A Day in the Life of President Nielson

Bagpipe writer Hannah Vanbiber shadows Dr. Niel Nielson

It doesn’t sound like a real job description: world traveler, preacher, husband, diplomat, friend, executive, faculty member, grandfather. But President Niel Nielson manages to fill all of these roles, often simultaneously.

The warm, wood-paneled office beams hidden from the howling wind outside. I walked in at 8:30 am to find a chipper President Nielson pouring his coffee and chatting with his two assistants – the Executive Coordinator for Presidential Advancement, Sabrina LeBeau, and sophomore Susanna Griffith. Soon he turns to face the formidable stack of papers at his desk.

There are the regular papers that need signing or response and the regular list of calls to be made. There’s the stack of devotional books to choose from for a men’s Bible Study he’s leading in February. Then there’s the fabulously large mass of paper from the federal government, to which he gives a half-joking, “Oh please no.”

On this particular Tuesday morning – Nov. 15 – Nielson has just returned from a weekend trip of building relationships with churches, high schools, and potential donors in the DC/Baltimore/Annapolis area. In four days he will be gone again, heading this time to Quarryville, PA not only to visit people, but also to preach.

Thanksgiving Break? “Chicago. And seeing our granddaughter for the first time.”

Travel is a big part of the job, and a big part of the travel is figuring out how to communicate the college’s mission to widely varying audiences. The goal, says Nielson, is “diverse communication without divergent messages.”

Think about explaining “small Christian liberal arts college” to a sophomore in high school student. Now explain the same thing to a fifty-year-old CEO. Now make them both want to invest something of their time or money into it. Nielson says it’s intimidating.

“It’s like always dancing with different partners. I like it, but it’s a challenge.” One gets the feeling that’s exactly why he likes it.

Back at Covenant, most of a day’s action is between the papers and scheduled meetings. “A lot of what I do every day is stuff that just pops up,” says Nielson. It could be an email, a call, or a drop-in visit – any of which could change the track of his day. “This is not a job for people who like to spend a long time focusing on one thing. When you switch gears, you have to be all there.”

Today the schedule includes a faculty meeting, a conference call, an Admissions pep talk, and a devotional with the men’s basketball team. Somewhere in there, Nielson says he is looking forward to a meeting with junior Laurel Brauer about her Seed Project as well as drafting a personal letter to another student.

“I love interacting with students themselves,” said Nielson. “Kathleen and I are usually at athletic events during the week and last night we went to the etiquette training dinner. We love that kind of thing.”

“The real key to my job is keeping my eyes open and outward to trends and developments both here at Covenant and in the larger community of higher education,” says Nielson. “Others in our offices are day-in and day-out looking inward, doing critical work to make this school go.”

Words of advice from the President

Academic:

Take your non-major courses very seriously – both core courses and electives. Such courses opened up areas of interest that I didn’t know I had, and helped to equip me for the wide variety of callings and involvements that I’ve enjoyed over the years.

Don’t leave Covenant without taking a course from that professor about whom you’ve heard great things.

Romantic:

Liking is as important as loving in a healthy and life-long relationship, i.e. be sure you truly enjoy being with one another.

While not everyone will get married, keep marriage in mind; it’s a blessed state and a gift from God, and the person you date could be either your spouse or someone else’s spouse.

Life:

What you’re doing right now is God’s calling; do it with all you’ve got, for his glory.
What you’re doing right now is a portion of God’s pathway for you; be open to his leading.
Love and serve the church; it’s God’s principal means for accomplishing his redemptive purposes in the world.
Aim for heaven; it’s where God’s callings and leadings and church all find their good and glorious end.

[Originally published here.]

Aiming Higher: Covenant College Admissions office takes on tough economy

In a year of recession, as many colleges are scaling back and forced to compromise admissions standards, Covenant is bucking the national trend and continuing to talk about progress. Though recruitment has felt a strain, this year Covenant was “still able to fill the incoming class with students who fit,” according to Sarah Ocando, the Associate Director of Admissions.

This has allowed the college to remain optimistic about new developments in admission policies and recruitment strategies.

“We are always evaluating how we can better reflect the school’s mission,” said Director of Academic Support Janet Hulsey.

Discussion for improvement has included the possibility of raising academic standards for applicants, changing recruitment strategies, or altering the admissions process itself.

Changes like this are initiated by Covenant’s Admissions Committee. The committee, made up of four faculty, three staff, and one student representative, attempts to uphold standards of academic rigor while remaining open to all individuals who are willing to learn and improve.

“Changing academic minimums is an issue that we’ve discussed as a future possibility,” said sophomore Ruth Gibson, the student representative on the committee. “Essentially, we’ve talked about raising the GPA minimum from 3.0 to 3.5.”

The average GPA of this year’s freshman class is a 3.69, with 21 of 269 students falling below the minimum. At this point, raising the GPA minimum to 3.5 would affect approximately 46 more students – a total of 67, or 25% of the whole class.

Ocando is currently working with Dr. Kevin Eames and Karen Nelson, the respective Director and Associate Director of Institutional Research, to examine and evaluate data like this. Essentially, they are asking how higher minimums might change the make-up of the freshman class and whether that is something we are willing to do as an institution.

According to Hulsey, a voting member of the Admissions Committee, “From an academic perspective, we want top-notch students. But we don’t want to become an exclusive institution to the point that we leave out hard-working students who can and will succeed. The question is: where is the line?”

Gibson said she is hopeful that students will weigh in on the question as well. “Students should know they can talk to me about this. I’m the student representative so that’s what I’m supposed to do.”

The Committee has also discussed transitioning from rolling admissions – a process which accepts all eligible students as they complete their applications – to what is called a “selective” admissions process. This process is used in schools like Wheaton College or Vanderbilt University. Instead of going out and looking for applicants, these schools “build” a class: Admissions committees decide what they want the new class to look like demographically and selectively process all the applications at one time.

While these changes may never fully materialize, the Admissions office remains open to discussing room for improvement.

In recruitment, which is separate from the acceptance process, other improvements are being put into action. Admissions Representative Andrew Russell is currently developing a recruitment strategy for students who are culturally or ethnically diverse. Russell, who graduated from Covenant in 2006, is doing demographic research in large recruitment hubs and forming a proposal to better equip the school to reach minorities. Students concerned about the lack of ethnic diversity on campus expressed optimism over Russell’s work.

“We’re so white,” said senior Timothy VanVliet. “I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but here we are at a mostly white college, living on top of a mountain in a largely white, upper-class community, going to largely white churches.”
Senior Laura Hutton said that though she understands a large factor is that we are a PCA school and our demographics reflect those of the PCA, “We could do a better job of being a fuller picture of the body of Christ.”
Russell’s project will hopefully enable recruitment to communicate that mission more clearly.

In all the talk of improvement, Matthew Bryant, Director of Admissions, pointed out that Covenant will keep its commitment to a personal and Christ-centered focus: “The most important thing we tell our recruiters is that you need to first develop a relationship with these students before you can even begin to recruit them.”
“Covenant is so unique,” said Ocando, “and I think when you start articulating that to people, whoever they are, the ‘right’ ones want to come.”

[Originally published here.]

No Room for Debate: Covenant College's forensics team is hot

While students on campus attended the Neal Conference, swing dancing, and toga party this weekend, Covenant’s Debate Society sent ten students to Western Kentucky University to compete in one of the biggest tournaments of the season. They collected five top awards as well as a heavy dose of enthusiasm to show for it.
“I’m addicted. It was a fantastic experience, especially for my first try,” said sophomore Sam Bestvater, a history major who competed in his first ever debate round this weekend.

For six of the ten, this was a first experience in competitive forensics (the official term for the art of formal argumentation.) Nerves ran high as evidence cards, legal pads, and speaking drills were swapped around.
“A lot of my friends debated both in high school and at Covenant. Debate kids like to talk about debate, and it sounded like a lot of fun, so I thought I’d give it a try,” said Bestvater.

At the tournament, he did more than try. Bestvater and his debate partner, sophomore Sarah Swygard, made it to the semi-final round in the novice debate track.

From its beginning three years ago, Covenant’s Debate Society has made a habit of showing up unknown at tournaments and making a startling splash across the awards ceremony.

Last March, the debate team quietly left campus for Nationals, the highest level of competition in the National Christian College Forensics Association (NCCFA) and proceeded to not-so-quietly explode on the national scene of college level forensics, taking a number of major awards including first in our division.

The competition this weekend included Christian Colleges with well-developed debate programs like Patrick Henry College, Bryan College, Belmont College, and Seattle Pacific University.

According to senior Zach Robbins, “This was definitely the event that put Covenant on the national forensics map.”

The team’s combined efforts secured Covenant a fourth place rank overall out of fourteen schools
Transfer junior Tony Glosson and junior Waverly McMahan also broke into quarterfinals in the novice track and both Glosson and Bestvater placed in the top ten novice speakers.

Reflecting on the tournament, McMahan commented, “Even when you don’t win the round, you still are left with the satisfaction of knowing that you had the guts to stand up in front of a group of strangers and talk about a subject that 20 minutes ago you knew nothing about.”

Sophomore Susanna Griffith, a seasoned debater, agreed that debate is more than just the competition: “Debate connects the dots in education for me.”

When not on the road, the club has weekly meetings to practice. There, they discuss current events and topics of interest, how to debate, how to give a speech, etc. “We have way too much fun,” said sophomore Grace Mullaney, who heads up the club with Robbins and Griffith.

When asked who the debate team wants to join their team, Griffith said, “Anyone who enjoys politics, economics or history, wants to overcome a fear of public speaking, or just likes the idea of going on road trips with Tim Mahla and some Covenant students.” Mahla, Assistant Director of Young Alumni, travels with the team as its official chaperone.

“It is a lot of fun,” said Bestvater, “but that’s not the only reason I’m doing it. It builds fantastic communication skills and fosters a unique awareness of current events. I also get to wear a suit.”

[Originally published here.]