OCE Staff
The Office of Community Engagement is located on the top floor of Lane, room 301, by the Center for Student Development office. Come by anytime to chat with one of us!
Val Buchanan | Director
Val grew up in both in Michigan and Texas, resulting in a love for cross-cultural settings and Mexican food! Her faith journey has been one of seeking to explore themes of urban ministry, building community, racial reconciliation, holistic discipleship, and civic participation. Val studied Recreation and Sociology at Southwest Baptist University in Missouri and then spent five years working in the Missions and Ministries Office at that same school. After moving to Lynn in August 2003, Val was given the opportunity to begin connecting Gordon College and the city of Lynn. In this journey, she has loved getting to know the people making a positive difference in the City of Lynn! Val also enjoys living close to the ocean, watching NFL games with friends, spinning classes at the gym, and traveling to South Africa.
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Jennifer Brink | Coordinator of Academically-Based Service-Learning
Jennifer has served at Gordon College since 2006. She holds a M.Ed from Dalhousie University in Canada. Along with teaching, she enjoys fostering learning through service and helping students explore justice and shalom in the classroom and the community. She lives in Ipswich with her husband, their three children, and a collection of pets.
Christen Borgman Yates | Associate Director
Christy is a native of the North Shore; she even went to Gordon College day camp! Christy and her husband Chris have two boys (Tobin, 8 and Cashel, 5) and two girls (Linden, 2 and Saylor, newborn). They moved here from Memphis, TN in 2006 and before that, from Vancouver, BC where they both attended seminary at Regent College. Chris is an adjunct professor in Philosophy at Boston College and Gordon College, while Christy is grateful to be involved with the adventure of partnering Gordon College with the surrounding communities. She is especially passionate about the intersection of faith, the arts and sustainable community development. During seminary, her final thesis involved writing a business plan for her church's drop-in pottery studio which has now become a viable social enterprise: http://www.justwork.ca/justpotters.html. Each year, she helps coordinate the North Shore Bazaar which draws over 30 vendors, most of whom are connected with Gordon, to celebrate local and fair trade.
She has written several articles in Gordon's Stillpoint journal, most recently: The Beauty of the Overlooked describing the creative partnerships happening between Gordon College and the city of Lynn. Other articles include,The Oxymoron of Proximate Justice and Out of the Classroom and Into the Community: Gordon in Lynn and Placed-Based Learning.