Conversations

98 Pages·2015·1.48 MB·English

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Growing out of the seventy-fifth annual meeting of the National S
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this book represents the best thinking of seven of the forty leaders who came L
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together to reflect on educational leadership in the United Methodist context. A
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In collaboration with The Aspen Institute, participants discussed readings G Leading United Methodist-
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that were selected to inform and stimulate conversation. It is our hope that this NIT
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collection of essays will assist each NASCUMC leader in developing a unique, D
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substantive, and contextualized understanding of her or his role as curator T
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of the institution’s relationship to the United Methodist connection. D
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Contributors: Lawrence D. Czarda • Rosalind Fuse-Hall • Sandra S. Harper LA
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Melanie B. Overton • Robert W. Pearigen • Lallene J. Rector • J. Cameron West D S
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General Editors: L
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M. Kathryn Armistead, Ph.D. is a deacon in The United Methodist Church , CO
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and a Nashville-based author. Find her at: www.kathyarmistead.com. E
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Melanie B. Overton, Ed.D. is Assistant General Secretary , AN
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for Schools, Colleges, and Universities: General U
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Board of Higher Education and Ministry, IVE
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The United Methodist Church. SIT General Editors
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M. Kathryn Armistead, Ph.D.
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www.gbhem.org
Conversations
Leading United Methodist-
related Schools, Colleges,
and Universities
General Editors
M. Kathryn Armistead, Ph.D.
and Melanie B. Overton, Ed.D.

Conversations
Leading United Methodist-
related Schools, Colleges,
and Universities
General Editors
M. Kathryn Armistead, Ph.D.
and Melanie B. Overton, Ed.D.
A window into leadership of United Methodist-related educational institutions. Growing out of the seventy-fifth
annual meeting of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The United Methodist Church, this book
represents the best thinking of seven of the forty leaders who came together to reflect on educational leadership
in the United Methodist context. In collaboration with The Aspen Institute, participants discussed readings that
were selected to inform and stimulate conversation. It is our hope that this collection of essays will assist each NA-
SCUMC leader in developing a unique, substantive, and contextualized understanding of her or his role as curator
of the institution’s relationship to the United Methodist connection.
Contributors: Lawrence D. Czarda • Rosalind Fuse-Hall • Sandra S. Harper • Melanie B. Overton
Robert W. Pearigen • Lallene J. Rector • J. Cameron West
General Editors:
M. Kathryn Armistead, Ph.D. is a deacon in The United Methodist Church
and a Nashville-based author. Find her at: www.kathyarmistead.com.
Melanie B. Overton, Ed.D. is Assistant General Secretary for Schools, Colleges, and Universities: General Board
of Higher Education and Ministry, The United Methodist Church.
Copyright ©2015 by the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry, The United Methodist Church.
All rights reserved.
ISBN 978-0-938162-66-7
Produced by the Office of Communications.
Contents
Introduction .................................................................................7
Melanie B. Overton, Assistant General Secretary—
Schools, Colleges, and Universities, General Board of
Higher Education and Ministry
Enlightening the Eyes of the Heart ..............................................13
Robert W. Pearigen, President, Millsaps College
Leading a United Methodist-related Educational Institution .........21
Lallene J. Rector, President, Garrett-Evangelical
Theological Seminary
Drawing Out ................................................................................29
Sandra S. Harper, President, McMurry University
How the Historic Wesleyan Tradition in Education Can Inform
United Methodist-Affiliated Institutions .......................................37
Lawrence D. Czarda, President, Greensboro College
Out of Our Caves: Courage for Conversations in the Light ............47
Rosalind Fuse-Hall, President, Bennett College
Jesus, the Big Questions, and United Methodist-related
Higher Education ........................................................................57
J. Cameron West, President, Huntingdon College
Fulfilling the Great Commandment through Education ................65
Melanie B. Overton, Assistant General Secretary—
Schools, Colleges, and Universities, General Board
of Higher Education and Ministry
About the Contributors ................................................................73
NASCUMC Members in Attendance at the
75th Anniversary Meeting ...........................................................77
The Aspen Institute: Leadership, Values, and the Future of
United Methodist-related Education
Appendix I ..................................................................................81
Syllabus: Leadership, Values, and the Future of
United Methodist-related Education
Appendix II .................................................................................85
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave
Introduction
The compass of United Methodist-related education has
pointed steadfastly toward contextualization since the
earliest days of organized education in the Wesleyan tradi-
tion. While the 1892 Methodist Episcopal Church’s Book of
Discipline prescribed that church-related institutions must
offer “an historical and literary biblical course,” institutions
were able to determine whether the course was required or
elective in the context of their own curriculum.1 Over the
next eighty years, the General Conference, the University
Senate, the General Board of Higher Education and Ministry
(GBHEM), and their predecessor bodies consistently pre-
ferred to provide a broad set of guidelines, rather than narrow
prescriptions to guide institutional behavior.2 After signifi-
cant study throughout the 1970s, this approach was codified
in the 1980 Book of Discipline:
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Declarations of church relationship are expected to dif-
fer one from the other, and because of the diversity in
heritage and other aspects of institutional life, declara-
tions of church relationships will necessarily be of insti-
tutional design.3
In granting educators the freedom to craft a curriculum
and cocurriculum tailored to their context, the denomination
has provided a powerful educational framework. Each United
Methodist-related institution designs the relationship accord-
ing to a set of broad principles that enable faith—and Unit-
ed Methodism—to play a meaningful role in the educational
process without hindering the full expression of ideas that is
an integral part of the learning experience. In the current ver-
sion of these denominational principles, an institution must
demonstrate that it identifies as United Methodist-related;
provides for scholarly theological teaching in the Christian
tradition; respects and honors religious practice; allows fac-
ulty and students to explore the intellectual dimensions of
Christian faith; encourages the exploration of the place of
religious belief and practice in the larger society; recognizes
the Social Principles of The United Methodist Church; and
includes in its faculty, administrative officers, and board of
trustees persons who understand and respect the relationship
with The United Methodist Church.4 These principles require
the presence of certain elements but do not mandate their
exclusivity or the absence of other ideas, affiliations, or prac-
tices; in fact, the denomination has affirmed the importance
of academic freedom:
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We believe that colleges and universities are to ensure
that academic freedom is protected for all members of
the academic community and a learning environment is
fostered that allows for a free exchange of ideas.5
While elements of the church-campus relationship will
take different shapes on different campuses, the question for
leaders of every United Methodist-related educational institu-
tion is how our relationship to The United Methodist Church
can support the fullest education of the human beings
entrusted to our care.
NASCUMC
Beginning in the 1940s, annual and semiannual meetings
of the National Association of Schools and Colleges of The
United Methodist Church (NASCUMC) have enabled
the heads of colleges, universities, theological schools, and
pre-collegiate schools to come together and discuss how their
relationship to The United Methodist Church can best sup-
port the education of their students.
NASCUMC is a voluntary association of educational in-
stitutions that are related to The United Methodist Church,
and it is generously supported by the General Board of
Higher Education and Ministry, the leadership development
agency of The United Methodist Church. The mission of
NASCUMC is to:
• advance the work of education and scholarship in
member institutions;
• work cooperatively with conferences, boards, and
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