Report for September 2010
Highlights of the report sent to faculty and staff on September 10, 2010.
NEW FACULTY
Seven new faculty members and one new vice president joined Gordon this fall. At the Faculty Workshop in August I may well have scared some of them away by introducing them as suspects in a CLUE game. But if you click here and check the cards, you will see some of the many reasons why we suspect that they will be fine colleagues. When you next encounter them in the lounge or in the library, be sure to make them feel at home.
STEPHEN PHILLIPS CHAIR OF HISTORY
I am pleased to report that Tal Howard is our new Stephen Phillips Chair of History. Established about 20 years ago to
VIRGINIA BARTON, 1928-2010
Known for her gentle manner and firm convictions, Virginia Barton spent her entire life in Lynn working against racism and promoting opportunities for minorities. In 2006, Gordon College honored her when it dedicated Barton Hall, a residence hall in Lynn. Although Gordon will conclude its use of Barton Hall after this academic year, the residence has been a valuable home base for students who wished to live and learn in an urban context. On Sunday, September 5, Virginia Barton passed away at the age of 82, survived by one son, six daughters, six grandchildren, and eight great grandchildren. At her funeral, Gordon was one of many organizations that saluted her work and legacy.
ACADEMIC SERVICE AWARD
Each year we recognize one or two recipients of the Academic Service Award, an honor given to a part-time faculty member who has served with distinction at Gordon College. This fall the recipient of the award is Sue Wood, who has taught for eight years in the Education Division. Prior to coming to Gordon, Sue served for ten years as a K-8 principal and taught for 15 years in the public elementary schools. Sue and her husband Ted will complete their teaching at Gordon this year and retire in Minnesota.
INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS
On Labor Day, Arlyne and I took one last trip to Singing Beach to mark the end of summer—and to help welcome about 50 new and returning members of ISO (the International Student Organization). The 20 new international students who joined us this fall represent a large new cohort, including young men and women from Bermuda, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, India, Japan, the Netherlands, and South Africa, as well as Korea, which had the largest continent of nine new students.
Increasingly, the international students are multinational. Several of the new students, as many of our returning Korean students, no longer reside in their "home" country, but due to their parents' professions and their own educational journeys now live in Cambodia, China, Japan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore. With these twenty new members, we now enroll 55 international students from 23 different countries on F-1 visas. This fall we also welcomed five new expatriates from Bermuda, Germany, Guatemala, Switzerland and Tanzania.
GRADUATE PROGRAMS
A year ago there were some signs that the economy had taken a slice out of the interest in our graduate programs, but the summer and fall have been very promising.
Starting last spring, the Graduate Program in Education, under the direction of Janet Arndt, decided to restructure its academic calendar to offer four terms (fall, winter, spring and summer). The change in structure allows students to apply for federal financial aid and enables them to earn more credits in a year.
The good news is that enrollments for the program have risen this fall. As of September 23, there were 113 students enrolled in the program, taking a total of 526 credits. (Last fall: 373 credits.)
SANDY DONESKI TO DIRECT MASTER OF MUSIC EDUCATION
On the first of September Sandy Doneski became the director of the master's program in music education. Eight new students joined the Master of Music Education cohort in the summer, and there was a record number of participants in the graduate program's workshops in July. As a result, we have decided to offer year-round professional development programs for music educators on Friday evenings and Saturdays. Last weekend Chris Azzara from the Eastman School of Music and Clark Saunders from the Hartt School of Music led the workshop on "Improvisation and Assessment."
This summer was also the second occasion when the Oberlin Conservatory-based Credo program brought top-level middle-schoolers and high-schoolers to the Gordon campus for an intense chamber music program.
ROBERT HERMANN LECTURESHIP
Gordon has received a grant from the John Templeton Foundation for $240,000 to fund a multi-year lectureship that will bring a prominent intellectual to address issues of faith and science. The series honors former Gordon chemistry professor Bob Herrmann. Academic Dean Dan Russ has been primarily responsible for managing the application, and he will form the advisory group that plans the lectures, which will begin in 2012.
FREEDOM WITHIN A FRAMEWORK OF FAITH
This fall, as they have assumed responsibilities for Admissions, Dan Tymann, June Bodoni and the team responsible for recruiting new students chose to re-emphasize Gordon's longstanding theme "Freedom Within a Framework of Faith." Tim Ferguson-Sauder led the design of the new preview book that
For me, expressing our vision through the phrase "Freedom within a Framework of Faith" has never been mere duty but a labor of love, even though I realize that the statement remains ambiguous for some people. So, when Dan and his team chose to emphasize the phrase, I agreed to write a one-page statement summarizing its purpose and potential. If I missed a nuance that is important to you, please let me know.
CURRICULAR UPDATES Six departments will undergo their ten-year reviews this academic year: the Academic Support Center, Economics/Business, Mathematics/Computer Science, Biology, the Registrar's Office, and the Library. The Political Studies Department has voted to change its name to the Political Science Department. Casey Cooper will be leading a new summer institute sponsored by Gordon's Center for Nonprofit Studies and Philanthropy. Supported by a generous donation, the new program will allow students from around the country the opportunity to complete a certificate in non-profit studies. The summer program will be the first of its kind among Christian institutions. Ted Wood is working with Casey to design and to promote the program among students nationwide. This fall saw the launch of the new common Core course, The Scientific Enterprise, designed to help all students become more scientifically literate. It explores methods of scientific inquiry, with content that crosses several disciplines, such as questions of energy and climate change. It also examines the interplay between the lenses of science and faith. Russ Bjork, Dorothy Boorse, Peter Iltis, David Lee, Irv Levy, Dale Pleticha, Stan Reczek, and Craig Story have been the prime architects working together on this project. Gordon has joined the Marine Studies Consortium of Massachusetts, which expands courses available to Gordon students. The College is also one of 230 charter members of STARS (Sustainability Tracking and Rating System), a new alliance of the AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education).
GORDON BY THE NUMBERS
Under the leadership of Barry Loy, the Center for Student Development has prepared its annual report, with a wealth of numbers.
11,495
Hours of volunteer service in Lynn (performed by about 500 students). Half of those students were first-year students in The Great Conversation course. In addition to the TGC course, several faculty--includingPaul Brink, Kaye Cook, Sandy Doneski, Janis Flint-Ferguson, Peggy Hothem, Ruth Melkonian-Hoover and Jim Trent--linked their classes to service-learning opportunities with Lynn organizations.
7,760
Total attendance at the 27 events sponsored by the Campus Events Council. Top events were the Gordon Globes and the Golden Goose, with about 1,200 each.
3,335
Visits to the Health Center last year, less than five percent of the visits to the Bennett Center. Prevention is still the best medicine.
1,958
Number of people who climbed the rock wall in the Bennett Center.
1,495
Appointment sessions in the Counseling Center, directed by Jan Holton. A total of 22.5% of the student body had appointments at the Center, up from 17% two years ago. The top three presenting problems were anxiety disorders, mood disorders and relationship concerns.
773
Gordon students who participated in intramurals last year, about half of the student body. The favorite intramural sport? Dodgeball.
315
Students who made individual appointments for counseling in the Career Center last year--equal to roughly 30% of the junior and senior classes.
175
North American minority students enrolled at Gordon in the fall of 2009--an increase of 102 students over the fall of 2000.
146
Students who attended the 23rd annual LEAD conference for leadership development at Brookwoods Conference Center in New Hampshire.
66
Major disciplinary violations last year by Gordon students (down from 72 the previous year). Quite strikingly, 46 (or 70%) of the violations were committed by women. That represents a significant shift, first evident in 2008-2009. In the previous year women committed only nine violations.
37
Number of students who left Gordon last year citing "academic reasons" (for instance, change in major, probation, etc.) This is a drop from 2006-2007, when the number was 59. 27 students left last year claiming financial reasons, one more than in 2006-2007.