Gordon in the News: last updated 09/02/2014
“Summer is over,” Provost Janel Curry recently wrote to the parents of new and returning Gordon students. “But that is actually good news. This is our favorite time of year. Faculty and staff are energized and reinvigorated by the arrival of new students and the return of our upperclassmen.”
On Friday, August 22, faculty, staff and students lined up along Grapevine Road to welcome this year’s first-year and transfer students for Move-In Day and Orientation. (One of the highlights of Orientation was President Lindsay accepting his nomination for the ALS ice bucket challenge—you can watch it here.)
"Although each incoming class is special and unique," said Keith Krass, director of Orientation and student activities, "this year was highlighted by a record number of international students. A. J. Gordon founded the College with an eye to the nations. I'm proud that Gordon has continued in that tradition."
New students probably took campus improvements for granted, but returning students noted significant changes to the campus since mid-May. After a full summer of construction the Clarendon Bell—relocated from the gazebo near Frost—is now a stunning focal point of the pedestrian mall.
A new residence hall, Grace Hall, housing approximately 30 students, now stands next to Bennett Center. The building’s anonymous donors want Gordon to “continue to be a place where the grace of Christ flourishes." Jenks 237, the Beauregard Mezzanine, the Horner Study Lounge, Conrad Hall, Gillies Lounge, portions of the Chapel and Easton Dining Rooms, 216 Grapevine Road, and the Bennett Center lobby all received renovations over the summer.
New faculty include Dr. Sarita Kwok, who joins Gordon from Yale University as new chair of the Music Department. In Communication Arts, two new faculty have arrived: award-winning documentary filmmaker Scott Thurman, and Justin Edwards, whose first feature film premiered at the Philadelphia Film Festival in June. Additional accomplished new faculty have joined the Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Education and Political Science Departments.
