Report for March 2011

DANIEL DARKO, BIBLICAL STUDIES

Daniel Darko will join the Department of Biblical Studies and Christian Ministries next year. Daniel earned his doctorate at King’s College (University of London) after studying in Croatia and his native Ghana. He is currently an associate pastor at Light of the World Church in Stroudsburg, PA, and a visiting professor at the University of Scranton.

Daniel on his approach to teaching: "My motto as an educator and pastor is 'Learning and Empowerment.' This informs my approach to education specifically as one who promotes learning and equips students in developing their God-given potential."

ALICE TSANG, ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

Alice Tsang will be the first of two familiar faces joining the Economics and Business Department.  Over the past year Alice has taught several business courses at Gordon in a part-time capacity but will become a full-time faculty member in the fall. Alice earned her MBA at NYU’s Stern School of Business.  Alice on education: "In conclusion, education is really a two-way process that requires the teacher to both teach and learn at the same time."

In addition to her teaching, Alice will serve as Director of Asian Initiatives, working collaboratively with the Admissions and Development Offices on recruitment and donor relations in Asia.

CHAD STUTZ, ENGLISH

Chad Stutz comes to Gordon’s Department of English from the University of Mobile, where he is currently an assistant professor of English. Chad earned his doctorate from Boston College and specializes in Victorian literature and culture. An intense researcher, Chad has been known to watch the same episode of a show on the Food Network multiple times in order to perfect his culinary skills.

Chad on Christian liberal arts: "A Christian liberal arts education is an act of loving investigation--an attempt to see Christ more clearly in all things and all things more clearly in Christ."

MADAME XANADU:  BONUS QUESTION

No, she is not one of our new hires.  She already works here!

With the glut of comic book movies in recent years, superheroes have become something of a regular acquaintance in our lives; so regular in fact, that most likely you are blissfully and even dangerously unaware of one powerful comic book heroine who labors in our midst on a daily basis. So let us offer you a Bookstore gift card if you are one of the first two people who can correctly identify which member of the Gordon faculty or staff served as the facial model for the famous comic book character Madame Xanadu (pictured to the right). Submit your guesses to Jerry Logan.

UPDATE:   Congratulations to Natalie Ferjulian  and Paul Brink for being the first two people to recognize Cathy Thiele as Madame Xanadu.  They can now use their gift certificates to buy some of the comic books.

ANDREW STUART, ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS

After serving as the Director of Financial Planning and Budgeting at Gordon for the past four years, Andrew Stuart also will join the accounting faculty this fall. Andrew earned his MBA from the University of New Hampshire. Should you ever get the urge to play Peter Rabbit, Andrew maintains a vegetable garden during the warmer months and lives only a short walk from campus.

Andrew on teaching: "One of the great responsibilities of teaching at a Christian institution such as Gordon is to help students progress toward their ultimate calling as part of God's kingdom. There is a tremendous need for Christian businessmen and women in our society; business leaders who will follow biblical principles in how they manage employees, report earnings, perform audits and many other functions of businesses around the world."

DAVID STARBUCK, WILD PROGRAM

David Starbuck, the assistant director of the A.J. Gordon Scholars Program and resident director of Bromley Hall, will lead Gordon’s WILD (Wilderness Immersion and Leadership Development) program, starting next fall.  This program is associated with the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies, and David will work collaboratively with the staff from La Vida.  At present, David is completing his doctorate in Outdoor/Experiential Education from the University of New Hampshire.  

STEVE HUNT AND JOHN'S GOSPEL

Next month Peter Lang publishers will release a new book by associate professor of biblical studies Steve Hunt, entitled Rewriting the Feeding of the Five Thousand:  John 6:1-15 as a Test Case for Johannine Dependence on the Synoptic Gospels.  In the book, Steve assesses the verbal parallels between John's account of the miracle and those in the other three gospels.  He also considers how Matthew and Luke made use of Mark's account of the loaves and the fishes and how their gospels, in turn, influenced John. The book has already won great reviews from some top scholars, who congratulate Steve for being a "canny detective" and convincing them that John's account was a "transformative imitation." 

DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION VISIT

On April 13-14, Gordon’s Department of Education will host a team of nine external evaluators from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE, formerly DOE). For more than a year, the Departments of Education and Music Education have been preparing for this visit, gathering evidence and compiling numerous reports. In the process, they have relied on assistance from a number of people within the Gordon community. Members of the Teacher Education Committee have mined course syllabi for evidence that our programs are teaching and assessing specific disciplinary content.  Though the preparation for this culminating site visit in April has been a campus-wide effort, the Education and Music Education faculty have pulled this hefty load from the start, helping to arrange for the continued approval of our programs. We are grateful for the time and energy they have contributed to this critical work.

DR. RINI COBBEY

Congratulations to Rini Cobbey, who successfully defended her dissertation this past Wednesday at the University of Connecticut. The newly minted Dr. Cobbey received high praise from her dissertation committee for her work on weddings in Indian cinema. Rini plans to spend her first summer away from grad school revising her dissertation before submitting it for publication.

HUMAN RIGHTS WEEK

The Human Network— a Gordon College student-led initiative—will sponsor its second annual “Human Rights Week” from March 28 through April 1. Featuring a variety of speakers and events, this week-long series aims to expose the Gordon College community to pressing human rights issues from around the globe. A few of this year's events include a lecture on ethical consumerism (Tuesday, 5:00, KOSC), a screening of the documentary The Dark Side of Chocolate on child labor (Wed, 7:15, Barrington Center, scene from film on the right), a clothing swap (Wed., 8:00-10:00, MacDonald 205), and a lecture by Francis Bok, former slave and modern abolitionist (Wed., 6:00, KOSC). Events are open to all students, faculty, and staff.

SPRING BREAK SERVICE TRIPS

Over spring break, nearly seventy students joined faculty or staff advisors for ministry and service trips to seven different locales: the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Nicaragua, Detroit MI, Yakima WA, Canton MS, and Portland ME. Director of missions Laura Carmer noted the distinct fusion of service and learning characteristic to these trips: "The College has a long history of service to others both domestically and abroad, and to the joyful task of sharing the love and grace of Christ. We see these trips as an opportunity to help reinforce the connection between students' personal encounters with God and their roles as perceptive and responsible citizens of the global community and stewards of their own talents. Accordingly, we work at structuring the trips so that they engage the minds as well as the hearts of the participants."

Below are further reflections from two student leaders on the trip to the Dominican Republic.

REFLECTIONS ON SERVICE-LEARNING IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

Rob Ainslie: The trip attempts to highlight and expose students to the fullness of the Kingdom of God.  In this way, we were exposed to service, business, justice, environmental issues and international politics.  One of the most interesting “learning” aspects of our trip this year was visiting the U.S. Consulate in Santo Domingo.  Here, we were able to meet with the Consular General, the chief of nonimmigrant visas and a political correspondent.  Our dialogue centered around migration issues between Haiti and the D.R., the state of D.R. business, and what the D.R. stands to lose if the trade embargo between the U.S. and Cuba is lifted.

Joanna Gallagher: Avoiding the presumption that as Americans we automatically know what is best for the DR, we strove to remain open and receptive as Dominicans showed us how cacao is harvested and processed and explained how a fair-trade cooperative model secured fair compensation for farmers.  Mysteriously, as we conversed with tile-layers, sipped chocolate con leche, played countless rounds of duck-duck-goose, and marveled at the example of faith in our hosts, we brought with us the Word incarnate.

NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH THE EMMANUEL GOSPEL CENTER

The Global Education Office has announced a new partnership with the Emmanuel Gospel Center (EGC) that will significantly enhance the number and variety of internship opportunities for students in the Gordon IN Boston program. Located in Boston’s South End, EGC has been working for over seven decades to nurture the vitality of Boston’s churches—especially those in low-income and immigrant communities—through applied research projects, consulting services, and a variety of special initiatives.

Beginning next fall, students will be able to intern in one of EGC’s many ventures, including the Boston Education Collaborative; the Youth Violence Systems Project; Starlight Ministries, which trains churches to build relationships with the homeless; Applied Evaluation Systems, EGC’s non-profit consulting branch; and any of nine different applied research projects currently underway at EGC.

PROVOST'S FILM SERIES

The Provost’s Film Series has two remaining films on the docket for this semester. On April 19, Daniel Johnson will lead the discussion on The Counterfeiters, the 2008 Academy Award winner for Foreign Language Film.  To celebrate the final day of classes on May 11, Ian DeWeese-Boyd will lead the showing and discussion of Blade Runner, Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi classic. Together, these films will tie up the semester’s focus on the theme of “Outsiders.”