Read more news at www.Liberty.edu/News.
School of Divinity dean serves as consultant for NBC’s ‘A.D.’
Mark Burnett (left), producer of NBC’s drama “A.D. The Bible Continues,” with Dr. Ed Hindson, dean of Liberty University’s School of Divinity, at the Vines Center in February.
Dr. Ed Hindson, distinguished professor and dean of Liberty University’s School of Divinity, served as a biblical consultant for NBC’s prime-time biblical drama “A.D. The Bible Continues.” The series is produced by television innovator Mark Burnett (pictured on the left with Hindson) and his wife, actress Roma Downey. They are the creators of “The Bible” miniseries and have built a relationship with Liberty, visiting campus to speak in Convocation and to share their experience with film students.
Hindson was selected largely due to his well-established reputation as a biblical scholar. He has spoken at churches all over the country and has lectured at a number of prestigious universities, including Westminster Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School, and Oxford University’s constituent Balliol College. He has authored 40 books, edited five study Bibles, and is a winner of the Gold Medallion award for excellence in Christian authorship.
In his consulting role for the series, which he did remotely and free of charge, Hindson read the scripts to ensure that the storyline stayed true to the Bible. While he said he understood that artistic license had to be taken to present the stories on television, he was amazed at how the creators strived to make it as accurate as possible.
“What I found was, whenever they got a little too creative with the story and I had to bring them back to ‘this is what the Bible text says,’ they were willing to make those adjustments,” Hindson explained. “That gave me great encouragement; they want to tell the biblical story accurately but they also want to tell the story in an exciting, engaging way.”
While biblical facts are clear in the text, Hindson explained that a lot of the backstory, as well as the thought processes and emotions of the characters, are open for interpretation. He said that all of the conversion stories from the book of Acts were clearly and powerfully depicted.
Hindson said the show was designed for a diverse range of viewers and described it as a fast-paced, edge-of-your-seat drama created for a 21st century, postmodern audience.
“It is action-packed. It is the best thing ever done in the way of a biblical drama. When people look back over time, they’re going to see this as a groundbreaking series that has made a tremendous difference in people’s understanding of the first-century biblical world.”
2015 President’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching
The President’s Awards for Excellence in Teaching recognize faculty who are committed to outstanding teaching in both the residential and online classrooms. Winners are selected based on peer recommendations, deans’ endorsements, nominee responses to specific prompts, and student letters. Several areas of teaching expertise are considered, including innovation, use of instructional technology, faith integration, pedagogy, student support and involvement, assessment, and personal growth. Recipients were formally honored at Commencement and received monetary gifts.
- Stephen Bell, Ph.D. Associate Professor of English, College of General Studies
- Tracy Thomas Ellett, M.A. Instructional Mentor and Instructor, College of General Studies
- Hubbard H. Harvey Jr., J.D. Associate Professor, School of Business
- George Young, Ph.D. Associate Professor, School of Business
IT Department improves campus Internet speed
At the direction of President Jerry Falwell, Liberty University’s Information Technology (IT) Department increased campus Internet speed 150 percent this spring, while implementing a long-term solution to continuously improve connectivity.
“Serving student needs is a top priority,” said Mark Norris, director of IT Operations. “Because students live, as well as study, here on campus, it requires that we provide them with an environment suitable to live in. This upgrade was about the student.”
Liberty is also putting infrastructure in place to maintain that quality long term. The university has begun acquiring hardware that will double the capacity of the two systems that serve campus. This upgrade will allow Liberty to accommodate future growth without having to continuously add new hardware.
Recognized for excellence
Liberty University holds regional accreditation through the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC)* to award associate, bachelor’s, master’s, specialist, and doctoral degrees. In addition to this regional accreditation, many programs at Liberty have earned additional accreditation through industry-specific organizations. These accrediting bodies maintain rigorous standards and only recognize educational programs that represent the highest levels of excellence in their specialization.
Last semester, Liberty received accreditation for its residential Clinical Mental Health Counseling (M.A.) program from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP). It was approved for the maximum eight-year period. The university has begun the process of seeking CACREP accreditation for its online 60-hour professional counseling (M.A.) program.
In addition to its standing undergraduate program accreditation from the Commission on Sport Management Accreditation (COSMA), Liberty’s Sport Management program also received accreditation for its M.S. program this spring.
Other program accreditations at Liberty include:
- School of Business: Voluntary accreditation from the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) for accounting (B.S.), business administration (B.S.), business information management systems (B.S.), Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.), and accounting (M.S.) programs. All undergraduate and graduate business programs are either accredited by ACBSP or currently seeking ACBSP accreditation.
- Liberty University School of Law: Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar of the American Bar Association (ABA)
- Liberty University College of Osteopathic Medicine: Provisional accreditation by the American Osteopathic Association Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation (AOA-COCA) in the United States
- Athletic Training: Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE)
- Exercise Science: Commission for the Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP)
- Liberty University School of Nursing: Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE)
- Teacher licensure: National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE)
- School of Engineering & Computational Sciences: All programs are either ABET-accredited or seeking ABET accreditation.
*Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia, 30033-4097 or call (404) 679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Liberty University. Normal inquiries about the institution, such as admission requirements, financial aid, educational programs, etc., should be addressed directly to Liberty University.
Academic Achievements
Academic teams allow students to test their knowledge against other institutions, and Liberty students regularly stand out at both the regional and national levels of competition. Below are some highlights from the Spring 2015 semester.
Forensics
Forensics team member Kenny Lau (’15) took first place for Program Oral Interpretation (POI) at the American Forensic Association’s National Individual Events Tournament in April, the first time Liberty has claimed this award. Lau qualified to compete at nationals in five categories (POI, Informative Speaking, Poetry Interpretation, Prose Interpretation, and Dramatic Interpretation) during the team’s regular season, which included 10 competitions across the region. Sophomore Bo Quel (left) also qualified to represent Liberty in POI at the national competition, which featured more than 500 competitors from 80 institutions, including Cornell University, George Mason University, Arizona State University, the University of Alabama, the University of Florida, and Western Kentucky University.
The Forensics team also claimed several awards — including 15 top-three finishes, three of which were for first place — at the 2015 National Christian College Forensics Invitational in Denver, Colo.
Quiz Bowl
The Quiz Bowl team won the Big South Conference (BSC) Championship in February at Longwood University, going undefeated (7-0) for its eighth BSC title in the last 10 years. The team then went on to the Academic Competition Federation (ACF) sectionals at the University of Virginia, winning six games, including two over the University of North Carolina.
At the ACF nationals in April, Liberty finished 14th among undergraduate teams, posting four wins against the University of Michigan, University of South Carolina, Ohio State University, and the University of California-San Diego.
Three members of the varsity team are National Merit Finalists on full academic scholarships.
Debate
Liberty’s nationally recognized Debate team won the Cross-Examination Debate Association (CEDA) National Tournament in March, beating top schools, including George Mason University and the University of Kansas.
Law School
This year marked the most successful moot court season in Liberty University School of Law history. The team finished the season ranked No. 11 in the nation by the Blakely Advocacy Institute at the University of Houston Law Center.
The moot court team of Reed Marbury, Justin Reddington, and Zach Hurt were semifinalists in the American Bar Association National Advocacy Competition in Chicago, the highest finish in team history. Reddington was named the No. 2 oralist in the nation. Marbury, Reddington, and Hurt earned their right to compete at nationals after being crowned champions in the Washington, D.C., regional competition in February. This marked the sixth time that a Liberty moot court team has advanced to nationals.
The team of James Sosnoski and Joshua Turner took first place in the Fordham University School of Law annual Irving R. Kaufman Memorial Moot Court Competition in New York City, a tournament focused on securities and exchange regulation. The duo argued in the final round before a prestigious panel of judges, including United States Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito.
Andy Brown and Erika Lukenbill took first place and won the Best Respondent’s Brief award at the William B. Spong Moot Court competition, hosted by William & Mary Law School. The event is one of the longest-running moot court tournaments in the country.
Moot court teams also finished runners-up at the Florida Bar National Tax Tournament and the Leroy R. Hassell Memorial National Constitutional Moot Court Tournament, where Liberty had the Best Oralist (Reddington) and the award for Best Petitioner’s Brief. Liberty advanced to the semifinals at the Charleston National Moot Court Tournament, with Alex Hubbard winning Best Oralist.
Liberty Law’s mediation team won the regional ABA Representation in Gainesville, Fla., in February. The team of Alexandra Hubbard and Hope Whitehead defeated teams from the University of Buffalo, University of Florida, and George Mason University to advance to the finals.
Awards
At the Big South Undergraduate Research Symposium, held April 10-11, four Liberty University honors students received first-place awards for their presentations and posters. More than 200 students from 19 institutions competed in the event held at Campbell University.
Liberty’s first-place winners included junior Matthew Dalton (biomedical sciences) for his poster, “Significant Up-regulation on Mir-17 in an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model;” senior Jon Bateman (social sciences-teacher certification) for his presentation, “‘A One-in-a-Billion Chance’: The Transformative Effect of Stan Lee and Spider-Man on American Popular Culture;” senior Anna Snyder (linguistics-teacher certification) for her presentation, “A Comparative Study of Compounding and Noun Incorporation;” and sophomore John Flores (accounting and history) for his presentation, “Funding Terror.”
Emily Brown, editor-in-chief of Liberty University’s student-run campus newspaper, the Liberty Champion, won the 2015 College Media Association (CMA) Apple Award for Best Copy Editor on March 14 at CMA’s spring national convention in New York. This is the first time a Liberty student has won the award.
In addition, the Champion was awarded the 2015 Campus Award of Excellence by the Evangelical Press Association for its strong editorial content, engaging photos, and bold design.
Liberty University’s Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) vice president, Joshua Gordon, traveled to PRSSA’s National Assembly in March, where he was elected to one of the top positions of national office, vice president of member services. Gordon is the first Liberty student to serve on the National Committee for PRSSA — a pre-professional society of more than 11,500 members with 330 university chapters in the United States, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru.
Students from the Department of Studio & Digital Arts (SADA) won eight out of 19 awards presented at the 2015 District 3 American Advertising Awards (AAA) on April 3 in Raleigh, N.C., including two gold and six silver. They also received two of the three Judges’ Choice awards, which is the highest award given at the competition. This string of accolades followed a strong showing at the local AAA competition in February, where Liberty students brought home 34 gold and 41 silver awards, as well as Judges’ Choice and Best of Student Work awards. Liberty’s gold winners from the district competition will automatically have their work forwarded to the national competition, taking place June 10-13 in Las Vegas.
