Two New Degrees and a Certificate Program
Mars Hill University's third graduate degree is one of
three new programs approved by the university's board of trustees at its
meeting on May 12, 2017. The master of arts in criminal justice (MACJ) joins
the institution's other master's level degree offerings: the master of
education in elementary education and the master of management. Trustees also
gave the go-ahead to a new bachelor of fine arts (BFA) degree and a certificate
in community engagement.
Barbara Sims, chair of the department of criminal
justice, says, "This new graduate program is intended to serve individuals
interested in pursuing graduate education in the field of criminal justice
either to advance their careers, or to give them an opportunity to begin work
in the field in something other than an entry level position." Sims says
the university worked with community partners and students currently enrolled
in the undergraduate criminal justice program as part of its research to
determine whether there was enough demand in the region for the MACJ. Meredith
Doster, dean of Mars Hill's Adult and Graduate Studies program, says the new
master's degree is a good fit, not just for the university, but also for the
community: "In addition to its curricular strengths, the MACJ will create
opportunity for the greater Mars Hill community to engage in sustained dialogue
about criminal justice in the United States. A degree program that will train
the next generation of criminal justice practitioners, the MACJ is poised to
transform its students and the communities they serve." Pending approval
from the university's regional accrediting body, the MACJ will launch in spring
2018.
The new BFA in art will provide a solid foundation for students
who wish to pursue a career or graduate study in art. Students will be able to
pursue concentrations in ceramics/sculpture or graphic design/photography.
Given Mars Hill's commitment to the culture and heritage of the region, faculty
in the art department are excited about the opportunity for the new degree to
enhance the university's connections to the arts and crafts tradition of
Southern Appalachia, as well as to the professional arts community in Western
North Carolina.
The certificate in community engagement will help
undergraduate students develop and demonstrate their potential for success in
non-profit, governmental, or social enterprise careers. It will be coordinated
through Mars Hill University's Center for Community Engagement, which helps
promote student learning, responsible citizenship, character development, and
connection to the world of work. Center leaders expect the certificate program
to increase the number of students who have the opportunity to deepen their
experience with community engagement while enrolled at Mars Hill.
History Professor Selected for
Prestigious Seminar
Lucia Antonelli-Carter, an associate professor of history
and chair of the department of religion, history, and philosophy at Mars Hill
University, is one of a select group of faculty members nationwide chosen by
the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) to participate in a special week-long
seminar on Teaching European Art in Context. The seminar, "Landscape and
Identity in Britain and the United States (1770-1914)," will be held at
the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, July 24-28, 2017.
The seminar is designed for full-time faculty members who regularly teach art
history at smaller colleges and universities and aims to strengthen the
teaching of art history to undergraduates at these institutions.
Carter is originally from Italy and earned her Ph.D. at
the University of Bologna. Her thesis was on the 20th century French historian
Fernand Braudel and his trans-disciplinary approach to history. Carter moved to
the United States in 1999, where she began teaching world history and upper-level
European history courses. She joined the Mars Hill University faculty in 2005.
In the past few years she has been interested in the theory and methodology of
world history, with particular emphasis on the way different civilizations
conceive space, time, and history.
CIC selected 25 faculty members to participate in the
seminar, which is supported by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation. Tim Barringer,
Paul Mellon Professor of the History of Art at Yale University and chair of the
department, will lead the program.
"Strengthening the teaching of art history at
colleges and universities-many of which have limited faculty resources in art
history-is critical," said CIC President Richard Ekman. "The seminar
will have significant value for the faculty members who participate, the
colleagues with whom they will share their new knowledge, and the students who
enroll in their courses."
Landscape became an increasingly powerful artistic medium
during the "long 19th century" and reached a pinnacle of achievement on
the canvases of painters such as Thomas Gainsborough, J.M.W. Turner, John
Constable, Thomas Cole, and Frederic Church. The program will explore British
and American landscape painting in a global context. Participants will study a
range of texts-by artists, writers, philosophers, and scientists from the
period-to examine the cultural, historical, and aesthetic construction of
landscape paintings in the 19th century. Each day, participants will spend
significant time with major works of art in the unrivalled collections of
landscape paintings, drawings, and prints at the Yale Center for British Art.
Weaverville Pastor Receives Baptist Heritage Award from
Mars Hill University
Mars Hill University presented its 2017 Baptist Heritage
Award to Rev. Worth Emory of Weaverville, North Carolina, pastor of Ivy Hill
Baptist Church. The award was presented April 25, 2017, at the 17th annual
North Carolina Baptist Heritage Awards ceremony in Greensboro. The awards are
co-sponsored by the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and the North
Carolina Baptist Foundation.
Emory is a bi-vocational pastor. A carpenter by trade, he
has pastored the Ivy Hill congregation for 50 years. This year marks the 37th
consecutive year that Ivy Hill Baptist Church has made a mission trip to
Honduras. Other destinations for Ivy Hill teams have included Venezuela,
Nicaragua, Canada, and the American far west. Rev. Emory himself made trips for
30 years before bypass surgery limited such travel.
Mars Hill University also has been the honored recipient
of Rev. Emory's gracious spirit and his commitment to Jesus' command "to
love others as I have loved you." Through the years, Mars Hill students
have participated in many Ivy Hill mission trips, and ministerial students have
been encouraged to preach at the church.
Despite the fact that he is not an alumnus (though his
three daughters are Mars Hill graduates), Rev. Emory's association with the
university is longstanding. It dates back to an early relationship he had with
Mars Hill graduate Dr. John McGee, a missionary to Nigeria. Dr. McGee
encouraged Emory to "claim" an education despite his lack of formal
training. He has done just that, taking dozens of seminary extension classes
and forging relationships with Mars Hill presidents, faculty, and staff through
the years.
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