College & Seminary News

The National Ministries Division and the Leadership and Vocation Goal Area of PC(USA) recently awarded Maryville College $9,900 to fund a new “Teaching of the Bible” speaker series. Grant funding will be spread out over three years and will support one speaker each academic year, addressing topics related to the relevance of the Bible to contemporary issues and concerns. First speaker in the series will be Franklin Gamwell, Chicago Divinity School professor, at 7 p.m., Sept. 19 in Fayerweather Hall’s Lawson Auditorium.

Tusculum College’s library expansion and renovation project is virtually complete with the library’s new stacks now filled with books and the staff moving into the building, which is triple the size of the library that the college has used since 1910. The college is within $1.3 million of reaching the $10 million goal of the Campaign for the Library. The Museums of Tusculum College received a Merit Award for its advertising poster in the Pinnacle Awards Program sponsored by the Northeast Tourism Association. The poster features the museum education programs offered through the Doak House Museum and the President Andrew Johnson Museum and Library, both located at Tusculum College. The poster also received an “Award of Excellence” from the Tennessee Association of Museums at their 2005 annual meeting. Over 12,000 school-age children and their teachers visited the Museums during the past academic year.

At Louisville Seminary, faculty assignments have been announced. Scott Williamson was promoted to full professor of the Robert H. Walkup Chair of Theological Ethics. David C. Hester was appointed to the office of Dean of the Seminary beginning this fall with the 153rd academic year. Patricia K. Tull has been appointed to the A.B. Rhodes Professorship in Old Testament, named for Arnold Black Rhodes, an alum of Louisville Seminary who taught Old Testament at the seminary for three decades.

A Louisville Seminary alum, William J. Carl III, has been called to serve as the fifth president of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. Carl has served on Louisville Seminary’s Board of Trustees since 1988. He currently serves as pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Dallas.

At Laws Lodge and Retreat Center of Louisville Seminary on September 29-October 4, a spiritual retreat led by the Rev. Dr. Lauren Artress, creator of the Labyrinth Project, is scheduled. Participants will have the opportunity to experience the enriching spiritual practice of walking the labyrinth for healing and transformation. They will also explore this ancient practice as a part of religious inquiry into its history, theology and spirituality and find practical application of the labyrinth in 21st century experience. For more information, www.lpts.edu.

(The following excerpts are from a report by Evan Silverstein for Presbyterian News Services, received on August 10, 2005)

The trustees of Presbyterian-related Knoxville College in Tennessee have fired President Barbara R. Hatton, alleging that she has managed the school “by creating fear and intimidation.”

The decision, effective immediately, was reached on Monday. August 8, during a special board meeting at a Knoxville airport hotel.

“It is a very sad day for Knoxville College and a very sad day for Dr. Hatton,” said Beneva Bibbs, the Presbyterian Church (USA)’s associate for racial ethnic schools and colleges.

Hatton’s dismissal comes as the 130-year-old historically black college faces serious financial problems and declining enrollment. Enrollment peaked several years ago at nearly 1,000 students, but recently has fallen as low as 130.

Hatton was hired in 1997, shortly after the school lost its accreditation. She promised to get the institution’s financial problems under control, but the troubles continued.

…..The college lost its accreditation in August because of shaky finances. The revocation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools meant that students could no longer obtain federal financial aid.

That same year, Hatton became president and made the school a “work college”, where students could offset expenses by taking jobs. The school teamed with private businesses to provide jobs for students and revenue for the college.

The institution also receives money from the PC(USA)’s annual Christmas Joy Offering, which supports the seven Presbyterianrelated racial-ethnic schools and colleges. Bibbs said the college’s 2005 allocation from the offering was $289,454, of which $100,000 was repaid to the church in $25,000 increments for outstanding loans.