Huntington University’s fall 2021 enrollment numbers are officially locked in at 1,363 total students. Though down slightly from last year’s record enrollment, this number is still up overall when looking at the last five years of data.
“While many universities across the country are reporting downward trends over the past few years or small upticks after extremely low enrollment in 2020, Huntington University is pleased to be consistent with steady enrollment growth in key areas,” said Daniel Solms, vice president for enrollment management and marketing.
Those “key areas” specifically include the enrollment numbers at Huntington University Arizona, HU’s location in Peoria, Arizona. Total undergraduate enrollment at that location is up over 8%. Additionally, Graduate enrollment numbers are up 4%.
Looking at the makeup of our student population, HU has endeavored to increase diversity, and those efforts have yielded nine years of consistent growth. HU’s students who identify as a U.S. ethnic minority currently make up 17% of the total undergraduate population.
The Huntington University Foundation annual dinner, Burgers, Boots and Blue Jeans, will take place on Thursday, September 16, and will feature Dr. Sherilyn Emberton, president of Huntington University, and a student panel let by David Dean. The dinner will be held in the Huntington University Fieldhouse (located in the Merillat Complex, or PLEX), with a reception taking place at 5:30 p.m. and dinner starting at 6:15 p.m.
During the event, the Huntington University Foundation will present the Distinguished Service Award to Brent and Darlene Stanley. The award, established in 2002, honors an individual or an organization whose life or mission embodies the principles associated with the mission of the University. The award is given to a person or organization that gives substance and credence to the University’s beliefs, serves as an effective role model for HU students and is recognized as making a tremendous contribution to Huntington County.
“It is a pleasure to honor the Stanleys for their commitment throughout Huntington County and to Huntington University. They love our community, and it shows. We are proud to honor them this way," said Kay Schwob, senior director of development at Huntington University.
The annual dinner is an opportunity to invest in area students as they pursue a Christian education at Huntington University. If you are interested in attending, please reserve your spot by September 9 at huntington.edu/FoundationRSVP.
Huntington University is pleased to announce that Mark Fairchild, PhD, professor of Bible and religion, has been selected as a Fulbright Senior Research Scholar for the 2021-2022 year to conduct research in Turkey.
Fairchild will be involved in excavations at an underwater basilica in Iznik (ancient Nicea). Nicea is the site of Christianity’s first ecumenical council, known as the First Council of Nicea. Preliminary evidence suggests that the submerged basilica was the place where over three hundred leaders of the early church met with the emperor Constantine, culminating in the confessional statement known as the Nicene Creed. Fairchild will collaborate with Mustafa Śahin of Uludag University (Turkey), and Julia De Sigoyer from the Université Grenoble Alpes (France). Fairchild published a report on the discovery of the basilica in the Biblical Archaeology Review in 2018.
Fairchild earned his PhD in New Testament studies from Drew University. He also completed PhD coursework at Union Theological Seminary (NY) and Princeton Theological Seminary. Fairchild has twice received research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 1992, he collaborated with 11 other scholars at Yeshiva University, exploring the Greek encounter with Judaism during the Hellenistic Period. In 2002, he joined 20 other scholars at the University of Chicago to investigate societal transformations and the legitimization of power in the early Islamic states.
Fairchild’s recent discovery of two previously unknown ancient synagogues in Turkey (including the world’s oldest known synagogue) was published in the Biblical Archaeology Review in 2012. Research at this ancient synagogue was also published in the Journal of Ancient Judaism in 2014. Biblical Archaeology Review published Fairchild’s research on St. Paul’s first mission from Perga to Antioch (2013) and another article on the biblical city of Laodicea (2017). Additionally, Fairchild authored two chapters in the Lexham Geographic Commentary on Acts through Revelation (2019). Fairchild’s book on Christian Origins in Ephesus and Asia Minor (originally published in 2015) has been expanded, and a second edition is currently available with Hendrickson Publishers (2017).
Fairchild is currently the program director for the Ephesus Meeting, an academic conference at the ancient site of Ephesus in Turkey. He annually travels to Turkey, Greece and Israel for research and to conduct study tours.
Huntington University is pleased to welcome Mark Vincenti as a full-time campus pastor effective September 13.
Vincenti will join the Center for Spiritual Formation and Intercultural Enrichment – called The Center – and will tackle the roles of preaching and preparing for the student chapel experience, while spearheading small group efforts and discipleship. The Center works at the center of Huntington University’s mission to impact the world for Christ through scholarship and service. The team works closely with faculty and staff across campus to provide rich opportunities for personal spiritual and intercultural growth, Christian service, and the integration of faith and learning.
“Mark’s addition to our team in The Center is a game changer,” said Rev. Arthur Wilson, vice president for spiritual formation. “As we consider the characteristics of this current generation of young adults, Mark has the creativity, gifts, heart and vision to impact HU students in a way that will inform and inspire their development as followers of Jesus.”
Vincenti has a strong history with HU and the UB church. He earned his bachelor's degree in educational ministries from HU in 1999 and went on to earn his master’s degree in Bible (Lancaster Bible College and Graduate School) in 2010. He became a licensed minister in 2001 and was ordained in 2015 by the United Brethren in Christ Church, USA. He was an adjunct professor at HU from 2019-2020, was an assistant men’s soccer coach for the Foresters from 2011-2015 and has held the position of assistant women’s soccer coach for the Foresters since 2020.
“[Vincenti] is a relational shepherd who understands the significance of incarnate leadership. This is the kind of influence that students hunger for and are willing to follow. It’s an honor to serve in a community that’s willing to support the needs of students. Mark’s hire is a testimony of that,” said Wilson.
Huntington University welcomes Randy Beck, professor and associate dean at UGA Law School, to the stage for the first Forester Lecture of the fall. The lecture, titled “Pharisees, Herodians and Jesus: The Kingdom of God in a Politically Polarized Culture,” will take place on September 7 at 7:00 p.m. in Zurcher Auditorium in the Merillat Centre for the Arts.
Randy Beck joined the University of Georgia School of Law faculty in 1997 and was named associate dean for academic affairs in 2018. He has held the Justice Thomas O. Marshall Chair of Constitutional Law since 2011 and was the 2016-2017 Garwood Visiting Fellow in Princeton University’s James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions.
Beck’s constitutional law scholarship has appeared in a number of law reviews, including the Notre Dame Law Review, the American Journal of Legal History, and the Northwestern University Law Review. His law and religion scholarship includes the chapter (with D. VanDrunen) “The Biblical Foundations of Law: Creation, Fall, and the Patriarchs” in Law and the Bible: Justice, Mercy and Legal Institutions (InterVarsity Press, 2013) and “God the Judge and Human Justice” in the Journal of Law & Religion (Cambridge University Press, 2016).
A dedicated teacher as well as scholar, Beck has twice received the C. Ronald Ellington Award for Excellence in Teaching and has also been honored by the graduating class on four occasions as the recipient of the John C. O’Byrne Memorial Faculty Award for Furthering Student-Faculty Relations.
Prior to his law school appointment, Beck worked for more than five years as a general litigation associate with the law firm Perkins Coie in Seattle, Washington. He also has government experience from service as an attorney-advisor in the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel.
Beck has served as a judicial clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy and Judge Patrick E. Higginbotham of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. He graduated first in his class at Southern Methodist University School of Law and earned his undergraduate degree from Baker University.
Huntington University Theatre Company is privileged to present The Guys by Anne Nelson on September 10 and 11 in the Studio Theatre in the Merillat Center of the Arts.
The Guys, based on a true story, is set less than two weeks after the September 11 attacks, and New Yorkers are still in shock. One of them, an editor named Joan, receives an unexpected phone call on behalf of Nick, a fire captain who has lost most of his men in the attack. He’s looking for a writer to help him with the eulogies he must present at their memorial services. Nick and Joan spend a long afternoon together, recalling the fallen men through recounting their virtues and their foibles, and fashioning the stories into memorials of words. As they make their way through the emotional landscape of grief, they draw on humor, tango, the appreciation of craft in all its forms — and the enduring bonds of common humanity.
The show is a poignant peek into the lives of first responders through the lens of 9/11. The Guys isn’t written to force the audience to relive the events of 9/11 and its aftermath; it’s meant to invite the audience to see the stories of the men and women who are on the front lines of disaster on a daily basis. In light of that, Huntington University, the HU Theatre Company, and the Office of Advancement are inviting all first responders to claim two free tickets to any of the three shows and a free dessert reception following the Saturday evening show. For more information about this, please contact Kay Schwob at kschwob@huntington.edu.
Show tickets can be purchased through the Box Office online or by calling (260) 359-4261. Parental guidance is suggested due to tone and potentially sensitive subject matter.
Huntington University’s ABLE program is hosting its first annual Dine & Bid fundraising meal and silent auction on Friday, September 24. The ABLE program (Achieving Balance in Life through Education) is designed to support students with intellectual disabilities in having a college campus experience. HU is one of few universities in Indiana with a program of this kind.
“Students in the ABLE program develop their academic, daily living/independence, social skills, and job skills,” said Amanda Seaman, ABLE program coordinator. “The students in the program audit college classes that they are interested in and that help them reach their future goals. The students work on daily living skills that will help them to become independent — laundry skills, cooking, budgeting, comparison shopping, and many others.”
Through the Dine & Bid event, the ABLE program has two key goals: awareness raising and fundraising.
“We would like for this event to be a chance for stakeholders, community members, and others invested in the ABLE program to see first-hand how the program is impacting the students, peer mentors, campus, and community,” said Seaman.
She continued by saying that “ABLE provides so many opportunities for students to grow in independence and confidence and to create lasting relationships with other students in the program and on campus. The genuine relationships the students build with the peer mentors are such a valuable part of their experience on campus, for students and the mentors. Many past and current families would say that the program is life changing and that their student is learning skills and taking ownership of their independence journey.”
To RSVP for the Dine & Bid Fundraising Meal and Silent Action, visit huntington.edu/ABLE-RSVP. To give directly to the ABLE program, visit huntington.edu/GiveToABLE.
The ABLE program provides individuals ages 18-24 with the opportunity to be part of a university campus. Students, both independently and with support from peers, attend/audit classes, work on campus, take supportive classes in understanding finances, social skill needs and independent living, and participate in extracurricular activities. The program not only supports the students with disabilities but provides an equally important opportunity for all typical students, faculty, and staff to more fully understand the potential of individuals with disabilities.
If you have questions about the ABLE program, please contact Amanda Seaman at (260) 359-4106 or at aseaman@huntington.edu.
Huntington University’s Department of Nursing is pleased to announce the following 2021-2022 scholarship recipients:
Molly Burton, Raylynn Johnson, and Kayla Sparling are recipients of the Indiana Center for Nursing Scholarship
Catherine Neese is the recipient of the Winter Nursing Scholarship
Christine Harber is the recipient of the Bruce and Linda Myers Nursing Scholarship
Danielle Cummins is the recipient of the Nursing Scholarship
The Indiana Center for Nursing Scholarship goes to nursing students at Huntington University who meet requirements including GPA, Indiana residency, and commitment to working as a registered nurse in Indiana. The Department of Nursing announces the number of scholarship awards each year; this year, there are three recipients.
The Winter Nursing Scholarship criteria include being a sophomore enrolled full-time, GPA, and commitment to HU and Department of Nursing standards.
The Department of Nursing awards the Bruce and Linda Myers Nursing Scholarship on behalf of the Myers family. Bruce and Linda Myers are the former owners of Myers Funeral Homes in Huntington and Markle. During their 25 years in business, they developed close ties with the people of Huntington and Wells Counties and with Huntington University, where Bruce served on the Huntington University Foundation Board and the Fine Arts Council. Linda is a retired registered nurse with 30 years of medical-surgical and critical care experience. Their professional and personal lives have always been founded on a deep faith in and love for their Savior, Jesus Christ.
Their desire in giving the scholarship is twofold: to support the mission of Huntington University and the Department of Nursing and to aid serious students of the nursing field in achieving their educational goals by providing financial assistance. Criteria to receive this scholarship include being a current junior nursing major or sophomore accepted into the program and GPA as well as an essay and demonstrated financial need.
The Huntington University Nursing Scholarship was established to provide encouragement and financial support to students at Huntington University in the nursing program. Criteria include being a sophomore enrolled full-time and GPA.
On Thursday, August 26, from 3:00-5:30 p.m., Huntington University’s Office of Graduate Admissions and graduate faculty will co-host a meet and greet event for incoming Master of Arts in clinical mental health counseling degree program students.
The event will include a meet-and-greet experience with the new and returning counseling faculty as well as face-to-face time with the new program director, a campus tour, and a Q&A panel with counseling graduates.
This special visit event will enable those interested to discuss credit transfer options, admissions requirements, and program specifics with HU experts.
“Huntington University’s Master of Arts degree in clinical mental health counseling has a multi-decade track record of success,” said Wendy Speakman, director of graduate and online programs. “We look forward to serving aspiring counselors in any way we can to move them toward the career of their dreams.”
Financial aid is available depending on a student’s chosen program. Huntington University offers several financial aid opportunities, including grants, academic awards and work study programs.
To learn more, contact Wade Finicle in HU’s Office of Graduate Admissions at (800) 600-4888. To RSVP to the Meet & Greet, email graduateandonline@huntington.edu.
Huntington University is pleased to announce that Susanne Watson, director of undergraduate admissions, has been recognized with the North American Coalition for Christian Admissions Professionals’ (NACCAP’s) Outstanding Achievement Award. This award honors those who work diligently to advance the cause of Christian higher education and demonstrate a commitment to growing their institution.
“Susanne was nominated by her peers for being an enabler, a creative force within the office and one who comes alongside to help other team members be successful in pursuit in their goals and objectives,” said Chant Thompson, executive director of NACCAP.
Danny Solms, vice president for enrollment management and marketing, concurred with this assessment, saying that “Susanne has a big heart; she genuinely cares for people and wants to see them succeed. You see that when she engages with prospective students and as a leader of her team. Susanne is also diligent and possesses strong administrative skills that she uses to make us more efficient and to strengthen the foundation of activity that supports us connecting with future students.”
He credits Watson with being a big part of HU’s record enrollment in 2020, stating that “she was here every day, constantly thinking about how we could connect with students and keeping the counselors up to date and encouraged as they worked from home. She created new programs to maximize our student workers and worked tirelessly to make the most of our technology.”
“It is such an honor to receive an award from NACCAP, an organization that does so much to further Christian higher education and support Christian admissions professionals,” said Watson. “I am humbled by the recognition, knowing that I have a great team around me here at Huntington University and that any accomplishments are a team effort. I'm proud to represent HU!”
Susanne Watson began working as an admissions counselor at HU in 2013. Prior to joining the Huntington team, she worked in enrollment at Harrison College for two years. She is a 2011 graduate of Huntington University with degrees in history and entrepreneurial small business management. She was named senior admissions counselor in 2015, assistant director of admissions in 2016 and director of undergraduate admissions in 2019.
Huntington University is pleased to host an afternoon of events on July 16 as part of the 2021 US National Conference of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA. The conference takes place every other year at locations around the world. After eight years, the 2021 US National Conference is returning to Fort Wayne and the Grand Wayne Convention Center July 14-17.
Each night of the conference will feature a message from one of the UB denominational directors, including Dr. Sherilyn Emberton, president of Huntington University and denominational director of higher education, on Friday night. Huntington University is the denominational college of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, USA.
On Friday, events at the University include
For more information about the UB Conference and a full schedule of events, visit ub.org/nc.
Huntington University is pleased to announce the expansion of the Center for Spiritual Formation and Intercultural Enrichment. The Center — tasked with shepherding Forester students, faculty, and staff — will gain a full-time campus pastor while retaining its current staff. This addition allows the team to expand its capacity and engage even more with its audience.
“Serving as a spiritual shepherd for students will always be one of the highest honors of my career, and I look forward to sharing the pulpit with another voice,” said Rev. Arthur Wilson, vice president for spiritual formation. He continued by saying that the addition to his team will “allow [him] to commit more energy to pouring into faculty and staff and creating opportunity to foster their growth to — in turn — shepherd students.”
The relationship between faculty and students and the influence that the former has with the latter is a hallmark of the HU experience. Graduates from decades past are regularly heard remarking on their continued relationships with faculty and how those relationships have molded them.
“In order for us to meet the spiritual needs of our student population, we need to better equip their faculty — their mentors — to walk alongside them and to support them,” said Wilson. “The chapel experience is and continues to be important, but this generation of students is more profoundly impacted by relationship than they are by merely attending corporate worship experiences.”
Wilson shared his excitement that the growth of his team would create the space and bandwidth to shepherd the Forester community.
Huntington University is pleased to announce that Erica Marshall, director of the Academic Center for Excellence, was the recipient of the June Spirit of a Forester award. This peer-nominated award is bestowed monthly upon a Huntington University employee who demonstrates the characteristics of a Forester.
Erica’s peers highlighted the way she cares completely about students, saying, “Erica Marshall is one of the most selfless people that I have ever worked with” and “Erica takes the job description ‘duties as assigned’ to another level.” One wrote, “In a day that Erica had a full calendar day, she took time to deliver quarantine meals (lunch and dinner), met with a student and her parents […], participated in an evening meeting and made it to a worship night to support students all in the same day. Never complained once.”
What is a Forester? The simple answer is that a Forester is a Huntington University student. Any student at any location and any age. But the truer answer is that a Forester is a lifetime appointment of chasing truth, defying complacency, remaining curious, caring completely, embracing interconnectedness and demonstrating grit and creativity. Together, these traits come together to point others toward Christ. We take great pride in being Foresters, but we realize that we are fallible. That doesn’t negate our efforts. Instead, our fallibility highlights our reliance on Christ, the importance of our relationship with Him, and our potential for growth.
Huntington University is pleased to welcome the Huntington community to campus on June 26 for the first event of the Forester Summer Series: Summer Stroll(er)s. This event is hosted by Bippus State Bank, Ryan and Patty Warner and the HU men’s basketball team.
The Forester Summer Series is a lineup of free events hosted by members of the community intended to bring the community onto HU’s campus. Our campus is loved by our students, faculty and staff, but we want it to be enjoyed by the Huntington community as well.
Summer Stroll(er)s is a free family-friendly event for all ages that takes guests on a tour around campus, including the following stops:
Start at the MCA Stop 1 – Grab a water Stop 2 – Climb a tractor or pet a goat Stop 3 – Choose an HU sticker or tattoo Stop 4 – Have a cookie Stop 5 – Shoot a hoop with the basketball team Stop 6 – Pick up an HU balloon Return to the MCA
For more information about this event and upcoming events, visit Huntington.edu/SummerSeries.
Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest, and Forbes.com has listed the university as one of America’s Best Colleges. Founded in 1897 by the Church of the United Brethren in Christ, Huntington University is located on a contemporary lakeside campus in northeast Indiana. The nonprofit university is a member of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU).
Dr. Brock Zehr, associate professor of business and economics at Huntington University, recently participated in the Wisdom, Knowledge, and the Good Life conference sponsored by the Liberty Fund in Carmel, Indiana. Regarding the event, Zehr stated, “It was an honor and privilege to participate in this interdisciplinary conference with scholars from other Indiana independent universities. We learned from the seminal texts, scholarly discussions, and integration with our academic disciplines.”
This week-long Summer Institute for 18 academics from Indiana focused on classic texts addressing the power of reason and the limits of human knowledge, the nature of wisdom and our capacity to achieve virtue and happiness. Its primary goal was to allow faculty to read, discuss and consider classic works that explore the human condition and the prospects human beings have for leading lives of virtue, meaning and purpose.
Other goals of the Institute included providing an opportunity for conferees to consider central elements of the “Great Conversation” that has informed our civilization, to explore the relation of science to the liberal arts and to consider what science and the liberal arts can, either individually or jointly, contribute to our understanding of a life worth living.
Readings for the conference included selections from the writings of Aristotle, Augustine, Francis Bacon, Descartes, Hume, Adam Smith and J.S. Mill, and the conference included joint viewing of three movies, collective meals and hospitality.
Session themes for each day were:
Day One: Virtue and Knowledge
Day Two: Science, Reason and the Good Life
Day Three: Rest and Rejuvenate (no formal sessions)
Day Four: Politics and the Good Life
Day Five: Knowledge, Liberty and Responsibility
The Institute was directed by James Otteson, a professor of business ethics at Notre Dame, and Cecil Bohanan, professor of economics at Ball State University. Liberty Fund, Inc. is a private nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational foundation devoted to studying liberty and responsibility through nonpartisan moderated discussions of a common set of readings. For more information about Liberty Fund, go to LibertyFund.org.
Huntington University marketing and management alum Mzatiwathu Banda, Class of 2021, has self-published Eye x Foot, his first manga in a Japanese comic book style, on Amazon.
The story's plot consists of two players — Keisuke and Dieudonne — on the same team using their skills to work together to win in futsal, a soccer-like game played mainly indoors on a hard court smaller than a football pitch. Keisuke is better at thinking about their way around the court (eye), while Dieudonne is better at the game's fundamentals (foot). This helps the two players come together to meet the desired end goal: playing the game they love and learning more about each other.
Banda came to the United States in 2017 from Malawi to pursue his dream of earning a college education while continuing his passion for writing comic books. Having played soccer at Huntington University for four years, Malawi has a passion for futsal that he reveals as the story develops in Eye x Foot.
As a child, Banda wanted to write comic books, but that passion began to disappear as he got older. Then, Banda was attacked by two robbers with a machete his sophomore year of high school. Following the incident, he said, "You know, maybe I should get serious about writing." It was an eye-opener for Banda because his desire to write was always next to him. Banda and his writing took off.
After Banda's accident, Eye x Foot was one of the first ideas that came to him. The characters in Eye x Foot are based on people in his life. The main character, who has Banda's middle name, Dieudonne, is based on Banda himself. Dieudonne's best friend in the story, Keisuke, is based on Banda's high school best friend, Sam. The dog, Peaches, is based on the memory of Banda’s dog back home. The coach, Mr. Komoto, is based on one of the head teachers Banda had in high school.
"The fact that many people in the book are similar to real-life people made it a story I had to finish," said Banda.
In the first three months of its release, there have been over 200 copies of Eye x Foot sold, and sales continue to rise. Writing helped Banda through high school, and his end goal is to reach out to others through this comic book and future ones. Banda encourages others to keep trying and pushing to achieve their dreams even when difficult times occur in life — just like he was able to overcome. Additionally, of course, he wants to entertain his readers.
Huntington University was pleased to be a host site for the 2021 Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC) Summer Workshop on June 1, 2021.
AITC is an agricultural outreach program for school children in grades Pre-K through 12, facilitated by Indiana Farm Bureau and coordinated nationwide by the United States Department of Agriculture. The program teaches students where the food they eat is grown and how important farmers are to their daily lives. The June 1 AITC Summer Workshop offered a variety of learning opportunities for volunteers and educators and was hosted by some of HU’s own faculty and alumni.
“I appreciated the opportunity to participate in a variety of program topics as well as the flexibility to apply information learned across multiple grade levels. It was also great to visit with other educators and volunteers that have a passion to tell agriculture's story to our future consumers. The afternoon hands-on learning sessions offered valuable tools to add to project-based curriculum development,” said Kelley Sheiss, agriculture instructor at Whitko Career Academy. Sheiss also mentioned that the day allowed a chance to recharge after a long school year and spark inspiration. “It offered additional resources for classroom instruction and the chance to connect and collaborate with other participants, allowing for idea and information exchange. Huntington University [Department] of Agriculture served as an ideal location for the event, allowing us to take advantage of the many resources their program and campus facilities have available.”
Workshops included “Conducting a ‘Pet Plant Project’” with Natalie Porter, greenhouse and lab manager, “Helping Students Think about GMOs” with Dr. Raymie Porter, associate professor of agriculture and director of academic programs for the Haupert Institute for Agricultural Studies, and “Erosion — Battling the Age-Old Menace” with Joelle Neff, Class of 2020.
The Department of History and Political Science at Huntington University is pleased to announce that Ashley Spirek is the winner of the 2021 S.G. Whittle Johnston Memorial Award. Ashley is from Kiev, Ukraine, and is a 2021 summa cum laude graduate of Huntington University with majors in history, philosophy, and political science.
Spirek’s award-winning research paper was chosen by a competitive process, and her project, “The Transformation of the Southern Ukrainian Steppe,” detailed the modern agricultural development of Ukraine’s rich chernozem, or black soil region, under tsarist and later communist rule. It was completed under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey B. Webb in his advanced seminar in environmental history.
The Johnston Memorial Award is given annually to the author of a research paper written in the Department of History and Political Science. Nominations for the award demonstrate the highest level of intellectual engagement and adherence to the standards of professional scholarship.
“Ashley’s research drew from current literature in the fields of environmental history and geography, and it demonstrated keen insight in the problems of conservation and environmental rehabilitation,” said Dr. Webb.
The S.G. Whittle Johnston Memorial Award honors the memory of S.G. Whittle Johnston, professor at the University of Virginia, and carries a cash award of $1,000 dollars. It is funded by the S.G. Whittle Johnston Memorial Award Fund, which was established by an HU alumnus and former faculty member to encourage students to strive for excellence in research in the fields of history and political science.
Huntington University is pleased to welcome Michelle Caulk, LPC (MO), LPHC (FL), NCC, as an assistant professor and director of clinical experiences in the clinical mental health counseling program, effective August 1, 2021.
Caulk has founded a counseling center, worked with many clients to help them live in hope and wholeness and taught counseling students as an adjunct professor for John Brown University and Missouri Baptist University. She has an established history of writing and speaking passionately and effectively on topics such as mental health in the church and counseling the bereaved. She partners with community churches to create “relational homes” in which those with mental illness may find community, advocacy and understanding.
Currently a doctoral candidate within the Counselor Education and Supervision (CES) program with Regent University, Caulk’s research interests include spirituality in grief, creating trauma-informed churches and the experiences of the Christian childfree by choice population. Caulk is a graduate of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature, the University of Illinois with a Master of Science degree in library and information science, and Argosy University with a Master of Arts degree in mental health counseling.
Founding director of HU’s clinical mental health counseling program Jerry Davis, PhD, is excited about Caulk’s transition to Huntington University, saying that she has “excellent teaching experience” at the graduate level, is involved in her own counseling practices and plans to continue practicing.
When asked how she feels about joining the HU faculty, Caulk responded that “optimistic and grateful are the two words that come to mind. Optimistic about the people I will get to serve alongside and grateful that God has opened this door. The care that the staff and faculty showed me during the interview process speaks highly about the importance of relationship; of caring for one another deeply; and for moving forward together in creating the best learning environment that we can for our counseling students. I am so excited to build upon the strong foundation upon which the counseling [program] resides, while contributing to a future that reflects the changing nature of how, when, and why we do the work of counseling. There is much to be done to achieve our goals, yet I feel that we are seeking God's Kingdom first, and all else will be provided (Matthew 6:33).”
To learn more about Huntington University’s clinical mental health counseling program, visit huntington.edu/Counseling.
Huntington University is pleased to welcome Elijah Lee, PhD, LPC/LCPC (MO/KS), NCC, as the program director and assistant professor for HU’s clinical mental health counseling program, effective July 1, 2021.
Lee is a licensed professional counselor and counselor educator who “seeks to advance the Kingdom of God through equipping shepherds in the field of counseling.” As well as receiving clinical training from MidAmerica Nazarene University (Master of Arts degree in counseling, spiritual formation) and Regent University (PhD in counselor education and supervision), Lee is an ordained minister with the River Fellowship and counsels out of his private practice, Hope Healing LLC.
“There is great excitement in joining Huntington University in the role of program director of the counseling [program] as well as a deep sense of honor,” said Lee. “I join Huntington University with an anticipation of God’s faithfulness in all of our lives and the hope of many shepherds being released into the field.”
Founding director of HU’s clinical mental health counseling program, Jerry Davis, PhD, is excited about the new director, saying that he is “outstanding in the counseling field. [He has] excellent teaching and clinical experience. [He] teaches and practices from a broad theoretical approach, which means our students will continue to be taught a variety of empirically validated treatments with a strong emphasis on the therapeutic relationship, the key contributor to positive client outcomes.”
Lee’s passion for training counselors is clear when he discusses his own reasoning for pursing this career path.
“Henri Nouwen writes about the ‘wounded healer’ as an archetype of the counselor. A dynamic that exists within the nature of a counselor is that our own wounds often produce the empathy to sit with the pain of humanity, to facilitate healing. This truth may be echoed in those seeking to become counselors, and it is part of my story as well. In the field of counseling, I have found both the poison and antidote of humankind’s ‘sickness’: authentic relationship. My pursuit of counseling involves both looking for this cure and the hopes of offering it to a world seeking it out.”