In this book, seventeen senior leaders from faith-based colleges and universities across North America—collectively bringing with them hundreds of years of leadership experience—share fresh insights into the theory and practice of Christian higher education leadership. These authors speak honestly about the successes, failures, and demands that have shaped their current leadership decisions and their visions for the future.

Karen A. Longman serves as the program director and professor of doctoral higher education at Azusa Pacific University. She earned her doctorate from the Center for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Michigan, holds master's degrees from U.M. and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and completed her undergraduate work in psychology at Albion College in Michigan.

Patricia S. Anderson served for nearly forty years in higher education, holding senior leadership roles as the provost at Fresno Pacific University and Azusa Pacific University after serving as associate provost at APU. Prior work includes leading a statewide higher education consortium, leading a five-county, multi-service, social service agency, serving in two regional educational laboratories, as well as teaching in higher education. She has also served on nonprofit boards for child care and senior retirement organizations, as well as two higher education boards of trustees. Her passion is analyzing systems and programs in order to develop success strategies. Anderson has authored numerous white papers, evaluation reports, and publications. She continues teaching graduate students in an online environment and serving as a volunteer in her church community. 

Carolyn E. Dirksen has been in academic administration at Lee University for the past twenty-five years, serving as a department chair and dean before becoming the vice president for academic affairs, a position she has held for thirteen years. Before entering academic administration, she served on the faculty for seventeen years. Holding a PhD in sociolinguistics, Dirksen’s research areas include gendered uses of language and second language acquisition. Although her career has centered on Lee University, she has taught in China, Mongolia, Ukraine, Russia, Vietnam, and South Africa. 

Rebecca R. Hernandez completed her doctoral work in human development and family studies at Oregon State University. She earned a master’s degree in public administration from Portland State University. Born in Joliet, Illinois, as a daughter of migrant farm workers, Hernandez has been working on Latino issues throughout her career. She began as a schoolteacher, then served as a community program director, and now serves as the director of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Goshen College in Indiana. Previously, Hernandez was the director of community building for the Hacienda Community Development Corporation of Portland, Oregon. She also has held faculty appointments at Oregon State University and at Oregon Health and Sciences University, School of Nursing, where she worked to develop community-based programs to reduce health disparities among Latinos. 

Shirley V. Hoogstra is an experienced vice president for student life and a trial attorney. She has been a leader in the legal profession, serving as president of the New Haven Bar Association and Foundation and also serving as chair on numerous nonprofit, school, and church boards. As a senior administrator, Hoogstra leads a team of seventy-five professionals and serves on the president’s cabinet at Calvin College. She plans and speaks at leadership events for the CCCU and other organizations. She is co-host of a nationally televised program on PBS called Inner Compass, on which she interviews outstanding and interesting national and international culture shapers on a variety of topics that include faith and science, the healthcare conundrum, women in politics, relationships, the immigration crisis, race and reconciliation, and international political or religious con&icts. 

Marie S. Morris is provost at Anderson University in Indiana. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Marie lived in Tennessee, California, and Washington State before spending her adolescent years in Rota, Spain. With an eclectic religious upbringing, Morris is Anabaptist Mennonite in her theology. Morris’s journey to academic leadership includes two fascinating years in the hollows of southeastern Kentucky working at Red Bird Hospital, after which she moved with her husband to Harrisonburg, Virginia, to continue her education. Morris earned a master’s degree in primary nursing care in society from the University of Virginia and a PhD in nursing administration from George Mason University. She served for over twenty years at Eastern Mennonite University in various capacities, including faculty member, department chair, associate dean, honors program director, SACS self-study director, and vice president and undergraduate dean. Morris’s community involvements include founding a transitional housing unit for low-income women and their children, serving on community and hospital boards, and volunteering at a free clinic. Interests include leadership development, mentoring, living simply, developing intercultural competency, and building connections for healing and hope in our broken world. 

MaryKate Morse is professor of leadership and spiritual formation in the seminary at George Fox University in Oregon. Raised in the Air Force, Morse lived in various states and overseas. She completed her BS in secondary education and English literature at Longwood University in Virginia. With her husband, Randy, and small children, she lived in the Andes Mountains of Bolivia and Peru doing ministry and social projects with the Aymara Indians. Upon return, she completed a masters in biblical studies and an MDiv at Western Evangelical Seminary (now George Fox Evangelical Seminary). She began teaching, studied spiritual formation and direction, and was recorded as a pastor with the Evangelical Friends. Morse completed her doctorate at Gonzaga University, where she studied the characteristics of renewal leadership as modeled by Jesus. She has planted two churches and served in various administrative positions at the university including seminary associate dean, director of hybrid programs, and university director of strategic planning. She has published on spiritual formation and leadership. Morse enjoys being with family, hiking, reading, exploring Oregon, and playing with her puppy, Tess. 

Deana L. Porterfield recently assumed a new role as executive vice president for Azusa Pacific Online University after several years as senior vice president for people and organizational development at Azusa Pacific University in California. In that role, Deana’s charge to maintain university values and ethos undergirded her keen understanding of the university community and history. With a passion for people, Porterfield combined her sharp institutional insight with an unwavering commitment to advance the university’s objectives in the area of human resources and organizational development initiatives. Previous APU positions included chief of staff and over twenty years in enrollment, including six years as vice president for enrollment management, with the university experiencing unprecedented growth under her leadership. Porterfield champions team-building and takes pride in knowing that hiring the right people increases an organization’s ability to advance its mission and productivity. Nationally recognized as a leader in the enrollment field, she has served as a consultant within organizational settings. She enjoys time with family and friends and is currently completing her EdD in organizational leadership at the University of La Verne. 

William P. (Bill) Robinson is president emeritus of Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington. He served as Whitworth’s seventeenth president, from 1993 to 2010, after serving as president of Manchester College, in Indiana, from 1986 to 1993. Currently, he works full time speaking and consulting with universities, businesses, and ministries. Robinson serves on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary, the ING Educators Advisory Board, and the Max De Pree Center for Leadership. In 2010, a second edition of Robinson’s book Leading People from the Middle: the Universal Mission of Mind and Heart (Executive Excellence, 2002; iUniverse 2010) was released. His second book, Incarnate Leadership, was released by Zondervan in February 2009. Robinson is married to Bonnie Robinson, principal organist at the First Presbyterian Church of Spokane. They have three married children—a social worker and two ministers ordained in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). 

Carla D. Sanderson is provost and executive vice president at Union University in Tennessee. Prepared as a nurse researcher, Sanderson draws upon many similarities between the high touch, caring role of the nurse and that of an academic administrator. Her entire thirty-year career in higher education has been in service to Union University, where she began as a nursing faculty member. She continues to contribute to the field of nursing as an author and speaker on ethical decision making in health care. She has contributed to four books on academic leadership and serves on the board of trustees for the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools and the Consortium for Global Education. Her international involvement focuses on the establishment of a new system of higher education for Kurdistan in Northern Iraq. Having grown up on the banks of the Tennessee River, her 319 About the Contributors hobbies include water sports and time with her husband and young adult sons “gathered at the river.” 

Laurie A. Schreiner is currently professor and chair of the doctoral programs in higher education at Azusa Pacific University in California, having spent thirty years in higher education as a psychology professor and associate academic dean. A senior fellow at the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, she is also co-author of the Student Satisfaction Inventory, StrengthsQuest: Discover Your Strengths in College, Career, and Beyond (2006, Gallup Press), and Helping Sophomores Succeed (2009, Jossey-Bass). She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters on positive psychology, engaged learning, sophomore success, faculty development, and advising. 

Shirley H. Showalter joined Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana, straight from graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. For twenty-one years, she taught English and played a variety of administrative roles, including chairing the English department. She published essays in numerous scholarly journals and books and in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In 1996, she was named the fourteenth president of Goshen College and was honored by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation for her presidential leadership in 1999. In 2004, she accepted an invitation from the Fetzer Institute in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to lead the program development of that private foundation. In 2010, she moved with her husband Stuart back to his home community in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. In 2011–12, Showalter and her husband lived in Brooklyn, New York, and cared for their baby grandson, creating a new leadership team with his parents that included a covenant. Showalter is writing a childhood memoir about growing up Mennonite in the 1950s and ‘60s. You can read more online at www.shirleyshowalter.com. 

Gordon T. Smith recently became president of Ambrose University College and Seminary and professor of Systematic Theology. He previously had served as the president of reSource Leadership International, an agency that fosters excellence in theological education in the global south. He also serves as an adjunct to the faculty of Regent College, Vancouver, where he was formerly the academic vice president and dean. He is the author of a number Thriving in Leadership 320 of publications, including Courage and Calling (IVP, 2011 rev. ed.), and Transforming Conversion: Rethinking the Language and Contours of Christian Initiation (Baker, 2010). As a theologian, he has particular interest in the character of religious experience, and he publishes and teaches on conversion and spiritual discernment, as well as vocation, work, and career. He is married to Joella, an artist; together they have two grown sons and six grandchildren. 

Lee F. Snyder, president emeritus of Blu'on University in Ohio, currently resides in Harrisonburg, Virginia, and in Salem, Oregon. Born on a farm in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and raised in a Mennonite community, Snyder would describe the trajectory of her life and work as unexpected but immeasurably rewarding. After several years in West Africa, Snyder continued graduate work in English literature, receiving her PhD from the University of Oregon. She has held various administrative and teaching positions, including appointment as vice president and academic dean at Eastern Mennonite University in Virginia. Following twelve years as dean, Snyder accepted the presidency at Blu'on University, where she served ten years as Blu'on’s eighth president. Other professional involvements have included writing, speaking, and brief education assignments in China, Central America, Egypt, and South Africa. Her publications are in the areas of leadership development, board governance, and spiritual memoir. She currently serves on several national and regional boards. Snyder—always with a stack of books awaiting—enjoys travel and spending time with family. 

Carol A. Taylor is president of Vanguard University of Southern California. Taylor came to Vanguard University as provost in 2007 and became president in 2009; in 2011, she received the Orange County Business Journal’s Women in Business Award in recognition of leading a significant institutional turnaround. Taylor has over thirty years of experience in education and higher education—including seven years at Biola University as the vice provost for undergraduate education, twelve years in research and administration at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, with additional experience at various state universities and public schools. Taylor has taught and lectured internationally and has served on various national commissions for assessment, study abroad programs, women’s leadership development, and women in ministry. She holds a PhD in multilingual/multicultural education from Florida State University. Taylor enjoys entertaining, traveling, home decorating and gardening, music, a good read, exploring back roads and out-of-the-way places, and anyone with a good sense of humor. 

Jeanine B. Varner most recently served as provost for Abilene Christian University. Prior to that role, she held the role of dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at ACU and spent eleven years as vice president of academic affairs for Oklahoma Christian University. Earlier in her career, she also served as English department chair and the dean of the College of Liberal Arts at Oklahoma Christian. Varner holds a PhD in English from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, and has worked as a consultant-evaluator for the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), working with the Accreditation Review Council, Assessment Task Force, and Consultant-Evaluator Core Team. Varner also has been an active participant in the CCCU, particularly in the Executive Leadership Development Initiative and through serving as a mentor for emerging leaders. She currently lives with her husband, Paul, in Abilene, Texas, and the two travel frequently to visit their children in Alabama and Oklahoma. 

Deborah J. White currently resides in New Jersey, teaching online courses for Lee University in Tennessee and the Clifton Strengths School. She also serves as a Strengths Education Consultant for Gallup, Inc. Previously, she served as faculty member and accreditation self-study chair at Northwest University in Washington, vice president for academic affairs at Sterling College in Kansas, and director of the Lilly Endowment’s theological exploration of vocation program at Lee University. Interests include mentoring, leadership development, strengths coaching, and spiritual direction.

Acknowledgements 

Foreword | Gordan T. Smith, President of Ambrose University College and Seminary (Alberta, Canada) 

Introduction | Leadership Literature: Implications for Christian Higher Education | Karen A. Longman, Professor and Program Director, Department of Doctoral Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University (CA)

Part I: The Interior Life of Thriving Leaders

Chapter 1 | Thriving as a Leader: The Role of Resilience and Relationships | Laurie A. Schreiner, Professor and Chair, Department of Doctoral Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University (CA) 

Chapter 2 | Leading from the Center: Body and Place | MaryKate Morse, Professor of Leadership and Spiritual Formation and former University Director of Strategic Planning at George Fox University (OR) 

Chapter 3 | Honoring Giftedness: A Strengths Approach to Leadership | Deborah J. White, former VP for Academic Affairs at Sterling College (KS) and Director of the Center for Career & Calling at Lee University (TN) 

Part II: The Social Intelligence of Thriving Leaders 

Chapter 4 | Tell Me a Story: Using an Old Tool to Sustain Culture, Embrace Change, and Envision a Bold Future | Patricia S. Anderson, former Provost of Azusa Pacific University and Fresno Pacific University (CA) 

Chapter 5 | The Difference Trust Makes | Shirley V. Hoogstra, VP for Student Life at Calvin College (MI) 

Chapter 6 | Orchestrating a Life of Influence | Deana L. Porterfield, Executive Vice President of Azusa Pacific Online University (CA) 

Chapter 7 | Inside Faculty Culture | Carolyn E. Dirksen, VP for Academic Affairs at Lee University (TN) 

Chapter 8 | Building a Powerful Leadership Team | Shirley H. Showalter, former President of Goshen College (IN) and Vp of the Fetzer Institute (MI) 

Chapter 9 | Mentoring for Leadership | Jeanine B. Varner, former Provost at Abilene Christian University (TX) and former VP of Academic Affairs at Oklahoma Christian University (OK) 

Part III: How Leaders Can Shape a Thriving Organizational Culture 

Chapter 10 | Metaphors Matter: Organizational Culture Shaped by Image | Marie S. Morris, Provost at Anderson University (IN) 

Chapter 11 | Beyond "Hospitality": Moving out of the Host-Guest Metaphor into an Intercultural "World House"

Chapter 12 | Toward a Distinctive, Christ-Honoring Campus Culture: Working the Vision | Carla D. Sanderson, Provost and Executive VP at Union University (TN) 

Chapter 13 | Leading a Turnaround and the Joy of a Third-Class Ticket | Carol A. Taylor, President at Vanguard University (CA) 

Chapter 14 | Leadership in the Fifth Dimension: Balancing Time with the Timeless | Lee F. Snyder, President Emeritus of Bluffton University (OH) 

Epilogue | William P. Robinson, President Emeritus of Whitworth University (WA) 

About the Editor

About the Contributors

Bibliography 

"These essays...shed light on 'secrets' that all academic leaders should find of lasting value: the importance of 'showing up' as a whole person; the centrality of tenacious relationships; the vital role of rich, transformative conversations with all stakeholders; and the courage it takes to lead in ways that do not always conform to our cultural model assumptions about how leaders should act."

- Parker Palmer, author of Healing and the Heart of Democracy, The Courage to Teach, and Let Your Life Speak

"If you are drawn to the topic of leadership, especially in the context of a Christian serving in higher education, this book is a must read. I am challenged by these amazing authors and feel short-changed in not having their insights earlier in my career. I will call upon this deep well of scholarship, theory, practice, and stories many times in my work with diverse leaders."

- Robert C. Andringa, President Emeritus of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, managing partner of The Andringa Group

"Thriving in Leadership is an engaging conversation about the complexities, pressures, and joys of senior leadership in Christian higher education. The authors draw on their vast professional experience and the latest leadership literature to offer insights into the best practices in organizational leadership."

- Alec Hill, president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA

ISBN: 9780891122296

Pages: 342

Dimensions (inches): 9 x 6

Weight (pounds): 1