February 17, 2017
Dear Colleagues:
On Jan. 29-31, I met with the College’s board of trustees at their annual winter meeting. As always, the board was encouraged to learn of the notable achievements of our students, alumni and employees. I would like to take this opportunity to provide you with a summary report of the recent board meeting and provide additional campus news.
Summary of January board of trustees meeting
At the board’s first general session on Jan. 29, the trustees and the College’s senior administration engaged in a comprehensive look at institutional self-determination, finances, enrollment, programming, fundraising and capital projects for 2017-2020. This presentation—rooted in the College’s strategic plan and campus master plan—enabled us to gain increased clarity about trends, challenges and opportunities for the College. During the second general session on Jan. 30, officers of the Rider Musser Development LLC presented its annual update. Click here for a brief summary.
Key actions from the winter board meeting included:
From the Committee on Assurance:
- The board approved to proceed with a financial audit of the College’s fiscal 2017 financial statements and the Institutional Assistance Grant Program.
- The board approved to proceed with a review of the College’s Federal Return forms for the tax year ended June 30, 2016; and approved to move forward with the audit of the Messiah College Defined Contribution Retirement Plan for the year ended Dec. 31, 2016.
From the Committee on Education: The board reviewed and approved promotion for faculty members as presented based on the recommendation of the Term-Tenure and Promotion Committee, the provost and the president, effective Aug. 1, 2017. The provost’s office will communicate these decisions to the campus community via the Intercom.
From the Committee on Finance: The board approved the tuition, fees, room and board rates for FY18 as outlined below, and as previously reviewed and approved by campus governance groups.
| Proposed Tuition, Fees, Room and Board | |||
| 2017-2018 | |||
| Current Year2016-2017 | Proposed 2017-2018 | Increase | |
| Undergraduate Tuition | $32,350 | $33,320 | 3.00% |
| SGA Fee* | 240 | 250 | 4.17% |
| Student Services Fee | 590 | 590 | 0% |
| Room (double occupancy) | 5,250 | 5,410 | 3.05% |
| Board | 4,670 | 4,810 | 3.00% |
| Total Undergraduate | $43,100 | $44,380 | 2.97% |
| Graduate Tuition (per credit/hour) | |||
| Business and Leadership | $625 | $645 | 3.20% |
| Conducting | $625 | $645 | 3.20% |
| Counseling | $625 | $645 | 3.20% |
| Education | $625 | $645 | 3.20% |
| Higher Education | $625 | $645 | 3.20% |
| Nursing MSN | $625 | $645 | 3.20% |
| Dietetic Internship | $815 | $840 | 3.06% |
| Nursing DNP | $765 | $790 | 3.26% |
| Occupational Therapy | n/a | $850 | n/a |
New undergraduate programs
This week, the COE Senate approved the following new undergraduate programs:
- Majors in actuarial science and finance: New undergraduate degrees in actuarial science (housed in the School of Science, Engineering and Health) and in finance (housed in the School of Business, Education and Social Sciences) will be offered effective in the fall 2017 term. Both of these majors are in demand by employers and are frequently requested by prospective students (particularly international students).
- Minor in speech and language pathology: Also effective fall 2017, this curricular expansion will afford undergraduate students the opportunity to complete the most commonly required prerequisites for graduate admission in the field. Further research is being conducted regarding Messiah developing a speech and language pathology master’s program.
Enrollment snapshot
Spring undergraduate enrollment update: Despite successful fall and spring enrollment cycles (new student targets were achieved), we are down 28 financial full-time equivalent (FFTE) students from our annualized FFTE goal of 2,628. Higher than average three-year graduation rates started us with a projected enrollment shortfall of 11 financial full-time equivalent FFTE students for FY17. This spring, the student shortfall increased with fall-to-spring retention rates for sophomores and juniors being 2-3 percent lower than historical rates. The Retention Team is analyzing this concerning rate and they will be reporting their findings to the President’s Cabinet and Provost’s Cabinet prior to spring break.
Admissions activity for fall 2017: Application activity for fall 2017 is currently trending close to our prior three-year average. Early deposits are running 12 percent behind; we have typically surpassed 300 deposits by this stage of the admission cycle, but this year’s early FAFSA process has made it difficult to predict how the class is shaping up. (We believe that many students and their families are waiting to make a final decision pending the confirmation of additional institutional aid.) For instance, our premier scholarship interviews will be completed later this month.
The Admissions team continues to actively work with students and their families to answer questions, encourage campus visits, and to communicate the outstanding value of a Messiah College education. On Feb. 20 (President’s Day) at our winter open house—we will welcome more than 980 guests! Accepted Student Preview Days will also be held during the next few weeks. Please make every effort to warmly welcome prospective students and their families. May 1 is typically considered the traditional decision timeline, so we will receive more deposits as families fully consider financial aid options from Messiah and elsewhere.
| Feb. 14, 2017 | ||||
| First-year Students | Fall 2017 | % to goal | Goal | Previous three- year average to date |
| Inquiries | 38,419 | 137% | 28,000 | 26,196 |
| Applications | 2,340 | 87% | 2,700 | 2,311 |
| Acceptances | 1,750 | 85% | 2,050 | 1,761 |
| Active Deposits | 287 | 42% | 675 | 326 |
| Transfer Applications | 164 | 57% | 288 | 119 |
| Acceptances | 75 | 39% | 191 | 60 |
| Active Deposits | 12 | 14% | 85 | 6 |
Graduate enrollment update: Overall graduate enrollment continues to increase at a steady pace. To this point in the fiscal year, 655 students have enrolled (we have met our FY17 goal of 655!) for a total of 8,381 credit hours exceeding our goal of 8,234 (versus 590 students and 7,634 credit hours at this point last year).
News from the School of Graduate Studies
Director of graduate enrollment position: Earlier this week, Rob Pepper, dean of the School of Graduate Studies, announced that Allan Mathew has accepted the offer to serve as Messiah’s new director of graduate enrollment. Allan has been working for the past four years in the Messiah College undergraduate Admissions Office; most recently he has served in the role of assistant director of admissions for multicultural student recruitment. As both an undergraduate and graduate alumnus of Messiah, he has firsthand knowledge of the Messiah College educational experience and is currently pursuing a distance education doctoral program in higher education at Azusa Pacific University. Allan will begin his role on Feb. 21 and for the next eight weeks he will assist the undergraduate admissions team as they complete their recruitment cycle prior to focusing full time efforts on behalf of the School of Graduate Studies.
Additional graduate programs and personnel to move to Winding Hill: As we continue to fully implement the School of Graduate Studies, we have made the strategic decision to relocate the Office of the Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, the associate registrar for the graduate school, the Graduate Enrollment team, and the Graduate Program in Education to the Winding Hill location. With our current and future growth anticipated over the next 18 months, these moves will provide a long-term “home” and concrete identity for the School of Graduate Studies. In addition, the moves will improve efficiencies, foster opportunities for enhanced collaboration and communication, and create a hospitable and welcoming organizational culture for our prospective students. These moves will be completed prior to the first cohort of occupational therapy students beginning their studies on July 3, 2017.
Occupational therapy: The Master of Occupational Therapy Program has been granted official candidacy status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). This has enabled the College to begin accepting our first cohort of students! We are now receiving deposits, building a wait list, and hosting several open house and accepted student events at Winding Hill. The program has received over 240 initial applications via the national OTCAS system, and over 50 completed applications have been specifically processed for Messiah College. This is a positive initial launch of our recruitment efforts for an anticipated first cohort of 30 students for the program, which will begin in July 2017.
Physical therapy: The Doctorate in Physical Therapy Program has been placed in pre-candidacy status, resulting from a positive review of the Notification of Intent to Seek Accreditation and the Notification of Program Director Employment by the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) of The American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Next steps include completing the program curriculum and processing it through the Messiah College governance bodies. The application for candidacy will be submitted by Dec. 1, 2017, to CAPTE and will be reviewed and acted upon in May 2018. Upon a successful review, the program will be granted the status of Candidate for Accreditation and students will be permitted to enroll in the fall 2018 cohort.
Giving update
Giving remains strong for FY17 and we are grateful to each person who generously supports our mission. The main difference over last year at this time is the absence of a large unrestricted bequest which we received in FY16.
| Overall Giving | Messiah Fund / Operating |
| Feb. 10, 2017 | Feb. 10, 2017 |
| $ 5,527,721 | $ 855,672 |
| 78% of June 30, 2017 goal of $7.1 million | 58% of June 30, 2017 goal of $1,484,220 |
Giving Day: Messiah College’s inaugural Giving Day, held on Feb. 9, was a great success! The goal was to achieve $100,000 in one day of giving, with gifts being directed toward the Messiah Fund, general athletics, the Collaboratory, and service/missions. A total of $116,256 was raised, which is 116 percent of our goal! This effort was our first foray into crowdfunding / social media fundraising, and it proved to be a wonderful way to engage donors of all ages, including alumni, grandparents, parents, students, employees and their children!
Finance lab and field hockey resurface: The Development Office continues to work on raising funds for two priority capital projects that were mentioned in my previous campus update: a new finance lab in Frey Hall; and the resurfacing of Anderson Field. We are honored to announce that the finance lab will be named in honor of the late Ralph S. Larsen, a longtime friend and generous supporter of Messiah College. Dorothy Larsen, spouse of Ralph and former Messiah College trustee, provided the lead gift for this project. The fundraising goal for the lab is $750,000, of which $545,500 has been raised. We are working diligently to raise the remaining $204,500 by March 31, so that construction could occur in the summer of 2017. At the same time, we continue to work on raising funds for the Anderson Field resurfacing project. This field is home to our NCAA Division III 2016 National Champion Field Hockey team as well as other intercollegiate teams. A fundraising target has been set for $150,000 and we have raised $71,900 toward our goal. It is imperative that we reach our goal within the next two weeks in order for construction to begin in time for the fall season.
Endowment Challenge #4: At the May 2016 board of trustees meetings, the Committees on Finance and Advancement approved allocating $250,000 in matching dollars to launch a fourth endowment challenge. As noted in previous updates, the matching dollars permit a donor to establish a new endowed scholarship at half the cost. The matching dollars cover the other half. A total of $250,000 was raised as part of Challenge #4, which was five months ahead of schedule. Since the Board of Trustees began authorizing these endowment challenges, over $2.3 million has been raised in total endowment along with the creation of 42 new scholarship funds and increased gifts to 50 existing funds. The development team is already working on Endowment Challenge #5!
Joseph Jones named president of Fresno Pacific University
Congratulations to our former Messiah colleague and trustee Joseph Jones, who was recently named as the president of Fresno Pacific University. Dr. Jones served as Messiah’s first dean of the School of Education and Social Sciences and he was instrumental in furthering the College’s engagement in the capital city. In addition, he also served as a Messiah College trustee for three years while he was employed as North Park University’s provost. I am honored to be one of the invited speakers for “Joe’s” inauguration scheduled for October 2017.
Campus climate survey
During the week of Feb. 20, the College will be distributing a Campus Climate Survey. Our goal is to gather data from our community that will inform the development/evaluation of institutional programming/services that will: enhance our inter-cultural competence; develop targeted discrimination prevention initiatives; and provide educational programming that reflects Messiah’s commitment to being a hospitable community, embracing diversity and ending inter-personal violence. In accordance with our strategic plan, the College intends this survey to be the first of ongoing annual assessments measuring community experiences, perceptions and programs. We need your participation to help us to fulfill our mission to be an educational community characterized by gracious Christianity. I encourage all members of our campus community to share your experiences by completing the survey.
Fitness center progress
The fitness center addition and renovation is now more than 60 percent complete; students and employees have enjoyed witnessing the progress as they enter campus each day. The fitness center and new gymnasium exterior structures were completed in December. Windows are being installed to help enclose the space and provide a tempered space for the finishing work. Considerable effort is being made to complete the new auxiliary gym by May 1 so that work can then begin on the renovations to Hitchcock Arena. New offices will be completed and available for move-in by early summer. The new fitness and athletic facilities will be open at the beginning of the fall 2017 semester.
Good news about Messiah College
Here is a sample of some recent new highlights about the success and recognition of Messiah College’s programs and people. For more details visit messiah.edu/news, Messiah’s official Facebook page at facebook.com/MessiahCollege and the Bridge magazine www.messiah.edu/the_Bridge (the source sites for many of the below news items).
- Messiah continues its national distinction of its undergraduate accounting program. In 2016 Messiah account students’ CPA exam pass rate was 83.8 percent (far exceeding the national average of 54.4 percent)! This means that Messiah’s accounting program ranked #1 in Pennsylvania (out of 74 programs), #1 for medium-sized programs in the nation (out of 294 programs), and #10 in the nation overall (out of 858 programs). Congratulations to our accounting graduates, faculty and current students!
- In January, Messiah College was named the #1 Best Business Degree Program for 2017 by Christian Universities Online—for both its undergraduate and graduate level programs. Messiah’s Department of Business offers six majors, seven minors and eight concentrations and Messiah’s Graduate Program in Business and Leadership offers an MBA degree, a master’s in strategic leadership and numerous graduate certificate programs.
- Messiah College was one of 31 institutions awarded a Campus Dialogue Grant from the Bridging Theory to Practice (BTtoP) organization; more than 230 proposals were submitted for consideration. The awarded grants provide support for one -year projects (calendar year 2017) based around a thematically integrated dialogue involving an intentional group of diverse campus constituents. Authored and co–directed by Peter Powers, dean of the School of the Humanities and Cynthia Wells, director of The Ernest L. Boyer Center, in collaboration with Provost Basinger, Messiah’s awarded grant of $5,000 focuses on developing a shared narrative of human flourishing for the common good that aligns with our institutional mission.
- Brian Smith, chair of the Department of Biblical and Religious Studies, was selected to participate in the summer 2017 seminar on Teaching Vocational Exploration offered by the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) through its Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE). Member institutions were able to submit one nomination, which required support from the senior academic officer and an application from the nominee. Dr. Smith was one of only 25 faculty members selected for this seminar.
- Elizabeth Dubin, assistant professor of art education and director of the Aughinbaugh Gallery, has won the Dissertation of the Year award from the American Educational Research Association—a major international organization that represents education in all disciplines beyond her own discipline of art education. She will be recognized in April at the organization’s national meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
- The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the largest scientific society in the nation, recently released a brief video about science and religion. In this short film, historians of science Lawrence Principe (Johns Hopkins University) and Ted Davis (Messiah College) introduce a little-known story from American history that provides context for the common notion that science and religion are incompatible. Watch “Science and Religion: The Draper-White Conflict Thesis.”
- Professor of Engineering Don Pratt served as technical consultant and animation designer for the January 2017 PBS documentary “The Race Underground”that tells the story of the design and building of the first subway system in the United States in Boston. The prodigious inventor and electrical engineer Frank Sprague is featured in the documentary, and part of Don’s role was to decipher Sprague’s notes and sketches. Read the Boston Globe’s review of the program here or view online.
Athletics highlights
Below are some highlights since my last update from Messiah Athletics. Visit www.GoMessiah.com the source for the stories below and for the Falcons’ most current scores, announcements and the full slate of team-specific news.
- Several Messiah teams are well represented in the current national rankings:
- Messiah women’s basketball is currently 23-1 overall, including 14-1 in the MAC Commonwealth, and they hold a No. 19 national ranking.
- Messiah wrestling is 17-3 overall with a No. 8 national ranking; four Falcons are currently ranked within the Top 10 of their respective weight class: Lucas Malmberg (125, No. 1), Larry Cannon (165, No. 5), Ben Swarr (174, No.1), and Kyle Koser (197, No. 8). Additionally, of note, junior Hunter Harris leads all NCAA Division I, II, or III wrestlers with 28 falls (“pins”) this season.
- Messiah softball is currently No. 3 nationally, and they open their season on Feb. 23.
- Messiah women’s lacrosse is currently ranked No. 17 nationally, and they open their season on Feb. 22.
- Messiah women’s swimming recently won their fourth-straight MAC Championship. Junior Katie Wingert was named the MAC Swimmer of the Year after winning three individual gold medals and helping Messiah earn three of their four gold medals in relay events. Additionally, Wingert collected an NCAA B Cut time in the 100 Freestyle and will now wait to see if she is selected for participation in the NCAA Championships.
- Messiah wrestling recently won their second-straight MAC Championship (and third in four years) and they also collected a first-place finish at the prestigious Wheaton College Invitational for the first time in program history.
- Messiah men’s basketball coach Rick Van Pelt recorded his 200th career win on Jan. 4 when the Falcons defeated Stevenson University, 72-65. Van Pelt is in his 14th season as head coach of the Falcons.
- Messiah Athletics announced the promotion of men’s volleyball to NCAA Division III status starting during the 2017-18 academic year. A search for a head coach is underway and a full slate of games will be scheduled for spring 2018.
In closing
Every day, I am reminded of the many ways that God is blessing our community’s efforts to educate Messiah students for lives of leadership, service and reconciliation. Our shared work truly matters – thank you for your commitment!
Warmest regards,
Kim S. Phipps, President