by jowens | Nov 22, 2019
Athletic Director Greg Fawbush announced that Abigail Warren has resigned as volleyball coach for Welch College. A former student at Welch, Coach Warren led the Lady Flame for the past two seasons. She is also an elementary physical education teacher for Davidson County. Time commitment to her teaching responsibilities is the reason for her resignation.
The FlamesVolleyball program showed great improvement under Coach Warren’s leadership. She used her platform to help build Welch’s volleyball program into a competitive program in the NCCAA Mideast. The Lady Flamesvolleyball teams finished both seasons with a winning record under her leadership. She produced several all-regional players and help lead the program to several historic wins.
“Coach Warren was a constant mentor to the young ladies in the volleyball program, stated Coach Fawbush. “She challenged them physically, academically, and, most importantly, spiritually. Coach Warren demonstrated how winning can be accomplished by applying a work ethic that does not compromise on integrity.”
by jowens | Oct 26, 2019
The South Georgia Association Ignite the Flame dinner recently raised over $31,000 for Welch College according to David Williford, Vice President for Institutional Advancement.
Williford said, “Welch College is thankful for the tremendous work the South Georgia Association has done over the last eight years in raising over $188,000 for the Ignite the Flame dinners in their area. The twenty-one churches in the association began working with Welch Fund director Mike Edwards in 2012 to raise $10,000 that first year.”
In 2013, a donor pledged to match $10,000 if the association could raise at least that much, and they succeeded! This challenge has continued since that time, and the churches have responded and increased their support, bringing in over $31,000 at this year’s dinner.
Edwards said, “The South Georgia Association dinner success is largely credited to the hard work of the dinner co-chairmen Rick Cason (Ebenezer Free Will Baptist Church) and Wayne Miracle (New Life Fellowship Free Will Baptist Church) and their willingness to promote the dinners.”
Seven states currently have Ignite the Flame dinners (AR, GA, IL, MO, MS, NC, SC). “Welch College is thankful for the support from all the different churches and associations and would love to start dinners in more locations,” Edwards said.
The Ignite the Flame dinners provide an opportunity for Welch to promote a growing relationship with local churches, share college programs of study with high school students, report on Welch events, and supply a unique way for churches to invest in the lives of our students.
For more information on how your association and state can host an Ignite the Flame dinner, please contact Mike Edwards at mike.edwards@welch.edu.
by jowens | Oct 4, 2019
Welch College received notification that the institution ranks 16th among “Regional Colleges South” in U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 edition of America’s Best Colleges rankings, according to Welch president Matt Pinson.
The “Best Regional Colleges” category where Welch is ranked includes 273 institutions that focus on undergraduate education and offer a range of degree programs in the traditional liberal arts as well as in professional fields such as business, nursing, and education. Colleges in this category are ranked within four geographic regions: North, South, Midwest, and West.
U.S. News rankings offer opportunities to judge the relative quality of institutions based on widely accepted indicators of excellence: peer assessment, graduation and retention rates, faculty resources, student selectivity, financial resources, alumni giving, and more.
“We are delighted about this high ranking in U.S. News and World Report’s Best Colleges,” Pinson said. “It shows our quality to prospective students and their parents, as well as to alumni and supporters. It shows that academic excellence can coexist with a strong commitment to Christian faith and life as the center of the Welch College experience.”
“The first time we were ranked in this publication, back in 2010, we ranked 54th,” Pinson mentioned. “And even that was in the top half of all the Southern schools ranked in the Best Regional Colleges category. So in 10 years we’ve gone from 54th to our ranking of 16th for 2020. To put this in perspective, the next ten colleges in the list that Welch outranked had an average enrollment more than five times our enrollment and an average endowment almost nine times our endowment.”
Welch received especially high marks in five strategic areas. Compared to the other 123 institutions in the Regional Colleges South category, Welch ranked:
#1 in faculty-student ratio
#3 in the percentage of classes under 20 students
#4 in students who were in the top 25% of their high school graduating class
#5 in first-year student retention rate
#10 in alumni giving rate
Welch Provost Matthew McAffee said, “We are grateful to have this evaluative benchmark for our institution. It provides us with an external measurement that helps us to evaluate our quality as an institution of higher learning. Our faculty and staff are to be commended for their effort in helping us attain this level of excellence.”
More information is available about the rankings and methodology in the annual America’s Best Colleges guidebook at: www.usnews.com/collegemeth. For more information about Welch, email gotowelch@welch.edu or visit www.welch.edu.
by jowens | Sep 27, 2019
Welch College has begun offering select courses in Computer Science as part of its B.S. degree in Business Administration, according to Provost Matthew McAffee.
“We are enthusiastic about this new course of study,” McAffee said. “We’re offering the first course during the Fall 2019 semester: CPS 1123—Introduction to Computer Science. This course will take students with little or no computer programming background and introduce them to the world of computing and the fundamentals of programming languages.”
A follow-up course, Computer Science I, will provide detailed exposure to the rapidly growing field of technology and topics such as structured problem solving, program design, 4th generation languages, debugging, and testing.
To spearhead this initiative, Welch has secured the expertise of Dr. David Sayre, who will serve as Computer Science Program Liaison. Dr. Sayre is an accomplished Computer Science educator, researcher, and entrepreneur. He regularly consults with national defense clients and Fortune 100 companies. His work has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal and industry awards in the computing discipline. Dr. Sayre has a heart for computer science education and Welch College.
“These courses in computer science will focus on producing ‘job-ready’ graduates,” Sayre said. “Nashville’s commercial technology sector can’t find enough qualified candidates, with hundreds of jobs going unfilled from month to month. These courses will allow students interested in Information Technology to start immediately in the core subject while they accumulate the prerequisites required for more advanced topics in the field.”
Classes will be offered in a once-per-week, evening format and will be available to daytime and commuter students.
“Our purpose will be to educate technological leaders to serve the wider community with Christian character,” said Stephen Beck, Associate Undergraduate Dean of Education. “The technical skills acquired from this course of study will serve as a differentiator for future employment opportunities, providing students with the basics for future specialization in web development, network or systems administration, or cybersecurity.”
For inquiries about general enrollment, contact Stephen Beck at sbeck@welch.edu or for specific questions about Welch Computer Science courses, contact Dr. David Sayre at dsayre@welch.edu.
by jowens | Sep 25, 2019
Welch College will be welcoming former Arkansas governor, Fox News contributor, and national television host Mike Huckabee to campus October 8 as the featured speaker for the college’s Constitution Day, according to Dr. Charles Lea, Special Assistant to the President at Welch.
Governor Huckabee will be speaking at 10:00 a.m. in the college’s auditorium in Celorio Hall. “Governor Huckabee has the perfect combination of political experience, commitment to the constitution, and the Christian faith,” President Matt Pinson said. “Welch College is honored to welcome Governor Huckabee to our campus.”
by jowens | Sep 24, 2019
Welch College has received approval for a Mathematics Education endorsement for grades 6 through 12 from the Tennessee Department of Education’s (TDOE) Educator Licensing and Preparation division, according to Provost Matthew McAffee. The program will enable middle and high school teachers to receive a licensed endorsement in mathematics education.
“There is a great need for well-qualified mathematics teachers in public and Christian schools,” McAffee said. “This new program strategically positions Welch to help fill this void with teachers who are committed to the influence of Christ’s kingdom in the world.”
Welch College offers multiple pathways for Mathematics 6-12 endorsement. Pathways for teaching licensure include undergraduate student teaching clinical practice, post-baccalaureate student teaching clinical practice, and post-baccalaureate job-embedded clinical practice programs.
Middle and secondary mathematics educators are in high demand at both the state and national levels. This has led TDOE to identify Mathematics Education as high-demand endorsement area.
“We are excited about this new program,” Stephen Beck, Associate Undergraduate Dean of Education, said, “Training Christian leaders for STEM-related careers helps support the mission of Welch College and opens multiple doors of opportunity for ministry and employment at national and international levels.”
For inquiries about teacher education, contact Undergraduate Dean of Education Dr. Etta Patterson at epatterson@welch.edu. For specific questions about the Mathematics Education program, contact Stephen Beck at sbeck@welch.edu.
