Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education on Nov 9th, 2009 No Comments »
Homecoming court is one of the best long-standing traditions of American Higher education campus life.
Belhaven’s 2009 King Alex Freel and Queen Madison Childs
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Posted in Athletics, Belhaven, Higher Education on Oct 23rd, 2009 No Comments »
Here are several items of interest:
1. This afternoon the NAIA named Belhaven as a Champions of Character school. This recognition highlights colleges and universities that: “restore character values and raise a generation of students who understand and demonstrate in everyday decisions integrity, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and servant leadership.”
2. Our H1N1 report shows we are having [...]
Posted in Athletics, Belhaven, Christian Faith, Culture, Higher Education, Missions, Roger Parrott, Uncategorized, World Events, Worldview on Oct 19th, 2009 No Comments »
For sometime I’ve been encouraged to take the time to write and share some of the leadership principles that have been important to me through 21 years in the college presidency. As our faculty, and others of you who write know, it takes discipline and it’s sometimes hard to stay in the chair long enough [...]
Posted in Higher Education, World Events on Sep 30th, 2009 No Comments »
Known as the master wordsmith, William Safire died last week. He was a former speech writer for Richard Nixon, and author of the New York Times column, “On Language”
Some of his clever “rules for writers” included:
If any word is improper at the end of sentence, a linking verb is.
Verbs have to agree with their subjects.
And [...]
Posted in Athletics, Belhaven, Higher Education on Sep 29th, 2009 No Comments »
After two years of evaluation, work, and preparation, Belhaven College is changing to a new athletic conference within the NAIA – the Southern States Athletic Conference which offers 14 conference supported sports for our athletes.
Our long-term conference, the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference, includes schools who offer a limited number of sports – it is primarily [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education, Missions on Sep 23rd, 2009 No Comments »
Isn’t it great how God works without being slowed down by the limits of distance, culture, and language we assume to hold us back? And we get to see more of God’s reach because of the technology tools of today.
In Korea we have a sister Christian College who is seeking to do the same type [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education, Uncategorized on Aug 25th, 2009 3 Comments »
I’ve just received the fall enrollment numbers and they look wonderful, with a total enrollment reaching nearly 3,000 students.
Few private colleges have gained in enrollment this year, and we are up 15% overall, and have increased nearly 5% among our traditional age students on the Jackson campus.
Our adult programs in Jackson, Memphis, Orlando, and Houston [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education on Aug 21st, 2009 5 Comments »
We are developing a plan to take proper precautions against the spread of H1N1. As you know, schools and even colleges are especially vulnerable to the spread of this flu. We want to be cautious, but not alarmist in protecting ourselves should some among us get this flu.
We were one of the first to order [...]
Posted in Culture, Higher Education, World Events, Worldview on Aug 20th, 2009 1 Comment »
Each fall the humanities department of Beloit College attempts to help academics understand the incoming first year students with its “Mindset List” which reflects what the class of freshmen will have experienced, or don’t know.
It is always interesting and sobering to read this list – and makes lots of us feel older than we wish [...]
Posted in Higher Education on Aug 11th, 2009 No Comments »
The loss of billions of dollars in Harvard’s endowment has sent the University into the type of stewardship that we in the real world of higher education have to cope with all the time.
I read the other day that just in their school of Arts and Sciences they need to cut $220 million from the [...]
Posted in Higher Education on May 27th, 2009 No Comments »
These statistics from USA Today show how heavily college students are burdened down with credit card debt while still in college.
If every college student wouldn’t buy on a card what they couldn’t pay off in full by the end of the month, then the challenge of paying school loans after they graduate would be manageable [...]
Posted in Athletics, Higher Education on Apr 27th, 2009 No Comments »
Do you know which schools in America are the most sports crazy? No, not Ole Miss, Alabama, or Florida.
MIT and Harvard field the most intercollegiate teams – 41 and 39 respectively. One of the little known facts of higher ed.
Belhaven has one of the broader NAIA school athletic programs with 14 teams.
MIT will no longer [...]
Posted in Higher Education on Mar 24th, 2009 No Comments »
. . . and then we wonder what is happening to our country, when colleges not only allow binge drinking, but enable it, i.e. the 100 college presidents who signed a call to lower the drinking age to 18.
God’s heart must break over for an entire generation of American college students who have their priorities [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Christian Faith, Higher Education, World Events on Mar 22nd, 2009 No Comments »
Five weeks after the horrific accident our friend, Stuart Irby, woke up from his coma on Friday. I received a call from Cal Wells who had just left the hospital and was overwhelmed at the remarkable difference in Stuart. Stuart’s assistant, Sylvia Gore called me Saturday and invited me to come see him.
When I arrived [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education on Mar 9th, 2009 No Comments »
I get so spoiled by our wonderful faculty and staff, and their deep commitment to Christ and to our students, that I sometimes forget what the rest of higher education is like. This story from the University of Florida is a jarring reminder of the difference in spirit, calling, values, and integrity of our faculty [...]
Posted in Culture, Higher Education on Mar 5th, 2009 No Comments »
I grew up with the Beatles and loved them (even won the “Beatle impersonation contest in 5th grade – I was John). But a Master’s Degree in the Beatles????
Liverpool Hope University has announced a new master’s degree program: The Beatles, Popular Music and Society, the first of its kind in the world.
The new course, [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education on Feb 23rd, 2009 No Comments »
I understand the business office scared some of you when you received an information packet at your home about COBRA insurance in the past couple of days. COBRA is the individual insurance that a company must provide employees if you’re laid off from a job – so that you can stay on the company [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Culture, Higher Education on Feb 23rd, 2009 No Comments »
Every day I study in detail a half dozen or more reports about how colleges and universities are dealing with the global economic crisis. By analyzing their decisions, it helps me to consider all of our options should the economic crisis worsen.
Fortunately, to date, Belhaven is doing wonderfully well financially – except for what are [...]
Posted in Christian Faith, Higher Education on Feb 5th, 2009 No Comments »
Many of us at Belhaven have connections at Crichton College in Memphis. This fall and winter we’ve been working with them regarding options for their future. Crichton is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.
The sale of the College was announced today. We need to be praying for the faculty and [...]
Posted in Culture, Higher Education on Nov 20th, 2008 No Comments »
The fire that destroyed 20% of Westmont’s campus, and 200 multi-million dollar homes of neighbors was put out earlier this week, but the worst trouble started after the fire was out.
The local sheriff held a news conference earlier this week to say they had found the source of the fire – it was “10 college [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education on Nov 16th, 2008 No Comments »
Last month I posted some comments from prospective students who visited the campus for a Discover Day. Here are some more responses from recent campus visits:
Discovery Day was an awesome experience for myself and my mother. I just felt right at home. I truly want to attend Belhaven. Hopefully I will get the chance to [...]
Posted in Higher Education on Nov 14th, 2008 No Comments »
Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California, has been hit hard by a wildfire – they lost several academic buildings, along with some residence hall rooms, and several faculty homes that are on the campus. (There are a number of photos on their web site.) Westmost is also a member of the Council for Christian Colleges [...]
Posted in Higher Education on Nov 5th, 2008 No Comments »
With a new president elected, each sector of society begins to examine how the new administration will impact our lives. Today’s report from Inside Higher Education provides a summary of President elect Obama’s views on the college world:
Many higher education leaders had hoped to see college issues, or education generally, emerge as a major issue [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education on Oct 13th, 2008 Comments Off
A letter from the president of National Association of Student Loan Administrators summarizes the good news for student loans in the government’s economic rescue plan:
The best news for student aid is that one of the bill’s provisions extends for two years the ability of taxpayers to take a deduction for qualified tuition and related expenses.
Under [...]
Posted in Belhaven, Higher Education, Worldview on Sep 3rd, 2008 Comments Off
Dr. Ligon Duncan, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, spoke for our Academic Convocation yesterday. He shared a marvelous message outlining “Ten Radically Counter-Cultural Things that You Can Learn at Belhaven that You Won’t Learn at Other Colleges.”
He gave us so much good stuff in a short time, I ask him for his [...]
Posted in Higher Education, Uncategorized on Aug 29th, 2008 Comments Off
Just when I thought I couldn’t be shocked any more by secular higher education, the news today shocked me anew.
A community college president in Iowa, Robert Paxton, was photographed on a party boat this summer pouring beer into one of his female student’s mouth.
The picture says it all (the president is in the top left [...]
Posted in Higher Education on Jun 20th, 2008 No Comments »
There is much in the news about students unable to secure loans for school this fall.
First, Belhaven has not had one student unable to get a loan for this year. We have wonderful relationships with our lenders and do not expect loans to become a problem for Belhaven students. Our Assistant Vice President for Student [...]