find new ways to minister to and educate the people of Martin County.

The work at ARO is so important to the effectiveness of the organization’s mission that Mills is hesitant to bring in just any group looking for a quick spiritual check mark.

“We’re looking for long-lasting, deep, rich relationships — teams that are coming now, and returning teams that want that partnership and want that connectivity.”

MVNU’s six-year partnership with ARO started with a simple connection between siblings.

“Christa McNichols, our administrative assistant, is Dwayne’s sister. She was our first contact, and then Warren Neal worked with Dwayne for our first trip,” said Karla Adu, PhD, APRN, FNP-BC, Associate Professor of Nursing and Department Chair.

The relationship quickly grew from there. This spring break marked the fifth trip for the Nursing Department, which is now on an every-other-year cycle to ARO.

“It is really important for students to see the world beyond MVNU. Traveling to Kentucky gives students the opportunity to interact with and learn from people with diverse backgrounds. They come back with a better understanding of poverty and addiction, which helps to reduce the stigma that surrounds poverty and addiction,” said Adu.

Nursing students not only can practice the skills they have been learning in the classroom and labs, but they are also exposed to a culture and social problems they may not have experienced before.

“Students provide health education to women in addiction recovery who are pregnant or who have just had babies,” said Adu. “In return, students hear the life stories of these women, which helps students to better understand addiction and how it affects

For more information on Collaboratory opportunities, scan this code.

It is really important for students to see the world beyond MVNU. Traveling to Kentucky gives students the opportunity to interact with, and learn from people, with diverse backgrounds."

- Karla Adu, Assistant Professor of Nursing

"

Samantha Scoles ('22)

people. Students also provide health education to kids in the local schools, which also gives students a first-hand view of how poverty affects kids and families.”

The collaboration between MVNU and ARO has developed to include Criminal Justice and Speech Language Pathology and Audiology (CSD) programs.

During the 2021 spring semester, the Criminal Justice Special Topics Course, CIA: Crisis in Appalachia was offered. This course prepared nine students to engage in a hands-on, applied research opportunity with the ACT NOW federal initiative of reimagining communities and police reform. As a Collaboratory project through the Center for Global Engagement, these students were equipped to facilitate, transcribe, and analyze several “Listening and Learning Sessions” of Martin and surrounding counties, as well as produce a summary of findings report.

“The listening sessions permitted an interactive dialogue with community citizens to learn about their community’s strengths, stakeholders, challenges, sense of safety, their relationship with law enforcement, and possible strategies for effective change,” said Dr. Christina Jones, Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice.

This data captured the specific needs of the Martin County pilot site, as well as a vision towards developing better approaches to protecting and serving their community from the perspective of its community members. Due to the extensive work produced by this collaboration between MVNU and ACT NOW, Dr. Jones was appointed as the ACT NOW national consultant for the Eastern Kentucky region and the Center for Global Engagement secured a sub-contract grant from the national initiative to support the work.

The result of the collaboration was a 60-page document that outlines the important information discovered through the Listening and Learning Sessions.

“We now have a comprehensive plan on how to address major issues of working together with schools, local governments, the churches, religious organizations, and civic agencies to really tackle issues that impact us,” Mills said.

“This is just one extraordinary example of MVNU tangibly living out its motto, ‘To seek to learn is to seek to serve,’” said Jones.

www.appalachiareachout.com

The Speech Pathology and Audiology (CSD) program first partnered with ARO at just the right time, or on God’s timing, according to Dr. Florence Hardjono, Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders.

“The school district in Inez just received the 21st Century grant when Dr. Jones and I were visiting. They needed help to execute the literacy camp to fulfill the grant,” Hardjono said.

In response, they developed “Camp in the Box,” an alternative to an on-site camp because of the 2020 global pandemic. In 2021, Hardjono took six students to run the in-person literacy camp.

“We helped them plan and execute the literacy camp serving the elementary kids for a week. During that week, the kids came and visited us in the library where we set up several literacy sections that they went through. We taught decoding skills, practice reading fluency, and comprehension.”

For Mills, another layer to the depth of short-term mission trips between MVNU and ARO is the prayer that students might find God’s purpose for them beyond college is in Inez, Kentucky.

“They can come in and feel like, maybe I don’t feel a call to go overseas as a missionary, but I could see myself coming to a very isolated, secluded, underserved area in my vocational calling or training,” Mills said. “We really challenge college students as soon as they get here. Is your heart in it? If not, let’s pray about it because I want you to be so open and receptive for what God could do here.”

Go ahead, talk about us behind our backs!

You love MVNU so tell the students in your life why. Then, tell us who would be a good fit.

mvnu.edu/alumni/referastudent

Travel requirement opens new world for Meek

Sarah Meek (’23)

In fall August 2021, I left the United States soil and flew to the country of Ecuador to live in the capital city of Quito for three and a half months. As an Intercultural Studies and Spanish major, a requirement of my program is a semester studying abroad in a Spanish-speaking country.

When COVID put a hold on international travel for more than a year, I was afraid my opportunity to study abroad had passed me by. In the Spring of 2021, I learned Nazarene International Language Institute (NILI) was accepting students again. Another student and I worked diligently with school administration so we would be able to have this experience before we graduated.

The primary purpose of my time spent in Ecuador was to take Spanish classes and ultimately pass the fluency exam. I succeeded in this task while learning and experiencing much more during my time there. Part of the program was living with a native Ecuadorian family. The goal of this was to learn about the family culture, and to truly be immersed in everything that I could be. In my family, I

had an older sister who was finishing college and a 16-year-old brother who was in high school. During my time spent living with them, I learned about different family traditions, foods, and Ecuadorian pastimes.

My family was very involved in the church that was in our neighborhood. We attended the Church of the Nazarene in Carcelen. This church was my favorite part of my experience in Ecuador. I was involved in the youth group and the worship team. The church community truly became my family. I learned so much about the Spanish language and culture by participating in the same things that I participated in back at home.

One of the classes we took was a cultural experience class which provided us with incomparable opportunities. Almost every week we took a short trip somewhere in the country to experience a different part of the life and culture. The first big trip that we took was to the Islands of Galapagos; these are the islands that are famous for Charles Darwin and his development of the theory of evolution. We went to beaches, experienced incredible wildlife, and went on beautiful hikes.

We also took a trip into the jungle of Ecuador, specifically to the town called Shell. This was the town where Nate Saint and Jim Elliot based their missions ministry. I had the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly off the same air strip they did, and travel into the jungle to meet the Woarani people. We spent a day with them learning about their way of life, sharing meals with them, and enjoying the wonders of the jungle. We even met the first convert, Kimo.

There are so many other things that I could share about my experience in the incredible country of Ecuador. What I learned while I was there was the importance of cross-cultural experiences. Our world is so big and full of so many people that are unique. God created all of us and loves all of us despite our differences. Having an experience out of your context and your comfort zone can give you a new appreciation for people who are different from you.

Sarah Meek finished her degree in Intercultural Students and Spanish in Fall 2022.

Finding comfort in the uncomfortable

Samantha Scoles (‘22)

When Rachel Parks (’19) chose to attend MVNU, her decision was easy. She was in the Post Secondary program, her parents worked on campus, and her siblings attended so she was familiar and comfortable with the campus and the MVNU community. She was confident this was the right place to study nursing and prepare to work with underserved populations in the inner cities of the United States.

As a freshman, Rachel began to struggle in her faith. During the next year, she surrendered herself to God to redefine her faith.

“I remember a specific experience during Chapel when we sang a song called, ‘Call Me Higher.’ And in that moment, I said, ‘OK, I’m here for a purpose and I’m here to do more than what my own plans are. Here is all of me. I don’t know what I’m doing but I’m willing to do whatever you lead me toward.’”

During her sophomore year, she took advantage of a servicelearning opportunity to travel to Swaziland, now known as Eswatini. Admittedly, she signed up because she was interested in the experience, not because she felt called. However, it was in moments of discomfort, thousands of miles from home, that she began to see the life God had planned for her.

Working through the Luke Commission, MVNU’s students provided medical care amid the country’s HIV crisis, interacted with families, and shared the word of God.

“We did a lot of mobile clinics with them where we would go to a school and set up in classrooms and test people for HIV. We would do other things such as vision tests, give away free shoes, and help with circumcisions, which was a big thing to prevent the spread of HIV,” Rachel said.

Using the nursing knowledge and skills acquired back at Hunter Hall provided the confidence to assist with wound care, provide

immunizations, pack clinic supplies, and any other assistance requested. These duties only scratch the surface of what was happening between students like Rachel and the families they encountered.

“We would pray with the patient and just talk to them about who God was and His healing powers for whatever they were going through,” she said. “We also played with their kids and interacted with them outside while their family was going through the different stations.”

Despite all the good work that was happening on the trip, Rachel was uncomfortable being away from her family and with a group of people she knew but had not bonded with.

“I was in a moment of my faith where I was kind of lost, so I wasn’t totally sure what I was doing there,” Rachel said. “There was a turning point during that trip when I got comfortable in knowing that I was there for a purpose and that purpose was for God to show me new things. I knew that I was in the right space at the right time.”

Finding comfort in the uncomfortable opened Rachel’s heart and her understanding of God’s plan for her, which continues to include trips back to Africa to provide care and minister to people who need to learn that God exists, and He loves us all.

“Before I went on my trip to Swaziland, I did not think going overseas was anything I would ever want to do long term. I thought it was a huge sacrifice being away from my family,” she said. “But when you are open to what God is calling you to, He’s going to

make sacrifice a little bit easier for you. He’s going to move you in ways that you don’t expect him to move you and open doors to new opportunities and experiences you didn’t expect to see.”

As Rachel accepted the sacrifice of her calling, she had hoped to return to Africa to work with the Luke Commission after graduation. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out for her. However, God had other plans and through the International Missions Board, she has returned to Africa on two trips to Uganda — for four weeks in 2021 and six weeks in 2022.

“The clinic had been closed since COVID, so we were the first group to come back as a team and run the clinics for a couple years. We saw people who couldn’t afford to go to the local hospital, which was pretty low quality. We would do a free check up on them, diagnose their problem and give them medication. If we felt they needed to go to the hospital, we would pray over them before they would go.”

They would also pack up their supplies and go out to the villages with their translators to provide medical care and minister.

“We worked with the Karamojong people, a tribe that’s in northwest Africa. It’s one of the unreached people groups left in the world. A lot of times, we were telling Bible stories to people who had never heard the word ‘Jesus’ before. Getting to introduce them to Rachel Parks is currently a pediatric ICU nurse in Columbus, Ohio. She recently returned from a one-week trip to serve a different clinic in Eswatini.

who Jesus was, and what he can do for our lives, that was more monumental to me than providing any medical care.”

While it is a hard culture to read emotionally, and with the language barrier, it was difficult to get a pulse on how the Karamojong felt about what they were learning in the moment.

“For me, it was just the opportunity to do something that I knew was spreading the word to corners of unreached parts of the earth, which a lot of people don’t get to do. I realized the Holy Spirit can move in people who don’t even know who He is and then to see them ask good questions and talk about they had things happen in their lives that were unexplainable,” she said. She would later learn members of the villages would continue to ask questions and even attend church services.

Rachel is currently working on her master’s degree in global public health. While her early college dream was to work in the inner cities of the U.S., she knows her calling is to go where she is needed domestically and internationally.

“I just tell people to always be open to what God is calling you to. Don’t allow little things to get in your way. Don’t make a ‘what if’ list, just be open to how he’s going to direct you and be willing to be uncomfortable in settings that you know you won’t be comfortable in, because that’s when he will draw closest to you.”

Global Engagement World Map

MVNU’s engagement around the globe includes home countries of faculty, students, and alumni; as well as locations where we are learning and serving in new cultures. Through the Center for Global Engagement, we will see our global footprint grow for the greater good of God’s Kingdom.

Germany

Lithuania

Poland

Poznan, Poland

Croatia

Slovenia

Italy

Lebanon

Hungary

Sighisoara, Romania

Bucharest, Romania

Greece

Israel

Egypt

India

Global Faculty

Milange, Mozambique

Mocuba, Mozambique

Eswatini

China

South Korea

Singapore

Philippines

Indonesia

Papua New Guinea

Collaboratory Engagement Global Students LEGEND 21 N OW Spring 2023

South Africa

Students embody Christ to Polish campers

By Cat Dugan (’23)

Led by MVNU Campus Pastor Stephanie Lobdell and her family, six MVNU students partnered with a nonprofit English immersion camp in Poznan, Poland, for the first time in July 2022.

Lobdell, knowing that she wanted to initiate a Service-Learning Trip in Europe, reached out to Jay and Teanna Sunberg, Nazarene missionaries in the European region and long-time colleagues of Lobdell.

A “profound spiritual poverty” in Poland leads the Sunbergs to invest in young people and cultivate a space in which they may encounter God in new ways. Each year, Jay and Teanna invite native English speakers from around the world to Lighthouse Camp.

Teanna, after teaching English at Lighthouse Camp for several years, mentioned the camp to Lobdell as a travel option.

“Founded by a Catholic group, the camp provides a meaningful place for students to learn English, grow in maturity and be exposed to the Gospel,” Lobdell explains.

While any students could join this Service-Learning team, Lobdell encouraged those who are pursuing vocational ministry and who are service-oriented to travel with her.

“I wanted them to understand what it looks like to engage people in a space where the existence of God is not assumed,” Lobdell said.

Students daily engaged the mission of the camp through morning staff meetings, shared meals, community-building games, English language workshops and “Clubs,” an evening gathering. Primarily,

MVNU’s team aimed to “open up conversations” with the teenage campers, providing a judgment-free outlet to learn about God’s goodness and grace.

Lobdell recalls the frequent 90-minute small group conversations to foster the most growth, noting how restorative they were for both the Polish teenagers and MVNU students.

“Students were authentic and present, embodying the Gospel to people who didn’t really understand it because of their limited exposure to faith and their suspicion of the Church,” Lobdell says.

One camper first understood God’s grace through a time of prayer with Lobdell.

“He had this profound desire to be perfect and serve God but had this sense of constantly falling short — almost like an obsession,” Lobdell said. “We talked a lot about holiness as a perfect love and devotion, and it offered him a sense of freedom and acceptance with God.”

Not only was this trip formational for the teenage campers, MVNU team members found inspiration and confirmations of their callings in the trip. Junior Elizabeth “Ziz” Heimbach, Youth and Family Ministry major, was reminded of the shared experiences of all humans.

“Despite language and culture barriers, we all have emotions and pressures, and we are all finding our identity, our purpose and how we belong in the world,” Heimbach said. “I was also shown that the same God we worship in America is already in other countries and already working in the lives of those we met.”

While some campers held a personal faith, other campers initially held a negative view of the Christian God and the Church. Junior

Youth and Family Ministry major Haley Schreiner led life-giving conversations with the campers, recognizing their hesitations and showing the reconciling grace of Jesus through her testimony and actions.

“We were able to just love them and show them that God is not a spiteful, angry God but rather a warm, welcoming, loving God,” Schreiner said.

Schreiner spoke at the last Club of the week, choosing anxiety as her topic.

“I was able to share some personal experiences with the campers and show them how God has helped me with my anxiety, even at the lowest points of my life,” Schreiner said. “Being able to tell the campers about God and how good He has been to me was such a blessing, and I was really able to see God move in some of the campers’ hearts that night.”

Ministry students who embarked on this Service-Learning Trip felt prepared through their academic programs to minister in new contexts. Heimbach and Schreiner both recalled lessons from Mission and Evangelism. “In class, we talked about how evangelism must begin with love and relationship,” Heimbach says. Schreiner adds, “Mission and Evangelism was helpful because it taught me how to contextualize and bring the Gospel into new environments.”

MVNU students remain marked by their trip to Poland. Schreiner says, “I now have a more open mind and understanding that not everyone sees the Church the same way as American Christians. For many people, going to church and talking about faith can feel like going to a foreign country and speaking a different language.” She concludes, “Now, when I have conversations with people about my faith, I don’t have the same expectation that they have a preexisting understanding of Christianity.”

Chelsea Porter, MVNU Faith Works Coordinator, and Joe Witosky, recent graduate and Director of Youth and Family Ministries at Grace Life Church of the Nazarene, look forward to co-leading MVNU’s 2023 trip to Poland. Next year, Porter will emphasize cultural immersion for the student travelers.

“I am excited for our students to be submerged into Polish culture through understanding church history, through food they will eat, through people they will meet and through architecture they will experience,” Porter envisions. “Service-Learning Trips are such a deeply important way to grow in cultural humility. They can expose you to new ways of living and being in the world and can open eyes to how to live and love like Jesus in brand new ways.”

Cat Dugan will graduate in May with a degree in Communication and Media (Strategic Communication). She has served as a student worker and intern for the MVNU Marketing Department.

Tropical ecology in Belize an MVNU tradition

Zach Ballenger and Dr. Jon Bossley

The nation of Belize hosted a group of ten MVNU students studying Tropical Ecology for two weeks during the university’s 2022 spring break. The trip began with a 3 a.m. bus ride to the airport on February 19, where the group waved goodbye to Ohio’s winter on a flight to sunny Central America.

A spectacular adventure in a tropical wonderland followed. The students were participating in a long-running tradition that was established over 20 years ago when Dr. Dan Mosher initiated the first Tropical Ecology excursions in the late 1990’s. The course grew out of MVNU’s expanding Environmental Biology program to introduce students to wildlife and cultures very different from those found in Ohio.

Belize was selected as the host nation for the course because of its impressive tropical wildlife as well as its multi-cultural society. A mix of Spanish, English, Creole, and Mayan, Belize remains a cosmopolitan society with a long and varied history that far predates its nationhood in 1981. The region’s impressive biodiversity has remained the steady constant across the generations and cultures that have called the area home.

Blessed with such diversity, Belize provided the 2022 Tropical Ecolog y students with an enriching cross-cultural experience, as well as a unique biology field experience. Jungle hikes, canoe trips, cave

explorations, snorkeling adventures, birding boat tours, visits to a local farmers’ market, and excursions in ancient Mayan ruins all contributed valuably to the class goals.

A primary objective of the course was to observe and catalog as many plant and animal species as possible in the 14 days of time abroad. Belize is home to many unique ecosystems, such as tropical rainforests, pine ridge forests, and marine environments. With these exciting ecosystems came a plethora of stunning flora and fauna. Beautiful bromeliads and orchids decorated the tree canopies like ornaments. Rare birds, like the agami heron, were found wading in a river, and exotic arthropods like scorpions and leaf-cutter ants lurked around the forest.

As student Megan Jennings put it, “Tropical Ecology gave me the opportunity to immerse myself not only in the environment of a beautiful country and culture, but a diverse and wonderful wildlife.”

The trip connected the students with the present-day Belizean culture, as well as to the past.

“I was impressed by how much time the people had invested into caring for the natural world,” said student Chase Hall, “but also how much they valued the shared history and stories trapped within the ground itself in the form of caves, Mayan ruins, glyphs, and artifacts. It was breathtaking and refreshing.”

Towering temples and pottery fragments acted as powerful mementos which connected the people of modern-day Belize to the long-forgotten world of the ancient Mayan civilization.

Interaction between the Belizean people and MVNU’s students and faculty is a distinct benefit of the course. Ecotourism is a major industry in Belize, so the people are always happy to share knowledge of their natural resources, history, and culture with visitors. For many MVNU students, the trip to Belize is their first

experience abroad, so the welcoming culture in Belize establishes a great introduction to international travel. For over two decades now, MVNU has built and fostered many friendships with pastors, tour guides, and wildlife experts throughout Belize. This year’s group of students added another chapter to that continuing story.

When it came time to head home, everyone on the trip reluctantly packed their things. The group had grown close, and the previously unfamiliar nation of Belize had begun to feel like home to yet another MVNU class. Parting is such sweet sorrow, as the saying goes, but Belize provided many great memories for the journey home.

In reflecting on the trip, another student, Kiera Jones, felt that Belize was beyond anything she could have imagined.

I

in

On the last morning of the trip, the group met just before heading to the airport to talk about their favorite experiences of the trip. It quickly became apparent that the beauty of Creation was found in every corner of the two short weeks, from homecooked meals to early morning bird calls to the tiniest shell washed upon the ocean shore. Belize had impressed yet another MVNU group, and so the tradition continues!

Dr. Jon Bossley is an Associate Professor of Biology and can be reached at jon.bossley@mvnu.edu.

“I have never felt closer to creation or to God than when

was

the middle of His greatness and power that was found in every plant, tree, animal, and person,” Kiera said.

I have never felt closer to creation or to God than when I was in the middle of His greatness and power that was found in every plant, tree, animal, and person."

-Kiera Jones.

"

Zachary Ballenger is a junior majoring in Religion.

Art comes alive in Italy

John Donnelly Professor of Art

I began teaching art at MVNU (then MVNC) in 1989. Back then there were only a few, mostly mission-based, non-academic travel opportunities. As a young assistant professor, I approached the then art department chair, Jim Hendrickx (MVNU Professor Emeritus). I suggested to him, “Why don’t we do an academic travel course to Italy?” His smiling reply, “If you plan it and lead it.” I eagerly replied, “Yes!”

That began what has become a biannual Art and Architecture in Historical Italy travel course. Initially we had a J-term during which we traveled. Now our travel course occurs over the spring semester with the travel portion during our two-week spring break.

The first trip was in 1995. Since then, I have coordinated and guided 14 MVNU trips and several non-MVNU related excursions. Priority is given to student travelers but friends of MVNU are always welcomed to join us if space is available. The size of our groups has ranged from 35 to 50 participants. We work through educational travel companies to create an academic and culturally specific itinerary throughout Italy from Venice to Sicily. Over the years, we have traveled and studied in Venice, Florence, Rome, Assisi, Bologna, San Gimignano, Orvieto, Naples, Pompeii, Sorrento, Sienna, Ravenna, Pisa, and the region of Sicily.

In recent years, I have co-coordinated these trips with Dr. Jeanne Serrão and Professor Justin Sorensen because we have expanded course offerings to include art, humanities, art history, religion, and now Greek mythology in 2023 where we traveled to both Greece and Italy.

As a young college student, in 1980, I had the opportunity to live and study in Rome, Italy. It was transformative to my artistic knowledge but maybe even more so to the development of my worldview. I wanted to provide a similar opportunity for our MVNU students. Over 60 percent of the world’s art treasures are found in Italy (a country the size of California), according to the United National Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Experiential learning enhances the student’s and guest traveler’s knowledge that is not possible to duplicate in a classroom. In addition to our pre-departure classroom preparation, our private local guides in each city, museum, church, and historical location provide a wealth of knowledge and insight into the cultural, religious, and artistic influences throughout humanity over the millenniums. It is one thing to show pictures in class of the Sistine Chapel or of the statue of David, the Roman Forum, or Mars Hill, it is another to actually stand there and see it firsthand and truly grasp their significance. During the trip we have lively conversation and discussion over the best food, cappuccino, and gelato in the world.

It is one thing to show pictures in class of the Sistine Chapel or of the statue of David, the Roman Forum, or Mars Hill, it is another to actually stand there and see it first-hand and truly grasp their significance.”

"

The students undergo some real-world cultural differences — from language to food, to customs and politics, to religious beliefs. Each of these challenge the student’s presuppositions of another culture and form a basis for growth.

In some cities, like Assisi, once inside the old city walls, it is as though you have stepped back in time — walking where Saint Francis of Assisi devoted himself to God and service of his people. In larger cities like Rome, the ancient and contemporary live not in friction with each other but side by side in harmony.

Whether it is riding a gondola through the canals of Venice, a truly fantastical city built on water, or climbing the 468 steps of the engineering feat of the dome of the cathedral in Florence where

For more on global engagement opportunities, scan code.

the Italian Renaissance was born, Italy never disappoints. The food is a gastronomic delight. Sipping coffee in a piazza and watching the beautiful Italians go about their day is shear bliss. The gelato (Italian ice cream) is the perfect metaphor of Italy — La Dolce Vita — the sweet life!

We’ve worshipped in amazing churches. We’ve seen the Pope. We have walked where Cesare has ruled and where the Apostle Paul has preached. We have seen the best of art and architecture. We survived a pandemic in 2020. All of it miraculous. Frances Mayes, the author of “Under the Tuscan Sun,” said it best, “I find other countries have this or this, but Italy is the only one that has it all for me. The culture, the cuisine, the people, the landscape, the history. Just everything to me comes together there.”

President Spaulding announces retirement

MVNU’s 63rd Commencement, on May 6, will be the final duty as president for Dr. Henry W. Spaulding II. The University’s 7th president announced in February his desire to retire after sending off the Class of 2023.

“It has been the great joy and honor of my life to serve as President of MVNU, and especially to serve with the trustees. Their wisdom and support have given me strength to help lead this University. I will always have a special place in my heart for MVNU and for the traditions and doctrinal/moral convictions of MVNU,” he said.

In 2012, after serving in a variety of roles and positions during his 30 years in higher education, Dr. Spaulding was elected President of MVNU. Since then, he has shepherded the University through a comprehensive General Education revision, directing the Ohio Department of Higher Education’s 10-year reauthorization process, spearheaded efforts which led to the achievement of a Level II designation from the Higher Learning Commission for MVNU’s online academic programs, and oversaw the 10-year reaffirmation of

During his tenure, the University has expanded its undergraduate and graduate program offerings and seen campus expansion including the completion of Ariel Arena, the Grand Hotel, the Stephen W. Nease Center for engineering, South Main Plaza, the CH4 Soccer and Lacrosse Stadium, and the Center for Student Success, just to name a few.

The Board of Trustees will be organizing plans to honor Dr. Spaulding and recognize his contributions to the University and the greater MVNU Community. More information will be

NEWS & NOTES

FAIRBANKS SHARES REFLECTIONS ON LEADERSHIP CHARACTER IN NEW BOOK

E. LeBron Fairbanks, president emeritus of MVNU, seeks to share his wisdom to future generations of leaders with his latest boo k, “Mentoring and Modeling Leadership Char acter.” The book reflects on leadership c haracter themes the author shared with emerging leaders in various settings. Chapters in the book attempt to capture his intense desire to entrust or pass on to a younger g eneration of leaders what has been so bountiful ly given to him through education, ministry assignments, relationships, reading,

JETTER SCHOOL OF PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

Dr. Jennifer Jacobsen, Assistant Professor of Social Work, successfully defended her Ph.D. dissertation from Northcentral University on September 30, 2022, with a focus on health psychology. She worked with MVNU student athletes to explore how coach communication can positively influence body image.

Dr. Nicci Lambright, Assistant Professor of Education, was selected as an Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) Clinical Fellow for 2023. Clinical Fellows are part of a national collaborative of higher education faculty, doctoral students, mentor teachers, principals, and teacher leaders focused on improving clinical practice and building school-university partnerships to strengthen

and life experiences. The book is an attempt to fulfill what he understands as a key mentoring verse in Scripture:

“And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others” (2 Timothy 2:2). Each chapter concludes with questions for personal and/or group reflection designed to engage the reader to consider and to apply what was read.

Additional information is available at www.boardserve.org.

teacher education. Dr. Lambright attended the ATE Clinical Practice Fellows Symposium in March 2023 to participate in the collaborative work of the group.

MVNU was awarded a $1,985 grant through the Ohio Program for Campus Safety and Mental Health at Northeast Ohio Medical University. This grant provided training for three faculty members in the Social Work Department to become QRP trainers so they can train students, faculty, and staff in suicide prevention/ intervention. The grant was written by Dr. Jenni Jacobsen.

SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Dr. Florence Hardjono, Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, earned her Ph.D. in Speech and Hearing Science from The Ohio State University.

Dr. Baonhe Sob, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, has published the following manuscript: Pita, M & Sob, B (2022), Investigating the effect of A1-1050-H4 sample position on grain size and mechanical properties during accumulative roll bonding process, International Journal of Emerging Technology and Advanced Engineering, 12 (10).

SCHOOL OF CHRISTIAN MINISTRY

Eric Vail, Associate Professor of Theology, released his book, Creation, part of the Wesleyan Theology Series from The Foundry Publishing, on Sept. 1, 2022.

Dr. Mike VanZant, Professor of Biblical Literature, contributed to a new book, The Old Testament in 12 Verses, from The Foundry Publishing, it was released in Fall 2022.

Tim Radcliffe, Director of the Library, Assistant Professor of Theology earned his Master of Library Information Science degree (MLIS) from Kent State University.

Summer research makes great strides in first year

Bethany Flanagan (’13)

Through Mount Vernon Nazarene University’s new Summer Program for Undergraduate Research (SPUR) program, 12 MVNU students were able to conduct eight weeks of faculty-mentored scientific research during the summer of 2022. This was the first year for the program.

“Undergraduate research is a high-impact practice,” said Dr. LeeAnn Couts, School of Natural and Social Sciences School Dean. “It is one of the top 10 high-impact practices recognized by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, because it involves close interactions between faculty and students, collaborative student projects, and hands-on learning.

“Given this, it is not surprising that engagement in undergraduate research improves students’ critical thinking abilities, capacity to conduct research, communication skills, motivation to learn, confidence in their skills, understanding of the research process, and the ability to work independently.”

Students who participated were Austin Brown, Daniel Daly, Hannah Crouse, Alyssa Fraley, Chase Hall, Cole Lape, Daisy Latham, Owen Paulus, Cassandra Petrey, Sam Riffle, Colton Sisler and Caleb Syler.

“By participating in this research, I have learned the value that running multiple tests and perfecting techniques can have on the overall data collected for a specific experiment,” said Alyssa Fraley. “These techniques will allow me to be better equipped when entering graduate school in the near future. It has also shown me the value of collaborating with other members of the research team.”

“This experience has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding of what it is like to work in a lab,” said Cole Sisler. “I have greatly enjoyed conducting experiments for the purpose of testing a hypothesis and increasing scientific knowledge rather than for the purpose of earning a grade. It was rewarding to see various experiments come to fruition as the summary spreadsheets filled with data. ”

Faculty members included Dr. Jon Bossley, Biology; Dr. Zachary Graber, Chemistry; Dr. Binyang Hou, Physics; Dr. Yuan (Edward) Meng, Engineering; Dr. Luiz Oliveira, Chemistry; and Dr. Michael Robbeloth, Computer Science.

“The SPUR program gave me an opportunity to train the student to become a future scientist in a different way as in a typical classroom setting,” said Dr. Binyang Hou “I have learned that our students can be challenged, and they can perform well with faculty supervision and trust.”

“Besides the time spent on taking courses, the students also volunteered many additional hours to accelerate the progress, prepare presentations, and write reports,” said Dr. Yuan Meng. “I was impressed and touched by their passion.”

The research projects spanned a broad spectrum of fields from environmental biology, chemistry, computer science, to electrical engineering.

At the end of the eight weeks, students submitted a summary report highlighting their findings. They also presented their projects to alumni and members of campus, and will present orally during MVNU’s spring Symposium for Undergraduate Research and Creative Works.

2022 SPUR Projects

• Characterization of Freshwater C. cornutus

• Mayan World Wildlife Field Guide Survey

• Electrochemical Study of the Yttria-Stabilized ZirconiaWater Interfaces

• The Impact of Cations on Membrane Permeability and Structure

• Assessing the Knotting and Unknotting Mechanism of Proteins

• Prototyping for a Wireless Multimodal Sensor System on Contact Lens using Near-Field Communication (NFC) for Real-Time On-Field Concussion Assessment

• Electrochemical Study of the Phospholipid Monolayers at 1,2-Dichloroethane- Water Interfaces

• Zinc Adsorption and Hydration Structures at YttriaStabilized Zirconia Surfaces

• Improvements in the Identification of Obstructed Images

Bethany (Smith) Flanagan ('13) majored

One day. One purpose. Giving Day goal surpassed

For the third straight year, our online Giving Day set new records for money raised in a 24-hour period because of faithful supporters who believe in our mission and the potential in our students.

At the end of Giving Day, the total topped the $250,000 goal at $253,625. Gifts continued to post over the coming days resulting in a total of $258,768 from 816 donors!

These gifts help bridge the gap between operational costs and revenue from tuition, room, and board. These funds are critical in our ability to provide enough financial aid so potential students can say “YES!” to MVNU and experience quality, challenging academic programs and grow in their relationship with Jesus.

Alumni, friends, donors, faculty, and staff were asked to shine their light on MVNU’s students with their gifts to the University Fund or programs of particular interest. The total contributed toward these funds included:

Arts & Music — $16,962 including a $10,000 lead gift from Bruce (’71) & Roberta (’71) Granger.

Athletics — $5,939.

Campus Ministries — $23,755 including a $20,000 combined lead gift from the MVNU Board of Trustees.

Student Experience — $22,304 which includes a $10,000 dollarfor-dollar matching gift from Kaye (’86) & Daniel Ranke in honor of Kaye’s mother, Nota McCall, who was the resident director of Pioneer Hall for 20 years.

Student Research $27,055 with combined lead gift of $25,000 from Alex (’91) & Kim Doverspike and Curt (’88) & Deanna Gingrich

University Fund & Endowments — $162,753 which includes a $10,000 lead gift from the Senior Leadership Team.

“We are thankful for the support of alumni, friends, family, community business partners, the local community, and our staff and faculty,” said Darrel George, Assistant Vice President for Development. “Not only did they give from their heart, they encouraged others to support our students. We are also grateful for our lead donors whose support provided a spotlight on programs and areas that are important to our students and their vocational aspirations.”

Honors students present improvement plan for Mount Vernon neighborhood

Bethany Flanagan (’13)

In Spring 2022, a group of Mount Vernon Nazarene University Honors students completed an assessment of the west side neighborhood of Mount Vernon on behalf of the Knox County Area Development Foundation (ADF) as part of an Honors Seminar.

“I was connected with Sam Filkins at Knox ADF, and they asked us to complete a third neighborhood assessment of an area of Mount Vernon,” said Dr. Brett Wiley, MVNU’s Honor Program Director. “ The focus on the Westside neighborhood of Mount Vernon meant that it was conducted in order to improve conditions, opportunities, and offerings to Mount Vernon residents in that area specifically.”

"I decided to accept this opportunity for a couple of different reasons,” said Chase Brown. “I saw it as an opportunity to build leadership, delegation, and public speaking skills. More importantly, I saw an opportunity to better the community. While I am not a resident of Mount Vernon, I wanted to leave this community better than I found it. This project offered a small way to do this," said Chase Brown.

“I spent an entire semester studying a community and looking for anything that could be changed to improve the lives of its residents, from something as simple as sidewalk quality to the complexities of flood flood insurance," said Judy Bennett.

Dr. Wiley, along with Chase Brown and Judy Bennett, formally presented the group’s findings to the ADF board in Fall 2022, and took questions from the board members and ADF staff.

“This project offered students an opportunity to see how local affairs work, to assist the Mount Vernon community in a tangible way, and represented MVNU to the city community,” said Wiley.

Twenty students, led by student leaders Hunter Winey, Judy Bennett, and Chase Brown, completed the assessment. Students participating included Jeremiah Archer, Jonathan Backus, Hunter Billman, Nathaniel Dersom, Olivia Harris, Brooke Hurst, Molly Kichline, Gina Lawhon, Benjamin Leskey, Joseph Leskey, Emily Ludwig, Roston Miller, Isaac Stein, Benjamin Stupakewicz, Tyler Tipton, Julia Trotti, and Kiersten Winey.

The students, working in three groups, created an almost 50-page document that looked at the history of the area as well as current issues affecting the neighborhood, including economic factors, zoning and homeownership statistics, infrastructure, crime rates, etc. The students conducted research via observation, human survey, the Internet, and other resources. A visual assessment of the area was completed, and a survey was conducted targeting residents of the area.

In the end, the document named nine recommendations to ADF aimed at improving the quality of life and potential of the neighborhood.

To learn more about MVNU’s Honors Program, visit mvnu.edu/honorsprogram

I spent an entire semester studying a community and looking for anything that could be changed to improve the lives of its residents, from something as simple as sidewalk quality to the complexities of flood insurance.”

- Judy Bennett

Please welcome Mike Cheek Executive Director of Alumni and Advancement

We are happy to announce the return of Mike Cheek as our Executive Director of Alumni and Advancement.

Mike has an extensive history at MVNC/U having earned a Bachelor of Arts in Physical Education (’82) and Master of Ministry (’98). He later served as alumni director, director of gifts and grants, and as a recruiter for the School of Graduate and Professional Studies.

We could brag on and on about Mike’s qualifications, but you should hear directly from him:

I am so excited to be back home! Mount Vernon Nazarene University is where my life was changed as an introverted, unconfident young man without direction. As a student at MVNC, I surrendered my life totally to God; fell in love with Janis, the love of my life; and met many mentors and peers who have continued to influence me throughout my life.

I answered God’s call to pastoral ministry after graduating with an education degree and have faithfully fulfilled that calling in my life. I have either lead pastored or served in a staff position at 6 churches for 28 years. God has been faithful to us, and we have experienced many blessings to us, and through us, during those precious years.

This is now my third employment at MVNU. After graduation in 1982, I served over two years as an admissions counselor. In 2000, I returned to MVNU as Director of Alumni Relations, then Director of Major Gifts and Grants, and finally a recruiter in the adult studies program. I left MVNU in 2008 to return to pastoral ministry. Now I have come back home to serve you as the Executive Director of Alumni and Advancement.

I cannot wait to get out and visit you. I have talked to so many alumni over the years who have a similar experience to mine. We love our years at MVNU, the relationships established and fostered, and the many memories we cherish. As we move on in life, we still have a fondness for this place, but distance and other responsibilities separate us from our precious alma mater. My goal is to assist in bridging that gap. I look forward to meeting you, hearing your stories, and working together to make this special place the best it can be for the next generations — including your children and grandchildren.

Please look for announcements about when we will be in your area. We really do want to network with each other! And don’t be afraid to reach out to me too.

MVNU really is life changing for so many. Let us rekindle those experiences and memories together. God bless you richly!

Mike Cheek

alumni events, visit mvnu.edu/alumni. Reach Mike at

NEW PROGRAMS INCLUDE:

• Bachelor of Art in Christian Ministry

• Master of Science in Nursing

• Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice

100% online courses Apply today for FREE at online.mvnu.edu

On your own terms.

On your own time.

• Master of Business Administration:

• Accounting

• Business Data Analytics

• Marketing

• Logistics Management

ACADEMIC SUMMER CAMPS

Experience

Choose from 10 great overnight camp options:

Week 1 | July 10-14, 2023

• Criminal Investigations

• Film Production

• Environmental Science

• Pre-Law

• Education

Week 2 | July 17-21, 2023

• Art and Design

• Exercise Science

• Emergency Preparedness

• Nursing

• Engineering

Registration Registration is $485 for one week of camp or $920 for two weeks. For each camp, registration is limited to the first 24* students to register and submit payment. Camps are open to high school students entering their sophomore, junior, or senior years in the fall of 2023.

* Registration for Film Production is limited to the first 16 students to enroll and submit payment.

A limited number of scholarships are available for students with financial need.