Tag: shirley mullen

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News

Dr. Wayne D Lewis Jr. Announced as 6th President of Houghton College

Dr. Wayne D. Lewis will take over from President Mullen this fall as the 6th president of Houghton College. COURTESY OF AMY TETTA

On Wednesday, April 28, Dr. Wayne D. Lewis Jr. was announced as the 6th president of Houghton College. Following President Shirley Mullen’s announcement on October 20th of her resignation after 15 years in the position, the school has spent over half a year eagerly waiting to find out who would be the next individual to take up the role of school president.

So who is Dr. Lewis? Hailing from New Orleans, Lewis graduated from Loyola University with a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. However, his formation as a leader began even before college. In his first message to the student body, during Wednesday’s chapel, Dr. Lewis cited his time as a high school drum major as a key influence on him, saying this was his “most formative leadership experience, even at this point in my life… there’s nothing I believe that prepared me more.” Going on to receive a master’s degree in Urban Studies from the University of Akron in Ohio, Lewis then received a PhD in Educational Research and Policy Analysis from North Carolina State University, with a minor in Public Administration.

Dr. Lewis is certainly no stranger to the field of education, and though his experience in this area includes time dedicated to higher education, it is by no means limited to it. “I selected education as a career a long time ago now,” he said an introductory video released on the Houghton College YouTube channel, “because of my deep love for students… I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life and my career working to create opportunities for students.” This started, says Dr. Lewis, with his time working in K-12 education in Louisiana and North Carolina public schools, particularly focusing on special education. 

After Dr. Lewis finished his doctorate, he served at the University of Kentucky as a professor of Educational Leadership. He then moved on to serve in a public office, as the Executive Director of Education Policy and later the Commissioner of Education for the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Before coming to Houghton, Dr Lewis’ most recent position was at Belmont University, as the inaugural Dean of the School of Education. Furthermore, he has authored one book, “The Politics of Parent Choice in Public Education: The Choice Movement in North Carolina and the United States,” and has published numerous other pieces on topics in education, included in both edited volumes and peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Lewis’ positions and writing outline the figure of an individual who is dedicated to improving education for all in practical ways, both through what he says and what he does.

In the introductory video, Dr. Lewis also emphasized the necessity of Christian liberal arts institutions in our current time and climate. “I have no doubt God uses places like Houghton College,” he says, “to prepare leaders for today and tomorrow, to deal with some of the most difficult, the most intractable problems our world has ever seen… to have a small role in what God is doing here at Houghton, is more than I could ever imagine.” ★

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Campus News

State of the College Address Given

On Monday September 19, President Mullen addressed the student body with a summary of her annual State of the College address at the Student Government Association (SGA) all-campus meeting. Mullen covered topics varying from the celebrations to the challenges the college has and will be facing in the coming year.

Traditionally, the State of the College address is given a week before the scholastic year begins. However, Mullen felt it was important to share this information with the student body, and thus provided a space on Monday night to address the students in a summarized and comprehendible fashion.

“I am overwhelmed by gladness of the ability to be in this place,” she stated. Mullen further exclaimed how this year marked the largest incoming student class the school has seen in awhile. Houghton, as Mullen stated, is unlike any other college institution. “To have an academic environment that cares deeply about both faith and academia, and is intentionally about their fusions, is often unheard of in higher education… Sometimes we’re so inside this place, that we often forget how special it is,” she said.

Mullen also addressed some of the challenges for the college, the first being the continuation of Houghton’s foundational economic model. Houghton was founded on the principle of affordability for all. However, this generosity comes at the expense of the budget. Mullen said, “It costs about $7,000 more dollars to educate the average Houghton student than what they actually pay.”  Though a huge risk, Mullen explained the deep desire the administration has to preserve these foundational values as best they can.

Cayleigh Pracht ‘17, Executive Officer of Communications, responded to the address by saying she “appreciated the time that President Mullen took out of her schedule to be with the students.” Mullen, as Pracht explained, “bridges the gap from administration to students in a tact and sincere way.”

Student body president, Joanna Friesen ‘17, also emphasized the importance of having the president involved in student activities. She commented, “It’s important to have and maintain a relationship with the president of the college…It allows the opportunity for both students and administration to be aware of the wider part of the college.”

In closing, President Mullen encouraged the student body to take advantage of their time at Houghton, and to “carry out the tasks that God has called each of us to.”

Though that does not guarantee an avoidance of storms, it guarantees a life of molding and growth in both students spiritual and academic walk.

 

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Stories In Focus

Houghton in Context: The State of Higher Education

Tuition rates seem to soar as enrollment drops.  Staff suffers position cuts and Contemporary Contexts is discontinued.  Students talk of the plummet of Houghton College as if momentary discouragement inevitably leads to downfall.

But according to studies of higher education in the rest of the country, Houghton simply stands as a participant in part of a larger trend, a number in a high percentage, and one that does not necessarily result in doom.

Courtesy of houghton.edu
Courtesy of houghton.edu

Many others echo the worry that those connected to Houghton College face.  In a Huffington Post article, Cathy Sandeen wrote that the “vital liberal arts tradition is under attack;” Christopher Moraff of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote of the decline of liberal arts degrees, saying, “Each year more students abandon the study of history, philosophy, English, and languages in favor of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.”

In a “survey of 436 small private colleges and comprehensive state institutions,” The Chronicle of Higher Education found that “nearly half of the respondents said that they missed either their enrollment or their net-tuition-revenue goals.”

The survey also identified factors that may currently affect enrollment decline – the smaller the college, the more likely missing enrollment goals becomes; regional difficulties aided in more than half of small institutions in the Great Lakes region falling short of enrollment targets; competition surges as droves of colleges and universities work to recruit more students.

The fact that problems like low enrollment prove especially prominent at smaller institutions displays itself specifically at Houghton.  As President Mullen said, “With schools that are less than 1,500 students, your margin for change in enrollment is much less – just 25 less students makes a huge difference.”

Though many four-year institutions lose appeal to lower-cost options like online courses or community colleges, many traditional higher education programs remain hopeful and endeavor to adjust.

An insert in this October’s first issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, titled “A Special Report on the Future of Higher Education,” consists of articles considering such a trend.  Throughout the various articles within, different reporters explain changes in institutions, both currently occurring and anticipated, among numerous traditional four-year colleges and universities that may better promote these institutions.

One such article entitled “Career Centers Stretch to Fill New Roles” discusses how multiple institutions recently started noting the importance of post-graduation success appeal, and began to modify to meet such a demand.

“A competitive job market, rising student-loan debt, and questions about the value of a degree have pressured colleges to prove that they are a good investment,” the report reads.  “These forces, coupled with a growing body of research on the value of experiential learning, have led colleges to rethink how they prepare students for careers.”

It proceeds to note that many colleges notice such a trend and act upon it, most notably “liberal-arts-focused colleges,” to dissuade the mindset that a liberal arts degree is not marketable.

Houghton College, as a liberal arts institution, also finds value in such an interest.  Mullen explained the college’s plan to improve its own career services, to gain appeal through “helping students translate their Houghton education into what comes afterward.”

Littering the media, higher education reviews and surveys, websites, and news about the seemingly deteriorating state of higher education can discourage, worry, and overwhelm those currently enrolled.

“What I think is really important,” said Mullen, “is that students realize that this is a revolution going on in higher education in our country, and what we need to be doing… is to think, ‘What does it mean to respond to this in a way that’s creative and powerful and that assures that we’re going to be able to have Houghton for decades to come?’”

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News

Alumni House Renovations

After recent renovations, Houghton’s new Alumni House is almost ready to welcome former students and their families.

Previously used for student housing, the Alumni House underwent significant changes to become what President Shirley Mullen, described as a “place on campus set aside specifically for alumni—for them to network among themselves and with students.” Mullen says the house will give returning alumni a place to stay with their families in addition to “making it clear that we value alumni.”

Alumni_HouseNumerous alumni have contributed to funding the renovations for the house, which Mullen estimated to cost between $550,000 and $600,000. Daniel Noyes, executive director of alumni relations, said that “the project was 100% funded by gifts from alumni, particularly alumni from families who have a strong connection with the college.” The names of rooms in the house honor nine of those families: the Luckey, Essepian-Tysinger, Stevenson, Ries, Larder, White, Mills, Alderman, and Mullen families.

Joshua Derck, building trades leader, said that the renovations on the Alumni House were extensive and included work on walls and ceilings, heating and cooling systems, plumbing and electrical services, and windows, siding, and gutters.

The house also received changes to meet “ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements: a fully accessible room as well as access to the building,” Derck said. “So the updates were for usage and cosmetic. This is a virtually new building.”

Anna Maria Johnson, a 2001 Houghton graduate who lived in the Alumni House while it was still student housing, said that she has “mixed emotions” about the changes to her old home. She talked about the “incredible community” that formed among the women living in what was then called Walldorf House and described the shared dinners, Bible studies, and book discussions that added to her “formative…and meaningful experience” there. However, she also said it is “fun to think that we could come back and have a reunion in the house where we lived.”