Emerging Scholars Blog

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Christian College

Evaluating Christian professors

By what means will I be evaluated?

The Marks of a Christian Scholar: A Vocational Description (Part Four)[1]
Mark Eckel, ThM PhD, Professor of Leadership, Education & Discipleship
Capital Seminary & Graduate School, Washington, D.C.

By what means will I be evaluated? What will someone identify to show that I am a Christian scholar-teacher-discipler?[2] How will I know if my professorial life conforms to a standard?

Assessment questions haunted me during my PhD research. Validation is imperative in any scientific pursuit. But how could I objectivize outcomes that would lead to quantitative proof in an obviously qualitative endeavor? The literature review provided evidence. Others had been asking the same questions.[3]

During my tenure as dean and then vice president of academic affairs[4] I began to establish a written essay approach to professor evaluations. We spent a good deal of time together as faculty[5] inside and outside of school. From other reading, I added to what I had discovered from others, developing a qualitative assessment rubric for college faculty. I believe that this process could benefit our interest in developing scholar-teacher-disciplers in Christian higher education. [Read more…] about Evaluating Christian professors

On the Tenure Track

Climbing the steps of the academy
Climbing the steps of the academy

I went through a painful process last year. Necessary, but painful. But it was a good thing. At my institution, we undergo a pre-tenure evaluation before we go up for tenure — a practice run, so to speak — and my pre-tenure review provided a valuable opportunity for me to reconsider my priorities as a Christian faculty member. As I listed committees I served on, classes I taught, lectures I attended, students I mentored — accounted for how I used my time — I could no longer deceive myself into thinking that I was devoting myself equally to teaching and research, or maintaining a healthy balance between “work and life.” It became clear that in fact, I was not. But perhaps the most important question I was forced to ask as I recognized areas in which I lagged behind, was “what am I willing to give up?”

I suspect we all know the rhetoric. As Christian scholars, we are to be the best possible scholars we can be, and in so doing, bring glory to God. As Christian teachers, we are to be the best possible teachers. “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col. 3:17)  I have taught at two excellent Christian colleges, both of which demand excellence in teaching and research, showing the world that our faith does not compromise our scholarship. But as Christians, the demands don’t stop there. We are also to love our wives, husbands, children, parents, neighbors and enemies. We are to spend time each morning in Bible reading and prayer. We are to serve in our churches and volunteer in our communities and schools. And of course we are to remain healthy — mentally and physically — since our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Am I the only one who gets overwhelmed with all that’s expected of me? [Read more…] about On the Tenure Track

Being a Christian at a Christian University

Empty classroom
Are you connected with a community of Christian scholars?

Below is the first of a periodic offering of posts by Kate Peterson (pseudonym), an assistant professor in the humanities at a Christian institution of higher education. A special thank-you to Kate for expressing her desire to share with us some of her story, thereby providing a lens for some of the challenges faced by and insights which can be uniquely offered by scholars in the context of a Christian institution of higher education. As an alumnus of two Christian institutions, a student currently enrolled at another, and an InterVarsity staff who has visited a number of Christian institutions (and institutions which were founded to be Christian institutions), I personally find it an important part of the conversation of following Christ in higher education. ~ Thomas B. Grosh IV

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I’m disappointed. In myself, mostly. And struggling a bit. It hit hard when I began my first tenure track position at a Christian university straight out of grad school several years ago. But like my colleagues, I got used to it, so caught up in day-to-day pressures that it stopped bothering me.

But this semester, I’m on leave, conducting research in a country that has very few Christians. And so it struck me again: Why do I feel better supported as a Christian scholar here than at the Christian institution in the United States where I work?

I don’t mean to complain. I love my job. I appreciate the freedom I have to bring up my faith in the classroom. I love it that students raise spiritual questions during office hours. The institution supports spiritual mentoring, and meals with students are not only encouraged, but subsidized! I was excited when an energetic undergrad scheduled lunch with me my first month and asked openly, “So, are you a Christian?” That’s a question I’ve gotten fairly often from students who are genuinely struggling and really want to know. I’ve had conversations with students about being a Christian in my field, the moral implications of issues raised in classes, or how to apply what they learn in ministry. I’ve prayed with them about how to serve Christ in their major and how their studies impact their faith. I love it.

But one thing bothers me. Why do these conversations take place with students but not peers? [Read more…] about Being a Christian at a Christian University

No football. Campus tradition rooted in peace-making

Preface

Elizabethtown College High Library

I’m surrounded by Elizabethtown College campus records checked out from High Library.  Why?  I’m writing a paper for a Brethren in Christ Core Class on The Theology of the Church (taught by Terry Brensinger) which will explore how well a college founded to keep youth within the Church of the Brethren fared in teaching denominational doctrine and way of life. In some ways I’m inspired by George Marsden’s The Soul of the American University:  From Protestant Establishment to Established Nonbelief, but Anabaptist traditions have a different relationship to the “establishment.” In addition, I’ve chosen to focus upon Elizabethtown College‘s current peace position and its relationship to the Church of the Brethren‘s tradition of peace-making based upon “Jesus’ teachings on loving our enemies (Matt. 5:44, Luke 6:27) and Paul’s admonition that Christians seek to live peaceably with all and that they strive to ‘overcome evil with good’ (Rom. 12:21).”  The research has reminded me how important it is to know your campus context (which includes campus history, stated purpose/mission, incarnated values).  Let me share some of my findings with you.  I will start by exploring why the College lacks a football team.  Feel free share your comments regarding the campus’ approach toward football and competitive sports over it’s 110 years. [Read more…] about No football. Campus tradition rooted in peace-making

Week in Review: Anxiety Edition

What are you reading, watching, thinking about this week? As usual, here’s a few which have been on our mind. Let us know your thoughts on any/all of them. If you have items you’d like us to consider for the top five, add them in the comments or send them to Tom or Mike.

1. Peace is Patriotic: Anabaptists and the National Anthem (By Duane Shank, Sojourners, 3/3/2010): Did you attend a college sporting event where the national anthem of the host country was not played? Goshen College, a residential Christian liberal arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition, has just started to play an instrumental version and it’s caused quite a stir. For Goshen’s perspective visit National anthem dialogue and implementation to continue at Goshen College (Press Release by President Jim Brenneman, 2/17/2010). Are they becoming conservative Christian or enculturated/liberal as they seek to be hospitable to guest teams?  HT:  Fred.

2.  Translating Pain: Immigrant Suffering in Literature & Culture by ESN member Madelaine Hron (assistant professor in the Department of English and Film at Wilfrid Lauriern University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada) has just been has been shortlisted for the prestigious The Raymond Klibansky Prize, for Best Book in the Humanities published in Canada. For more on the nomination click here.  For ESN’s 1/22/2009 pre-release author interview visit here.

3. What do younger faculty want? According to Harvard’s Collaborative on Academic Careers in Higher Education (COACHE), they don’t want long hours, constant mobility, or career success at the expense of a good family and personal life (Chronicle, March 4). This is based on interviews with 16 “Generation X” faculty members at a variety of schools.  The full report can be downloaded from COACHE’s website as a PDF.

4. The State of the Humanities: Inside Higher Ed reports the latest results of the Humanities Departmental Survey.  The full report warrants closer reading, but IHE’s summary echoes earlier articles from ESN about the state of the humanities:

At a time when many humanities professors are worried about the future of the tenure track, the data in the report will only add to those concerns — especially because it predates the freezes on tenure-track hiring that have been instituted at so many colleges. Generally, the fields that have the highest percentages of tenured faculty members are among the smallest disciplines. And while the percentages vary, use of non-tenure-track faculty members is significant throughout. Further, the data back up a point made increasingly by activists for adjuncts: that significant numbers of academics are working full time, off the tenure track.

5. Alan Jacobs Makes Mike Jealous: Maybe it’s a bad idea to get a PhD in the humanities, but Alan Jacobs (English, Wheaton) recently reminded me [Mike] why I have always loved the scholarly study of literature.  On his New Atlantis blog Text Patterns, Jacobs recently reported the completion of his latest book project, a new critical edition of W. H. Auden’s important long poem The Age of Anxiety. Jacobs writes:

I have worked as hard on this project as I have ever worked on anything, and at the moment I am pleased and proud. There’s something especially rewarding about doing all this work — visiting libraries and archives, working through vast tracts of mostly useless materials, trying to decipher Auden’s terrible handwriting, comparing multiple editions of the poem, reading much of what Auden read as he wrote the poem, carefully marking up the typescript in order to preserve the poem’s intricate formatting — not for the sake of my own critical reputation, but in order to make the work of a poet I love more useful and accessible and comprehensible. I can truly call this a labor of love. But boy, am I tired.

If my GRE were up-to-date, I would have sent off three applications by the end of that paragraph. The book will be published later this year by Princeton UP, I assume as part of their Auden critical editions series.

Bonus:

Donald Kraybill, PhD, (highlighted in Amish Grace & Pop Culture) teaches on The Upside Down Kingdom.