Newspapers / Mars Hill University Student … / May 12, 1978, edition 1 / Page 3
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THE HILLTOP, May 12, 1978, Page Three seminary President To 'peak at Graduation Hi president of Southern Baptist ological Seminary in Louisville, Dr. , ® Kimbrough McCall, will present “accalaureate sermon Sunday morn- '’May 21, as Mars Hill College cele- its annual commencement week- McCall, a native of Meridan, Miss- ^PPi, earned his undergraduate de- from Furman University. He has *®arned the Th.M. and Ph.D. degrees Southern Seminary. During the ^ of his career, he has also been /'led honorary degrees from Baylor /ersity, Furman University, and the j/ersity of Richmond. He was pastor I ® Broadway Baptist Church in Louis- before being named president of ; New Orleans Baptist Theological ij'i^ry. He has also held posts as the !, utive secretary of the executive ,^J>Hittee of the Southern Baptist Li^ntion, executive secretary of the Ij^bern Baptist Foundation, and treas- Southern Seminary. He was president of Southern Seminary ’'951 :>(l 1 the social w ; w coiapt . Unfo''*^ leal of In, ^ God’s Hurry and What is the ancipa'if, ording j ades are McCall has published numerous in denominational periodicals ,*a the author of several books, in- He is a member of the Nation- ^ -no a” becoming ipany as a man 1 margin, vvou^d nan than a ^ ci5t types still p he perceiveo j,, n in various These hurdle® ij dy. Maleorfe"’" Jut there. be ing the soon t e : frightening- o? Many kno'^^jll . The Mars i^e done their jp ividual studen^^jj with maturity Sv L^nncil of the Boy Scouts of Ameri Rotary Club, the General Council V ® Baptist World Alliance, and is a ij er of the Boards of Directors of ^'luisville Fund the Louisville Cham ber of Commerce, and the Louisville Medical Center. Commencement weekend, which will mark the 122nd academic year for Mars Hill, will officially begin Friday after noon, May 19, with an exhibition of student art on the mezzanine of the Fine Arts Building. On Saturday morning. May 20, the Board of Trustees will hold their semi-annual business meeting and then meet with the Board of Advis ors at noon. Mars Hill separated the traditional alumni day activities from commencement weekend last year, moving the alumni activities to homecoming. This allows the college to place its emphasis on the seniors, their parents, and friends. Saturday evening’s activities will be highlighted by the annual banquet in the college cafeteria at 5:30 p.m. and will be brought to a close with a “pops” concert by the music department in Moore Auditorium. On Sunday, the congregation of Mars Hill Baptist Church will join the college community for the 11 a.m. baccalaureate service in Moore. At 2:30 p.m. there will be a student organ recital, also in Moore, and at 3 p.m. nearly 260 seniors, the first class to complete Mars Hill’s competence-based curriculum, will receive their diplomas from college president. Dr. Fred B. Bentley. The week end’s activities will be brought to a close with Dr. Bentley’s traditional address to the graduates. Pictured are Phil Weast, Director of Wren College Union; and Don Gehring, Dean of Students. Photo hy Archie Jones. east and Gehring Resign Posts By Cheryl Aldridge lary ylor Miller , ,.h nes, John M® bell. Jr. right Culp^PP irney Panned et’ in this article are Phil Weast Gehring who will be leaving iVt" several years of dedicated : 9s administrators. Phil Weast became the director ivjj college union in 1972 the Union housed underneath the cafeteria Sii)”.*® area occupied by the New Be- Coffeehouse. In July 1973, College Union opened. As the ^ College Union director, Weast Ke ^®'pad design the budget and de aperating procedures, and select- j ae furniture for the new building, f •'asponsibilities as college union 'ar have included coordinating all >(gj a activities, arranging programs and **rvj all facets of the Union Board student employment, etc. are ’V'.as smoothly. Until 1976, he was charge of Union finances. Be- programming is a full-time job, \ I'aess manager was hired to relieve bj^.'^actor of those responsibilities. Weast describes his primary ob- a as “helping students to get a V ®''c idea of what it’s like to live in *lit/®al world and work with people a the college, and to aid in the per- Scowth of the student.” During his tenure, students have become in- ’itij'agly more active in Union affairs. ®*'^'^ant help a wide variety of [jl/j ^s were initiated. Spring Fling, ^Stj^'tion Christmas Party, Gong Show, Vfe recreation and Special at Classes were begun. All has not been a bed of roses for Weast. He admits it has been an uphill struggle. During his first year as direc tor, a petition was circulated calling for his dismissal. Now, six years later, it is evident that there is a feeling of mu tual respect between the students and Phil Weast. In addition to his activities as College Union Director, Weast served as advisor to the Greek Council, WVMH Radio Sta tion, SGA, and was in charge of the ID Card System. Reminiscing about his years at MHC Phil Weast is most proud of the fact that today “there are students who are taking the initiative to work with pro gramming and are seeing them through.” He doesn’t credit this to himself but rather states that the students have been given the necessary leadership tools (through workshops, conventions, etc.) and are handling their own affairs adept ly. Outstanding leaders like Mickey McGlaughlin and Buzzy Scott made it all worthwhile. Mr. Weast admits that he feels a degree of sadness at leaving Mars Hill but he is entering a new phase of his life and is definitely excited about it. After the semester ends, Weast will be leaving for the University of Georgia at Athens. He is pursuing his doc torate of higher education which pro bably will require two years of study. When asked about his vocational goals, the College Union Director expressed his hope that he could obtain a job as di rector of a large university student union or a job as director of a continuing education program. Weast states, “1 have loved my job. I’m proud of our accomplishments, and I will miss the students.” Dr. Donald Gehring will be leaving this year after 7 years as Dean of Student Development at MHC. Dean Gehring laughingly recalls his first encounter with Mars Hill. As a graduate student in higher education at the University of Georgia he attended a number of semi nars. At one of these Mr. Gehring found himself without a match to light his ever present pipe. Spotting a tall, distin guished man who looks like a typical pipe smoker, Gehring asked the man for a match, and sure enough his hunch was right. Later the man spoke at the semi nar on the unique programs Mars Hill College had to offer. “That was the first time I’d ever heard of Mars Hill and Fred Bentley!” Gehring was im pressed with President Bentley and in terested in Mars Hill College’s unique approach to education and when the time came for his internship, he de cided to do his at the small college. He interned under Dr. Richard Hoffman and at the end of his 6 months, was asked to stay on as Dean of Student Affairs. Dr. Gehring agreed with the stipulation that this title would be changed to Dean of Student Development. When Dr. Gehring took office in Aug ust 1971, there was only a small staff under him, there was one part time nurse in the infirmary, there was no college Union Board, and girls could not go up “Guys Hill” except from 2-5 on Sunday afternoons!! He began work immedi ately to remedy the situation with two objectives in mind: (1) to build a team of competent professional people and (2) to apply the principles of human devel opment to student development. In the next four years, a student union direc tor, housing director, full-time nurse, and director of security were hired. Gehring proudly recounts these ad vancements: “We pushed student de velopment, opened new doors to stu dents, and made this our whole empha sis. I’m the head coach but I couldn’t accomplish anything without these people. We’re a team; we work well together. They are all good, well-re spected people.” The past seven years have seen many changes - both good and bad. In 1972, SGA officers resigned but since that conflict there have been no confronta tions between the Dean and thq govern ing body. Sally Moffitt was murdered. Treat Dorm burned, and the recent kidnapping took place. “But we learn ed from these tragedies and are the stronger for having undergone them.” Dean Gehring is proud of the fact that 15% of the student body work in some phase of student development. “I’m proud of the foundation grant we’ve received for our resident tutor program and orientation - when I first came we brought freshmen here two days be fore registration. Now we have a week long program almost entirely by students and it just tickles the death out of me!” Gehring will be going to the Uni versity of Kentucky in Louisville, as Associate Professor of Higher Education. He sees it as an exciting challenge and the non-administrative past will give him the opportunity to pursue his writing. He has collaborated on three books concerning a student government and the role of both student and ad ministrator. Summing up his seven years at MHC, Gehring states: “It has been good seven years. I’ve enjoyed the people, professors, and students, and I’m going to miss a lot of people, and the town of Mars Hill with its close ties to the college. I’ll be back through. Mars Hill is a good stopover between Louis ville and the beach!
Mars Hill University Student Newspaper
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May 12, 1978, edition 1
3
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