Cedarville University Latest Updates
- Cedarville’s Time in the Sun Continues With 4th-Straight Solar Splash Victory
- Business Conference in India Explores Ethical Leadership
- Cardinal Health Foundation to Help Fight the Opioid Epidemic
- Cedarville Students Return from Clarkston
- New Master's Program Creates Streamlined Pathway
- Cedarville University Achieves High Postgraduate Placement Rates
- Rising Enrollment Prompts New Residence Hall
- Cleveland Clinic Honors Cedarville Nurse as Safety Champion
- Cedarville University to Explore “The Morality of Free Markets” This Summer
Cedarville’s Time in the Sun Continues With 4th-Straight Solar Splash Victory
It’s a four-peat for Cedarville University! The World Championship of Solar Boating took place June 5-9 at the Clark County Fairgrounds Lake at Champions Park, and Cedarville took home its fourth title in a row.
Cedarville edged out the University of Puerto Rico - Mayaguez for the championship. This is the 11th victory for Cedarville in its 15 years participating in the event. Cedarville is the most successful program in the event’s 25-year history.
“They [The University of Puerto Rico--Mayaguez] suffered a difficult year with the hurricane damage but still managed to bring a great entry to Solar Splash,” noted Dr. Tim Dewhurst, senior professor of mechanical engineering and co-advisor to the Cedarville Solar Boat team.
Other schools competing included the University of New Orleans, the University of Sherbrooke (Quebec, Canada), Carnegie Mellon University, Stevens Institute of Technology, the University of New Mexico, Middle Tennessee State University, Lamar University, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (Cal-Poly Pomona), the University of Dayton, and the University of Southern Indiana.
“We had teams from California to New Jersey, and from Canada to Texas,” Dewhurst said. “It was an honor to host such a great group of students from a wide range of backgrounds. Some of the teams that traveled the furthest brought the most people. About 15 came with the team from Lamar University in Texas, and the same number from the University of New Mexico.”
This year’s Cedarville team consisted of five recently graduated seniors: Josh Heanssler of Rockport, Maine; Will Heinig, Plain City, Ohio; Andrew Nelson, Buchanan, Michigan; Josh Schroepfer, Chesapeake, Virginia; and Jonathan Cox, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“We’re trying to provide senior design students with a worthwhile senior design experience,” said Dr. Gerry Brown, associate professor of electrical engineering and co-advisor to the Cedarville Solar Boat team. “Every year we’re looking for some aspect of the boat project for each one of them to improve — propellers, motor, weight reduction, electronics, etc.”
Part of the educational experience of solar boat is also on-the-spot problem-solving, just like real-world engineering. This year, while demonstrating the boat for a local TV morning show, the electric motor shorted out. “It was toast a day before competition,” said Brown. “If we hadn’t put on the demo, the problem wouldn’t have popped up until we got to competition, and that would have been rough. As it was, we had a 24-hour notice. We were able to take it apart, find the problem and fix it that night.”
Solar Splash tests the engineering design and production skills of each team through a technical inspection and a series of on-water contests. Each team builds a piloted boat up to 6 meters long, powered by 480 watts of solar power and 1.3 kilowatt-hours of stored energy in batteries.
Teams earn points based on their performance in a qualifier, high-speed sprint race, long-endurance races and a slalom event. The event judges also review technical reports submitted by each team and a visual display, which factor into the final score.
Even though the competition is intense, there’s a camaraderie and helpful spirit that permeates the event. “This year, we gave a speed control dial to the Puerto Rican team,” Brown said. “Quebec’s team burnt out the brushes on their motor and we had some spares that would work perfectly. We often ask other teams for items too. We’re there to be good sportsmen, good competitors, work hard and be fair.”
Business Conference in India Explores Ethical Leadership
While most 2018 alumni will be settling into new jobs this summer, one recent Cedarville University graduate will be leading a business leadership training conference in India.
Business management major Joseph Cross from Marysville, Ohio, who graduated in May, is preparing to travel to Chennai, India, with a group of three business students: Daniel Cable, Whitney O’Brien and AJ Ervin. They will lead an eight-day intercultural leadership development training conference July 6-19 for a group of Indian business students.
Cross and his team will present former academic vice president Lt. Gen., USAF (Ret.) Loren Reno’s leadership model as discussed in his book, “10 Leadership Maneuvers.” specifically in relation to ethical business management. Throughout the training, Indian students will develop a personal leadership model and discuss the application of these principles in both Indian and American cultural settings.
At the end of 2017, Cross began a small business, Cross Culture Connection (CCC), with a focus on intercultural business. Cross established a connection with Robert William, CEO of Pennsylvania Center of International Exchange and Partnership (PCIEP), who was also considering an exchange trip between business students at Cedarville University and in the Chennai region of India. Cross began pursuing this opportunity and strategized how a business partnership could be an effective way of crossing cultural divides.
“We want to help students learn how to lead and think critically,” Cross said. “Cedarville University and business students in Chennai will be able to see how others in the world think.”
Cross sees potential for an extensive partnership in the Chennai region in the future. “I am very excited for the possibility of developing a long-term relationship with these students,” he said, “and developing an organization here on campus in which we are able to use our business skills to serve others internationally.”
Cedarville University’s School of Pharmacy Receives $25,000 Grant from the Cardinal Health Foundation to Help Fight the Opioid Epidemic
Cedarville University’s School of Pharmacy was awarded a $25,000 grant from the Cardinal Health Foundation’s Generation Rx Best Practices in Pain Medication Use grant program. The grant will be used to continue to combat the opioid crisis in Dayton through a chronic pain management program with enhanced communication.
Specifically, Cedarville’s School of Pharmacy will work in collaboration with the Rocking Horse Center in Springfield, Ohio to help patients make good medical decisions relating to pain management. The Dayton region, including Springfield, is widely known for being one of the worst areas in the nation for opioid abuse.
“This grant will support our efforts to help people make better decisions with their pain management, and hopefully, through this grant, lives can be restored,” said Aleda Chen, Pharm.D., Ph.D, associate professor of pharmacy practice at Cedarville University. “We are pleased to partner with Cardinal Health on providing solutions to the opioid crisis that has gripped our nation.”
Cedarville University was one of 15 healthcare organizations across Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia to receive the Best Practices in Pain Medication Use grant. Cedarville is the only college or university in the Dayton region to be awarded a grant by Cardinal Health to combat the opioid crisis.
As part of Cardinal Health’s Opioid Action Program, the Best Practices in Pain Medication Use grants are designed to support healthcare organizations work with their prescribers to reduce opioid prescriptions, find alternatives to opioid medication for pain management, and better engage their patients—with the ultimate goal of better patient outcomes. Organizations receiving this grant will also come together regularly in a learning collaborative guided by pain management specialists from the Geisinger Health Clinic, to share their progress, lessons learned and best practices as they fight the opioid epidemic.
"All of the organizations selected for funding share our goal of turning the tide on the opioid epidemic," said Jessie Cannon, Vice President of Community Relations at Cardinal Health. "Ultimately, we expect our grantees to learn from each other—and we will learn from them. As they develop best practices, our goal is to spread this work throughout the country, and foster solutions to this complex public health crisis.”
Cedarville Students Return from Clarkston
Traveling the world is a dream of many. But for a team of 11 Cedarville University students on a medical missions trip, that journey happened in just six days in Clarkston, Georgia, a city landlocked and called “one of the most diverse square miles” in the United States.
In Clarkston, 90 different people groups live in the city, and, although many have jobs, most lack health insurance.
During the Cedarville students’ trip to Clarkston, they partnered with Encompass World Partners, a ministry that serves 34 countries, working at a clinic to provide free medical services. They visited a Mosque and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. At the CDC, they viewed an exhibit on the Ebola virus and held a health screening at Refuge Coffee Co.,a nonprofit business that provides jobs for refugees.
Serving this unique community were second-year professional pharmacy students Sarah Berman, Sarah Piraino, Madeline Meister, SangYo Kim and Sylvester Sarpong; sophomore nursing students Erica Rosner and Priscilla Songate; first-year professional pharmacy student Andrea Adegoke; junior linguistics major Rachel Fletcher; Linea Piraino, registered nurse; and Dr. Brenda Pahl, assistant professor of pharmacy practice.
“Each morning, before the clinic began seeing patients, all of the volunteers came together for prayer,” said Pahl. “Our prayer was that we would be able to serve those in need and be Jesus’ hands and feet.”
The team not only ministered to the physical needs, they also offered spiritual guidance to the many patients they assisted.
“One focus of Encompass World Partners is to minister to people in the United States who may return to their home countries in the future,” said Pahl. “Throughout our time together, we were able to learn more about these people groups so that we could minister to them.”
The students reflected positively on their experience serving the people of Clarkston and recommended that the missions opportunity be continued.
“Pharmacy is one of the most flexible careers in the world and has a variety of career opportunities,” said Kim. “I believe that being a pharmacist is a great chance to be involved in helping people in the world in a variety of ways, especially in the mission field.”
“The joy I had serving the people at Clarkston echoed the passion that God has placed on my heart to serve the less fortunate,” said Sarpong. “God works in mysterious ways, and the skills He taught me in Clarkston will one day be utilized when I return home to Ghana.”
New Master's Program Creates Streamlined Pathway
Faster, cost-efficient and now with more specialized options, Cedarville University’s Master of Divinity (M.Div.) program has announced attractive upgrades for students seeking a professional ministry degree. Students will save time and money, while having the chance to specialize in one of eight new tracks.
Stand-alone M.Div.
The streamlined stand-alone M.Div. makes this ministry-focused graduate degree possible in only three years with 79 credit hours, now among the lowest total credits required for M.Div. programs at conservative theological institutions. Students pursuing this pathway can also choose an optional nine-hour track in academic ministry, biblical apologetics, biblical care and counseling, missions, worship and theology, pastoral ministry, women’s ministry or youth and family ministry.
"We are excited about offering an M.Div. that has fewer overall hours, while maintaining our core of two years of Old Testament, two years of New Testament, two years of Christian theology and both Hebrew and Greek,” said Dr. Jason Lee, dean of the school of biblical and theological studies. “We believe that our specialized ministry tracks will enhance our students' preparation for serving the local church."
Accelerated M.Div.
The accelerated five-year B.A.+M.Div. allows students to achieve two degrees with significantly reduced cost. The newest change to the accelerated M.Div. is the addition of two tracks. The pastoral ministry track is built into the program, while students choose their second track from the same options that are available in the standalone M.Div.
"With these revisions to our accelerated B.A.+M.Div. program, we have maintained our accelerated curriculum, which saves students time and money,” said Lee. “We have also kept our robust core of Bible and theology, but now we have added more specialized training for ministry."
Advanced M.Div.
The new advanced M.Div., which is pending approval by the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the Higher Learning Commission, is a 61-hour program that assumes students have a 30-hour undergraduate prerequisite base in biblical and theological studies at Cedarville University or another accredited Christian university or Bible college. In the advanced program, students also have the option to choose a specialized ministry track.
“By adding the advanced M.Div. for students who have previous studies in Bible, along with our streamlined M.Div. program, Cedarville has become a more attractive option for students,” noted Lee. “What makes Cedarville’s M.Div. special is that we have maintained the entire core of our program.” Students taking any of these M.Div. pathways may be eligible for financial aid up to the amount of their estimated cost of attendance. To learn more about Cedarville University’s M.Div. program, visit cedarville.edu/MDiv.
Cedarville University Achieves High Postgraduate Placement Rates
Cedarville University’s School of Pharmacy graduates have met their “Match” and are rising above it.
Cedarville Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) alumni in their first postgraduate year are landing residencies and fellowships at a rate of 69 percent--four percentage points higher than the national average. The data improves to 100 percent for graduates two-years removed from their college education. The national average for second-year graduates is 76 percent. The statistical data was reported by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists National Matching Services Inc. “Match” program.
Cedarville University’s Pharm.D. graduates wishing to specialize in a particular area, such as cardiology, are required to complete postgraduate training to further their clinical practice skills during either a residency or fellowship training.
During residency or fellowship training, Pharm.D. grads spend one or two years practicing in a specialty area as a licensed pharmacist, under the supervision of one or more preceptors, experienced pharmacy practitioners.
“The Match is a highly competitive process,” said Zach Jenkins, assistant professor of pharmacy practice at Cedarville. “At a national level, one-third of candidates are unable to obtain a position following the Match each year. Despite being a fairly new pharmacy program — Cedarville University’s professional pharmacy program began 10 years ago — our students have consistently placed above national averages during the Match.”
Just over half of the 2018 professional pharmacy graduates are completing postgraduate training in Ohio. Students from the Pharm.D. class of 2018 secured the following PGY1 residencies or fellowship training opportunities:
● Grandview Medical Center, Dayton, OH
● Caresource, Dayton, OH
● Wake Forest University/Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, NC
● ProMedica Toledo Hospital, Toledo, OH
● Lima Memorial Health System, Lima, OH
● Forbes Hospital and Western Pennsylvania Hospital, Monroeville, PA
● Clement J Zablocki Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Milwaukee, WI
● Spectrum Health Hospitals, Grand Rapids, MI
● Rocking Horse Community Health Center, Springfield, OH
● Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy, Pittsburgh, PA
● University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
Students from the Pharm.D. class of 2017 are completing PGY2 postgraduate training in the following programs:
● Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, Toledo, OH
● Eskenazi Health, Indianapolis, IN
● Western Missouri Psychiatric Pharmacy Residency/UMKC, Kansas City, MO
● Marshfield Clinic, Marshfield, WI
“Our students have been able to market themselves well on a national level, with roughly half of them securing opportunities with highly regarded institutions outside the state of Ohio,” said Jenkins. “This is significant, as it's often challenging for new schools of pharmacy to have this high level of impact so early.”
Rising Enrollment Prompts New Residence Hall
Cedarville University will open one new residence hall in August — Walker Hall — and name a recently constructed townhouse — Rooke Hall — at the start of the 2018-19 academic year. Cedarville University has built several residential halls in recent years because of its rising enrollment, and 2018-19 is expected to be the largest enrollment in school history.
The university's first townhouse, constructed in 2012, has been named Rooke Hall after the late Rev. Wilbur C. Rooke, a member of the Cedarville Board of Trustees from 1954 to 1974.
Rooke pastored seven churches and served four churches as interim pastor during 55 years of ministry. He also served as secretary with the General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (GARBC) and on the GARBC’s governing council. He was a board member of the Baptist Christian School of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Baptist Bible Institute (BBI). BBI and Cedarville College merged in 1953.
“Wilbur Rooke was one of my heroes of the faith,” said Dr. Murray Murdoch, senior professor of history, who has taught at Cedarville since 1965. “He took a strong stand on the great doctrines of the Scripture, but always in a godly, gracious way.”
Rooke Hall has been a popular housing option for graduate students and upperclassmen. The 12,000-square-foot facility has eight six-person units each with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a full kitchen, washer and dryer and a furnished living room. Rooke Hall was constructed at a cost of $2 million.
Walker Hall, set to open in August, is named for Richard G. Walker, a longtime Cedarville employee who made a lifelong impact on students through his various staff roles.
Walker began his tenure at the university (then, Cedarville College) in 1970 in intramural recreation and food services. From 1975 until 1984 Walker served as the dean of men for the university, and in 1984 became the director of campus activities, the position he held until 2006. Walker then served families and alumni through his roles as dean of community and family life programs then coordinator for alumni engagement until his retirement in 2012.
“I think Dick Walker has probably made some of the most significant contributions of anyone who’s been at Cedarville,” said chancellor and former president Dr. Paul Dixon. Walker is a familiar name and a service role model to nearly four decades of Cedarville graduates.
Constructed at a cost of $3.3 million, Walker Hall features four 16-person units. Each of the spacious units includes eight bedrooms, a large living space, a kitchenette, a study lounge and a bathroom with built-in laundry.
According to Dr. Jon Wood, vice president for student life and Christian ministries, two significant goals of the university’s residence life program are discipling students and building community. “We view our residence halls as places for our students to live out biblical principles in their relationships with each other,” he said. “We bring that perspective into the way we design each of these unique living spaces.”
Both Walker and Rooke Halls will be officially named and dedicated as part of the university’s homecoming festivities in October.
Cleveland Clinic Honors Cedarville Nurse as Safety Champion
One Cedarville graduate has proven that safety is about more than protecting the physical body — it’s about caring for people’s hearts.
June Adams, staff nurse for the Cleveland Clinic Akron General Medical Center and 2017 Cedarville University Master of Science in Nursing (M.S.N.) graduate, was named a “Safety Champion” by the Cleveland Clinic in an awards ceremony in April.
The Cleveland Clinic recognized 111 individuals out of more than 50,000 caregivers in the hospital network as “Safety Champions.” The award went to caregivers who exhibited “Safety Through the Lens of High Reliability.” The recipients were individuals who spoke up for safety, improved patient safety and practiced leadership to sustain safety goals.
Adams has worked for Akron General for nearly 30 years. She currently works in the operating room (OR) and serves on the OR Education Council committee at Akron General.
Adams has made safety a priority by leading seminars on workplace conflict and bullying to educate her co-workers. She encourages them to communicate with one another and observe regulations for patient and staff safety.
“No one person can see everything, and the more eyes you have that are safety-minded, the more likely concerns are to be brought to light before they become a problematic situation,” said Adams.
“That’s where communication is key because if caregivers don’t feel they can speak up and be heard, you will find that most people will remain silent, potentially to the detriment of the patient or other caregivers.”
Adams received her Bachelor of Science in nursing at the University of Akron and sought a way to further her education in a Christian environment. She began her M.S.N. global health ministries degree at Cedarville after reading a postcard.
“I was trying to find a way to combine my Christian beliefs with my nursing practice,” said Adams. “I had never heard of Cedarville before, and then I got a postcard in the mail about their master’s in global health. I went to an information session and decided that Cedarville was the right school.”
The opportunity to learn from a Christian university encouraged Adams to minister to the needs of her patients and co-workers.
“I appreciate how Cedarville focused on incorporating biblical principles in every class,” said Adams. “What I’ve learned from my degree at Cedarville is to focus more intentional care on a person’s spirit. In health care, we are dealing with the physical and the mental, but when I hear the stuff going on in people’s personal lives, I have found that every single person is dealing with something.”
Cedarville University to Explore “The Morality of Free Markets” This Summer
What type of economic system will alleviate poverty and promote human flourishing while minimizing injustice and the abuse of power? The Cedarville Morality of Free Markets Seminar sponsored by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) will allow high school students to grapple with this question while learning from economic, business and political experts at a conference July 10-13 at Cedarville University.
Cost to attend the conference is $79. Online registration at fee.org/cedarville.
The seminar’s goal is to educate students on how markets function and the ways they are beneficial to all of society from top to bottom. There will be discussions on the historical development of markets from a virtuous standpoint, addressing how the free market is compatible with ethical principles.
“We are an integral part of bringing the Christian worldview to markets and give exposure to a wider world of economic thought,” said Dr. Marc Clauson, professor of history and law, who will present at the seminar. “This seminar gives us an opportunity to expose Cedarville University and the gospel to high school students. This fun and educational FEE seminar showcases our Christian commitment in every discipline, including economics.”
Other Cedarville professors leading the sessions include Dr. Mark Caleb Smith, director of the Center for Political Studies and chair, department of history and government; Dr. Jeff Haymond, dean, school of business administration; and Dr. Bert Wheeler, professor of economics, Berry chair for free enterprise.
Dr. Lawrence Reed, president of FEE; Brian Brenberg, chair of the program in business and finance and associate professor of business and economics at The King’s College (New York City, New York); and Dr. E. Calvin Beisner, founder and national spokesman of the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and policy advisor to The Heartland Institute, will speak at the seminar as well.
“We need education about economics, especially because many schools do not educate well in economics,” continued Clauson. “This gives high schoolers a head start to learn the necessary information of economics in a Christian college environment.”
