Liberty Journal Winter/Spring 2019

OPIOIDS:

A NATIONAL CRISIS FIRST LADY MELANIA TRUMP VISITS CAMPUS, KICKS OFF SERIES OF TOWN HALLS TO COMBAT THE EPIDEMIC

FLAMES FOOTBALL

A LOOK AT WHAT FANS CAN EXPECT THIS FALL WITH NEW HEAD COACH HUGH FREEZE

CAREER HEAD START

CAREER CENTER OFFERS VAST RESOURCES TO GIVE STUDENTS EARLY JOB PREPARATION

DISTINCTLY CHRISTIAN THE HISTORY OF AMERICA’S FIRST COLLEGES AND LU’S PLEDGE TO UPHOLD ITS FOUNDING MISSION

WINTER/SPRING 2019 PUBLISHER Jerry Falwell S E N I O R M A N AG I N G E D I TO R Mitzi Bible GRAPHIC DESIGNER Carrie Mitchell CO N TR I B U T I N G E D I TO R S Kristin Conrad Becki Falwell Ron Kennedy Wendy Kennedy Amanda Stanley STA F F Ted Allen Rebecca Beem Ron Brown Ben Cornwell Paige Counts Rachel Dugan Kerry Hogan Leslie Keeney Tobi Walsh Laukaitis Drew Menard Dawn Neal Josh Rice Jessica Short Kim Smith Len Stevens P H OTO G R A P H E R S Gabrielle Calhoun Joel Coleman Joel Isimeme KJ Jugar Leah Stauffer Andrew Snyder Jessie Rogers

First Lady of the United States Melania Trump takes the Convocation stage at Liberty University on Nov. 28, 2018, as part of a town hall event addressing the national opioid epidemic.

Photo by Jessie Rogers

For more information about the Liberty Journal, email news@liberty.edu, call (434) 592-4955, or write to: Liberty University External Communications Office, 1971 University Blvd., Lynchburg, Va. 24515 View a digital version and past issues at Liberty.edu/LibertyJournal.

For information on Liberty’s academic programs, the admission process, alumni, or athletics, call (434) 582-2000.

Liberty University is not affiliated with the Department of Defense or any military service.

Liberty University does not engage in unlawful discrimination or harassment because of race, color, ancestry, religion, age, sex, national origin, pregnancy or childbirth, disability, or military veteran status in its educational programs and activities. Liberty University maintains its Christian character and reserves its right to discriminate on the basis of religion to the extent that applicable law respects its right to act in furtherance of its religious objectives.

K E VI N M ANGU I OB

ON THE COVER

INSIDE this ISSUE 4 | WAR ON OPIOIDS

With the first lady’s visit to campus in November for a televised town hall, and with more events underway, Liberty is helping to put the spotlight on a national crisis.

| FOOTBALL’S FUTURE 8 Coach Hugh Freeze is the newest face in Liberty Athletics.

Learn about his goals, new recruits, and what’s in store for Flames Football this fall.

14 | WOMEN IN THEATRE

Female theatre arts students put their problem-solving skills to work on an original, award-winning production about the lives of some of Virginia’s most courageous women.

Liberty University’s NCAA Division I Women’s Swimming & Diving team concluded its season with a perfect 15-0 record, including 6-0 against Coastal Collegiate Sports Association opponents. The team also had success in the classroom, leading all collegiate men’s or women’s swimming & diving programs in the country with a 3.79 team GPA for the season.

20 | CAREER GUIDANCE

From hosting large-scale career fairs to offering oneon-one coaching sessions, Liberty’s Career Center is helping students to plan early for their futures.

24 | MEDICAL SCHOOL ON MISSION

Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine remains committed to its mission of improving access to quality healthcare in Southside Virginia.

28 | RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

Graduates who returned to college later in life share how Liberty’s online program was the boost they needed to accelerate their careers.

32 | SCHOLAR’S VIEWPOINT

While America’s earliest Christian colleges have abandoned their roots, Liberty University stands alone in fulfilling its promise to instill Christian principles in higher education.

Senior Alicia Finnigan practices at the Liberty Natatorium. Her time in the 200 butterfly at the 2018 USA Swimming Winter National Championships on Dec. 1 in Greensboro, N.C., qualified her for the U.S. Olympic Team Trials, set for June 21-28, 2020, in Omaha, Neb.

50 | ALL IN GOD’S PLAN

Basketball player Keenan Gumbs brings his lessons in hard work and perseverance to Liberty’s squad.

52 | BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL PREVIEWS

Liberty’s baseball and softball teams are gearing up for exciting seasons as newcomers in the ASUN Conference.

Are we hitting the mark?

Let us know what kind of stories around Liberty interest you. Have a story idea of your own? Share it with us. Send your feedback to the Liberty Journal staff at news@liberty.edu.

3

OPIOIDS:

A NATIONAL CRISIS TOW N H A L L E V E N T L E A DS TO M O R E O P P O RT U N I T I E S FO R L I B E RT Y TO M A K E A N I M PAC T I N T H E F I G H T AG A I N S T O P I O I D A B U S E

BY MITZI BIBLE

On Nov. 28, 2018, Liberty University hosted a televised town hall featuring its highest-profile Convocation speaker to date, First Lady Melania Trump.

Although it was a special honor to host such a distinguished guest, the university had a much more significant purpose behind the visit: to save lives.

With deaths from opioid abuse at a record high in the country, and numbers rising within the college age group, the event was meant to bring awareness to the epidemic sweeping the nation and to inform students and the general public of ways they can help combat the problem.

Former Fox News personality Eric Bolling organized and hosted the event, choosing Liberty’s Convocation as the first site to kick off a series of televised town halls across the nation. Bolling

4

lost his 19-year-old son Eric Chase to an accidental opioid overdose in 2017 and is using his media platform to join forces to battle the crisis. Liberty’s event served as the pilot episode for Bolling’s TV show, “America,” and was aired nationally on Sinclair Broadcast Group stations.

“I can honestly say that beginning such an important task of opioid awareness at Liberty University was a gift sent from my son,” Bolling said. “From the student body attending, to First Lady Melania Trump’s participation, to the hospitality Becki and Jerry Falwell gave me, the whole experience was nothing shy of miraculous. I look forward to a continued collaboration with Liberty, Sinclair, and of course the first lady. Together we will save many lives.”

According to Bolling, the first lady is

slated to join him for more town hall events, including one in Las Vegas on March 5.

Across the nation, untold millions suffer from drug addiction. More than 300,000 Americans have died from overdoses involving opioids since 2000. From 2014 to 2015, deaths from synthetic opioids increased by 72 percent. In 2017, more than 72,000 died from drug overdoses, with the majority being from opioids.

The first lady did not hesitate to accept the invitation to Liberty’s stage; saving lives from opioid abuse is an issue close to her heart. It is a main pillar of her BE BEST initiative to improve the health and well-being of today’s youth. The Trump Administration has worked to make sweeping changes to regulations

FEATURES

JOE L COLE M AN

“This epidemic has touched so many people, whether it’s because of personal use or death of a family member, friends, co-workers,

concerning opioid abuse, declaring the crisis a nationwide Public Health Emergency in October 2017. Since President Donald Trump took office, more than $1 billion has been allocated or spent directly addressing the drug addiction and opioid crisis.

Melania Trump was joined on the stage by two cabinet members who are involved in the Trump Administration’s daily efforts to battle the crisis: U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen. With staggering statistics, the leaders described the seriousness of the epidemic and the steps that the government is taking to prevent illegal opioids from entering the country. They also discussed treatments for those who are struggling with an addiction to legally prescribed painkillers and are continuing down a path to using illegal opioids.

In all, 14 town halls have been planned through the end of April in different cities throughout the U.S. The “Your Voice, Your Future — National Roundtable Discussion, Opioids: A National Crisis with Eric Bolling,” events are being produced and distributed by Sinclair.

Each town hall focuses on a particular aspect of the issue and includes local and national leaders who are committed to ending the crisis.

After the success of the first town hall on Liberty’s campus in November, the university’s administration sought ways to assist Bolling in future events. Liberty has partnered with Sinclair to sponsor four town halls, including one on Feb. 19 at Charleston Southern University in Charleston, S.C. The topic of that

event was millennial engagement and conversation in the crisis. Panelists included President Jerry Falwell and his wife, Becki. (For more information, visit Liberty.edu/News).

“We heard so much great feedback from our town hall here in November, and we wanted to help keep the momentum going to other U.S. cities,” President Falwell said. “As parents, Becki and I are concerned about this crisis and the many families who are being affected nationwide. We applaud the work that the Trump Administration, First Lady Melania Trump, and Eric Bolling are doing to combat the crisis and to give hope to those who are struggling with addiction. We are proud to partner with them to save more lives.”

Liberty will also sponsor town halls in Baltimore, Md., on March 14 (addressing what U.S. cities and towns are doing to combat the crisis); West Palm Beach, Fla., on March 27 (discussing the gateway for drugs and entry into the U.S.); and Little Rock, Ark., on April 16 (on the prevention and solutions to the crisis).

Scott Livingston, vice president of news for Sinclair, said the company is excited to once again partner with Liberty to broadcast programs that will have a major impact.

“Our goal is to not only raise awareness but to focus on finding solutions to this epidemic, which is a national health crisis. We’re proud to partner with Liberty University in this important and potentially lifesaving discussion.”

WATCH LIBERTY’S NOV. 28, 2018, TOWN HALL EVENT ON YOUTUBE.

or neighbors. an illness that has truly taken ahold

KE VIN MANGU IOB

Opioid addiction is

of our country.”

F I R S T L A DY

MELANIA TRUMP

TV host Eric Bolling (left) moderates a town hall on the opioid crisis featuring First Lady Melania Trump, U.S. Sec. of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, and U.S. Sec. of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen.

5

K EVI N M ANG UI O B

PRESIDENT JERRY FALWELL, BECKI FALWELL TAKE PART IN TOWN HALL Liberty President Jerry Falwell and his wife, Becki, played a special role in November’s town hall event. They joined in a discussion with host Eric Bolling on stage, explaining how they ran into Bolling at an event in New York, learned the story of his son, and saw how passionate Bolling had become about the need to bring discussions on opioid abuse to a national audience.

The Falwells offered the school’s Convocation — already a popular event that regularly draws high-profile speakers — as a perfect venue for the first show.

During the town hall, the Falwells spoke from the point of view of not only college leaders but as parents; their daughter is currently a freshman and their two sons and daughtersin-law graduated from Liberty. They shared how important it is to create a nurturing environment on college campuses so that drug abuse does not become a problem. They noted that Liberty’s campus excels in making students feel safe and supported, and it provides so many healthy, recreational activities.

Becki Falwell said the difference

at Liberty is that faculty, staff, and students are “more like a family — it’s a big community.”

“You have to create an atmosphere where drug use is discouraged, not encouraged,” President Falwell added.

“There has to be peer pressure in the right direction.”

As a mother, Becki Falwell reminded the students that their parents love them and told them to never feel shame or fear the consequences if they need to reach out to them for help.

“Your parents would rather have you for the rest of their lives,” she said.

ALUMNUS WHO SUFFERED FROM DRUG ABUSE NOW MINISTERS TO OTHERS Rick Amato (’87, ’15) was on top of the world.

That’s how he described the time before a back injury sent him on a downward spiral.

After graduating from Liberty, Amato became a preacher. He founded Rick Amato Ministries and has traveled to more than 47 countries to spread the Gospel.

But in 2004, Amato sustained a back injury while in Moscow. After reinjuring himself in 2008 while traveling in Cuba, Amato was prescribed pain medication.

“The doctor gave the pills to me, so I thought, ‘They must be OK,’” Amato said. But the high dosage kept him dependent on the pain medication and eventually led to an addiction. “There was no exit strategy. I tried to quit seven times, and each time it got worse and worse. It wasn’t until 2013 that I entered rehab. When I came out, I went

6

on medical leave from my ministry and studied addiction. I wanted to know why I could be a Christian and become enslaved to fentanyl.”

He returned to Liberty shortly after leaving rehab to pursue a master’s degree in human services counseling, with a specialization in addictions and recovery, through the university’s online program.

“I look back now on what happened to me and realize how hijacked I got on prescription drugs,” he said. “Now I feel like it’s my life’s purpose to help others, whether it’s the masses or just one individual at a time. The end of addiction is always the same – jails, institutions, or death.”

Amato said his training at Liberty gave him a deeper perspective on how to help people struggling with addiction.

“It is a brain disease,” Amato said.

“We have to take the stigma away.”

Liberty President Jerry Falwell invited Amato to take the stage before

the November town hall event began.

Amato shared his story of battling and overcoming addiction and the work that his ministry is doing to lead a “War on Addiction.” Amato has spoken on the subject to more than 1 million young people around the world. He said the best way to educate people on the opioid crisis is to start with the younger generation.

“We have to reach young people,” Amato said. “It’s this generation that is dying from this epidemic. It’s a disease.

Addicts are not bad people. They’re sick people who need to get well.”

Anyone battling addiction is encouraged to call 800-662-HELP (4357).

At Liberty, students can call Student Counseling Services at (434) 582-2651 or contact an LU Shepherd at (434) 592-5411.

FEATURES

STUDENTS TAKE ACTIVE ROLE IN TOWN HALL EVENT

BY TOBI WALSH LAUKAITIS Several Liberty students addressed host Eric Bolling, First Lady Melania Trump, or visiting cabinet members during the town hall. Below are the perspectives of two students who participated in the Q & A portion because of their personal connections to the opioids crisis.

STUDENT SHARES TRAGIC STORY OF LOSING HER MOTHER TO OPIOID OVERDOSE Graduate student Kiley Shionis was sitting in a friend’s apartment in February 2017 when she got the phone call from her aunt that her mother had died.

She was first told that her mother had a heart attack, but Shionis, who had watched her mother struggle with drug addiction for many years, later learned that she died from a drug overdose.

“I had seen my mom a month before, and I thought she was doing better than I had seen her in a long time. My guess is that it was a relapse, that she had gone back to her normal dosage of heroin but took some laced with fentanyl. It was a heavy dosage. It would have killed a lot of people, not just her. It could have been anyone, but it happened to be my mom.”

Shionis was about 6 when she began to notice her mom’s addiction and had to live with the “harsh reality” of her mother’s struggle every day.

“I remember being very little and seeing things that I probably shouldn’t have seen,” she said. “She was clean for three or four years, and then she relapsed when I was in middle school. Then she was clean, and then she relapsed again when I was 16. I decided to leave my house then.”

After Shionis learned of her mom’s death, the Liberty community came around to support her. Senior Vice President for Spiritual Development David Nasser reached out to her, and classmates quickly raised money for a plane ticket home. In the months that followed, Shionis wanted to bring awareness to the opioid crisis through her family’s story.

She started opening up to others about

her mother’s drug addiction. “We need to talk about it and share experiences,” she said.

That’s why the first lady’s visit was important, Shionis said. It wasn’t just about the chance to see a high-profile guest but to hear about the work she was doing to shine light on the opioid crisis, addictions, and the real families who have been affected.

“Those who haven’t seen the effects of addiction firsthand have a lot of questions,” she said. “That’s why I was so glad Liberty was opening that door.”

Shionis asked Bolling what college students can do to raise awareness. He said if you see someone who may be struggling, the best thing you can do as their friend is talk to them and then get them help.

“They won’t be mad at you for getting them some help,” he said. “We need to lift the stigma of opioids. As administrators, as elected officials, we also need to say, ‘If you have a problem, we need to get you help.’ We need to say, ‘Let’s work through this together.’ We’ll save lives that way.”

NURSING STUDENT WANTS TO FIGHT DRUG ABUSE IN HER FUTURE CAREER Senior nursing student Mollie Burr was well educated on the horrors of opioids before coming to Liberty. Burr is from northern Maine, which is among the top 10 states with the highest rates of opioid deaths, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

“Growing up, I knew who was on opioids or who was selling it,” she said.

“I love that Liberty has taken a stance and opened up the topic. While I grew up knowing about drugs and the opioid crisis, not every student at Liberty has.”

As a nursing student, Burr said it was especially meaningful to hear the first lady discuss neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS), which affects newborns whose mothers have been addicted to opioids. (A month before her visit to Liberty, Melania Trump met with staff who treat newborns with NAS at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.)

“Babies are being born addicted to opioids, and it’s very different than normal drug addiction,” Burr said. “No one deserves to start off their life addicted to drugs. That’s not a choice that baby is making; it’s not fair to them.”

During her clinical rotations, Burr shadowed local nurse and Liberty alumna Shannon Miles (’13) at Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg. Miles has become an advocate for babies born with NAS and helped start the Roads to Recovery Inc.’s Residential Recovery Program for Pregnant and Postpartum Women.

The program provides safe housing for mothers to recover from addiction so they can care for their babies; mothers can stay for up to a year after giving birth. The program also offers in-house counseling.

“I think it’s interesting to see that opioid addiction is in Lynchburg’s backyard,” Burr said. “There are people who live two minutes from campus, and this is their struggle.”

Burr said Liberty’s nursing program has better equipped her to fight the opioid crisis as a medical professional.

She said she’s already learned so much about the topic through School of Nursing seminars and courses on responsible pain management and addiction. She said the issue of opioid abuse is affecting so many areas of our culture.

“There’s movies, books, and this topic is evolving and becoming more mainstream,” Burr said. “A lot of addicts are functioning addicts. You’re going to run into people who are battling addiction. It could be your neighbor or your co-worker or someone who sits next to you in church.”

Burr asked Bolling if treatment centers would have a bigger impact if they focused more on the mental health aspect of addiction. He said that while the government is working well on the enforcement side of the crisis, he agrees that better treatment is needed. The latest round of government funding is being put toward awareness and recovery, he said, adding, “Slowly but surely, we’re making a difference here. There will be millions of people who see this town hall.

Let’s get the word out that we care. Let’s get the word out that addicts aren’t bad people; they need help.”

7

FOOTBALL’S

FUTURE LO O KING A HE A D WITH H EAD COACH HUGH FREEZE

BY L I B E R T Y J O U R N A L & L I B E R T Y AT H L E T I C S STA F F In 2018, Liberty University became the ninth team in NCAA history to win six or more games during its inaugural season in the Football Bowl Subdivision — college football’s highest level of competition. Now, as the program looks ahead to the 2019 season, excitement has never been greater.

On top of the Flames’ success last fall, Liberty announced the hiring of former University of Mississippi Head

8

Coach Hugh Freeze as the ninth head football coach in program history on Dec. 7. The announcement was made one week after Liberty completed its final season of a two-year FBS transition process.

Freeze, 49, said his first couple of months on the job have been busy but exciting.

“I couldn’t be more thrilled with how the journey has started off here,” he

said. “It’s a joy to be back in the grind of recruiting and developing relationships — not only with the players and their parents, but also with fellow coaches and people here in the administration like (Director of Athletics) Ian McCaw, whose leadership has been absolutely phenomenal.”

Freeze finalized his coaching staff in late January (for a list of new hires, see Page 12). >>

FEATURES

JOEL COL EMAN

9

>> “I am blessed to know a lot of outstanding coaches from around the country, and I believe this group will capture the hearts and minds of our young men, leading them with our core values of faith, attitude, mental toughness, integrity, and love,” Freeze said.

Freeze also hit the ground running with recruiting efforts, announcing his first-ever signing class — with 14 new recruits — during the early signing period on Dec. 19. On National Signing Day, Feb. 6, he announced another eight players signing national letters of intent.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS Career coaching record: 69-32 Head Coach Lambuth University 2008-09 (20-5) Head Coach Arkansas State 2011 (10-2) Head Coach University of Mississippi 2012-16 (39-25) Bowl appearances with Ole Miss: BBVA Compass Bowl (Jan. 5, 2013, defeated Pittsburgh, 38-17); Music City Bowl (Dec. 30, 2013, defeated Georgia Tech, 25-17); Peach Bowl (Dec. 31, 2014, lost to Texas Christian University, 42-3); Sugar Bowl (Jan. 1, 2016, defeated Oklahoma State, 48-20) 2011 Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year 2014 Grant Teaff Coach of the Year (from Fellowship of Christian Athletes)

Head Coach Hugh Freeze addresses the media at his introductory press conference on Dec. 7 in Carter Tower at Williams Stadium.

KE VIN MANGU IOB

10

FEATURES “The great thing about it is that Liberty just sells itself once you get the players on campus,” said Freeze, who is known for being one of the top college football recruiters in the country. (He landed

“I’m excited to experience the passion I’ve heard so much about when it comes to game day at Liberty.”

HUGH FREEZE the fifth-ranked recruiting classes at Ole Miss in 2013 and 2016.)

“The Liberty brand is strong; we’re going to make it stronger, and it’s going nationwide,” he added. “We’re going to put an exciting brand of football on the field. It’s going to be fun to watch, and I encourage everyone to get their season tickets and pull for these young men that are going to lay it on the line for this university.”

Freeze said construction projects such as the Liberty University Indoor Practice Facility in 2017, the expansion of Williams Stadium last year, and the ongoing renovation of the Football Operations Center (see Page 13) have made Liberty’s facilities “second to none” and are positive indicators of the university’s support.

“Our administration doesn’t just cast a vision for this football program, they put things behind it to show that there is proof to it,” he said.

With Freeze at the helm of a program

that will return 15 offensive and defensive starters, the Flames’ goal of qualifying for their first bowl game in their first season of full bowl eligibility appears to be within grasp.

“I’ve loved challenges my whole life and that challenge in itself really motivates me,” said Freeze. “I want to see the look in those kids’ eyes when they get invited to a bowl game, and I want to see the excitement in the fans here. Time will tell if we’re able to do that or not. It’s going to take an enormous amount of commitment and sacrifice and hard work.’”

During his five seasons at Ole Miss (2012-16), Freeze guided the Rebels to four bowl games and defeated Alabama in back-to-back seasons.

Freeze said he can already tell that God is doing a great work at Liberty and believes that the best is yet to come. As the program continues to fulfill the vision set forth by Liberty’s founder, Dr. Jerry Falwell, he wants to be the one to carry the torch into an even brighter future.

“I’m excited to experience the passion I’ve heard so much about when it comes to game day at Liberty,” he said.

“I’ve talked with coaches from other teams who have played at Williams Stadium and they commented about the passion they saw from Liberty’s fans and how it was the best they saw from any place they have visited. I’m excited to help grow that passion and give Flames Nation a reason to pack Williams Stadium as they Rise With Us in 2019.” (Read more about the game day atmosphere on Page 46).

CONVOCATION NOTE Nearly a year prior to being announced as Liberty’s ninth head football coach, Freeze addressed the student body on Jan. 24, 2018, during the first Convocation of the spring semester.

Freeze was joined by his wife, Jill, and their pastor, Chip Henderson of Pinelake (Miss.) Christian Church, for Freeze’s first public appearance since he left Ole Miss in July 2017. The couple shared their story, testifying to the grace and redemptive power of God. Freeze used the acronym FILM (Faith, Integrity, Love, and Mental toughness) to outline his message, connecting it to the way football players spend time studying game film to succeed. Freeze said his faith played an integral role in acknowledging his failures and restoring his Christian walk. He said integrity involves owning one’s mistakes and being accountable for them. Love often requires asking for forgiveness or being willing to forgive, and he reminded the crowd that God’s love never changes. He said mental toughness is the ability to get up day after day with the same level of enthusiasm and effort.

WATCH THE CONVOCATION ON LIBERTY’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

ISAAC APON

Hugh Freeze meets with players before his welcoming press conference on Dec. 7 when he was named Liberty’s ninth head coach.

Hugh Freeze appeared in the 2009 film “The Blind Side,” playing the role of an assistant college coach. In real life, he coached Michael Oher, the subject of the movie and a former NFL player, to state titles at Briarcrest Christian School in 2002 and 2004. His wife, Jill Freeze, was one of Oher’s tutors. Oher went on to star at Ole Miss while Hugh Freeze served as the team’s recruiting coordinator from 2005-07.

11

WELCOME TO LIBERTY The 2019 signing class includes one four-star recruit, eight three-star recruits, and two two-star recruits as ranked by 247Sports.com. Liberty signed six defensive linemen, four wide receivers, two safeties, a defensive back, four cornerbacks, a linebacker, an offensive lineman, a kicker/punter, a tight end, and a quarterback.

The football staff continues to bring in the best high school talent from all around the country, signing players from 12 different states: Virginia (5), Florida (2), Georgia (2), Mississippi (2), North Carolina (2), South Carolina (2), Texas (2), Alabama (1), California (1), Illinois (1), Ohio (1), and Utah (1).

2019 SIGNEES ANNOUNCED IN FEBRUARY Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/High School Malik Caper LB 6-1 215 Dallas, Texas/Grapevine Faith Christian School Kei’Trel Clark CB 5-10 160 Richmond, Va./Manchester High School Demario Douglas WR 5-8 165 Jacksonville, Fla./Mandarin High School William Green DT 6-6 315 Albany, Ga./Westover High School (Georgia Military College) Elijah James DT 6-5 295 Chicago, Ill./Oswego East HS (Iowa Western CC) Maisen Knight OL 6-5 300 Salt Lake City, Utah/Judge Memorial High School (Ventura College) Tayvion Land CB 5-8 170 Virginia Beach, Va./Ocean Lakes High School Micaiah Overton TE 6-4 225 Fort Worth, Texas/Bessemer Academy 2019 HIGH SCHOOL SIGNEES ANNOUNCED IN DECEMBER Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/High School Zack Amerson DE 6-4 225 Greenwood, S.C./Emerald High School Tre’Shaun Clark DE 6-2 235 Danville, Va./Cape Coral High School (Fla.) Micah Glaize S 6-1

190 Lynchburg, Va./Brookville High School Devonte Lloyd DT 6-2 300 Meridian, Miss./Meridian High School

(NW Mississippi Community College) Chris Megginson DB 6-0 180 Lynchburg, Va./Heritage High School Brayden Monday DE 6-5 245 Waynesville, N.C./Tuscola High School Jason Stricker K/P 6-2 180 Charlotte, N.C./Marvin Ridge High School CJ Yarbrough WR 6-3 195 Tanner, Ala./East Limestone High School 2019 MID-YEAR ENROLLEES ANNOUNCED IN DECEMBER (JOINED TEAM IN JANUARY) Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Hometown/High School Isaiah Avery CB 6-1

185 Antioch, Calif./Antioch High School

(City College of San Francisco) Johnathan Bennett QB 6-1

210 Summerville, S.C./Summerville High School Emanuel Dabney CB 5-11 170 Jackson, Miss./Callaway High School (Hinds Community College) Shedro Louis WR 5-8 175 Immokalee, Fla./Immokalee High School Treon Sibley WR 6-0 190 Akron, Ohio/Coventry High School Aubrey Williams S 6-2 200 Brunswick, Ga./Brunswick High School

NEW COACHING STAFF:

Read full bios at LibertyFlames.com/FootballCoaches.

12

A season ticket package provides fans with significant savings over purchasing a single game ticket. Reserve season tickets for as low as $70 per person for a general admission ticket.

SEASON TICKET PACKAGES: West Club Seats: $360 West Premium Chairbacks: $165 West Reserved Benchbacks: $135 West Reserved Bleachers: $85 East Reserved Benchbacks: $100 General Admission: $70 Discounts are available for Liberty University faculty and staff, former student-athletes who join the Flames Club, and recent alumni (graduates from 2015-19).

Call 434-582-SEAT (7328) or email Tickets@liberty.edu.

FLAMES CLUB Membership starts at just $60.

Members can enjoy preferred parking, seating, and pregame hospitality benefits, based upon membership level.

Call 434-582-CLUB (2582) or email FlamesClub@liberty.edu.

KEVIN MAN GUIOB

Kent Austin, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks Coach Maurice Harris, Co-Offensive Coordinator/Wide Receivers Coach Ben Aigamaua, Tight Ends Coach Sam Gregg, Offensive Line Coach Bruce Johnson, Running Backs Coach Scott Symons, Defensive Coordinator/Safeties Coach Josh Aldridge, Defensive Line Coach Rickey Hunley, Cornerbacks Coach Kyle Pope, Linebackers Coach Tanner Burns, Special Teams Coordinator Dominic Studzinski, Head Football Strength & Conditioning Coach

SEASON TICKETS

FOOTBALL OPERATIONS CENTER RENOVATION UNDERWAY Following an offseason that saw major renovations to Williams Stadium, Liberty Athletics’ next football upgrade project focuses on the base of operations for the program.

Shortly after the conclusion of the 2018 football season, a $25 million renovation project was started at the Williams Football Operations Center. It is scheduled for completion in January 2020.

The Williams Football Operations Center opened in 2006, giving Liberty’s football program a three-story, 48,000-square-foot base of operations in the north end zone of Williams Stadium.

The current renovation will dramatically expand the footprint of the existing building, with 18,000 additional square feet.

The top floor will house 17 offices and 12 position meeting rooms, as well as a 147seat, theater-style team meeting room.

The middle floor, located at ground level, will include a new locker room with 122 lockers and an attached equipment room to better service Liberty’s football players. The middle floor will also house a 13,000-squarefoot player’s lounge that can accommodate up to 130 people and will include a nutrition center. The space will be used as a recruiting area during home football games.

A glass-enclosed cardio workout room will replace the existing front entrance to the operations center and will look out over the lower level.

Rounding out the new amenities will be a press room for weekly press conferences and

postgame interviews, plus a new training room. The sports medicine area will include 11 treatment beds, an onsite X-ray room, and hydrotherapy pools.

The lower level will feature a state-of-theart weight room. The 16,000-square-foot workout space will be furnished with the latest training equipment.

Dynamic graphic arts packages promoting Liberty football will be featured throughout the building.

The locker room and training room facilities are expected to be completed in time for the start of the 2019 football season.

quarterback Stephen Calvert became the program’s all-time leader with 65 career touchdown passes; junior wide receiver Antonio Gandy-Golden became the second Flames wide receiver in program history with back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons; and junior running back Frankie Hickson eclipsed the 1,000-yard rushing mark for the year, becoming the 15th player to reach a 1,000-yard rushing season in program

history. Liberty’s only home loss was to North Texas University.

On the road, Liberty beat the University of New Mexico. Losses on the road came at the University of Massachusetts, New Mexico State, and eventual bowl winners Army, Auburn, and Virginia.

The 2018 season marked the 13th consecutive year that Liberty Football has finished with a record of .500 or better.

View more renderings and watch an interview with Director of Athletics Ian McCaw at Liberty.edu/Football.

2018 RECAP For the 2018 season, Liberty finished 5-1 at home and 1-5 on the road. In their historic FBS opener, the Flames dominated in-state rival Old Dominion University in a 52-10 triumph played in front of 20,425 fans in a newly renovated Williams Stadium. Other home wins included: Troy (22-16), Idaho State (48-41), New Mexico State (28-21), and Norfolk State University (52-17). In the contest against NSU, junior

2019 SCHEDULE VS. SYRACUSE | AUG. 31

VS. MAINE | OCT. 19

AT LOUISIANA | SEPT. 7

AT RUTGERS | OCT. 26

VS. BUFFALO | SEPT. 14

AT UMASS | NOV. 2

VS. HAMPTON | SEPT. 21

AT BYU | NOV. 9

VS. NEW MEXICO | SEPT. 28

AT VIRGINIA | NOV. 23

AT NEW MEXICO STATE | OCT. 5

VS. NEW MEXICO STATE | NOV. 30 13

‘BLOODROOT’ Original, all-female play teaches students lessons in problem-solving and creativity

BY DREW MENARD

GABR I E LL E C AL HOU N

From the bold stand of Rachel Findlay, fighting for women’s freedom from slavery, to the story of country music icon June Carter Cash, the women of Virginia’s Clinch Mountain share a rich history, rooted in strength to endure and rise above the challenges of the day.

A team from the Liberty University Department of Theatre Arts brought several tales from the region (a ridge in the Appalachian Mountains that runs through parts of Tennessee and Virginia) to life with an original play, “Bloodroot: The Ballad of Clinch Mountain,” written and performed entirely by female students. The play was recently recognized as an outstanding university production by

14

the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival. As a Region 4 finalist, the play was performed on the festival’s opening night on Feb. 6. It has also been invited as part of a presentation at the Appalachian Studies Conference March 14-17 at UNC Asheville.

The project was significant beyond the retelling of touching stories — “Bloodroot” was born as students identified a problem and then were encouraged by their professor to solve it. Theatre Arts Department Chair Linda Nell Cooper explained that a handful of women from the department approached her last year with the concern that there were not enough substantial roles available for women in the department’s shows, even though

they outnumbered men five to one.

“Every university has this problem; it is typical in theatre,” Cooper said.

Under Cooper’s guidance, the students decided that rather than bemoan the problem, they could offer a solution — by writing their own roles.

The writing team of 24 female students began mining Virginia’s rich history for stories of strong women who faced various challenges and showed resilience, ingenuity, and bravery in the midst of them. The team tied the stories together with music (original lyrics put to an old mountain tune) and the imagery of the bloodroot, a beautiful blossom that is native to the area and known for its hardiness.

“I’m so proud of the students for

FEATURES Left to right: senior Adell Ehrhorn as a young June Carter, junior Jabrea Kohn as Rachel Findlay, and sophomore Esther Eaton as Ann Maria Reeves Jarvis.

GABR I E LL E C AL HOU N

finding these stories — for finding the beauty and richness of them and making them come to life for people who have never heard of them,” Cooper said.

Senior Adell Ehrhorn was a lead writer on the project and played the role of Carter.

“These stories are so important,” she said. “Most of these stories are ones that have not really been told or have only been told in history books, briefly. However, the stories show how much women have persevered through history.”

The project was funded by a grant from Liberty’s Center for Research & Scholarship, allowing the women to research and write in the spring and then produce the show on campus last November.

“I had never written any sort of script before,” Ehrhorn said. “This experience was amazing. It is one thing to get to write a show and have others read it and like the concept or the dialogue; however, it is a whole different animal to see something that you have written.

It is not finished until the full product is on the stage and an audience is in the seats laughing or crying. It was a crazy process, but oh so rewarding.”

Members of the “Bloodroot” creative team (back row, from left): Linda Cooper, Maria Reginaldi, Laura Falcione, Stefania Smith, Kylie Sanborn, Madison Levine, Teagan Cooper, Kaylee Nedrow, Sarah Beattie, Shelby Mason, Adell Ehrhorn, Lucia Standridge, (front row, from left) Faith Giammarco, Grace Martin, Courtney Gill, Becca Schultz, Maggie Paul, Ashlind Browne, Rebecca Pickard, Mattea Harrison, and Kristin Lindquist.

NATH AN SPE NCER

15

LEARNING BY DOING When a crisis hits, first responders must be prepared at a moment’s notice with the best tools and resources. Thanks to support from local and state agencies, Liberty University is able to stage largescale simulations that provide realistic scenarios where students can test their skills and interact with professionals.

Last fall, students from the School of Aeronautics and the School of Nursing

rushed to a simulated crash scene at Lynchburg Regional Airport. In the scenario, a small prop plane had crashed into a crowd of people attending an airshow. Students played the roles of airport representatives, first responders, Red Cross volunteers, and victims. The simulation was part of the Aviation 409: Safety Management Systems class and the Community Health and Crisis

Nursing classes.

“It’s a really good experience for our students,” said Andrew Walton, Liberty Aeronautics’ director of safety. “It’s a way for them to take what they learned in the classroom and apply it to a reallife situation.”

Walton said it’s also a chance for students to adapt to changes in a fluid situation like a crash.

TOBI WAL SH LAUKAITIS

 School of Aeronautics/School of Nursing Plane Crash Drill

16

 Simulated Bioterrorist Attack JOE L I SI M E M E K E VI N M ANGU I OB

“Adapting is always part of the drill,” he said. “Sometimes things don’t go according to plan, but that’s why it’s important for our students to be prepared to respond in a dynamic environment and be prepared if something goes wrong.”

“It’s a real-life experience in a controlled environment,” added Dr. Dana Woody, associate professor of nursing. “It’s a defining moment where students get to see where they’re retaining the information because this is what they’re going to have to do as professionals.”

Every year, nursing students also have the chance to join students and faculty from Liberty’s forensic science, public health, criminal justice, and biomedical sciences programs in a simulated bioterrorist attack on campus.

The event allows students to interact directly with representatives from the Virginia Department of Health, the Virginia State Police, the Lynchburg Fire Department, the Liberty University Police Department, and U.S. Army National Guard units. Students practice responding to an attack, finding radiation hotspots, studying the spread of deadly viruses and biological agents (such as anthrax and Ebola), and treating victims. They also learn how to assist in decontamination.

Another annual simulation exercise allows Liberty’s criminal justice and forensic science students a chance to work with the Virginia State Police and FBI in processing evidence from crime scenes. Scenarios range from bombings to stabbings, shootings, and other causes of death. Medical grade, deceased pigs are used to show how bodies decay over time. Through these exercises, students can grasp what they will be expected to do during any type of criminal investigation.

To supplement a strong classroom foundation, Liberty University understands that students across all disciplines need hands-on, experiential learning so they can stand out in their future careers. View more photos of students participating in hands-on learning activities on the following pages.

 Simulated Crime Scene on Liberty Mountain

17

PRACTICAL TRAINING

PRACTICAL TRAINING In-class projects and extracurricular opportunities give students from various academic programs the chance to test their job skills in real-world settings.

In-class projects and extracurricular opportunities give students from various academic programs the chance to test their job skills in real-world settings.

JO EL I S I M EM E

 School of Engineering students are gaining research and design experience at Liberty’s Center for Engineering Research & Education. Under the direction of Dr. Hector Medina, students have built a gasoline-powered Baja off-road vehicle in preparation for national competition later this spring and are currently designing an electric race car, thanks to support from Hendrick Motorsports. The projects give students experience in every stage of the process — from drafting and computer modeling to electrical and mechanical engineering.

 As the nation’s demand for more

 Every spring, family &

cybersecurity professionals grows, Liberty’s Cyber Defense Club helps students sharpen their skills in the National Cyber League, where collegiate teams face off against professional ethical hackers to see who can best protect their systems from threats.

consumer sciences students showcase their designs on the runway during an annual fashion show. This year’s show is scheduled for April 6.

L EA H STAUFFE R

KEVIN MANGUIOB

18

G AB R I ELLE CALH O UN

NATH AN S P ENCER

 Each semester, digital media students gain hands-on experience in all aspects of live television production, including sporting events, through Liberty’s Broadcast Communications department and the Liberty Flames Sports Network. In November, 16 out of the 21 crew members who worked on a nationally syndicated broadcast of a town hall about the opioid crisis, featuring First Lady Melania Trump, were students.

 Liberty’s purchase of historic properties in the nearby community of New London (including the Bedford Alum Springs Hotel and Mead’s Tavern) provides students with opportunities to get hands-on with history in a pre-Revolution community that served as a popular trade route for settlers.

Technical Institute, students can add valuable skills to their tool belt, such as welding, electrical, carpentry, HVAC, or plumbing — all programs approved by the National Center for Construction Education and Research. Minors, interdisciplinary degrees, and electives are available in the Liberty Technical Studies program.

NATHAN SP E NC E R

LE AH STAU F F E R

 Through a partnership with Virginia

 Aspiring lawyers test their legal and courtroom skills against students from other schools in practical skills competitions. At the undergraduate level, students from the Helms School of Government participate in moot court (simulated courtroom arguments). At Liberty’s School of Law, students participate in moot court as well as arbitration, negotiation, and appellate advocacy competitions.

19

JESSI E R OGER S

Liberty student Madeleine Temple meets with Career Coach Jennifer Whitt.

Opening the Doors

TO SUCCESS

Career Center offers vast resources to give students a head start in the job market Liberty University alumnus Jeremy Fitch (’18) set his sights on a career in digital media and was determined to land a job at a big company in a big city.

Fitch jumped in early, taking an internship with the Washington Examiner in Washington, D.C., his sophomore year through Liberty’s Washington Fellowship program. He was accepted into the Disney College Program his junior year. Only a few weeks after graduation, he was hired as the social media publisher at The Players’ Tribune, a media company

20

founded by former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter that provides athletes with a platform to connect with their fans by writing their own articles.

“Liberty’s Career Center was a huge factor in landing that job,” Fitch said.

The Career Center prepares students like Fitch to take on the real world with proven experience. Through workshops, one-on-one coaching sessions, networking events, and résumé and interview preparation, Liberty’s residential and online students never have to feel like they are on their

own to build their repertoire and search for jobs.

“It’s very important to pour into our students while they are here and not only focus on helping them get their first job after graduation, but on entering a successful, rewarding career,” said Sarah Falwell, Liberty’s executive director of Career Partnerships & Career Services. “We want our students to be really proud of their Liberty degree because they leave here feeling prepared as they go into their field.”

FEATURES

Career Coaches Student Noelle Cawston visits the Career Center for a one-on-one session.

JESS I E R O G ER S

Meeting with a career coach is a great way for students to get a jump start on their job search. A team of coaches is ready to help students create standout résumés, prepare for interviews, or even zero in on their career options. Students can schedule appointments with a coach who has the knowledge and background specific to their degree and career aspirations. Many coaches host pop-up events at different locations on campus, making it easy for students to connect with them in between classes.

Coaches can also review résumés that students submit through the center’s website, Liberty.edu/Career.

“There’s a huge difference between getting a career and just getting a degree and a job,” said Debra Saucier, assistant director of career coaches. “We want them to have successful careers that they enjoy.”

“It’s very important to pour into our students while they are here and not only focus on helping them get their first job after graduation, but on entering a successful, rewarding career.”

SARAH FALWELL

Executive Director Career Partnerships & Career Services

Internships coordinate internships throughout the country. With Liberty’s robust online program, students completing internships can continue to take courses toward their degree while they are living and working off campus — an attractive option for employers who can retain the interns for full workdays.

Students can also use the Parker Dewey website to search for “microinternships,” which are short-term, paid, professional assignments that are similar to those given to new hires or interns. Often, the projects can lead to an internship or even a full-time job.

“Organizations like Microsoft, IBM, or small tech firms go on there and post small projects that they need done,” said Kate Choudhury, assistant director of experiential learning at the Career Center. “It’s contract work that is targeted to undergraduate students.”

LE AH STAUFFE R

One of the most practical ways for Liberty students to gain real-world experience is through internships.

Liberty’s semester-long New York and Washington Fellowships place students in the heart of the nation’s capital or the Big Apple in competitive internships that give them a professional edge before they graduate. Students live together in designated Liberty housing and take part in professional development and networking events as well as social activities. Students have worked with organizations and businesses such as Fox News, Ralph Lauren, the National Park Service, Bloomingdale’s, and the U.S. Congress. In Washington, the Career Center has eight affiliation agreements with employers that specifically reserve spots for Liberty students.

Career coaches work directly with individual students and employers to

Liberty students (left to right) Kaitlyn Shields, Brooke Larson, Luke Dillard, and Dominique Nelson participated in the Washington Fellowship last summer.

21

Handshake app

JE SSI E R OGE R S

Starting last semester, Liberty students and alumni were able to claim their free accounts on Handshake, a new digital platform that aids in job searches. Similar to LinkedIn, Handshake allows users to upload their résumés and create profiles for employers to view.

About 100 percent of the Fortune 500 companies use Handshake. A unique aspect of the site is that employers can search for candidates from particular colleges and universities. Nearly 3,100 companies, including American Airlines and Adidas, are directly connected with Liberty through Handshake. The university receives about 20 to 30 new job postings from employers each day.

Students can also use Handshake to search for internships and make appointments with Liberty’s career coaches.

Liberty student Benjamin Grant uses the Career Center resources for job searching and résumé building.

Career Fairs and Panels Throughout the school year, the Career Center holds several career fairs and panels with company representatives. In October, the center hosted an “Experience Google” Q & A event with six Google employees. This spring, it will host four career fairs open to students of all majors. On March 26 in the LaHaye Multipurpose Center, the Career Center will host its biggest event to date, with 100 employers seeking students and alumni for fulltime jobs or internships in the fields of

engineering, business, communication, information technology, law, and government.

“The biggest thing we wish students would know about the career fair or recruiting events on campus is that even if they show up and are not fully prepared, their chances are still so good that they’ll either get an interview or get a job,” said Kate Choudhury, assistant director of experiential learning. “The face-to-face interaction is huge because these employers are

coming to campus just to meet them.”

Executive Director Sarah Falwell said many of the employers who come to the career fairs are Liberty alumni who want to hire Liberty students because they know what they are getting in terms of training, character, and values.

“When our students graduate and land jobs, the alumni base can become our biggest resource,” she said. “The more and more we invest with them now, it will pay off later.”

SAVE the DATE:

SPRING 2019 CAREER FAIR

MARCH 26 | 1-4 P.M.

LaHaye Multipurpose Center

The Career Center hosts special events with representatives from highly successful businesses. In October, students heard from Google employees on what it’s like to work for the Fortune 500 company.

22

THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE JOB Here’s what employers are saying about new hires and interns from Liberty: All of the Liberty graduates we have had in the past have all been good at communicating, they are willing to work, and they pursue integrity.

A Law & Government Career Fair was held in September.

Career fairs give students the chance to meet one-on-one with potential employers.

A Ministry Fair in November included representatives from churches and various ministry and nonprofit organizations.

David Maharaj, Senior Staff Accountant, Tate & Tryon Liberty interns have a willingness to serve in whatever capacity is asked. They are willing to put their own agendas aside and help others.

Students are prepared when they leave this university to go and change the world. That mission of Training Champions for Christ is still bearing fruit in Washington, D.C., for us, and for New York City, Hollywood, and many other places.

Marcus Harris, Director of Student Interns, Family Research Council I have had great success in hiring Liberty University students. They come to us spiritually mature, and Liberty is really our go-to place when looking for young women who can be a voice on Capitol Hill.

Penny Nance, CEO and President, Concerned Women for America

In its new home on the second floor of the Montview Student Union, the Career Center is conveniently accessible to students. The open, collaborative space makes it easier for students to meet with staff one-on-one or in groups.

My experience working with Liberty students and graduates has been awesome. They’re well-rounded students who are ready to work and learn. You can tell they’ve had a good education. We also love that Liberty students are teamwork-oriented, which is important in our business.

But most importantly, they come in ready to roll up their sleeves and work.

JESSIE ROGE RS

Chris Calder, General Manager, Hendrick Lexus - Charlotte My company and I first heard about Liberty University through an intern.

After her internship, we hired her as a video editor and since then we have hosted several Liberty students.

They are awesome. They are very professional, team-oriented, very confident, and are able to work well on teams and as individuals.

Angie Seldon, Human Resources Senior Specialist, C-SPAN

23

SERVING the UNDERSERVED

MEDICAL SCHOOL CONTINUES ITS FOUNDING MISSION TO REACH SOUTHSIDE VIRGINIA B Y T O B I WA L S H L A U K A I T I S

About an hour south of Lynchburg sits the city of Danville and its 41,000 residents. Though Danville is much larger than the town where fourth-year student-doctor Kaitlyn Murray grew up in rural Ohio, it is one of the many underserved areas in Southside Virginia — a region where Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine (LUCOM) is making an impact.

“People have to be resourceful in Danville,” Murray said. “You don’t have access to specialty doctors at your fingertips.”

Back in 2011, when LU announced plans to build a medical school on Liberty Mountain, administrators had a specific goal in mind: to train student-doctors to serve patients in 40 tobacco-dependent localities in southern and southwest Virginia in desperate need of quality healthcare.

The school and its mission was made possible, in part, by grants from the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization

Commission, which is responsible for disbursing federal funds received from a settlement with the country’s largest tobacco manufacturers over healthcare costs due to tobacco use. Many localities suffered economically as the tobacco industry declined. The commission’s job is to promote economic growth and development in communities that were tobacco-dependent for most of the 20th century.

At LUCOM’s groundbreaking ceremony in Fall 2012, the commission presented Liberty with $20.5 million to establish the medical school and work toward a goal of graduating 2,800 doctors by 2038 who would then practice medicine in Virginia’s old tobacco-producing communities.

Murray hopes to be one of those graduates. She was placed in Danville for her third-year rotation and returned this year to continue her final rotation before she graduates in May. She would like to stay in Danville but will learn of her

residency placement later this spring.

“I never pictured myself practicing medicine in Danville,” she said. “The fact that the Tobacco Commission and Liberty fund rotation sites in these rural areas is important. It’s bringing in people from all over the country to do their schooling at Liberty and complete their rotations in the underserved areas of Virginia and actually stay in those areas.”

SEEING THE NEED

When student-doctors graduate, they are placed in residency programs at hospitals or healthcare systems. But this presents a challenge for LUCOM’s mission in Virginia’s tobacco-dependent region, where only 39 first-year residencies are currently available (out of 589 across the state). LUCOM Dean Dr. Peter Bell said that there is an urgency to establish more residencies for future physicians.

“We geared up these student-doctors with the expectation that this is a great place to train, and they should come back

Liberty medical student Kaitlyn Murray examines a patient during her fourth-year rotation in Danville, Va.

C HRIS BREED LOVE

24

FEATURES and practice here,” Bell said. “What we’re lacking is residencies.”

In January, the Tobacco Commission voted to extend LUCOM’s grant for another year to assist the university in its efforts to grow the number of residencies in underserved areas in Southside Virginia.

According to Bell, medical schools across the country are graduating more physicians than the number of available residencies.

“Traditionally, money for establishing new residencies at hospitals comes from the federal government under Medicare,” Bell explained. “But many hospitals are capped at how many residency positions they can have funded. That only leaves the hospitals that have never accepted money from the federal government for residencies, and those are few and far between — in the Virginia tobacco counties, there are 16 small hospitals that have never received federal funds for residencies.”

Bell said that LUCOM staff understand the importance of doing their part to bring quality care to the region.

“The folks in tobacco counties deserve the same type of care that you get in Virginia’s bigger cities,” he said. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be offering them the same kind of treatments, maintenance and prevention programs, and access to quality care that the rest of the state gets. There shouldn’t be a secondclass approach to healthcare just because they’re geographically in areas where

people live farther apart or they don’t have the same sociological advantage.”

FILLING THE NEED

Growing up in a small cattle town in northern California, third-year medical student Landin Hagge saw firsthand the importance of serving rural areas as part of a family of medical professionals.

“My brother is the CEO of a rural hospital, and he constantly talks to me about the issues and concerns they have in rural healthcare,” Hagge said. “The biggest problem is attracting providers to come and live in these communities. Big hospitals can provide bigger incentives and work life balance. For example, if I went back to my own community and practiced, I would be the only doctor for an entire county.”

In big cities, patients also have access to doctors with a variety of specialties, he said. “If someone comes in having a heart attack in a rural hospital, you don’t have a cardiologist available at the drop of a hat.”

Hagge, who is currently doing his rotations in Petersburg, Va., said he has seen similar problems with his patients.

“There’s a need everywhere in the United States for more doctors,” he said.

“A lot of patients I see will say that they tried to go to their primary doctor or family practice doctor, but they weren’t able to be seen for three to four months.

Oftentimes, when they’re referred to a doctor, they are recommended to see them because they have an issue like high

blood pressure that needs to be addressed in a few weeks, not a few months.”

Murray said that when LUCOM sends out student-doctors to rural areas for rotations, rather than having them stay closer to Lynchburg, the university is helping the communities recruit more doctors like herself.

“Once you come here as a student and see firsthand that these patients desperately need physicians in this area, you’re likely to stay in the underserved areas,” she said.

Student-doctors also learn how to treat a diverse population and build More than 100 Liberty medical students completed 916 clinical rotations within Virginia’s tobacco region during the 2017-18 academic year.

trust within the communities they serve, Murray said.

“It means a lot to the communities, and it means a lot to you as a future physician,” she said. “When you have these patients come in, and they see that you’re from the Midwest but care about a small town like Danville, it matters.

Patients in these towns want to grow close to their physicians. It means a lot when a patient tells me how happy they are that I’m here and want me to stay and come to me when I’m ready to practice on my own. I don’t think that happens in big cities.”

CARING FOR THE COMMUNITY

CH RIS BREED LOVE

Throughout the year, Liberty medical students serve patients in Lynchburg and Southside Virginia at daylong community clinics coordinated by LUCOM’s Office of Clinical Collaboration & Education.

Under the office’s Community Care Collaborative, LUCOM partners with local nonprofits to provide free services such as physicals, flu shots, mammograms, and mental health and vision screenings.

For the last four years, studentdoctors and faculty and staff have hosted clinics in Martinsville and Lynchburg, assisting over 1,000 patients. The goal is to help increase residents’ access to various services and connect them with healthcare resources regardless of their insurance or income status.

First-year medical student Michaela Gartman said she loved the chance to immerse herself in the community rather than stay in the classroom.

“I really like how we benefit the community. We’re not doing ‘drive-by’ medicine but making connections afterward,” she said. “We are able to set patients up with resources in their community to overall better their health.

We really take in the osteopathic model of body, mind, and spirit, and we’re really working to develop that in every patient.”

LUCOM student-doctors and faculty and staff volunteered 4,575 service hours within Virginia’s tobacco region in 2018.

25

LEAH STAUF F ER

ENCOURAGING INNOVATION NEW CENTER FOR ENTREPRENEURSHIP DIRECTOR WILL EMPOWER STUDENTS TO GROW THEIR IDEAS Liberty University students who aspire to own their own business or have an idea for a startup aren’t waiting until they graduate to test the entrepreneurial waters. Through the Center for Entrepreneurship, a number of resources are available to help them develop their ideas, hone their business skills, and connect with people who have succeeded at various levels of industry.

One of those successful professionals is the center’s new executive director, Anthony Nobles.

Nobles has founded more than 28 companies in fields such as electronics, healthcare, banking, automotive engineering, retail, and real estate.

Nobles has invented more than 155 medical devices and leading electronic technologies, including a portable electronic book and endoscopic imaging systems. He has been directly responsible for the sale of companies, or has licensed their technologies, to several of the largest medical device companies, including Medtronic, Johnson & Johnson, and Boston Scientific. He has also developed automotive technologies for consumer vehicles and for Formula 1 Ferrari race cars.

Nobles’ first visit to Liberty was

26

in October when he joined a panel at Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine to discuss an innovative heart procedure being conducted with a device he invented.

Liberty President Jerry Falwell revealed that he had recently undergone the breakthrough procedure.

Before that trip, Nobles, who lives in California, said he didn’t know much about Liberty.

“When President Falwell toured me around and showed me what he and his father’s original vision was and what they’ve accomplished, I was touched by what I saw,” Nobles said. “Every time I turned the corner on the tour, I felt like, ‘Wow this is the place for me.’”

He sensed then that his relationship with the university would grow.

“My passion is teaching. I love to teach; it is important to me. From a standpoint of faith, it was truly God who knew what I wanted, and this opportunity (to be the center’s director) arose, and I get to be a part of something that is incredibly special.”

Nobles will guide students through all stages of developing a product or company — from the research to the presentation, design, engineering, and regulatory processes — as well as help students make business

contacts. He also plans to include students in a project with a subsidiary of one of his companies that could lead to a clinical trial.

Beyond the instruction Nobles will give, he hopes to encourage students with the life lessons he’s learned.

“My opening line is that nobody studies to be an entrepreneur. If you’re taking a program because you want to be an entrepreneur, you aren’t one.

My definition is someone who works really, really hard, succeeds, then fails, succeeds then fails, and never gives up.

Then, when you finally reach the goal, you are an entrepreneur. I’ve been so blessed that I’ve had those experiences — good and bad — to get where I am.”

Nobles will operate the center out of its new space in the School of Business building, which is scheduled to open by the end of the spring semester. Though it is supported by the School of Business, the center will remain open to students from all degree programs, residential or online.

“This program is multitiered,” Nobles said. “It can be someone from the medical school, to engineering, law school, or even from music or art, who can come be a part of this program where we will create not just textbook scenarios but real-life experiences.”

FEATURES

ONGOING PROGRAMS

L E AH STAU F F E R

ABOVE: Jaden Shaw (left) and Jacen Garriss used the Spark! Incubator program to help with their collegiate eSports consulting business. BELOW: Andy Chen (’18) and Gabby Reese (’18) recently launched a box subscription service in China after developing their idea through the Spark! Incubator program.

L E AH STAU F F E R

Each Monday, the center hosts its Meet Up! Startup! event where students can network with one another and local business leaders. Once a month, a larger event is held at a local business.

“People have ideas. We are trying to get them together to build this entrepreneurial ecosystem here,” said Alexandru Barker, the center’s assistant director.

Students can also join the Spark! Incubator program, where they are paired with a mentor (an area professional) who helps them finetune their strategy and guides them through unfamiliar territory, like applying for legal status or securing a patent.

“A lot of the program was answering questions that we didn’t even know we needed to ask,” said junior Jacen Garriss, co-founder of Peak eSports and Entertainment, which hosts gaming leagues and offers collegiate eSports consulting services. “There are all of these different aspects of owning and running a business that I had no clue about.”

At the end of the semester, participants pitch their ideas to a panel of judges from area businesses at an event modeled after the reality TV show “Shark Tank.” Students compete for a chance to win cash prizes to grow their business. Last semester, the Most Innovative Idea winner was Touch of the Nations, a box subscription service that allows customers to experience overseas culture.

The service was started by Gabby Reese, who graduated in December with a B.S. in Business Administration-Entrepreneurship, and Andy Chen (’18). They recently started operations in China.

For more information on Liberty’s Center for Entrepreneurship, or if you are interested in becoming a mentor, visit Liberty.edu/StartUp, call (434) 592-7321, or email entrepreneur@ liberty.edu.

Virginia Business Magazine featured Liberty’s “outside the box” education philosophy and support of entrepreneurial endeavors in its January issue. The article showed how Liberty works closely with businesses to ensure that students are being trained with the needs of future employers in mind.

Visit VirginiaBusinessMagazine.com.

K E VI N M ANGU I OB

ADULTS USE LIBERTY ’S CONVENIENT, FLEXIBLE ONLINE PROGRAMS TO ACCELERATE THEIR CAREERS

BY MITZI BIBLE

“ I D O N ’ T H AV E T H E T I M E ; I H AV E A FA M I LY T O T A K E C A R E O F .”

“I T’S T O O L AT E; I MISSED MY O P P O R T U N I T Y .”

“I’M TOO OLD TO U N DE R S TA N D HOW T O T A K E C L A S S E S O N L I N E .”

It’s normal for adults to have these thoughts about going to college — or going back to college — 10, 20, 30, or

28

even 40 years after high school. But the students in Liberty University’s online programs are finding out that it is easier than they think to fit a degree into their busy lives.

For some students, earning an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degree that leads to their dream job is something they’ve desired since childhood. Others have developed new passions through experiences they’ve had later in life. For Chrisy Hatcher of Lancaster, S.C., returning to school 21 years after earning an undergraduate degree was a big decision.

She was a stay-at-home mom for 15 years and had worked a few temporary jobs, but when her two daughters entered high school, she wanted to start a career where she could live out her newfound

passions. She had volunteered at her daughters’ schools for many years, and after serving as a substitute teacher, Hatcher decided she wanted to work in the field full time as a school counselor.

“I really had a heart for that area, but I knew it required a master’s degree. I didn’t know about the cost and the time commitment and, being out of school for so long, if I could do it.”

So she looked into online programs.

“I felt like that was the best option for me and my family. I knew Liberty’s Master of Education in School Counseling (M.Ed.) had just received CACREP accreditation (the premier accreditation for counselor education programs nationally and internationally), so I enrolled.”

Hatcher’s fears were calmed after she found the online system to be

FEATURES “user-friendly, straightforward, and easy to follow” and after she connected with her classmates, who were just like her.

“For me, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do when I was in college the first time, but now, coming to college later in life, when you’ve had more experience and kind of know yourself better, I think it’s a lot easier to commit to it. Because you are passionate about it, you’re going to stick with it.”

Her advice to people considering online education is to “not let fear hold you back from feeling like you can’t do it or it’s too late or you’re too old to go back. I would definitely encourage everybody that it’s not too late to start if it’s something you’re passionate about.

It is definitely worth it.”

Hatcher graduated in May and, a few months later, landed a job as a school counselor at Edwards Elementary School in Chesterfield, S.C. “Liberty’s program gave me a really good foundation, and I felt very prepared when I had to take my praxis exam for certification,” she said. “In my job, I’m seeing that Liberty is very up-to-date.

I was well-prepared for the current model for how things are supposed to be done (in school counseling).”

Robin Hallmark of Mount Washington, Ky., had a similarly rewarding experience. She returned to college at age 54 to earn a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Liberty and graduated in 2016. Now, at age 58, she is pursuing her Master of Science in Nursing: Nurse Educator degree and is on schedule to complete it in May. Hallmark spent 27 years in nursing and wanted to continue in the profession by pouring into others in the field. When she became disabled, the online program was a perfect fit for her.

“It actually worked out better for me, because I could study morning, noon, or night; it didn’t really matter. I wasn’t tied down to a certain schedule.”

She said Liberty’s staff was helpful with the transition. “The program was easy to navigate, Blackboard is awesome, and the research at the library couldn’t

get any easier. The tools and resources were where I could find them — and if you can’t, there’s always someone you can talk to. The advisers told me exactly what I needed to enter the program and gave me the right steps to follow. It was pretty painless.”

And, she added, her instructors have been very encouraging. “They were all very, very helpful. You could send them a note, and they would get back with you within 24 hours and answer your questions. They have all been so kind and professional. All of them know you have a life outside of your classes, and they’re willing to work with you.”

A case in point, Hallmark said, was last year, when she was by her husband’s side for several days in the hospital.

When he passed away in June, she took the whole summer off from her studies.

When she returned to school in the fall, she faced an eye condition that caused migraines, hindering her from using the computer for long periods.

“The dean has been so awesome, allowing me to go at my pace until I could get this all figured out,” she said.

Beyond the classwork, Hallmark found the emotional and spiritual support she needed, too.

“Given the Christian aspect of the online program, the instructors are so caring and concerned, and they want you to succeed. They don’t want to see you fail, and because of that, they’re willing to help. Even with the online atmosphere, you have a place in every class to ask for prayer from classmates, so they’re still there with you through prayer — you feel it; it’s genuine.”

Johnnie Wilson, 54, of Fayetteville, N.C., spent most of his career in law enforcement. What he saw made him want to help people earlier in their lives.

“I wanted to keep youth from getting incarcerated; I wanted to kind of get in the middle of that and prevent that,” he said.

With dreams of opening his own counseling office, Wilson searched for an online graduate program. He settled on Liberty’s Master of Arts in Marriage

& Family Therapy. “I wanted to get the best education I could, and when I found Liberty and knew the courses had a biblical background, that just sealed the deal for me.”

But with teenagers still living at home and a full-time job working a late shift, Wilson wasn’t sure how he could fit his studies into the mix. His family became his motivation.

“My kids saw how much it meant to me to go back to school, and they said, ‘Dad, you can do it, you can do it’ — and that’s all I needed.”

He said that once classes started and he got to know his professors, they became his cheerleaders, too.

“Studying online was awesome because the instructors made themselves available. If you had an issue with anything in class, or even if you had something personal going on, they were there ready to talk to you.”

He recalls Skyping with a professor at 3 a.m. one day.

“I had help that I greatly appreciated.

I don’t think I would have had that at another university.”

Wilson graduated in May and has plans to start a private counseling service. He is currently volunteering in a mentorship program with fifth-graders.

He said he frequently talks with friends and former co-workers about his experience going back to college.

“They have all the arguments I had, that they have kids and full-time work. But I tell them it’s well worth it to go back, that you can start off slow, get yourself paced, but don’t let that opportunity go by. Without the degree, you’re not going to get the best job you want to make your life comfortable.

Every piece of education that you can get is something no one can ever take away from you.”

Liberty University offers over 400 programs of study online and is ranked in the top 1 percent of online colleges and universities for academic quality, affordability, and accessibility (BestColleges.com).

Visit Liberty.edu/Online.

29

BE OUR GUEST FOR AN ENTIRE WEEKEND

When planning a college visit, you want to make the most of your time on campus. You want to take in as much as you can so that when you return home, you have all the information you need to discuss it with family members and make a decision. The impressions of one tour guide in a few hours just aren’t enough. You want to get a real feel for campus life. After all, the decision is one of the most important decisions you can make in life.

While many schools offer a morning or afternoon presentation consisting of a tour or a Q & A session, Liberty University has a longstanding tradition of providing a whole weekend for students and their friends and families to explore the university. From Thursday to Sunday, College For A Weekend (“CFAW” for short) takes visitors through the how-to’s of college life. Students can stay overnight in a

dorm, attend classes, eat in the dining hall, and participate in a variety of social activities alongside current Liberty students. And while students are getting a taste of college life, their parents or guardians can focus on the areas that matter most to them by attending sessions on everything from admissions to financial aid, residence life, and spiritual development.

The weekend kicks off with an afternoon welcome and orientation session and is followed by “Getting To Know Liberty,” an expo-style event where guests can meet with staff from the academics programs and a variety of campus services. In the evening, students are invited to “Student Connect,” where they can enjoy music, games, painting, s’mores, and more. The rest of the weekend, visitors can follow a full agenda or pick and choose which sessions best apply to them. One of the more popular sessions is Scholarship

All group leaders (youth, church, parent, or school leaders) who bring 10 or more students to CFAW can receive meal vouchers, hotel lodging, and athletic and concert tickets for themselves and their spouses. For deadlines and to register, visit Liberty.edu/CFAWGroups.

Search 101. The 45-minute session offers valuable tips and tricks for finding additional scholarships for college.

Families are free to take a break from the CFAW schedule to experience campus on their own — and keep younger siblings entertained — with a number of exciting activities, including year-round ice skating, snowboarding or snow tubing, athletics events, bowling, playing video games in the gaming lounge, or attending a concert featuring a top Christian artist. Groups also enjoy visiting Liberty’s Hydaway Outdoor Recreation Center and Equestrian Center on nearby Liberty Mountain.

Many current Liberty students will tell you that attending CFAW was the deciding factor in their college search.

CFAW is held two times each semester and is open to secondsemester high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors, as well as transfer students under age 25.

FEATURES

JESS I E R O G ER S G AB R I ELLE CALH O UN

JESS I E R O G ER S

2019 CFAW DATES April 4-7 | Sept. 26-29 | Nov. 7-10

Register online at Liberty.edu/CFAW, call (800) 543-5317, or email CFAW@liberty.edu.

Can’t make these dates? Join us for ExperienceLU, a one-day event with specially designed tours, meetings with faculty and staff, and many of the same activities offered during CFAW. View a sample itinerary at Liberty.edu/ExperienceLU. Call the Visitor Center at (800) 543-5317 or email ExperienceLU@liberty.edu to register.

HELP IS ON THE WAY In response to the growing financial strain that college costs are putting on today’s graduates, Liberty University announced in November that it is freezing its tuition rates. All new and returning residential students in the 2019-20 academic year will enjoy the same value in tuition and room and board costs as the previous year.

The decision is a rare action for private colleges and universities. President Jerry Falwell said Liberty will continue to offer innovative financial solutions and packages to help students receive the education they want without the extra financial burden.

“The impact of freezing tuition, combined with the new Middle America Scholarship, is a major increase in financial support for our students,” he said. “We understand how challenging it can be to pay for college. We want our students and their families to be able to focus more on education and less on making ends meet, and we’ve taken several steps to make that happen.”

The new Middle America Scholarship is helping students from middle-income families who typically earn between $35,000 and $95,000 per year. Students with an expected family contribution from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) that is 1-18,000 will receive the scholarship to bring them

up to the equivalent of the full Federal Pell Grant amount each year, and when combined with the Liberty Champion scholarship, the value will be up to $5,195.

Liberty’s online undergraduate students are also seeing more financial assistance. Liberty is providing digital textbooks and instructional materials to undergraduate students in its online program free of charge. This affects more than 700 courses, saving students up to $975 per year. Additional discounts and scholarships are also being made available to members of the military and first responders. Visit LUOnline.com/Scholarships for more information.

31

CHRISTIANITY and the

AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

BY RO G E R S C H U LT Z , P H . D .

American higher education rests upon the foundation of biblical Christianity. From their beginnings, American colleges emphasized scriptural literacy, Christian moral principles, salvation through Jesus Christ, and a biblical worldview. While these initial commitments may have shifted over time, the foundations are rock-solid.

Puritans established Harvard

32

College in 1636, shortly after arriving in Massachusetts Bay. Harvard’s mission statement, given in 1642, was clearly evangelical: “Everyone shall consider as the main end of his life and studies, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. John 17:3.” The Harvard motto, from 1650, emphasized its core Christian commitment: “In Christi Gloriam” (“For the glory of Christ).”

Over long decades, conservative

Puritan ministers served as Harvard’s presidents.

Almost all Ivy League institutions had similar beginnings. They were established by conservative Connecticut Congregationalists (Yale), proAwakening New Jersey Presbyterians (Princeton), devout Rhode Island Baptists (Brown), and missionminded New Hampshire evangelicals (Dartmouth). These schools shared

SCHOLAR’S VIEWPOINT common commitments to the authority of the Word of God, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and the need for a Christian influence in society.

These early schools promoted a broad sense of calling and service. Many were designed to train faithful clergy.

Massachusetts Puritans established Harvard, for instance, “dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches, when our present ministers shall lie in the dust.” But Christian colleges also prepared students for careers in business, law, medicine, and education.

American colleges also encouraged independence and patriotism. During the American Revolution, British leaders complained that colleges were “seedbeds of sedition.” Longtime Princeton president John Witherspoon was a member of Congress, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and an advocate for American freedom.

He was also a dedicated churchman and evangelist. His 1776 “Dominion of Providence over the Passions of Men,” the most famous sermon of the Revolutionary generation, included a passionate call for salvation before weighing any political considerations.

Early colleges were anchored in the American evangelical tradition. Great American evangelist and theologian Jonathan Edwards enthusiastically supported the pro-revival College of New Jersey (Princeton) and, at the end of his life, served as its president.

Edwards’ grandson Timothy Dwight served as president of Yale College and, in 1802, was the catalyst for a remarkable campus awakening. The

Yale Revival was a key component of the Second Great Awakening that transformed American society in the early 19th century. New Christian colleges popped up across the American frontier, founded by denominations born or invigorated by the Awakening.

Even public institutions had a vigorous Christian influence. The Rev. William McGuffey served as professor of moral philosophy at the University of Virginia. Best known

In the midst of this cultural deterioration, Liberty University is refreshingly unique.

Its Christian mission is clear. for his “McGuffey’s Readers,” used to educate untold millions of American schoolchildren, he also taught essential elements of Christian morality and doctrine to students at Mr. Jefferson’s college.

Americans held a common conviction that true education rested, somehow, upon a biblical foundation and Christian principles. The great American universities, which grew to prominence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, shared traditional mainline Protestant standards. James Duke’s great endowment of 1924

included a clear mission statement: “The aims of Duke University are to assert a faith in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” One hundred years ago, American universities still formally affirmed their Christian character.

Then things changed. Prior to the 20th century, Christian values had a natural and expected place in American higher education. Over the next century, colleges and universities abandoned or muted the spiritual and religious messages of their founders. Increasingly committed to liberalism, secularism, humanism, and statism, cultural elites grew hostile to biblical Christianity.

Some modernists now argue that faithbased institutions are antithetical to the spirit of American education.

In the midst of this cultural deterioration, Liberty University is refreshingly unique. Its Christian mission is clear. Its fundamental standards are unaltered. Its purpose — to Train Champions for Christ — remains constant. The doctrinal fidelity and Christian focus that make Liberty exceptional today was once commonplace in early American colleges. Liberty University resolutely stands on the biblical principles and Christian commitments that made our nation great.

Dr. Roger Schultz is a professor of history and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at Liberty University.

33

NEWS & EVENTS MAKING THE NEWS: Faculty garner national attention for talent, expertise in their fields

UNEARTHING HISTORY: Distinguished professor and archaeologist Dr. Randall Price was featured in the cover story of National Geographic’s December issue, “The Bible Hunters,” about the process of finding and preserving biblical texts and artifacts. Price, along with a team of Liberty students and faculty members, excavated a cave in Qumran, Israel, in January 2018, when National Geographic spent several days at the site. The article also described Price’s work there in 2017, when teams made the first major discovery related to the Dead Sea Scrolls in more than 60 years. Price led a team of two Liberty faculty members, a graduate student, and two alumni to continue excavations in two more caves south of Qumran this past January.

TUNING IN: Two faculty members from Liberty’s digital media and journalism department, Kornel Gerstner and Dr. Chris Underation, along with Chris Nelson, associate professor of theatre arts, have been honored for their work with the serial radio drama “The Encounter.” In 2018, the faculty accepted two national awards from the Broadcast Education Association, including Best of Festival and Best of Competition, as well as the Seneca Award for best new radio drama from Audio Theatre Central. Students assisted in the production, gaining experience in writing, performing, scoring, and mixing. To date, two seasons have aired and at least two more are in production. Listen to the episodes at EncounterSeries.com.

TURNING THE PAGE: A book by professors and husband and wife duo Marybeth and David Baggett was recognized on Christianity Today’s 2019 Top Books list. “Morals of the Story: Good News About a Good God” won the Award of Merit in the Apologetics/ Evangelism category. In the book, the couple explores the moral argument for God’s existence, drawing on their backgrounds in their respective fields. David Baggett teaches apologetics in the Rawlings School of Divinity, and Marybeth Baggett is an English professor.

MUSIC TO OUR EARS: Dr. Woori Kim Smith, assistant professor in the School of Music, performed two concerts at the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City last year. She was the first Liberty faculty member to perform a full concert in the venue.

At her second concert on Dec. 26, Smith completed her goal of performing all of French composer Claude Debussy’s major piano works during 2018, the centennial of his death. She has been fascinated by the composer since she was a child and focused on his works during her graduate and doctoral studies.

34

NEWS & EVENTS

Packed with care: Students experience Operation Christmas Child shoebox delivery Liberty University freshman Joy Nicholson will never look at a shoebox the same way again.

She, along with five members of her community group (made up of students on her residence hall), traveled to Trinidad and Tobago in January to deliver boxes filled with gifts for children as part of Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a ministry of

Samaritan’s Purse.

“I think I’ll always pack a shoebox now,” Nicholson said. “It was incredible to see how God provided for the children through their boxes.

Every box a child opened seemed to have something in it that the specific child needed.”

The group was chosen by Samaritan’s Purse and Liberty to serve as the

LYDI A DI SHE R LYD IA D ISHER

university’s representatives on the trip. The students were selected after they created a video promoting OCC. The group dressed in nurses’ scrubs and surgical face masks and filmed themselves “operating” on the box.

The video was part of a challenge issued during Global Focus Week, when students, faculty, and staff packed nearly 5,000 boxes to break the university’s record for the most shoeboxes packed for OCC. “God gives His love so freely to us, so we should freely give to others,” said sophomore Mackenzie Winkel. “While we were editing the video, we prayed that God would use the boxes to reveal himself to kids in need.”

The group first traveled to Boone, N.C., where they toured the Samaritan’s Purse headquarters before flying to the Caribbean. Once in Trinidad, they visited three local churches and Christian schools where shoeboxes were delivered. Over the three-day trip, they saw more than 400 children receive boxes.

“After a leader would go through the Gospel story, they would tell the kids they had a present for them,” Nicholson said. “The kids had no idea. I always thought that children knew about the shoeboxes they were going to receive, but they didn’t. They were so excited.

Once they started opening them, there was a lot of screaming.”

Winkel said the trip helped her learn more about the scope of the operation.

“It wasn’t just a Christmas gift. It was a representation of the free gift of salvation God truly gives. Before the kids even knew presents were involved, you could see that they were so receptive to the Gospel.”

Since returning to Lynchburg, Winkel said she’s already encouraging people to pack shoeboxes in the fall.

LY DIA DISH ER

During Spring Break, faculty, students, and staff will embark on 30 LU Send trips to places such as Rwanda, Jamaica, Israel, Spain, India, Greece, and England.

35

School of Aeronautics recognized for commitment to safety LEAH STAUF F ER

Liberty University School of Aeronautics is one of the earliest adopters of new air traffic control technology that is part of a national initiative to upgrade aviation safety operations. Well before 2020 — when the Federal Aviation Administration requires all aircraft to be equipped with ADS-B Out technology that allows for improved ground-to-air broadcasting of plane positions in order to fly in certain airspace — Liberty invested heavily in the tool, using datadriven research to justify the cost.

The new technology uses GPS data for broadcasting the location of an aircraft and, in the future, could replace radar as the main surveillance method for

controlling aircraft across the globe.

The FAA featured Liberty as a frontrunner in the use of this new technology in the January/February issue of its Safety Briefing magazine.

FAA staff also filmed interviews with Liberty instructors and pilots about the successful implementation of the technology.

In 2016, Liberty equipped its fleet — about 25 aircraft — with ADS-B In/ Out (“In” means a user can see the air traffic in their own system; “Out” means the service allows aircraft to be tracked by other systems). The university studied a decade’s worth of data on fatal instructional airplane accidents, which

revealed that midair collisions were the second leading cause of deaths. Liberty’s administration, in considering that its students log approximately 14,000 training flight hours per year, decided to invest in the technology for flight training and aircraft operations.

Liberty continued the safety research and in January partnered with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA) Air Safety Institute to release a comprehensive, 16-year study on the causes of fatal flight training accidents. Researchers, including Liberty SOA Director of Safety and Adjunct Professor Andrew Walton and aviation student Carl Baumann, analyzed 240 fatal instructional accidents in piston engine airplanes from 2000-15 that resulted in 432 fatalities. Walton hopes the study can help flight schools and training organizations “target how they can improve awareness and training in regard to the risks of loss of control and midair collisions,” the two greatest risks in flight training, according to the study’s findings.

University leaders named to provost and online provost roles

SCOTT HICKS

SHAWN AKERS

Liberty University recently appointed Dr. Scott Hicks as university provost for its residential programs. Dr. Shawn Akers was named to the new position of online provost, overseeing the online programs.

Hicks first served at Liberty as an assistant professor in 2007. He was named dean of the School of Business in 2012 and vice provost of graduate education in 2017 before serving as interim provost. Prior to Liberty, Hicks spent several years in the oil industry and

served as director of retail operations for Mansfield Oil Company, one of America’s largest Forbes 400 companies.

Liberty President Jerry Falwell said Hicks has used his background in the business world to guide today’s college students. “Dr. Hicks has a heart for our students and cares about preparing them not only for graduation, but also for successful, long-term careers. He knows how to develop academic programs that match the demands of the job market and, most importantly, he understands our mission as a leader in Christian higher education.”

Akers has served as vice provost since June and was dean of the Helms School of Government from 2010 to 2018. He started his time at Liberty over a decade

ago at the School of Law, where he continues to serve as an adjunct professor.

Akers spent several years working as an attorney and practiced law in Louisiana at the state and federal levels, including the Louisiana Supreme Court.

“We are proud to welcome Shawn Akers to this new role,” Falwell said.

“Liberty University remains a world leader in online education, and as our programs continue to grow and meet the needs of an adult population, we will rely on the professional experience and outstanding leadership of Akers and his staff.”

Hicks and Akers will collaborate to develop and implement the vision and values of the university across all academic disciplines.

AROUND LU

36

J.D. EXCLUSIVE: Last fall, Liberty Law launched the Wealth Management and Financial Planning Program, becoming the only school to offer a board-registered Certified Financial Planner program based solely in a J.D. program. Students will be eligible to sit for the national CFP exam.

CONVO DOUBLE PLAY: Two baseball legends spoke about their faith journeys this semester. Andy Pettitte (former New York Yankees pitcher) spoke on Jan. 23, and Ben Zobrist (current Chicago Cubs second baseman) joined his wife, Julianna, on Jan. 18.

NEWS & EVENTS

Veterans and military supporters to participate in CPAC satellite event

EDGAR HARRELL

GARY SINISE

MATT BEVIN

Liberty University will serve as a satellite location for the annual Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, March 1, in the Vines Center.

Liberty’s portion will follow a military theme and honor veterans and active service members. Special guests will

include WWII veteran Edgar Harrell (one of the few remaining survivors of the USS Indianapolis) and actor Gary “Lt. Dan” Sinise, who will lead a discussion of his recently published memoirs and a charge to support those who defend our freedoms.

Liberty will have 2,500 preautographed copies of Sinise’s book available at a discounted price.

CPAC is hosted by the American Conservative Union and runs for a week at the end of February in Washington, D.C.

The conference will welcome additional guests to Liberty’s stage throughout the day to present on a wide range of mostly nonpartisan topics.

Also included in the lineup of a dozen speakers will be Donald Trump Jr. and Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. Starting at 10:30 a.m. EST, the university will broadcast a livestream of Trump Jr.’s message to the main conference stage in the nation’s capital.

All sessions are free and open to the public. Text CPAC to 839-858 to register.

New student club attracts leading national security voices to campus

MICHAEL RUBIN

ERIC MADDOX

In just its first academic year on campus, Liberty University’s Alexander Hamilton Society (AHS) chapter is already making waves. AHS is a nonpartisan, nationally recognized organization that promotes the understanding of national security, foreign policy, and economic statecraft among students.

During the Fall 2018 semester, AHS brought two high-profile national

security experts to campus: former military interrogator U.S. Staff Sergeant Eric Maddox (on Nov. 12), who played a direct role in the capture of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, and Dr. Michael Rubin (Sept. 26), a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute who spent his career fighting terrorism. Both speakers were featured guests at Convocation and also spent time meeting with club members.

The chapter also welcomed James Carafano, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, on Feb. 12.

“I have been shocked in a good way

at how receptive the administration has been,” said Jordan Hayley, founding president of Liberty’s AHS chapter. “I’m grateful for that and, specifically, for the Office of Spiritual Development being willing to partner with us and allow our speakers to have a broader audience.”

Hayley, who served as an AHS summer fellow last year, noted that the society’s connections have already helped three students secure internships.

The rapid success of Liberty’s chapter led to it being named Top Campus Chapter: Fall 2018 by the national society.

Liberty Law achieves highest first-time Bar Exam pass rate in school history JESSIE ROGE RS

The Class of 2018 from Liberty University School of Law posted the highest bar passage rate among first-time test-takers in school history at 95.65 percent. The class beat the previous record by nearly five points.

The 2018 graduates took the bar in 15 jurisdictions, achieving a 100 percent pass

rate in all but Virginia, where the rate was 88.24 percent. Liberty tied for third in the state with William & Mary Law School and just behind the University of Virginia and Washington and Lee University, respectively.

“These recent results testify to the fact that Liberty Law provides its students with a quality education and prepares them for successful legal careers,” said President Jerry Falwell.

Liberty Law Dean B. Keith Faulkner noted that Virginia is historically among the most difficult exams in the nation and that it is extremely rare for a law school

TOP SCORES: Biology & Chemistry students Thomas Siff and Haakon Nelson placed well within the 100th percentile nationally on the MCAT, a key factor in the competitive medical school admission process. Siff hopes to focus on the research and treatment of cancer, and Nelson is interested in international medical missions.

to have graduates take the bar in so many different jurisdictions.

“At Liberty, we don’t just teach you to pass a state bar, we train you to think like a lawyer, and that translates to any jurisdiction,” Faulkner said. “This is a huge milestone. We have a lot of forward momentum thanks to the hard work and dedication of our faculty and the phenomenal performance of our graduates.”

Liberty Law also recently saw its highest employment rate to date for the Class of 2017 (numbers for 2018 will be finalized this spring).

KING’S LEGACY: On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, special Convocation guest Stephon Ferguson performed King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Ferguson is the only person licensed by the King estate to deliver King’s historic speeches. LU also hosted a stage play in remembrance of King.

LEAH STAUF F ER

M E E T S C H O O L O F B U S I N E S S D E A N D R . DAV I D B R AT Former Congressman David Brat took the helm of the Liberty University School of Business on Jan. 2.

Brat served two terms as the U.S. Representative for Virginia’s 7th District, from 2014-18. Prior to that, Brat held a teaching position and was chairman of the economics and business department at RandolphMacon College. He has also worked in accounting in both private and public sectors.

Dr. Brat and his wife, Laura, have two children, Jonathan and Sophia.

How will you draw on your background in business and higher education to serve Liberty University?

I have traveled a long road, and God has guided me to Liberty to make full use of the background He has provided.

I majored in business and worked at Arthur Andersen (an accounting firm) in Detroit and Chicago. But I had always felt the call to seminary, so I followed that calling to Princeton Seminary with the intent of teaching college systematic theology. While in seminary, I attended a Capital Semester in Washington, D.C., and studied economics and ethics, so the systematic part just became even broader for me. I followed this passion by pursuing a Ph.D. in economics at American University in D.C. where I worked at the World Bank and for the U.S. Army. I then was fortunate to teach

38

economics and ethics for 18 years. I tried to apply these disciplines in the real world by working for a Virginia senator for seven years, and then felt the call to public service myself and served in Congress for four years. I fully intend on using and sharing the theory and the practice over the years to shape curriculum and programs to best serve our students. In particular, I have already been meeting with the Career Center and trying to promote Handshake, which links our students to internships and employers across the country. Our entrepreneurship program is not just for business students. Liberty always begins with the whole person and begins with God’s plan for their lives, and entrepreneurship is meant to guide all students to link their callings and talents with careers where they will spend most of their hours on earth.

What are some of your goals for the School of Business?

One of my main goals will be to communicate and highlight what Liberty offers to our students and to the world. I also want to share what I think is our business school’s distinction: we have a clear conception of the good and of ethical living because we have a commitment to God and His Kingdom.

We teach and plan courses and plan vocations and careers based on this worldview. Most institutions in higher

education were founded with strong faith and ethical backgrounds but unfortunately that has now been left far behind. So one of my many goals is to highlight this vision and the hope that we have to share with the world.

Why did you enter a life of public service and what are you most proud of accomplishing during your time in Congress?

I entered Congress because I saw that our country was falling way off course on many of the foundations that have made us great. Our debt is over $20 trillion. Our unfunded liabilities are at $100 trillion. Our mandatory programs like Medicare and Social Security are insolvent in 10 to 20 years.

Our K-12 education system does not teach about God, nor does it teach a system of ethics. Our higher education system too often tends to teach that business and capitalism are morally bad. Economic growth had been sluggish and middle-class wages have been flat for 40 years. These sound like economics issues, but they are all obviously hugely spiritual and ethical issues as well. I am most proud that even when the heat was on, I kept my promises and voted and did what I said I would do. I tried my best to use the media to educate everyone about the issues above. We still have major work to do, and so now I will still try to spread the good Word.

JOEL COLEM AN

NEWS & EVENTS

JO EL CO LEM AN

TYLER P ENR O D

ALMOST THERE: Liberty University plans to officially open its new, 78,000-squarefoot School of Business building by Commencement. The three-story structure will

be equipped with state-of-the art technology in its classrooms and professional meeting rooms. It will house the Center for Cyber Excellence and the Center for Entrepreneurship

and will also feature a stock trading simulation room (in partnership with BB&T), information technology labs, networking and data centers, and a 500-seat auditorium.

LU to break ground on School of Engineering building this fall A new three-story School of Engineering is set to be constructed across from DeMoss Hall, next to the soon-to-open School of Business building. The 60,000-square-foot structure is scheduled to open by the Fall 2021 semester.

Several lab and shop spaces are planned. Dr. Mark Horstemeyer, Liberty’s new engineering dean, said the building will be outfitted with stateof-the-art equipment that specifically relates to a materials history referred to as Process-Structure-PropertiesPerformance sequence (PSPP).

Equipment will be used for casting, additive manufacturing, and welding.

The building will also be outfitted with a scanning electron microscope, optical microscope, and computed tomography equipment as well as mechanical, chemical, and thermal property equipment and areas for automotive and sports performancerelated engineering projects. “‘Creationeering,’ in which we will relate our work to how God created

‘things’ and how we create ‘things,’ will be an emphasis throughout the building,” he said.

He added that the building will be constructed to be energy efficient and support experiments related to solar,

BEST FOR VETS: Liberty was named No. 1 on Military Times’ Best for Vets: Colleges 2019 Online and Nontraditional Schools report. Schools are evaluated based on culture, academic outcomes/ quality, student support, academic policies, cost, and financial aid.

wind, and water power.

“The hope is to calibrate some theoretical models and then apply this to optimize energy usage and efficiency on campus,” Horstemeyer said.

MORE PARKING: Construction on a new parking garage on East Campus is scheduled to begin after the semester ends in May. It will span nine floors with 2,000 parking spaces. A covered walkway to the nearby pedestrian tunnel under U.S. 460 is also planned.

39

Saving Studies: Research projects could aid wildlife conservation efforts Taking seriously their roles as stewards of God’s creation, faculty members in the Liberty University Department of Biology & Chemistry are leading hands-on research in wildlife conservation.

that is trying to harm them,” explained Dr. Matthew Becker, assistant professor of biology. Becker has been researching this unique characteristic for over a decade. “We are studying the microbes on the skin to identify the bacteria so we can better understand which amphibians are susceptible (to infection) and why, hoping to find some patterns. The end goal is conservation, to figure out why our

Dr. Kyle Harris, director of organismal and environmental biology, supervises student research on area crayfish.

One recent study focused on crayfish and branchiobdellidans (worms that live on the body surface of their host).

“These worms are known to eat accumulating bacteria off of the gills of crayfish,” Harris explained.

Students collected bacteria samples

from local streams and crayfish to determine how the worms’ presence affected the species’ health.

Students have also studied the effects of chemicals, such as low-level pesticides, on crayfish development.

This research could impact how freshwater ecosystems are monitored and sustained.

Four of Harris’ students presented

their research at the 2018 Ecology Society of America annual meeting in New Orleans, attended by 4,000 scientists from the nation’s largest professional community of ecologists. The trip was sponsored by the Center for Research & Scholarship.

NATH AN SP ENC E R

A team of Liberty researchers is working to preserve amphibian species threatened by the deadly chytrid fungus that is decreasing amphibian populations worldwide. Interestingly, salamanders in the eastern United States, including the Blue Ridge Mountains, are largely resistant to the fungus.

“Some of the bacteria on their skin have the ability to kill the pathogenic fungus

amphibians are OK so we can help these other amphibians that aren’t.”

Undergraduate students join him in the research, which is funded in part by the Virginia Herpetological Society (VHS) and Liberty’s Center for Research & Scholarship.

The Peaks of Otter — three mountain peaks in the Blue Ridge Mountains about 45 minutes from Liberty — are home to about 10 species of salamander, all of which Becker plans to study. The research could lead to the creation of probiotics to help affected populations battle the pathogen.

The students are currently collecting DNA samples from the seal and dusky salamanders and then isolating and identifying bacteria in a lab. They are also collecting DNA samples from eastern newts at the Hydaway Outdoor Recreation Center on Liberty Mountain.

Two senior biomedical sciences students, Cat Read and Megan Duggins, shared their work at the VHS annual conference in Richmond, Va., last fall.

Dr. Matthew Becker collects newts for DNA samples at Hydaway Lake with a team of Liberty University students.

Other faculty who are working with students on wildlife conservation research include Dr. Norm Reichenbach, who conducts population research on timber rattlesnakes along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and Dr. Gene Sattler, who studies the migration dynamics of the northern saw-whet owl.

The Liberty University Department of Biology & Chemistry offers undergraduate degrees in biology, biomedical sciences (premed), biopsychology, chemistry, environmental biology, forensic science, and zoology (including pre-vet). Graduate programs include a Master of Science in Biomedical Sciences and a Ph.D. in Anatomy & Cell Biology.

AROUND LU

40

INFLUENTIAL WRITING: “Apologetics at the Cross,” co-authored by Dr. Mark Allen, executive director for the Center for Apologetics & Cultural Engagement, was named the best book in Evangelism and Apologetics for 2018 by the Gospel Coalition.

STATE FUNDING: Liberty University’s Center for Engineering Research & Education received a $274,980 GO Virginia grant to help develop an Additive Manufacturing Partnership Lab.

FAITH IN FOCUS

SEEKING TO SERVE

BY LEAH SUMMERS

Servanthood. It is a characteristic that people are quick to applaud, yet oftentimes quite hesitant to be consistent with. In our culture today, it can be easy to show acts of service and expect approval from others as we make our acts known. Serving others can also easily become a selfish action when we choose to only do it when it is convenient for us, working it around our own schedule.

But have we taken the time to sit and ponder what servanthood really looks like, a lifestyle that truly imitates the servanthood of our Savior? Jesus says, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). Jesus not only came to serve, but to lay His life down in service while loving and saving us all. As believers in Christ, we should always be seeking to serve others in intentional and unique ways.

The Vines Center was a “Full House” when actress and author Candace Cameron Bure joined us for Convocation on Jan. 16. It was exciting to hear about the ways she not only maneuvered through the TV and

moviemaking industries, but also how she was seeking to serve the people she worked with in a Christ-honoring way.

Bure reminded us of the importance of serving people from all walks of life and whether or not they look, think, or act like us, we must always be willing to love them well. As believers, we can easily stay within our comfort zones and cater to those who are easier to love. But what about the ones who seem a little harder? Are we going out of our way seeking to serve the difficult neighbor?

The stressed and grumpy co-worker?

Those who disagree with us about everything? When we stop and think about how Jesus served others, He was willing to serve all — the ones who loved Him and the ones who did not. Jesus was willing to stop and serve people in countless ways, from providing food for thousands to listening to cries and pleas and washing people’s feet.

What we cannot forget is the most beautiful act of service Jesus did for each and every one of us when He gave His life out of love and obedience to the Father.

As we seek to imitate who Jesus is and who our Father calls us to be, let us

Summers (’15) is an LU Shepherd in the Office of Spiritual Development.

Shepherds are part of a large network of staff and student leaders who care for students and help them grow in their faith through peer mentorships, pastoral care, and life-skills training (learn more at Liberty.edu/OSD).

P HOTOS BY ANNA CLAIRE SCHE LL ENBERG

During Winter Break, a team of nine Liberty University students and three staff members traveled to Butte County, Calif., to help Samaritan’s Purse in its outreach to victims of the Camp Fire in northern California. The team sifted through the rubble of 18 homes to help families search for specific items. This was the second team to be deployed by LU Send Now, the university’s disaster relief initiative, following wildfires on the West Coast. In August, the first team was specifically assigned to care for the spiritual and mental needs of families affected by the Carr fire.

be sure to serve Him faithfully by loving all His people well, with affection and intentionality for people from all walks of life. As we step out and seek to serve others, we are not only being the hands and feet of Jesus, but inviting others to join in as well.

It is a blessing to be able to work at a place that not only trains Champions for Christ, but also encourages all of us to grow and give like Jesus. Students at Liberty University are truly blessed to gain knowledge and experience within their fields of study while also being encouraged to take their gifts and passions as witnesses into the world.

As an image-bearer of Christ who has been specifically placed by God where you are, who can you serve today?

41

EDITORIAL The following editorial from The News & Advance Editorial Board was first published on Oct. 23, 2018, and is reprinted with permission from The News & Advance.

LU AND THE CENTRAL VIRGINIA ECONOMY There was a time 30 years ago, when many people questioned the long-term financial viability of Liberty University.

The Jim Bakker and televangelist scandals of the late 1980s, coupled with the $72 million bond scandal that nearly shuttered the university and Thomas Road Baptist Church, were precarious times.

What a difference three decades makes.

Founder Jerry Falwell Sr.’s last gift to the school that was his passion was the multi-million dollar payout of a life insurance policy on his death in May 2007. It cleared away the last of the school’s debt, making possible the explosive growth of the last 11 years.

Today, there are approximately 15,000 resident students on the campus at the foot of Candlers Mountain, with another 94,000 or so enrolled in LU’s online classes. It’s one of the largest Christian universities in the world and the largest private nonprofit university in the United States as measured by enrollment. There are 17 colleges that comprise the university — including a law school and the new medical school.

According to the university, it offers students 297 undergraduate degree

programs, 319 masters programs and 32 doctoral programs.

If an alumnus who graduated in May 2007, the year Falwell Sr. died, returned to campus today, it’s highly likely she would be lost within seconds of arriving.

Under the leadership of President Jerry Falwell Jr., who succeeded his father at the school’s helm, LU has gone on a building spree on a mindboggling scale. New dorms, the state-of-the-art Jerry Falwell Sr. Library, the Freedom Tower at the center of campus, the expanded Williams Stadium and other athletic facilities and an infrastructure to support it all — more than $1 billion all told.

The school that was staring into the abyss 30 years ago today has gross assets worth more than $3 billion: $1.7 billion in cash and investments and $2.5 billion in other assets, including the value of its campus.

An economic impact report compiled

by Mangum Associates for the university estimates the school pumps $1.3 billion into the regional economy, a figure that is sure to grow in the coming years as LU’s football program completes its move to the top tier of Division 1 of the NCAA. This is the first year of Division 1

Football Bowl Subdivision competition for the Flames, and the program is expected to become a full-fledged member of the division next season.

With that move will come more economic growth than we’ve already seen. The hotel construction boom in the Wards Road corridor is directly linked to the school’s growth, and a large component of the business plan that made the renovation of the luxury Virginian Hotel possible is based on LU’s continued growth. LU employs 6,797 people, and the Mangum report estimates another 12,000 jobs in the region stem from the school’s spending.

A conservative estimate for LU’s direct spending in the region — by the institution itself, students and visitors — is $618 million per year. Not exactly chump change.

From athletics to cultural events such as plays, concerts and recitals and from students’ economic impact to entrepreneurial startups by alumni, it’s fair to say no one could ever have foreseen what LU is today.

Now that, President Falwell, is something to tweet about.

$712 MILLION DIRECT STATE SPENDING Read a recent study from Mangum Economics about Liberty’s impact on the region and state: LIBERTY.EDU/IMPACT.

LU salary & wages $256.3 MILLION 36%

ESTIMATED TOTAL ECONOMIC IMPACT on VIRGINIA IN FISCAL YEAR 2016–17:

$1.3 BILLION LEAH STAUFFER

42

Distribution of Liberty University 2016-17 Spending within Virginia

Associated enterprises $17.4 MILLION

LU capital construction & equipment 26%

Student spending $130.3 MILLION

3%

Healthcare $21.2 MILLION

Visitor spending $32.7 MILLION

$186.9 MILLION

3% 18%

5%

9%

LU goods & services $67.3 MILLION

NEWS & EVENTS

Area business development group celebrates Falwells’ legacy

The Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance inducted Liberty University’s founder, the late Jerry Falwell Sr., and current President Jerry Falwell into its inaugural Business Hall of Fame on Nov. 3.

“I’m truly honored,” said Falwell, who fought hard alongside his father for 20 years to make Liberty what it is today. “I’m grateful to be president of this great university and humbled to be recognized for the positive impact we are having on the Lynchburg area’s economy.”

Alliance chair Stefanie Prokity said the Hall of Fame recognizes the distinguished men and women who have significantly impacted business, industry, and the community in the Lynchburg region: “These

individuals are proof that the success of family legacies and businesses are built upon foundations of endurance, sacrifice, and passion, which foster sustainable growth and contribute to our unique culture and thriving community.”

President Falwell explained that his father came from a long line of successful entrepreneurs.

“Even as a minister, the family DNA of entrepreneurship still ran strong in Dad,” Falwell said. “He led Thomas Road Baptist Church to incredible growth with innovative ideas for outreach — including the use of radio and TV. And then he began Liberty University, which has seen nearly five decades of innovation and growth.”

Board of Trustees resolution advances efforts in diversity across campus On Nov. 2, the Liberty University Board of Trustees voted unanimously to adopt a Resolution on Equity and Inclusion, forging a course for the university to capitalize on opportunities to improve diversity for a sustainable future.

With the changing demographics of higher education, the resolution acknowledges the centrality of “fostering a diverse, coeducational student body and an inclusive educational environment reflective of the Body of Christ” as well as the need to utilize proactive measures to recruit, retain, and support highly qualified and diverse students and “a culturally and ethnically diverse leadership team, faculty, (and) staff.”

Vice President for Equity and Inclusion/Chief Diversity Officer Greg Dowell worked with Liberty’s attorneys to draft the resolution, and President Jerry Falwell brought it before the board for a vote.

The university took a vigorous step of intentionality in January 2018 when

it formed the division of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion. The offices under the division are responsible for leading the development and implementation of initiatives that support Liberty’s desire to have culturally and ethnically diverse students, faculty, staff, and leadership, free from all unbiblical and unlawful discrimination. Falwell was the catalyst for the formation of the new division and remained an integral part of the adoption process for the resolution.

“This resolution is an important opportunity to model diversity in higher education from a biblical perspective, and, when done right, it fits perfectly within the boundaries of the law,” Falwell said. “Liberty has always sought to provide an educational experience that celebrates the unique ways in which we all reflect the image of God, and from that understanding, to foster an environment where students from a variety of cultures and backgrounds achieve academically and grow in

SHOWROOM: Last fall, Family & Consumer Sciences students participated in an interior design challenge sponsored by Virginia Furniture Market, taking home $3,000 in scholarships. The winning room designs were showcased at the Bedford and Rocky Mount store locations.

their faith together.”

The new goal, he said, is to enhance student, faculty, and staff recruitment, retention, and advocacy, making improvements that can be evaluated annually.

Dowell said the resolution also serves to correct a misconception that Liberty does not embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“Liberty’s programs and activities have always been open regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, age, sex, national origin, pregnancy or childbirth, disability or military veteran status,” Dowell said. “Liberty has always believed and practiced ‘whosoever will may come.’ We have not always been as intentional as we should have been in striving to attract a diverse faculty, staff, and student population, and I believe false impressions may have deterred underrepresented groups from giving Liberty serious consideration. This resolution can help us address that challenge.”

SOLID ARGUMENTS: The Helms School of Government Moot Court Team finished in the top 20 and had one of the country’s best oralists at the American Moot Court Association National Tournament in January.

43

TOP 18 of 2018 JOEL CO LEM AN

→ Melania Trump visits → First FBS season → Hugh Freeze named head football coach → William Byron wins NASCAR Rookie of the Year → School of Business building takes shape

→

→ Athletics’ move to the ASUN conference → LU student Nick Foles wins Super Bowl → President Jimmy Carter at Commencement → First medical school graduation → Liberty Arena announcement → Hurricane relief efforts → Freedom Tower grand opening → Franklin Graham at Convocation

→ JOE L COLE M AN

→ Liberty Natatorium grand opening → G5 Rwanda initiative → DI women’s hockey team wins ACHA nationals → LU Praise leads Christmas worship service for Congressional leaders → U.S. Senate debate and town hall live TV broadcasts

→

Read these stories and more at Liberty.edu/News

T O P I N S TAG R A M P H O T O S

44

2019 NASCAR CUP SERIES L I B E R T Y- S P O N S O R E D R AC E S Feb. 24: April 13: May 26: June 30: July 21: July 28: Aug. 11: Aug. 17: Sept. 8: Sept. 15: Sept. 21: Oct. 27:

Atlanta Motor Speedway Richmond Raceway Charlotte Motor Speedway Chicagoland Speedway New Hampshire Motor Speedway Pocono Raceway Michigan International Speedway Bristol Motor Speedway Indianapolis Motor Speedway Las Vegas Motor Speedway Richmond Raceway Martinsville Speedway

VISIT LIBERTY.EDU/24 to read more about Byron, a Liberty University student and the 2018 NASCAR Cup Series Rookie of the Year. Follow his progress at WilliamByron.com.

© 2019 Hendrick Motorsports, LLC

45

FAMILY TIME

ACROSS COLLEGIATE ATHLETICS, LIBERTY MODELS A FUN, FAMILY-FRIENDLY ATMOSPHERE FOR FANS

BY I A N M CC AW Fans who gather to support our 20 men’s and women’s NCAA Division I athletics programs and over 40 Club Sports teams witness something special in the game day experience — a unique combination of spirited competition and a family-friendly atmosphere.

Athletics has always had a special

way of bringing people together, and at Liberty, we want to help you make the most of the time you spend with those you love, so we put extra effort into creating athletics events that provide wholesome fun for all ages.

If there’s one piece of feedback that our staff hears most from fans, it’s how refreshing it is to attend a game with the whole family without worrying about some of the negative influences that they encounter at other places. At Liberty, our venues are alcohol- and smoke-free and feature widespread

“Thank you for offering a Christ-centered sporting event that I could enjoy with my family.”

giveaways with multiple activities for children.

Parents can join their kids for Flames Fan Fest at the Liberty University Indoor Practice Facility before football games, where they can play backyard games, jump on inflatables, and meet the student-athletes and cheerleaders.

Children always have an exciting time at our baseball games, where they can climb on the playground, participate in fun activities between innings, and catch our postgame fireworks shows. Children can even come face-to-face with Darth

“Excellent atmosphere and game day experience!”

Sandy M., Ashland, Ohio

Mark R., Townville, Pa.

“I have attended many games in other venues, but the customer service and politeness of all of the staff at LU is most impressive.”

John S., Roanoke, Va.

“I would be delighted to return for games or other events including enrolling my child.

Nicely done LU.” Theresa S., Chesapeake, Va.

NATH AN SPE NCER

46

“This was my first college game experience where nobody was drunk, no one was shouting obscenities at the opposing team. It was a great family outing.”

Mike G., Advance, N.C.

JE SSI E R OGE R S

JOE L COL E M AN

Vader or any of their favorite Star Wars characters on Star Wars night, scheduled for May 10.

Many of our teams offer meet-andgreets and autograph sessions with players — and, of course, there are always photo ops with our energetic mascot, Sparky.

More privileges are available to children who join the Flames Kids Club, from free admission to ticket discounts for other family members and friends, as well as members-only Chick-fil-A celebrations (Join at LibertyFlames.com/FKC).

Many of our fans choose Liberty sporting events to celebrate their special occasions, from birthdays to anniversaries and reunions. We will accommodate your group at any event.

For more information, contact the

Flames Ticket Office at 434-582-SEAT (7328) or tickets@liberty.edu.

At Liberty, we are grateful to have an incredible fan base of students, alumni, and friends who support our teams with a mix of faithful fervor and encouraging sportsmanship. That all leads to a welcoming environment for not only the home fans but also for our visiting teams and their fans.

The Christian character that our student-athletes display on the fields and courts is an inspiration to all of us. Games begin and end in group prayer, always with an invitation for the visiting team to join us.

Our event staff showcase exceptional customer service and hospitality. Our students show respect, not to mention that they are the most enthusiastic student body I have ever seen.

The wholesome and fun atmosphere fostered here is what keeps families returning for multiple sporting events throughout the year.

Parents and children have never lived busier lives than they do today, and a fun trip to a Liberty sporting event is just the right mix of exciting entertainment and family time that everyone desires.

So round everyone up and visit us, cheer with us, and #RiseWithUs. Go Flames!

McCaw is the Director of Athletics at Liberty University. His vision for Liberty’s intercollegiate athletics program is to Train Champions for Christ, provide a world-class student-athlete experience, and achieve victory with integrity.

47

ATHLETICS NEWS FINDLEY TO BUILD ON LIBERTY MEN’S SOCCER COACHING LEGACY

JE SSI E R OGE R S

Kelly Findley, who guided Butler University to two NCAA national tournaments and NC State University to top-20 national rankings, started in January as the fourth head coach in Flames Soccer history.

“I am very proud and thankful to be part of the Liberty family,” Findley said.

“To coach at an elite level and represent Jesus Christ is a great responsibility and privilege.”

He brings with him 20 years of collegiate coaching experience, most recently serving as associate head coach at Davidson College. Findley started his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Charlotte Eagles after playing professionally with the organization for six seasons. He also served as assistant coach at Miami (Ohio) University. He landed his first collegiate head coaching job at Mars Hill University near Asheville, N.C., in 1999.

Findley served for five seasons as an assistant at UNC-Charlotte (2001-05) before heading up teams at Butler (200610) and NC State (2011-16). His career coaching record is 121-98-28.

As a midfielder at Judson (Ill.) University, Findley helped the team win its first NCCAA National Tournament championship in 1991.

“Kelly has a passion for Liberty and our vision to Train Champions for Christ,” Liberty Director of Athletics Ian McCaw said. “His tactical expertise, vast recruiting network, and holistic coaching approach will serve the Liberty men’s soccer program extremely well.”

Findley will look to continue the legacy left by Jeff Alder, whose career as a Liberty player and coach spanned 31 years, making him Liberty Athletics’ longest active head coach. Alder stepped down after his 19th season as head coach to become the director of annual giving

for the Flames Club.

“We are grateful for Coach Alder’s Christ-centered leadership of the men’s soccer program for the last 19 years,” McCaw said. “Jeff is beloved in the local community and throughout Flames Nation. His passion for Liberty Athletics and exceptional relational skills make him ideally suited for this new role.”

At Liberty, Alder was a four-year starting defender for legendary player and coach Bill Bell from 198790 and began his coaching career as Bell’s assistant from 1991-99 before succeeding him at the helm in 2000.

He finished his coaching career with a 174-131-28 overall record after leading the Flames to Big South Men’s Soccer Championship titles and NCAA Tournament appearances in 2007 and 2011.

Alder also spent six years as Liberty’s Director of Academics for Athletics, and his players excelled in the classroom as well as on the field. With Alder’s guidance, 26 of his players have moved on to the professional ranks.

“My heart’s desire each day was to invest my life into the lives of each guy that God sent us and help them grow to their full potential as people first and players second,” Alder said. “Each year, my wife, Lori, and I adopt 26-28 young men, and they become a part of the Alder family for life.”

NCAA STUDENT-ATHLETES GRADUATING AT RECORD RATES For the second year in a row, Liberty’s student-athlete graduation success rate (GSR) reached 87 percent — the highest recorded marks in department history.

Liberty’s GSR has increased or matched its previous year’s total each of the last six years, improving from 69 percent in 2009-10.

Seven of Liberty’s 20 athletics programs currently hold a 100 percent student-athlete graduation success rate, and 19 out of 20 maintain a GSR above 80 percent.

“Liberty Athletics’ record-setting academic performance is a credit to the dedication of our student-athletes,

academic commitment of our coaches, and outstanding work of Kristie Beitz and the Academic Affairs for Athletics staff,” said Liberty Director of Athletics Ian McCaw. “Moreover, Liberty’s faculty play a vital role in the academic development of our student-athletes and are to be commended for their excellent work.”

HIGHLIGHTS

48

FIELD HOCKEY FIRST: Aqueda Moroni, a senior from Argentina, earned BIG EAST Offensive Player of the Year and NFHCA First-Team All-American honors after setting program single-season records with 26 goals and 14 assists. She led the Lady Flames to a 13-6 record.

ASUN CHAMPION: Cross country runner Azaria Kirwa of Kenya won Liberty’s first-ever ASUN title in any sport, capturing the 8K at the conference championships in October. The senior nursing major was voted ASUN’s Cross Country Men’s Runner of the Year and Scholar-Athlete of the Year.

ATHLETICS

INDOOR PRACTICE FACILITY SEES INCREASED USE FOR SPORTS AND CAMPUS EVENTS

G AB R I ELLE CAL HOU N

JO EL COL E M AN

Designed primarily as practice space for Flames Football during inclement weather and for family friendly pregame events, the $29 million Liberty University Indoor Practice Facility has also proven its worth as a multipurpose center for the university since it opened in August 2017.

Built adjacent to Williams Stadium and the Football Operations Center, the grand 95,000-square-foot structure with a 70-foot ceiling has an array of windows to allow for natural lighting as well as a breezeway exit onto the

outdoor practice field.

Its functionality is as impressive as its architecture. To date, the facility has serviced many athletics teams, including men’s and women’s lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, men’s and women’s disc golf, softball, and cheerleading. It hosted the final playoff game of a men’s Ultimate tournament when it was delayed during a storm, and it often serves as the practice field for the Spirit of the Mountain Marching Band. It has also been used as a strength and conditioning area for a variety of

NCAA Division I and Club Sports teams and an occasional physical education/ sports medicine class.

Additionally, the facility hosted Liberty Commencement degree presentation ceremonies, Virginia Commonwealth Games tailgate parties, and football, field hockey, and soccer summer camps.

It has helped keep fans dry for large sporting events and served as a holding area for teams, including those in the Virginia High School League state championship football games, played Dec. 8 at Williams Stadium.

GABRIELL E CAL HOUN

SNOW SPORTS: The ski & snowboard team placed first in men’s and women’s skiing and men’s snowboarding at Southeast Conference competitions in January. The team heads to USCSA National Championships in Jackson Hole, Wyo., March 10-16.

GREAT CAUSE: The Liberty and Virginia Tech men’s basketball teams raised over $36,000 at a Hurricane Relief Exhibition Game on Nov. 4 at the Vines Center. Proceeds went to LU Send Now to help victims. After leading at halftime, the Flames fell to the Hokies 86-70.

‘GOD HAS A PLAN FOR EVERYONE’ GRADUATE STUDENT PUSHES PAST OBSTACLES TO ACHIEVE HIS DIVISION I DREAM

BY STEVEN GONZALEZ Liberty University Athletics Communications

LE AH STAUFFER

Keenan Gumbs joined the Liberty University men’s basketball team as a transfer this season, but his journey to play NCAA Division I college basketball has been a long road.

He always dreamed of becoming a Division I student-athlete. Even when he was cut from his high school junior varsity team when he was a sophomore, the dream didn’t fade; he watched that heartbreaking experience turn into “a blessing in disguise.”

“That was one of the best things to ever happen to me,” Gumbs recalled.

“It changed the way I worked. It totally changed my mindset and put a fire in me that I still have today.”

Gumbs moved quickly from the JV practice squad to starting on the varsity team at Byron P. Steele II High School in Cibolo, Texas. Even after helping the Knights advance to the semifinals of two state championships, the native of Cibolo was not heavily recruited by college teams.

HIGHLIGHTS

50

HOOPS STANDOUT: Senior KK Barbour recorded a double-double (15 points, 11 rebounds) and eclipsed 500 career rebounds and 700 career points during Liberty’s 69-53 triumph over North Florida on Jan. 19. The victory marked the Lady Flames’ first-ever ASUN Conference home win.

DOUBLE MEDALISTS: Sophomore Alexandre Fuchs and senior Gabe Lench were top medalists, tied with three-round totals of 208, to help the Flames Golf team win the Oct. 7-9 Intercollegiate at the Grove in College Grove, Tenn.

ATHLETICS mutually beneficial for the Flames, as the forward has helped Liberty reach the top of the conference standings during its first season in the ASUN

Conference, positioning the Flames to return to the Big Dance for the first time since 2013 and the fourth time in program history.

SEASON MILESTONES MEN’S BASKETBALL SEASON MILESTONES SCOTT Q UI NTAR D

Lovell Cabbil Jr.

HISTORIC WIN

On Dec. 29, Liberty University defeated UCLA 73-58 in the Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles. It was the Flames’ first victory over a Pac-12 opponent and tied LU’s record for most nonconference wins (11). Liberty’s exceptional defense forced the Bruins to commit 24 turnovers, which led to 32 points for the Flames. Liberty ended the first half on a 7-0 run, holding its host to just 26 points. Liberty kept the Bruins behind on the scoresheet after taking the lead at the 6:25 mark in the first half. Junior guard Caleb Homesley led all scorers with 21 points.

BRAD YOU NG

But Gumbs never gave up on his dream of playing collegiate basketball at the highest level. After failing to receive an offer from a Division I program, he decided to attend Schreiner University, a Division III school, 70 miles from his home. There, he continued to hone his basketball skills.

Just as he was finding his groove at Schreiner, another obstacle threatened his dream. Gumbs tore his meniscus during his sophomore year. But once again, he persevered. He worked hard after recovering from surgery and excelled in his final year at Schreiner, leading his team to the NCAA Tournament while becoming a Division III All-American, 2018 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year, and 2018 SCAC Tournament MVP. With one final year of NCAA eligibility remaining, the dream of playing Division I basketball was now within reach. The day after his final game at Schreiner, a stream of calls from college basketball coaches poured in. One of the first calls was from Liberty Head Coach Ritchie McKay. Gumbs agreed to make Liberty his first official on-campus visit.

After a tour, Gumbs was seated with his father in McKay’s office and was offered a scholarship. Overflowing with emotions, he accepted and broke down in tears. Despite over a dozen schools showing interest, Gumbs said Liberty was where he finally felt at home.

He remembered that back in high school he made a list of colleges where he was interested in playing.

“Liberty was one of the first schools I thought of,” said Gumbs, who is pursuing a master’s degree in exercise science. “I knew I could play at this level, and now it is a dream come true.

God has a plan for everyone. He put me through a long few years, and I had no clue this would be the end result.

God has blessed me so much, and I am forever grateful for what Liberty has provided me.”

Gumbs’ journey to Liberty has been

BENCH SUPPORT

Freshman Darius McGhee has been named ASUN Conference Newcomer of the Week four times this season. The freshman from Roxboro, N.C., led Liberty’s bench in its first-ever ASUN win, when it defeated Florida Gulf Coast on Jan. 5. McGhee sunk a career-high six three-pointers and outscored FGCU’s bench 18-9 by himself.

BREAKING RECORDS: Alejandro Perlaza Zapata, who represented Colombia at the 2016 Olympics, broke the facility and school record in the 500 meters (1:01.35) at the Liberty Kickoff on Jan. 26. At the time of the meet, it was the fastest in the world for 2019. Zapata also broke the school record in the 200 meters.

BLUE RIBBONS: Junior Hunt Seat equestrian captain Amber Gayheart rode to three first-place finishes and one second place in the Open Fences and Open Flat divisions during IHSA Region 4 shows at the College of William & Mary and Sweet Briar College in September.

2019 BASEBALL OUTLOOK: NEW SEASON, NEW CONFERENCE A new challenge awaits Liberty Flames Baseball in 2019 as third-year Head Coach Scott Jackson’s team embarks on its first season as a member of the ASUN Conference. Along with fellow league newcomer North Alabama, the Flames make the ASUN a nine-team league that includes 2018 NCAA Super Regional participant Stetson and 2018 NCAA Regional participant Jacksonville, both teams that won over 40 games last season.

Liberty’s 2019 schedule features games against six 2018 NCAA Regional teams, highlighted by contests against 2018 College World Series participant North Carolina and 2018 NCAA Super Regional teams Duke and South Carolina. The Flames’ home schedule, which opened Feb. 19 against Wake Forest, includes 30 games with matchups against Duke, North Carolina, Virginia, and Virginia Tech, along with new conference opponents in North Florida, Lipscomb, NJIT, and ASUN preseason favorite Stetson.

Liberty will lean on its pitching staff as it ventures into the new conference.

After being heavily relied upon as

freshmen in 2018, sophomore righthanders Zack Brockman, Noah Skirrow, and Brady Stamper will join 2018 allconference pitcher Garret Price, a junior, in forming an experienced nucleus on which to build. Price lowered his ERA by 2.50 runs last season, during 25 additional innings of work.

With three-year starting outfielder D.J. Artis and team-hitting and RBI leader Tre Todd moving into the professional ranks after being selected in the 2018 Major League Baseball Draft, the Flames will have a different look around the diamond. However, holdovers Cam Locklear and Tyler Galazin are expected to shore up the left side of the infield.

Locklear, a junior from Lumberton, N.C., has been the everyday starter at shortstop during his first two years at

Liberty. Last season, he started 57 games for the Flames, hitting .258 with 33 RBI and 38 runs scored and committing only nine fielding errors. Galazin played 56 games at third base in his first season at Liberty in 2018. As the Flames’ top returning hitter and a 2018 Big South AllConference team member, Galazin hit .286 with 39 RBI and 30 runs scored.

Purchase tickets at LIBERTYFLAMES.COM. Premium seating behind home plate requires a Flames Club membership; call 434-582-CLUB (2582), email FlamesClub@liberty.edu, or visit LibertyFlames.com/FlamesClub.

Follow the Flames at Liberty.edu/Baseball or on the LU Today app.

The Liberty Baseball Stadium has once again been cited as one of the top destinations for collegiate baseball in the country, making NCAA.com’s “Must-Visit Stadiums” list in 2018.

WORTHINGTON FIELD CAMPAIGN BEGINS Liberty Athletics has launched a $500,000 campaign to name the field at Liberty Baseball Stadium after Al Worthington, the baseball program’s alltime winningest coach.

Worthington, a pitcher who spent 19 years playing Major League Baseball, came to Lynchburg in 1974 to start the program. He coached for 13 years, finishing with a 64.4 winning percentage (343-189-1). Under his leadership, four All-Americans and nine players went on to play professional baseball.

The Flames Club has already received a lead gift from former baseball

52

standouts David and Jason Benham (1995-98). While the twin brothers did not play for Worthington, they wanted to contribute to the effort to honor him for his outstanding testimony and relentless mission to use baseball as a platform for evangelism. Liberty Athletics will commemorate the Benhams’ gift with the naming of a yet-to-be-determined space in their honor at the stadium.

Following the 1998 season, the Benhams were drafted in the Major League Baseball Draft; David was selected by the Boston Red Sox and Jason by the Baltimore Orioles.

The university is matching contributions up to the $500,000 goal. Those interested in contributing should contact the Flames Club at 434-582-CLUB (2582) or FlamesClub@liberty.edu.

Gifts may be taxdeductible, and pledges can be fulfilled over five years.

Naming opportunities begin at the $2,000 level for a locker in the Clendenin Locker Room.

ATHLETICS

STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE: SOFTBALL READIES FOR A HIGH-ENERGY SEASON Following an appearance in the 2018 NCAA Columbia Regional final, the Liberty softball team appears poised to continue its rise to prominence during the 2019 season.

This year’s eight-member senior class has played a key role in the team’s recent success, setting numerous program records along the way. The Lady Flames have gone 95-41 in the last two seasons, winning back-to-back Big South Conference regular-season titles, the 2017 NISC Championship during a 46-24 year, and the 2018 Big South postseason title while going 49-14.

In mid-January, Liberty, a newcomer in the ASUN Conference, was voted the favorite to win the conference title in the ASUN Preseason Softball Poll.

Liberty junior Autumn Bishop was tabbed as ASUN Preseason Player of the Year and has also been named to the Top 50 Watch List for the 2019 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year.

Senior Julia DiMartino was named ASUN Preseason Pitcher of the Year.

DiMartino has established herself as the top pitcher in program history. A native of Brockport, N.Y., she is a three-time first-team all-conference selection, two-

BASEBALL HOME GAMES FEB. 19 FEB. 22 FEB. 23 FEB. 24 MARCH 1 MARCH 2 MARCH 3 MARCH 5 MARCH 13 MARCH 15 MARCH 16 MARCH 17 MARCH 19 MARCH 22 MARCH 23 MARCH 24 MARCH 29 MARCH 30 MARCH 31 APRIL 9 APRIL 12 APRIL 13 APRIL 14 APRIL 18 APRIL 19 APRIL 20 MAY 10 MAY 11 MAY 12 MAY 14

WAKE FOREST DELAWARE DELAWARE DELAWARE MAINE MAINE MAINE VIRGINIA TECH VIRGINIA HOFSTRA HOFSTRA HOFSTRA NORTH CAROLINA NJIT* NJIT* NJIT* NORTH FLORIDA* NORTH FLORIDA* NORTH FLORIDA* RICHMOND STETSON* STETSON* STETSON* NORTH CAROLINA A&T NORTH CAROLINA A&T NORTH CAROLINA A&T LIPSCOMB* LIPSCOMB* LIPSCOMB* DUKE

time Big South Pitcher of the Year, and a two-time NFCA All-Region choice.

In 2018, DiMartino was named Pitcher of the Year for the Big South, ECAC, and VaSID All-State teams. She went 29-8 with a 1.72 ERA, setting program singleseason records in wins (29), shutouts (10), saves (6), and strikeouts (230). DiMartino already holds Liberty’s program career records for victories (68), shutouts (24), and strikeouts (592) over three seasons.

The senior was at her best when it mattered most, going 2-0 with a 1.05 ERA during the Big South Championship while earning Big South All-Tournament Team honors. She then went the distance in a 2-0, 10-inning victory over No. 24/24 Hofstra, Liberty’s first-ever NCAA postseason victory.

DiMartino followed up with a completegame win over the host No. 11/10 South Carolina Gamecocks.

Liberty’s success has been recognized on a national level, as DiMartino’s position coach, Associate Head Coach Paige Cassady, was named the 2018 NFCA National Assistant Coach of the Year. In her first five years on staff, Cassady has guided a pitching staff that has broken numerous program records.

SOFTBALL HOME GAMES 3 P.M. 3 P.M. 2 P.M. 1 P.M 3 P.M. 2 P.M. 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 3 P.M. 3 P.M. 2 P.M. 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 6 P.M. 4 P.M. 1 P.M. 6 P.M. 4 P.M. 1 P.M. 6 P.M. 6 P.M. 4 P.M. 11 A.M. 6 P.M. 6 P.M. 2 P.M. 6 P.M. 4 P.M. 1 P.M. 6 P.M.

FEB. 22 FEB. 22 FEB. 23 FEB. 23 FEB. 24 MARCH 1 MARCH 1 MARCH 2 MARCH 2 MARCH 3 MARCH 13 MARCH 19 MARCH 19 MARCH 23 MARCH 23 MARCH 24 APRIL 2 APRIL 6 APRIL 6 APRIL 7 APRIL 19 APRIL 19 APRIL 20 APRIL 23 MAY 4

BUCKNELL PRINCETON DELAWARE STATE VALPARAISO WRIGHT STATE RUTGERS ROBERT MORRIS SACRED HEART CLEVELAND STATE QUINNIPIAC PITTSBURGH TENNESSEE TENNESSEE LIPSCOMB* LIPSCOMB* LIPSCOMB* VIRGINIA STETSON* STETSON* STETSON* JACKSONVILLE* JACKSONVILLE* JACKSONVILLE* RADFORD LONGWOOD

5 P.M. 7 P.M. 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 1 P.M. 5 P.M. 7 P.M. 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 2 P.M. 5 P.M. 4 P.M. 6 P.M. 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 1 P.M. 6 P.M. 1 P.M. 3 P.M. 1 P.M. 4 P.M. 6 P.M. 1 P.M. 6 P.M. 6 P.M.

*ASUN Conference game View full schedules at Liberty.edu/Baseball and Liberty.edu/Softball.

Sixth-year Head Coach Dot Richardson, two-time Big South Coach of the Year and 2018 VaSID State Coach of the Year, will usher the Lady Flames into a new era with the ASUN Conference.

Richardson’s staff was named the NFCA Mid-Atlantic Regional Coaching Staff of the Year in 2018 after leading the Lady Flames to a program-record RPI of 29 at season’s end.

Liberty will bolster the ASUN Conference, which had the sixthbest conference RPI during the 2018 season.

In preparation for the conference schedule, the Lady Flames will face 13 NCAA Tournament participants from 2018, highlighted by 2018 Women’s College World Series competitors UCLA and national finalist Washington.

Go to GameOnLU.com to watch episodes and view a list of affiliate stations airing the show across the country.

The stories below appeared on TV’s “Game On,” a 30-minute weekly sports program from the Liberty Flames Sports Network.

The show highlights Flames student-athletes who are accomplishing incredible feats on the playing field as well as in the classroom and community. “Game On” reminds viewers of not only what matters most in sports but also what matters most in life.

FLAMES GET NEW PERSPECTIVE ON BASEBALL AND LIFE ON FALL BREAK TRIP

Players and coaching staff from Liberty’s baseball team traveled to the Dominican Republic in October to minister in the communities of Boca Chica, San Pedro De Macoris, and Santo Domingo. They visited an orphanage, delivered food to an outlying village, partnered with the Rawlings Foundation in leading a

youth baseball clinic, and played three organized games.

“Our mission was to go down there and use baseball as an avenue to share the Gospel,” Flames Head Coach Scott Jackson said. “The best way for you to grow and to serve other people is to get out of your own little world. We all struggle with that, myself included. It’s

not about you.”

He said the team’s trip to the orphanage for disabled children was difficult but rewarding.

“To walk through that orphanage and watch our players just sitting there kind of leaned over bedsides or cribsides with these orphans and just holding their hands and talking to them was emotional,” Jackson said. “You could see our (players) just pouring themselves into these kids.”

“These kids were left because their families didn’t accept them, and we were just there showing them love,” Flames junior utility player Jonathan Embry said. “They had so much joy even though they weren’t in the best situation. Our problems don’t even compare.”

FIGURE SKATER ORGANIZES EVENT TO HONOR FALLEN POLICE OFFICERS

Senior Katherine Thacker, captain of the Lady Flames synchronized skating team, grew up without her father. He was an investigator in the Kentucky Department of Alcohol Beverage

Control. When she was 18 months old, he was shot and killed attempting to pull over an erratic driver.

Thacker has found a way to honor and memorialize her father and other officers killed in the line of duty. In 2016, she started “Words of Worth,” a letter-writing campaign for families of fallen officers. She has organized three events on campus thus far, most recently in November. With the help of her mother, former president of Concerns of Police Survivors (C.O.P.S), as well as Liberty’s Criminal Justice Club and Student Government Association, hundreds of Liberty students, including NCAA and Club Sports student-athletes, showed up to write encouraging letters to families

of over 100 law enforcement officers who were killed last year. The event also included a panel discussion led by officers from the Lynchburg Police Department as well as police departments in Virginia Beach, New Jersey, and Kentucky.

“Every word and every sentence that’s written on this paper I know has a tremendous impact on the families,” Thacker said. “People care about what my father did. He put his life on the line in order to protect other people, and there are officers every single month who are dying trying to protect people in their communities. It’s important to say that we’re thankful for their job and for the time that they took away from their family in order to protect us.”

HIGHLIGHTS

54

RAISING FLAMES: Senior Lara Soares became the highest-ranked women’s tennis player in Intercollegiate Tennis Association history and in the ASUN Conference when she rose to No. 64 in November. She won seven consecutive matches during her 11-4 fall season.

TOP OF THE LINE: Liberty’s ACHA Division I women’s and men’s ice hockey teams both ended the fall semester in the top five in the national rankings, with the reigning national champion Lady Flames (17-1-2) remaining steady at No. 2 and the Flames (17-3-1) rising to No. 5.

ATHLETICS

#FLAMESGIVEBACK During the Fall 2018 semester, Liberty University NCAA student-athletes served the community in many ways.

In September, Flames studentathletes participated in the annual Dollar Makes A Difference Campaign, raising over $4,600 for backpacks and school supplies, which they delivered to Lynchburg area schools. In October, they participated in the sixth annual Spooktacular Kids Carnival during Homecoming Weekend, and throughout the month, all Liberty

Athletics teams collected close to 3,000 canned-food items for Trick or Treat So Others Can Eat. The food was given to Lynchburg Daily Bread, Park View Community Mission, Bedford Christian Ministries, and Liberty University Public Health program.

In November and early December, student-athletes participated in the Share the Warmth Clothing Drive and the annual Volleyball-A-Thon, which raised $2,000 for future community service initiatives.

“I think it’s extremely important to do community service,” said freshman tennis player Josh Wilson. “It is an opportunity to show love to people and help the community. We have all been given amazing opportunities to be able to attend Liberty University, and the least we can do is give back to the community.”

Follow Liberty student-athletes’ impact at #PayItForward and #FlamesGiveBack on social media or visit LibertyFlames. com at the beginning of each month to read a recap of the previous month’s events.

CLUB SPORTS WELCOMES NEW HALL OF FAME MEMBERS GABR I E LL E C AL HOU N

Former ACHA Division I men’s and women’s hockey players Mike Binnie (’08, ’10), pictured at right, and Stacey McCombe (’13) along with former paintball Head Coach Todd Hoglund (M.Ed., ’09), were inducted into the Club Sports Hall of Fame’s Class of 2018 during a Dec. 8 ceremony at the Hancock Welcome Center.

McCombe enjoyed a stellar three-year career as a forward for the Lady Flames

from 2010-13. She served as captain her junior year, when she was named team MVP and the Club Sports Female Athlete of the Year. As a senior, she led Liberty to its first ACHA National Championship appearance and earned first-team All-ACHA All-American and All-Tournament recognition.

Binnie helped the Flames transition from Division II to Division I, playing two seasons in goal at both levels from

SOCCER SUPERSTAR: Senior men’s soccer midfielder Kevin Mendoza became the second Flames player to be selected in the Major League Soccer SuperDraft. He was picked in the fourth round by Los Angeles FC.

2004-08. He was a first-team ACHA AllAmerican and team MVP as a junior in 2006-07, when Liberty finished its first season at the DI level ranked No. 6 in the nation. As a senior, he repeated as a firstteam ACHA All-American and earned team MVP and first-team All-ACHA DI National Championships honors in leading the Flames to a No. 4 ranking. He also served as an assistant coach, working with the Flames’ goalies, and as a Club Sports events coordinator from 2009-14.

After being named Liberty’s first paintball head coach in 2008, Hoglund guided the Flames to three Top 4 finishes at the National Collegiate Paintball Association National Championships from 2009-12. He also helped bring the Liberty Paintball Field Complex to East Campus and established goals for a national title, eventually realized by his protégé and successor, Brian Davidson, last spring.

SHARP SHOOTERS: The men’s and women’s shooting teams combined to win the Nov. 10-11 Upper East Coast Conference Championships in Maryland. On Feb. 9, the rifle team won the NRA Sectional Championships in Charlottesville, Va.

55

CLASS NOTES your

NEWS

You have news to share, and we want to hear it! Send us your news on the Class Notes website, an easy-to-use resource for sharing your exciting life updates.

VISIT

LIBERTY.EDU/CLASSNOTES Submissions will be published online and may be featured in the Liberty Journal.

1970s ’78 DEAN PHILLIPS is a broker at Landmark Sotheby’s International Realty in Wilmington, N.C. ’79 STEVE REITENOUR is a partner at Bowman and Brook, LLP, a large law firm with 12 offices and nearly 200 attorneys, located in Minneapolis, Minn.

1980s ’80 ALAN ROWE is the president and CEO of Heritage Federal Credit Union in Midland, Texas. ’81 ED AND ANNITA HOAGLAND serve as missionaries in Mexico City, Mexico. They have planted eight churches and currently oversee 13 other missionaries. They also help with six feeding centers across Mexico that serve about 240 children. Their four children also attended and graduated from Liberty.

’83 JEFF GEHMAN is the treasurer/controller at Pencor Services and Subsidiaries in Palmerton, Pa. ’84 DAVE GENTRY is the founder of Orlandobased company RedChip, which focuses on investor relations, financial media, and research for microcap and small-cap stocks. He is also the author of “Small Stocks, Big Money.” ’84 DEBBIE MCNALLY FULTZ retired after 30 years of teaching elementary and middle school students and now resides in Florida. ’85 RUSS WOLFINGER earned a Ph.D. at NC State after graduating from Liberty. He is now the director of Scientific Discovery and Genomics at SAS in Cary, N.C., and an adjunct professor at NC State.

1990s ’90 JOHN ECK has worked for General Motors since 1994 and is the manager of the Wholesale Dealer Channel for General Motors in Detroit, Mich.

Recording artist promotes self-esteem through music

56

and that is very true. Liberty really helped me shape my worldview.”

Owens moved to Nashville after graduation.

“I decided that if I was really going to make an impact as an artist, then I was going to do so using the story He gave me,” she said.

Last May, Owens released a single on her self-titled debut EP titled, “Little Girl In the Mirror,” which addresses the struggle young women face with body image standards in pop culture. “The song is about wishing you could go back to that carefree version of yourself before the world started telling you who you were supposed to be,” she said.

In October, Owens performed the song on TBN’s “Huckabee” show and joined Dr. Linda Mintle, chair of Behavioral Health and director of Strategic Development for Clinical Affairs at Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine, in a discussion on negative body image and eating disorders.

TR I NI TY BR OADC AST I NG N ETWORK

Stephanie Owens (’13) always knew that music was her calling.

“My first microphone wasn’t a hairbrush; it was an old turkey baster. I would walk around the house just singing and performing for my parents,” she said.

Owens began performing publicly at a young age. “I was kind of starting to get recognized even though I was pretty young.

I grew very anxious during this time and wanted to control everything, and it was then that I developed an eating disorder.”

In the midst of that personal struggle, Owens said she completely surrendered to Christ. “I was saved at the age of 5, but it wasn’t really until my teenage years that I started to understand that my identity isn’t in how I perform or how I look, but in who He says I am.”

Owens studied worship at Liberty, a place where she said she felt safe to grow in Christ. She said the school taught her to be a light, especially in the music industry. “The mission statement of the school is ‘Training Champions for Christ,’

“Talking with Gov. (Mike) Huckabee was great. The house band learned my song and accompanied me, and they were just awesome. Being able to share my story and perform on the show was just surreal.”

Owens continues to expand her platform by speaking at school assemblies and working with the National Eating Disorders Association to offer more resources (visit StephOwensMusic.com).

“I want girls and women to know that it’s OK to not be OK. It’s a good thing to ask for help, because when you receive it, then you can start to inspire others with your story.”

ALUMNI ’90 REYNARD FABER works for Samaritan’s Purse as the Native American ministry coordinator. ’90 MARK RADDISH teaches two courses on religion at Pasco-Hernando State College in New Port Richey, Fla. ’91 WILLIAM “BO” MCMILLAN is the mayor of Mullins, S.C. ’92 BONNI EASTLACK is the pastor of Jersey Life Wesleyan Church in Blackwood, N.J. ’93 JIM BERRY is the principal of Florence Christian School in Florence, S.C. The school was founded in 1972 and enrolls 600 students. ’95 RICHARD COX serves as the chief operations officer for the City of Atlanta. ’96 JOHN BYRUM serves as the vice president of Corporate Card Business Development at Capital One and is the mayor of Midway, N.C. ’98 YOSVANI BARREIRO worked as the golf operations manager at Trump National in Miami, Fla., and now works as the assistant general manager for Butler National Golf Club. ’98 JOHN KENNEY graduated with an M.A. in Counseling and now works as a flight engineer/pilot for Delta Airlines.

2000s ’05 TOMMY MILLER is the general manager at Pine Ridge Golf Club in Coram, N.Y. ’06 VANESSA BOLIN SIMS serves as the chief of budget operations for the United States Air Force. ’08 BEN BIERCE served as a detective for the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department for 15 years and now serves as a detective for the Franklin Police Department in Franklin, Ind. ’08 SHANE HALL has taught at First Presbyterian Day School in Macon, Ga., since 2009. He also serves as the youth ministry director at Houston Lake Presbyterian Church in Kathleen, Ga. ’08 DAVE PITTMAN released his sophomore album, “Different Kind of Love,” in January.

2010s ’11 TRENT THEOBALD is a criminal justice instructor in Indianapolis, Ind. ’12 STACY DICKMAN released her first book, “Labeled: Redefining the Woman God Made You to Be,” in October 2018.

’12 MATTHEW LEDBETTER is the pastor of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Sylva, N.C., and was elected second vice president of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina. His daughter Danyelle graduated from Liberty in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in social work. ’13 DOLORES CARR started the Education Transformation Centre, which offers an alternative education course for at-risk teenagers facing detention/incarceration and frequent suspensions. ’13 TC CUTHBERTSON was recognized as a Millennial on the Move in the November/ December issue of Outlook, a magazine published by the Lower Bucks County (Pa.) Chamber of Commerce. Cuthbertson is the owner and operator of The Falls Banquet by EventRoostr, a banquet and special event venue in Falls Township, Pa. ’13 AARON MCCURDY received a MartindaleHubbell AV Preeminent Peer Review Rating, which is awarded to lawyers with the highest ethical standards and professional ability. He works as an associate at Cole, Scott & Kissane, P.A.’s Pensacola, Fla., office. ’14, ’17 CAROL BRADLEY works as a headhunter for Neighborhood Rescue of America, a nonprofit based in Las Vegas, Nev., that creates safer inner city neighborhoods.

Alumna explores the outdoors with National Park Service

One of Amanda Diller’s (’17) favorite semesters at Liberty was during her junior year when she served as a community group leader on her residence hall. She led the group on many outdoor adventures like camping and hiking.

The Anchorage, Alaska, native took that adventurous spirit with her after graduation, when she landed a job as a park ranger at Yellowstone National Park.

“I’ve always loved the outdoors,” Diller said. “There is nothing like being at a job

that allows me to be outside every day and meet people from all over who come to explore the wilderness.”

Established as the world’s first national park in 1872, Yellowstone spans nearly 3,500 square miles across three states (Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana).

Diller, who graduated with a B.S. in Criminal Justice, applied for several internships within the park service and was selected for Yellowstone.

“My internship was pretty broad,” she said. “They wanted to give you as much experience as possible. I would clear hiking trails of debris, prepare campsites, and care for six horses.”

Diller is stationed at the Bechler Ranger Station in the southwest corner of the park.

“It’s a very remote area, so I get to personally talk with each visitor that comes through our station,” Diller said.

“It’s away from the main tourist areas of the park, which I love.”

The southwest corner, also called

Cascade Corner, is known for its many waterfalls and access to the hot springs across Yellowstone.

“It’s a beautiful area and one of my favorites,” Diller said. “There are several trails through open meadows to the Pitchstone Plateau with a 30-mile trail to Old Faithful.”

Diller said her time at Liberty prepared her for the field.

“I loved the criminal justice program,” Diller said. “My professors were extremely knowledgeable and worked in the field before they taught. Jobs within the National Park Service are extremely competitive. I took a class about working at the federal level, and Liberty offered me resources that helped me create a résumé for applying for a federal job. All of that helped me get to where I am.”

Diller said she plans to continue working as a ranger during the summers, but is open to exploring a career as a law enforcement ranger.

57

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 57 ’15, ’17 DARBY DEBREUS was promoted to team leader/supervisor at Concentrix, a technology-enabled global business services company specializing in customer engagement and improving business performance for some of the world’s best brands. ’15 JAY KRONZER was promoted to legislative director for the Office of Congressman Mark Green (R-Tenn.). ’16 BUNNIE CLAXTON published her first book, “Planning, Writing, and Implementing IEPs: A Christian Approach.” Claxton also helped develop the Applied Research program for the School of Education at Liberty and is an adjunct instructor.

’16 CHERYL THAYER is an accountant for Centra Health in Lynchburg, Va. She and her husband, Kevin, have been married for 13 years and have three miniature dachshunds. ’17 SEAN ODELL is the lead pastor for Alsea Christian Fellowship Church located in Alsea and Waldport, Ore. He also serves as an adjunct professor at Northwest University in Salem, Ore. Odell and his wife, Kristin, married in 2001 and have four children. ’17 ASHLEY TURNER accepted a position with the Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners in Port Charlotte, Fla., as the graphics, marketing, and social media specialist.

’17 DANIEL WHITTEMORE started a new position as an associate attorney at Brock & Scott, PLLC in Greensboro/Winston-Salem, N.C. ’18 ANDREW BRENNER was recently elected to the Ohio Senate. ’18 KRISTIN JONES had her article “Latent Blood Detection and STR Analysis of Samples Collected from an American Civil War Field Hospital” published in the Journal of Forensic Identification. The article describes the research she conducted with Dr. J. Thomas McClintock of Liberty’s Department of Biology & Chemistry while she was an undergrad. ’18 KELLI KNIGHT will publish her Maggie May book series, which aims to educate children on different career paths, this spring.

Humble Tip inspires youth through new nonprofit

As executive director of a nonprofit organization, Liberty University alumnus and motivational speaker Jason Lewis (’05, ’10), better known by his rap artist name Humble Tip, is making an impact on today’s youth.

After launching Beautiful Tomorrow Inc. in 2017, Lewis has traveled to over 80 middle and high schools across the U.S. to perform at an interactive, multimedia assembly that offers educational Q & As and inspirational hip-hop. He presents a message on positive thinking that empowers students to become worldchangers through selfless acts of love, kindness, and encouragement.

“It’s very much like a steroid shot of positivity,” Lewis said.

He is scheduled to take the event to over 70 schools this year.

“We go around the entire country,” said Lewis, who travels with his production

58

manager, administrative assistant, and a full sound system with lighting and stage backdrops. “Sometimes the crowd is predominantly middle-class, white kids. Sometimes the crowd is minority students. My main mission is to encourage and be a light of hope. Secondary to that is to assist them in developing a plan for the future” — with a priority on education.

Lewis, who received a B.S. in Public Health-Health Promotion and an M.A. in Human Services Counseling with a concentration in health and wellness, also presents holistic health information in his assemblies, focusing on mental and physical wellness.

“Most motivational speakers want to talk at students, but we pride ourselves on having healthy, fruitful dialogue with students, many of whom are hurting,” Lewis said. “They’re struggling with things

that 15-, 16-, and 17-year-olds shouldn’t be struggling with — suicide, low self-esteem, a lack of self-worth and value. We have conversations about anxiety, depression, bullying, and overcoming obstacles.”

The name of the event comes from the idea that all young people, “regardless of their background, environment, dreams, goals, and desires, can have what we call a ‘Beautiful Tomorrow’ by saying ‘no’ to drugs, by not being violent, by continually studying and doing well in school, by having a plan, understanding the value of each individual, and knowing that their worth is not dictated by other peoples’ opinions.” (Read more on BeautifulTomorrowAssembly.com).

Lewis continues to take the stage as Humble Tip at concerts, youth conferences, and summer camps. Most recently, he performed during Liberty’s Winterfest, the largest Christian New Year’s celebration on the East Coast. His “Beautiful Tomorrow” album will be released this spring and includes music from the school assemblies.

In November, Lewis joined about 40 other Christian music artists for a “faith briefing” at the White House, where they participated in a worship session and were updated on some of the faithbased projects initiated by the Trump Administration.

Lewis also serves as a national recruiter for Liberty, a job that is separate from his work with the nonprofit, which is not affiliated with the university.

ALUMNI

Alumni couple has fond memories of Liberty’s early days and its visionary founder

Sarah (Lane) Ray of Lynchburg was a member of the first class at Liberty University (then Lynchburg Baptist College) in 1971 and one of nine students to receive the first diplomas in 1973. She recalls the inaugural graduation, held on a Wednesday evening in the sanctuary of the old Thomas Road Baptist Church.

The graduates were notified just two days before, and staff scrambled to find robes and plan the event.

Her final days as one of Liberty’s pioneers may have been a whirlwind, but Ray said being a part of the school’s history was special.

“Those of us in that first year were totally committed to the vision of Lynchburg Baptist College at the time. It was a big family atmosphere — it was great.”

Sarah Ray, who studied music, went on to teach music at Christian schools in Chattanooga, Tenn., and Richmond,

Va., before returning to Lynchburg. She married Walter Ray in 1984.

The couple shared a special connection to Lynchburg and to Liberty’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, who was their pastor when they were both saved as children.

Falwell continued to personally invest in the couple, offering encouragement at pivotal times in their lives.

On Walter Ray’s 17th birthday, he enlisted in the U.S. Army and at age 22 was deployed to Vietnam.

“There wasn’t a week that went by that I didn’t get a letter from Dr. Falwell,” Walter Ray said. “I was there 53 weeks, and I have 53 letters. He’d ask me how things were going, tell me I was in his prayers and to keep my head up, and that if I needed anything, he would help me out.”

After the Army, Walter Ray worked in law enforcement in California and Arizona.

He eventually returned to Lynchburg and headed up a local security company. He reconnected with Falwell at a local store, and the pastor playfully slapped him in the back of the head and said, “Hey boy, when are you coming to school — you need to be in the ministry.” Walter politely responded that he didn’t have the time because he was

married and had a full-time job. “He told me, ‘Be in my office tomorrow at 9 a.m.’ So I gave in and when I came, Dr. Falwell said, ‘Class starts in 30 minutes, why are you here?’”

Walter Ray enrolled and earned a master’s degree in theology. He served a local church and helped start churches in New York. He now serves as assistant pastor at Jordan Baptist Church in Lynchburg.

The Rays said they’ve kept up with their alma mater and its rapid growth, visiting campus for athletic events and to view the new construction projects. They said it would come as no surprise to Dr. Jerry Falwell.

“The whole world may be surprised at what’s happened on this mountain, but he wouldn’t be,” Sarah Ray said. “It was his vision, and he knew it was going to happen.”

They said that the original vision for a world-class university is now fulfilled.

“I see it magnified in what Jerry Falwell Jr. is doing,” Walter Ray said. “He caught that vision, and he’s done exactly that. He’s taken his father’s dream, and he’s expanded it and made it possible. Now, the same schools that Dr. Falwell wanted Liberty to be like are the schools that are running right on Liberty’s heels.”

2017 graduate gets head start in political career Hannah Scherlacher (’17) never intended to pursue a full-time career in politics.

But that changed during her time at Liberty.

“Because most people (at Liberty) shared similar values, my political interest was limited,” Scherlacher said.

“But hearing messages from professors and from guest speakers gave me a better understanding of the importance of bringing my faith to politics and having a positive influence in a field that is known for being corrupt.”

Scherlacher studied advertising and public relations and minored in business.

She was also a member of the track & field and cross country teams. She wasn’t sure how she could incorporate politics into a career until she received a call from Liberty alumnus Cabot Phillips (’15), who encouraged her to apply for a job with Campus Reform, where he is media director.

Scherlacher worked in Washington,

D.C., as a program manager and opinion writer for the news website, operated by the Leadership Institute. She managed more than 100 student journalists who worked from campuses around the country, helping them defend conservative values.

“At Liberty, I had the privilege of always being encouraged to listen to different ideas,” Scherlacher said.

“But as I traveled to different schools, I started to see that that is not the case everywhere. Many students put their reputation, academic standing, and even their own safety on the line to defend their conservative values and their First Amendment rights on campus.”

She heard a Liberty Convocation speaker say, “Never stop trying to understand why people think differently than you,” and uses that in her approach to politics.

“Seeing my political adversaries as people created by God, who happen to

think differently based on a number of circumstances, is the most important thing Liberty instilled in me for my political career.”

Now, Scherlacher works as communications manager for President Donald J. Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign.

She encourages students who are looking to get involved in politics to start early.

Whether it’s attending events or joining clubs on campus, Scherlacher said they don’t have to wait until after college to build their careers.

“There is a tremendous opportunity for young conservatives in politics,” she said.

“They have become the counterculture.

People are watching closely and are interested in what they have to say.”

59

A FAMILY TRADITION: Northern Virginia family marks three generations to attend Liberty Left to right: Chris Rhodenhizer, David Rhodenhizer, Madelyn Rhodenhizer

ER I K WANG

David and Linda Rhodenhizer were among Liberty University’s first students when the school started in 1971. After David graduated in 1974, he served as a staff member in two churches before starting New Life Baptist Church in Alexandria, Va., in 1977. New Life merged with Calvary Road Baptist Church in 1979 and David has remained Calvary’s pastor.

The couple’s five children attended Liberty. This fall, the Rhodenhizers will become a three-generation Liberty family when their granddaughter, Madelyn, arrives on campus.

“To say that Liberty University is special to Linda and I is an understatement,” David said. “We love Liberty, and now it is such a blessing that our granddaughter will be attending.”

Madelyn, the oldest of 15 grandchildren, is the daughter of alumni Chris Rhodenhizer (’96) and his wife, Krista (’99, ’18).

“I hope that many of my grandchildren attend Liberty and above all may each one do God’s will for their lives,” David said. “It would be wonderful if Linda and I could even see a fourth generation attending, Lord willing.”

David and Linda Rhodenhizer’s relationship with Liberty actually predates

its founding, as both were saved when they were young through the ministry of Liberty’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, at Thomas Road Baptist Church. As a pastor, Falwell was a mentor to David Rhodenhizer and a great blessing to the family.

“Watching Dr. Falwell’s life was the greatest education I received,” David said.

“Now my granddaughter Madelyn can observe President Jerry Falwell Jr.’s life as he leads Liberty University.”

David Rhodenhizer was awarded an honorary Doctor of Divinity from his alma mater in 1985 and was the keynote speaker at the university’s 45th Baccalaureate Service last spring. He has served on Liberty’s Board of Trustees since 1987 and is currently on the Executive Committee.

“I cannot adequately express how wonderful it was to be a part of Thomas Road Baptist Church and Liberty University,” he said. “It was a tremendous training ground for Linda and I. Our experiences there certainly laid the foundation for our future ministry.”

But he noted that his church is not their greatest legacy: “Our family is our greatest legacy — my kids and grandkids are going to take the Gospel forward.”

His son Chris, who serves as the lead

pastor at Image Church in Woodbridge, Va., said it is “a real honor to be a part of that line of the Gospel going on.”

He called his time at Liberty the best years of his life.

“Watching my dad as a kid, his life, his integrity, his passion for Jesus and the Gospel, made me always want to go to Liberty,” Chris said. “Being a part of that legacy meant everything to me.”

Madelyn Rhodenhizer plans to study nursing and is excited about continuing the family’s legacy.

“Since I was born, our family’s favorite topic, other than Christ of course, was Liberty University,” she said. “They have all talked about the impact Liberty leaves on its students that goes further than just an education. I visited campus and fell in love with it immediately. I know Liberty is where I’m supposed to be; I know it’s where Christ wants me to be.”

“It feels like just yesterday,” she added, “when my grandfather gave me one of his old Liberty T-shirts and said, ‘Maddy, I can’t wait until you can experience Liberty. It will change your life.’ I look forward to making great friends who share the same love for Christ that I do. I also look forward to being a part of Liberty’s mission, to make Christcentered followers. I plan to accomplish a better and growing relationship with Christ, and to successfully pursue my passion while making my family proud.”

Are you a multigenerational Liberty family?

Tell us your story on social media using #MyLibertyFamily or email news@liberty.edu.

LEGACY SCHOLARSHIP For families interested in carrying Liberty’s legacy to the next generation, Liberty offers the Legacy Scholarship. This $1,000 scholarship — awarded each year for up to four years — is open to new residential students with a parent/guardian who earned an undergraduate, graduate, or doctoral degree from Liberty.

60

LEARN MORE AT LIBERTY.EDU/SCHOLARSHIPS.

THE PRESIDENT’S CIRCLE 2018 The President’s Circle recognizes donors whose giving to Liberty University qualifies for one of the following categories.

This list recognizes donors from Jan. 1-Dec. 31, 2018. $1 million and above

Kenny & Jennifer Cobbs-Domino’s Pizza Daniel & Cynthia Copp David W. Curry Dennis & Sonya Fields Dr. John & Judy George Shirley A. Goehring Cline & Beverly Hall Betty A. Herbel Douglas & Julletta Hershberger $500,000 - $999,999 Mark & Michelle Hiepler Individuals Carroll & Nancy Hudson Mike Dodak* Brian & Melissa Hufhand H. Glenn & Rachael Esbenshade Robert W. Hunsberger Lois Wells Webb* Daniel & Carolee Jones Louis & Joan LaMay $100,000 - $499,999 Michael & Christina LaFleur Individuals Ian & Heather McCaw Melvin W. Buster* Fergus R McKean* George & Helen Hermestroff* Karl & Lynnette Miller Harold & Patricia Mathena John & Linda Muckel David Robinson* Gene & Joyce Myers Jerry A. Stokes Frank & Lettie Nixon M. Clarke Thomas Ben & Donna Patterson Paul & Linda Wolpert Rachel Polley Eleanor L. Powell* $50,000 - $99,999 Margaret E. Richardson Individuals Phillip & Debbie Rine Tony & Polly Byrd Terrance J. Tigges Linda H. Handy* Gladys E. Waechter* William W. Hanlin Verne Wuertz* Leslie F Hildreth* Organizations Harmon & Elizabeth Johnson Anderson Construction, Inc. dba John H. Mulberry Virginia Siteworks Richard & Karin Osborne Awakening Events Gilbert & Mary Tinney Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, Inc. Pete & Patricia Vann Beacon Credit Union Margielene P. Woodhouse* Boxley Organizations Byrd Enterprises Unlimited, Inc. Hendrick Motorsports Carter Bank & Trust Caterpillar Clubhouse $25,000 - $49,999 Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated Individuals Community Baptist Church of Henry & Doris Bridges Englewood Joseph L. Caudell Construction Management Beatrice L. Dickinson* Associates, Inc. Evelyn Dotson CSE, Inc. Gerald & Alverna Duhovis Dolan Group, LLC Norman K. A. Hoffer Fill the Gap Concerts Jon & Margie Lienemann Gentle Shepherd Hospice, Inc. Gene & Regina Ontjes Herr Family Foundation Jim Roller Homestead Creamery, Inc. Marlene Senner Ignite Men, LLC Todd & Rachelle Sorensen Jesse David Hendley Foundation, Inc. Charles R. Stone Kain Enterprises, Inc. Jimmy & Rhonda Thomas KMR Aviation Services, Inc. Zach & Lisa Tran Unknown Donor-Brighthouse Life Ins. Co.* Lynchburg Family Dentistry Patel & Dalrymple Attorneys at Law Organizations Peter & John Radio Fellowship, Inc. Freedom Aviation dba Peter & John Ministries Hartford Motor Inn, Inc. Prestonwood Baptist Church Mabry Automotive Group ProVantage Corporate Solutions LLC Sodexo, Inc. & Affiliates Southern Air, Inc. T. Sherwin Cook Foundation Johnnie & Andrea Moore Van Wagner Sports & $10,000 - $24,999 Entertainment, LLC Individuals Watt Foster Family Foundation Jeff & Gaye Benson Norma G. Bloebaum $5,000 - $9,999 Ralph & Joan Campbell Individuals Lucille T. Carter Roy & Anne Anderson Warren & Mary Chilote Anonymous Carter County, OK* Barry & Pam Clarkson Jason & Tori Benham Jerry & Patricia Cloud Individuals Worth Harris Carter, Jr.* Peggy Payne* Organizations Framatome, Inc. The Rawlings Foundation, Inc.

Frederick D. Bornman* Sheldon & Shannon Bream Chris & Cindy Cruz Bob & Sandra Day Junessa A. DeBiasi Epperly Josh & Lisa Dorcey Olive M. Eckmann* Louis M. Edwards William J. Eisemann Sr.* Herschel L. Elder, III Richard Eng Frederick & Barbara Engstrom Lena F. Ensminger Turner & Gayle Gill Carey & Denise Green Laura Elizabeth Higginbotham* Dr. & Mrs. Ed Hindson Jennifer R. Hughes James Larry Ingram Kevin & Mary Jones Ron & Rachel Justice Linda F. Kay David & Bonnie Keim Ira Stephen Kennedy Kevin Kennedy Dr. John & Mrs. Jennie Kim Suzanne H. Leebrick David & Linda Martin Ritchie & Julie McKay J. Richard (Dick) & Barbara J. Metzler Mark G. Minar Stephen & Tricia Mock Mitch & Elizabeth Morrison Arthur Nicholson* Frederick Wesley Patterson John & Melanie Pepper John & Ann Porter Sandra J. Pyle Brian & Vickie Runk Jim & Patsy Sanders Matt & Johanna Schubert Jake & Lorin Shellenberger Juanita R. Snyder* Robert Spann Jesse & Heather Stephens Bo & Kipplyn Summers Glen & Teresa Thomas Faron & Linda Thompson Roy Unsin* Dr. Richard D. Urwiller Fredericka Wagner Dorris D. Williams Shawn & Lori Willis Scott & Shelly Wolf Barry & Robyn Woodard Organizations American Association of Christian Counselors BB&T Bethany Presbyterian Church, Inc. Blumenschein Living Trust Brown’s Heating and Air Chapel of Hope Religious Offering Fund Chesapeake RV Solutions Church Mutual Insurance Company Environmental Options, Inc. Fellowship of Orlando, Inc. dba ReThink Life Church Foster Fuels, Inc. HealthWorks Clinic, LLC HJH Foundation HSC Wealth Advisors

Hurt & Proffitt, Inc. Jones & Roberts Accounting & Financial Lynchburg Ready Mix Concrete Co, Inc. Media Partners, Inc. MH Masonry & Associates, Inc. Minnick Enterprises, LLC Powell’s Truck & Equipment, Inc. Pure Freedom, Inc. Radiology Consultants of Lynchburg, Inc. Robert & Catherine Davenport Trust SBC of Virginia Foundation ServPro Of Lynchburg Bedford & Campbell County Southern Baptist Conservatives of VA Stephens Financial Advisors, Inc. The Bolick Foundation W.E.L., Inc. YourCause, LLC TTEE for Medtronic Foundation Volunteer Grant Prg. ZMJ, LLC

$2,500 - $4,999

Individuals Anna Alajajian Jason & Aven Alford Jennifer A. Martinez Robert & Susan Andrews Emily Arbelaez Jay & Mary Bachar Ricky Bailess Tim & Kathy Baldree Billy & Jane Belcher David & Pam Bell Jim & Linda Bell J. B. & Betty Birtch Jennifer Blandford Brandon & Ida Blankinship Scott & Michelle Bonheim Andy & Linda Bowling Randy & Cynthia Brackett Sherry Brady Elden & Dixie Brammer Lillian S. Brockway Mike & Allison Brown Brad & Claudia Butler Sarah R. Canino Tim & Julie Clinton Ron Cooper Josh & Carrie Cox Lindsey Crane Johnny & Anne Crist Leora E. Daniel* Doug & Sheila Diehl Thomas & Clarie Eppes Charlie & Barbara Falwell Tina Friar Rodney E. Gladfelter Bob & Tracey Good Austin Gray Joseph & Mary Guieb Bob Handwerker Jefferson Harman Joel & Theresa Hesch Scott & Melanie Hicks Rodney & Melissa Hizy Charles & Shelvie Holmes Volo Howard* Mikayla N. Hudson Angela Ingram Scott & Sara Jackson Leandra S. Jenkins

Brian Johnson Trevor & Jane Johnson John Kenney Brian Kirschner Mr. & Mrs. Harold L. Knowles Rick & Robyn Kooiker Ladmir J. Kubichek Jr. B. A. Langley Dr. Jon & Sissie Lenzen Steve & Kathy Lloyd Lance & Stephanie MacKenzie Morgan E. Marsh James & Megan Mason Perry & Laurie Maze Scott & Christy McCall Kathy McCavanagh Nathan & Joanna McGlothlin P. H. Mitchell Jr. Andy & Amy Moore Arthur Moore* Geraldine E. Moose Sharon Elaine Morse Carl G. Neuberger Jay Nogle Mr. Bradley Owen & Dr. Pamela Zimmerman-Owen Bill & Vida Parker Amy L. Peavley John Petrozelli Craig & Cindy Petry John & Janna Pyle Brittany Roark Jack Schewel Troy & Hollie Schultz Rebekah L. Scoville CDR Michael & Sharon Scranton Gabriel Sharff Herbert F. Shirrell* Steve Shockley Archie & Carlita Smith Tim & Martha Stoudnour Philip Thomas John & Trish Trimble Edgar & Allison Tuck Dan & Rachel Vollmer Gene & Debbie Walker Lori Watkins Charlie & Vickie Watts Mara Weigner Duke & Carlene Westover Paul & Andrea Williams Jewel E. Wilson Frank & Margaret Yarborough Faith Young Organizations 701 Korean Church A.G. Jefferson Opticians Airport Lodging, Inc. TA Comfort Inn & Suites Lynchburg Alpha-Omega Training & Compliance, Inc. Anderson Mill Road Baptist Church Bates Orthodontics Bible Baptist Church, Inc. Blue Ridge Apothecary Brentwood Baptist Church Church of the Redeemer Compassion International, Inc. Daniel’s Auto Glass David Towles Representing LUSI Delaware North Delta Air Lines Foundation Dunham ShareMedia Services English Construction Company, Inc. ExxonMobil Foundation Educational Matching Gift Program First Action Systems, LLC

62

First Bank & Trust Company First Baptist Church of Charlotte First Baptist Church of Lexington Georgia Power Foundation, Inc. Educational Matching Gift Program Harvest Bible Chapel Hawthorne Gospel Church Hebron Baptist Church Impact Living Services K & J Enterprises, Inc. dba McDonalds Kairos Foundation, Inc. Kurios Foundation Long’s Termite & Pest Control Mills Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. Musser Lumber Company Nangle Lax, LLC OrthoVirginia Parker Dental, PC Perkins & Orrison, Inc. Precision Marble & Tile Pregnancy Resource Center of Metro Richmond, Inc. Priority One Properties R. Coffee, Ltd Redeemer Church Rejoice Ministries, Inc. Alex Richards-Richards Insurance Sonny Merryman, Inc. The Belonging Church, Inc. The Law Offices of Hiepler & Hiepler Thompson Trucking, Inc. Trane UBS Valley Community Baptist Church Venture Mountain, LLC Verizon Foundation Verndon Enterprises, Inc. Soundz Hearing Centers Walls Insurance Agency Walter Christian Development Foundation Williamsburg Christian Retreat Association Young Pearl Education Foundation Zaki Gordon Memorial Charitable Gift Fund

$1,000 - $2,499

Individuals Dr. Gregg & Andrea Albers Bob & Sue Anderson Steve Andrews Georgiana L. Arakaki Robert Scott Arthur Doward F. Austin Phil & Lois Ayers Christie Bailey Kevin & Susan Barringer Jovita C. Barton Fred N. Beason David & Kristal Bechtold Rodney & Marlee Beckom Carolyn Nadine Bennett James D. Berens John A. Berg Al & Lisa Billingsly Dale & Tina Birdsall Valerie Blackwood Jerome & Kathy Bogacz Scott C. Bomar David Bostic Page M. Brantley Leroy & Joan Bream Paul & Smita Breton Richard & Deborah Britton Judith I. Brown Thad & Elizabeth Brundrett

Dr. Kendrick & Lelanda Brunson Paul & Laurel Brusseau Richard & Carla Bryan David Lee Bryant Janice E. Buckley Cley & Renae Bullock Kathy Toca Bunn Dr. James Burton, D.M.D. George A. Byberg Jr. John & Phyllis Carstens Eric & Ginny Cashion Steve & Carolyn Ciccarello Robert H. Clement Rolland & Carolyn Coburn Debra Compitello Larry & Barbara Compter James & Patti Cook Joseph Copeland Frank Corley Virginia Corsini Tom F. Craven Jr. John F. Cross Bo Cullifer William & Ruth Darr Katherine Derbas Mr. and Mrs. Thomas C. DiPaola Greg & Mary Dowell Lois Mae Duggan Glenn & Lois Enderud Dave Estes Barbara H. Fain Linda L. Farver Keith & Patty Faulkner Lois E. Fergerson Kenneth E. Ferry Chris & Pam Ficco Christopher E. Fogal Gregory A. Fontaine Everett & Dianne Foutz Instructor Linda Freshwater Monty & Evelyn Fritts Savannah N. Frye Gil & Karen Gaillard Bryant & Riley Gaines Robert W. Garthwait Sr. Max Gasser Glenna D. Gilliland Cindy Goodrich William R. Grachan Theresa H. Green Lee & Tonja Hall Riley & Diana Hall Steven Hall Richard & Betty Halstead Mr. & Mrs. Robert A. Harris Jeff & Allison Helgeson Cheryl B. Hemric Donna Heuneman Tom & Rhonda Hill Tim & Christy Hill George & Barbara Hoffman David & Christine Holder Tim Houghton Heather Howell Phillip Jamerson Carla Jones David Kaetterhenry Dwayne & Gail Kamphuis Pam Katt Russell L. Kepple Kevin & Lori Keys Michael L. King Paul, Carly & Emily Lagerquist Anonymous Andrew A. Law Rodney & Donna Lawson Sydney Lawson

Abigail Ledford Lane Lee Jennifer Lehman Matt & Lisa Lewis Rachel M. Lewis Debbie Linville James & Deborah Livingston Thompson B. Longest June S. Marr Michael J. Martin Eva Martinez Nick Mastrovito Jeff & Cindy McCaw Terrance & Julie McCloskey Charles & Karen McClung Mark McClure Bill McEachen Paige McEachen Andrew Meadows Dennis J. Milks David A. Miller Suzanne Miller Thomas & Janet Miller Michael Misjuns Andrew Moore Barbara C. Moore Dale Moore Ivan A. Moore Lauren G. Moore Orrie Mork Ray & Pam Morrison Wayne & Deb Mullin Jeff & Christy Murphy Kenneth Musana Dr. James Nalley, M.D. Dayton Neeley Leonard E. Newman Jr. Jacqueline F. Nims Yvonne Norman-Rice Clyde & Esther Ott Gregory R. Owens Linwood & Trudy Parker Rory & Cheryl Patterson Todd & Rachel Patulski Samuel J. Paul Gary G. Pearson Scott & Cindy Phillips Bob Pinto & Dot Richardson Lori Pittman Deborah C. Plonk Matthew Poland Larry Pollard Andrew & Miriam Prantner Dan & Tracey Pritchard Mike & Helga Pryor Amy Radcliff Jeffrey D. Raub Edward & Karin Renner Harry & Susan Repstad Dr. & Mrs. James L. Rhoades Dr. Janet S. Richards Brenda J. Rider Steve & Rachel Ridout Robert L. Ritz Gloria Roakes Dale & Karen Roede Dr. William & Amy Roller Kirstin Rontos Mirna Rosales Hiram M. Royer Chuck & Kristin Sailors Karl C. Salz Margot S. Sample Alexander I. Saunders Mary Ann Saunders Howard E. Schaeffer Sallie J. Schaeffer

Jacob & Dot Scheeres Carina Schiro Maria Schiro Robert & Pamela Schmidt Mark Scott Sig & Gwen Seiler Constance Shackleford Brian Shepard Emily J. Sherman Brad & Jennifer Smith Darrell D. Smith Dave & Kim Smith David B. Smith Ray Smith John A. Snider Paul & Sara Spinden Arthur & Claudia Sterrett F. M. Stevenson Roger H. Stiles Leana Stoltz H. Gregg Strader Bob & Sara Straub John W. Strother Kevin D. Struble Barbara G. Stunz Marian D. Sullivan Vickie C. Talbott Douglas Taylor Troy & Karla Temple Judith H. Terrana John & Anne Thompson NoraJane R. Throckmorton Terry & Becky Tinsley Susan Tobik Brant & Nancy Tolsma Eric Trinh James O. Trout Jr. Todd Tryall

SCHOL ARSHIP

Johanna Tucker John Tucker Greta Van Susteren William & Sarah Wagner Deborah Walker John Walton Darrell Wargo Ryan & Teresa Werner Michael & Donna Weston Aaron R. Wheeler Charles E. Whetzel Jr. Sonny & Sharon White Marcia K. Wiinamaki Beverly Wiley Anthony & Beth Williams Jim & Kathy Williams Paul & Andrea Williams Bryan & Natalie Willis George & Peggy Wilson Wendell O. Wilson Wyatt & Gwen Wilson Robert & Tracie Wimberly Mark & Colene Winyard Faye P. Witt Linda Woelke Judy A. Wright Rupert Wright Lian-Tuu Yeh George Young Ralph W. Young Organizations Adele Diamond Advanced Underground Specialists, Inc. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Arundel Christian Church Ashley Grace Bridal, LLC AXA Foundation Bellevue Baptist Church

Brevard Community Church BWX Technologies, Inc. C12 Virginia Blue Ridge C3 Church NC Centra Medical Group, LLC Central Church, Inc. Century21 All-Service Cherry Hills Baptist Church Christ Chapel-Mountaintop Christ Community Church Christian Cheerleaders of America, Inc. Come Alive International, Inc. Daystar Christian Fellowship Doyle’s Florist, Inc. East Side Rides, LLC Endurance Auto Repair and Tire Faith Baptist Church of Knightdale NC First Baptist Church of Pelham First Baptist Church of Roanoke First Baptist Church of Spartanburg First Baptist Orlando Fox News Network, LLC Garber Lowe Fence Co., Inc. Gibson Park Importers, Inc. Gleaning for the World, Inc. His Generation Integrated Technology Group, Inc. Johnson Health Center Lorry’s Island End Motel, LLC Lynchburg Area Veterans Council, Inc. M4 Partners, Inc. Merrill Lynch Millbrook Baptist Church Mitchell, Matthews & Associates New Song Ministries, Inc. Novo Nordisk Matching Gift Program Parkwood Baptist Church, Inc. Perimeter Roofing VA, LLC Professional Plumbing PWD Window & Door Rasmussen Excavation, LLC Rescare, Inc.

Revelation Message, Inc. DBA Revelation Message Bible College & Jacksonville Theological Seminary Salem Fields Community Church Slayton’s Automotive Smith Mountain Lake Christian Academy State Farm Companies Foundation The Bible Museum The Church at Battlecreek The Ellenburg Chair Co., Inc. The Real Estate School, Inc. The Scriptive Stethoscope, LLC The Woodsman Thomas Road Baptist Church Three Strands Home Care, LLC, dba Senior Helpers True Vine Ministries World Outreach Fellowship Vazax Dining Two, LLC Victory Baptist Church Virginia Military Institute WACH Marketing, Inc. Wellington Builders, Inc. West End Assembly of God West End Baptist Church Women’s Missionary Union of VA YourCause, LLC Trustee for Pfizer Annual Giving Campaign YourCause, LLC Trustee for Wells Fargo Foundation Education Matching Gifts Program Zenith Quest * Estate Gift If we have omitted, misspelled, or misplaced your name, please accept our apologies and notify our office by calling toll-free (866) 602-7983. For more information on planned giving to Liberty University, visit Liberty.edu/Giving or call (800) 543-5309.

FUND

Be the champion they need.

Liberty University’s founder, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, was tenacious in his pursuit to make Liberty the center of quality Christian education. When the college was created, he reached out to 15,000 people, requesting financial donations to assist students in need.

Over the years, the number of donors has grown, and multitudes of Liberty alumni are serving the Lord across the nation and the world because of those who gave.

Liberty continues that long tradition of scholarship assistance that was started by the “15,000 Club.” Generous donors are still supporting the vision of Dr. Falwell and joining the new 71 Club Scholarship Fund.

With the cost of higher education in the United States skyrocketing and college debt reaching an astounding $1.6 trillion, friends of Liberty are helping to

reverse this trend and make students’ dreams come true as they impact the world for Christ.

Liberty alumna Renee Keys graduated last fall with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. “Receiving this scholarship was such a blessing,” she said. “It’s hard to go into the world with so many student loans to worry about.

Not having to bear the full weight of that burden is a true blessing.”

Fellow alumna Anna Wickham, who graduated in 2017 with her Bachelor of Science in Nursing, received a Liberty scholarship that was made possible by donors who cared about her future.

“The scholarships helped significantly lift the burden so that I could enjoy my time at Liberty, and they also gave me extensive financial relief after graduation when many alongside me had extensive debt and loans to pay.”

“There is no greater feeling than when you finish your degree and

receive your diploma,” Wickham added. “I credit all of the support to God, my parents, and the scholarships that Liberty afforded me.”

Become a 71 Club member with a gift of $19.71 or more. With a gift of $200 or more, you will receive a certificate (suitable for framing), identifying you as a charter member of The 71 Club Scholarship Fund. Each semester, you will also receive The 71 Club newsletter explaining how your gift is making a difference for Liberty students.

Join today. Help a new generation of students like Renee and Anna become Liberty’s next Champions for Christ.

Renee Keys

Anna Wickham

63

TUITIONFREEZE

HEADED YOUR WAY Liberty University has issued a tuition freeze to bring affordability back to private education. During the 2019-20 academic year, all residential students will enjoy the same great value in tuition and room and board as they did in 2018.

LIBERTY.EDU/RESIDENTIAL