Thoughts from our University Pastor…
Similar to the legendary date of March 19th when the swallows descend on Capistrano, a new flock of students have recently descended to nest on the Vanguard campus. Once again, life is abuzz as young adults migrate to be formed intellectually, spiritually and socially. Now is a good time to be reminded of the calling that you’ve been given to serve at Vanguard. Perhaps, the vocabulary of “calling” is not what comes to mind when you think of your place here. That makes perfect sense considering the vocational realities that are accompanied by the tensions and challenges of university life. However, I invite you to kindle the possibility that you are at Vanguard (whether you attribute it to God’s sovereignty or mere choice) with an opportunity to make a difference in the world that we live in. Let’s just consider it a “calling” or “station” in life.
Paul’s prayer for the Colossians has often been a sobering check on how I spend my days, years and minutes: “And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way” (1:10). I don’t know about you, but that bar appears to be a bit high considering my propensity to act poorly!
Charles Colson, in his book The Good Life (2005) used a poignant illustration of a scene from “Saving Private Ryan” to drive home this challenge of living life well. Having been saved from the front lines by a group of soldiers in WWII at the cost of a number of lives, the dying captain (played by Tom Hanks) utters his final words to the private for whom he and his men died, “Earn this… earn it.” Fast forward to the closing scene where now an aged Private Ryan visits the gravesite of his departed savior from the battle lines. With children and grandchildren in the distance, he speaks to the ground, “Every day I think about what you said to me that day on the bridge. I tried to live my life the best that I could. I hope that was enough. I hope that, at least in your eyes, I’ve earned what all of you have done for me.” Then broken and in tears he whispers to this wife, “Tell me I have led a good life.”
Your life has been given to you at a high price. Your Savior, unlike the captain, is not proposing that you earn back the price of your salvation. However, too frequently we diminish the magnitude of the cost of the cross. It is a genuine act of reciprocal love for you to live with purposeful intentionality. Every day students fill in the classrooms and look toward you for direction in the course that they signed up for. Yes, you will teach them toward the outcomes that are established in the syllabus, but there is a more profound telos that the Holy Spirit has in mind. An outcome that you have the high honor to cultivate. Don’t you want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant?” My prayer for you today is that God would fill you with the passion and capacity to make the most of your calling here at Vanguard.
JONATHAN ALLBAUGH, MA
Dean of Spiritual Formation & University Pastor
A Word from the Provost
Welcome Back to the 2016-17 school year:
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you; being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know that his love surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:16-19 NIV
This is one of the prayers of Paul for the church at Ephesus. This prayer speaks the sentiments and desire of my heart for each of you. I pray you are “strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being” (deep rooted strength by supernatural power). I pray that you are “rooted and established in love” (agape as described in I Corinthians 13). I pray that you “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ” (immeasurable and unconditional love that is a reality for you each day). I pray that you “be filled to the measure of all God’s fullness” (you lack nothing because of our faithful father God). May God bless our year with great abundance.
We are entering our Accreditation Reaffirmation year. It began with the submission of our Institutional Report on July 19th. We will have our Offsite Review via video conferencing on September 27th. Following this conference, we will begin preparation for the Onsite Visit, February 28-March 2, 2017. We will keep the community updated throughout the year. I want to express sincere appreciation to all of you who have made contributions throughout this process and special acknowledgements to Dr. Ludmila Praslova, ALO. If you desire to read the report it will be located in three locations, office of Dean, Provost and the President. Please contact each of their assistants for a scheduled appointment.
It is exciting to welcome our new students and faculty to the Vanguard University community. Each member of our new faculty brings gifts and strengths to the Vanguard learning community and I encourage you to reach out and get to know each new member.
Julius Agbor, Ph.D.; Associate Professor Finance, Business Department
Deanna Brady, Ed.D.; Associate Professor of Education, Graduate Education Department
Vanda Eggington, B.A.; Instructor of Theater Arts, Theater Department
Jacqueline Gattis, Psy.D.; Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology, Graduate Clinical Psychology Department
Mun Kang, M.F.A.; Assistant Professor of Cinema Arts, Communication Department
Alex Lin, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Liberal Studies, Liberal Studies Department
Pete Menjares, Ph.D.; Sr. Director of the Institute for Faculty Development
Bridget O’Callaghan-Hay, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of Physics, Chemistry Department
Robert Reno, D.M.A.; Professor of Music Theory and Composition, Music Department
Jennifer Russum, Ph.D.; Assistant Professor of English, English Department
Sarah Scott, D.W.S., Assistant Professor of Worship Studies, Music Department
If you are a faculty member with 5 years or more as a faculty member at Vanguard, and available to journey through the first year with a new faculty member, please contact Celina Camarillo in my office via email by Monday, September 5th. This is an exciting service opportunity to invest in a Junior faculty member.
Professional Development: Please note the dates to apply for fall semester travel (October 1- January 31): Friday, September 16, 2016 (5:00pm). Notification of awards: Monday, September 26, 2016 (5:00pm). Forms can be found online on the Provost Website by clicking here.
DORETHA O’QUINN, Ph.DNotification of awards: Monday, February 6, 2017 (5:00 pm)
Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Office of the Provost
Congratulations to Alwin Nocom winner of multiple medals from the 2016 International History Olympiad
Alwin is a national merit scholar who is beginning his sophomore year as a double major in History/Poli Sci and Chemistry. Vanguard was proud to support Alwin with prayers and financial support of $250. Alvin wrote, “It was an honor to represent California in the 2016 International History Olympiad held in University of Hawaii at Manoa in July. I was blessed to win some medals in different competitions. The closing ceremony was held on board the battleship USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.” We congratulate Alwin for the following achievements:
1. World Champion/Gold Medalist – International History Bowl World Championship
2. Gold Medalist – Ancient History
3. Silver Medalist – Cold War History
4. Silver Medalist – Naval History
5. World Championship/Bronze Medalist – International History Bee World Championship
6. Bronze Medalist – Recent History
7. Bronze Medalist – Geography
News from the Registrar:
Student Add/Drop Deadlines
• August 29-September 2 – add/drops must be done in the Registrar’s Office with adds requiring the signature of the professor. Freshmen also need their academic advisor’s signature to add or drop.
• September 2 – last day to drop without the course appearing on the student’s transcript. Following September 2nd students who drop a class will receive a “W”.
Course Schedule Deadline
• Please have your Spring 2017 course schedule worksheets (TUG and Grad Clinical Psychology, Education, and Religion) completed and returned no later than Thursday, September 15th. We will enter the data, assign rooms, and then send out proof copies on approximately October 6th. We truly appreciate your timeliness!
Secondary Party Access:
• FERPA reminder: If a parent wants to speak with you about their student’s grades and/or attendance, please check with your department administrative assistant to see if the student has given permission for you to do so. Last year we changed from tracking this information on an excel spreadsheet to entering it into the school’s database (Colleague) so your administrative assistant will need to access this information for you.
News from the Office of Institutional Research:
The Office of Institutional Research has moved! We are now located on the second floor of the library in room #205.
Also, Summer Course Evaluation Packets are due! If you have not yet turned them in to our office, you may either stop by to do so or contact us by e-mail so that we may pick them up from you. Our email is OfficeIR@vanguard.edu. Feel free to contact us with any further questions regarding this matter.
News from the Library:
VUSC Library App has had 544 downloads since the rollout in early Spring. We will be asking all Freshman to download the app for their Cornerstone classes.
New LibGuide: libguides.vanguard.edu/library (Find important and useful information about library services – more user-friendly than Library website)
On September 6th the Library will transition to late hours.
Monday – Thursday 7:30 a.m. – 1:00 a.m.
The online renewal of items will be introduced this fall.
The library will begin hosting departments in the Library in order to create a partnership for research. Our first department will be Religion on September 13.
We are hosting Dr. John Kim, Institutional Research, in two study rooms on the second floor.
Students are enjoying the new computer hex tables and the Circulation/Reserves location at the front door of the library.
As of this date we have 44 classes scheduled for library instruction with a library personnel.
News from Educational Technology:
Bonni Stachowiak and John Sim have now trained 100+ resident and adjunct faculty on how to use Canvas. It has been wonderful getting to know more of the parts of the community that we might otherwise not ever have crossed paths with…
The Canvas training we offered provided the flexibility of taking four hour, in-person workshops; four, 1-hr online/scheduled sessions; or watching the video series. All the training was kept consistent by mirroring self-paced documentation that laid out our topics and skills for us.
Camp Canvas
A highlight for Bonni was getting to welcome faculty into her home for Camp Canvas.
All the kids who attended got certified on Canvas, which should be good as we look to ramp our collective knowledge up even further than it is, currently.
New Institute for Faculty Development (IFD) Website is on the Way
Bonni is working on the initial content for the forthcoming Institute for Faculty Development website. In the meantime, you can access the Canvas resources at our temporary home over on an Evernote note.
We hope for this home to be short-lived and are looking forward to launching the gorgeous IFD site, artfully designed and built by Naomi Kasa.
FACULTY DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
Thanks to the 2015-2016 faculty development committee for your work on the Faculty Gathering.
Sandie Morgan
Laurie Hatch
Liz Powell
Dale Campbell
Michael Hanna
Bonni Stachowiak
We also appreciate all of this year’s speakers. The work that goes in to putting on a session like you did often goes unnoticed, but we value the behind-the-scenes steps you took to make this year’s event a success.
We’ll be putting something together with all the great photos and videos you took, as a part of the scavenger hunt. For now, here is one of Bonni’s favorite shots.
News from the Global Center for Women and Justice:
Priceless Luncheon: Our annual Priceless Luncheon to End Human Trafficking is in a few weeks! This event is crucial to empowering GCWJ to continue the fight against human trafficking in our community and around the world. Tables sponsorships and individual tickets are still available: http://www.vanguard.edu/gcwj/the-priceless-luncheon/. The Keynote Speaker for this year’s Luncheon Gala is Ernie Allen, a world leader in the fight against child abduction, sexual exploitation, sexual violence and human trafficking. He was founder and Chairman of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children in 1984, serving as President and CEO until 2012.
WHEN: September 17, 2016
WHERE: Island Hotel Newport Beach
2Diamond Awards: GCWJ annually bestows the Diamond Awards to recognize individuals, organizations, and youth whose activities and commitment promote justice and dignity for women and children in Orange County. Winners will be announced during the Priceless Luncheon Gala on September 17.
Life Without Parole: Dr. Elizabeth Leonard was the beloved co-founder of the GCWJ. In her honor, Warren Doody, Vanguard University Department Chair of English, transformed Dr. Leonard’s research into the stage play “Life Without Parole,” which takes the audience on a journey through the tragic underworld of domestic violence.
Weekend Showings
October 21 & 22 || 8pm
October 28 & 29 || 8pm
November 4 & 5 || 8pm
Edgemar Center for Arts
2437 Main St.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
The Global Center for Women and Justice hosted 4 academic professionals and the Minister of Higher Education from Iraq for two weeks in July. The goal of this project – made possible by Washington, D.C.-based IREX and funded by a $50,000 grant from the U.S. State Department – was to establish a working group of Iraqi female academic leaders in the Ministry of Higher Education. Beginning in January, Vanguard University hosted training webinars for a Ministry of Higher Education working group and in July four women academics and the Deputy Minister of Higher Education from Iraq traveled to Vanguard University to complete in-person seminars and the create of next step strategies for supporting women in higher education.
Daily Pilot Featured Story: Vanguard University aids effort to help women become university leaders in Iraq
The OC Register Featured Story: Iraqi leadership group in Costa Mesa to promote higher education for women
The Global Center for Women and Justice will be hosting a Fellow from South Sudan, Khot Daniel Deng. He is part of the Community Solutions Program funded by the United States Department of State and implemented by IREX based from Washington DC. He holds a BA in Sociology from Moi University, Eldoret, Kenya and a MA in Governance from the Pan African University, Cameroon, Yaounde. His expertise is on gender equality, child protection, and community mobilization. During his fellowship, he hopes to learn about the mechanisms to protect children and preserve children’s rights, gender promotion especially among women in fragmented societies. Khot plans to work on increasing awareness on gender equity among different ethnic groups once her returns to South Sudan by implementing gender awareness education seminars and workshops.
Say hello to the new MSOP Cohort! Don’t they look good?
News from the Office of Global Education and Outreach:
This summer, VU students participated in a wide variety of outreach and study abroad opportunities:
Arkansas: Our students partnered with AG’s COMPACT Family Services that provides safe housing and holistic support to kids in the foster care system. With several Communications Majors, our students were able to make several short videos needed for promotion throughout this next year, assist with social media scheduling for a year, and host various activities with the youth and house parents.
Thailand: Our team worked with AGWM Lauren Becker in Lampang, Thailand, focusing on relationships with local college students. Playing card games, sports, and talking over coffee continued not only their English education, but allowed them to have honest conversations and minister where they are at.
Summer of Service: We had two students, Daniel Avila and Troy DeLuca, spend two months serving in Thailand with AGWM Lauren Becker. They were able to assist with the ins and outs of short term teams, build relationships with the local missionaries and nationals, and dive into what life on the field looks like at a practical level. But, they also were able to ride elephants!
Uganda: Our students partnered with Children of the Nations, working with kids who have been displaced from their homes due to a variety of reasons. They were able to spend intentional time with the children, but also assisted the staff with updating their profiles, translating support letters, and beautification projects around campus.
Kenya: Our Psychology Department, led by Dr. Powell and Dr. Hanna, took 18 students to study abroad in Kitale, Kenya. While there, VU partnered with Africa Theological Seminary in providing combined classes of VU and ATS students. Needless to say, worldviews were expanded on both sides. Students also completed their practicum, being placed in local schools, hospitals and orphanages where they were able to lead group, play therapy and exchange best practices with the nationals.
Romania: The GCWJ, led by Dr. Morgan, took a group of students to Romania for a study intensive. While there, VU partnered with AGWM Raegan Glugosh, and were able to train local law enforcement and others with Live2Free material.
Israel: Our students, in partnership with AGTS, spent five weeks in Israel on the Holy Land Studies Tour. During their time, their lectures and teaching were in the literal places that they were discussing, allowing the students to see first hand where Jesus walked, lived, and ministered.
2016-17 TRIPS: The deadline for submitting a proposal for a 2016-17 outreach or study abroad trip is AUGUST 31st. You can find the proposal here: https://vanguarduniversity.wufoo.com/forms/trip-proposal/
SAVE THE DATE: Mark you calendars!! October 3rd-7th is GEO Week!