Recent Houghton graduates Madison Murphy and Bretta Hixson have Facebook to thank for their newly hired professor positions. Murphy, a 2011 graduate, and Hixson, a 2010 graduate, were alerted by current Houghton professors on Facebook of positions in their fields that became available.
After graduating with a degree in Communication, Madison Murphy went to Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Georgia and earned a master’s degree in Computer Animation with a concentration in 3D Computer Character Animation. Realizing the range of possibilities her field offered, Murphy attended SCAD knowing that she wanted to teach at a small school.
Murphy got this opportunity earlier this year when she found out Professor David Huth, the current professor of media arts and visual communications, was taking a sabbatical. “It was a Facebook message that sort of kicked it off,” Murphy said, “Professor Huth asked, ‘Would you mind coming back for a year?’ Then it got a little more professional from there.” Huth will return next fall and Murphy’s position will no longer be available but she would welcome the opportunity to stay. “Would I like to [stay]?” asked Murphy, “Sure, I love it here. I think everything this department is doing is fantastic. I think it’s producing awesome students.” Since her current position will end, Murphy decided she will either look for another teaching job at a place like Houghton or for work in the industry of computer animation.
While a student at Houghton, Murphy was a Teaching Assistant (TA) and very involved in the communications department, so the teaching aspect of her job was a swift transition from student to professor. However, some aspects caused for a more difficult transition. For example, instead of being all around campus like she was used to as a student, she now spends a great amount of time in the building where her office is located. The most prominent difference, Murphy said, were the “little things” like “walking into the cafeteria and noticing that they switched all the chairs around, or that the NERF club is now officially a student-recognized activity.” Murphy also describes the ups and downs of eating in the cafeteria and mentions she doesn’t eat in the cafeteria as much, but complains because she doesn’t get to “hear as much of the buzz”.
Also new to Houghton is Bretta Hixson who graduated with a degree in Biology before moving to Boston in 2011. Hixson received a master’s degree of public health in international health from Boston University. After graduating she traveled to Cap Haitien, Haiti to work for a non-profit organization, strengthening the medical supply chain of the public Haitian hospitals. When that project finished she moved back to Boston and worked at a coffee shop until hearing from Houghton.
Hixson was Facebook friends with the previous genetics professor, Matthew Pelletier, and saw that he was leaving Houghton. Shortly after she received an email from the biology department encouraging her to apply and after applying Hixson recalls, “Within a week, I flew out to teach a sample lecture and interview.” Less than two weeks later she got the job.
Hixson describes her first few months at Houghton as a “through-the-looking-glass” experience. She said “I had moments in faculty meetings and division meetings and department meetings – we have a lot of meetings – where I felt a keen sense of absurdity. Not that the meetings were absurd, just the idea that I belonged in them.” The teaching itself brought more comfort, as Hixson had been a TA and tutor while a student at Houghton. She does admit, however, “Lecturing a class of fifty-six in Schaller is quite different than sitting down with one or two students to drill them on the finer points of a fetal pig anatomy or the polymerase chain reaction.”
Both Murphy and Hixson shared their gratitude for the opportunity to be back at Houghton and felt privileged to be able to continue their experiences at the college. As Hixson said, “I do remember day-dreaming about what it would be like to come back some day and teach at Houghton…”
The concept of the From Islands to Cathedrals tour is to walk the audience through the entire story of Tenth Avenue North and their music. “Starting real stripped down we will add band members and instruments building bigger and bigger as the story is told,” explained Donehey. Tenth Ave.’s four albums are linear and inform each other in meaningful, philosophical ways. The first album is a call to the Gospel. The next two albums encourage Christians to engage their struggles honestly and courageously and to help each other through life. In Islands, which is a companion of the upcoming full length album, Cathedrals, Tenth Avenue North discusses the ways Christians isolate themselves from community; the last track of the EP, “Just Getting By” speaks about living in an increasingly digitally influenced world. The focus of the music then shifts from isolation to the goodness and importance of being in community with one another. Donehey explained, “Once we become a community we become a place of sanctuary. We no longer have to wait for a sacred space or vocation. We make our vocations sacred. We make every place we walk into sacred because the Spirit of God walks with us wherever we go.” Tenth Avenue North has a distinctly Christ-centered, authentic, uplifting approach to music that a lot of people really enjoy.
While the campus has waited expectantly for this great performance there has been a flood of activity behind the scenes among Houghton College students and faculty working to make the concert possible. Months of planning and detailing involving many offices has lead up to this Saturday’s performance. However, tomorrow the band itself will mainly be supported by Houghton College’s student audio tech team. Professor Jackson who oversees the team said, “Our job as a college and as a tech team is to make the band’s job as easy as possible- that is, to able to minister that night. We are able to do the work of Christ by helping bands like Tenth Avenue North be better musicianaries. I can’t be successful in my job unless the team comes through and the team always comes through.” Concerts like this Saturday’s are not only a chance for the campus to experience meaningful worship, but also an opportunity for many in the student body to serve alongside a successful worship band to achieve a high goal.
RVER, pronounced “river”, stands for Regional Ventures in Economic Revitalization. This board of community members started off as the Houghton Group, but soon expanded out of the college and into the whole of the town. Said Phyllis Gaerte, Chair of the Houghton Group, “Our concerted effort to include our local, county, and state elected officials in our discussions has been instrumental in us getting before the right people that can offer support and help us move forward. We have developed a great working relationship with our county development and planning team. In the past few months, we have had the opportunity to meet with our Congressman, Tom Reed, and Senator, Catherine Young, as well as our county legislators.”