Ed Stetzer Leaving LifeWay for Wheaton College
LifeWay Research executive director Ed Stetzer has left the position after nine years to become the executive director of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism at Wheaton College, effective July 1, 2016. Stetzer will also move into a newly created position at Wheaton titled Billy Graham Distinguished Chair of Church, Mission and Evangelism, while continuing to work with LifeWay Christian Resources, the Southern Baptist Church’s publishing agency, Baptist News Global reports. Stetzer has also resigned as the teaching pastor of the two-campus Grace Church in Hendersonville and Gallatin, Tenn., which he started in 2011. At Wheaton, Stetzer served as an adjunct professor of evangelism and senior fellow of the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism during the 2015-2016 academic year and convened the GC2 Summit on evangelical response to the Syrian refugee crisis held on the school’s campus.
‘As A Matter Of Conscience,’ Ken Starr Resigns As Baylor University’s Chancellor
Amid repercussions from an independent report that Baylor University had mishandled allegations of sexual harassment and assault, Kenneth Starr, the university’s chancellor, has resigned “as a matter of conscience,” he says, effective immediately. NPR reports Starr was recently stripped of his presidency alongside the suspension of head football coach Art Briles. Starr says he will stay on as a professor at Baylor’s law school. The report in question was conducted by Pepper Hamilton and says the school “failed to consistently support” students who said they’d been sexually assaulted and that two administrators “directly discouraged” reporting the incidents.
Adam Wright Elected President of Dallas Baptist University
Dallas Baptist University has elected Adam Wright as its new president, effective June 1, 2016. Wright assumes the role from his previous position as vice president and dean of the Cook School of Leadership at DBU, where he began working in 1999. He replaces Gary Cook, who led the school for 28 years and now serves as chancellor. Wright earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and Ph.D. from DBU. During his time as a faculty member and dean, Wright has taught courses in higher education, leadership, and global studies; supervised doctoral research; shaped curriculum; and launched programs, according to The Baptist Standard. He also founded the school’s Institute for Global Engagement.
New Ouachita Baptist University President to Assume Duties June 1
Ouachita Baptist University appointed its 16th president, Ben R. Sells, April 7, and he officially assumed the role June 1, 2016. Sells served for more than nine years as the vice president for university advancement at Taylor University in Indiana, where he directed record fundraising efforts and had a hand in strategic planning. He’s also served as senior vice president of development for Enactus and coordinator of the Southern Baptist Convention’s International Mission Board’s Cauthen Missionary Learning Center, as well as the director of IMB’s International Centre for Exellence in Leadership, Tri-Lakes Edition reports.
Boston College Hires New VP for Development
Boston College has hired Beth E. McDermott as its new vice president for development. McDermott has more than 20 years of experience fundraising and served as the school’s associate vice president for development since 2014. The new VP will be responsible for all aspects of Boston College’s fundraising, including annual and major giving and organizational and school-affiliated fundraising, and she will also supervise a development staff of more than 70 employees. McDermott began at Boston College in 1999 as an associate director of the Boston College Fund and assumed the role of director of special projects in 2003. After a stint at Middlebury College from 2005-2010, she rejoined BC as director of development for the Carroll School of Management, and has been rising to levels of increased responsibility ever since, according to Boston College.
