Bethel Parent: Winter 2013

BethelParent A newsletter for parents of Bethel University students

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Issue 56/Winter 2013

Congrats, Grads!

1st Annual Grandparents Day: April 5

On Friday, April 5, 2013, we will host a day just for Bethel students and their grandparents to connect on campus.

Grandparents will attend chapel with their grandchild and enjoy a luncheon with President Jay Barnes. Visit bethel.edu/parents/ events for more information. n

Nearly 300 students participated in commencement ceremonies in December in the College of Arts & Sciences, College of Adult & Professional Studies, and Graduate School of Bethel University. Encourage your student to visit the Office of Career Development & Calling at bethel.edu/career-services for support and resources. n

Website Redesigned!

We’ve been working to make the parents’ website a better resource for parents and families. The newly redesigned site has been improved to connect you with the tools you need to encourage your student and engage with Bethel’s mission. Visit bethel. edu/parents to see what’s in store. n

Safety and Security Videos

Bethel is committed to creating a safe environment for students. The Office of Security and Safety has posted a series of videos that educate students about personal safety issues and provide strategies for staying safe. Encourage your students to visit bethelnet.bethel.edu/ security-safety to view these important programs. n

Lil’ Sibs Weekend

This long-time tradition is back! (Perhaps you participated when you were younger?) Younger siblings (ages 10-18) of current Bethel students are welcomed to join their big sister or brother at Bethel on the weekend of February 8-9, 2013. Tentative plans include activities on Friday night and Saturday morning/ afternoon, with siblings staying overnight on Friday. For more information, please call 651.638.6300 and visit bsa.bethel.edu, which will be updated soon. n

Mark Your Calendar!

Interim Classes Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 3 January Convocation Series. . . . . . . . . . . . January 7 & 14 Martin Luther King Jr. Day (no classes) . . . . . January 21 Last Day of Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 25 Spring Classes Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . January 30 Spring Break . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 11-15 Classes Resume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 18

Counseling Services Available

Many students are dealing with issues related to relationships, grief, mental health, and school life. Bethel students don’t have to go it alone. Encourage your child to visit with a professional counselor at Bethel’s Counseling Services, or to join a grief counseling group that will be forming soon. Visit cas.bethel.edu/student-development/counseling to learn more. n

Advising Assessment Day (no classes) . . . . . . . . March 20 Good Friday (no classes) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . March 29 Monday after Easter (no classes) . . . . . . . . . . . April 1 Last Day of Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 17 Spring Banquet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 18 Study Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 22 Final Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 20, 21, 23, & 24 (Please don’t schedule family vacations on these days.)

Senior/Parent Commencement Banquet . . . . . . . May 24 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . May 25 1st Session of Summer Classes Begins . . . . . . . . . May 28

Teresa DeGolier

Q&A with Teresa DeGolier, Professor of Biology Tell us about yourself and your connection to Bethel.

I was finishing my Ph.D. in animal physiology when I became friends with Jim Reynhout, who was on a Bethel sabbatical.

When I learned more about how Jim was involved with biology at Bethel, we easily connected on matters of faith and science. Many of our conversations reflected on how we felt biology informs our faith and how our faith informs biology. I was really intrigued and motivated to learn how Bethel provided both the academic stimulus and the freedom to explore and research the interaction of our faith with our discipline! Jim told me there was an opening in biology for an animal physiologist to come alongside students whose interest was in the life sciences.

What classes do you teach?

I teach Introduction to Organismic Biology, Human Physiology, Clinical Physiology, Animal Physiology, Introduction to Research, Biology Research, and Nutrition: The Total Diet.

What’s your approach to learning? To interacting with students?

Students need to be engaged in the learning process—they need to have ownership in their own capacity to become a learner.

In the classroom, this can be facilitated in activities ranging from interactive lectures to small group activities and presentations.

While students need to acquire content and the language of biology, they also need to know what to do with it and how to find it.

The most meaningful and long-term interactions happen when I work with students on a more personal level, as seen in laboratory teaching assistants and collaborators in research projects. When students ask questions in the classroom, stop me in the hallway, drop by my office, or email me, that is when I get a hook into their own curiosity and I can start to connect with topics—on how they learn, what they want to learn, if it is a struggle—and begin to challenge and help them explore their own capacity to learn.

What’s one piece of advice or information that you’d want to pass on to parents?

Students want to learn, and while in college their minds are sponges for knowledge, process, and application. Be courageous: talk to them and ask them what they are learning. What are they challenged by? What are they excited about? Please help fan the fire of intellectual curiosity and the desire to explore how their learning and Christian traditions might speak truth to each other.

What would you like parents to know about Bethel’s approach to teaching students about “origins”?

The undergraduate curriculum has been developed to enhance a student’s intellectual and ethical development during the college years. The topic of “origins” may be brought up in several places in the curriculum. For example, in biology the position is held that students need to understand the language and perspectives of contemporary biology, and that it is possible to do so without accepting the materialistic and naturalistic assumptions that underlie much scientific thinking. Natural selection and evolution are such significant concepts within biology that failure to expose students to what is the predominant explanation for why organisms look and act the way they do would be a great disservice to the students as they advance into their careers. Our goal as biology faculty is to encourage the ongoing process of integration of biological knowledge with their Christian faith.

There is a pool of upper-level elective general education courses that examine positions held by different scientists and Christians regarding the origins of humans and of the world, interpretation of Genesis 1 and 2, and the nature and history of the universe, as well as its intersection with philosophy and Christian theology. Bethel faculty are intentional about navigating the challenge and providing the support necessary to help students develop abstract reasoning, and embrace that all truth has its source in God as revealed in Scripture and in creation.

Teaching origins from various perspectives has its rewards and challenges. It is intellectually exciting to be in a learning environment where both faculty and students share a common belief about Who created the universe and at the same time explore and consider how He did it. n

Connections Reaffirmed at Family Weekend

Hundreds of parents, siblings, and other family members joined their students at Bethel on the weekend of October 26-28 to enjoy quality family time and renew connections. Mark your calendar for the 2013 Family Weekend: October 25-27. n

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