Treveccan THE MAGAZINE OF TREVECCA NAZARENE UNIVERSITY
17 | Celebrating the 30-year anniversary of the degreecompletion program 29 | A photo essay inside this summer’s farm camps 34 | Alumni siblings share about success in Nashville’s business world
Exploring what it means to be a Christian university at the heart of today’s Nashville
SUMMER 2017
“I arrived at Trevecca not knowing what to expect, unsure about my choice in major, scared to be on my own but also excited. I was met by amazing friends who share my faith and were willing to take me in; they became like a second family. I soon realized that I am cared for by my professors and faculty members. I felt that they wanted me to be there, wanted me to succeed and have done everything in their power to push me for the better. Above all I felt myself grow spiritually—and for that I am very grateful.” —MARIANA DA SILVA junior, communication studies major
For Mariana, receiving one of Trevecca’s endowed scholarships made her college dreams possible. She was the 2017 recipient of the Excellence in Media Arts Award and served as the associate producer of “Your Kingdom Come,” a documentary filmed in Israel by Trevecca students. Trevecca’s endowed scholarships make these kinds of opportunities possible for more than 300 students. You can help us make more of these stories possible by investing in the lives of our students through large and small gifts.
Make your gift today at give.trevecca.edu.
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Contents FOREWORD President’s Imprint From the Hill In Your Own Words
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FOCUS Carry High Her Banner My Trevecca Story Leadership & Service
F E AT U R E S
17 Back to School When Trevecca launched the Bachelor of Arts in management and human relations in 1987, the degree-completion program quickly became one of the University’s defining characteristics. As the University prepares to celebrate the program’s 30th anniversary, writer Bailey Basham speaks with current leaders, former employees and graduates.
21 A Trevecca Tour of Nashville The New York Times declared Nashville an “it” city, and now you can explore it using our handy map. Experience Nashville and learn about Trevecca’s history as you discover all the places the University has called home around the capital city.
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23 Nashville Next Long-known as “Music City, U.S.A.,” Nashville’s unprecedented growth and popularity in recent years has transformed the city from the country music capital to a hub for healthcare, finance, entertainment, publishing and more. So what does it mean to be a Christian university in the heart of this Nashville? Our cover story examines that question in this in-depth review of Nashville and Trevecca’s growth.
29 Down on the Farm Each summer, the Trevecca Urban Farm welcomes students to campus to experience farming first-hand through farm camps. Get a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to be a part of farm camp in this photo essay.
34 Leading the Field Siblings Brady Plummer and Kelly King have made names for themselves in the Nashville business world. We talked to the Trevecca alumni about why they’re passionate about their work, how the Trevecca mission shaped them and what it really means to be successful.
38 For the Love of the Game Trevecca alumnus Ken Stegall shares his story with writer Jessy Anne Walters, detailing how his love for stats and computer programming has grown into a successful Nashville business.
EPILOGUE Athletics News 42 Alumni News 44 Postscript 46
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My mother grew up in Nashville. Her family lived in several houses in the city, and I still enjoy driving by her old home places. My father, following his service in World War II, heard from his two brothers, who were enrolled at Trevecca, that there were women in Nashville. So he moved here from Mississippi, met Mom at the Grand Ole Opry, dated and married her, and moved back to Mississippi where I grew up.
Vol. 87 No. 3 Summer 2017 President
Dan Boone, ’74
V.P. for External Relations
Matt Toy
Editor
Mandy Crow
Graphic Designer Jamie Ascher
Contributors
Bailey Basham, ’16 Nancy Dunlap, ’67 Don Hastings , ’69 Princess Jones Logan Newkirk, ’15 Maddux Reid Greg Ruff, ’87, MOL ’13 Tim Scott, ’15 Morgan Smith, ’11 Anne Twining, ’74 Jessy Anne Walters, ’16 Rebekah Warren Laura Beth Winchester, ’17 Jonathan Wright, ’13
Contact Information: Treveccan 333 Murfreesboro Road Nashville, TN 37210 615-248-1695 treveccan@trevecca.edu
Main number 615-248-1200
Office of Admissions 615-248-1320
Office of Alumni & Church Engagement 615-248-7735
www.trevecca.edu www.facebook.com/treveccanazarene www.twitter.com/Trevecca The Treveccan (USPS 394470) is published quarterly by Trevecca Nazarene University, 333 Murfreesboro Road, Nashville, TN 372102877. Periodicals Postage Paid at Nashville TN. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Treveccan, 333 Murfreesboro Road, Nashville, TN 37210-2877
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PRESIDENT’S IMPRINT
Associate V.P. of Marketing & Communications
P L A C E M AT T E R S
Peg Cooning
As a boy, I never knew there was such a thing as “college choice.” I was told from my youth, “When you grow up and go to Trevecca…”. It was always when, not if. It was simply assumed. I have lived in Nashville three times now—as a student, as the pastor of the campus church, and as a university president.
This place matters to me. On billboards and in marketing, we declare Trevecca to be “a Christian University in the Heart of Nashville.” Each word in that statement matters. Christian defines the essence of Trevecca. University explains what we do. Nashville declares where we are. The city of Nashville is a booming place these days. From the Trevecca hilltop, you need more than 20 fingers and toes to count the construction cranes in every direction. The skyline of the city is being rebuilt daily. People are moving here in droves, driving up the value of real estate and clogging the commute. We are faced with the usual problems of humankind in urban America: poverty, immigration
issues, minority justice, public education, transportation, politics and quality of life. This is a remarkable place for a university be. We like to say that our neighborhood is our classroom. Trevecca exists in the heart of Nashville. At the same time, we are a global university with online students around the world. It is common for universities to exist in cyberspace these days. But what fascinates me is the way these distant students show up for graduation and lay claim to the very ground from which their education came. We all want a place to call home. In this issue you’ll get a taste of our impact on Nashville. The Plummer family story is a remarkable one. Howard Plummer, Brady and
Kelly’s dad, pastors our Hermitage Nazarene Church. We roomed together in Wise Hall and had devotions in my car because the dorm noise was not conducive to prayer. His children followed him to Trevecca and have lived exemplary, successful lives. Ken Stegall is the ultimate volunteer and quiet servant. The Trevecca Urban Farm continues to impact urban youth. In the words of a public housing mother, “My neighborhood wants to give my son a gun. Trevecca has taught him to grow a tomato.” And the testimonies of the MHR graduates humble me every year. In this adult degree-completion program, we see significant conversion to Christianity and restoration of faith. Place matters.
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100 WORDS ON
GROWTH
As farmers know well, growing something takes time. It involves care, hard work and daily attention. Real growth must be nurtured and cultivated. As a Christian university in the heart of Nashville, Trevecca is a place where growth is nurtured in the lives of our students and staff—spiritually, academically and personally. But that growth isn’t confined to campus. Nestled in the center of a thriving city experiencing unprecedented growth, Trevecca stands ready to cultivate the same kind of growth among our neighbors, in our community and across our city.
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CAMPUS NEWS
From the Hill All Things New Commencement marks the beginning of a new chapter in graduates’ lives, and Trevecca celebrated this fresh start on May 6. The University conferred 794 degrees—including associate, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist and doctoral—during the outdoor ceremony. Officials estimate as many as 8,000 friends and family members crowded onto the Quad to watch the ceremony. For Hannah Pollok, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communication studies, the moment was a little bittersweet. “I’m really excited, but there are definitely mixed feelings,” she said as she prepared for the convocation to begin. “Trevecca to me means a place where I 100 percent found myself. I really love this school. It means home.” Dr. Joy Twillie, academic director and associate professor in Trevecca’s physician assistant program, delivered the challenge to the Class of 2017. While stressing that the graduates were adequately prepared for
Making Moves Things will look a little different around campus next year with the retirement of a few longtime faculty and staff members and new roles and duties for others. These include:
their careers, she challenged them to make a difference in the world. “As we send you forward into this great new adventure, ask yourself these three simple questions: What does God want from me? What has God placed inside of me? and What am I willing to give?” Twillie said. Three representatives of the graduating class—Tabitha Sookdeo, Erica T. Holmes and Brad Blakeley—offered short responses to Twillie’s charge.Dr. Dan Boone, president of Trevecca, awarded the citizenship award to Michael Foster, outgoing student body president. Read more about graduation at www.trevecca.edu/commencement.
DR. DAN SPROSS, professor of biblical theology and literature, retired at the end of the Spring 2017 semester after 29 years of service to the University. Read more at www.trevecca. edu/Spross. GAYLE CARVER, administrative assistant in the Office of External Relations, retired on June 30. Carver served the University for 27 years in a variety of roles, serving during the tenure of three University presidents. Learn more about Carver’s career at www.trevecca.edu/Carver. DR. TOM MIDDENDORF will serve as the associate provost and dean of academic affairs, effective July 1. All school deans, with the exception of the dean of Trevecca’s School of Graduate and Continuing Studies, will report to Middendorf. His new position will also integrate the duties of his previous role, associate vice president for academic services. DR. JONATHAN BARTLING has been named to a new position in the Office of the Provost: associate vice president for accreditation and state authorization. Bartling will also serve as an associate professor of leadership studies. For the past 17 years, he has served in a variety of teaching and administrative roles at Olivet Nazarene University.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
Eclipse 2017
A total eclipse will be visible over Nashville on August 21, and you’re invited to campus to witness the once-in-a-lifetime event at SolarFest. (The next total eclipse over Nashville isn’t expected until 2566.) Join us on the Great Lawn between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. to learn, talk with professors, astronomers, current students and alumni and view the eclipse. (Don’t worry. Viewing glasses will be provided.) You’ll also get a chance to glimpse the eclipse through the lens of a solar telescope, see real-time data gathered from a stratospheric research balloon launched during the eclipse and enjoy various Nashville food trucks, live music, free ice cream and more. The total solar eclipse will begin around 1:27 p.m., and last for about two minutes. The sun will be partially eclipsed from about 11:57 a.m. to 2:58 p.m. For more information, visit trevecca.edu/solarfest.
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After serving as the director of Trevecca’s graduate counseling program for 20 years, DR. PETER WILSON stepped down at the end of June. He will continue as a full-time faculty member in the program. Dr. Susan Lahey, who currently serves as the director of the Ph.D. program in clinical counseling, will assume responsibilities for both positions. DR. TIM MYATT has been appointed to serve as the chair of the Department of Information Technology. Dr. Ed Anthony, who filled the position during the 2016-2017 academic year, will continue to serve as a faculty member and program consultant.
KNOW HOW:
THE SKILLS
EMPLOYERS WANT Trevecca alumni (and siblings) Kelly Plummer King, ’99, and Brady Plummer, ’00, have found their niche in Nashville’s thriving business sector. King is an assurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers Nashville office, while Plummer was recently named chief information officer at Parallon in Nashville. As business professionals who routinely make decisions about hiring, we asked them to share a few of the skills they like to see in a potential employee.
1. Communication skills. “You can get that first job and what helps you to get that job and excel are your technical skills,” Plummer said. “But over time what sets you apart is your ability to communicate clearly.” King agreed, stressing that employers are looking for employees who can concisely “communicate with impact both orally and in written form” and tailor communication styles to their audience. 2. S trong business acumen. King defined this as “being aware of what’s going on in the United States and globally” and how that impacts your work or business. Basically, that means employers want to hire employees who can think analytically, problem-solve and process information and data efficiently and effectively. 3. Willingness to ask questions. King says she values employees who ask questions, admit when they don’t know something and are willing and ready to learn. “One of the things I really love about my job is that I’m challenged every day, and I learn something new every day,” King said. 4. Ambition and work ethic. Employers want workers who take initiative and are willing to work hard. Plummer puts it this way: “If you really want an opportunity, you’ve got to be ambitious, assertive and willing to put yourself on the line.”
To learn more about Plummer and King and how they’ve achieved success in their careers, read “Leading the Field” on page 34.
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Of Note “Nashville is a great place for classical music. For example, the Nashville Opera. Anybody can audition for the chorus or a main role. I auditioned for the Nashville Opera chorus, and I know a couple more people did. If you go to different schools, there may be no opportunity to even experience opera. So, it’s cool that Trevecca students get to experience what Nashville has to offer.” —Mikayla Hatfield, sophomore Hatfield, a vocal performance major with a minor in musical theatre, is spending three weeks of the summer participating in the Boston Conservatory Opera Intensive in Valencia, Spain. Sponsored by the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and the Berklee College of Music’s campus in Valencia, the program offers talented singers an opportunity to hone their technical skills by working with world-class faculty. Participants are chosen through auditions and must have at least three arias in their repertoire. Read more at www.trevecca.edu/Hatfield.
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FOUR QUARTERS I spoke at a church featuring a Trevecca Sunday recently and relayed all the wonderful things that are happening on the Hill. I stressed our desire to build the University endowment fund so Trevecca can continue to provide financial assistance to students now and in the future.
Accolades The Tennessee Principals Association recently named two Trevecca alumni as the 2017 National Distinguished Principals from Tennessee. Dr. Amy Downey, who earned her Doctor of Education in leadership and professional practice from Trevecca in 2012, was selected at the elementary school level. She currently serves as the principal of Charlotte Park Elementary in Nashville. Dr. Kevin Armstrong, a 2013 graduate of the Ed.D. program, was honored in the middle school category. He currently serves as the principal of DuPont Hadley Middle Prep in Nashviile. Both Downey and Armstrong have been invited to attend the National Distinguished Principals Awards Ceremony in Washington D.C. in October. Read more at www.trevecca.edu/principals
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Summer Service Two groups of Trevecca students recently returned from Trevecca Around the Globe (TAG) mission trips to the Philippines and Croatia. Seven students plus chaperones traveled to the Philippines May 8-23. They worked with childcare workers and farmers and learned and shared about creation care, farming and child development. Another group of students spent May 9-24 in Zagreb, Croatia. The 11 students and chaperones worked with Nazarene missionaries to teach English and minister to people from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Egypt seeking asylum. Check out photos from www.trevecca.edu/Summer.
their
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After the service a young boy came up to me and said, “Mr. Don, I colored this Trevecca picture for you, and I want to give these four quarters for the endowment fund because one day I want to come to Trevecca.” Do you have “four quarters” to invest in the lives of students now and in the future? Do you have Trevecca in your will? Trevecca is the discipleship program for the Church of the Nazarene for our youth. I want my children and grandchildren to attend Trevecca where their faith will be matured and not mocked. Contact me, and let’s talk about your four quarters. Don Hastings Director of Planned Giving DBHastings@trevecca.edu 615-248-1436
In Your Own Words Trevecca students and graduates weigh in on what it means to be a part of the Trevecca community.
ADABELLE FAJARDO
A N T O N I O G U E R R E R O , ’ 1 7 JASMINE TICE
“What I love about my education here is that I have gotten the opportunity to dip my toes into a lot of different ponds. I’ve gotten to do a lot of different roles in the theatre program. That makes me feel like I can learn anything and do it. It’s really challenging and scary sometimes, but you just have to do it. I really enjoy being part of a school where I can be involved in so many things—academic and extracurricular. I feel very connected to different sects. I don’t know that other schools offer that connectedness that we do because there are so many more people. Here, I get a chance to do a little bit of everything.”
“Trevecca to me is a place where I know that I can come if I have questions about something going on in my career with counseling. If I have a question, if I need help, if I need direction, the professors are there to always support me and help me. I know that the people of Trevecca are just wonderful people. That’s what [Trevecca] means to me – it’s like a family, it’s people that I know I can turn to if I need them.”
JUNIOR, EXERCISE SCIENCE MAJOR
BACHELOR’S OF SCIENCE IN HISTORY AND MEDIA ARTS
BACHELOR’S OF ARTS IN MANAGEMENT AND HUMAN RELATIONS
“I know when I was a student here, there was a saying, ‘To be rather than to seem.’ I really feel like Trevecca does that. We’re really unapologetically about Jesus. This is the best environment for the Spirit of God to do what He does. It’s a blast.”
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CA R R Y HI G H HE R B A NNE R
CHANGE THE WORLD
“The Christian education that you have received will allow you to transform your knowledge of subject matter into wisdom for an abundant life, wisdom that will transform the world around you.” — D R . J OY T W I L L I E During Trevecca’s 116th Commencement Convocation on May 6.
View photos from Trevecca’s graduation ceremony at www.trevecca.edu/GradPhotos
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M Y T R E V E C CA STO RY
Finding My A 2017 Trevecca graduate, Laura Beth Winchester currently serves as the director of customer experience at AccuWorks, a Nashville business. She is also working part-time as a local wedding planner, something she hopes will become a full-time job in the future.
BY LAURA BETH WINCHESTER, ’17
Trevecca played a huge role in my life before I was even a student here.
government. All the while, I was juggling classes and working part-time.
My grandparents and my parents both met their spouses at Trevecca, and they’ve always told me how influential it was for them, recounting stories and reminiscing about their memories. I knew from an early age that Trevecca was where I wanted to go to college, and sure enough, here I am: a Trevecca graduate!
It was overwhelming.
College never seemed scary to me. I’ve always been an independent person, and I already knew that Trevecca was an incredible place. By the time I was a senior in high school, I was so ready to be here. My first year at Trevecca was everything I hoped it’d be. I got an awesome job on campus. I found myself in a close-knit group of friends, and I loved my major. During my sophomore year, I got more involved on campus, joining the cheerleading team and the gospel choir. As a member of the choir, I was given the opportunity to sing with Carrie Underwood for the 2014 CMA Awards—talk about the experience of a lifetime! Trevecca ended up blessing me with many more opportunities to come: trips to Washington, D.C., and New Orleans, working as a student admissions counselor and traveling the Southeast. I’ll always be grateful for those experiences and memories. My junior and senior years flew by so quickly. The summer before my senior year was a difficult season for me. I experienced the loss of someone dear to me, then I had to jump right into a huge leadership position with student
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But the Trevecca community has this way of seeing and knowing each student and their needs, drawing them in, showing them such grace and love. My professors reached out to me and prayed for me. My friends drew close and supported me in so many ways. My Trevecca community, in a sense, healed me. The power of the Lord was working through every person, and I’ll never forget that. After kind of picking myself back up, I jumped right in to student government. Being a part of the executive team and having such a large leadership role taught me more than I could ever have expected. SGA taught me that it’s always OK to ask for help. I learned to love more deeply, to listen first and speak later and to let go of my insecurities of not being enough. That group of students was the family I didn’t know I needed. I went in to college thinking I’d make a few friends, that I’d study 24/7 and that I’d get involved here and there. But God stepped in and threw me for quite a loop! Here I am, a TNU graduate, with an overwhelming number of friends, professors and mentors who I already miss dearly. Trevecca was hands-down the most influential four years of my life, and I already can’t wait to come home to the Hill. Trevecca will always be my family.
Family
My Trevecca Story is a place for you to share special memories of Trevecca, as well as big realizations and special moments you experienced on campus. Submit your essay for consideration to Mandy Crow, 333 Murfreesboro Road, Nashville, TN 372102877 or at Treveccan@Trevecca.edu. Please limit yourself to 700 words and include your name, class year, address, email address and phone number.
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Tatakis/iStock Editorial/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
Embracing the Kingdom of God 15  TREVECCAN
By Rebekah Warren
CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY
“Humans can’t be fully human unless they are in community…the Kingdom of God means the full reconciliation of relationship between humans, with God, and with creation.”
Being in community is one of the most transformative aspects of Christianity. It is a call to vulnerability, sacrifice and faithfulness to others. It is also a source of joy and support in times of difficulty. This summer, a group of four Trevecca students including myself, Jarren Rogers, Garret Smotherman, and Madeline Clark made the choice to seek out authentic community within the refugee camps of northern Greece. It was not a decision that we made lightly. The IMMERSE program allows students—particularly those in Trevecca’s intercultural studies program— to spend three months in another country, engaging with local people, learning language and applying the theological and practical concepts they had studied in the classroom. The concept of community has been one of the most crucial to our journey. “Humans can’t be fully human unless they are in community…the Kingdom of God means the full reconciliation of relationship between humans, with God, and with creation,” Smotherman said. “Whole reconciliation is realized within community.” In choosing this path, we also were enabled to join in a tight-knit group of individuals and families practicing the Muslim faith. Though our beliefs differed, our recognition of community did not. We were invited in with open arms, and we have sat day after day and night after night, speaking, listening, playing card games, holding children, laughing, and, at
times, mourning with those in a place of crisis and suffering. War, political upheaval, and persecution in the Middle East, particularly Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, sent people fleeing from their homes and searching for a better life for themselves and their families in Europe. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) estimates that 1.3 million people have traveled through Greece on their journey to a safer place. The four of us who are participating in IMMERSE were acquaintances who had previously sat in classes together, but in the last few weeks, we have come to find we have far more in common than we would have thought. We all share a deep passion for seeing wholeness, new life and light come to some of the darkest places. We laugh together quite regularly, and the joy that is present has been a gift in the face of challenging experiences and emotions. “Trevecca sets a good example of what Christian community is supposed to embody, especially through the friendships we’ve formed on campus and the theology we are taught,” Clark said. “We’ve been able to carry that understanding with us as we participate in a community we’ve never experienced before.” Jacob and Dorothee Morris have served as Church of the Nazarene missionaries in Greece for 10 months and are both Trevecca graduates. They have led our small group as we have explored the city of Katerini and adjusted through cultural shock and language learning.
To be in community with those who have experienced Trevecca is special. They possess a deep and similar understanding of the call to bring the Kingdom of God and to do so through commitment to relationship with those who have endured suffering and transition far away from their homes. On this trip, I’ve found that to carry the ideas of Christian community that we have learned at Trevecca is to embrace the Kingdom of God tangibly as it reaches out in love, compassion and justice to those of all faiths and nations. It is to recognize the need for wholeness and restoration in our lives and to seek that out in the midst of faithful friends. It is to stand in solidarity, even when that necessitates mourning with those who mourn. It is to see the image of God and the beauty of the Savior in those who serve with us and to be willing to be served and shown hospitality by those whose camps and homes we have chosen to embrace. The discovery of what it means to be in Christian community has been a result of deepening faith and relationship for me. Living, learning and serving with those at Trevecca has become an integral part of the foundation that has allowed us to embody the Kingdom of God, even on the other side of the world. Rebekah Warren is a senior communications studies major at Trevecca.
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C ELEBRATI NG 30 Y EARS OF T REVECCA’S M HR
Back to School PRO G RA M
By Bailey Basham, ’17
For most students, getting ready to go back to school looks like buying new pencils and folders, packing backpacks the night before class and getting to bed early. For students in Trevecca’s Bachelor of Arts in Management and Human Relations (MHR) program, however, going back to school looks like homework at midnight while the kids are asleep, getting dinner cooked for the family in between online lectures and tossing laundry in the dryer with one hand, a textbook in the other.
A SPECIAL PLACE Celebrating 30 years this fall, Trevecca’s MHR program was designed to offer working adult students an opportunity to complete a bacheolor’s degree based on individual needs. The program offers interdisciplinary and relevant curriculum with an emphasis
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on critical thinking, communication, selfawareness and personal development. Cathy Hendon, who was recently named as the program director, coordinates and manages all curriculum, oversees faculty and their teaching and teaches in the program as needed. Dr. Ricky Christman, associate vice president and dean of Trevecca’s School of Graduate and Continuing Studies, says Hendon brings a fresh perspective to the important role. “I’m delighted to have Cathy on our team and excited about where she will take the program in the future,” he said. Hendon has already hit the ground running. She says it’s the continual evolution of the program, the flexibility of the curriculum and the uniqueness of the community that brought her back to the University—and also what has allowed the MHR program to thrive and
continue to grow for the past 30 years. “I worked at Trevecca for about seven years running the nursing program and then left to work at a different university. [After a while], I felt the calling to come back to Trevecca and began talking to some of my colleagues,” Hendon says. “Trevecca is definitely a home for the faculty and staff that work at the institution. It’s a community of friends, and I really missed that having been there for so long. It’s a special place. Not every institution has that. It has a specialness about it.” According to Hendon, Trevecca’s MHR program was one of the very first degreecompletion programs for adults in Middle Tennessee. “We were on the forefront of leading the adult education movement in Middle Tennessee 30 years ago. Now you see this plethora of
adult education programs, and there is still about making those changes instead of just something really unique about Trevecca’s patching problems,” Hendon says. “One of the program that makes it a staple in the industry things I constantly work at is being a good and a staple in Middle Tennessee,” she says. communicator and knowing I am here for [our Nearly 30 years later, more remote] faculty. We have Trevecca’s School of Graduate It’s a community of a ton of adjuncts, and they live and Continuing Studies friends, and I really all over the country. Making celebrated a record number of sure they feel connected to this missed that having non-traditional students this community is a challenge too. fall—a 47 percent increase from been there for so long. That’s just a part of growing. last fall’s enrollment. It’s a special place. Making sure those faculty feel Hendon says one of the biggest like they’re involved and have a challenges—and one of the things she is most voice is something that I am intentional about.” thankful for—is the rapid growth the program is experiencing. A ONE-OF-A-KIND “One of the challenges I feel is that even P R O G R A M though we’re growing and changing, we’ve A former secretary in the MHR office, Beverly got to do it the right way. I really want to Lee started working with students just a few make sure we are being more intentional months after the program was created.
“I was volunteering at First Church of the Nazarene, and one of the ladies who attended there got a job in the MHR department,” Lee recalls. “She called me to see if I would be interested in coming to work there. It was the interaction with the adult students that drew me in. You hear so many stories, some joyful stories about [people going back to school], and some inspiring ones about single moms and people [bouncing back after] divorces.” Shortly after Lee began working in the program, her husband passed away. Lee says the support she received from the program faculty and students helped her through that difficult time. She stayed on with the program for another 25 years before retiring. “I loved every minute of it,” Lee says. “I loved working with the adult students. It was a whole
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new field to me because I had not worked in academics whatsoever, but I learned a lot. I’m [grateful] for my time there.” Bill Gemmill, a member of the program’s first graduating class in 1989, says he first heard about it on the radio right about the time he moved back to Nashville to finish school after serving in the Air Force. Trevecca is where he earned his degree, got the foundation needed to begin a career in education and also where he met his wife, Judy, who graduated from Trevecca in 1973. “I moved to Nashville from Knoxville in ’86, and I couldn’t go to school full-time,” Gemmill says. “I was trying to figure out what direction I wanted to go, and about that time, I heard a radio commercial about Trevecca starting a program for working adults who already had college credits. I said, ‘Hey, that’s for me,’ and I applied. The rest is history.” For Gemmill, the first-of-its-kind program in Middle Tennessee was innovative. “You hear about adult completion programs all the time [now], but Trevecca led the way in Nashville,” he says. “I was impressed with that and glad to be a part of it. They were very innovative. Comparatively speaking, I think [the program] is right up there at the top of the game.” Carolyn Smith, a former faculty with the MHR program, said she wasn’t interested in working with the program at first, but once she saw the impact it could make on the lives of students—students like Bill—she wanted in. “It really helped the people who had not
S A V E T H E D AT E
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been able to finish school, whether they were divorced, had a lack of interest or money, or decided to have a family,” Smith says. “The faculty went over and beyond their workload. They wanted to help. There were very few that [we] turned down, and [because of that] I really enjoyed the people I worked with.”
Though Trevecca’s MHR program is quickly approaching the 30-year mark, there are no plans to slow down any time soon. The program has experienced exponential growth in the last few years, becoming a leader in adult education throughout Middle Tennessee and beyond. Hendon expects that Trevecca’s program will continue to thrive because of its foundations in THE FUTURE OF MHR truly caring for its students. Part of what makes Trevecca’s MHR program “It all boils down to [the fact that] we are an so unique—says Hendon—is the cohort model. institution that firmly believes in the needs In this format, a small number of adults and wanting to get “It really helped the them where they want to go. of new students go through the entire program together over people who had not We’re student-focused, and the course in three semesters. that’s what drives our work. been able to finish In a sense, it builds two of We want to bring students in Trevecca’s core characteristics— school, whether they and journey them through. At support and community—right were divorced, had the end of the day, if we’re not into the program. serving our students, then we’re a lack of interest or “[Operating on this model not doing what we’re here to is] a strength of our program money, or decided to do in terms of God’s work and and something that every adult manifesting a change in these have a family.” education program does not students,” Hendon says. have,” says Hendon. “This cohort model really builds that connection among the students so For information about the Bachelor of Arts in that [students understand] they are all on the Management and Human Relations program, same journey. They are all getting the same visit trevecca.edu/mhr. degree and are all nervous together. They continue to go through the program the whole Bailey Basham is a recent Trevecca grad working way, and they all graduate together.” at a small newspaper in Sewanee, Tenn. She It is this model, along with the standard enjoys watering her plants, keeping organized, of learning and the level of community, that journaling and scoping out where to find the best makes the program invaluable to its graduates, chicken biscuit. according to Hendon.
The School of Graduate and Continuing Studies is planning a come-and-go reception to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Bachelor of Arts in Management and Human Relations program during Homecoming weekend. The event will follow the Homecoming parade on Saturday, Nov. 4. Alumni, family and friends are all invited. More details will be announced in the Fall 2017 issue of the Treveccan.
Your Schedule. Your Degree. A S S O C I AT E , B A C H E L O R ’ S , M A S T E R ’ S , & D O C T O R AT E
E N T I R E LY O N L I N E online.trevecca.edu
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Memories of an experience are often linked to the physical location where they took place. Since it was founded in 1901, Trevecca Nazarene University has been an important part of the Nashville landscape. In this brief history of Trevecca, we will showcase the many Nashville locations Trevecca has called home.
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The Pentecostal Literacy and Bible Training School relocated to the 4th Avenue North Tabernacle in January 1905. In 1910, the school was renamed Trevecca College for Student Workers.
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In November 1901, J.O. McClurkan’s “pastor’s class” expanded to become the Pentecostal Literary and Bible Training School and began classes in the Old Hynes School Building, located on Jo Johnston Avenue. The Old Hynes School Building was branded the “birth place of the Bible school” and gave the General Committee the permanent headquarters they needed.
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In August 1932, the college moved to Whites Creek Pike, occupying the vacant campus of Roger Williams College and the American Baptist Theological Seminary, which were both institutions for African-American students.
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D I D YO U K N O W ? Trevecca briefly moved to Ruskin Cave College’s campus in Dickson County, Tenn., in 1918. In an effort to conserve resources, the two schools combined, but the merger was short-lived.
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P E R C Y W A R N E R E S TAT E Trevecca began classes at the Percy Warner Estate on Gallatin Pike on the day J.O. McClurkan died, September 16, 1914. The Percy Warner Estate allowed room for the school to expand. Located on the main auto route that linked major cities like Chicago and Louisville, the location put Trevecca at a great advantage.
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When the college was unable to resolve legal issues in regard to the purchase of the Whites Creek campus, the school began holding classes in Nashville First Church of the Nazarene in 1934. During this time, the charter of the school was redrawn, and the school was renamed Trevecca Nazarene College.
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MURFREESBORO ROAD CAMPUS In 1935, Trevecca Nazarene College was relocated to the campus on Murfreesboro Road, which is the University’s current home.
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COVER STORY
nashv next E X P L O R I N G W H AT I T M E A N S T O B E A C H R I S T I A N U N I V E R S I T Y I N T H E H E A R T O F T O D AY ’ S N A S H V I L L E
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ville By Mandy Crow
Music City, U.S.A. The Athens of the South. Nashvegas. Cashville. Nashville has been known by many names, but in recent years, the city has experienced explosive population and economic growth. So what does it mean to be a Christian university in the heart of this ever-changing, ever-growing city?
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THE CITY OF DREAMS During the Civil War, people flocked to Nashville. A river port and a railway hub, the city had become a commercial center of the Southeast. Union and Confederate supporters came to town, as well as free blacks, escaped slaves and Northern businessmen.
grew at an annual rate of 3.91 percent from 2015-2016, more than quadrupling the 0.8 percent annual average for the United States. In 2015, Forbes named Nashville one of the fastest growing cities in the country. Earlier this year, the Census Bureau released population estimates that declared Nashville had overtaken Memphis as the largest city in Tennessee. Nashville is now home to more than 660,000 people.
By the time the United States conducted its twelfth census in 1900, Nashville—with a population of 80,865—ranked 47th Long known as a among the top 100 largest urban places in the country. In the waning years of the 19th century, Nashville had center for music, also begun to grow as a cultural center, earning the entertainment moniker “the Athens of the South.” It was in this city—not so far removed from the Civil War, but fast becoming a cultural icon—that J.O. McClurkan founded the Literary and Bible Training School for Christian Workers. Later, it became known as Trevecca.
and publishing, Nashville is now a hub for technology, healthcare and financial industries.
Fast-forward a century to January 2013 when The New York Times crowned Nashville an “it” city. “Here in a city once embarrassed by its Grand Ole Opry roots, a place that sat on the sidelines while its Southern sisters boomed economically, it is hard to find a resident who does not break into the goofy grin of the newly popular when the subject of Nashville’s status comes up,” the writer of the article opined. Music City, U.S.A., it seems, had finally found its rhythm. Nashville has experienced unprecedented growth in the years prior to and following The New York Times’ proclamation. Metro Nashville’s population
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City planners don’t expect the population growth to stop anytime soon, either. The Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization predicts that by 2035, the 10-county Cumberland Region surrounding Nashville will grow to a population of 2.6 million. That’s roughly the same size as Denver.
The city’s incredible growth has also ignited Nashville’s industry. Long known as a center for music, entertainment and publishing, Nashville is now a hub for technology, healthcare and financial industries. In 1901, J.O. McClurkan planted the seed that would become Trevecca in a bustling, growing city poised to become a great city. Now, Nashville stands on the cusp of something new—a frontier and a future that is only beginning to be charted. And in the heart of that city—of this Nashville—lies Trevecca.
According to Dr. Dan Boone, Trevecca’s president, Nashville’s explosive growth has had an overwhelmingly positive effect on the University. “Nashville is now a brand city that is known globally,” he said. “We’re a place that people in Africa know about. Nashville is a hot city that college students want to come to.”
endless opportunities” for student internships as well as jobs that lead to future careers. In addition,Trevecca’s Offices of Career Services and Student Employment are working with a wide variety of networks to connect students with workplace pipelines, Jolley says.
THE CITY OF OPPORTUNITY
College students aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed Nashville’s appeal. Always a commercial center because of the city’s railroad hub and river port, Nashville has grown even more attractive to industries of all kinds. Knowing this, Trevecca faculty and staff have worked to nurture industry relationships that benefit students, from quality internships to part-time jobs and sessions with successful professionals in their chosen careers. One of the ways Trevecca is building relationships with the city’s industries is through the iWork program. Instituted in 2015, the program allows students to use their earnings from on- and off-campus part-time jobs to offset the cost of their education. This allows students to gain professional skills while earning some “sweat equity” in the cost of their education, Boone says.
“Their workplace is the classroom where they discover and polish their employable skills,” says Ryan Jolley, director of the iWork program. “iWork celebrates the growth that takes place in students as they work, developing a variety of skills, including the soft skills that enhance their ongoing personal and professional development.” Nashville’s greater appeal to a wider range of industries is also proving beneficial to the iWork program. Jolley says Nashville offers “seemingly
That includes participating in events hosted by the likes of the Nashville Workforce Network, Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and the Nashville Career Advancement Center, among others. Jolley is also working to build networks that help students get a foot in the door with employers. That includes a relationship with Opportunity NOW, a Nashville youth employment initiative spearheaded by the mayor’s office in the Nashville Career Advancement Center. “Trevecca students under the age of 24 have access to the Opportunity NOW job portal that instantly connects them with employers from all across Nashville in a variety of industries,” Jolley says. Another positive aspect of Nashville’s growth? Nashville is—there’s no other word for it—fun. “There’s just the fun of this city,” Boone says, before listing some of the reasons Nashville is special. “Professional sports, music of every genre at its best, parks systems, theatre, phenomenal restaurants. And then the world of film-making and songwriting and the joy of having a lot of the creative arts that are all around us.”
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THE CITY AS CLASSROOM Nashville’s transition to “it” city, however, has come with more than a few growing pains. Boone chooses to view these more as opportunities for the University than disadvantages, though. “[The growth of Nashville] has also created the kind of issues that education is always working on,” Boone says. “Transit systems, immigration, equity for the poor, community development, all kinds of things that are common topics in the majors that we teach are actually happening right here in Nashville. “I really hope the city becomes our classroom, that students learn to address the primary challenges of human communities by living in this city and learning in the context of this city,” Boone continued. But Trevecca isn’t simply leaving the work of addressing those issues to students and graduates. According to Boone, the city’s rebirth calls this Christian university in the heart of Nashville to “deepen our understanding of what it means to be Christian in this culture.”
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“Our theology is one of intervention in the life of the community in which we’re found,” Boone says. “In no way do I feel like Trevecca is threatened by Nashville becoming a world-class city. This growth and change do, however, cause us to examine and articulate what it means to be Christian in a changing culture.”
In response, Trevecca’s demographics have begun to shift, too. In the five-year span between 2011 and 2016, Trevecca’s overall Hispanic student population grew by 85 percent, the African American population increased by 56 percent and the number of Asian students more than doubled.
Articulating that truth means that Trevecca’s leadership has had to make specific choices to address some of the pain points Nashville’s recent boom has revealed.
“At Cameron Middle School, right up the street from us, 67 languages are spoken in that single school that’s a few blocks from us,” Boone says. ”So for us to act like the world around hasn’t changed would not be wise.”
The University has sought to ease traffic congestion and transportation problems by building more housing close to campus, making transportation on Nashville’s MTA buses available to all students and staff and hosting town hall events to encourage community conversation around the issue. Nashville’s growth has also brought greater attention to diversity issues. Between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, the city’s Hispanic population increased by 134 percent, while the Asian population grew by 61 percent.
Trevecca students with Megan Barry, mayor of Nashville, at Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service
The University is making concerted efforts to address the needs of these students, even creating a new role: coordinator of student engagement and diversity. Brodrick Thomas accepted the responsibility last summer and is working to engage first generation college students, foster community and prepare students to make a difference in an everchanging, diverse world. “As a Christian university, our true mission is to go and fill in the divides and cracks between people in our society,” Thomas said last year in an interview about his new position. “This university should be a place where all those students can come and have that conversation about how to move this world into a place that’s more cohesive instead of divided.”
“This drives us to make sure that our education is relevant, that our students are grounded in Christ-like character, but also able to speak in the language of the culture they’re going into,” Boone says. “It means that our professors and our programs have to be on the cutting edge. It’s our intent to provide that.” As Nashville continues to expand—those making predictions make it clear that the boom isn’t stopping anytime soon— Trevecca is still nestled close to the city’s heart. Boone’s vision for what it means to be a Christian university in today’s Nashville isn’t built on achieving national—or even citywide—acclaim. Instead, Boone believes Trevecca’s success is built on staying true to the University’s mission to send Christian servant leaders into the world. “With every graduation, we give the world about 800 to 900 more missionaries,” Boone said. “They may be disguised as teachers, PAs, social workers and more, but the truth is, we’re trying to give the world deeply committed Christians who spend their lives in the workplace making an impact in the name of Christ.”
A CHANGING UNIVERSITY
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The idea resounds with Boone as he seeks to lead Trevecca—“A growing city needs an educated workforce and that educated workforce really needs a world-class education,” he says—but also issues a challenge.
Does it work? During the 2016-2017 academic year, iWork students contributed approximately $250,000 toward their student accounts via direct payroll deductions.
2015 634,512
“In-demand jobs in fast-growing cities like Nashville require specialization and continuing education,” says Colby Sledge, Metro Nashville Council member for District 17, Trevecca’s district. “Thanks to our wide range of higher education institutions, Nashville is perfectly positioned to serve an educated workforce in a variety of sectors, from high-skill trades to data-heavy research.”
What it does: Allows students the opportunity to pay work earnings directly to the University as a means of closing a financial gap or decreasing student loan debt, while learning professional skills.
2010 601,222
As the city officials and planners of today’s Nashville make the decisions that will frame the capital city’s future, they’re quick to stress that colleges and universities still have a role to play.
What it is: An employment program for Trevecca students to utilize the earnings from their oncampus or off-campus job to offset the cost of earning their degree.
2005 565,346
THE CITY WITH VISION
When it began: Fall 2015 semester
2000 545,659
As the 1800s slipped into a new century, Nashville became known as the “Athens of the South” in part because of the many colleges and universities that called the city home. Nashville’s institutions of higher education have always sought to shape and influence the city, and that fact hasn’t changed.
J U ST T H E FACT S : I W O R K
1990 488,188
“This drives us to make sure that our education is relevant, that our students are grounded in Christ-like character, but also able to speak in the language of the culture they’re going into.”
Data from 2010 U.S. Census, the American Community Survey 5-year estimates (various dates) and Census Bureau population estimates.
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Reporting by Princess Jones | Photos by Peyton Williams
“We want to be a voice for our church that encourages people to care for the world and the people in it, and farming is one of the most eloquent and simple ways we can take part in that process.” —Jason Adkins, director of the Trevecca Urban Farm
Each summer, the Trevecca Urban Farm hosts two annual farm camps, one for high school students and another for middle schoolers. In 2016, the farm added an additional bee camp for students interested in beekeeping. Open to students throughout the community, the camps are designed to teach students the basics of farming while challenging them to think deeply about the health, ecological and social implications of agriculture.
DOWN ON THE FARM
It’s about inspiring the next generation to recognize the important role they play in creation care, says Adkins.
“We are not trying to make everyone farmers, but everybody has a part to play in the future of building our food systems, so we love to see people taking part in the future structure of the food system for the next [generation].”
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During the mornings, participants get a handson farm experience, caring for animals, working in the barn, tending to plants or composting. “I’ve learned a bunch about caring for the animals, like the things they like to eat and how not to stress them out. A fun fact I learned was if you stress out the chickens, they won’t lay as many eggs.” —Maddie, farm camp participant
Each day, students learn about a particular animal on the farm—pigs, dogs, chickens, goats, bees or fish. Farm coordinator Karen Shaw taught the students about bees during the week-long camp, providing in-depth information about bees, their behavior and how to care for them. Afterward, the campers participated in a “quiz battle” to see who had learned the most.
In the afternoon, the young farmers learn about “This camp is a way to experience something that broader agriculture issues and food systems you don’t really get in a urban area like Nashville. through videos, discussions and guest speakers. If you drive out just a little bit to Trevecca you can get to work with animals and experience a real farm. You get to see the resources they have here and all the cool things they have at the farm.“ —Pippa, farm camp participant
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Students at this year’s farm camps were excited to learn more about agriculture and creation care. From learning how to plant a tree to care for a goat—and everything in between—the participants say the experience was worth it. “The kids really love the encounters with the animals. I love watching the kids’ joy over the animals.” —Jason Adkins
“We have seen campers go on and make backyard gardens, [organize] garden clubs at their schools, or advocate for better food. That’s the greatest satisfaction: seeing people that really take part in the food system.” —Jason Adkins “One thing I learned during camp was how to spot a lot of different plants. So now I look at a tree and say, ‘Oh, that’s a maple tree’ or [a plant and say,] ‘Oh, a Tiger lily’ The best thing I learned was composting because it can be really helpful for the soil, and it helps plants grow.” —Carly “I think being our age and living in a technology age, we’re not really exposed to what our lives would be like if we were in a different time or we lived somewhere else. We also get to see where our products come from if you buy locally.” —Maddie
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STAND WITH US While the Nashville Predators’ run for the Stanley Cup came to an end on June 11, it won’t be an experience Nashville soon forgets. During the playoffs excitement, we profiled several Trevecca alumni who are working in the Preds’ organization. You can learn all about Zach Williams (’16), Tom Reed (’15), Braydon Brown (’15), Demetri Moore (’11), Chris Mercado (’02) and Keith Orser (’01) and their roles within the Preds organization through our “Power Play” series at blog.trevecca.edu/topic/power-play.
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LEADING THE
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Success can be defined by many factors: accolades and awards, promotions, prestige or power.
W H AT I T M E A N S T O BE SUCCESSFUL I N N A S H V I L L E ’ S But for two Trevecca graduates, siblings Brady Plummer and Kelly King, success isn’t about any of those things. Instead, their definition of what it means to be THRIVING BUSINESS successful is deeply tied to Trevecca’s mission statement and their Christian faith. COMMUNITY
Pared down to its simplest form, their definition is just two words long: servant leadership.
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REDEFINING SUCCESS By business standards, Kelly and Brady have already achieved an incredible amount of success for mid-career professionals. A 1999 graduate of Trevecca, Kelly is an assurance partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), a network of accounting firms in 157 countries whose 223,000 employees deliver assurance, advisory and tax services to clients. In 2012, she became the first female partner in PwC’s Nashville office. Last December, the Nashville Business Journal named Kelly to their annual “40 Under 40” list, an honor the outlet reserves for those “making big names for themselves in Nashville’s business scene.” Nominated by the public, winners are chosen by a panel of business professionals based on criteria such as business accomplishments, community involvement and more.
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Brady, who graduated from Trevecca in 2000, started his career with Deloitte & Touche and spent time with his sister at PwC before spending several years as an assistant vice president of internal audit for HCA, headquartered in Nashville. Two months ago, he was named the new chief information officer for the Parallon division of HCA. In that role, Brady is responsible for the technology that supports the revenue cycle of HCA and several third party healthcare companies—including over $40 billion in revenue each year. Recently, we had the opportunity to talk with the siblings about their passion for their work, why servant leadership is so important and what it really means to be successful. Read on to find out what they had to say.
W H AT T H E Y ’ R E P A S S I O N AT E ABOUT Kelly: I’m passionate about developing our people, specifically future female leaders. For some time, I have given oversight to our recruitment process, ensuring that we attract, develop and retain top talent. Once they’ve joined PwC, [I work] with individuals to identify a career path that they’re passionate about and get fulfillment from, and either develop them to be future leaders within our firm or exceptional alumni and leaders in the business community. As the first female partner at PwC out of our Nashville practice, I would like my professional legacy to be that I invested with purpose and intention in the lives of young women and served as a mentor, encouraging them to lead authentic lives with the confidence that they are qualified to be our future leaders.
“I’m passionate about developing our people, specifically future female leaders. For some time, I have given oversight to our recruitment process, ensuring that we attract, develop and retain top talent.”
Brady: I’m passionate about innovation and learning how to do things faster, smarter, better, cheaper—mainly through technology but also through process improvement. H O W T R E V E C C A’ S M I S S I O N HAS INFLUENCED THEIR VIEW OF SUCCESS Kelly: I feel very fortunate—and I think it’s a large part part of why I’m at PwC 18 years later—that we believe in the model of servant leaders. An integral part of building leaders in our practice is an acknowledgement of our civic responsibility, involvement in our community and philanthropy. We give our people time and support to go invest in what they are passionate about in the community. At PwC, our purpose is to “Build trust in society and solve important problems.” For me, a huge part of building that trust is acting with integrity. It is fundamental to everything we do. Brady: When I was in my senior year at Trevecca, I did an internship at HCA. And one day when I was sitting in my little cube, Dr. Tommy Frist Jr. walked up to me. He’s one of the founders of the company, and at the time, he was the CEO. He’s renowned worldwide for his service and giving back to the community, including all the work he does with United Way. He’s a huge philanthropist. He just stopped by my cube and introduced himself. I told him I was an intern, and he asked me where I went to school. He told me that he regularly had lunch with [former Trevecca President] Millard Reed and talked about how well Trevecca’s mission aligns with HCA’s, basically producing students in the community who are armed with a mission to serve.
W H AT I T M E A N S T O B E SUCCESSFUL Brady: I feel like everyone should want to be a contributor. If you’re going to get up and go to work every day, you want to make a difference. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time. Over the course of a career, you want to look back and see that you’ve accomplished things and developed people. … Maybe when you measure [the success of] your career, it’s the impact you’ve had on others, that you’ve had on your areas of responsibility that matters. After having kids—I have three kids now—I want to set an example for them, demonstrate hard work, having a positive impact on those around me and being a role model for them. Kelly: As I look back on my 18-year career, different things have been important to me at different points in my career. For the first 12 years of my career, when I was single and didn’t have a family of my own, my focus was on building relationships—in the community, with my colleagues throughout PwC globally and with my clients. Similar to what Brady said, I think when you look back at the end of the day, those relationships are the best measure of both your personal and professional success. Twelve years into my career, I got married and now have a three-year-old son. Becoming a mother brought me incredible perspective with respect to prioritizing all of my relationships: first and foremost my relationship with God, secondly my relationship with my family and third those professional relationships.
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“I feel like everyone should want to be a contributor. If you’re going to get up and go to work every day, you want to make a difference. Otherwise, you’re just wasting your time.”
HOW THEIR TREVECCA E X P E R I E N C E H E L P E D P R E PA R E THEM Kelly: So much of my success today is the result of working together as a team, collaborating, sharing ideas and recognizing the benefits of seeking and integrating diverse points of view. I learned many of those values at Trevecca, [such as] learning to care about those that I worked with and recognizing what each person contributes. One of my biggest fears coming out of a smaller liberal arts school like Trevecca and going to work with PwC, the largest professional services firm in the world was that I wouldn’t measure up. I quickly found out that was absolutely not the case. The smaller classroom size and investments of certain professors ensured my engagement and accountability for my education. I was more than just a number. Now 18 years later, I know that I received a
strong education, something I can be proud of and that measures up against other schools 10 times the size of Trevecca. Brady: I would say Trevecca helped me survive college. I remember one time I stayed up all night preparing for a business law final exam that I was woefully unprepared for. I literally tried to pull an all-nighter and probably went to sleep around 6 a.m. for a 7:30 a.m. test, and I just didn’t wake up. I remember the phone ringing, and I woke up, looked at the clock and realized I was 30 minutes late for my final. It was Dr. Hiatt calling. He just said, “Brady, are you going to come take this test?” So I ran across campus and took the final. If I’d gone to a big state school, that wouldn’t have happened. I would have just failed the class. … I really feel like I got the help and attention [I needed], and there were professors who really invested in me personally. When they knew I could do better work, they called me out for it rather than just letting me skate by.
A TREVECCA LEGACY Kelly and Brady don’t deny that they’ve achieved a certain level of success in their careers. But they’re also quick to stress that it wasn’t something they achieved on their own. Both credit their parents—Howard and Anna, also Trevecca alumni—who Brady says refused to accept mediocrity. “The focus on education, support and their refusal to accept mediocrity has been huge for me,” he says. “I think Kelly is a little more self-motivated than me.” With a laugh, Kelly agreed, stressing the impact their parents have had on their lives. “Brady and I have been blessed to be provided with opportunities that have allowed us to achieve success at an early age,” she says. “But I attribute much of our success to our parents. We have very bright parents who have been our greatest encouragers, shaping our values from an early age. They’ve always instilled in us the importance of education, acting with integrity and a strong work ethic. I attribute much of our success to being blessed to be raised in a home where those values were instilled very early on.”
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For the Love of the Game HOW TREVECCA GRAD KEN STEGALL IS MAKING HIS LOVE FOR SPORTS INTO HIS By Jessy Anne Walters, ’16
OWN BUSINESS
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Ken Stegall, a 1984 Trevecca graduate, has had a passion for sports his entire life. Recently, he turned that passion into a growing business.
“We both share a deep satisfaction in realizing that we are not just growing our own dreams, but helping many people along the way.”
“I just love watching sports and being able to work and watch the games,” Stegall says. Stegall is one of the founders of The Scorer’s Table, a company designed to be a central network that provides all the scorekeepers and other game day workers necessary to carry off a quality sporting event. Now with partner schools and universities in the SEC and the Tennessee Secondary Schools Athletic Association (TSSAA), what began with Stegall’s love of the game has become an entrepreneurial success.
They did, and Stegall soon found himself keeping stats for the men’s basketball team as well.
HOW IT ALL BEGAN
After completing his bachelor’s degree at Trevecca, Stegall went on to pursue an MBA at Vanderbilt. At the same time, he was working full-time for CompCo, a telecommunications software company for long-distance resellers.
With his father in the Air Force, Stegall spent much of his childhood moving from place to place. That was until his father’s retirement finally settled the Stegalls in Fort Walton Beach, Fl. For Stegall, one of the constants throughout all those moves was his love of sports, which continued to grow. “I started getting involved in sports at a pretty early age … I played baseball but I had asthma quite a bit as a kid so I wasn’t able to play very long,” said Stegall, “But I still loved sports so I kept stats for my brother’s team when I was seven or eight years old.” That decision to serve as team statistician proved fateful. Stegall kept stats for his brother’s team the whole time he was in little league. When Stegall got to high school, he didn’t see any reason to stop. “When I got into high school I started doing that same thing for my high school baseball team, just keeping statistics for the regular score book during games,” Stegall recalls. “Then I did a little bit of basketball scorekeeping and played in the band.” In 1980, Stegall enrolled at Trevecca as a freshman. Planning to study accounting and
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computer information systems, he also found more opportunities to nurture his passion for sports and statistics. Toward the end of his first year at Trevecca, Stegall remembers reaching out to Elliot Johnson, the baseball coach at the time, to see if they needed any help.
At the same time, Stegall was taking computer programming courses as part of his degree program. By putting what he had learned to work, Stegall—as an undergraduate—was able to develop programs that tallied statistics for basketball, baseball and eventually tennis.
GAINING EXPERIENCE
While studying at Vanderbilt, Stegall met Martha Keefer, who was a student at Trevecca at the time. The two married in 1985. Stegall and his wife went on to have two children: a son, Brian, and a daughter, Stephanie. Through it all—a grueling master’s degree program, a full-time job and a growing family— Stegall continued to volunteer, helping various Trevecca sports programs keep track of their teams’ stats. For most of that time, Stegall was solely volunteering, putting his love for stats and his knowledge of computer systems to work for no other reason than he wanted to. Stegall saw the opportunities as ways to fill a need and continue his passion. “So throughout that time, it was mostly a volunteer position, so I would volunteer my time to help Trevecca with baseball all throughout my college career,” Stegall recalls. “When I started building a family in ’86 … my wife was saying, ‘I think it would be good if you were paid for this since you’re spending all this time away from home.’”
So, in the early 2000s with the help of Greg Ruff, Trevecca’s sports information director, Stegall began to seek out more serious opportunities to share his skills with other members of the Nashville sports community. He began contracting to help sports programs at Trevecca, Belmont, and the Tennessee Secondary Sports Athletic Association, among others.
As the business grew, with clients from Alabama to Kentucky, Stegall and Layman soon began to realize that while schools, colleges and universities needed statisticians, they also needed more. Could this fledgling company step in and provide all the services the schools needed, from statisticians to game clock operators and public address announcers?
According to Ruff, it’s no secret why Stegall’s client list began to grow.
The answer was yes. Stegall started the process at Trevecca.
“He is the most prepared and complete person I’ve ever worked with,” Ruff says. “He is so intentional about preparation and eliminating as many pitfalls as possible. Ken does so much for so many. He never draws attention for it. He has helped people get jobs and helped people financially at times. He is kind even when challenged by the heat-of-the-battle comments coaches, parents, or fans might say.”
“So Greg [Ruff] and I talked to Mark Elliot about expanding that beyond just statistics, but also providing full game table staffing to all sports eventually,” Stegall says. “The first year we just did basketball and volleyball. We provided not only the two statisticians, but also the public address announcer, the scoreboard operator, the stats board operator, the shot clock operator, and the keeper of the official score book.
PA S S I O N B E C O M E S A BUSINESS In 2013, Stegall met Janet Layman, a lawyer by trade who was providing similar services to Middle Tennessee State University. The two met—as fate would have it—during a sporting event at Belmont that they both happened to be working. “We met before the game over pizza,” Stegall says, recalling the encounter. “I said, ‘You’re a lawyer, and I’m a project manager. We should get together and start a business that does what we’re doing.’” That partnership— the Scorer’s Table came to life as an official business partnership between the two on May 4, 2014, . “Ken had the idea, and I had helped start businesses in my work as a lawyer,” Layman says. “This [business] has grown by leaps and bounds. The way this business works, we are rarely in the same place at the same time, but we both share a deep satisfaction in realizing that we are not just growing our own dreams, but helping many people along the way.”
“So we provided seven positions for basketball and five similar positions for volleyball,” Stegall continues. “Then we started the next year expanding into baseball, softball and soccer.” Stegall and Layman’s partnership has only been official for a little over three years. Yet in that time, The Scorer’s Table has experienced only growth. The company’s client list now extends beyond Nashville and outside the borders of Tennessee. “So we’ve got 10-11 universities,” Stegall says. “It goes from Middle Tennessee to Northern Alabama to Western Kentucky. We’ve added a new school for next year, Clark Atlanta University, so we’ve got another state in there. So, we’ll go to Georgia this coming year.” No matter what the future holds, Stegall thinks the probability that The Scorer’s Table will continue to grow is high.
Bringing It to the Table The Scorer’s Table has a lot to offer partner schools and universities. Some of their most-requested services include: • Statisticians, to track game stats • Public address announcer, to make real time announcements • Scoreboard operator, to update the scoreboard • Stats board operator, to update the stats board • Shot clock operator, to control the shot clock for basketball games • Official Scorebook keeper, to track the official score of the game, provide data to coach and team, and verify game info
Learn more about The Scorer’s Table at www.thescorerstable.com.
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For the Record Books
In her final season at Trevecca, Alexa Rippy became the first Trevecca athlete to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championships. Rippy, a 2017 graduate, is also the first golfer from the Great Midwest Athletic Association to advance to the women’s golf championship. After placing fourth overall in the NCAA Division II East Super Regionals in early May, Rippy was qualified to move on to the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf National Championships. “Last year, I felt I really could have gone, I put so much pressure on myself to get (to the national championships), but I played terrible,” said Rippy in a recent interview with The Tennessean. “This year was cool to
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finally do what I know I was capable of doing the whole time.” Trevecca’s director of golf, David Head, is proud of Rippy’s achievement and the legacy she’ll leave behind. “We are proud of Alexa and what she has meant to the program,” he says. “She has continued and built on the tradition created by the coaches and golfers before her. She has carved out a new level for future Trojans to reach for. She represented Trevecca, our team, the Great Midwest Conference, and Middle Tennessee well in this [championship] and throughout her career.” Rippy was one of two golfers in the field to record an eagle during the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf National Championships. In June, administrators from throughout the Great Midwest Athletic Conference selected Rippy as the conference Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Athletics News RECAPS
Five Trevecca student athletes were recently named to the 2017 Great Midwest Baseball All-Conference First Team: Ethan Harrison, Griffin Ganick, Christian Lohr, Bryson Shelton and Jesse Peters. Two additional players, Bryan Smith and Ryan Shultz, were named to the second team, while Chandler Miller made the All-Freshmen team.
In May, Trevecca women’s basketball Coach Chad Hibdon presented a Trevecca jersey to the family of Vastoria Lucas. A high school senior, Lucas played basketball for Stratford High School in Nashville. She had dreamed of playing basketball in college and hoped to join the Trevecca team following graduation. Lucas was tragically killed in March. In addition to presenting the jersey, Trevecca also made Lucas an honorary member of the women’s basketball team for the 2017-2018 season. “We just thought that we could honor her and who she was and who she was to her family by making her an honorary Trevecca women’s basketball player and also giving her family a jersey in memory of her,” Hibdon said during the ceremony at Stratford High School on May 24.
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A LU M N I A N D F R I E N D S FA L L B U S T R I P
SAVE THE DATE:
HOMECOMING 2017 November 3-4 Come home to the Hill and take part in one of Trevecca’s most cherished traditions this fall. Homecoming 2017 is planned for Nov. 3-4. Schedule highlights include: November 2
• Operation: Next Door Neighbor, a pre-Homecoming service project
November 3
• Founder’s Day Chapel • Author Talk • Ugandan Kids Choir • Homecoming Dinner • Town and Country Showcase • Drama Production
Don’t miss our third annual Alumni and Friends fall bus trip, scheduled for September 17-21.The four-night trip will include visits to Savannah, Ga., and Charleston, S.C.—with a few surprise visits along the way! Fares vary according to occupancy of rooms. Contact the Office of Alumni Engagement at 615-248-1238 or 615-248-1350 for more information or to reserve your spot.
BUSINESS PROFESSIONALS LU N C H E O N The Trevecca Association of Business Professionals is planning a networking luncheon from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on October 27. Hosted by Dr. Dan Boone, the panel will include Metro Nashville officials and community leaders. The discussion will center on Nashville’s recent growth and its expected impact on the Trevecca community.
REGISTER NOW 8th
ANNUAL
Sponsored by Trevecca Legacy Partners Inspirational Gospel Music • Heart-Touching Stories • Warm Fellowship
September 8, 2017 FEATURING
November 4
• Homecoming Parade and Street Fair • Women’s and Men’s basketball games • Drama Production • Alumni Business Connection: Help us start building a directory of alumni businesses and services. • Numerous reunions are being planned, including the classes of 1967, 1977, 1982, Trebletones with Joe Moses, Trevecca 1972 -1992 cheerleaders and more! • Movie Premiere for Your Kingdom Come/
Trevecca Music Group
Grammy Award winning artist
JasonCrabb TO REGISTER
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trevecca.edu/treveccacelebration or call 615-248-1355
Debuting New Alumni Music Group
Alumni News Presidential Library in Hyde Park, N.Y. During the festival, authors of Roosevelt-related books participate in a day of readings and signings. Smith is the author of Eleanor: A Spiritual Biography. The festival director picks a book with the best image of Franklin or Eleanor to photograph with the iconic Franklin and Eleanor statue. Smith’s book was chosen. (3)
(1)
1990s (3)
(2)
Dr. Tony Lamair Burks II (M.Ed, ’98) has published his third book, Bought Widsom: Tales of Living and Learning. Burks describes “bought wisdom” as the kind of wisdom gained from experiencing life. The books is designed to help people tell the stories of the lessons they’ve learned. Burks’ stories have appeared nationally in newspapers and internationally in books. The books blend childhood experiences and educational issues. (4)
2000s (5)
(4) (6)
A L U M N I C E L E B R AT I O N S
Steven (’05) and Dana Winsinger Vredenburgh (’11) are the proud parents of Emmett Robert Vredenburgh, born July 4, 2016. Emmett weighed in at 8 lbs and 11oz and measured 21 1/2 inches. His parents plan to celebrate Emmett’s birthday with fireworks every year. (1) Jerod Perry (’11) and his wife, Arias, announced the birth of Zaya Perry, born March 23. As a member of the Trevecca men’s basketball team, Perry made back-to-back trips to the conference championships and two NAIA Sweet 16 berths. Most recently, he has played basketball professionally in the Premier Basketball League (PBL) for the Providence Sky Chiefs. (2)
ALUMNI CONNECTIONS
1960s
Harold Ivan Smith (’69) recently took part in the Roosevelt Reading Festival at the FDR
Rick James (’00) has been chosen as a finalist in the 18th Annual Great American Song Contest for “Christ Is Lord (Christ Before Me),” a song that he cowrote with Eddie Kirkland. James was also invited to play at Worship Leader Magazine’s National Worship Leader Convention in Centreville, Ga., in May 2017. (5) Shahe Nahler (MHR ’02) has released books two and three in her series Born Afghan, Born American, Born Again. The books, titled Born Muslim, Became Christian, Beloved Israel and My Journey, My Jesus, My Joe are available for purchase at Amazon.com.
2010s
“Teaching for High Potential: One Teacher’s Journey,” an article written by Teresa A. Johnson (Ed.D. ’10) was published in the May 2017 issue of Teaching for High Potential magazine. THP is the magazine for members of the National Association for Gifted Children. (6) Anita M. Chesney (Ed.D. ’10) was recently selected as a member of the volunteer leadership team for the Middle Tennessee Division of AARP.
ALUMNI & FRIENDS WE WILL MISS
Sue Bess Jones Robison (’30) of Atlanta, Ga., March 3, 2017. Sue attended Trevecca, then earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in education from Peabody College, graduating
during the Depression. She enjoyed a rewarding career teaching high school English and French, first in Americus, Ga., then in Chamblee, Ga. She also taught at Appalachian State Teacher’s College and East Mississippi Junior College. Sue firmly believed that “the future of any civilization lies with its children.” Edith Lucille Garrell Bush (’59) of Nashville, Tenn., April 27, 2017. Following her graduation from Trevecca, Edith taught school for 23 years. Married for 46 years, she was a devout preacher’s wife and supported her husband in his ministry. Edith was loved by everyone and treated all with respect. Jerry Joseph Skalsky (’67) of Disputanta, Va., May 24, 2017. Jerry served on the Board of Supervisors in Prince George County for 18 years. He was also a charter life member of the Prince George Volunteer Emergency Crew and the Prince George Recreations Commission. Jerry was truly an ambassador of Prince George County throughout his life. Karen Carlson Vertrees (’75) of Cunningham, Tenn., April 9, 2017. Karen was a member of the Captain William Edmiston Chapter of the DAR and a loving wife, mother and grandmother. She worked with her husband, Mark, at their family business, Mobile Manor Rental Properties. David J. McCullough (’86) of Kingston Springs, Tenn., April 18, 2017. David was an accomplished vocalist and private pilot, who held an instructor’s rating. He was taskand goal-oriented, yet maintained a focused balance in his life. He was a minister at Cedar Hill Church for more than 30 years and mayor of Cheatham County for six years. David found value in all people and lived by the words, “People are watching; let them see Jesus.” Amy Joyner Jones Putnam (’86) of Moultrie, Ga., and formerly Brunswick, Ga., June 12, 2017. Amy taught middle school in Brunswick and sixth grade social studies in Moultrie until her battle with cancer forced her to retire in 2013. She was blessed with a beautiful voice and sang in churches for many years and was a former worship leader.
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FORMER TREVECCA E M P LOY E E Charlotte Louise Scott of Nashville, Tenn., March 25, 2017. Charlotte was secretary to the academic dean for 25 years from 1974-1999. At the time of her retirement, she had amassed the longest continuous service record of any staff member in the history of Trevecca. Jim Fyke, a longtime friend of the Trevecca men’s basketball program, passed away on June 20 after a long battle with cancer. He was 78. A lover of sports and the outdoors, Fyke served 39 years with the Metro Nashville Parks and Recreation department, including 25 years as parks director. During his tenure, Fyke led the $18 million face-lift of the Parthenon in 2001 and helped orchestrate the land swap with HCA that made the Centennial Sportsplex possible. In 2015, the Metro parks headquarters in Centennial Park was named in honor of Fyke. He spent one year on the sidelines at the Trojan Fieldhouse, assisting Trevecca Hall of Famer Ron Bargatze with the men’s basketball program during the 1978-79 season.
IN MEMORIAM BEN SPEER
Trevecca Nazarene University alumnus and southern gospel music great Ben Speer passed away on April 7. He was 86 years old. Born in Double Springs, Ala., in 1930, Speer was the youngest child of George Thomas and Lena Speer, the patriarchs of the legendary southern gospel group, the Speer Family. Speer sang and played piano with the group throughout his career, recording more than 75 albums during his tenure. He retired from the group in 1992. A 1954 graduate of Trevecca, Speer’s career spanned many aspects of the music industry. He founded the Ben Speer Music Company in 1950, publishing songs such as “What a Day That Will Be” and “Touring That City.” Speer also worked as a music producer and served as the music director of the Gaither Homecoming video series. In 1988, he revived the Stamps-Baxter School of Music, a legendary institution designed to teach key elements of southern gospel music, including theory, harmony, sight reading, songwriting, conducting and more—all designed to keep gospel music alive. Trevecca honored Speer with an honorary Doctor of Letters in 2015. He was inducted into the Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1995, the Southern Gospel Music Association Hall of Fame in 1998, and the Southern Gospel Piano Roll of Honor in 2002.
SHARE YOUR NEWS WITH US! From career achievements to new baby announcements, we want to celebrate with you. We also want to remember treasured Trevecca family members who have passed away, yet left their mark on our hearts. Share your news with us by emailing Treveccan@Trevecca.edu or mailing the information to Mandy Crow, Treveccan editor, at 333 Murfreesboro Road, Nashville, TN 37210-2877.
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“Trevecca and southern gospel have lost a great friend in Ben,” said Dr. Dan L. Boone. “I often say our students are Trevecca’s gift to the world, and Ben exemplified that by using his gifts and talents to make such an impact on gospel music and the church.” Speer was preceded in death by his parents, as well as siblings Brock Rosa Nell Speer Powell and Mary Tom Speer. He is survived by his wife, Rebekah Long Speer, children Stephen (Prilla) Speer, Darin (Alane) Speer; and several grandchildren, nieces and nephews. A celebration of life service was held at the Nashville First Church of the Nazarene on April 10.
location, its transportation facilities, its educational structure, as a center
POSTSCRIPT
“He saw Nashville, with its favorable
strategic to the dissemination of scriptural holiness throughout the South. At the same time there had been growing up within him a deepening conviction that this was his field of labor.” — M E R L E M C C LU R K A N H E AT H describing her father’s reaction to Nashville in her book, A Man Sent of God: The Life Of J.O. McClurkan
Nashville in 1880 | Photo courtesy of Nashville Metropolitan Archives
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www.trevecca.edu
USPS No. 394470
Treveccan
The Magazine of Trevecca Nazarene University
Homecoming 2017 NOVEMBER 3-4, 2017 Plans are already underway for this cherished fall event. Expect perennial favorites, like the annual parade and street fair as well as the Town and Country Showcase, basketball games and more! The classes of 1967, 1977, 1982 and more are already planning reunions. The Fall 2017 issue of the Treveccan will include all the details you need to plan your trip home to the Hill.
SUMMER 2017