Alumni Blog

Special Announcement – Dr. A. Michael Goff

 

Dr. A. Michael Goff, Professor of Biology at IWU since 1977, will be retiring at the end of this semester.  The Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics requests the honor of your presence at a reception to recognize Dr. Goff and wish him well. 

 

We will be hosting this reception today, Thursday, April 16, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., in the Student Center Piazza.

 

We have sent invitations to several of our alumni regarding a special Division reception that we are having next Thursday, April 23, 7:00-9:00 p.m., on the BHSN Rooftop Plaza.  We plan a special "SURPRISE" recognition time between 7:30-8:30 p.m.

 

We have also sent information to alumni regarding a book that is being put together by Stan McVay and Shirley Gates.  That information is as follows:

 

After well over thirty years as Professor of Biology at Indian Wesleyan University, Dr. A. Michael Goff is retiring this spring. As his student or colleague you are invited to write a letter of memories and congratulations to Dr. Goff. You may include references to a classroom incident or one that occurred on one of his many IWU trips with students, or of some other positive influence he has had on your life. Feel free to include photos. These letters will be placed in a three-ring binder and given to Dr. Goff at his retirement reception on April 23, 2009. If snail mailing your letter, please mail to Stan K. McVay: 12104 North Meridian Road, Logansport IN 46947. Or e-mail to Shirley Vogel Gates at shirleymgates@hotmail.com. Please mail your letter no later than April 15, 2009. This is to be a surprise for Dr. Goff. 

 

Published by the IWU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION

Charlene B. Thornton has been named Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the FBI’s Honolulu Division. Director Robert S. Mueller, III appointed her to this position to replace SAC Janet Kammerman, who was recently appointed Associate Executive Assistant Director of the Human Resources Branch at FBI Headquarters. Most recently, Ms. Thornton served as SAC of the San Francisco Division.

Ms. Thornton entered on duty as an FBI special agent in 1979. Upon completion of training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, she conducted a variety of criminal, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism investigations at the Indianapolis and Los Angeles Divisions. In 1985, she was promoted to a supervisory position in the Legal Counsel Division at FBI Headquarters, where she assisted in the defense of the FBI and FBI employees. In 1989, she became Chief of the Legal Research Unit, responsible for providing legal advice and guidance to FBI executives and field offices.

Mrs. Thornton left FBI Headquarters in 1991 to return to the field. After three years supervising applicant, civil rights, white collar crime, and violent crime squads in the Baltimore Division, she was promoted to Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Honolulu Division in 1995. While there, she managed all investigative programs and had primary responsibility for administrative management. She also oversaw the FBI’s extraterritorial investigations throughout Asia and the Pacific.

In 1997, Ms. Thornton returned to FBI Headquarters as Deputy General Counsel, overseeing the FBI’s legal training, forfeiture, and legal advice programs. She served in that role until 1999, when she moved to the FBI’s Inspection Division. As an Inspector, she was responsible for overseeing comprehensive audits of the FBI’s investigative and administrative operations.

Ms. Thornton was named SAC of the Birmingham Division in 2000. In that capacity, she directed all FBI operations in the Northern District of Alabama. In 2002, she assumed the duties of SAC Phoenix, responsible for all FBI operations in the state of Arizona. She served in Phoenix until 2004, when she was appointed Assistant Director of the Inspection Division at FBI Headquarters. In that role she was responsible for the oversight of internal investigations of employee misconduct, as well as for evaluating the FBI’s investigative, financial, and administrative programs. In 2006, she was named SAC of the San Francisco Division.

Ms. Thornton graduated from Indiana Wesleyan University in Marion, Indiana, with a degree in Political Science and Economics. She earned a Juris Doctorate, with honors, from the Indiana University School of Law in Indianapolis, and a Masters of Law in Taxation from the University of San Diego Law School. She is a graduate of the National Executive Institute and is a member of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. In 2005, Mrs. Thornton was awarded the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive in recognition of her sustained high level of achievement in managing demanding and multifaceted FBI operations.

 

MARION — Indiana Wesleyan University plans to open a seminary for the Wesleyan Church next September on its Marion campus.

The school says the seminary will include about 200 students currently enrolled in master’s programs and 75 other master of divinity students entering over the course of its first year.

Only about 15 percent of Wesleyan pastors hold seminary degrees, but leaders of the Fishers, Ind.-based denomination say they hope the seminary will double that number.

Indiana Wesleyan says all of the seminary’s students will be required to have full-time ministries in local churches while they pursue their degrees.

The Wesleyan Church has 400,000 members in 80 countries.

 

More News – http://www.indwes.edu/news/ArchiveNews/2009/Seminary-to-Open-At-Indiana-Wesleyan-University.htm

 

Text Version:

 

Seminary to Open At Indiana Wesleyan University

The first seminary in the history of The Wesleyan Church will open in September on the Marion campus of Indiana Wesleyan University. The IWU Board of Trustees unanimously approved the historic proposal on April 3.

The seminary format will be similar to IWU’s successful adult education programs, which allow students to further their education while maintaining family and professional responsibilities.

"We have taken the very best of the future and the very best of the past to create a new model," IWU President Henry Smith said. "Our purpose was to make a seminary education more practical, more accessible and more affordable."

Although seminary training is encouraged, only about 15 percent of Wesleyan pastors have seminary degrees. Denominational leaders are hoping the new IWU seminary will double that number.

While Wesleyan pastors are seen as key candidates, the seminary is expected to draw ministerial students from other evangelical Christian denominations.

A seminary task force, consisting of officials from IWU and The Wesleyan Church, met for two years to consider creating a seminary in Marion. Dr. Ken Schenck and Rev. Russ Gunsalus, IWU religion professors, guided the task force.

The idea gained momentum in December when the Higher Learning Commission extended IWU’s accreditation to include the Master of Divinity (M Div.) degree. The M. Div. is the foundational degree for a seminary.

The seminary will open this fall with an expected 200 students who currently are enrolled in master’s programs plus 75 M.Div. students over the course of the first year.

A $6 million building, that would include classrooms, offices and lodging for students, already is on the drawing board, but no date has been set for the start of construction. The building is planned for the 4400 block of South Landess Street.

All students will be required to have – and to maintain – full-time ministries in local churches while they pursue a seminary degree. "We do not want to take seminary students away from their local churches and their ministries," Smith said.

Many students, who do not live close to campus, can take two-thirds of their classes online and come to campus for intense one-week classes. Students within driving distance of Marion can take all of their classes on campus.

The 75-hour M. Div. degree will take four years to complete. As many as four professors will teach each class to better integrate various components – such as Bible, theology, church history and practical applications – into each course.

"I firmly believe this will be the most practical seminary in the world," said Dr. Kerry Kind, General Director of Education and the Ministry for The Wesleyan Church.

The IWU Board of trustees will govern the seminary and will appoint a seminary board. The seminary, which does not yet have a name, will have a chief operating officer, an academic dean and its own faculty.

"Several faculty members already are teaching in our graduate religion programs, and we are in an active search to build a new faculty of ministry scholars," said IWU Provost David Wright.

The Wesleyan Church was formed in1968 through the mergers of several like-minded denominations, dating as far back as 1843. The denomination has 400,000 constituents in 4,000 churches and missions in 80 countries.

In addition to IWU, the denomination operates colleges in Houghton, New York; Central, South Carolina, and Bartlesville, Oklahoma. There also is a Wesleyan Bible college in Sussex, New Brunswick, Canada.

Indiana Wesleyan University is an evangelical Christian comprehensive university of The Wesleyan Church, which has its world headquarters in Fishers, Indiana. IWU was founded in 1920 and is committed to liberal arts and professional education.

More than 3,200 students are enrolled in traditional programs on the University’s main campus in Marion. Another 12,200 adult learners attend classes at regional campuses in Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio and online.