Dr. D. Michael Lindsay, One of Nation's Youngest College Presidents, to Be Inaugurated

President D. Michael Lindsay, scholar on faith, culture and leadership, to host inaugural year discussions. 

For Immediate Release
September 6, 2011

Media Contact:
Rick Sweeny
V.P. for Marketing and Strategic Communications
978.867.4235
[email protected]
 

Wenham, MA—On Friday, September 16, 2011, Dr. D. Michael Lindsay, 39, one of the nation’s foremost experts on faith, culture and leadership, will be inaugurated as the eighth president in Gordon College’s 122-year history, becoming one of the youngest presidents in the country among nationally ranked colleges and universities.

A sociologist formerly of Rice University and an author of numerous works and studies on leadership, Dr. Lindsay brings first-hand experience with college students and pioneering vision in educational institutions to one of the nation’s top Christian liberal arts colleges.

“With Michael’s love of teaching and mentoring students as well as his exciting research and scholarship on leadership, he knows how to connect students’ openness to innovation,” said President Nathan O. Hatch of Wake Forest University, who will speak at Dr. Lindsay’s inauguration. “Gordon College has always been on the leading edge of Christian higher education, and with someone like Michael at the helm, I have no doubt its programs will only deepen the unique contributions its next generation of leaders will make.”

Over 2,500 students, faculty, alumni and community friends will gather for the daylong inauguration celebration, along with scholars, artists, business executives and Christian leaders from across the country. Beginning at 9 a.m. with three concurrent panel discussions, a cross section of prominent experts in their fields will explore the intersection of faith and art, business and the academy. Dr. John Ortberg, senior pastor of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California, will offer a formal address during the morning worship service at 10:20 a.m., and President Hatch will speak at the installation, which begins at 2 p.m. on the Gordon College quad.

Before his appointment in March, Dr. Lindsay directed the Program for the Study of Leadership at Rice University, where he was also a Rice Scholar at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy and a popular faculty member. His current work, known as the PLATINUM Study, is the largest ever interview-based study on American leadership. He is a sought-after speaker and commentator for the media, and the author of dozens of publications as well as the award-winning book Faith in the Halls of Power, which Oxford University Press nominated for the nonfiction Pulitzer Prize.

Throughout his inaugural year at Gordon and because of his scholarship and vast interviewing experience, Dr. Lindsay will host a series of “Conversations with the President” that will coincide with the release of various data from the PLATINUM Study. He will also be the keynote speaker at a Biennial Conference on Christians in Political Science, May 31-June 3 at Gordon.

“Since 1889, we have had the privilege of inspiring and educating young people at Gordon to do great things throughout the world,” Dr. Lindsay said. “My family and I feel enormously honored to be a part of such a noble mission, one that not only esteems intellectual rigor and academic inquiry, but places service for the common good and Christian faith at its core. I know from my own experience what can happen when young men and women begin to understand their calling and profession in the light of these values: they change. And consequently, the world changes.”

For a complete schedule of the September 16 inauguration events, please click here.

Panels and panelists for inauguration morning (9 a.m.) include:

Faith and the Academy:
Marla Frederick, professor of African and African American Studies and professor for the Study of Religion at Harvard University; Nancy Nason-Clark, chair and professor of sociology at the University of New Brunswick in Canada; and George McLendon, Howard R. Hughes Provost and Professor of Chemistry at Rice University.

Faith and the Arts:
National Council on the Arts appointee, Makoto Fujimura, visual artist whose work is exhibited at The Contemporary Museum of Tokyo and around the world; contemporary singer/songwriter Sara Groves, who will also perform a free inaugural concert on Friday evening; and writer/director Todd Komarnicki, whose Hollywood credits include the Christmas blockbuster Elf.

Faith and the Marketplace:
Katherine Leary Alsdorf, executive director of the Center for Faith and Work at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City; Richard Malloch ’75, senior vice president of Hearst Corporation and president of Hearst Business Media; and Dr. Neil Clark Warren, cofounder and chairman of eHarmony.

For additional information on President Lindsay, please  click here. To arrange an interview, contact Jo Kadlecek at [email protected].

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Gordon College is a multidenominational Christian college of the liberal arts and sciences on Boston’s North Shore, offering majors in 38 fields with graduate programs in education and music education. Gordon is nationally recognized for excellence in academics and in character building, and ranks as one of the nation’s top Christian colleges. www.gordon.edu

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