November 9, 2006

     Almost as soon as one project is complete, another springs up to take its place, at least that how it has seemed on the Bryan campus this fall.

     The new practice gymnasium is scheduled for a Nov. 15 opening, Vice President of Operations Tim Hostetler said this week. One portable floor – from the NBA Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass. – is on site, with the second due this week. “It will take a couple of days to put the floors in place, set the hoops and stripe the floors,” he said.

     “Now, workers are installing ceilings and floors, finishing the plumbing, putting hardware on doors and things like that.”

     While work is continuing in the gym, workers are beginning to install the metal walls for the athletic training facility adjacent to the playing floor of Summers Gymnasium. Mr. Hostetler said work continues on a pace to have the building ready for occupation over the Christmas break. “The main thing this will provide is space and floor-level access to the gym,” he said.

     At the same time, workers are ready to install physical fitness equipment recently purchased from a commercial gym that recently closed.

     Head Athletic Trainer Jeremy Kauffman said the equipment, about two years old, will better serve athletes and the general student population than did the equipment it replaces. The college purchased six treadmills, an exercise bike, two elliptical machines, two step machines and about 50 pieces of weight-lifting equipment.

     Until renovations to Summers Gym are completed, the new exercise equipment will be located in the weight room on the ground floor of the Student Life Center and in the “old” athletic training room, once the athletic trainers move.

     A project “many years in the making” came to fruition Nov. 3, as Bryan’s Center for Origins Research reopened the Willard Henning Natural History Museum as a tribute to the man who began the collection 50 years ago.

     The Center for Origins Research (CORE) was organized in 1989 when Dr. Kurt Wise came to Bryan. Dr. Wise was responsible for much of the work to salvage, clean and re-catalog specimens after a catastrophic fire in 2000.

     Dr. Todd Wood, Dr. Wise’s successor as CORE director, “picked up the baton and has run with it well,” Bryan President Dr. Stephen D. Livesay said. “With Dr. Roger Sanders and a team of students and volunteers, they have worked night and day to bring the museum to this place.”

     Dr. Livesay pointed out that the museum collection includes some 100,000 pieces, only a fraction of which are on display. “I hope one day we can have a larger showplace,” he said. “We want to invite the people in the community to come and make this a significant resource. Our focus is on Tennessee, and our goal is for this to help people learn about our community and our Creator.”

     He paid tribute to the CORE staff—Dr. Wood, Dr. Sanders and Ms. Stephanie Mace—for their contribution to the field of creation science. “CORE is one of the finest places of origins research in the world. We have some of the finest scientists in the world teaching and pursuing work in research.”

     Dr. Wood thanked volunteers and students who made the museum possible. He also praised Dr. Wise for his efforts after the fire. “If it hadn’t been for Dr. Wise, I wouldn’t have known what we have.”

     Building on the foundation laid during its September seminar, the Bryan Center for Critical Thought and Practice will examine the topic “Bioethics and the Meaning of Man” in sessions Nov. 10-11.

     “‘Ethics’ broadly speaking means ‘doing the right thing,’” Bryan Center Director Dr. Charles VanEaton said. “But as mankind’s knowledge has increased, as medical technology has advanced to the point that we can play God in so many ways with the lives of men and women, the ‘right thing’ can become a very difficult thing to determine. Our speakers will wrestle with the topic, endeavoring to shed light from a biblical perspective on the field of bioethics.”

     Four speakers are to examine aspects of bioethics, beginning with a panel discussion at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 10.

     Dr. W. Gary Phillips, pastor of Signal Mountain, Tenn., Bible Church and a former professor at Bryan College, will speak on “Boundaries and Thresholds: Some Biblical Reflections on Bioethics.”

     Saturday at 9 a.m., Dr. Harold Y. Vanderpool, professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, will speak on “Human Nature and the Entanglement of Medicine and Religion.”

     Mr. Eric Cohen, Editor of The New Atlantis, will address “Morality, Equality, and the Fate of Bioethics” at 10:30 a.m.

     At 1 p.m., Prof. Carter Snead, associate professor of law at Notre Dame School of Law, will speak on “The (Surprising) Truth about Schiavo: A Defeat for the Cause of Autonomy.”

     Each presentation will be followed by a time for questions from the audience, and the program will conclude with a panel discussion at 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

     Sessions will be held in Rudd Auditorium and are free and open to the public.

     For more information about speakers for this seminar, visit the Bryan College Library web site.

 

    Bryan’s 104-voice Chorale will present George Frideric Handel’s masterpiece Messiah Dec. 8 and 9.
     Since its premier in 1742, Messiah has become one of the most beloved musical presentations of the story of redemption, including prophecies of the coming of the Messiah, His suffering, death, resurrection and glorification as the “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
     “I truly believe Messiah was inspired by God,” Chorale Director Dr. David Luther said. “It is almost impossible for a human being to write a three-hour masterpiece in 24 days, as Handel did. If you take any individual chorus or solo, it would be considered a masterpiece, but to do the whole life of Christ, from the prophecy of life to his birth to His ascension into heaven, it’s amazing.”
     The Chorale will present about half the entire oratorio, including 12 of the choruses and many of the solos in a performance that should take about 90 minutes.
     Preparing the Chorale has been “a wonderful educational experience.” Most of the students have never sung Messiah, so they are learning the difficult score. “They can sense the greatness of the music,” he said. “When they hear the music and start polishing individual pieces, they fall in love with it.”
     Dr. Luther is excited about the performance because of the quality of his Chorale. With 104 members, the largest ever, the ensemble is made up of “very talented young people. We have quality, not just numbers, and a wonderful balance of men and women.”
     While he will use two guest soloists, bass Brett Hyberger, and Bryan alumna Kelly Stultz, alto, seven students also will have solo parts. These include sopranos Katie Fridsma, Jennilee Elliott and Emily Cook, seniors; alto Micah Pepper, sophomore; and tenors Ryan Traub, a sophomore, and Daniel Spivey and Daniel Tomyn, seniors.
     Messiah will be presented Friday and Saturday, Dec. 8 and 9, at 7:30 p.m. in Rudd Auditorium. There is no charge for the performance.