More than 800 students awarded diplomas at the 128th commencement

More than 800 students awarded diplomas at the 128th commencement

Spirits were high in Allen Arena Saturday afternoon, as 560 Lipscomb students were awarded their bachelor’s degree diplomas. Earlier that morning, commencement was held for 325 graduate students. The ceremony began with the board of trustee members Bart Harper and Sallie Dean delivering the invocation and scripture reading. Dean read from Philippians 4, including the verse: “Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.” In his President’s charge, President Randolph Lowry highlighted how each graduate had an individual story of how they “overcame challenges” to walk across the graduation stage. “Each of those stories suggests something about the future and how you will contribute to this world,” said Lowry. He recognized first-generation students, student-athletes and graduating veterans. However, he also took the opportunity to tell the story of one particular student, Seth Walker, who has cerebral palsy. “Seth Walker cannot walk,” Lowry said. “He cannot feed himself. He cannot dress. He cannot roll over in bed without assistance. And yet God has given him an amazing sense of cherishing and holding on to all that life provides.” Walker received his Bachelor of Arts degree in theology and ministry. Lowry went on to discuss Ken Brassell, Walker’s caregiver. “For the past five years, he has attended virtually every single class that Seth attended at two colleges,” Lowry said. He then called Brassell up to the stage and awarded him with an honorary bachelor’s degree. Several awards for faculty and a student were then announced: the Outstanding Teacher awards, to Lindsay L. Dillingham, Jon H. Lawrence and Nancy Magnusson Durham; the John William Baker Award, to mathematics professor Carroll G. Wells; and...

SGA debates offer insight into 2014 candidates

The second annual SGA debates were held in Shamblin Theatre Monday night with SGA and Lumination Network once again co-sponsoring the event. The centerpiece of the evening was the debate between presidential candidates Taylor Cao and Drew Watson. The candidates expressed their opinions on a number of oft-discussed topics on Lipscomb’s campus such as academics, students dealing with the various events held on campus, Lipscomb’s alcohol policy and the school’s parking issues. Watson, the incumbent SGA vice president, touched on his previous experience with SGA, as well what he hopes to implement if elected president. “I think that experience is something that I have, and that is very valuable, especially for the president position,” Watson said. “I think that leading an organization requires you to be knowledgeable about it, be knowledgeable about its functions and about its responsibilities. “I’ve learned a lot this year as vice president, so I definitely think I would be able to hit the ground running this summer.” Watson says he hopes to use the role to be a servant for the Lipscomb community. “I think that the president role should be a means of service, and I believe that I will do a great job serving the student body,” Watson said. “I’m not doing this for the title. I’m not doing this because it will look good on a resume. I’m doing this because I truly believe I could serve the student body in this role.” Cao, who served as an active SGA member for the first time this semester, also expressed the plans he has for his potential presidency, along with why he...

Lumination’s Top 10 Stories of 2013

Hello, Lumination readers! As we celebrate the beginning of 2014, it’s time to take a look back at some of the biggest stories at Lipscomb during the year that was – 2013.  Before we take a look at the year’s top stories, we take a moment to pause and remember those we lost in the past year. Former Lipscomb professors Axel Swang, Patty Dugger, Oliver Yates, and Bill Collins all passed, as did Lipscomb student Isaac Phillips and Bisons super fan Chuck Ross. We continue to pray for their families and friends. A few stories right on the heels of our top 10 list involved some special visitors to campus and two major, annual Lipscomb events, as well as a few people in new positions of leadership. U.S. women’s soccer team practiced at university field in February, drawing a large crowd of soccer fans and inquisitive Lipscomb students. In March, YouTube sensations Walk Off the Earth headlined the spring concert at Alumni Auditorium. In April, Singarama celebrated its 50th anniversary, and, in December, Lighting of the Green held its 9th installment. In 2013, we also welcomed Steve Davidson as a new campus minister and Jim Humphrey as the new director of security. And, in April, Andrew Hunt was elected to be the new SGA president. Drew Watson was elected as his VP. 10. Titans QBs Jake Locker, Matt Hasselbeck and Rusty Smith speak in The Gathering  In March, the three quarterbacks for the resident Tennessee Titans appeared in The Gathering to shed light on each player’s faith. It was a rare occurrence to have such high-profile guests for a Thursday chapel, but...

Glenn named to Atlantic Sun Academic All-Conference team

Lipscomb senior center Justin Glenn was named to the Atlantic Sun Academic All-Conference team, the league announced Tuesday. Glenn has a 3.4 grade point average and graduates this summer with both a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a master’s of accountancy. The A-Sun introduced the new sport-by-sport Academic All-Conference teams this fall to recognize student-athletes who embody the conference’s mission of Building Winners for Life. All the members of the team boast a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (GPA) or better and participated in at least half of their team’s games. Glenn averages 8.1 points and 7.3 rebounds for the Bison.  He’s started all 30 games and is second in the A-Sun for shooting (60.0 percent) and third in rebounding. ETSU’s Adam Sollazzo was named the Scholar-Athlete of the...

[Video] An in-depth look at the Lipscomb: Next plan for 2016

Whether you’ve been at Lipscomb for 4 years or 4 weeks, it’s clear that development is playing a huge role in the future of our campus. We’ve already seen a lot of changes in the last few months, what changes can we expect in the months ahead? Please upgrade your browser Tom Wood, Director of Campus Enhancement filled Lumination in on many of the current construction projects. “The north of the [Hughes] building which is currently under construction is our new nursing building, about a 25,000 square foot [facility],” Wood said. It’ll be state of the art for our nursing students. On the south side of Hughes, we will have in a short time frame a “U” shaped complex. The pharmacy research building will go on that south side of Hughes.” “In the future, there will be two more [health science] buildings. One will be in from of the nursing building and the other will be in front of the pharmacy research building.” There are two pieces of land that the university will have to buy, but Wood said that eventually with their purchase and completion of the addition health science buildings, the area will form a five building health science quad on the north side of campus. Also, students and faculty  may be excited to hear that there will be some temporary parking that will be created in the coming months with the construction. “Also, part of this program is a temporary lot which will be behind the Village, which will accommodate about 50 additional cars,” Wood said. “So out of this project here in the next few...