Faculty members gear up for new academic year

Photo caption: New faculty members are introduced at Tuesday’s orientation meeting for all Liberty University faculty. There are about 35 new faculty members, including former adjuncts and staff who will take on a full-time role. A special welcome breakfast and meet-and-greet session was held for them on Monday.

Gearing up to train champions for Christ, Liberty University faculty gathered Tuesday at an orientation meeting intended to inspire and inform them for the upcoming academic year.

Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. was among the speakers offering words of encouragement at the event held at Campus North.

“Thank you for all that you do. When students tell me what they love about Liberty, it always comes back to the faculty,” Falwell Jr. said. “They always talk about how faculty really care about them [and] how they spend time with them.”

Vice Chancellor Ron Godwin expressed his appreciation for the professors because they have the “most intimate and frequent” contact with students.

The university projects that 11,300 students will attend classes on campus and up to 39,000 could take online courses through the university’s Distance Learning Program in the coming academic year, he said. On-campus classes are scheduled to begin Aug. 18.

As enrollment grows, Godwin reminded everyone to pray for creativity, spiritual maturity and a genuine willingness to be a part of the team effort at LU.

Many prayers were spoken, including one from Liberty’s co-founder and dean of the School of Religion Dr. Elmer Towns.

“We pray that together we may form a team that would make an eternal impact on students this year,” he said.

Liberty University has 326 full-time faculty on campus, along with 241 full-time Distance Learning Program faculty.