Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University Association of Theological Schools Self-Study Winter 2014 1 Table of Contents Introduction 3 Section 1: General Institutional Standards 1. Institutional Purpose and Evaluation 4 2. Institutional Integrity 10 3. The Theological Curriculum 13 4. Library and Information Resources 22 5. Faculty 24 6. Student Services 28 7. Authority and Governance 34 8. Institutional Resources 38 Section 2: Educational and Degree Program Standards A. Educational Standards 1. Degree Programs and Nomenclature 45 2. Main Campus 47 3. Extension Education 48 4. Distance Education 52 5. Faculty-Directed Instruction 56 6. Assessment of Outcomes 57 7. Admission 67 8. Non-Degree Programs 68 B. Degree Program Standards 1. Master of Arts in Ministry 70 2. Master of Divinity 73 3. Master of Practical Theology 75 Self-Study Conclusion 78 Appendices A. University and Seminary Organizational Charts 82 B. Broader University Aims and Outcomes 83 C. Seminary Faculty By-Laws 85 D. Faculty Handbook 90 E. Degree Outcomes 105 F. MA, MDiv, MPTh Curricula 106 G. Fall 2013 Financial Report 122 H. Student Evaluation Information 125 I. Assessment Rubrics 136 J. Full-Time Faculty 140 2 Introduction History of the Seminary Indiana Wesleyan University itself (IWU) was founded in 1920 as “Marion College” and is an evangelical Christian comprehensive university committed to liberal arts and professional education. The university at large has around 15,000 students and is thus the largest private university in the State of Indiana. Over 3000 currently attend its Marion campus. Marion College received its initial accreditation from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools in 1966. It has remained in good standing ever since and had its last visit from the Higher Learning Commission within North Central in 2010. A strategic decision in the early 1980s greatly set the trajectory of the university toward what it is today. Having established itself as a solid liberal arts college, the university began offering courses and degrees to working adults during evening hours and Saturdays. This movement toward innovative adult programs resulted in a sharp enrollment growth that radically transformed the institution. In more than two decades, IWU’s enrollment jumped from 1,087 to approximately 15,000. Within the state of Indiana, IWU has been the fastest-growing university and the largest private university in total enrollment. It is the largest school in the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities. It has some 12,000 adult learners at regional sites throughout Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio, and online. Another key decision in our history took place in 1997 when IWU decided to move into the arena of online education. While the addition of adult education set a trajectory toward rapid enrollment growth for the university, the move into online education accelerated this growth significantly. Of the 12,000 adult learners currently within the university, about 7,500 are online. Theological education has always been a prominent feature of IWU. The Master of Arts (MA) in Ministry, which is now part of the seminary, commenced in 1979. In those days, it was only available for those who lived within driving distance of the college. Then in the 90s, it transformed into a program based on one week intensives that allowed individuals to take the degree while living at some distance from the university. In 2004, then Director of Graduate Ministry, Dr. David Wright, reformulated the degree into a format similar to that of IWU’s College of Adult and Professional Studies, a decision that rejuvenated the degree. Students would now proceed through a more fixed curriculum in cohorts, and the degree would be available online. Concentration tracks in Leadership and Youth Ministry were created. The program at that time had a single full-time professor in Dr. Bob Whitesel. The majority of the courses were staffed by adjuncts, including a significant number of individuals from what was then the undergraduate Division of Religion and Philosophy. The question of whether IWU should start a seminary had surfaced several times in the 80s and 90s. The Wesleyan Church, the parent denomination of IWU, had never had its own seminary. Rather, for those ministers who chose to get a seminary degree, it relied on outside seminaries of a kindred theological spirit, like Asbury Theological Seminary. In the early 80s and late 90s, 3 various task forces had explored and affirmed the idea that The Wesleyan Church might have its own seminary, but had not considered the financial situation appropriate to pull the trigger. In 2006, as President-elect Henry Smith was preparing to assume the presidency of the university, he initiated a number of conversations to consider whether the time might finally be right to found a seminary at IWU. Both the undergraduate Division of Religion and Philosophy and the Department of Graduate Ministry with its MA unanimously supported the idea. In fact, the Director of the MA at that time, Russ Gunsalus, was half-time in the undergraduate college in addition to directing the graduate program in ministry. At a meeting to show support for the initiative, these two groups came together and unanimously put forward a series of potential distinctives that did in fact carry over into the DNA of what would become Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University (WS). It would be missional and kingdom focused. It would be accessible, application focused, spiritually formative, and innovative. It would add value to people already in ministry, with high quality teaching and a global reach. President Smith proceeded cautiously. He easily secured the good will of the leaders of the Wesleyan denomination. In the summer of 2007, he appointed Dr. Ken Schenck to lead a task force to design an innovative Master of Divinity degree, without necessarily assuming it would eventually be housed within a seminary. He did not even assume initially that it would be located within the existing Department of Graduate Religion. President Smith charged the group to design a degree that looked like where seminary education was headed, rather than where it was at the time. The MDiv Task Force met over the summer of 2007 and received internal academic approval for the degree in August 2007. In the Spring of 2008, Director Russ Gunsalus brought the members of the original task force back together to begin to design the initial courses of the degree itself within the Department of Graduate Ministry. Because online courses at IWU are fully designed before a class begins, the entirety of the first classes had to be developed in detail in advance. At the same time, because MDiv students would go through the program in a set sequence, only the first courses had to be ready to initiate the program. Meanwhile, in the Spring of 2008, President Smith appointed another task force, a Seminary Task Force with broad representation, to begin exploring the formation of a seminary within which to house the new MDiv degree and the long-standing MA degree. In August of that year, a site visit by the Higher Learning Commission took place to determine whether or not IWU was ready to offer its first professional master’s degrees. In January of 2009, the Higher Learning Commission officially approved the new Master of Divinity degree, making it a fully accredited degree within the university. Accordingly, the IWU Board of Trustees officially voted to create a new seminary in April 2009. In August 2009, 30 new Master of Divinity students joined 170 students enrolled in the existing Master of Arts in Ministry degree. The new seminary was officially named “Wesley Seminary at Indiana Wesleyan University” at the Fall board meeting that year, and Wayne Schmidt came on board as its first full-time chief executive in January 2010. 4 Most of those initial MDiv students graduated in August of 2012. Since those students had already completed their work in the Spring (and since IWU has had graduates of the MA program since the early 80s), Wesley was successfully able to apply to become an Associate Member of the Association of Theological Schools at its June 2012 meeting. We submitted our Internal Readiness Report in the Fall of 2012, which led to a site visit by Dr. Tom Tanner in the Fall of that year. Subsequently, the Board of Commissioners gave us permission to begin our self-study in pursuit of accreditation, which was submitted in December 2013. The distinctive features of Wesley’s ethos and curriculum will become apparent in the pages that follow. Former President Smith used to describe its distinctiveness in terms of it being “practical, accessible, and affordable.” It is indeed accessible. The demand for our degree is primarily online, with almost 90% of our students opting to take the degree in that format. It is affordable, with about 90% of our students receiving aid of some sort. Many students are able to attend at a substantially discounted rate. It is designed to be very practical in orientation. Students in the MDiv program are expected to interact with a local church as part of their course work. Even our Bible, theology, and church history components are heavily integrated and embedded within the praxis courses. This arrangement contrasts with most curricula, where they are distinct courses that exist more or less in disciplinary silos. These core, 6 credit hour courses on the practice of ministry are team taught, with two-thirds of the course focused on praxis and one-third on the integration of Bible, theology, and church history with that practice of ministry. The result is a degree that brings ministerial education and training to the minister, rather than forcing the minister to come to the seminary.