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Trinity welcomes Rahsaan Graham as our WorldView guest speaker on April 5, 2017.  Rahsaan Graham is scheduled to speak at Chapel at 10am, and a public lecture at 2pm in the Fireside Room.

Biography

Rahsaan Graham is the Sector Director, Child Protection & Education at WVUS. His role is to provide strategic leadership for program/project management for the private, non-sponsorship portfolio and to lead a team positioned to deliver comprehensive donor and programmatic services for the Child Protection and Education sector. He is responsible for developing the Child protection strategy and business plan for WVUS and lead proposal development to create ministry product offerings that meet priority needs, while ensuring field integration and alignment.

Rahsaan brings more than 12 years of experience in school-, community- and church-based programming focused on at-risk and vulnerable youth populations. He joined World Vision in 2002 and has held multiple positions including Director of Vision Youth Program, Executive Director of US Programs for World Vision New York City, and East Region Director for US Programs.

In addition to his work for World Vision, Rahsaan has been a licensed Pediatric Occupational Therapist for the past 16 years. He has practiced in a variety of inner-city communities and settings and has primarily focused on the early evaluation and treatment of children with physical and socio-emotional disabilities and developmental delays. Rahsaan lives in New York City with his wife Michelle and two daughters. He continues to maintain a small caseload of therapy clients.

Trinity Tuesday set an ambitious goal—collect 300 donations in 24 hours on March 7. Thanks to the generous giving of alumni, staff, faculty, parents, students and friends, that goal was met and surpassed!

By the end of the Trinity Tuesday campaign, 448 donors participated in raising $55,740 for the College.

“I was so thankful for all the fellow alumni and staff who stepped up to make this day a great success,” said Rick VanDyken ’83, vice president for advancement. “The commitment of this group of supporters is an encouragement for the entire campus community.”

Among the highlights of Trinity Tuesday:

• Of the 448 donors, 305 were alumni
• 46 were first-time givers.
• The class of 2014 had the highest number of donors per class year
• Donors hailed from more than half of the 50 states and represented three countries: United States, Canada, and Indonesia

Thanks again to everyone who participated. And if you missed your chance this year, don’t worry—Trinity Tuesday is now an annual event! Next year’s Trinity Tuesday will be Tuesday, March 6, 2018.

To learn more about Trinity Tuesday, click here.

Trinity Christian College is pleased to host the 5^th Annual Psychology Renewed Conference on April 8 from 9 am to 12:30 pm. The theme of this year’s conference is “Ethical and Best Practices in Supervision.” It will take place in the Grand Lobby of Ozinga Chapel.

By attending the conference, professional counselors, psychologists, and social workers will be eligible for three hours of continuing education.

The seminar, which is sponsored by Trinity’s psychology and social work departments, is free. However, registration is required, and there is a $15 fee for Continuing Education credit and certificate for psychologists, professional counselors, and social workers.

To learn more and to register, click here.

The conference will highlight basic guidelines for supervision and training psychotherapists from the professional ethical codes of the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, the American Mental Health Counselors Association, and the National Association of Social Workers. It will explore the differences between clinical supervision and psychotherapy and examine a self-psychology perspective on the supervisory relationship. Attendees will also learn to identify ways that transference and countertransference patterns affect relationships between supervisors and supervisees.

Scheduled speakers include:

• Lisa Doot Abinoja, MA, LCSW, Director of Field Education and Assistant Professor of Social Work at Trinity Christian College;
• Derrick Hassert, Professor of Psychology at Trinity Christian College;
• Louella DeVries president of Olive Branch Counseling Associates, Inc., Tinley Park, Ill.;
• Michael DeVries, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Master’s Program in Counseling Psychology at North Park University

Trinity Christian College is pleased to announce that in 2016, graduates of our accounting program scored the highest average passing score in the state for schools with 46 or more exam sections taken on the CPA exams administered by the Illinois Board of Examiners.

This follows last year’s stellar success rate. In 2015, Trinity’s accounting program graduates had the highest pass rate in the state on the CPA exams among schools with 37 or more parts taken.

“At Trinity, our accounting graduates leave here prepared for personal and professional success,” said Dr. Lynn Spellman White, professor of accounting.

Some of the world’s largest accounting organizations have hired Trinity alumni and student interns, including BDO, Deloitte, PwC, RSM, and Plante Moran.

Across the state of Illinois, 30 schools had 46 or more parts taken on the 2016 exam. Those schools include such programs as DePaul University, the University of Chicago, and the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign.

Those sitting for the exam in Illinois must have completed 150 semester hours, with at least 30 credit hours in accounting. Many of those sitting for the exam have achieved graduate degrees, while Trinity’s students can complete all the necessary course requirements in four years.

The Illinois Board of Examiners is a state agency that evaluates academic credentials, approves candidates to sit for the Uniform CPA Examination, monitors CPA examination testing activity throughout the year, and issues the Certificate of CPA Exam Completion upon passing the exam.

On Tuesday, March 7, 2017, join us in supporting Trinity Christian College on #TrinityTuesday. It’s a day to show our Troll Pride as alumni, staff, faculty, students, and friends. Gear up for 24 hours of showing your love for Trinity by taking the following 3 steps, and be sure to come back to trnty.edu/trinitytuesday on March 7!

Get Prepared:

1. Set up your free GiveCampus account to join the crowd of Trolls preparing for the big day!
2. Follow Trinity on social media to see all of the action on March 7.
   
3. Make sure we can share #TrinityTuesday news with you by signing up to receive Trinity emails.

As part of Trinity’s 2017 WorldView series, John Cotton Richmond visited campus on Feb. 24 to share information and insights into the scourge of human trafficking.

The Trinity community had several opportunities to learn from Richmond, a founding director of the Human Trafficking Institute and a former federal prosecutor. During Chapel, Richmond urged attendees to think about the problems they struggle with and how they can solve those. “We don’t end sinful behavior by negotiation,” he said. “By embracing joy and grace, we can get to the root of our problems.”

Richmond told the story of one victim of human trafficking in Chicago. Nadia came to the United States on a visa, and she decided to overstay that visa when it expired. Nadia met a trafficker who isolated her from her friends and church and eventually forced her to become a prostitute. Unlike most victims of trafficking, Nadia kept a journal that included her prayers to God to help end her problems. God used FBI agents and federal prosecutors to answer her prayers, Richmond said. “Nadia is free now and learning to thrive,” he said.

While most people don’t have problems that are as severe as Nadia’s, everyone has their own struggles, Richmond said. “We rationalize them, and we try to make the effects less obvious to others. But we don’t always try to get to the root of our problems.”

During an afternoon discussion in the Fireside Room, Richmond discussed myths, laws, and facts around human trafficking. Among the myths is the idea that human trafficking is motivated by bias and hatred. “The truth is, it’s motivated by money. You have to follow the money,” he said. Human trafficking also doesn’t have to involve crossing borders and foreigners. Most human trafficking also involves forced labor, not sex trafficking.

Richmond also outlined the legal history of trafficking in the United Sates, from the Constitution to court rulings and federal legislation.

He ended with an overview of current trends in trafficking, such as how victims are increasingly exploited through debt schemes and how more gangs are looking into becoming human traffickers. Richmond also described how more education and specialized training for law enforcement for law enforcement and prosecutors can lead to more convictions of human traffickers.

WorldView is Trinity’s annual community and college series for film, word, current events and music. On Wednesday, April 5, Rahsaan Graham, sector director of child protection & education at World Vision, will be Trinity’s next featured WorldView speaker.

To learn more, visit trnty.edu/worldview

Before Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, and Mary Jackson, there was Maudelle Tanner Brown Bousfield.

In 1906, Bousfield became the first African-American woman to graduate from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Bousfield went on to achieve many other firsts, including serving as Chicago’s first black high school principal. Her ground-breaking career came decades before the pioneering work that Johnson, Vaughan, and Jackson did for NASA in the 1960s—remarkable achievements that are only becoming widely known thanks to the recently released Oscar-nominated film “Hidden Figures.”

Bousfield’s story, and the story of other African-American women like her, was the subject of Trinity’s recent Annual Black History Month Lecture, given by Tamara L. Hoff, Ph.D., an adjunct professor at the College. Hoff spoke on “Uncovering ‘Hidden Figures’: Black Women in Higher Education.”

While Bousfield went on to have a storied career as an educator, her dream was originally to be an astronomer, Hoff said. However, one of her professors at the University of Illinois discouraged her from that career path. According to that professor, there were only three female astronomers in the United States at that time and they were all white. He encouraged Bousfield to become a mathematics teacher instead, a path she decided to pursue.

In her lecture, Hoff described the challenges and successes of African-American women seeking to pursue degrees of higher learning such as Bousfield, Lucy Stanton, and Eslanda Goode Robeson. Hoff offered insights into what it was like for black women to attend historically black colleges, as well predominantly white institutions, in the 19^th and 20^th centuries. She also described the role that black sororities Alpha Kappa Alpha, Delta Sigma Theta, Zeta Phi Beta, and Sigma Gamma Rho played in offering academic, social, and professional support.

Many of the stories of these extraordinary women have been lost or untold, although Bousfield was recently honored by her alma mater when the University of Illinois opened Bousfield Hall in 2013. “Knowing our history gives us a sense of pride,” Hoff said. “And black history is American history.”

The Athletics Department Honor Roll recognizes student-athletes who excelled in the classroom for the semester. This academic acknowledgement is given to athletes who earned a minimum grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 for the semester, with High Honors going to those with at least a 3.75 GPA. For the 2016 fall semester a total of 100 athletes were named to the honor roll. Included in that number are 12 students-athletes who achieved a perfect 4.0 GPA for the semester.

“We continue to stress the importance of academic achievement,” said Bill Schepel, Trinity’s athletics director. “The fact that more than 40 percent of our student-athletes are on the honor roll indicates are strong commitment to high academic achievement and the diligent work the athletes put into their studies.”

In addition to those on the honor roll, an additional 64 athletes achieved at least a 3.0 GPA for the fall semester. Overall, nearly 70 percent of all the student-athletes are at or above that 3.0 mark. The overall combined fall semester grade point average for Trinity’s 238 athletes is 3.273.

Honor Roll for 2016 Fall Semester (min. 3.50 GPA)

High Honor Roll for 2016 Fall Semester (min. 3.75 GPA)

*indicates a 4.0 GPA

At Trinity Christian College, our professors are dedicated to sharing their knowledge with students and growing their own gifts and talents inside and outside the classroom. We celebrate with our faculty who have recently reached career milestones of earning doctorates, receiving promotions, and being awarded tenure.

“These professors are such a wonderful gift to the College,” said Trinity President Kurt D. Dykstra, J.D. “Without their faithful and creative work, Trinity could not be the place that it is.”

Recent Doctoral Degrees

·    Sara Baillie, Assistant Professor of Special Education: Ed.D., Gwynedd Mercy University, Philadelphia, Pa., 2017

·    Tina Decker, Assistant Professor of Nursing: D.N.P., Governors State University, University Park, Ill., 2016

Recent Promotions

·    Dr. Karen Dieleman, Professor of English

·    Dr. Bethany Keeley-Jonker, Associate Professor of Communication Arts

·    Dr. Jeffrey Nyhoff, Professor of Computer Science

·    Dr. Abbie Schrotenboer, Associate Professor of Biology

Recent Tenure Awards

·    Dr. Clay Carlson, Associate Professor of Biology

·    Dr. Erick Sierra, Associate Professor of English

·    Dr. Keith Starkenburg, Professor of Theology