MAGAZINE FALL 2018 King recognizes distinguished alumnus Charles E. James Sr. '71 Page 14 The KING Magazine is published by the CONTRIBUTORS King University Marketing & Communications King Online Department in the Advancement Office. LAURA BOGGAN Follow King University on social media, TRAVIS CHELL, Sports Information Director and stay updated with stories from the 1350 King College Rd., Bristol, TN 37620 King community. Show your King spirit 800.621.5464 | www.king.edu SARAH CLEVINGER with #KingUniversity and #KingPride. Letters & comments can be sent to: DAVID WOOD PHOTOGRAPHY DENISE ASBURY HILLHOUSE CREATIVE facebook.com/KingUniversity [email protected] SYLVIA MUSGROVE ANGIE PETERSON, Graphic Designer twitter.com/KingUnivBristol ALEXANDER W. WHITAKER IV MICAH RIDLEY, Multimedia Manager President instagram.com/kinguniversity BRENT E. DAVISON [email protected] Vice President for Advancement snapchat.com/kinguniversity DENISE ASBURY Director or Development Our Mission Our Vision We prepare students in our Christian academic community We aim to be the preeminent small to medium-sized Christian to excel as thoughtful, resourceful, and responsible citizens university in the Upper South, with a reputation earned with a passion for serving God, the Church, and the world. there and beyond as a school serious about its Christian We accomplish this through excellent teaching, high commitment, focused on student success, dedicated to expectations, worthwhile example, and fidelity to our academic excellence, and successful in producing graduates Presbyterian heritage. Our mission is the same for all who excel wherever they live, work, and serve. campuses and sites; for online learning; and for all programs, curricular and extracurricular, graduate and undergraduate. Features 8 A TREASURE IN KING’S CROWN 20 TORNADO HIGHLIGHTS Employed at King since 1952, and still Keep up with the Doi sisters, King’s twin going strong, King University celebrates tornadoes, and read about Mitch Stophel’s Jewel Bell and her 66 years of service to the dreams and the MLB draft. King University community. 25 POWERED BY GIRLS 10 PASSION FOR KING: The King University Women in STEM Club shares SIX RETIREES REFLECT ON a wealth of knowledge at STEM Day for Girls. THEIR TIME AT KING Six of King’s finest retired in 2017. Each one 26 PRESCRIPTION FOR SUCCESS: shares stories and memories from his or LAURIE PEERY ’08 her time serving King University. From pharmacist to clinical advisor and advocate for curbing prescription drug abuse, 14 DISTINGUISHED ALUMNUS: Laurie Peery shares her love of a career for which CHARLES E. JAMES, SR. ’71 she didn’t originally plan. 18 ALL ROADS LEAD TO KING 28 GIVING BACK–PAYING IT FORWARD: Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and friends PHYL SNAPP ’68 celebrated Spirit Week and the 92nd Phyl Snapp, building on his family farming Dogwood Homecoming Week, April 2–8. legacy, uses his knowledge to enrich the land and lives of others. What makes King different? I am asked this question frequently by prospective students and parents and by others who may not have been familiar with King. In the minds of most people there exists an image of a generic college or university, so how King diverges from that is what most interests those who show interest in the Alexander W. Whitaker IV, school. When they ask what is different about King, they president of King University are actually asking what our mission is, and how it is distinct. In a nation with so many different colleges and We prepare students in our Christian universities, it is an entirely appropriate thing to ask. academic community to excel as I have led and been involved in many strategic planning processes through the years. And sometimes thoughtful, resourceful, and responsible the most effective way to identify the distinctiveness of an organization is to ask what would be missing if it citizens with a passion for serving God, did not exist. How would the lives of those served be diminished? What is it that the organization does—and the Church, and the world. does so well—that it cannot be replicated, effectively or at all? What is it about our mission and how we We accomplish this through excellent accomplish it that makes us truly irreplaceable? teaching, high expectations, worthwhile Thinking of mission in this way helps sharpen appreciation of all the good things we do—and can do example, and fidelity to our Presbyterian better than others. heritage. Our mission is the same for all A mission statement is simply a statement of what unique and irreplaceable thing we are sent here to do— campuses and sites; for online learning; the root of the word mission coming from the Latin verb to send—that which no one else can do as well. A really and for all programs, curricular and good mission statement captures succinctly the what, extracurricular, graduate how, and why of an institution. and undergraduate. Crafting a new mission statement in our re-accreditation year —King University Within higher education, having an appropriate Mission statement and effective mission statement is an accreditation requirement. Our regional accrediting body, SACSCOC, mandates we have a clearly defined, comprehensive, and published mission statement. As King this year entered our every-ten-year reaffirmation process for accreditation, it became clear that the school’s then-existing mission statement— though it had notable strengths—needed to be improved. While it spoke concisely to meaningful 4 | KING MAGAZINE Alexander W. Whitaker IV, J.D. achievement and transforming the culture through lived out in practical terms. We have also shared these Christ, it did not mention students or the academic booklets with alumni at Dogwood and with friends, as enterprise or excellence. Because it was focused on they show powerfully what gifts to King are helping to something far off and unmeasurable—a transformed accomplish. culture—it did not yield itself to criteria that would guide what we do on a day-to-day basis. It could in fact have A student-focused mission statement been a mission statement for all sorts of organizations The statement has two parts: the actual mission other than a university. We knew it was time to construct statement—a single sentence—and then two subsidiary a new mission statement. sentences that describe the distinctive strengths we have At the same time, it was equally important to at King that help us achieve the mission and that make reinforce that a new mission statement did not mean clear the mission applies across all of our programs. King had a new mission. Indeed, King’s mission has been (This last sentence addresses King’s various sites and remarkably constant through its 151-year history—one types of classes.) even more concisely captured in our motto, Ecclesiae et I encourage you to join with the campus community Litteris (for the church and for learning). A new mission in thinking about this statement and what it means. statement simply meant a new articulation of that I’ll highlight here some important aspects of the main mission that was suitable to today’s context, one that statement. could convey effectively to all of our constituencies what First, it is focused on students. The core activity in we do, how we do it, and what we aim to accomplish. the statement is simply put: “We prepare students.” Done properly, the statement would resonate as true Students (missing from the earlier statement) are our and authentic with those who have known King the best sole focus and object of our energies. And we are not across the decades and today. only engaging them for the moment, but shaping them Over several months we involved representatives from in anticipation of their lives beyond King. all those constituencies in constructing a revised mission Second, the place we do this (whether on-campus statement: students, faculty, staff, alumni, trustees, or online) is a particular type of place: a community and friends. Each word was chosen carefully. Everyone that is both Christian and academic. Being more than worked hard to keep the statement focused on the a school, but a community, implies different sorts of essence of what King does, across the institution. The relationships and interdependence and obligations result of that work was a new mission statement (left) than were we merely a place of instruction. And by that the board of trustees approved. It was not only a emphasizing being both Christian and academic, we critical undertaking for accreditation purposes, but was make plain that we see these two not in contradiction also a much-needed opportunity for us all to discuss but as equally important to the work we do developing what King is and should be and where our focus students. needed to be. Third, we want our students to excel. We want more We are committed to having this mission statement than their matriculation and attendance, more than guide all we do. Toward that end, we had a convocation their getting good grades in their classes or wins in to discuss what it means, not only in its aspirations, but their sports. We want a habit of excellence to mark all also in how it manifests itself day to day. We published they do, not only at King but throughout their lives. a small booklet for everyone who studies and works Excellence has been a hallmark of King graduates since here, “Who We Are and What We Do” that parses the the beginning and must continue to be so. words of the statement and gives examples of how it is continues on page 6 FALL 2018 | 5 OUR MISSION, OUR MESSAGE (continued) Fourth, we want our students to become citizens Making the mission a reality of a particular sort.