by Emily Snell | Nov 28, 2012 | Uncategorized
After a successful career in military defense engineering, Kerry Patterson thought he’d arrive at age 65 and start sitting “on the porch in a rocking chair somewhere.” But now that he’s reached retirement age, Patterson says he’ll keep teaching classes and going on engineering missions trips as long as he can. Patterson, who started teaching engineering at Lipscomb nearly 10 years ago, said he entered education as an escape from the “commercial rat race.” According to Patterson, his old friend from the University of Tennessee Fred Gillam, former head of Lipscomb’s Raymond B. Jones College of Engineering, called one day to encourage Patterson to join the teaching staff at Lipscomb. “When I interviewed with the provost for the position,” Patterson said, “Dr. Bledsoe said, ‘I don’t really think I have much choice because I promised your friend that a condition of his taking the job was that he had to be able to hire you.’” After a three-year stint in the U.S. Army missile command, Patterson spent 25 years doing work related to military ballistic missile defense systems. But Patterson said education had been a possibility in the back of his mind for years. “I always thought that sometime down the road I’d like to teach and I’d like to teach in a Christian university,” he said. “But since there weren’t very many Church of Christ schools that had engineering, I thought I would probably have to settle for math or physics. When this college of engineering thing came along, it was an even better situation than I had anticipated.” Patterson said he knew when he came to Lipscomb that he...
by Emily Snell | Nov 3, 2010 | Uncategorized
Pi Kappa Sigma is raising money this week to help two Lipscomb students produce a social justice documentary. The club’s efforts are part of Cause Week, which will help fund the documentary being produced by Ryan Malone and Allison Woods, both multimedia production majors. The film tells the story of a social justice crisis in the Ulpan Valley of Guatemala. “I’m doing this documentary about the lives of the Q’eqchi’ people, especially relating to the struggle for their land,” Malone said. “The land that they live on is a big part of their culture. It’s what they live off every day.” At 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, Malone will be in Shamblin Theater with Caroline Cook, co-chair of Cause Week, to explain more about the situation and the documentary. Students who attend can receive one chapel credit and will have an opportunity to ask questions about the documentary and to pray for the people of the Ulpan Valley. “Because of the documentary, we are telling the story of the Q’eqchi people that they can’t tell themselves,” said Cook, a junior law, justice and society major from Decatur, Ala. Woods, a senior, explained that the problems in Guatemala can be traced back nearly two centuries. In the 1800s, the Guatemalan government took the land from the people of the Ulpan Valley. Following the distribution of the land to various countries, the local government passed an anti-vagrancy law that required anyone living on the land to work for the landowner. However, according to Woods, the workers only receive around $2 per day. “They are basically in a situation of legalized slavery,” Woods said....
by Jake Morgan | Mar 22, 2010 | Opinion
On February 5th, 2010 I hopped off a plane in Guatemala City. As our team of eight loaded into our rental trucks only a few things were certain – The air was warm, I was hungry, and we were definitely not in Nashville anymore. After grabbing our first traditional Guatemalan meal at Burger King (“Rey de Hamburguesa” for our Spanish speaking readers), we began our four-hour trek northbound across the country to reach the mountain city of Coban. From what little I understood we would be spending the next two days working with the Kechi Mayans in the heart of Guatemala’s Ulpan Valley. As our caravan pushed further north, the landscape quickly changed from rolling hills to dry desert to the towering mountains of the Baja Vera Pas. If you’ve never driven in Guatemala, it’s hard to comprehend this ride is like. Basically, picture the worst mountain road you’ve ever experienced. Then, cut it down to a two-lane highway loaded with semis and logging trucks. Oh, and from my understanding, it takes at least seven policemen to issue a speeding ticket in Guatemala. This translates to all rationality of a speed limit going right out the window. So, here we are, driving at breakneck speeds down this winding two-lane highway, passing semi trucks while praying no one comes darting around the next corner. Consider it a religious experience. After somehow arriving safely in Coban, we took advantage of our quick journey and got a good night’s rest. The next day we would make the journey into the Ulpan Valley, also known as “The Corridor of Death.” When I had...
