Reliable - Vanguard University

Transcription

Vanguard University of Southern California
vanguard
spring 2008
Reliable
VU’s new provost 5
truth ~ virtue ~ service
VU’s award-winning MySpace 7
Class Notes 9
VU
Rebuilding Iraq 20
W
om
National political analyst
Nathan Gonzales ’00
N en’s
C AT Bas
H IO ke
AM N tba
l
PS AL l Team
!
Source
www.vanguard.edu
truth ~ virtue ~ service
2
5
7
20
26
mission statement
As a Christian comprehensive university, the purpose of Vanguard University is to pursue knowledge,
cultivate character, deepen faith, and equip each student for a life of leadership and service.
vanguard magazine spring 2008
In This Issue
Contents
Volume 8 number 4 • spring 2008
features
The Spin Stops Here........................................................ 2
Nathan Gonzales ’00 is a widely respected political analyst in Washington,
D.C., and his balanced, non-partisan perspective is in high demand this
political season.
An Advocate for Students................................................ 5
New VU provost Carol Taylor brings a wealth of experience and training to
her post as VU’s chief academic officer.
Making the Most of MySpace.......................................... 7
VU’s marketing team hired three VU students to energize the University’s
MySpace page — and promptly won a national award for the results.
Rebuilding Iraq............................................................... 20
Brian Conklin ’89, a career diplomat with USAID, is helping to reconstruct
Iraq’s physical and social infrastructure.
departments
From the President........................................................... 1
Class Notes...................................................................... 9
Windows......................................................................... 15
Advancing Vision 2010................................................... 16
A Vine of His Own Planting............................................ 23
On Campus.................................................................... 24
Sports............................................................................. 26
Calendar......................................................................... 28
Postcards....................................................................... 29
V
ictory!
As this issue of vanguard magazine goes to press we
are celebrating Vanguard University’s first national
sports championship in its 88-year history. This is a
big deal! Our women’s basketball team, which has been competing
vigorously at the national level for a decade under coach Russ
Davis, brought home the banner from the NAIA national
tournament in Jackson, Tennessee. Davis was also named the
recipient of the Phyllis Holmes Coach of the Year Award. Last year,
the Women’s Basketball Association selected Davis as the NAIA
National Coach of the Year. The Vanguard community welcomed
them home with a rally worthy of national champions. We could
not be any more proud of our team, our coach and all the players
and administrators who have made our women’s basketball program
such a powerhouse over the years. Read all about it in our Sports
pages.
This issue offers plenty of other reasons for excitement. In the midst
of this vibrant election season we have an alum in the middle of it
all — Nathan Gonzales ’00, a political analyst who has established
a national reputation and whose comments can be heard and read
on Fox News, in the New York Times and other major media outlets.
Nathan is one of the most knowledgeable people in America about
the various congressional races taking place across the country. This
year he is again part of ABC News’ behind-the-scenes election night
team, helping the network to call the races.
Another alum is doing his patriotic duty in Iraq. Brian Conklin
’89 is a career diplomat who is helping to rebuild Iraq’s social,
economic and physical infrastructure. Conklin found his passion
for this type of work at Vanguard and has made a career of serving
others overseas. You will be inspired by his story.
University Governance
Chair, Board of Trustees
T. Ray Rachels
University Administration
President
Murray Dempster
Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs
Carol Taylor
Vice President for Business
and Finance
Bob Allison
Vice President for Enrollment
Management
Jessica Mireles
Vice President for Student Affairs
Ann Hamilton
Editor
Joel Kilpatrick
Art Director
Chauncey D. Bayes
Director of Marketing and
Communications
Patti Ammerman
Director of Alumni Relations
Heather Clements
Vanguard University of Southern California, in compliance with laws and
regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, gender,
age, disability, national origin, or status as a veteran in any of its policies,
practices, or procedures.
vanguard magazine is a free publication published quarterly by Vanguard
University of Southern California. All contents copyrighted, 2008,
Vanguard University of Southern California.
Bulk rate postage paid at Santa Ana, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address
changes to: VUSC Alumni Relations Office, 55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa,
CA 92626.
We also profile our new provost, Carol Taylor, an exemplary
education professional who is helping to lead Vanguard into
a bright future as a nationally known university. You will be
impressed with Carol’s credentials and her heart for the students she
serves and the faculty she leads.
This issue is packed with other great stories and updates about
alums, campus news, regular columns and a great feature about
Vanguard’s award-winning MySpace page. Join with us in
celebrating the victory of our women’s basketball team — and the
many victories our alums are accomplishing daily in their places of
service. Enjoy!
Vice President for University
Advancement
Rick Hardy
1
Alumni Profile
The Spin
Stops Here
2
Alumni Profile
A
t the office of Nathan Gonzales ’00 in Washington,
D.C., the walls are completely covered in campaign
material, from bumper stickers to flyers to T-shirts and
maps showing U.S. election results going back to 1994.
They are the colorful reminders of his seven years as political editor
of the Rothenberg Political Report, a non-partisan newsletter which
gives in-depth analysis of congressional, senatorial and gubernatorial
races across the country.
“Nathan has become a highly regarded, increasingly visible political
analyst in his own right,” says Stuart Rothenberg, the eponymous
founder of the bi-weekly newsletter, and a highly regarded political
analyst. “He came in and wanted to learn. He picked it up very well.
He has built up a stable of sources around the country. He knows the
right questions to ask and has a good instinct for politics.”
Gonzales has been quoted in the New York Times, Washington Post,
Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, the front page of USA Today
and many regional papers. He has lent on-air analysis to Fox News
Channel, CNN and Good Morning America Weekend, and is one of
ABC News’ behind-the-scenes election analysts, helping the network
decide when to call races on election night.
At the Rothenberg Report his job is to try to identify and handicap the
most competitive races in the country in each election cycle. Major
corporations such as Exxon and PepsiCo rely on the analysis to help
them decide which candidates to support. In 2006, the Rothenberg
Report was one of the first to predict that Democrats would gain
between 25 and 40 seats in the House. Democrats ended up gaining
30 seats.
“People are looking for a non-partisan assessment of what’s happening
in a specific race or in the political environment in general,” Gonzales
says. “There’s a lot of emotion in politics but people are looking for
what it really means, for somebody dispassionate, who isn’t invested
in a race, to boil it down into understandable terms or to cut through
spin or rhetoric from the campaigns.”
Gonzales came to VU from Oregon as “a writer without a cause” and
honed his skills at The Voice, the student newspaper.
“At Vanguard, I learned to make my faith my own,” he says. “One of
the most important lessons I learned was the value of leaving campus.
Every week, a handful of us would go to Riverside to minister to kids
at juvenile hall. It was there that I learned to care for people who
were less fortunate. At Vanguard, I discovered that there is more to
learning than sitting in a classroom.”
His career goals came into focus when he went to D.C. for a semester
with the American Studies Program through the Council for
Christian Colleges and Universities.
“I caught Potomac fever,” he says. “Living in Washington, you get the
sense that you could make a difference.”
He interned at the White House press office, located in the West
Wing. After graduating from VU he got a job with CNN for the
2000 election, then worked as an associate producer on The Capital
Gang.
“It was my first job out of college. I thought I’d made it,” he says.
“How could it get any better as a journalist than working for CNN?”
But the schedule made having a normal life impossible, and he
wanted to get back to writing more than 45-second leads into
segments. He applied for the position at the Rothenberg Report and
was hired in 2001, based in part on the strength of writing samples
from The Voice.
Now he researches and reports on competitive races in lengthy
articles for the Report. He and Stuart also meet with and interview
hundreds of candidates, to get a sense of their message and prospects
for winning. Gonzales has met at least 75 current members of the
House, 17 governors and 27 senators, including Barack Obama,
whom he met in the fall of 2002 when he was starting his bid for the
U.S. Senate.
“There are not a lot of jobs in D.C. where you can talk with people
on both sides of the aisle and have candid conversations with them,”
Gonzales says.
Sometimes he gets a scoop. He was one of the first to report (in
February 2007) on Obama’s “present” votes in the Illinois state
legislature, ten months before it became a campaign issue. CNN
recently interviewed Gonzales about the subject.
One of the challenges of the job is to not become jaded, he says.
“I get tons of emails that are just spin or what they call ‘message’
— half-truths,” he says. “Sometime you get frustrated wondering
how they can put this out there with a straight face. The political
process is messy [which is why] we need people to sort through the
information. ... We try to take a deep breath, step back and not fall
into the trap of doing instant analysis.”
Today happens to be the “Potomac primary” election in Virginia,
Maryland and the District of Columbia, so the city is abuzz with
predictions. The Boston Globe and CNN call the Rothenberg office
Nathan Gonzales, continued on page 4
3
Alumni Profile
“People are looking for a non-partisan
assessment of what’s happening in a specific
race or in the political environment in general.
There’s a lot of emotion in politics but people
are looking for what it really means, for
somebody dispassionate ... to cut through
spin or rhetoric from the campaigns.”
Salerno, continued from page 3
Nathan Gonzales, continued from page 3
within minutes of each other for analysis.
Alhurra Network, the U.S. governmentsponsored network to the Middle East, has
asked Gonzales to give a live interview, so
he heads down the block to the building
where several networks have headquarters,
including Fox News, NBC and C-SPAN.
The producers have chosen an unusual
setting for the interview: the top of the
building with the Capitol building as the
backdrop. At 3 p.m. Gonzales is seated with
the host under a small canopy with space
heaters at their feet. It is below freezing and
beginning to sleet, turning the roof into a
slippery mess.
The host opens the program by introducing
Gonzales and several other off-site guests.
Over the next hour, in the freezing
rain, Gonzales weighs in on the various
candidates’ prospects in upcoming primaries.
Much of the discussion takes place in Arabic,
with Gonzales getting live translation in
an earpiece. During a break the host and
Gonzales stuff hand warmers inside their
gloves as the wind blows harder.
An hour later, having dissected the race for
Arabic viewers around the world, Gonzales is
back in the warm Rothenberg Report offices.
He and Stuart talk about getting in contact
later that night when the results have come
in. Gonzales is looking forward to working
again on the ABC Decision Desk as he has
for the last three election cycles.
4
“It’s like Christmas morning for a political
junkie,” he says.
Outside of his work, Gonzales has attended
National Community Church since 1999,
and plays bass on the worship team. Last
summer he and his wife Heather, who works
for the National Association of Evangelicals,
traveled to Kenya for a missions trip (VU
alum Robin Landauer ’01 was also part of
the group). The Gonzaleses are also small
group zone leaders.
Nathan’s other passion is baseball, and in
2005, he and others in his church started
volunteering to keep the grounds for a local
baseball field. Every other Saturday during
the summer they mow the grass, pull weeds,
pick up trash and paint baselines.
want these inner-city kids to be proud of
their home field and be excited to play, when
their life circumstances might not be the
best,” Gonzales says. “It’s been amazing to
see God cultivate relationships with some of
the coaches as they hopefully see a selfless
example from our group.”
Gonzales has a master’s degree in political
management from The George Washington
University. He and Heather “love what we
do. We like going to work,” he says.
“I feel like I’m a living example of God’s
faithfulness,” he says. “I could have never
planned this for myself. And I can’t wait for
what God has next.”
“We put a lot of work into it because we
(l to r) On set with the Capital Gang: Mark Shields, Robert Novak,
Gonzales, Margaret Carlson and Al Hunt.
Faculty Profile
V
U’s provost Carol Taylor has spent
her career as an advocate for students,
especially students in cross-cultural
settings. As a leader with the nation’s
premier educational testing service, she oversaw
tests that affected millions of international students
hoping to study in the U.S. Now, as VU’s provost and
vice president for academic affairs, she is providing
principled and experienced leadership at a critical time
in the University’s history.
“There is this clear sense that Vanguard was founded
out of a sense of divine calling,” Taylor says. “I love
the image of ‘the vine of his own planting.’ This is an
institution that was birthed out of a sense of God’s
planting it. So there are purposes beyond me. That
gives me great hope.”
Taylor, who came to VU most recently from Biola
University, grew up in a Christian home and “devoured
missionary biographies.” Early on she sensed a calling
to minister cross-culturally. After earning her bachelor’s
degree in elementary education from Evangel
University she returned to her native Chicago to teach
at a Greek Orthodox school where some of her firstgrade students didn’t even speak English.
“It was my first step into this world of working with
diverse people,” she says.
An Advocate for
Students
She enrolled at Assemblies of God Theological
Seminary and earned a master’s degree in cross-cultural
communications, to prepare herself for possible
missionary service. But those doors never opened.
Instead, she was invited to teach in the intensive
language program for international students at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha. Many of her students were Persians during the
time of the Iranian Revolution. Many others were Afghans who fled
Afghanistan during the Russian occupation.
“It was a fascinating time to be working with Muslim students,”
she says. “I loved being able to look at things through the eyes of a
different culture. I loved learning about this larger world. It was an
area that deeply interested me.”
She accepted a summer fellowship to study teaching English as
a second language at UCLA, then returned to Omaha where a
public school invited her to start a program for the sudden influx
of non-English-speaking students to the area, many of them from
Afghanistan.
“I remember thinking, ‘I’ve never done this,’” she says, laughing. “I
prayed, ‘God, please don’t let me do any harm to these students or
their families.’”
Taylor developed a K-12 English-as-a-second-language program for
the entire school district and became the liaison between schools and
families. She “liked this role of being an advocate and discovering
I had some administrative abilities,” she says. “That was very
rewarding.”
After earning her Ph.D. in multilingual/multicultural education
from Florida State University, she spent a year as a visiting professor
at Eastern Michigan University and was then invited to work at
Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, the
nation’s leading testing research company. She was responsible for
ETS’s Test of Written English (TWE) that was administered as part
Carol Taylor, continued on page 6
5
Faculty Profile
Carol Taylor, continued from page 5
of the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL), the most widely accepted
English-language test in the world. TOEFL
and TWE test the English proficiency of
international students who need visas to
study in the U.S. Taylor worked with a team
of experts that designed the test questions
to make sure the test was reliable. She also
was responsible for the scoring sessions
where writing experts would rate hundreds
of thousands of student test essays following
each test administration.
accrediting association for all universities
and colleges in the western region. When the
position at VU came open, Taylor responded
to the invitation to apply and was hired last
summer as provost and vice president for
academic affairs, with a faculty appointment
as professor in the School of Education.
Once again she found herself immersed in
the WASC re-accreditation process, now
for Vanguard. She enjoys the opportunity
to explore the institution’s fundamental
purpose.
“The test helped determine whether or not
foreign students received a visa, so decisions
on people’s lives followed from the results,”
she says.
“Our mission is about pursuing knowledge,
cultivating character, deepening faith
and equipping students for a lifetime of
leadership and service, so it’s exciting to
ask, how do we know we’re doing that?” she
says. “Ultimately the question is, to what
extent are we fulfilling the mission of the
institution? That to me is a very exciting
enterprise because it’s a vision for education
that goes far beyond the boundaries of the
campus. We are graduating and sending
into the world men and women who have
a passion for knowing and loving God in
whatever vocation they are going to serve,
and will carry out that mission the rest of
their lives. We have the opportunity to lay
During this time Taylor also moved to the
research division where she was involved in
leading a redesign of the TOEFL test.
After twelve years at ETS she felt drawn to
Christian higher education and accepted a
post at Biola University as the vice provost
for undergraduate education. She served
there for seven years and led Biola through
the critically important Western Association
of Schools and Colleges (WASC) reaccreditation process. WASC is the regional
the foundation for that pursuit.”
In the midst of her responsibilities, Taylor
continues to spend a week each year at a
silent retreat in Estes Park, Colorado. It
“has become a cherished time alone with
God in the majestic beauty of the Rocky
Mountains,” she says. “There is something
profound that happens when I finish all my
words and sit in silence to hear what God
might say, or when I sit with a passage of
scripture for an extended time and allow it
to soak deeply into my soul. I am changed
and then better able to return to my place of
service.”
Part of her immediate task is to help refine
Vanguard’s internal systems and structures
so the University continues to have a sound
basis from which to grow. Taylor especially
loves going to chapel and worshiping with
students and seeing their passion and
commitment.
“There is a spiritual vibrancy to the Vanguard
community,” she says. “The mission to
equip students for a life of faith and service
is exciting. On a daily basis I have the
opportunity to serve where the consequences
are eternal. That’s where my heart is.”
2007 Books Published by Vanguard University Faculty
Ed Clarke, professor of
anthropology and sociology, edited
the seventh revised edition of
Deviant Behavior: A Text Reader in
the Sociology of Deviance, published by
Worth Publishers in New York.
Biblical studies professor David
Clark’s C.S. Lewis: A Guide to His
Theology was published by WileyBlackwell of Oxford. As a longtime scholar of the works of C.S. Lewis,
Clark addresses Lewis’ history and his
defense of Christianity.
6
English professor Daniel de
Roulet’s Finding Your Plot in a
Plotless World: A Little Direction was
published by Brazos Press.
History and political science
professor John David Marley’s
Pat Robertson: An American Life
was published by Rowman &
Littlefield Publishers.
Biblical studies professor Ed
Rybarczyk was an editor of
The Future of Pentecostalism in
the United States, published by
Lexington Books.
Jerry Camery-Hoggatt, professor
of biblical studies, published
three books over the past year,
including the Christmas stories
Giver of Gifts and When Mother was ElevenFoot-Four published by Revell. CameryHoggatt has also written Reading the Good
Book Well: A Guide to Biblical Interpretation
published by Abingdon Press.
Student Profile
W
hen Vanguard decided to
turn its MySpace page into
a vibrant and fun online
destination for students, the
University’s marketing office wisely turned
to a team of seasoned MySpace experts —
three teenage VU students. In a few short
months the threesome has turned Vanguard’s
MySpace page (myspace.com/vanguardu) into
a student-run hang-out that conveys the spirit
of Vanguard through videos, photos, music
and blogs. The site recently won a bronze
award in the new media category from the
Fifth Annual Service Industry Advertising
Awards, competing against schools such as
Arizona State University.
“They gave us free reign to change headlines,
pictures, videos, everything,” says Lauren
Francis who, as a sophomore, is the elder
member of the team. “We constantly change
the top friends, videos, pictures and music.
We get a lot of messages, comments and friend
requests.”
Francis was already part of the Vanguard
Ambassadors, a team of students which hosts
prospective students on campus. She joined
the MySpace student team in October because
she remembers being in high school and
wishing Vanguard had a MySpace.
Making
“When I was looking at Vanguard I thought
it would be cool to have a MySpace to get
connected to kids who were going here, to
get excited about it,” she says. “It’s exciting to
go online and meet people you’ll be going to
school with, to stay connected after PreVU
day, to see photos. It’s important once you
choose a school to stay connected to it.”
MySpace
Today she’s helping to create that kind of
environment for future and current students.
The page is chock-full of clever artwork,
videos, music, photos and comments from
students. “Yay Vanguard! My future school
and home :]” reads one recent post. “Anyone
else going to Vanguard during the fall? Add
the Most of
MySpace, continued on page 8
7
Student Profile
MySpace, continued from page 7
me,” reads another. “I can’t wait
till fall ’08 Vanguard!” reads
another.
“Vanguard is absolutely ahead of
the curve. Very few schools are
doing this type of social network
marketing,” says Josh Mooney,
chief marketing officer of Juxt
Interactive, a marketing agency
in Newport Beach which works
with major brands such as Cherry Coke
and BMW on their online marketing. Juxt
helped VU launch its MySpace page.
“People are spending more time in social
networks,” Mooney says. “It has gotten
tougher and tougher to ask people to come
to an organization’s site, unless they are really
ready to download an application. They want
more authentic communication. Vanguard
armed real students with the tools to speak
on the school’s behalf authentically and in
real time, incorporating video, blog posts,
music and answers to questions. MySpace
gives us a cooler, hipper, more focused
platform for communicating with this
group.”
Francis is on the page daily to check for
new friends or to add video or photos. She
recently posted videos from the Big Big
Show, VU’s student talent show, and from
WooFest, a courting tradition in the dorms.
“When a student comes on, the videos
and everything show them the spirit of
Vanguard,” says Francis. “The silliness, all
these events that are crazy and fun — that’s
appealing to people who want to have a
great experience here. We also have all the
blogs which we write individually. Whenever
something’s on our heart or we learn
something in class or have an interesting
conversation, that’s where we talk about the
spiritual aspects of Vanguard. Visitors can
read about real students’ lives and what’s
going on spiritually. It’s a deeper look into
8
student life at Vanguard. I think we do a
really good job of that at the MySpace.”
Each member of the youthful MySpace team
has years of experience with their personal
MySpace pages, often equaling a third of
their conscious lifespan.
Ben Cave has run his own MySpace page
for three years, penning music reviews and
posting his own tunes. Now he works daily
on the Vanguard page.
“It’s a network for students,” he says.
“Everybody at Vanguard has a MySpace. We
post important stuff like ‘There’s concert in
the Cove tonight,’ or ‘It’s the last day to add
classes.’ It’s a way to get kids more involved.”
He also tries to add a personal touch to his
posts.
“I search for some bands to add or write
comments back to people,” he says. “When
I get off the phone with you I’m going to go
write a blog.”
Since the adults in marketing handed the
day-to-day operation of the page over to
pros, it has attracted hundreds of friends
and created an unexpectedly large online
community of prospective students. Cave
often carries on conversations with high
schoolers who are thinking of attending
Vanguard and directs them to the right
information.
“They message us all the time asking what
it takes to get into Vanguard, and what they
can do with a certain major,” he says. “I
point them to people who can help them.”
Jessi Castro, a freshman
student-athlete, MySpace
maven and the third member
of the team, says she would
“love to see next year how
many incoming freshman
got in touch with us through
MySpace.” Castro is also a
Vanguard Ambassador, and
she leapt at the chance to
promote the University on MySpace.
“I’m interested in anything that promotes
Vanguard. I love Vanguard,” she says.
Castro often uploads photos to the Vanguard
page “while I’m doing homework,” she says.
“I spend as much time on it as I do on my
MySpace, and it definitely gets more views
than my MySpace. The page shows daily life,
blogs, things that are happening, pictures of
things on campus. It gives a good view of
what Vanguard is going to be like.”
Francis, who is from Costa Mesa and whose
father is VU alum Rick Francis ’87 says
changing up the content is what keeps
people coming back to a MySpace page.
Cave agrees, and does his part by posting
anything from “deep philosophical ideas of
mine, to advice on dieting,” he says. “We
post everything from the ridiculous to the
philosophical. My ultimate goal is to make
it a universal marketing tool and networking
tool. Plus it’s my way of infiltrating the
masses with good music.”
Castro invites everyone to “come check it out
and see the activities and Vanguard spirit.”
“It’s really cool that Vanguard is making
such an effort to do this MySpace page,” says
Francis. “They recognize it’s a big thing for
high school students and college students.
Now they have this page run by three people
who know what’s going on.”
See more at myspace.com/vanguardu
Class Notes
Let us know what’s going on with you! Email Heather Clements, director of alumni relations, at
hclements@vanguard.edu, visit the Vanguard Connection at www.vanguard.edu/alumni or call 714-966-5494.
’40s
Leland Shultz ’48 has spent many years as a
pastor in Illinois, California and Minnesota.
He taught at North Central University
and was the first director of Chi Alpha in
Springfield, Mo. He was a producer and
radio announcer at the Assemblies of God
headquarters for twenty-five years. Leland
also served on the board of directors for
National Religious Broadcasters. He has fond
memories of SCBC, which include being
involved in basketball, student government
and yearbook, and meeting his beloved wife
Valerie (Peterson ’48). Leland is retired and
lives in Springfield, Mo.
’50s
Paul Dear ’55 lives in Springfield, Mo., with
wife Norma. Paul was a pastor in Ohio for
twenty-three years and an Assemblies of God
missionary to Europe, Ireland and Russia.
Paul and Norma have two grown children,
Debora, a teacher in Orange County, and
Steve, a businessman in Texas.
Irene (Epps) Dellinger ’54 and husband
John celebrated their fiftieth wedding
anniversary with a cruise to the Caribbean
with family and friends. Irene taught at Long
Beach City College and Cerritos College.
John retired from thirty-three years of
working in the space program in Rockwell.
They live in Hendersonville, Tenn., and are
active in their local church.
Marita (McNutt) Gladson 1954-1957
retired from teaching in 1995 and is now a
marriage family therapist. She is passionate
about raising funds for the Saboba Medical
Centre in Ghana Africa. Marita lives in
Fullerton and has two grown daughters and
three grandchildren.
’60s
Gene and Carol (Winton) Linzey
1965-1966 have been married forty-two
years and have five children and twenty-two
grandchildren. Gene worked in aerospace
and direct sales and is retired from his
work in interstellar space research at Los
Alamos National Laboratory. He has been
bi-vocational, serving as a Bible teacher,
senior pastor and columnist for local
Dreaming Out Loud
Brent Kutzle ’06-’07 plays cello and bass
guitar in the band One Republic, whose
song “Apologize” hit #1 on the Billboard
charts this year.
“It’s been a trip how fast things are
happening,” Kutzle says. “Playing for
20,000 people in an arena is quite
energizing. Everything that has been
happening I believe is completely ordained
by God and completely blessed. It’s a
humbling thing.”
Kutzle, from Fountain Valley, has played
the cello since fourth grade.
“It became something that I loved,” he says.
already has gone gold in the U.S. and other
countries.
In college he played in the worship bands at
Mariners Church, Saddleback Church and
Harvest Church, and started experimenting
with reverb and other effects normally used
for guitars.
Speaking from Phoenix, where he and the
band were just about to play a sold-out
show, Kutzle says he probably wouldn’t be
in a band unless he could play both cello
and bass.
In December 2006, while Kutzle was
studying music composition at VU, the
drummer at Mariners Church asked him to
audition for the band he was in.
“It keeps my job more interesting,” he says.
“When I first heard the stuff I knew it
was going to do really well. It was very
commercial,” Kutzle says. “All the guys are
awesome. I knew it would be a good fit.”
He credits Vanguard for having “great
professors that are really encouraging.
They were always looking out for students’
best interests,” he says. “I talked to a lot of
professors like Dr. Reed and Dr. Glancey
about what was going on [with my music
career]. The music program was really cool.”
He was invited to join the band and left
school to start touring. Within months
the band’s song became an international
hit when it was remixed by hip hop artist
Timbaland. That remix has gone multiplatinum. The band’s album, Dreaming
Out Loud, released in November 2007,
James Melton, dean of VU’s School of
Communication and the Arts, says Kutzle
is “adept at playing both classical and
contemporary music. We’ve been proud of
his accomplishments and grateful that he
can be salt and light in the world of popular
music.”
newspapers. The Linzey family lives in Jemez
Springs, N.M.
Bradford Rosenquist ’68 and wife Carol
work for Metro Nashville Public Schools.
Bradford was recently ordained into
chaplaincy ministry. They are proud parents
to three grown children, Erik, Maegan
Buchanan and Erin, and four grandchildren.
They are excited to host friends at their home
in Mt. Juliet, Tenn.
Class Notes, continued on page 10
9
Class Notes
Alum elected
Episcopal bishop
Mark Lawrence ’72-’73 was elected
bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
South Carolina in August. He had served
previously as rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church in Bakersfield, California, for the
past ten years.
It is a “very big move up in responsibility,”
says Lawrence, who will now be responsible
for about 30,000 people and 70
congregations in the diocese.
South Carolina is arguably the most vibrant
diocese in the U.S. Episcopal church, with
congregations that go back to the 1670s
and a membership which is growing faster
than the population in its area, Lawrence
says. Lawrence was elected by the South
Carolina constituents on the first ballot,
an unusually strong sign of support. Now
he is a “spiritual pastor to pastors” and
is preaching in a different parish every
Sunday. He also ordains people to the
deaconate and priesthood and sits on the
board of Trinity Seminary, from which he
graduated in 1980.
“There are a lot of priests here who are
evangelical or charismatic,” he says. “There
is a lot of faithful preaching of the gospel
and a long evangelical tradition.”
Lawrence attended VU on a wrestling
scholarship in 1972 and was co-captain of
the team. He married fellow student and
VU yearbook photographer, Allison
Taylor ’73.
“It was a wonderful place for me to
be because it helped me integrate my
intellectual pursuits and my newfound
Christian faith,” he says. “I took New
Testament from George Wood. I had Dr.
Williams for Old Testament and classes
with Keith Ewing because I was a lit major.
Going to SCC gave me a good grounding
in the Bible. It was formative.”
One of his research papers prompted a
desire to balance Catholic and Protestant
understandings of the faith, “which
probably led me into the Episcopal
church,” he says.
As rector of the Bakersfield parish, his
congregation grew by more than 50 percent
in average Sunday attendance.
The Lawrences have five children who are
all active in ministry or parish life. Their
youngest daughter attended Vanguard.
“Of all the reasons I might count myself
blessed it is this — that our five children,
and their spouses, profess and call
themselves Christians and are committed to
ministry,” Lawrence says.
Class Notes, continued from page 9
’70s
Guy Blevins ’75 and wife
Carla have been married thirtynine years and have three
grown sons, Michael, Erik and
Ryan. Guy was a wrestling
coach at Imperial Valley College then a
Blackhawk pilot and a night vision goggles
instructor in the 160th Special Operations
Command for the U.S. Army. His travels
10
include Europe, Panama, Bahamas, Greece,
Turkey and Egypt, and service in Desert
Shield/Desert Storm. He continues to stay in
touch with his fellow alumni and was excited
to be inducted with the SCC wrestling team
at the recent Athletic Hall of Fame
ceremony. The Blevins live in Antioch.
Robert Leacock ’78 and wife
Carla have been married for
more than thirty years. Robert
has worked at several university
campuses, led a Crown
Financial ministry in Fiji and was a pastor in
North Carolina. He is now the business
administrator and senior adults pastor at
Christ Church Assembly of God near their
home in Fort Worth, Texas. The Leacocks
have two children, Susan, 22, and Greg, 21.
Donna Jo (Moore 1978-1979)
and Greg Londot ’79 of
Phoenix have been married
twenty-nine years. Donna
works in real estate for Keller
Williams. Greg received an MA in education
in 2004. He is a sixth-grade teacher for the
Paradise Valley Unified School District. Greg
was named the Arizona Elementary Science
Teacher of the Year in 2007 and has been
nominated by the National Science
Foundation to be the Elementary Science
Teacher of the Year for 2008. He is a
member of the National Education
Association and National Science Teachers
Association, and was chosen to be a part of
the Mickelson ExxonMobil Math and
Science Leadership training in Washington,
D.C., in 2006. Greg and Donna are proud
parents to Nichole, 15, and Zachary, 13.
Sandra (Pirolo) Miller ’79 has worked at
Merrill Lynch for twenty-five years. She
survived a serious car accident with only
broken bones. She now cares for her parents
in Sun City, Ariz., and attends Calvary
Community Church in Phoenix.
Gloria (Erwin 1977-1979)
and Peter Robbins ’78 have
been married thirty years. Peter
received an MA in marriage
and family ministries from
Fuller Theological Seminary and a PhD in
clinical psychology from Cambridge
Graduate School of Psychology. He is an
entrepreneur and psychologist for Turning
Point Ministry Group (www.turningpoint.
org), a non-profit that provides Christian
counseling on stewardship and also
manufactures parts for the after-market
automotive and motorcycle industry. He
started Turning Point with fellow alum
Kevin Downing ’78. The Robbins live in
Class Notes
Fullerton where Gloria is a homemaker to
their four children.
’80s
Jana (Heinrichs ’85) and David Baker ’91
MA live in Deer Lodge, Mont. Jana was on
staff at Vanguard in the science and math
department and is now a technical editor for
the Full Life Study Bible in other languages.
David is the worship pastor at their local
church. They are parents of four daughters,
Joelle, Jaclyn, Jordon and Jamie.
Karen (Snow) Day ’87 and husband Tony
met at First Assembly of God church in
Visalia and married in September 2005.
Their blended family includes three sons
and one daughter. Tony is a sergeant with
the Department of Corrections and Karen
is a claims adjuster for a major insurance
company in Fresno. They live in Lindsay.
Cristi Erickson ’87 has been teaching
English as a second language for the past
four years and is pursuing her master’s degree
at Seattle Pacific University. She lives in Port
Orchard, Wash.
Carol (Williams) Faraday ’81 received an
MA in special education from the University
of Massachusetts. She has been a special
education teacher at a public school that
provides a full school experience for the
mentally disabled, for the past twenty-one
years. She enjoys reading and hiking in New
Hampshire and Maine. Carol and husband
Doug have three grown children and live in
Kings Mountain, N.C.
Nanette (Ott) Popineau ’85 and husband
Michael of Greeley, Colo., have been
married twenty-two years. Nanette received
her teaching credentials from Chapman
University and worked at Focus on the
Family before becoming a third-grade
teacher at a public elementary school.
Michael is the pastor of Greeley First
Assembly of God church. They have two
children, Brianne, 16, and Brock, 12.
Boyd Tolbert ’81 received an MA in
education curriculum and instruction
from Chapman University and an EdD
in education leadership and policy from
Arizona State University. He and wife
Reita have been married twenty-eight
years and have two children, Brenten Joel,
Alum to produce film
version of C.S. Lewis
book
Thirteen years ago, before The Chronicles
of Narnia became a Hollywood
blockbuster, Randy Argue ’86 secured
the film rights to another C.S. Lewis
classic, The Screwtape Letters. Today, he
and Walden Media, which made the film
version of Narnia, are developing a film
based on the book.
“I’m a C.S. Lewis fan,” says Argue, who
makes a living directing commercials. “Not
too many years after I graduated from
college I started making phone calls to find
out the status of The Screwtape Letters as a
film property. I discovered the film rights
had been collecting dust with Twentieth
Century Fox for over 40 years. Nobody
recognized it as something people were
interested in.”
Argue “badgered” Fox into giving him
a 5-year option, meaning he rented the
rights for that length of time. Nobody was
interested in making the film then, but
Argue “couldn’t bear losing it, so every time
my rights got close to reverting back to Fox
I would always negotiate a new deal,” he
says. “I was always able to keep my fingers
on it.”
In the wake of Narnia’s success, Argue and
Lewis’s adopted son, Douglas Gresham,
reached a deal to give Walden the
worldwide rights.
17, and Bethany Lauren, 13. Boyd is an
administrator at Valley Classical Christian
School. The Tolbert family lives in Phoenix.
Judson Vieczorek ’81 received an MA
in theology from Wheaton and studied
in Jerusalem for a year. He is now an
intensive care registered nurse and lives in
Tunkhannock, Pa.
“We now have a studio who sees that
it’s a brilliant story that has a huge fan
base,” Argue says. “At the same time
they’re having to recognize that this is
not a children’s fantasy story. It’s a more
sophisticated adult subject.”
The Screwtape Letters presents a
conversation from a senior tempter to an
underling which gives insight into the
nature of temptation.
Argue is one of three producers, with
Gresham and Ralph Winter (X-Men,
Fantastic Four). Argue also recently made a
9-minute professional video for Vanguard’s
Vision 2010 campaign(see www.vanguard.
edu/vision2010). It includes interviews
with students, faculty and administration
members and plenty of music from VU’s
various groups, including the guitar
ensemble which had impressed Argue at
Christmas Fantasia.
Argue’s oldest daughter, Lauren, is a
freshman at VU.
“Vanguard is a place where fundamentally
there is a nourishment and care for the
individual, not just academically but
spiritually,” says Argue. “I appreciate that,
probably much more now that I have my
own kid going there.”
’90s
Donald Borckus ’95, MA ’98 and wife
Diane are senior pastors at an Assembly
of God church in Cody, Wyo. Donald
worked in technological communications in
Huntington Beach for ten years. They are
proud parents to four grown children that
include Becky ’05 and Leslie Church ’03.
11
Class Notes
Spoof lands film deal
A short spoof made by Daniel ’03 and
David ’04 Holechek became one of 2007’s
surprise comedy hits on YouTube — and
launched a full-length film that was made
with a cast and crew of VU alums and
students.
The Holecheks made a parody of the film
300 for an MTV contest, using VU alums
Tim Larson ’04, Ed Portillo ’05, Brandon
Tyra ’03, Sunny Peabody ’02 and his sister
Heaven ’04 for their cast.
“I always thought those guys were funny
and talented, so I thought we’d combine
our film sense with their talents as
performers,” says David.
Vanguard lent them cameras, lighting
equipment, rooms to shoot in and students
to work on the crew. Tom Riggs, a current
Vanguard student, was a producer on the
film and a key member of the team. The
short, called 305, didn’t win the contest,
but the Holecheks posted it on YouTube
anyway “and walked away from it,” says
David. “We thought it was over.”
But a few weeks later YouTube put 305 on
its front page, attracting 1 million views
that day and 3.5 million views overall —
the most for a comedy clip on YouTube
last summer “which is insanely amazing,”
says Ann-Caryn Cleveland, VU assistant
professor of cinema/digital media.
“People enjoyed the characters,” says David.
“We got emails asking when the next
episode would come out. We said maybe
there’s something to it.”
12
They expanded the story and characters
into a full-length script, secured financing
and shot it in two weeks last year, partly on
the Vanguard campus, “throwing up the
green screen, and turning large classrooms
into makeshift studios for a few days,” says
David.
The feature — which is about five Spartans
guarding a goat pass from invading Persians
— will be released on DVD this spring,
with possible theatrical and broadcast
release.
“The goal was to make a fun movie that
didn’t take itself too seriously and throw in
couple action sequences,” David says.
The Holecheks, who came to VU from
Colorado, started their film careers on
the VU campus, making short films
and promotions for the basketball team,
Entourage and Delivery Boys. In their
senior year they began making a feature
film called Arizona, starring Tyra, an
ambitious project that took two years to
finish. It is available on DVD, and Warner
Bros. released it on pay-per-view “which
was a cool feat to accomplish for a student
film,” says David.
305’s world premiere was at the Palm Beach
International Film Festival, and the west
coast premiere was at the Newport Beach
International Film Festival, both in April.
Today the brothers work for a production
company in Santa Monica, editing and
creating visual effects for shows on Comedy
Central, A&E and TruTV. They hope to
make back the small budget for 305 — so
they can make another movie.
Adrienne (Kipilii) Correa 1992-1993 is
the youth director of the biggest church on
the Big Island of Hawaii and is a writer and
motivational speaker. She lives in Hilo.
Dennis and Jade (Barney) DeFrates ’96
live in Oakley. Dennis is the single adults
pastor at Golden Hills Community Church
in Brentwood. Jade received an MA in
social work from CSU Sacramento and is a
part-time licensed clinical social worker for
a private practice. They are proud parents
to Blake, 7, and 2-year-old triplets, Jacob,
Zachary and Mackenzie.
Lisa Hann ’96, MS ’00 is the assistant
director of graduate psychology at VU. She
enjoys meeting new students and seeing them
graduate to go on to do great things. Lisa lives
in Orange.
Craig Heyde ’94 is an HIV
counselor and caseworker for the
Orange County Health Care
Agency. He is also a member of
the Union of Saints band (www.
unionofsaints.com), in which he plays the
electric guitar and sings background. Craig
lives in Huntington Beach.
Charis Medina ’96, MA ’98 is
an honors graduate of Western
State University College of Law.
Charis, a licensed California
attorney, is responsible for
providing grant writing and planned giving
support for Vanguard’s Vision 2010 Capital
Campaign. She is also a performer and board
member for a dance company that focuses on
flamenco, the Spanish classical dance.
Tyson Smith ’92 and wife Cheri
have been married fifteen years.
Tyson is the founder and chief
information officer for Capital
Pacific Bank (www.
capitalpacificbank.com) in Portland. Cheri is a
part-time accountant. The Smith family
includes children Kylie, 9, and Torrey, 6. They
live in Vancouver, Wash.
Sheri Treadwell ’95 is taking
time off from teaching physical
education in Oregon to continue
her education. She will receive
an MA this spring from Florida
State University and will begin a full teaching
assistantship at Northern Colorado
Class Notes
University’s Sports Pedagogy PhD program.
Sherri hopes to conduct research on the
effectiveness of integrating outdoor pursuits
into physical education curriculum as a
means of increasing physical activity to
secondary students. She is the proud mother
of Marat Jerron-James, 9, adopted from
Uralsk, Kazakhstan, in 2003.
Carolyn (Burrow) Willis ’93 and her
husband, a Coast Guard captain, have been
married fifteen years. Carolyn was a worship
leader at Trinity Fellowship in Virginia, a
private piano teacher, and was a part of the
choir at Bethell Assembly of God in N.H.
She is now a consultant and owner of a skin
care business. Carolyn is a proud mother
to Melissa, 11, and Matthew, 9. The Willis
family lives in Eliot, Maine.
Debora (King ’94) and Gary
Wondercheck ’98 live in
Garden Grove. Debora is the
founder and director of the Arts
& Learning Conservatory
(www.artsandlearning.com), a non-profit
group for students age 5-17 that offers
repertory theatre, musical theatre, after-school
programs and summer camps on the campus
of VU. Their teachers include VU alums
Cambria (Holford ’06) Larson and Caran
Holland ’97. The Wonderchecks are parents
to Chenaniah 5, Charis 3, and Chara 1.
Gavyn, 8. The Bromleys live Lakewood.
Charles Brower ’02 received
his degree from Whittier Law
School in 2005. He is an
attorney of business and real
estate litigation for Baker &
Baker, APC (www.bakerandbakerpc.com)
and a member of the Federalist Society and
Inn of Court. Charles and wife Luanne have
been married nine years and have two
children, Trey Charles III, 3, and Cora, born
in March 2007. They live in Lake Forest.
Jessica (Loza ’03) Case and husband Tim
have been married four years. Jessica received
an MBA from Grand Canyon University and
is the senior analyst for PetSmart. She enjoys
boating on Lake Pleasant with her family
and leads worship at Discover Pointe church.
They are proud parents to Timothy Patrick
III, 3, and are expecting another child in
August.
Laura Daugherty ’06 spent
three months in Asia with a
discipleship training school.
She is a marketing and special
events assistant for the Big Brothers Big
Sisters of Orange County and lives in
Newport Beach.
Edward Eccker MS ’07 is a social worker
at College Hospital in Costa Mesa. Eddie
recently traveled to Italy with his wife of
three years. They live in Irvine with their
dog, Koda.
Jesus Felix ’06 is a staff analyst with the
County of San Bernardino fire department’s
office of emergency services. He and wife
Liza live in Colton.
MaryAnn Gabo ’07 is an administrative
assistant for World Vision International. She
aspires to be a special education teacher and
plays the piano for the worship team of her
church. She and husband Eduardo live in
Cerritos.
Curt Garner ’02 is a mortgage broker and
real estate agent. He is an assistant head
baseball coach for Rincon High School. He
and his wife have been married for five years
and have a son, Asher, 1. They live in Oro
Valley, Ariz.
’00s
Marissa “Missy” Albanese ’06 lives in
Pasadena where she is enrolled in the crosscultural studies graduate program at Fuller
Seminary. She teaches theatre to at-risk
children and is the assistant director of a
junior high ministry.
Angela Bearden ’04 has been an
administrative and executive assistant at
Orange County United Way, Dwight
Thompson Ministries and Apple One
Employment. She teaches Sunday school and
is involved in a women’s Bible study. Angela
is pursuing a master’s degree in psychology at
VU and lives in Costa Mesa.
Christiana Bromley ’05 is a hearing
representative for the Chernow & Lieb law
firm and enjoys karate and scuba diving. She
and husband Richard are proud parents to
three children, Kristen, 19, Chance, 12, and
13
Advancing
Class
NotesVision 2010
Reuniting
Families
Katie Goode ’03 earned an MA in marriage
and family therapy from Hope International
University. She has a private practice in
Newport Beach (www.HolisticTherapyOC.
com) that specializes in individual, child
and adolescent psychotherapy. Katie lives in
Mission Viejo.
Susan Hastings ’00, MA ’02 is the program
director of the marriage and family therapy
program at Hope International University.
She is a proud aunt and lives in Orange.
Ryan Hillebrand ’07 is
pursuing an MA in Christian
ministry and leadership with an
emphasis in pastoral care and
counseling at Talbot
Theological Seminary. He lives in La Mirada.
Stephanie Hillon ’03
completed her master’s degree
in kinesiology with an emphasis
in sport management at CSU
Long Beach. She continues to
work for the Los Angeles Galaxy and was
recently promoted to senior account
executive of corporate partnerships. She lives
in Long Beach.
Rachel Hodges ’06 works for a
Christian television network for
youth and young adults called
JCTV, part of the Trinity
Broadcasting Network. She
lives in Huntington Beach and is getting
married to Matt Burns ’07 in August.
A.J. Jackson ’07 is pursuing an MFA and
an MBA in film producing at Chapman
University. He is also the producer, director
and writer for AJJ Productions (www.
ajjproductions.com) which has four
independent features in various stages of
development.
Vanessa (Rau) Mehnel ’01 received her MA
in mission and intercultural studies from
Wheaton and is a stay-at-home mother to
Aiden, 3, and Charlotte, 1. Husband Daniel
is a member of the National Guard and will
be going to Iraq this summer. The Mehnels
live in Paulsboro, N.J.
Elizabeth Powell ’03 is pursuing a PsyD
in clinical psychology at Azusa Pacific
University. She is involved in the youth
group at her church and lives in Monrovia.
Three VU alums
are pioneering a
program that puts
foster and group
home children in
contact with family
members, often for
the first time.
(l to r) Nicole Benningfield, Heather Schwartz and Joe Jardine.
Heather Schwartz ’99, MS ’04 leads a
team at Canyon Acres Children & Family
Services which searches out biological
family members for children who have no
known family connections — “the kids
who don’t know who they are,” as Schwartz
calls them.
“We’re on the front lines of trying to locate
family and connect them with the kids,”
says Schwartz. “I love my job. I love coming
to work every day.”
The program is the first of its kind in
Orange County, and one of the first in the
nation. Schwartz and family engagement
liaisons Joe Jardine ’03, MS ’05 and
Nicole Benningfield MS ’07 work from
information received from social services
agencies to track down leads from the
child’s history, and they mine the Internet
looking for family connections. The goal
is not necessarily to place the child with a
relative but to formulate a family tree and
introduce the child to his or her history,
with the possibility of relationship with a
blood relative. In about a third of the cases
the child does go to live with a relative.
“In some ways we literally hand them their
family,” says Schwartz. “They have hope
and know where they came from.”
Jardine travels with foster children to meet
relatives for the first time. He witnesses the
joy of discovery and reunion, but also has
to manage the feelings of abandonment
that often come up.
“Sometimes the kid doesn’t know their
nationality, or why they do certain things,
or what their family looks like,” he says.
“The goal is to give them a sense of self and
an anchor to family once they leave foster
care.”
Often, he says, negative behaviors
“automatically go away” once they are
plugged in to their biological family.
“I feel we’re doing what the scriptures say,”
says Jardine. “We need parents, family, that
father or mother figure. Relationships build
identity.”
He recently reintroduced a 14-year-old girl
to her mother who lived less than 15 miles
away.
“The mother started bawling, and said for
the last 14 years she’d been praying to see
her daughter,” Jardine says. “I said, ‘How
about tomorrow I bring her by your house.’
This girl saw her mom and five siblings for
the first time.”
The Canyon Acres team is in the forefront
of this kind of work and people from other
states are emulating them.
“Vanguard’s program prepares you,” says
Jardine. “We are more confident than other
people in our profession. The blessing of
VU is the one-on-one time professors gave
us outside our classes.”
14
Windows
Editor’s note: This column gives a view
into student and university life from a
different perspective in each issue.
Andy Christensen
Senior theatre major
Beyond ‘good enough’
W
hen I came to Vanguard in
2005, I had already done a
lot of acting in high school,
so I thought landing a
part in VU’s theatre shows would be fairly
easy. I auditioned for a show my first week
there, and to my surprise, didn’t get even a
bit part. That’s when it hit me that “good
enough” wasn’t going to be good enough at
Vanguard. My professors were going to push
me. I couldn’t rely on any
natural ability I might
have. Instead I was going
to have to work hard to
develop my craft.
I realized that mimicking true emotion can
come by talent, but accessing true emotion is
a difficult task.
I also endeavored to get rid of my own
mannerisms and movements when I was on
the stage. To be another character you can’t
walk or talk or stand like you do. You have
to take on another person’s characteristics.
That requires study: researching the time
period of the play, the author’s intent and
playing the character. Granted, I was in
make-up and a fat suit, but it was more
than that. The character work I’d done had
transformed me. I had become, for those
moments, someone else.
Since that first semester rejection I have been
cast in every VU production that I have
auditioned for. And I’ve learned another
powerful lesson from my professors: every
story you tell should be a story of Christ.
He is at the center of every
story, even if the characters are
flawed and their decisions are
wrong. Now I approach every
part and every play as a way
of telling the gospel story, not
literally but in essence. I have
found that when you do this,
and you draw the audience
into the experience and help them recognize
some aspect of the divine beauty and divine
nature, then you are using your gifts and
talents as a sacrifice and as a means of
pointing to God. In those moments, acting
becomes almost a form of worship leading.
‘Good enough’ wasn’t going to
be good enough at Vanguard. My
professors were going to push me.
I decided to start
demanding excellence
from myself in everything
from classwork to theatre.
I developed an intense work ethic. I soon
realized that I had been relying on acting
technique instead of doing the hard work to
make my acting inspired.
I got a part in the spring show and put in
extra hours beyond rehearsals. I memorized
my lines early and started to delve into the
character’s emotions. It wasn’t easy, but by
spending hours running through my lines
and scenes, and trying to feel and experience
what the character felt and experienced, I
started unlocking truths about the character.
the themes of the play. I went to airports
and Disneyland to do character studies. I
watched people and saw how they moved.
When I found someone who I thought
matched the character I was studying for,
I memorized their movements, went home
and tried to emulate them.
I knew the work was paying off when my
parents came down from Portland, Oregon,
to see me play the part of Sir Toby Belch in
Twelfth Night. It took them until halfway
through the first act to realize that I was
That’s something I never would have known
if Vanguard had simply let me settle for
“good enough.”
15
Advancing Vision 2010
V
anguard University has been transforming lives and
equipping students to be world-changers since 1920,
fulfilling its mission to pursue knowledge, cultivate
character, deepen faith and equip students for a life of
leadership and service. The University’s Excellence Fund plays a
vital role in making it possible for students and faculty to fulfill this
mission. As a result, Vanguard alumni around the world are making a
difference by doing good in their communities.
The Excellence Fund provides financial support for student
scholarships, recruitment and retention of faculty, and classroom
resources. Tuition alone does not cover the costs of a university
education, so Vanguard relies on the generous support of its donors
to invest in student’s lives.
“When alumni and friends donate to the Excellence Fund, they are
investing in students who will go out and impact the world,” says
Rick Hardy, vice president for university advancement. “A Vanguard
education integrates academic excellence, spiritual vitality and a
commitment to service. It’s an illuminating educational experience
that students take with them when they graduate. It’s not always
high profile. Our alumni are simply doing good as they combine
professional accomplishments with a personal fervor for making a
difference in their communities.”
footwear company, always dreamed of coaching basketball. Now he’s
using coaching to teach character to kids.
“I tell my coaches that if we can just impact one life eternally, then
it’s worth all of this effort,” says Corsi. “We love basketball, but more
important is teaching kids about life and what they’ll need to do in
life as a father or as a businessman.”
The club strongly emphasizes good behavior and a sense of family.
Players shake hands with the opposing teams, the referees and the
scorekeepers.
“It’s amazing to see the referee’s reaction and what it’s teaching our
kids, to have respect and thank people, no matter what,” Corsi says.
“We try to do things really differently and raise the bar.”
Corsi was able to attend VU because of the financial aid he
received as a student. “I couldn’t have attended SCC without the
scholarships,” he says. “It was huge.”
Today the Solano Beach Cats has grown threefold and raised several
thousand dollars for Katrina victims with a basketball clinic. Corsi’s
wife Brenda (Lee ’87) is “the Cats ambassador” and a big part of the
team.
“It’s all about teaching kids to give back, work hard and be part of a
family,” says Corsi — values he says he learned at VU.
Doing good for kids
Doing good in India
Dave Corsi ’87 is doing good in San Diego, where he runs a youth
basketball club, the Solano Beach Cats, for 90 grade-school boys.
Corsi, the vice president of sales for Pony International athletic
Vinita (Thannikal ’86) Henson came to VU from Bangalore, India,
to study music.
16
Advancing Vision 2010
Amanda Lawson is one of the many students
benefitting from a scholarship made possible by
the University’s Excellence Fund.
Doing Good —
Through the University’s
Excellence Fund
“We heard that SCC had a
wonderful music program and
I was granted a scholarship to
pursue my childhood dream of learning
music,” she says via email from India.
“I was determined to work very hard,
primarily motivated by my gratitude for the
opportunity to come to the U.S. and study
music at SCC on scholarship.”
Vinita graduated from Vanguard in
1986 with the highest GPA in the music
department and received the Ralph
Carmichael award for being the top music
student in the program. She received a
prestigious teaching scholarship at USC and
earned her master’s and doctoral degrees
there.
Today, Vinita and husband Ken (’85, MA
’96) live in Bangalore where Vinita teaches
at New Life College, which was founded by
her parents. She and Ken also founded the
Center for Music Education (CME) which
today has 300 students and a 3-year music
degree program — the only program of its
kind in India.
India, because “there is no greater joy for us
than to give freely,” Vinita says. “This was
another great lesson that Vanguard taught us,
that giving with no strings attached is true
service. We are just passing on the good that
we all received. ... I have often considered
my educational experience at Vanguard to be
the most influential factor in contributing to
who I am and what I do today. The strong
musical foundation I received at Vanguard
opened doors for higher music education.
The strong biblical foundation opened our
hearts for the mission field.”
Preparing to do good
Amanda Lawson, a sophomore, is currently
benefiting from the Excellence Fund.
Attending a Christian university seemed out
of the question for her because of her family’s
great financial need, but Vanguard offered
academic and other scholarships that made
it possible.
“It was always my desire to share with my
own people the musical expertise that I
received in the U.S.,” she says.
“Because I didn’t have the finances other
students have, I feel I need to take advantage
of this as much as possible,” Lawson says.
“That’s why I chose to double major in
history/political science and sociology. I’m
going to get the most out of my experience.”
The Hensons have never taken a salary
from the college or CME since coming to
As part of the debate team, Lawson has
won awards at tournaments. She works two
jobs, one on campus and another at a local
smoothie shop. After finishing at VU she
intends to go to law school and study human
rights law.
“The integration of faith and learning
has been huge for me in developing my
worldview,” she says. “Every once in a while I
sit back and think about how my life would
be different if I hadn’t been able to attend
Vanguard. I know it’s where God wants me.
This is His plan. I’m living it out.”
These are just a few of countless stories
about how a Vanguard education—made
possible by Vanguard donors—is making a
difference in the world. Today, the Excellence
Fund is helping to make this transformative
education available to a new generation
of students, equipping them for a life of
leadership and service.
Gifts to the Excellence Fund play a vital
role in helping students like Amanda
Lawson have the opportunity to realize their
dreams. And just like Dave Corsi and Vinita
Henson—and thousands of others—those
dreams will include doing good in their
world.
For additional information on the
University’s Excellence Fund, or to make
a donation, visit www.vanguard.edu/
excellencefund.
17
Class Notes
Impact lives with the legacy
you leave.
“We are not wealthy, nor do we expect to be. We have worked hard for what we
have and realize it’s because of God’s blessings. We believe we have been good
stewards and want to use our blessings wisely while we have the opportunity,
leaving provision to bless others and continue God’s work when our lives here are
over. Remembering Vanguard in our will was important to us. We met at Vanguard
and received a great education at Vanguard. We are honored to be a part of
shaping the future of this great University and the lives of the students it serves.”
Linda (Douglas) Packer ’67
Gary Packer ’69
You can create your own lasting legacy with a bequest to Vanguard
University. By designating Vanguard as a beneficiary in your will or living
trust, you can help students achieve their academic goals and dreams.
To learn more about our planned giving programs and other giving
opportunities, contact the Office of University Advancement at 714-556-2610
ext. 2012 or visit www.vanguard.edu/givingtovu.
Vanguard. Illuminating.
Vanguard University of Southern California
55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, California 92626, 714 556-3610 vanguard.edu
18
vanguard magazine
magazine summer
spring 2008
18 vanguard
2007
Penny (Scholey ’05) Shannon recently
married Kevin and together they have
three children, Ryan, 14, Everett, 14, and
Regina, 12. They live in Newport Beach.
Alison Smidt ’03 is a senior associate
accountant at Mayer Hoffman McCann.
She is involved in the Seacoast Grace
junior high ministry and lives in
Bellflower.
Diane Woolsey ’03 completed her
MA in education with a minor in
school psychology and is now a school
psychologist. She is a proud mother to
her son and their dog, Duke. Diane
enjoys reading and hosting dinner parties
for family and friends at her home in
Costa Mesa.
Future Alumni
Jamie Bargen ’02 is a social worker who
works with the developmentally disabled
population for Kern Regional Center. She
and husband Rodger are proud of their
two sons, Hayden, 4, and Lucas Ryan,
born September 5, 2007. The Bargens
live in Bakersfield.
Annie (Barnes ’01) Boateng and her
husband welcomed their first child,
Oliver James Siriboe, on July 30, 2007.
Annie is a stay-at-home mother and
enjoys reading vanguard magazine and
updates on her alumni friends.
Ann-Caryn Cleveland ’98
and Nathan Plumb ’93 are
proud parents to Lukas, 3,
and Kagan Alan, born
January 7, 2008. Ann-Caryn
is a assistant professor of cinema/digital
media at VU and is working with Olivia
Klaus ’99 on a documentary entitled Sin
by Silence. Nathan is a commercial pilot
who flies inter-island in Hawaii for Mesa
Airlines. They live in Costa Mesa.
Rochelle (Bazan ’99)
Hume lives in Edmonds,
Wash., with husband Keith,
a civil engineer. Rochelle is a
music teacher for the
Snohomish School District. Their
daughter Mabel Lynn was born
November 25, 2007.
Class Notes
Kerri (Berg ’89) Jeffries is an
elementary school teacher in
the Paradise Valley School
District. Husband Darrin is an
attorney for Plattner,
Schneidman & Schneider P.C. They have
been married twelve years and have three
children, Charles, Alyse, and James Darrin,
born December 31, 2007.
Peter Prettyman ’96 received
his law degree from Indiana
University School of Law in
2004 and is an associate
working with business and
environmental litigation for Sommer
Barnard PC. He and wife Whitney
welcomed their first son, Robert Ian, on
December 7, 2007. The Prettyman family
lives in Carmel, Ind.
Melissa (Ramirez) Saldana ’05
and husband Gilbert are
excited about their first son,
Matthew Ezekiel, born
September 21, 2007. The
Saldanas live in San Dimas.
Rachel (Boldwyn ’01) and
Jonathan Shinn ’02 live in
Long Beach and have been
married six years. John received
his MS in international
management from Oxford Brookes
University in the United Kingdom. They are
proud parents to Greta Grace born June 28,
2007.
Sara (Montemayor ’01) and
Troy Taylor ’99 have two sons,
Isaac, 1, and Asher, born
August 16, 2007. They have
served as youth pastors and
teachers and would eventually like to embark
on an African mission field. The Taylors live
in Chula Vista.
Rebekah (Rossi ’01) Townsend and
husband Ryan live in Fresno with their
daughter, Amelia, 1. Ryan is the young
adults and college pastor at Northpark
Community Church. Rebekah stays home
with Amelia, teaches piano and leads
worship.
Just Married
Michael “Tex” and Cori
(Ballard) Cook ’06 were
married May 11, 2007, in
Mission Viejo and
honeymooned in Hawaii. Cori
is the youth associate at Rock Harbor
Church while Michael is the assistant
director of undergraduate admissions at VU.
They live in Newport Beach.
Andrew Freeman ’05 married
Ashley, a social worker for
Inland Regional Center, on
January 12, 2008. Andrew is a
lending officer at the Union
Bank of California. The wedding took place
at The Salvation Army of Tustin Ranch, with
a reception held at Orange Hill Restaurant.
The newlyweds honeymooned at a Sandals
resort in the Bahamas and live in Yorba
Linda.
Ashley (Panian ’06) Hurd
married Riley on August 11,
2007. Riley is an attorney in
Marin. Ashley started an event
business for non-profit
organizations called Echo Events. They live
in Corte Madera.
Courtney (Stephenson ’07)
and Nick Parsons ’06 married
December 7, 2007 and live in
Rancho Santa Margarita. Nick
is an IT supervisor for a church
and school in Rancho Santa Margarita and
continues to do documentary films through
his company, Veritas Films (www.veritasfilms.
org). Courtney is a marketing coordinator for
an architectural firm in Costa Mesa.
Megan (Elliott ’06) and Riley
Whaling ’07 were married in
Needham Chapel on December
22, 2007. They honeymooned
in Cozumel, Mexico, and reside
in San Clemente. Riley is a 2nd Lt. public
affairs officer in the U.S. Marine Corps and
is stationed at Camp Pendleton. Megan
completed internships at the Army
Department of Public Affairs and White
House and is currently a congressional staffer
for a California member of the U.S.
Congress.
Carrie (Dozal ’02, MA ’07)
Murillo married Robert
Murillo in San Juan Capistrano
in July 2007. Bobby is
completing his degree in
pastoral leadership through the Vanguard
School for Professional Studies program.
They are the children’s pastors for Safe
Harbor Church in Irvine.
In Memory
Randall Decker ’88 passed away January
22, 2008.
Sayla Eve (Williams) Givens ’67 passed
away January 10, 2008.
Stewart Novarro ’66 passed away March
11, 2008.
19
VU Profile
ilding
Iraq
Rebu
B
rian Conklin ’89 is
helping to rebuild Iraq’s
social, economic and
physical infrastructure
as a foreign service officer with the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID).
“It’s been a wonderful opportunity to work at a grass-roots level
to make a difference in the lives of people,” he says via email from
Iraq. “As someone who is out there walking in markets, talking with
20
Brian Conklin ’89 travels with a
combat team in Iraq.
farmers and sitting in the homes
of everyday Iraqis, I’ve seen our
area change dramatically in the six
months I’ve been here.”
Conklin is in the middle of a one-year tour in Iraq and is part of
an embedded Provincial Reconstruction Team attached to the 2nd
Brigade Combat Team (Stryker), 25th Infantry Division based out
of Camp Taji, Iraq. The brigade is located about thirty miles north
of Baghdad and is responsible for about 600 square miles including
VU Profile
parts of Baghdad, Abu Ghraib, Taji and Anbar Province.
His job: help direct reconstruction efforts and stabilize
the country. USAID is an independent U.S. government
agency that provides economic development and
humanitarian assistance around the world in support
of U.S. foreign policy goals. Conklin helps Iraqi
government officials deliver essential services, starts
economic development initiatives, promotes agricultural
development and gives humanitarian assistance to
internally displaced people. He works closely with the
U.S. military, the State Department and the Defense
Department to coordinate humanitarian assistance and
development efforts.
Conklin with Gen. David
Conklin says Vanguard helped him find his calling.
Petraeus during a recent tour
He came to VU hoping to find “a place where I’d be
of Sab al Bor, Iraq.
challenged academically, and given the opportunity to
work out what it meant to be a Christian in our modern
Conklin now lives on a former Republican Guard base in Iraq with
world,” he says. “Somewhere between my political
13,000 U.S. soldiers. He works seven days a week, lives in half of a
science classes, my fellow students and a few theology electives I
small metal trailer, moves back and forth to Baghdad every few weeks
began to be challenged by the complexity of the world we live in and
in a Blackhawk helicopter and travels almost daily throughout his
a God that cares about the conditions of people around us. I was
area with a small contingent of soldiers.
looking for way to integrate my faith into some kind of vocation that
would touch people’s lives in the here and now.”
“Our main goal is getting the Iraqi government and economy back
He says the mentoring and guidance of VU professors like Dennis
McNutt, Murray Dempster and Doug Petersen helped him
envision the kind of career he wanted. He calls his experience at VU
“outstanding.”
“I left with the ability to write and communicate well, and to think
strategically to address challenges I face every day,” he says. “My time
at SCC (now VU) equipped me with strong academic and analytical
skills, solid biblical ethics that have given my life purpose and
direction, and close friends and professors that mentored and guided
me over the years.”
After earning an MBA in Third World economic development at
Eastern College, he and his wife joined the Mennonite Central
Committee as missionaries and spent two years setting up small
businesses for women in rural Bangladesh.
“The work in Bangladesh was a perfect fit,” he says. “I was able to use
the talents and skills that God had given me to reach out to some of
the most vulnerable people in that society.”
He then joined USAID as a foreign service officer and has since
been posted in Ukraine, South Africa and the Regional Mission in
Southern Africa which served Botswana, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
on its feet,” he says. “I’m out almost every day traveling with troops,
working to rebuild schools and medical clinics and to revitalize local
businesses and markets. We work with farmers to improve crop yields
and provide support for essential services like water and electricity.
It’s a huge undertaking.”
But the change has been dramatic, he says.
For example, the market next to their base was, until recently, a
recruitment center for Al Qaeda. There was a sniper there, and the
people had been targeted by a number of car bombs. The market
was barely functioning, with only a few shops open. But since the
start of “the awakening,” a reconciliation movement of local sheiks,
the violence has ceased. The market now has almost 300 shops and
is the center for the economic boom that is supplying the area.
Conklin and his team have rebuilt a health clinic which boasts a
new maternity wing and trauma center. USAID funded a market
association’s plan to add solar-powered lights, paved roads and sewage
for the market and surrounding community. Restaurants have sprung
up where people sit and talk. Conklin is in the market regularly
having lunch and talking with local leaders.
“When I first arrived, it was not uncommon to be targeted by
Brian Conklin, continued on page 22
21
VU Profile
Conklin with his security detail.
Brian Conklin, continued from page 21
mortars or IED (roadside bombs). Our
trailers shook through the night with
outgoing artillery,” he says.
“Much of this has fallen off
over the last few months. I
can’t remember the last time a
mortar hit the camp.”
from cooking fires and the tiny run-down
buildings, Doug announced that this was the
realized then that it’s about living our lives
as Christians in such a way that we impact
the lives of those around
us, physically as well as
spiritually. As God changes
our lives, we can’t help
but reach out to the needs
around us.”
“God calls us to be peacemakers. I
realized [at Vanguard] that it’s about living
Conklin sees his mission in
Iraq as part of his calling and
mission in life.
our lives as Christians in such a way that
we impact the lives of those around us,
physically as well as spiritually. As God
“I believe strongly in being
here,” he says. “God calls us
to be peacemakers. Looking
back on when I was a student
at SCC, I can remember a
theology class with Doug
Petersen on the Kingdom of
God. We were down in Costa Rica visiting
a slum where Latin America Child Care was
working. In the midst of the raw sewage that
spilled out over the dirt roads, the smoke
changes our lives, we can’t help but
reach out to the needs around us.”
22
Kingdom of God. I sat there puzzled until
I heard the voices of the children singing
in the local school that LACC had set up. I
Conklin’s wife heads up
the small grants program
for the U.S. embassy in
South Africa, assisting
organizations that work
to combat HIV and assist
orphans. After Brian’s oneyear tour in Iraq is up, the
family will go to Uganda
with USAID.
“God has given us a heart for economic
development and passion to live in places
where people live in great need,” he says.
A Vine of His Own Planting
Editor’s note: This column looks at major
episodes in Vanguard University’s history.
Lewis Wilson
Academic Dean Emeritus
Vanguard’s
Emmy-winning
TV show
T
new Department of Evangelistic Music to
assure his extraordinary gifts would continue
to bless the college.
It came through one of the school’s talented
alumni, Ralph Carmichael ’44-’48. The
son of ministers, he had begun playing
violin solos in church at four, and from his
arrival at SCBC in 1944 as a 17-year-old
freshman from San Jose, California, he had
performed as a soloist, developed quartets
and other music ensembles, and even served
as the minister of music for a large church.
Over these years he increasingly recognized
the need for a more contemporary church
music, and he eventually developed a
seventeen-piece student stage band and a
sixteen-voice vocal ensemble to perform the
music he arranged. Though it was sometimes
controversial, the music communicated with
young people, and after his four years at
SCBC Carmichael was made the chair of a
But SCBC’s administration had reservations
about the TV program. The new medium
was suspect in some churches and there
was concern that the contemporary
music might alienate some of the school’s
constituents. It was agreed that its students
could participate in the TV program but
without using the college’s name. In fact the
program did receive some initial criticism,
but it soon proved so popular that its
contract was repeatedly renewed. It hosted
many celebrities, including the young Billy
Graham, and won an Emmy which was
personally presented by California’s governor
and future Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court, Earl Warren.
hough its graduates had been
remarkably successful as
ministers, foreign missionaries
and army chaplains, Vanguard,
then Southern California Bible College,
had remained a small school little known
outside its church constituency. With
state authorization to grant degrees in
1939 followed by an impressive growth in
enrollment during and after the Second
World War, that began to change. Then,
in 1949, the college was afforded an
opportunity to further increase its visibility
and influence.
In his new post, he conducted concerts in
local churches and along the west coast. In a
1949 performance for the men’s fellowship
at a Pasadena church, a businessman was
so impressed that he determined that the
group should be on television. His contacts
led to an audition on Los Angeles’ KHJ-TV,
which proved so successful that the group
was invited to appear on the station the
following week. That performance resulted
in a 13-week contract for a program to be
called The Campus Christian Hour.
The program’s success altered the college’s
position. Its director was a faculty member
and most of its participants were students
and so the administration suggested that
the school be given some recognition in
the program. But the commercial sponsor
rejected the suggestion and SCBC’s
role remained largely unacknowledged
throughout the program’s 76-week run. In
1950, CBS purchased KHJ and required all
musicians, including the SCBC students, to
join the musician’s union. The requirement
seemed impractical for Bible college students
and the Campus Christian Hour was
terminated. Whatever regrets there may have
been were overshadowed by the excitement
and challenge of leaving the aging four-acre
Pasadena campus for the college’s new home
in Costa Mesa.
Nearly six decades later the modest Bible
college has become a strong and respected
university and its celebrated music
department has repeatedly been honored
by invitations to perform at such venues as
New York’s Carnegie Hall. But perhaps it
is appropriate to remember another of the
school’s music department’s remarkable if
unacknowledged achievements, The Campus
Christian Hour.
23
On Campus
choir and other Vanguard music groups.
The Parent of the Year award was given out.
Many parents stayed to attend church on
Sunday morning with their students.
“They serve wherever they
are needed, and it gives them
a lot of opportunities to
interact with students, youth
pastors and camp directors,
and ultimately to represent
Vanguard in a really positive
way,” says Christensen.
Sketch teams gear up
for busy summer
New Delivery Boys and Entourage teams
were chosen in January after a rigorous
selection process. The teams will serve this
summer at youth and family camps in
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana,
Oregon, Washington and California.
“We have some great students this year,” says
Calli Christensen, director of youth ministry
relations. “They come from all different
majors and all different states. It’s going to be
an excellent summer. We’re looking forward
to each camp.”
The groups are known for their slapstick
comedy skits and improvisations. They
are “silly, wild and crazy, which tends to
open the doors for junior high and high
school kids to feel they can approach team
members” at camps, says Christensen.
The teams of four minister and represent
Vanguard at camps throughout the
summer. They serve as camp counselors,
on the kitchen crew, in the snack shack, as
recreation leaders and in the services each
evening.
24
The new Entourage team is
Kristin Van Boxtel, Tiffany
Redwing, Dannae Olson and
Helen McBride. The new
Delivery Boys team is Ben
Cross, Devin Aguilera, Rob
Smidt and Noah Jenks.
Family Weekend draws
hundreds
Two hundred and fifty parents of VU
students came to campus in February for
Family Weekend, to experience life at
Vanguard with their son or daughter.
“Family Weekend is a chance for families
to visit their students and connect to the
University,” says Anita Hann, director of
retention and student success. “We host
events that help parents understand that they
are part of the Vanguard community, and
that we are likeminded in caring about the
success of their son or daughter.”
Parents attended classes with their students,
had breakfast with VU president Murray
Dempster on Saturday morning and met
other VU parents and members of the VU
administration. There was time throughout
the weekend for families to explore campus
at their own direction.
On Saturday evening they enjoyed a concert
with the Vanguard Singers, the concert
“Family Weekend is always a great
opportunity for parents to see what their
student’s life is like,” says Hann. “We were
very pleased with the attendance. It was a
big success.”
VU partners with
other universities for
missions training
Students, faculty and staff from VU, Azusa
Pacific University and Cal Baptist University
came together in January for a shared
missions training event — the first time the
universities have collaborated in such a way.
The day-long training session, which drew
120 people, incorporated the strengths of
each university in preparing leaders to lead
student missions trips this summer.
“Each university has staff members that
are gifted in different areas,” says Andrew
Richey, VU coordinator of global outreach.
“We put all our skills together and offered
training that’s better than what any one of us
could do.”
Cal Baptist presented its well-developed
training for emergency situations, such as a
medical emergency or the loss of a passport.
VU’s Jamie Brownlee presented training on
debriefing participants after returning from
the mission field. APU representatives taught
on leadership development.
Speaker Darrell Whiteman, a former
missionary and professor at Asbury Seminary,
and now a full-time trainer of missionaries,
did “a fantastic job of teaching us” about how
to minister cross-culturally, says Richey.
The relationship between the universities
was instigated by Paul Van Der Werf, of
an organization called Student Volunteer
On Campus
Movement 2. He initiated contact between
the schools last summer, which led to this
training session, held at APU. The alliance
is being called M3, which stands for “More
Experience, More Momentum, More
Impact.”
Each university still conducts separate
training for its summer missions trips, but
participants from all three will come together
again this spring for a corporate worship and
prayer night, to pray over the locations their
teams are ministering in.
“Our team leaders are better trained and
better equipped as a result of this alliance,”
says Richey. “All three institutions are pleased
with how it turned out. We’re stoked on
doing it again each year.”
Speaker discusses
trends in marketing
The School of Business & Management
speakers series drew 130 people to an event
in February on the culture of business.
Shaheen Sadeghi, former president of surfing
giant Quiksilver, was the main speaker.
“The event went very well,” says David
Alford, dean of the School of Business &
Management. “Students were networking
with business people, and business people
were networking with each other. Informal
feedback was that everyone was very
impressed with the event and the speaker.”
Sadeghi spoke about the importance of
knowing your customer’s particular cultural
allegiances. Gone are the days of a one-sizefits-all mass marketing approach, he said.
Now businesses and innovators must design
products that serve the causes of specific
consumer subcultures. For instance, the
Toyota Prius is popular with the subculture
that values lower fuel use. Today’s consumers
are “cause-oriented,” he said.
Sadeghi is a 20-year veteran of the retail and
fashion industry, and has been a consultant
to companies such as General Motors,
Nortel, Volkswagen, McDonald’s and Nestle.
Today he heads up Lab Holdings, a real
estate company based in Costa Mesa. His
innovative “anti-mall” retail destinations
have been reviewed in the New York Times,
USA Today, the London Financial Times, the
Los Angeles Times and on National Public
Radio. Sadeghi is a recipient of the Hall of
Fame award for community revitalization
in Costa Mesa and is a member of VU’s
Business Advisory Council, which cosponsors the speakers series.
million or so individuals born between the
late 1970s and the late 1990s.
Dick Foth to speak at
commencement
Dick Foth, a spiritual mentor to a number
of political figures in Washington, D.C.,
will speak at Vanguard University’s 2008
Commencement on May 10 at 5 p.m. at the
Pacific Amphitheatre.
Foth is a popular speaker in the
areas of leadership, relationships and
communication. An ordained minister
with the Assemblies of God, Foth served
as a church planter and established Urbana
Assembly of God adjacent to the University
of Illinois. He then served as president of
Bethany College in Scotts Valley, Calif., for
14 years before moving to Virginia to focus
on speaking and writing.
The series is intended to enhance the
education of VU students, serve the business
community and bring both groups together
to get to know each other, says Alford.
Foth attended UC Berkeley and earned a BA
from Bethany Bible College. He received an
MA from Wheaton Graduate School and a
DMin. from Gordon Conwell Theological
Seminary in Massachusetts. He and his wife,
Ruth, co-authored a book entitled When the
Giant Lies Down. They have been published
in Virtue and Moody Monthly.
An upcoming event will present a panel
discussion about the opportunities and
challenges of managing workers who are
part of the Millennial Generation — the 80
Foth sees his ministry calling as “focusing
on the ideas of alienation and reconciliation
through building relationships around Christ
in the marketplace of politics and business.”
25
Sports
National C
A
fter a decade of coming close to
capturing a national title, the
VU women’s basketball team
under coach Russ Davis emerged
victorious at the NAIA national tournament
in Jackson, Tennessee. This is the first
national championship for any team in any
sport in Vanguard’s 88-year history.
26
“This win is for everyone who has ever worn
a Vanguard basketball jersey or been part of
our program,” says Davis, who was named
NAIA Coach of the Year for the second
time. “We’re family so there’s a lot of people
pulling for us and praying for us. Everybody
gets a piece of this and gets to enjoy this.”
It was the first VU team to ever play in a
national championship game, let alone win
it. And it caps an improbable season for the
Lions. The team had lost seven seniors and
welcomed nine new players this year. The
starting center was hurt in the second game
of the year, leaving the Lions with four new
starters. They played a tough schedule and
Sports
over Cumberlands (Ky.), Lambuth (Tenn.)
and Carroll (Mont.), and an upset of topseeded and previously unbeaten Union,
74-72, in the semifinals. In that game,
Melissa Cook, who had been sidelined with
an injury just before last year’s tournament,
scored the go-ahead basket on a lay-up with
six seconds to go.
“The victory over Union was huge, to play
a team that was 35-0, in their home city,
with 5,000 of their fans in their arena,” says
Davis.
In the championship game the Lions came
out strong against Trevecca Nazarene,
whom they had defeated last year in the
quarterfinals. For the second straight game,
Vanguard shot more than 45 percent from
three-point range, hitting 11 of 24 threepointers. It was the second straight game in
which the Lions shot better from three-point
range than from inside the arc.
Champs!
lost the conference championship, which
they had won eight times in the previous
eleven years. They entered the NAIA
tournament on the second of two automatic
berths for the GSAC.
But the team was determined to win.
I got the girls together and we rallied around
and said, ‘We’re going to do something
none of these teams have done and go win
a national championship. You have got to
believe, got to work hard, and we will win,’”
says Davis.
“After we lost the conference championship
The Lions started the tournament with wins
Vanguard never trailed and ended with a
decisive 72-59 win. Cook finished with a
game-high 25 points. Bridgette Reyes added
14 points and senior guard Jessica Richter,
named the tournament MVP, added 12
points, eight rebounds and a game-high five
steals. More than 20,000 people attended
the week-long tournament which culminated
with the championship game at Oman
Arena.
After the game the Lions cut down the nets,
received the championship banner and
celebrated at a local restaurant with fans
from VU.
The win produced two other significant
firsts: VU became the first team from
California to reach the finals in the
tournament’s 28-year history, and is the
first team west of Oklahoma to win the
championship. It is VU’s tenth appearance at
the NAIA national tournament.
As to how they pulled it off, Davis has one
word.
Sports, continued on page 28
27
Calendar
Athletics
Softball
April 22
California Baptist
April 26
Home game against Point Loma Nazarene
May 6-8
Region II Tournament
May 16-21
NAIA National Tournament, Decatur Alabama
Men’s and Women’s Tennis
April 18
California Baptist (non-GSAC)
May 1-2
Region II Playoffs
May 12-16
NAIA National Championships, Mobile, Alabama
Men’s and Women’s Track and Field
April 25-26
GSAC Championships at APU
May 10
Oxy Invitational
May 22-24
NAIA Outdoor Nationals, Edwardsville, Illinois
Baseball
April 24
Home game against San Diego Christian
April 26
Westmont
April 29
Home game against San Diego Christian
May 6-9
Region II Tournament (location TBA)
May 14-16
Super Regional Tournament (location TBA)
May 23-30
NAIA National Championships, Lewiston, Idaho
Theatre
July 16 - August 8
American Coast Theater Company
Hunchback of Notre Dame
For more information visit www.americancoasttheater.org
University Events
April 21
Vanguard Invitational Golf Tournament
For more information please contact Dave Elliott at
714-556-3610 x2000 or Justin McIntee at x2023.
April 22
SBM’s “Managing Across Generations” Panel
Discussion
Visit www.vanguard.edu/business for more information.
May 8
Graduate Hooding Ceremony
May 9
Baccalaureate
May 10
Commencement
Visit www.vanguard.edu/commencement for updated
information on graduation 2008 events.
28
Sports, continued from page 27
“Belief,” he says. “We played together. We
were mentally and physically tough. We
believed in each other and in our system
and they just stepped up. ... We were a
little more relaxed and didn’t feel so much
pressure going in as the #1 team in the
nation. We just went in and played.”
Victory celebration: (top) The VU community
held a rally for the Lions when they returned to
campus. (bottom) Playing for the championship.
VU’s Lauren Gregory was named to the
All-Tournament First Team, and Melissa
Cook was named to the All-Tournament
Second Team.
The national title adds to the team’s
nearly unmatched record of success in
the NAIA. The Lions won the Golden
State Athletic Conference (GSAC)
championship five times in a row before
this year, have competed in the NAIA
national tournament’s Final Four four
different times, boasted the NAIA’s
player of the year three years in a row
and have earned multiple awards for
individual play, team play and character.
In 2007 Kelly Schmidt ’07 received
the Dr. LeRoy Walker Champions of
Character Award, considered one of the
most prestigious awards in the NAIA.
The Lions won the National Team of
Character award in 2005.
Davis is also one of the most recognized
coaches in the NAIA, named GSAC
coach of the year five times, Kodak
regional coach of the year three times,
and NAIA coach of the year twice.
Last year he received one of the most
prestigious awards in collegiate sports, the
AT&T National Sportsmanship Award,
which is given to one NAIA coach from
among all NAIA sports and all 8,000
coaches. In 2007 the NAIA gave Davis its
Coach of Character Award.
But winning the championship was all
about the players.
“The first thing I thought about when we
won tonight was how many phone calls
I got today from all of our past players,
even the players we brought out for our
program’s first national tournament (in
1998),” said Davis. “This win was special
for all the players who had been here
before and last year’s seniors, because they
built this program up to the point where
we could win a national championship.
... It feels great. Ten years ago we were the
first team from our conference to ever win
a game in this tournament. We went from
that to the first to win the championship.”
Postcards
Editor’s note: This column features an essay
by a different alum in each issue.
Confidence to Lead
Yukon, Oklahoma
T
he day after I arrived at SCBC (now Vanguard University)
in 1958, a voice came over the intercom in my dorm
room. It was one of the professors, Harold Fisher, whom I
had just met the day before. He and his wife oversaw the
dorm I lived in.
“This is Professor Fisher. Who’s up there?” he said through the
intercom.
I looked around. There was nobody but me.
“This is Jack Nelson,” I said. “I’m the only one here.”
“I’m going to preach this morning and I need someone to come with
me to sing the solo,” Dr. Fisher said.
“But I just enrolled,” I informed him. “I only got here yesterday.”
“That’s all right,” he said. “Get dressed and come down.”
I had never sung a solo in front of anyone, and I didn’t really want
to. I was scared. But I rode along with Dr. Fisher to a small church
in Brea. There, I picked a song out of the songbook, chose a key with
some help from the pianist and sang the solo in front of that small
congregation. It couldn’t have been very good. But Dr. Fisher told
me afterward that I had done well. It wasn’t the last time he would
encourage me like that, and on the ride home I felt a newfound sense
of confidence.
That experience set the tone for my time at Vanguard. I had been
an introverted kid in high school and was still naïve about the real
world. My father had passed away when I was ten years old, so I
didn’t have any of what people today call “mentors.” But Vanguard
broadened my horizons and gave me confidence to know that I could
use my gifts and talents to accomplish something good in any setting
I found myself in.
The confidence quickly showed in my life. I was elected sophomore
class president. Then I was elected student body president two years
in a row. I emceed banquets on campus and presided over student
council meetings. On the gridiron, I helped VU’s famous football
team go undefeated, and at 6’4” I was also a help to the basketball
and baseball teams. I was named athlete of the year two years in a
row and was a member of the 1959 football team that was inducted
into Vanguard University Sports Hall of Fame in 2004. Dr. Fisher,
who was involved in so much at the college, became my first mentor.
After graduating I became VU’s athletic director and basketball and
baseball coach. Then I entered the accounting field and spent much
of the next few decades in the oil industry, rising to the post of vice
president of finance for a company. During those years I was also
active in ministry, serving as an associate pastor, heading up missions
ministries, Bible studies and more. I retired for a couple of years
before going back to work as business administrator at a church,
and I have done that for ten years now. I counsel many people and
churches on properly handling their finances.
My experience at Vanguard prepared me for the many tasks and
challenges I have had in my career. I learned to be a leader, to not
fear stepping out. Vanguard gave me the confidence to work with
people, to express my opinions and ideas, and to lead a team, all
skills I used over the years in business and ministry. And you could
say it all started with that surprise request to sing a solo on my first
weekend at Vanguard.
Jack Nelson ’61
29
President. Professor. Missionaries. M entors.
Way ne and Ju d y (Balliet) Cagle, class of 1964
At Vanguard University, we
provide a safe place to ask the tough questions and find answers. By offering an environment
that challenges students to examine their faith, it first becomes more real to them – and then to
countless others around the world. Wayne is President of Asia Pacific Theological Seminary
in Baguio, Philippines, where Judy is on the faculty and coordinates the Doctor of Ministry
program. Together, they are mentors to a new generation of Christian leaders.
Doing Good.
Find out how your gift to the University’s Excellence Fund can inspire today’s students to
make a difference in their community, our country and the world, just like Wayne and Judy.
Call 714-556-3610, ext 2026 or visit www.vanguard.edu/excellencefund.
Vanguard University of Southern California. Illuminating.
Vanguard University
55 Fair Drive, Costa Mesa, CA 92626
Change Service Requested
Non Profit Organization
US POSTAGE
PAID
Vanguard University
of Southern California

Reliable - Vanguard University

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