Archives: News Stories

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

Over the winter break, Troll athletes didn’t just spend time with family and relax–members of the track and field and women’s volleyball teams went on a service trip to Costa Rica, where they partnered with Going the Distance Adventure Ministries in serving a local community in hurricane relief efforts and sharing the gospel.

“Working with the church people and attending the church services showed me how amazing our God is,” said Alex Clark ’17. “Although we speak a different language we still serve the same God and can feel their passion for Christ.

Upon arriving in Costa Rica for the one-week trip, the group of 43 saw first-hand the devastation left when Hurricane Otto swept through the country in late November. The team members dedicated themselves to helping those affected by the hurricane, as well as ministering to the community in other ways. They teamed up with a local church and worked to repair homes; paint soccer goal posts, fencing, benches, and dugouts; sorted thousands of pieces of donated clothing; and distributed medicine, clothing, toys, and food.

The teams also interacted with the local residents through a carnival where they performed Bible story skits, played games with the children, and served coffee and snacks. They also hosted a community-wide sports night that involved a variety of games such as volleyball, soccer, kickball, and frisbee.

Every morning started with devotions centered on a theme of “Planting Seeds”. Evenings included praise and worship, sharing highlights and testimonies, as well as an Impact Point message. “It was inspiring to see how much the church people loved the Lord and were devoted to their faith even after the destruction by the hurricane,” reflected Rachel Verhage ’17. “I was impacted by how warmly they welcomed us with open arms and prayed and worshipped with us who were strangers.”

Trinity was pleased to welcome Dr. Kristen Deede Johnson, associate professor of theology and Christian formation at Western Theological Seminary, to campus on Jan. 16, as the first speaker in the 2017 WorldView series.

The Trinity community had several chances to learn from Johnson, co-author of the Christianity Today 2017 award-winning book, The Justice Calling: Where Passion Meets Perseverance. Johnson gave the meditation at Chapel in the morning, and then gave a lecture the Fireside Room in the afternoon. Additionally, she visited Dr. Steve VanderVeen’s Strategic Management class and had lunch with students.

During Chapel, Johnson reflected on Psalm 103 and offered her thoughts on the “The Gift and the Call of God’s Hesed Love.” While there is no word in English that directly translates from hesed, Johnson said it is often translated as “steadfast love,” “loving kindness,” or “mercy.” “I believe it is one of the most significant words to know when it comes to understanding God’s love and our calling,” she said.

In her afternoon session, Johnson spoke about how to integrate the call to justice in each person’s individual calling. “The Justice Calling is not really a how-to, but a why-to book,” she said. “It’s about why are we called to care about injustice in this world.”

WorldView is Trinity’s annual community and college series for film, word, current events and music. Upcoming WorldView sessions and speakers include:

• Thursday, Feb. 16
  Tim Brown, retired director of music at Clare College, Cambridge University, England

• Friday, Feb. 24
  John Cotton Richmond, founder of The Human Trafficking Institute

• Wednesday, April 5
  Rahsaan Graham, Sector Director of Child Protection & Education at World Vision

To learn more, visit trnty.edu/worldview

The dean’s list is Trinity Christian College’s highest academic honor. Only full-time students who have earned a 3.5 grade point average for the semester merit this distinction.