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The God of Heaven will give us success... |
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David A. Hoag, PhD.
Senior Vice President
for Advancement
Traveling abroad this semester, President and Mrs.
Mannoia will be visiting Portugal and Italy for a
well-deserved sabbatical granted by the board of
trustees last spring. Please keep them in your prayers
as they refresh their minds and spirits. While this space is
normally reserved for a “Letter from the President,” it is
my honor to write to you about the life of the college at the
outset of her 115th year.
As I reflect on the past year and look
forward to this one, I am reminded of the insight
and success of Nehemiah in the Old Testament.
Nehemiah’s circumstances present several
parallels relevant to the work being carried out
at the college today. God charged Nehemiah
with building the wall of the city of Jerusalem.
Building on the solid foundation of the past,
the college continues towards the future with a
mindset of construction and growth.
Nehemiah also divided the people into family groups
to carry out the work. While not everything may apply to
us, there is wisdom in this approach that as each one of us
as individuals, as departments, and as other units strive for
excellence. When through prayerful consideration we carry
out our own work to the best of our abilities, the college
will be strengthened.
To continue with this theme, our building projects
continue both figuratively and literally. First, we passed
our reaccreditation process with high recommendations
from the Higher Learning Commission (formerly called
North Central). Second, we have completed one of our
best financial years in the history of the college from an
operational standpoint, and we have just completed the
college’s largest comprehensive campaign with a total of
$18.4 million raised. Again, we say thank you to the strong
and loyal support of our family of alumni and friends for
helping make the campaign so successful. Homecoming
Weekend we will be dedicating the Whitlock Music
Center, which has been an extensive renovation project of
the former Free Methodist Church building. Finally, our
enrollment has hit an all-time record with approximately
1450 traditional, graduate, and adult students.
Because of this growth, we are moving forward
on construction of a new dormitory (to open fall
2007) to accommodate our growing population.
This year we will continue to build on the
successes of last year. Just as Nehemiah had
the various families rebuilding parts of the
wall, we will have different groups working on
different parts of the college. Organizationally,
we have moved into a structure of three schools,
the School of Arts and Sciences, School of
Professional Studies, and School of Education. This issue
of the RECORD will give further details regarding this
endeavor, which will help us build on our academic program
needs for the future. From a planning perspective, we are
implementing our New Millennium Commission plan (see
www.greenville.edu/etc/nmc ).
Nehemiah was a man of solid faith, praying continually
throughout the preparation and construction of the wall. My
request is that you join us in prayer as we continue in the
building process on our campus. Included in this issue is a
monthly Prayer Card (see page 30). My request of you is to
pray for us on a regular basis just as Nehemiah dedicated
himself to pray for the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem.
Join us as we strive together to build the Kingdom at
Greenville College.
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