Inaugural Address - Mark L. Walker
Inaugural Address of Mark L. Walker as President of Lee University
April 23, 2021
April 23, 2021
“Let Us Be Light”
A little boy was helping his mother cleanup the kitchen and accidently dropped a glass, breaking it on the floor. His mother asked him to go out to the back porch and bring her the broom. "Mama, I don't want to go out there. It's dark," he said.
The mother smiled at her son, reassuringly. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark," she explained. "Jesus is out there. He'll look after you and protect you."
The little boy stared at his mother and asked, "Are you sure he's out there?"
"Yes, I'm sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him," she said.
The little boy thought for a minute and peaked out the back door. Peering into the darkness, he called, "Jesus! If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?"
Perhaps the little boy captures the question of the culture – is there anyone out there with the answer? Who has the broom? Does the Government? Does Science? Does Education? Does Business? Does Entertainment? Does Media? Does Religion? Does Psychology? Does Technology? Does Health Care? Who has the broom?
Well, I think the little boy had it right, and we at Lee University agree; Jesus Christ is the answer to the darkness. Those oppressed and confused by the darker side of injustice, bigotry, greed, hatred, scandal, incivility, division, strife, corruption, abuse, and the like, are daily peering into that darkness, asking who or what will show the way out. What they seek, like all of us, is the hand and the face of our Maker revealed in Jesus Christ.
Scripture informs us that before time began, the life of Christ was to be the “light of all humanity.” When he walked this earth, Christ called himself the “light of the world,” which he demonstrated by the grace and truth of his teaching, good deeds, miracles, and ultimately His death and resurrection.
Yet, when he left this earth, Christ gave the responsibility of light-bearing to His followers. He said to His disciples, “You are the light of the world...let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” We are His light-bearers today.
What does light do? It gives direction and illuminates the way forward. Light provides hope and gives guidance. It brings calm and extends healing. It offers solutions and provides leadership. Light reveals the truth and serves to brighten and make better everything around it. Light brings life!
This is why Lee University’s mission of preparing students for responsible Christian living in a complex world is vital to our society today. We are sending forth light-bearers into all fields of endeavor to lead and serve like Christ for the betterment of all humanity; thus, I believe with all of my heart that the world needs Lee University. Why – because the world is a better place with Lee students in it.
From Lee’s inception, it has been our motivation to be the light of Christ in the darkness, driven by the compulsion that the world needs Lee.
In 1918 we opened as the COG Bible Training School to train men and women for practical ministry within the local church, because we believed the world of church ministry would be a better place with BTS students in it.
In 1930 we expanded the curriculum to include business and music, because we believed the worlds of business and music would be better with BTS students in it.
By 1938 we added college-level courses in English, history, foreign language, psychology, and geography, not to make BTS a better place, but to make the worlds of these disciplines better places!
Seeing the need to infuse more areas of society with BTS students, in 1941 we added a junior college division and we became “The Bible Training School and College.” By the ‘60’s we recognized that simply being a junior college was not going to cut it, so in 1962 we became a four-year liberal arts program known as Lee College. Hear the words of the COG denominational leadership when making this decision: “...it is our responsibility to sponsor one four-year liberal arts college, strong in education and the arts. It is our further responsibility to sponsor a strong school of theology and Christian training. We recommend that our efforts and attention be directed toward the full realization of such an institution, which is and shall be Lee College.”
Lee University – this still remains our responsibility!
By 1969, we were SACS accredited, offering 16 majors and 17 minors, and in 1976 distance learning was birthed to reach non-traditional students.
The year, 1995, witnessed the introduction of the first graduate programs and, in 1997, Lee College became Lee University. And over the next two decades we continued to build up the world of Lee so that Lee could build up the world.
Today, we stand here with the School of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Helen DeVos College of Education, the School of Music, the School of Nursing, and the School of Religion. Through these respective schools we offer 125 UG majors, 133 UG programs, 66 graduate degree programs, 5 doctoral programs, and 41 DAL degrees. We compete athletically in NCAA Division II, and we maintain graduate partnerships with the European Theological Seminary in Germany; SEMISUD, in Ecuador; and SEBIPCA, in Guatemala.
Why? Not to make Lee a better place, but to make the world a better place. The world needs the light of Lee – Jesus Christ! Therefore, we are called upon today to sharpen our vision of sending forth graduates that think critically, communicate effectively, and engage all cultures thoughtfully in order to serve as creative, caring, resilient, and skilled problem solvers and servant leaders, making a kingdom of God difference in the world.
This is our sacred mandate as a Christ-centered COG liberal arts university!
Five Fundamental Commitments
In response to our mandate, I believe we must maintain five fundamental commitments.
One – Mission Excellence - We must remain committed to advancing our mission by constantly improving all that we presently do at Lee while setting our sights on new horizons. We must always strive for excellence never settling for status quo, and we must never stop dreaming.
Two – Academic Expansion – We must ever remain committed to expanding our academic programming to meet the demand and need of our students and culture. For instance, engineering is a growing field that is ripe for more Lee students. And as we speak, a team is exploring the feasibility of developing a school of engineering at Lee.
Three – Student and Community Engagement – Students are our most treasured assets in whom we must always invest our highest academic, mental health, and financial resources. Our employees and alumni are invaluable and we must constantly seek to enrich their lives on and off our campus. Lee has also enjoyed a long-term friendship with Cleveland and Bradley County, and we must remain committed to serving and partnering with their residents and leaders to help make these communities better places to live and visit.
Four – Program Innovation – We must consistently remain committed to being innovative in developing cost effective and cost affordable means by which more students from around the world can experience Lee. As an example, how can we create additional revenue streams and institutional aid opportunities for a wider range of students? And while the coronavirus forced us to enter the land of hybrid classroom teaching, how might we now leverage this technology to expand our academic impact?
Five – Ministerial Development – We must remain ever committed to staying true to our denominational roots of ministerial development and training. We proudly partner with our Church of God-sponsoring denomination to develop ministerial leaders to serve in the COG and other Christian denominations and movements.
I believe these are the five fundamental Lee commitments we must maintain!
However, for Lee to effectively send out graduates prepared to engage their vocations with the light of Christ, I see three strategic areas within these five commitments upon which we must focus our curricular and co-curricular activity. The three focus areas are apologetics, leadership development, and racial and ethnic relations.
Apologetics
Apologetics is simply the defense of the Christian faith. It’s the ability to sincerely demonstrate, in word and deed, why one believes what one believes.
Like the story I heard of an elderly woman who had just returned home from an evening of Bible study in the Book of Acts, when an intruder startled her. He was burglarizing her home and all the woman could think to do was to scream the Scripture reference her Bible group had studied that night. So, she yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38! Acts 2:38!”
The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.
As the officer cuffed the intruder, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? All the lady yelled at you was the Scripture reference, Acts 2:38.”
“Scripture reference?” replied the burglar, “I thought she said she had an axe and two .38’s!”
The complex world for which we are preparing our students is described as “post-Christian” and “post-truth,” where feelings and personal preferences take precedence over facts and truth, and human secularization is enjoyed more than religious affiliation. Less people are associating with any organized religion and less are accepting of any codified absolute moral truth. More and more, individual autonomy has become the highest authority of our society and entitlement has become our primary motivation. We as a culture seemed to have surpassed the “post-modern” idea that truth is relative and have embraced the “post-truth” idea that truth is insignificant.
Into this dominating mindset we are sending our students; therefore, in our curricular and co-curricular faith integration strategies across all schools, sectors and departments we must examine how we are helping our students understand the “what,” “why,” and “how” of Christianity. While we want to inform our students as to what the Scriptures teach about God’s truth, we want to equally instruct them as to why they can know it is true, and even more so, why God’s truth matters for a healthy productive life, career and society. Yet, we must also model “how” to engage the culture with the truth. As Simon Peter wrote, “...always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...” And as the Apostle Paul instructed, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Lee University - are we effectively teaching our students in their respective vocations how to answer the culture with the grace and truth of Christ? We want our students to be more than passive bystanders in the engagement of cultural thought; we want them to be influential leaders. Our culture is hungry for genuine Spirit-led Christians that can engage in the exchange of ideas humbly, thoughtfully, intelligently, and articulately, demonstrating a compelling and authentic case for the significance of Christianity.
Theologian, Dr. Paul Lee Tan, said it best, “a Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a mouth through which Christ speaks, a hand through which Christ helps.” This is the faith integration we must seek for our students!
Leadership development
Lee University is a leader. We are an institution of national standing viewed as a leader among our peers. We have led the way in a variety of fields and endeavors. We became a higher education pioneer in incorporating benevolence, service learning, and cross-cultural studies as a regular part of every student’s educational experience.
We have modeled a leadership of excellence, conviction, quality and faith. We have many alumni who are high level leaders in all walks of life. Lee is synonymous with “leadership.” And I believe we can expand that to being synonymous with “developing leaders.”
No doubt, leadership development occurs now in the curricular and co-curricular life at Lee, but it appears to only do so in certain pockets of the university. What if Lee explored the possibility of a university wide leadership development strategy? If we are producing quality leaders more unintentionally than intentionally, what might happen if we became more intentional? I know I am wading into sacred waters here, but what if our university’s mission even expanded to read, “ Preparing students for responsible Christian living and leadership in a complex world? What if developing Christian leaders that led with Christ-like character, vision and servant-hood was a central pillar of our mission?
Two years ago we started a more strategic leadership development focus when we began discussions on establishing an undergraduate “leadership minor.” However, discussions were halted by the need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps reestablishing the leadership minor discussions is where we restart our leadership development journey, while envisioning something more far reaching. I can see a “Leadership Institute,” or a “Center for Leadership Excellence,” or a “School of Leadership.” Something that is intentional and fully devoted to leadership development on several levels – like teaching leadership as an undergraduate academic discipline, and providing professional leadership training for faculty, staff and administrators, and becoming a global venue for hosting leadership summits for professionals from all vocations and from all over the world.
Scandalous leadership infects all strata of our society and our ever-increasing complex world needs godly leaders. In their classic study on leadership, James Kouzes and Barry Posner found that leaders must be in love with leading in order to make a significant positive difference. Listen to their description of such a leader: “Loving leading means that you’re passionate about values and vision that make a difference, that you look forward every day to devoting your time to strengthening others and building teams, that you relish the chance to tackle a daunting challenge and search for new possibilities, and that you truly enjoy recognizing others for their contributions to the success of the enterprise. This is the work you must fall in love with.”
This is the profile of a Lee University developed leader!
In his letter to his protégé and emerging leader, Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “To aspire to leadership is an honorable ambition” (I Tim. 3:1, NEB). Lee University – let us rise even further to the honorable ambition of preparing students for responsible Christian leadership in our complex world!
Racial and Ethnic Relations
If we believe that the world is a better place with Lee students in it, then we must continue to be a place that welcomes the world. We must always look to improve our ability to engage and embrace the racial and ethnic diversity that makes up our world. Knowing and learning alongside people from different backgrounds is vital for preparing students for success in our global age.
Presently, 46 U.S. states and 49 different nations are represented in our student body, with the majority of our students arriving from the southeastern United States. Students of color make up 8% of our student body, while international students comprise 2%. We are grateful for the vast locations and backgrounds of are students; however, we recognize that we can do better.
We began a more strategic effort to improve when Chancellor Conn established the Office of Racial and Ethnic Relations just prior to the completion of his presidency, hiring Gloria Scott Richmond to serve as the director. We must remain committed to advancing the work of this office as it leads us in developing curricular and co-curricular strategies to better recruit, retain, value and meet the needs of racially, ethnically, and internationally diverse students. Lee is called upon to send forth light-bearers of reconciliation and unity into a culture riddled with racial tension. We must accept the responsibility to educate and equip our students to model Christ-centered racial and ethnic understanding, demonstrating the godliness of unity, diversity, and biblical justice. And on those occasions when our students encounter opposition instead of reconciliation and face hostility instead of unity, we must lead them in the way of Christ by teaching them to love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse them, and pray for those who mistreat them.
Yet, please keep in mind that this vision for intentional, positive, racial and ethnic relations embraces our entire institution of faculty, staff, leadership, and alumni. We must dedicate ourselves to employing the best practices for expanding, valuing, and celebrating the race and ethnicity of the entire Lee family!
The Psalmist David captures the beauty of our vision in Psalm 133:1, 3: "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity... For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore."
This is why the world needs Lee! So, let us be light!
Let us be light.
We are the Lee University Flames. A flame is a powerful source of light. Today, as we gather for the inauguration of the 17th president of our beloved institution, let us choose to embrace once again whom Christ calls us to be – “His light in the world”
We must be reminded today, that we exist because students matter to God. They are more than a number, a degree program, or a “job waiting to happen;” they are children of God made in His image, called for His purpose to be His light in the darkness. That’s why we offer our students more than the knowledge of a major; we offer them a life-transforming journey of integrating their identity, purpose, faith and values with the person and purpose of Jesus Christ.
May we never forget that Lee is God’s place, and we are doing God’s work, loving, serving and working together God’s way! Be excited, today, Lee University - the world needs Lee! Our mission is clear and our dreams are high – because the world is a better place with Lee students in it! Let us be light!
The mother smiled at her son, reassuringly. "You don't have to be afraid of the dark," she explained. "Jesus is out there. He'll look after you and protect you."
The little boy stared at his mother and asked, "Are you sure he's out there?"
"Yes, I'm sure. He is everywhere, and he is always ready to help you when you need him," she said.
The little boy thought for a minute and peaked out the back door. Peering into the darkness, he called, "Jesus! If you're out there, would you please hand me the broom?"
Perhaps the little boy captures the question of the culture – is there anyone out there with the answer? Who has the broom? Does the Government? Does Science? Does Education? Does Business? Does Entertainment? Does Media? Does Religion? Does Psychology? Does Technology? Does Health Care? Who has the broom?
Well, I think the little boy had it right, and we at Lee University agree; Jesus Christ is the answer to the darkness. Those oppressed and confused by the darker side of injustice, bigotry, greed, hatred, scandal, incivility, division, strife, corruption, abuse, and the like, are daily peering into that darkness, asking who or what will show the way out. What they seek, like all of us, is the hand and the face of our Maker revealed in Jesus Christ.
Scripture informs us that before time began, the life of Christ was to be the “light of all humanity.” When he walked this earth, Christ called himself the “light of the world,” which he demonstrated by the grace and truth of his teaching, good deeds, miracles, and ultimately His death and resurrection.
Yet, when he left this earth, Christ gave the responsibility of light-bearing to His followers. He said to His disciples, “You are the light of the world...let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” We are His light-bearers today.
What does light do? It gives direction and illuminates the way forward. Light provides hope and gives guidance. It brings calm and extends healing. It offers solutions and provides leadership. Light reveals the truth and serves to brighten and make better everything around it. Light brings life!
This is why Lee University’s mission of preparing students for responsible Christian living in a complex world is vital to our society today. We are sending forth light-bearers into all fields of endeavor to lead and serve like Christ for the betterment of all humanity; thus, I believe with all of my heart that the world needs Lee University. Why – because the world is a better place with Lee students in it.
From Lee’s inception, it has been our motivation to be the light of Christ in the darkness, driven by the compulsion that the world needs Lee.
In 1918 we opened as the COG Bible Training School to train men and women for practical ministry within the local church, because we believed the world of church ministry would be a better place with BTS students in it.
In 1930 we expanded the curriculum to include business and music, because we believed the worlds of business and music would be better with BTS students in it.
By 1938 we added college-level courses in English, history, foreign language, psychology, and geography, not to make BTS a better place, but to make the worlds of these disciplines better places!
Seeing the need to infuse more areas of society with BTS students, in 1941 we added a junior college division and we became “The Bible Training School and College.” By the ‘60’s we recognized that simply being a junior college was not going to cut it, so in 1962 we became a four-year liberal arts program known as Lee College. Hear the words of the COG denominational leadership when making this decision: “...it is our responsibility to sponsor one four-year liberal arts college, strong in education and the arts. It is our further responsibility to sponsor a strong school of theology and Christian training. We recommend that our efforts and attention be directed toward the full realization of such an institution, which is and shall be Lee College.”
Lee University – this still remains our responsibility!
By 1969, we were SACS accredited, offering 16 majors and 17 minors, and in 1976 distance learning was birthed to reach non-traditional students.
The year, 1995, witnessed the introduction of the first graduate programs and, in 1997, Lee College became Lee University. And over the next two decades we continued to build up the world of Lee so that Lee could build up the world.
Today, we stand here with the School of Business, the College of Arts and Sciences, the Helen DeVos College of Education, the School of Music, the School of Nursing, and the School of Religion. Through these respective schools we offer 125 UG majors, 133 UG programs, 66 graduate degree programs, 5 doctoral programs, and 41 DAL degrees. We compete athletically in NCAA Division II, and we maintain graduate partnerships with the European Theological Seminary in Germany; SEMISUD, in Ecuador; and SEBIPCA, in Guatemala.
Why? Not to make Lee a better place, but to make the world a better place. The world needs the light of Lee – Jesus Christ! Therefore, we are called upon today to sharpen our vision of sending forth graduates that think critically, communicate effectively, and engage all cultures thoughtfully in order to serve as creative, caring, resilient, and skilled problem solvers and servant leaders, making a kingdom of God difference in the world.
This is our sacred mandate as a Christ-centered COG liberal arts university!
Five Fundamental Commitments
In response to our mandate, I believe we must maintain five fundamental commitments.
One – Mission Excellence - We must remain committed to advancing our mission by constantly improving all that we presently do at Lee while setting our sights on new horizons. We must always strive for excellence never settling for status quo, and we must never stop dreaming.
Two – Academic Expansion – We must ever remain committed to expanding our academic programming to meet the demand and need of our students and culture. For instance, engineering is a growing field that is ripe for more Lee students. And as we speak, a team is exploring the feasibility of developing a school of engineering at Lee.
Three – Student and Community Engagement – Students are our most treasured assets in whom we must always invest our highest academic, mental health, and financial resources. Our employees and alumni are invaluable and we must constantly seek to enrich their lives on and off our campus. Lee has also enjoyed a long-term friendship with Cleveland and Bradley County, and we must remain committed to serving and partnering with their residents and leaders to help make these communities better places to live and visit.
Four – Program Innovation – We must consistently remain committed to being innovative in developing cost effective and cost affordable means by which more students from around the world can experience Lee. As an example, how can we create additional revenue streams and institutional aid opportunities for a wider range of students? And while the coronavirus forced us to enter the land of hybrid classroom teaching, how might we now leverage this technology to expand our academic impact?
Five – Ministerial Development – We must remain ever committed to staying true to our denominational roots of ministerial development and training. We proudly partner with our Church of God-sponsoring denomination to develop ministerial leaders to serve in the COG and other Christian denominations and movements.
I believe these are the five fundamental Lee commitments we must maintain!
However, for Lee to effectively send out graduates prepared to engage their vocations with the light of Christ, I see three strategic areas within these five commitments upon which we must focus our curricular and co-curricular activity. The three focus areas are apologetics, leadership development, and racial and ethnic relations.
Apologetics
Apologetics is simply the defense of the Christian faith. It’s the ability to sincerely demonstrate, in word and deed, why one believes what one believes.
Like the story I heard of an elderly woman who had just returned home from an evening of Bible study in the Book of Acts, when an intruder startled her. He was burglarizing her home and all the woman could think to do was to scream the Scripture reference her Bible group had studied that night. So, she yelled, “Stop! Acts 2:38! Acts 2:38!”
The burglar stopped dead in his tracks. The woman calmly called the police and explained what she had done.
As the officer cuffed the intruder, he asked the burglar, “Why did you just stand there? All the lady yelled at you was the Scripture reference, Acts 2:38.”
“Scripture reference?” replied the burglar, “I thought she said she had an axe and two .38’s!”
The complex world for which we are preparing our students is described as “post-Christian” and “post-truth,” where feelings and personal preferences take precedence over facts and truth, and human secularization is enjoyed more than religious affiliation. Less people are associating with any organized religion and less are accepting of any codified absolute moral truth. More and more, individual autonomy has become the highest authority of our society and entitlement has become our primary motivation. We as a culture seemed to have surpassed the “post-modern” idea that truth is relative and have embraced the “post-truth” idea that truth is insignificant.
Into this dominating mindset we are sending our students; therefore, in our curricular and co-curricular faith integration strategies across all schools, sectors and departments we must examine how we are helping our students understand the “what,” “why,” and “how” of Christianity. While we want to inform our students as to what the Scriptures teach about God’s truth, we want to equally instruct them as to why they can know it is true, and even more so, why God’s truth matters for a healthy productive life, career and society. Yet, we must also model “how” to engage the culture with the truth. As Simon Peter wrote, “...always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect...” And as the Apostle Paul instructed, “Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.”
Lee University - are we effectively teaching our students in their respective vocations how to answer the culture with the grace and truth of Christ? We want our students to be more than passive bystanders in the engagement of cultural thought; we want them to be influential leaders. Our culture is hungry for genuine Spirit-led Christians that can engage in the exchange of ideas humbly, thoughtfully, intelligently, and articulately, demonstrating a compelling and authentic case for the significance of Christianity.
Theologian, Dr. Paul Lee Tan, said it best, “a Christian is a mind through which Christ thinks, a heart through which Christ loves, a mouth through which Christ speaks, a hand through which Christ helps.” This is the faith integration we must seek for our students!
Leadership development
Lee University is a leader. We are an institution of national standing viewed as a leader among our peers. We have led the way in a variety of fields and endeavors. We became a higher education pioneer in incorporating benevolence, service learning, and cross-cultural studies as a regular part of every student’s educational experience.
We have modeled a leadership of excellence, conviction, quality and faith. We have many alumni who are high level leaders in all walks of life. Lee is synonymous with “leadership.” And I believe we can expand that to being synonymous with “developing leaders.”
No doubt, leadership development occurs now in the curricular and co-curricular life at Lee, but it appears to only do so in certain pockets of the university. What if Lee explored the possibility of a university wide leadership development strategy? If we are producing quality leaders more unintentionally than intentionally, what might happen if we became more intentional? I know I am wading into sacred waters here, but what if our university’s mission even expanded to read, “ Preparing students for responsible Christian living and leadership in a complex world? What if developing Christian leaders that led with Christ-like character, vision and servant-hood was a central pillar of our mission?
Two years ago we started a more strategic leadership development focus when we began discussions on establishing an undergraduate “leadership minor.” However, discussions were halted by the need to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Perhaps reestablishing the leadership minor discussions is where we restart our leadership development journey, while envisioning something more far reaching. I can see a “Leadership Institute,” or a “Center for Leadership Excellence,” or a “School of Leadership.” Something that is intentional and fully devoted to leadership development on several levels – like teaching leadership as an undergraduate academic discipline, and providing professional leadership training for faculty, staff and administrators, and becoming a global venue for hosting leadership summits for professionals from all vocations and from all over the world.
Scandalous leadership infects all strata of our society and our ever-increasing complex world needs godly leaders. In their classic study on leadership, James Kouzes and Barry Posner found that leaders must be in love with leading in order to make a significant positive difference. Listen to their description of such a leader: “Loving leading means that you’re passionate about values and vision that make a difference, that you look forward every day to devoting your time to strengthening others and building teams, that you relish the chance to tackle a daunting challenge and search for new possibilities, and that you truly enjoy recognizing others for their contributions to the success of the enterprise. This is the work you must fall in love with.”
This is the profile of a Lee University developed leader!
In his letter to his protégé and emerging leader, Timothy, the Apostle Paul wrote, “To aspire to leadership is an honorable ambition” (I Tim. 3:1, NEB). Lee University – let us rise even further to the honorable ambition of preparing students for responsible Christian leadership in our complex world!
Racial and Ethnic Relations
If we believe that the world is a better place with Lee students in it, then we must continue to be a place that welcomes the world. We must always look to improve our ability to engage and embrace the racial and ethnic diversity that makes up our world. Knowing and learning alongside people from different backgrounds is vital for preparing students for success in our global age.
Presently, 46 U.S. states and 49 different nations are represented in our student body, with the majority of our students arriving from the southeastern United States. Students of color make up 8% of our student body, while international students comprise 2%. We are grateful for the vast locations and backgrounds of are students; however, we recognize that we can do better.
We began a more strategic effort to improve when Chancellor Conn established the Office of Racial and Ethnic Relations just prior to the completion of his presidency, hiring Gloria Scott Richmond to serve as the director. We must remain committed to advancing the work of this office as it leads us in developing curricular and co-curricular strategies to better recruit, retain, value and meet the needs of racially, ethnically, and internationally diverse students. Lee is called upon to send forth light-bearers of reconciliation and unity into a culture riddled with racial tension. We must accept the responsibility to educate and equip our students to model Christ-centered racial and ethnic understanding, demonstrating the godliness of unity, diversity, and biblical justice. And on those occasions when our students encounter opposition instead of reconciliation and face hostility instead of unity, we must lead them in the way of Christ by teaching them to love their enemies, do good to those who hate them, bless those who curse them, and pray for those who mistreat them.
Yet, please keep in mind that this vision for intentional, positive, racial and ethnic relations embraces our entire institution of faculty, staff, leadership, and alumni. We must dedicate ourselves to employing the best practices for expanding, valuing, and celebrating the race and ethnicity of the entire Lee family!
The Psalmist David captures the beauty of our vision in Psalm 133:1, 3: "How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity... For there the LORD bestows his blessing, even life forevermore."
This is why the world needs Lee! So, let us be light!
Let us be light.
We are the Lee University Flames. A flame is a powerful source of light. Today, as we gather for the inauguration of the 17th president of our beloved institution, let us choose to embrace once again whom Christ calls us to be – “His light in the world”
We must be reminded today, that we exist because students matter to God. They are more than a number, a degree program, or a “job waiting to happen;” they are children of God made in His image, called for His purpose to be His light in the darkness. That’s why we offer our students more than the knowledge of a major; we offer them a life-transforming journey of integrating their identity, purpose, faith and values with the person and purpose of Jesus Christ.
May we never forget that Lee is God’s place, and we are doing God’s work, loving, serving and working together God’s way! Be excited, today, Lee University - the world needs Lee! Our mission is clear and our dreams are high – because the world is a better place with Lee students in it! Let us be light!
Watch the video of the Inauguration Ceremony for Dr. Mark L. Walker
April 23, 2021
April 23, 2021