Peggy Stock, president of Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, carried the Olympic Flame on Friday, February 7th, for the last leg of its 13,500 mile relay through 45 states for the opening ceremonies of the Winter 2002 Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. (Photo courtesy of Westminster College)

The September 11 terrorist attacks had a tremendous impact on CIC member campuses (see story in Fall 2001 edition), but the broad range of campus activities continues apace. Study-abroad programs are thriving, many new programs are being developed, partnerships are being formed, institutional designations have been changed, new facilities are opening, and a plethora of accomplishments are being celebrated across the nation’s independent campuses.

September 11 Aftermath
Despite the events of September 11 and subsequent warnings on travel abroad from the State Department, many CIC campuses report their study-abroad programs are thriving. Gettysburg College (PA) reports that the number of students studying abroad is at an all-time high this semester, and Huntingdon College (AL) says that although it canceled a number of travel programs earlier in the academic year, spring and summer study abroad programs are going ahead as planned and "there is no shortage of student interest." In addition, a recent national survey of college officials, "The Potential Impact of Sept. 11 on College and University Enrollments," found that few institutions expect to see significant changes in enrollment, although it did note changes in recruitment strategies, demographics, and security programs (see related story).

Transformations
The University of Puget Sound (WA) in Tacoma has been transforming itself into what newspaper columnist Jack Anderson called, "an enclave of the liberal arts" and a "manageable community of humanists." In a successful effort to become a much more selective institution, Puget Sound has phased out all satellite campuses, transferred the law school to the University of Seattle, and reduced enrollment dramatically from 5,200 to 2,600.
    Another CIC member, Cedarville University (OH), is exploring the benefits and cost-effectiveness on campus of Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs). The university’s "Handheld Computing Pilot Project" is distributing 100 Compaq Pocket PCs to selected faculty members and students for use in 2002. Cedarville will review the project’s results by assessing student performance and comparing student evaluations of instruction in both pilot and non-pilot classes.

Whitworth College President Bill Robinson (left) is known for riding his Huffy from his home to his office on campus. (Photo by Dan Pelle/The Spokesman-Review)

Creative Partnerships
George Fox University (OR) is partnering with several Oregon school districts to help implement mentoring services for public school districts and private schools. The only program of its kind among Oregon’s colleges and universities, George Fox holds training workshops throughout the school year on a monthly or bimonthly basis on topics such as classroom management, dealing effectively with parents, and state requirements for student graduation.
    In other creative partnerships, 21 Habitat for Humanity Fellows entered Sterling College (KS) this fall, intent on developing into future leaders of Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI). They came from eight states and five countries and received full-tuition scholarships for four years.
    The students may choose any major at Sterling, but will minor in the program that first attracted the attention of HFHI founders Millard and Linda Fuller—a servant-leadership training social entrepreneurship minor.
    Milligan College (TN) is working with Emmanual School of Religion on "A Partnership for Youth in Ministry," funded by the Lilly Endowment. This program will bring high school students to Milligan’s and Emmanuel’s campuses (located across the street from each other) to consider the implications of the Christian faith on their lives. Students will participate in intensive youth summits, theology workshops, weekend retreats, a summer workshop, and a mentoring program.

Healthy Activities
Students and faculty members (left) from Manchester College (IN) traveled to Nicaragua this winter to provide dental and medical care to 1,500 villagers at a clinic in Mulukuku for two weeks as part of the college’s medical practicum. Nine students, accompanied by two professors and several physicians, dentists, and translators, performed exams and assisted in pulling teeth, giving anesthetic injections, and filling prescriptions, while learning how others around the world live.
    Another health project, the Huston-Tillotson College (TX) Health Connection, was recognized by the AIDS Awareness and Risk Reduction Grant Project Initiative for Historically Black Colleges and Universities as a model program after only one year of operating. The funding agency recommended that the Health Connection be replicated by other HBCU campuses.
    Wesley College (DE) and its partners have been selected by the National Institutes of Health to receive a $5.8 million grant to aid health research and education in Delaware. The project, Delaware Biomedical Research Infrastructure Network, unites Wesley with Delaware Biotechnology Institute, University of Delaware, Delaware State University, and Delaware Technical and Community College. It will launch new research opportunities for students and academic researchers, enhance the state’s current health education programs, and purchase sophisticated research instruments to be shared among researchers across the state.
    Recent world events have revealed the need to upgrade and develop the nation’s public health infrastructure, so Benedictine University (IL) and its Master of Public Health Program recently launched a new certificate program and concentration in disaster management. The program will train health care professionals, emergency workers, and government and law enforcement officials to work together effectively to handle natural and man-made disasters.

Honors, Awards, and Celebrations
President Bush in February named 21 individuals to the President’s Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, including presidents of three CIC member colleges. Dianne Boardley Suber, St. Augustine’s College (NC), John Kenneth Waddell, St. Paul’s College (VA), and Michael Lomax, Dillard University (LA), will work with representatives of HBCUs, other institutions of higher education, business and financial institutions, and private foundations to identify ways to strengthen the role of HBCUs and help to provide high-quality educational opportunities for minority and disadvantaged students.
    Carroll College (MT) earned a prestigious ABET Innovation Award for developing a unique, cross-disciplinary curriculum in mathematics and engineering. ABET is the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology and has not awarded its Innovation Award since 1991. Campbellsville University (KY), along with Oral Roberts University (OK), received the 2002 Racial Harmony Award for its work in racial and ethnic harmony and diversity from the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
    Alverno College (WI) celebrated its 25th year of presenting workshops on assessment-as-learning.

Fresh Identities
Robert Morris College became Robert Morris University (PA) in January and Eastern College became Eastern University (PA).

Susquehanna University assistant professors, Katherine Miller and Dan Ressler, with the help of a research student, (right) collect and measure soil sample temperature to assess the effects of an underground mine fire in Centralia, PA. (Photo courtesy of Susquehanna University)

New Programs
St. Bonaventure University (NY) has restructured its secondary teacher education program in a way that exceeds both New York and Pennsylvania’s rigorous requirements. This revised program, along with new education and business offerings at sites in Batavia and Buffalo, are addressing perceived regional shortcomings. Cedar Crest College (PA) announced an accelerated 21-month bachelor’s program in business administration aimed primarily at working adults, and Houghton College (NY) this spring opens its adult degree-completion program at Jamestown Community College (JCC). It is the first on-site bachelor’s degree program offered in the Jamestown area.

Inaugural Master’s Programs
Spring Arbor University (MI) opened the doors of its new Master of Arts in Counseling program at the Metro-Detroit, Gaylord, and Toledo regional campuses. The program aids students in integrating and applying psychological theory from a Christian perspective. On its Traverse City regional campus, the university also added a Master of Arts in Organizational Management.
    Manchester College (IN) will open a Master of Arts in Contemporary Leadership program next fall. The offering is intended for those who aspire to become leaders in nonprofit, government, education, business, athletic, and health-related organizations.
    Robert Morris University (PA) offers a new Master of Science degree in Nonprofit Management to challenge and educate nonprofit leaders. Brenau University (GA) extended its graduate education program to include a Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT), beginning next fall. Holy Family College (PA) now offers a Master of Education in Educational Leadership and a Principal Certification Program.

Learning Opportunities
Allegheny College (PA) encourages experiential learning opportunities in Washington, DC, with its new Betsy Dotson, Esquire, Experiential Learning Fund. Full-time college students who need financial help to travel to the nation’s capital for experiential learning are eligible for Dotson Scholar Program assistance. Greensboro College (NC) began the Molly McConnell Micah 6:8 Scholarship to provide tuition assistance to oppressed people and their relatives.

Growth Initiatives
College of Santa Fe (NM) expects to complete the Rosemarie Shellaberger Tennis Center by spring 2003. The project was made possible by a gift from the late namesake’s estate. It will mark the return of intercollegiate athletics to the college. Elsewhere, with the help of a $1.5 million Commonwealth legislative grant, Shenandoah University (VA) will help develop the National Civil War History and Tourism Center of the Shenandoah Valley. It will be located on a 35-acre tract of land near Kernstown, VA. There are hopes that the center will include a museum, IMAX-style theater, outdoor amphitheater, research center, gift shop, and food services.
    Kentucky Wesleyan College (KY) opened its $3.2 million Winchester Campus Community Center. It contains many student services facilities, sitting areas, a game room, exercise room, snack bar, TV lounge, bookstore, and post office. John Brown University (AR) inaugurated its new 102,000 square foot student center. The Pat and Willard Walker Student Center’s total cost was $12.7 million. Designed as a combination community center/residence hall, it has 86 rooms, including two-room suites with a shared bath that provide housing for 172
students.
    Palm Beach Atlantic College (FL) broke ground for the DeSantis Family Chapel, thanks largely to a $2.5 million gift from the founder of Rexall Sundown, Inc. The new facility is expected to open in fall 2002.

Capital Campaigns
Juniata College (PA) achieved its fundraising goal of $70 million three years ahead of schedule. Begun in April 2000, its "Uncommon Outcomes" campaign includes plans to build a $20 million science center.
    Wartburg College (IA) began a year-long sesquicentennial celebration in October by announcing an $88 million campaign, "Celebrating a Proud Tradition, Creating a Purposeful Future." Saint Anselm College (NH) launched a $40 million capital campaign, the largest in the college’s 112-year history and more than triple the goal of its last campaign effort. The College of St. Catherine (MN) aims to raise $80 million in its new "Leadership in Mind" campaign.
    Lesley University (MA) enlisted 10,000 donors over a three-year campaign that raised $25 million for a variety of needs: new programs, undergraduate and graduate student scholarships, faculty development opportunities, and enhancements to the university’s physical plant.

Dedication ceremonies for the $25.1 million, 100,000 square-foot Elton B. Stephens Science Center at Birmingham-Southern College (left) are scheduled for May 9, 2002. When completed, the Stephens Science Center will feature the most current technology in classrooms, laboratories, and support areas for biology, chemistry, physics, psychology, and environmental science. (Photo courtesy of Birmingham-Southern College)

Attracting Resources
Three CIC members have received the single largest donations in their histories. An alumnus and his wife (Drs. Charles and Joanne Denko) pledged over $1 million to Geneva College (PA) for renovations to begin in 2002 on the school’s Science and Engineering Building. An alumna and her husband (William and Gretchen Bush Kimball) gave a $2.5 million challenge gift to fund the restoration of Lela Raney Wood Hall at Stephens College (MO). And Monmouth College (IL) received $10 million from alumnus Walter S. Huff, donated in memory of his late wife, Elizabeth. It will be the lead gift in a campaign to build a $21 million recreation complex.
    Two gifts to Pitzer College (CA), a member of The Claremont Colleges, and four donations to California Lutheran University have those institutions abuzz. Pitzer received $2.5 million for student scholarships from Susan and Nicholas Pritzker of Chicago, and $850,000 from The James Irvine Foundation for an ambitious, five-year "Campus Diversity Initiative Project." California Lutheran attracted $750,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to provide bilingual teacher training scholarships and resources, and three gifts to apply toward construction of its Spies-Bornemann Education and Technology Center: $250,000 from the The Fletcher Jones Foundation; $325,000 from four long-time supporters; and $500,000 from The Hugh and Hazel Darling Foundation.
    The Lilly Endowment has awarded 28 U.S. colleges and universities approximately $55 million to promote theological vocation programs. Messiah College (PA), Whitworth College (WA), and Eastern Mennonite University (VA) were among the recipients of $2 million grants.
    The National Science Foundation awarded Virginia Union University a $3.3 million grant to increase the number of African-American, Hispanic, and Native American students in technological education. NSF also awarded $500,000 to Muskingum College (OH) for its innovative approach to teaching and learning physics. In addition, NSF presented $396,000 to encourage talented and needy students in St. Ambrose University’s (IA) computer-related studies program, and gave $130,000 to associate professor of biology, Thomas Peeler, of Susquehanna University (PA) to support student and faculty collaborative research in cell and molecular biology. Susquehanna also attracted $250,000 from the Josiah and Bessie H. Kline Foundation of Harrisburg, PA to upgrade science programs.
    Saint Anselm College (NH) secured $3.35 million from the U.S. government to support the New Hampshire Institute of Politics. A portion of the funding will help complete construction of a 20,000 square foot facility that includes classrooms, research centers, a high-tech resource center, and meeting rooms. Also, Saint Norbert College (WI) attracted a $400,000 federal grant to assist in teacher training.
    Grants from the Trinity Foundation ($200,000), Helen Bader Foundation ($200,000), and the Greater Milwaukee Foundation ($100,000) will support a new program to improve education at Alverno College and Mount Mary College in Wisconsin. Anonymous donors helped Northwestern College (MN) by giving $5.1 million to encourage the cause of Christ, and Chowan College (NC) by donating $1 million to fund an endowment for international study.

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Last updated: April 14, 2002
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