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This week marked the start of the new academic year at North Greenville University (NGU). I began serving at NGU on June 1, 2018. I served as the university’s Provost (chief academic officer) for a little over five years before stepping down almost a year ago on August 31, 2023. I enjoyed my time in academic administration, which also included three years as a school dean at Union University. But I had a growing sense that God had called me first and foremost to be a teacher, preacher, and writer. While I could do all those things as Provost, they weren’t core components of my job.
The 2023-2024 academic year was intentionally transitional as I worked closely with the acting provost and new permanent provost, in addition to a couple of strategic initiatives for the president. I didn’t return to the classroom until January 2024. So, this will be my first full academic year as a “regular” professor again, though I teach a reduced load because I direct NGU’s Institute for Transformational Leadership and serve as program director for our interdisciplinary Master of Arts in Leadership degree.
I never left school. No, literally. From the start of kindergarden to the completion of my PhD, I was in school continuously with the exception of one semester in between college and seminary. But even during that “off” semester, I worked full-time as an admissions counselor at my undergraduate alma mater. Much of my life has revolved around academic institutions non-stop for four decades, whether as a student, a staff member, an administrator, or a teacher. My brain is conditioned to think in terms of school years instead of calendar years. Mid-August and early September is the season for new beginnings.
I love the start of the new school year. It’s really all about the students. I like meeting new students and seeing their excitement at this new season of life. (In fact, I just paused from writing this newsletter to talk briefly to Izzy, who walked up to our building to meet with one of my colleagues.) I like reconnecting with returning students, especially the ones whom I’ve been able to develop a relationship with outside of the classroom. (In fact, I just paused from writing a second time to chat with Gwinn, who I know pretty well.) The first week isn’t finished yet and we’ve already hosted 25+ students at our house. Our family chooses to live in a campus-owned house for this very reason. We want the students around.
I also enjoy the start of each class, as we all get to know each other and slowly become a community. This fall, I’m teaching two classes. My undergraduate class is an interdisciplinary Honors course called Transformational Leadership. It explores the intersection of biblical worldview formation, spiritual formation, vocational formation, and servant leadership. I already know 75% of the students in the class because I’ve either taught them in a class before or they are part of a scholarship program that I help to coordinate with one of my colleagues.
My graduate course is Biblical Foundations for Leadership. The course is part of the aforementioned MA in Leadership, which is a smaller cohort-based program. Because I direct the degree, and because I teach three courses in the program, I already know half the students and will know the other half quite well by the end of the semester. Lord willing, I will teach them all again in the spring of 2025 in another course.
When I was a young seminary professor teaching 200-300 students every semester, I barely got to know 10-15% of them personally. I focused on teaching the content as best I could rather than trying to get to know all the students. It would always be embarrassing to bump into a student in Target and not even know his name (or sometimes even recognize his face). But I just didn’t see any way I could really know most of my students when the numbers were so high. (Also, over time a growing percentage of the seminary students were online, so it was much more difficult to connect with them in a meaningful way.)
Now that I’m mid career, I still love the content and try to teach it as best as I can. But I’m more intentional about getting to know the students. No doubt this is partly because I teach fewer of them each semester. Also, it may have to do with the fact I’m old enough to be the father of every one of my undergrads and almost all my graduate students. Whatever the reasons, one of the joys of my life is getting to know 80-90% of my students personally on some level (and over 50% of them quite well).
I’m also trying something new this year in an effort to get to know more students. NGU has a wonderful faculty athletic mentor program where faculty members adopt particular athletics teams. The goal is to invest in the student-athletes, advocate for their sport with colleagues, and help them to flourish inside and outside the classroom. This year, I’m serving as the faculty mentor for our women’s volleyball team. Our family have become big fans of our men’s and women’s volleyball teams the past couple of years, in part because of relationships with students on both teams. I’m excited to connect with those ladies, most of whom I likely will never teach in class.
I want to close these reflections with an excerpt from Douglas McKelvey’s “A Liturgy for Students and Scholars.” It is one of the selections in the wonderful compilation Every Moment Holy. I open every semester with this prayer in each of my courses.
May I learn to love learning, O Lord,
for the world is yours,
and all things in it speak
—each in their way—of you:
of your mind,
your designs,
your artistry,
your power,
your unfolding purpose.
All knowledge is your knowledge.
All wisdom your wisdom.
Amen and amen. Join me in praying for a blessed academic year at North Greenville University.
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