E-Lumine

August 18, 2006

Articles in this issue:

Record enrollment expected as school year begins - [ Article Below ]

Bryan celebrates North Hall completion - [ Article Below ]

Outstanding speakers scheduled for fall semester - [ Article Below ]

Operations staff busy making changes in summer - [ Article Below ]

Record enrollment expected as school year begins

Bryan officials are projecting record enrollment this year as new students, strong retention and non-traditional programs boost the college census.
Bryan President Dr. Stephen D. Livesay told faculty and staff members this week that some 240 new students are expected this weekend, up from 234 a year ago. Returning students are due back on campus Aug. 21, and are expected to bring traditional enrollment to about 630.

The Aspire degree completion program is expecting some 250 students to be enrolled in the program’s six locations this fall, and the new MBA program will begin shortly with 20 students, bringing total enrollment at the college to 900.

Dr. Livesay said long-range plans call for growth of about 50 students per year until Bryan’s enrollment hits 1,200 in the traditional programs and 600 in Aspire and graduate programs.

With the growth in enrollment, even the addition of North Hall’s 120 beds has not provided much of a cushion for residence hall space. Dr. Livesay said Student Life personnel are projecting about 10 beds will be unoccupied, although there are a number of students who have requested – and paid for – private rooms this fall.
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Bryan celebrates North Hall completion

One of Bryan’s quickest construction projects came to a joyous conclusion in August as North Hall opened its doors for its first residents.

Bryan faculty, staff and their families got an early preview as they toured the 120-bed residence hall following their back-to-school dinner Tuesday night. On Wednesday, the college welcomed friends from the Dayton area during an open house in the new facility.

President Livesay pointed out that college trustees approved the project during their meeting in October 2005, ground was broken in late November and walls started going up in March this year.

Vice President for Operations Tim Hostetler said construction actually was completed ahead of schedule thanks to the efforts of general contractor Dillard Construction, Inc., of Dayton, Tenn. He acknowledged that a few details—such as room numbers—were overlooked in the haste to get the building ready, but those have been addressed as Resident Director Myra Goza and early arriving students moved in.
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Outstanding speakers scheduled for fall semester

Convocation and two Bryan Center for Critical Thought and Practice seminars will bring an outstanding line-up of speakers to campus during the fall semester.


Dr. Robert P. George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, will speak at Convocation on Aug. 23. His topic will be "The Politics of Supreme Court Appointments."


Dr. George is author or editor of numerous books on natural law, constitutional law and morality. In 2005, he received a Bradley Prize for Intellectual and Civic Achievement and the Philip Merril Award for outstanding contributions to the liberal arts.


He served as a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights from 1993-98, and is a former judicial fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States.

On Sept. 15-16, the Bryan Center for Critical Thought and Practice will present a seminar on “What is Man that Thou Art Mindful,” an examination of the meaning of man. Speakers include Dr. Michael Bauman, professor of theology and culture at Hillsdale College; Dr. Dennis Hollinger, president of Evangelical School of Theology; Dr. Doug Kennard, professor of Bible at Bryan College; and Fr. Thomas Berg, executive director of the Westchester Institute.

Building on the foundation of the September seminar, the Bryan Center will present “Bioethics and the Meaning of Man: A Biblical Vision,” Nov. 10-11. Speakers include Dr. W. Gary Phillips, former professor at Bryan and pastor of Signal Mountain, Tenn., Bible Church; Eric Cohen of the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., where he is director of the Bioethics and American Democracy program and editor of The New Atlantis; Dr. Harold Y. Vanderpool, professor in the history and philosophy of medicine in the Institute for the Medical Humanities, University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston; and Dr. Carter Snead, general counsel of the President’s Council on Bioethics and associate professor of law at Notre Dame University School of Law.
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Operations staff busy making changes in summer

Say "changes" around the Bryan campus and North Hall probably would head the list.

The new residence hall is the biggest project completed this summer, but the Operations staff has been busy with other tasks to make the campus ready for the new school year.

One of the major efforts has been renovation of Rhea House to become the home of the Advancement Department. The former home of Bryan presidents and, for several years a men’s residence hall, it now houses offices of the vice president for advancement; directors of planned giving and public information; alumni coordinator, and their support staff. When renovations are complete the building also will serve as a welcome center for alumni and friends of the college.

Moving the Advancement Department allowed the Exercise and Health Science faculty to relocate to the office complex Advancement formerly occupied on the second floor of Mercer Hall.

Early in the summer work was completed to replace the floor in Summers Gymnasium, but as August rolled around a major overhaul for the gym was announced. Air conditioning was installed and work began on a new athletic training facility, located on the gym floor level. This addition will provide adequate space for offices, examination and treatment rooms and storage.

In a related move, construction has begun on an addition to the maintenance building, ultimately designed to provide adequate office, shop and storage space. Initially, however, the addition will house a practice floor for fall sports teams and intramural sports.

Next spring, at the conclusion of basketball season, work will begin on the front of Summers Gym to provide a weight room and cardio workout room on the first floor and coaches’ offices, home locker rooms and a conference room on the second floor. The building’s façade is designed to match the architecture of other buildings on campus.

Operations staff members also renovated the resident director’s apartment in Arnold residence hall, consolidated Woodlee-Ewing’s computer labs to one location, and oversaw construction of another parking lot adjacent to the soccer practice fields.
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