March 10, 2021

Dear Colleagues:

I hope that you are encouraged, as I have been, by the warmer weather we are experiencing this week. May it serve as a reminder to all of us that spring is quickly approaching! As we complete week seven of our spring semester, (our half-way mark!) I want to thank you for the education, care and support that you are delivering daily to our students—whether they are studying on-campus or remotely.

Our upcoming “Spring Staycation” for undergraduate students (March 11-14)

Last semester students and faculty indicated that it was very challenging to go through an entire semester without a break from their classes and academic routine. In response, the University added some “rest” days to our spring semester calendar, canceling classes this Thursday, March 11, and Friday, March 12. During this long weekend, Messiah is planning a “Spring Staycation” for students—four days of special giveaways, prizes, programs and events.

I am grateful to our colleagues in the Division of Student Success and Engagement who engaged SGA and other student leaders to plan an outstanding schedule of events for students, and to the Office of Human Resources, for developing innovative “Work and Win” incentives for our essential student workers who are serving campus during the break. Take a look at their creativity!

How will we proactively protect the health and safety of our campus and surrounding community during this time? The University is asking students to stay on campus during this time to relax, have fun with friends and get ready for the remaining days of the semester. Protecting our Messiah “bubble” is essential to keeping our community healthy as we endeavor to maintain an in-person educational experience. Students who must leave campus for essential travel are required to wear a mask and maintain social distance while away from campus (even at home with their family). Additionally, to help avoid a campus outbreak following our long spring weekend, Messiah will be conducting required population testing of all residential and commuter students on Tuesday, March 16, and Wednesday, March 17. Employee sampling testing will continue as planned.

Highlights from the January 2021 board of trustees meeting

Messiah’s board of trustees held their annual winter meeting via Zoom on Jan. 25. I shared a comprehensive campus update with trustees and led them through two interactive strategic planning feedback sessions related to the proposed vision statement and themes for the new Messiah University strategic plan for 2021-2024. Vice President for Diversity Affairs Todd Allen presented an educational session on the role of diversity affairs at Messiah before the meeting concluded with reports and action items from the board’s various committees, which are summarized below.

 From the Committee on Education: The board reviewed and approved term tenure and promotion status of faculty members as presented based on the recommendation of the Term-Tenure and Promotion Committee, the provost and the president. The provost’s office will communicate these decisions to the campus community via COENet and the Intercom.

 Joint motion from the Committees on Finance and Enrollment Management: The board approved funding not to exceed $2 million to allow the University to offer First-year Bridge Grants to incoming students with higher levels of demonstrated financial need in order to assist them as they transition to Messiah in the fall. Funding for this initiative will be made available from the federal government’s COVID relief allocation to Messiah.

Invitation to April 8 employee budget forum

On April 8, we will be holding an in-person and livestreamed Strategic Planning and Budget Forum at 3:30 p.m. in Parmer Hall. David Walker, vice president for finance and planning, and I look forward to updating all of you regarding the parameters of the FY22 budget, plans for summer 2021 camps and conferences, the launch of the 2021 fall semester, as well as presenting key themes and goals for the University’s strategic plan for 2022-2024. More details will follow in an email invitation to be communicated during the week of March 22.

Strategic planning progress

In early February, we launched the most public phase of our strategic planning process with a Theme Team kick-off event. The 48 members of our campus community assigned to one of four theme teams were introduced to each other and their team’s charge. The four themes represent challenges and opportunities that must be addressed in the next three years for Messiah to thrive.

By mid-to-late March, each team will submit potential goals and action steps that support their theme and align with both Messiah’s mission and a proposed new vision statement. In addition, strategic planning updates, including the four themes and a planning timeline, were recently shared with the COE Senate and the University Council. Our goal is to present a “polished” draft to campus governance groups and to the University’s board of trustees by the end of the spring semester. All employees are invited to follow the progress of the strategic planning process, and to review a draft of the proposed vision statement, on Messiah’s strategic planning website.

Enrollment snapshot

Undergraduate admissions fall 2021: The national news related to college admissions for the fall continues to paint a portrait of declining college enrollment for private higher education in our region. In addition to the shrinking traditional college-aged demographic, another layer of uncertainty exists as students navigate the college search amidst many additional pressures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

For Messiah, first-year applications lag behind last year by approximately 8 percent, while acceptances and deposits are running 9 percent behind. The next couple of weeks are important as we complete financial aid processes and distribute hundreds of congratulatory announcements celebrating the receipt of various Messiah University scholarships. As noted earlier, we are offering a First-year Bridge Grant (with funding approved by the board of trustees in January) to incoming students with higher levels of demonstrated financial need in order to assist them as they transition to Messiah in the fall.

Finally, we are pleased to be offering several in-person Admissions “mini events” as well as a variety of virtual sessions throughout March and April. Please see the March 1 campus email from Vice President for Enrollment Management John Chopka to confirm event dates and emphases. Thank you for all you are doing to assist admissions with these efforts!

March 8, 2021
Fall 2021 % to goal Goal Fall 2020

First-year Students
Applications 2,240 88% 2,550 2,430
Acceptances 1,764 90% 1,950 1,865
Active Deposits 293 51% 580 323

Transfer Students
Applications 166 57% 290 178
Acceptances 87 41% 210 94
Active Deposits 26 29% 90 35

Graduate enrollment FY21: Overall graduate student enrollment remains strong. The FY21 fiscal year budgeted credit hour goal is 14,811. With 15,829 registered credit hours, we have realized 107 percent of our goal—with additional enrollment to occur between now and June 2021. Comparing where we are this year to where we were last year on April 3, 2020 we are:

  • Ahead 19 new students (345 this year versus 326 last year)
  • Ahead 55 unduplicated students (941 this year versus 886 last year)
  • Ahead 2,392 credit hours (15,829 this year versus 13,437 last year; 107 percent to goal this year versus 106 percent to goal last year)

Giving update

 Overall giving FY21: We are now officially one year past the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and we are blessed by the steadfast generosity of our donors. We are still tracking ahead of last year’s giving totals at this time. In fact, the difference between the giving totals has significantly increased. We have received nearly $5.2 million in gifts (86 percent of our June 30, 2021 goal), which is almost $900,000 ahead of last year at this time. Total gifts and new pledges are now almost $8.7 million (72 percent of our June 30, 2021 goal).

The Messiah Fund: The Messiah Fund and Operating Giving is $702,496 which is 54 percent of our June 30 goal. Unlike overall giving, Messiah Fund giving is not tracking ahead of past years. As noted in my previous campus update, a key aspect of our spring Messiah Fund effort will be our annual Giving Day, scheduled for April 22. Matching gifts have been secured to help encourage alumni, parents and friends to make a donation during that one-day giving event. We also have expanded ways for donors to support the Messiah Fund, including adding categories to assist students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and to support the University’s PPE and related efforts to keeping Messiah open and safe.

 

FY21 Giving Update

as of March 5, 2021

  
Gifts Received Messiah Fund /

Operating

Gifts Received and

New Pledges

$ 5,158,901

 $ 702,496

$ 8,686,656

June 30, 2021 Goals:
$ 6,030,000

86 % of goal

 $ 1,300,000

54 % of goal

$ 12,030,000

72 % of goal

 Learning for Life, Transforming the World: The Campaign for Messiah University Kick-Off Event:  In my previous update, I noted a May date for the public launch for our upcoming $75 million capital campaign. Because of continuing COVID concerns related to large group gatherings, the kick-off event has been postponed. A new date will be shared with the campus community as soon as it is finalized.

Announcing our undergraduate commencement speakers for 2020 and 2021

I am pleased to announce the undergraduate Commencement speakers for the Class of 2020 and the Class of 2021 ceremonies that will be celebrated on May 8.

 H. David Brandt (Class of 2020 speaker): H. David Brandt served as the academic dean and academic vice president of Messiah College during a time of significant growth and maturation (1977-1988), particularly with respect to the expansion of Messiah’s academic curriculum, campus facilities and external programs. An educator and practitioner in the field of physics, Brandt was a research and development engineer for the Raytheon Company and ITT, and served on the physics faculty of Wheaton College (IL) and Gordon College (MA), prior to coming to Messiah. After serving for 11 years as Messiah’s chief academic officer, he went on to serve as provost at Bethel University (MN), and then as president of Tabor College (KS) and George Fox University (OR) before retiring from higher education. Read his full bio here.

On behalf of the Community of Educators, it will be my privilege to present Dr. Brandt with an honorary doctorate degree from Messiah University during the Commencement ceremony.

Soong-Chan Rah (Class of 2021 speaker):  Soong-Chan Rah is Robert Munger Professor of Evangelism at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of The Next Evangelicalism (IVP Books, 2009); Many Colors (Moody, 2010); Prophetic Lament (IVP Books, 2015); co-author of Forgive Us (Zondervan, 2014); Return to Justice (Brazos, 2016); and Unsettling Truths (IVP Books, 2019). Rah received his B.A. from Columbia University; his M.Div. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary; his Th.M. from Harvard University; his D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and his Th.D. from Duke University. He is formerly the founding senior pastor of Cambridge Community Fellowship Church (CCFC), a multi-ethnic church living out the values of racial reconciliation and social justice in the urban context. Rah has previously served on the boards of World Vision, Sojourners and the Christian Community Development Association. Read his full bio here.

The speaker for the School of Graduate Studies Commencement is being finalized and will soon be announced to the campus community.

Good news about Messiah

Here is a sample of some recent highlights about the success of Messiah University’s programs and people. For more details visit messiah.edu/news, Messiah’s official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MessiahUniversity/ and the Bridge magazine www.messiah.edu/the_Bridge (the source sites for many of the below news items).

  • Congratulations to Professors Richard Schaeffer and Brenton Good for being named as Lilly Faculty Fellows. This is a highly competitive program with 16 teams applying for seven spots. Through the Lilly Faculty Fellows Program, each team participates in a two-year program that includes a series of in-person and virtual conferences, in addition to receiving start-up funds of $8,000 to inaugurate a Lilly Faculty Fellows Program on their own campus.
  • Congratulations to Messiah’s Department of Nursing for achieving a #1 ranking on RegisteredNursing.org’s 2021 list of “Best Nursing Schools in Pennsylvania. Our students are fortunate to learn from such hard working and diligent faculty and staff. Read more.
  • Last month, the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) announced a multiyear project, “Legacies of American Slavery: Reckoning with the Past.” This initiative is designed to help CIC member institutions, their students, and their communities explore the continuing impact of slavery on American life and culture. The project will support campus-based research, teaching and learning, as well as community-based programs about the multiple legacies of slavery. The CIC announced Messiah University as one of a dozen colleges and universities Institutional Affiliates, which will continue to play a foundational role in developing related regional and national networks. Programmatic activities will begin this spring and build toward a series of regional conferences hosted by selected Regional Collaboration Partners during the 2021–2022 academic year. Read the full release.
  • The Burg magazine recently ran an article featuring Messiah University’s nearly $1million Lilly Grant for a project called “Thriving Together: Congregations for Racial Justice.” The story covered the project’s efforts to cultivate Christian congregations learning to understand the history of racial injustice and the biblical mandate for reconciliation. Read the Burg article.
  • Congratulations to Carol McGinnis, associate professor of counseling, on her recently awarded grant for her project, “Anger Works SIP Psychospiritual Interventions.” This project will provide workshop opportunities to teach licensed mental health practitioners to ethically incorporate spirituality in counseling. Learn more.
  • Earlier this month, Messiah’s Esports team secured second place state finishes in both League of Legends and Overwatch in this year’s PA Cup hosted by Harrisburg University. Messiah’s team will continue to play in national level tournaments throughout the spring. Congratulations to these teams on their hard work and skill!
  • I invite you to view these two recent CBS21 interviews with our own counselor, Cathy Coleman, from the Engle Center, one on dating relationships in the time of pandemic, and the other on mental health struggles in communities of color. Thank you for sharing your expertise with our region.
  • Congratulations to Beth Hockenberry ’21 on recently receiving the Mary E. Brown Undergraduate Student Paper Award from the Association for Death Education and Counseling (ADEC). Under the tutelage of Paul Johns, Hockenberry identified protective and risk factors in the literature for the purpose of developing a four-hour, empirically-based family life education program for individuals and couples who have experienced miscarriage. She will also present a poster at ADEC’s annual conference this April on her family life education program called “Miscarriage: A Loss to Remember.”
  • Messiah University is honored to be included in the College Consensus’ 2020 “Best Disability Friendly Colleges and Universities” list. The colleges included in this ranking are described as “schools that take accessibility seriously when considering the needs of students with disabilities.”

In closing

I look forward to being with our students as they enjoy “Staycation” events that so many of you have carefully planned for them. I trust that this weekend will be the start of longer, brighter days ahead! Thank you for selflessly fulfilling the Christian educational mission of Messiah University on behalf of our deserving students. The world needs Messiah graduates!

Warm regards,

Kim S. Phipps, President