2016-2017 Convocation

William Barker

Rev. Dr. William D. Barker, the 2016 Matriculation speaker, is the Director of the Center for Faith and Inquiry and the Gordon Honors Program. Matriculation represents a long Gordon tradition. It serves as a time for students, faculty and staff to rededicate themselves to Christ, and to be reminded of the crucial importance of Christian education to the global church and to the common good.

Matriculation Charge | August 26, 2016

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Jessica Huizinga

Dr. Huizenga was appointed receiver of the Southbridge Public Schools in March of 2016 by the State Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts, with the charge of turning around a chronically underperforming district. During her 19 years in public education, she has served in the multiple school and district leadership roles department chair, assistant principal, principal, assistant superintendent, and superintendent of schools.

Leadership: You, Me, and Us | September 2, 2016

Vincent Bacote

Dr. Bacote (Ph.D., Drew University) is an Associate Professor of Theology and the Director of the Center for Applied Christian Ethics at Wheaton College in Wheaton, IL. He is author of The Political Disciple: A Theology of Public Life (2015), The Spirit in Public Theology: Appropriating the Legacy of Abraham Kuyper (2005) and a regular columnist for Comment Magazine. 

The Opportunity of Public Faithfulness | September 16, 2016

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The Confession Workshop: Martha Bolton, Dan Postuma, and Wally Nason presenting

A team presentation from The Confession workshop featuring writer, Martha Bolton; producer, Dan Postuma; and composer, Wally Nason. The Confession is a musical based on books about the Amish by best-selling author, Beverly Lewis. It has been produced and performed limited areas of the US and the producers are seeking to re-work the piece for a wider audience and possibly commercial production. 

Lives of Collaboration: The Confession Musical Project | September 23, 2016

Kristina Stevick

Kristina Stevick is president and artistic director of History Alive, Inc. at the Old Town Hall in Salem, Massachusetts and our Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year awardee. The Alumni Entrepreneur of the Year is given for exemplary vision, charisma, courage, determination, resourcefulness, hard work, creativity and innovation.

Lives of Achievement: A Homecoming Convocation | September 30​, 2016

Ian Hutchinson

Dr. Ian Hutchinson is a professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He is an international expert on the physics of plasmas: the ionized fourth state of matter. He led the design, construction, and operation at MIT of a forefront plasma confinement experiment: one of the nation's three major fusion research facilities.

Lives of Discovery: Science as a Christian Vocation | October 21, 2016

Gary Schmidt

Dr. Gary Schmidt is a professor of English at Calvin College and a prolific author of children's literature and young adult fiction. He received both a Newbery Honor and a Printz Honor for Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy and a Newbery Honor for The Wednesday Wars.

Lives of Community: The Messy, Messy World of Namaan | October 28, 2016

Timothy Sherratt

Dr. Timothy Sherratt is a professor of American Politics, Constitutional Law and Public Policy at Gordon College. He received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Oxford University and his Ph.D. from the University of Kentucky. He also serves as an Editorial Board Member for the Evangelical Review of Society and Politics in the United Kingdom.

Lives of Engagement: Faith, Hope...and Politics? | November 4, 2016

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Warren Lee​

Warren Lee is a Steinway Artist, MBA graduate, and an award-winning and internationally published composer. He received the Ten Outstanding Young Persons Award in Hong Kong in 2012 and was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2015 for his significant contribution to the music profession.

Lives of Creativity: The Artistry of Warren Lee | November 11, 2016

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Mark Sargent

Dr. Mark Sargent has been the Provost at Westmont College since 2012. A graduate of UC Santa Barbara, he earned his master's degree and doctorate in English at The Claremont Graduate University, specializing in American literature. He taught as a Fulbright scholar at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands and has written widely on history, literature, film, and higher education. For his research on William Bradford, he was awarded the Whitehill Prize in early American history. After holding administrative roles at Biola University and Spring Arbor College, he served as provost of Gordon College in Massachusetts from 1996-2012. In 2008 the Council of Independent Colleges gave him the national Chief Academic Officers Award.

Lives of Imagination | November 18, 2016

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Michelle Loyd-Paige

Dr. Michelle Loyd-Paige is the executive associate to the president for diversity and inclusion and also holds an appointment of professor of sociology at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Loyd-Paige joined the department of sociology and social work at Calvin College in 1985 having finished her graduate course work at Purdue University. Dr. Loyd-Paige served as chair of the department of sociology and social work from 1999-2001; the dean for multicultural affairs from 2006–2015; was appointed as interim executive associate to the president for diversity and inclusion in 2013; and began a regular appointment as the executive associate to the president in 2015.

Lives of Reconciliation: More Than Good Intentions | January 20 , 2017

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Undergraduate Research Presentation

Panel presentations moderated by Gordon College professors; Dr. Jonathan Gerber, Professor of Psychology; Dr. Melinda Eichhorn, Professor of Education; and Dr. Evangeline Cornwell Professor of Biology.

Lives of Inquiry | January 27, 2017

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Paul Brink

Dr. Paul Brink (B.C.S. Redeemer University College; M.A. Dalhousie University; Ph.D. University of Notre Dame) has been teaching at Gordon since 2006. His teaching and research interests lie in political philosophy, particularly theories of justice, and faith and politics. Dr. Brink is the co-director of the Jerusalem and Athens Forum, Gordon’s flagship Honors program and also serves on the board of Christians in Political Science, the national Christian learned society in political science. 

Lives of Responsibility | January 27, 2017

Global Education Presentation

Panel presentations by Gordon professors, staff, and students on how study abroad enhances your learning.

Lives of Immersion | February 10, 2017

Noah Toly

Dr. Noah Toly is Senior Fellow for Global Cities at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and Director of the Center for Urban Engagement (CUE) and Associate Professor of Politics & International Relations at Wheaton College. He also teaches at the Free University of Berlin's Center for Global Politics. His research and teaching interests include urban and environmental politics and ethics.

Ostinato Rigore: Cities and the Constant Rigore of Christian Imagination | February 24, 2017

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Jessica Nam Kim

Jessica Nam Kim is founder and CEO of BabbaCo, a parenting lifestyle brand centered on integrated solutions that are “simple. functional. super cute.” Kim started her entrepreneurial path with Jessica’s Wonders (1998-2003), an upbeat brand of premium baked goods. She started the company out of her dorm room at age 19, raised $1M funding with braces, grew it to 3 outsource manufacturers and national distribution.

Lives of Vision | March 3, 2017

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Lisa Sharon Harper

From Ferguson to New York to Germany, Lisa has been leading trainings and helping mobilize clergy and community leaders around shared values for the common good as Sojourners Chief Church Engagement Officer. Prior to joining Sojourners, Lisa was the founding executive director of New York Faith & Justice—an organization at the hub of a new ecumenical movement to end poverty in New York City.

Lives of Action | March 31, 2017

William E. Brown

Dr. Brown is the former president of Bryan College and Cedarville University. As a nationally recognized speaker and expert in culture and worldview, Dr. Brown has authored several books and more than a hundred articles for journals, magazines, encyclopedias, and newspapers. He is the author of Making Sense of Your Faith, Where Have All the Dreamers Gone? Observations from a Biblical Worldview, and Making Sense of Your World (with Gary Phillips and John Stonestreet). Dr. Brown has a passion for discussing worldviews, and an incredible heart for students. These two passions have aligned to create the re:View worldview study, focused on teaching students how to discern and engage culture by first knowing truth.

Lives of Thoughtfulness | April 7, 2017

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Os Guinness

Dr. Os Guinness is an author and social critic. He is the great-great-great-grandson of Arthur Guinness, the Dublin brewer, and he was born in China in World War Two where his parents were medical missionaries. A witness to the climax of the Chinese revolution in 1949, he was expelled with many other foreigners in 1951 and returned to Europe where he was educated in England. He completed his undergraduate degree at the University of London and his D.Phil in the social sciences from Oriel College, Oxford. He is currently a senior fellow at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics in Oxford.

Lives of Mission | April 21, 2017

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Sharon Ketcham

Dr. Sharon Ketcham joined the faculty at Gordon in 2004 after serving a church in Knoxville, TN for nearly ten years. Her experience includes serving at local and denominational levels, writing curriculum, training leaders, and speaking engagements. Sharon is active in organizations that promote the study of Christian ministries and is committed to empowering churches to incorporate youth as integral to congregational life. Current research interests include the social environment of learning, communal ecclesiology, and the relational nature of adolescent development.

Last Lecture: Lives of Influence | April 28, 2017

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