Dear Returning AU Student:

I hope that your summer is going well! We are having a good summer here with several significant changes. There are a couple of great physical changes in our facilities and we will also welcome a number of new DOSL staff.

You will not believe how nice Morrison Hall will be when you return. It may not look a lot different from the outside, but even if you don't live there, I hope you will find a moment and stop by to look around. Morrison has all new furniture, expanded bathrooms, new surfaces, heat and air and a greatly expanded lounge with a fire place! The other change won't affect you as an undergrad except that it is really attractive and that is phase II of York Seminary Housing, which will be completed by the time you return to campus. When you look or walk south from Reardon, you can't miss it.

We have had a number of staff positions turn over at the end of this year and welcome many new faces. Here is a quick run-down:

Trent Palmer, AU alum and former member of the White River Boys will be the new Resident Director in Smith Hall.

Emily Seevers is also an alumnus coming most recently from teaching high school and she will be serving the freshmen women in Rice Hall.

Andrew Parker is a recent graduate of Ball State with a Masters in Student Personnel Administration and will serve in Myers Hall and also oversee Intramurals.

Tamara Shelton, another alumnus, leaves her work as an associate pastor in a Tennessee Church of God to join us as the new Morrison Hall RD.

Lindsay Harger, yet another alumnus, who has also has been doing message therapy this past year, will be working as the Assistant Director of Student Programs and also serving as the Mansfield Resident Director.

Shawn Chadwell, alumnus of both the undergrad and seminary, will also be joining our team on a part-time basis serving as the Resident Director for the South Campus and Tara East apartments.

Some of you may already know Maryann Coty, Director of INvision AU and Internships. Maryann will be joining the Department of Student Life and continuing her work in helping students find internships and jobs.

The Reverend Claude Carothers, who will begin seminary this fall, serves as Minister of Music and Worship locally at the Sherman Street Church of God and he will be working with worship arts in chapel.

Finally, after a full but unsuccessful search for a new Associate Dean, a familiar face will be filling in for a year as the Interim Associate Dean of Students. This person is Debbie Sebastian.

So, you can see that it has been a busy summer of hiring. We have some great folks joining us and I look forward to you getting to know them and them getting to know many of you as well.

I hope that you look back on last year with many positive memories. There was a lot of good to celebrate. However, in some ways it was also not an easy year. For our department we suffered the loss of a beloved colleague and friend in Linda Cummins. There were also a number of difficult campus conversations that tested the fabric of our community. However, we survived and not only that, I think we head into this next fall with a group of deeply engaged students and the hope that a new semester brings each Fall.

Finally, I wanted to share with you our Student Life theme for the year. It is Shalom: God. Neighbor. Earth. In the minds of most of us shalom means peace. However it has a broader definition as well that really encompasses an active element of pursuit and engagement. How might we pursue peace with God, with our neighbor, with the earth? It will be interesting to unpack these ideas and we will do so through chapel and also a number of other venues as well. Our theme book this year is Shane Claiborne's Irresistible Revolution. I encourage you to read it this summer or during the upcoming year.

I hope you find the contents of this e-newsletter helpful. Please don't hesitate to call if you have questions. Blessings on the rest of your summer!

Sincerely,

Brent Baker
Vice President for Student Life
and Dean of Students