April 2009 Faculty-Staff News

April 28, 2009
Academic News + Academics

Mr. Bernie Belisle; students Cameron Lane, Rob Yates, Justin Winters, Eve Hildebrandt; and staff member Miss Amanda Sherrin attended the March 4-7 Southeastern Theatre Conference in Birmingham, AL. Students attended a variety of acting, technical, music, and auditioning workshops over the four days. Mr. Belisle attended a variety of educational oriented workshops as well as acting, technical and auditioning seminars. He gathered with members of Christians in Theatre Arts (CITA) in an informal networking meeting where he met Dr. Lou Campbell, a friend of Dr. Livesay and a theatre architect consultant.

BREAK FOR CHANGE – The following faculty and staff members served as team mentors during their spring break last month to the following ministry locations:
Dr. Ken Froemke served on the Commission on Colleges reaffirmation team for Methodist University, Fayetteville, NC, in March. He subsequently received a letter of commendation from the COC for the “great job” he did on the writing and presentation of the exit report and that the “evaluation and consultative services [he] provided were greatly appreciated.” Ken also attended the April COC Workshop for Accreditation Liaisons in Atlanta and received additional training on the role of Accreditation Liaisons and on the peer review process.

Dr. Scott Jones attended the 2009 National Sunday School Conference on March 4 – 5 in Woodstock, GA. He also served as Team Mentor on the Break for Change group to Nicaragua March 6-14.

Dr. Doug Kennard reports that at the Evangelical Theological Society meeting April 3-4 Biblical Studies senior Ashley Baker won second place in the student paper competition (only being beaten out by a doctoral student) for her delightful paper “Reversing the Curse: Boaz & Ruth at the Threshing Floor.”

Mrs. Corinne Livesay authored the Teaching Assistance Manual and developed the student response system content for Managing Human Resources 15th ed. (South-Western/Cengage Learning), 2010.

Dr. Sigrid Luther was installed as Vice President of the 23,000 member Music Teachers National Association at the MTNA Conference in Atlanta on April 1. MTNA has provided an opportunity for Dr. Luther's students to compete, often as state winners, and offers a valuable network of music teachers throughout the country. Dr. Luther plans to develop a manual for MTNA national performance competition coordinators as a project in her vice-presidency. In addition, Dr. Luther took four students to the Music Teachers National Conference in Atlanta, March 28 – April 1, and ran the national finals of the high school competitions (six categories).  More information and photo...

Dr. Jeff Myers released his Passing the Baton training program on DVD this month.  He has the following schedule:
  • May 5 – Keynote speaker for the Tennessee Association of Non-Public Schools, Nashville, TN
  • May 8 – Keynote speaker for the Maranatha Christian Academy Fundraising Banquet, Superior, WI
  • May – Chair Summit Ministries board meeting, Colorado Springs, CO
  • May 14-15 – Participant in the Council for National Policy, Washington, D.C.
  • May 16 – Keynote speaker for the Missouri Synod Lutheran Church Tri-Annual Convention for the Hawaii, California, Nevada district, Fremont, CA;
  • May – Speaker for Summit Ministries, Manitou Springs, CO
  • May 21-23 – Keynote speaker for the Florida Parent Educators Association Conference, Orlando, FL
  • May 28 – Keynote speaker for the Dayton Homeschool Graduation, Dayton, TN

Mrs. Polly Revis, library technical services supervisor, attended two workshops concerning “Collections Care and Management” on March 18. The workshops were sponsored by the Tennessee State Museum and were held at the Chattanoogan Hotel in Chattanooga, TN.

Dr. and Mrs. Jack W. Traylor and Dr. William Ketchersid attended the Southeast Tennessee History Conference at Lee University the evening of April 8.

Dr. Jack W. Traylor is undergoing training as a brakeman/trainman with the Tennessee Valley Railroad. The Tennessee Valley Railroad operates both passenger and freight service over about 120 miles of track in southeast Tennessee/North Georgia, as well as the railroad museum off highway 153 in Chattanooga and the shop in East Chattanooga. While it does have some full-time employees, most of its operations are performed by volunteers such as Jack, people who love railroading and want to serve the organization. Since it is a working railroad, its employees, paid and volunteer, are under Federal Railroad Administration regulations and supervision just as the major railroads like Norfolk Southern are.

Dr. Traylor began the process by attending a rules class and passing a series of rules examinations on March 7, and he currently is performing a minimum of 40 hours of observation trips, riding the steam engine or diesel depending on the motive power for the trip, or helping the conductor on the train, as assigned. Once he completes that he will be drug tested, as required by federal law, and then will become a brakeman trainee. Once that is completed, he is qualified to work on the head end of a train as a brakeman, coupling and uncoupling cars and operating switches, or on the train itself as a trainman, which in the case of passenger service would mean helping to load/unload passengers, take tickets, and run air tests and other mechanical requirements associated with the train itself. From that point he will have the option of pursuing training either as a conductor or locomotive fireman/engineer. He intends to perform this work primarily in the summers.

Dr. Mel Wilhoit sang with the Chattanooga symphony and Opera chorus in performances of Puccini’s opera La Boheme on February 26 and 28. He also sang with the Chattanooga Bach Choir in a concert at First Cumberland Presbyterian Church on March 29.