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 Amy Estepp | Mar 14, 2011 | News Slider
They’ve gone to a village in Guatemala, an orphanage in Mexico, New York City and points between and beyond. As usual, many Lipscomb students, with faculty support, are spending their spring break helping people in different parts of the world and also growing. Every year students, faculty, staff and alumni join together to partner with Lipscomb’s mission initiatives. Lipcomb offers a variety of trips both international and domestic. Hundreds of Lipscomb affiliates are involved and hundreds of lives changed. This year, the mission efforts began even before spring break officially got under way. The first trip departed at dawn March 10, leaving from Nashville International airport en route to Guatemala. Jordan Lewis, a junior nursing major said that she wasn’t nervous, but just excited to take part in the medical mission trip located in the Ulpan Valley of Guatemala. The Chattanooga native is a rookie to medical missions, but she is not letting her inexperience get in the way. “I expect to help with medicines and playing with the kids, and helping with the doctors,” said Lewis. “Overall, I am most excited about seeing a different culture and being somewhere completely rural.” This is the 10th consecutive year for Lipscomb admissions recruiter, Josh Link, to serve the City of Children. The City of Children is an orphanage located in Ensenada, Mexico. After spending every spring break of his college years in Ensenada, Link is now the trip leader. But what keeps Link returning to the City of Children? “I am most excited about seeing the kid that I have a relationship with,” said Link. “There is a kid that...
by Jadrienne Myhre | Nov 16, 2010 | News Slider
This year, PKS raised money to film a documentary about the Ulpan Valley that will bring awareness to the Guatamalan government. PKS has worked for the World Vision 30 Famine during cause week for the past few years. But this year, Co-Chairs of cause week Caroline Cook, junior history and law, justice and society major, and Lynsey Myers wanted to do something different. They found out about the documentary the first week of school this semester, and decided to devote the earnings of the week toward bettering the situation in Ulpan Valley by promoting the documentary. As with most projects put together by Lipscomb’s students, this project involves students from all different studies. “The entire project is holistic,” Cook said. “Communication students are making the documentary, an English student is doing articles for the website and several pre-med students have gone [to the Valley] on a spring break mission trip.” Cook is confident with the results of cause week. She and her fellow PKS members have put in long hours and frequently been discouraged, but she feels that their effort has been worth it. Through cause week, PKS raised over $1,400 toward promoting the documentary for Ulpan...
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...
