These days she’s the Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Davis, who teaches seminarians about education at Union Presbyterian Seminary’s Charlotte, North Carolina, campus. When she was 9 and growing up in West Virginia, that role would have been difficult to fathom.
About three years ago, Brian Odhiambo lived a life of “survival of the fittest” on the streets of Nairobi, Kenya. He was rescued from his street boy existence and taken to Eastleigh Community Center (ECC), a vocational skills training primary and secondary school of the Presbyterian Church of East Africa (PCEA) that promotes peacebuilding at every grade level.
Three Presbyterian-related educational institutions are offering summer 2018 leadership programs for high school students in cooperation with grant funding from the Lilly Endowment. Maryville College, Monmouth College and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary are each hosting different programs, but the schools are working collaboratively to create a uniquely Presbyterian experience for students.
Having spent her career at church-affiliated colleges, Cindy Gnadinger is ready for a new challenge as president of Carroll University in Waukesha, Wisconsin. She becomes the first woman to fill the president’s post at the school, which is one of seven Presbyterian-related institutions in covenant with the Synod of Lakes and Prairies.
Church ties may be looser and students may be less religious than in past generations, but most Presbyterian colleges and universities still believe in the role of a campus chaplain.
When you talk to Jeff Arnold, executive director of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities (APCU), you can’t help but feel optimistic. Following the organization’s annual Presidents’ Conference, his view is that faith-based affiliations among Presbyterian schools are getting stronger and growing due to the strength of connections offered by APCU.
As college campuses everywhere become ghost towns over the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, with dormitories mostly shuttered and food services closed, many international students find themselves in a unique—and often lonely—position, longing for home. And the promise of a home-cooked meal.
Maryville College, a Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)-related school, is one of 82 institutions nationwide that has received funding as part of the Lilly Endowment Inc.’s High School Youth Theology Institutes. It is the only PC(USA)-related school awarded the grant.
Forty people gathered last night for a Taizé service in the dimmed hush of the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church of Bloomington, Indiana to pray, contemplate and be restored for the work of peace and trust building.
