Higher education
James R. Nieman was named presi- dent of the Lutheran School of The- ology at Chicago, effective Aug. 1. He succeeds Philip Hougen, who became interim president after James Echols resigned for personal and professional reasons. Nieman is aca- demic dean and professor of practical theology at Hartford [Conn.] Semi- nary. Previously he served as profes- sor of homiletics at Wartburg Theo- logical Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa; pastor of Iñupiaq Lutheran Church, Anchorage, Alaska; and as consul- tant/facilitator for the “Living into the Future Together (LIFT): Renewing the Ecology of the ELCA” task force. “[Nieman’s] extensive work in the areas of context and change within the church will help LSTC form vision- ary leaders prepared to be even more effective in sharing the gospel within the communities they serve,” said Sarah Stegemoeller, the seminary’s board chair.
The real purpose of those visionary
leaders, Nieman said, is to “encour- age and support bold, creative witness by every disciple in the many places those leaders may never go. The future of theological education relies on shifting our weight onto just such a witness to the gospel, with leadership formation in service to that. LSTC impresses me as having just the right blend of character, setting, resources, and purpose to model new ways of doing this in the years to come.”
Lenoir-Rhyne University, Hickory, N.C., tapped Clayton J. Schmit to serve as founding provost of its School of Theology. With the July 1 merger of the university and Lutheran Theologi- cal Southern Seminary, Columbia, S.C., Schmit replaces retiring semi- nary president Marcus J. Miller as the theological institution’s chief admin- istrative officer. The new School of Theology combines advanced degree seminary programs available at the
44 The Lutheran •
www.thelutheran.org
Columbia campus and traditional undergraduate religion and theology programs offered in Hickory. Schmit previously served as Arthur DeKruyter/Christ Church Oak Brook Professor of Preaching at Fuller Theo- logical Seminary, Pasadena, Calif. He earned his master of divinity degree from Luther Northwestern Theologi- cal Seminary (now Luther Seminary), St. Paul, Minn., and his doctorate from the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, Calif.
“I still have a strong commitment
to the Lutheran church,” Schmit said. “This is a new day for the seminary, and I look forward to working with both [Lenoir-Rhyne and School of Theology] teams to explore the syn- ergies and prospects that the merger represents.”
Some of those synergies include
plans to offer theological courses at the university’s new Center for Grad- uate Studies in Asheville, N.C., and to develop a way undergraduates can matriculate to the Columbia, S.C., campus after taking first-year semi- nary courses in Hickory.
Maurice William Scherrens was elected president of Newberry [S.C.] College, effective Aug. 13. As senior vice president and chief operating officer, Scherrens helped expand the programs, reputation and resources of George Mason University, Fair- fax, Va. He succeeds interim presi- dent John H. Hudgens II and former president V. Scott Koerwer, who resigned for family and business rea- sons. Scherrens said he will lead “in an inclusive, transparent manner,” and help Newberry “find new paths to excellence, while we build on our existing core strengths.”
Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn., received a $1 million gift from Wil- liam Marcil and Jane Black Marcil toward repurposing its Grant Center
into the Offutt School of Business. William Marcil chairs the board of Forum Communications Co., a Fargo, N.D.-based media company. Jane Black Marcil’s father and grandfather owned the Fargo-Moorhead Forum. The business school is named for Concordia benefactor Ron Offutt, one of the nation’s largest potato farmers and farm equipment dealers.
Students at Augsburg College, Min- neapolis, can now earn a master of fine arts in creative writing. The degree includes three 10-day summer residencies, online coursework and mentorship semesters. Residencies feature daily workshops, readings and mini-courses focused on literary craft, career skills in teaching, editing, pub- lishing, book arts, advertising, trans- lation, adaptation and new media. In 2013, the creative writing program will offer four genres: fiction, creative nonfiction, poetry and screenwriting. A fifth genre, playwriting, will be added in 2014, along with a national book prize and concentrations in pub- lishing, teaching and translation. We offer “things no other pro-
gram in Minnesota or the surround- ing states offers, including a book prize, a screenwriting track and low- residency programming for all four of our genres,” said Augsburg Presi- dent Paul C. Pribbenow, adding that the use of technology will “increase accessibility and contain [student] costs.”
Muhlenberg College, Allentown, Pa., launched a $1 million endowed scholarship fund to help theater and dance students with need-based financial aid. The James R. Lentz ’66 and Debra A. Lentz Scholarship in Theatre and Dance is provided by the Lentzes, who lead Blythewood, S.C. –based Thermal Technologies and are longtime supporters of the school’s theater and dance program.
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