Lipscomb awards 400+ degrees at 2018 December Commencement

Lipscomb awards 400+ degrees at 2018 December Commencement

Lipscomb awarded over 400 diplomas at its 2018 December commencement in Allen Arena on Saturday afternoon. Three of these degrees awarded were to students completing the online degree program for the first time in university history. President Randy Lowry gave the charge to the students, offering his perspective on how the graduates are leaving armed with new knowledge and experience, as “products” of the university. “You came four or five or six years ago as a consumer, having looked, perhaps all over Nashville…maybe all over the country, for the college that you would call home,” Lowry said. “…The reality is you had many choices as a consumer, but something caught your attention about this community. One of the amazing things that has happened, perhaps not as profound as you will someday appreciate it, is that you came as a consumer, but you leave as our product.” Lipscomb now offers online degree programs in business leadership, psychology, RN-to-BSN and integrated studies, performance coaching and more. 171 students received bachelor’s degrees and 274 received graduate and doctoral degrees, with both August and December graduates. This includes 44 doctorates and 21 education specialist degrees, which is the most the university has ever awarded. Lowry added that his goal is to continually seek to increase the value of the students’ degrees. “Our job is very, very simple,” Lowry said. “Our job is to stay here and do this generation after generation and to increase the value of your degree…so that as you go forth, people know Lipscomb. They know what Lipscomb is all about, and they see you as its product.” Family and...
GAME PREVIEW: Can the Bisons pull another upset at Kentucky?

GAME PREVIEW: Can the Bisons pull another upset at Kentucky?

After back-to-back upset victories of Washington and Central Florida, the Lipscomb Bisons men’s soccer team has become the Cinderella story of the NCAA tournament. The travel-weary Bisons will now make the trek to Lexington for a rematch against the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats, who handed Lipscomb a 3-2 overtime defeat in Nashville on Sept. 18. “It was hard to watch Kentucky walk off our field with a win in a game that we thought we deserved to win,” Lipscomb goalie Chris Zappia said. The winner of Saturday’s game will play the winner of the Duke-Maryland match in the Elite 8 next week. Game information No. 16 Lipscomb (11-9) vs. No. 3 Kentucky (18-1-1) Kickoff: 6 p.m. CT Location: Wendell & Vickie Bell Soccer Complex (Lexington, Ky.) TV: SEC Network Plus/WatchESPN Series history These two teams have seen a lot of each other recently. In 2016, the Bisons battled to a 1-1 tie in a game that went to double overtime. Lipscomb forward Josue Chavez scored an early goal and Zappia made six saves, before the Wildcats got on the board in the 70th minute on a tally from Kaelon Fox. In 2017, Lipscomb pulled a 3-2 upset in Lexington behind goals from Logan Paynter, Ivan Sakou and Ryan Birchfield. Zappia made four saves to preserve the victory. Kentucky then returned the favor in overtime this season. Kalil Elmedkhar and Aime Mabika gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead, but Paytner and Birchfield answered with goals of their own in the second half. But J.J. Williams’s chip over Lipscomb goalie Luke Wilson cemented the 3-2 victory for Kentucky. “One of the core...
Lipscomb business students excel on national exam

Lipscomb business students excel on national exam

Last year, Lipscomb College of Business seniors took part in a comprehensive test known as the Peregrine Exam. It was recently announced that years of hard work by both students and faculty had paid off. The Lipscomb College of Business outperformed all schools with similar accreditation, an accomplishment that reflects well on the university and could eventually boost degree values for current and former students. The Peregrine Exam is a comprehensive test used to measure learning outcomes. It covers various topics that have been taught in business courses. “One of the more important things we learn from the exam is the percentage of correctly answered questions in both the overall exam and in the sub areas,” said Assistant Dean of Accreditation and Assessment John Crawford. The College of Business uses the scores from the Peregrine Exam to shape curriculum by analyzing how B.B.A. students performed in areas both inside and outside of their specific major. However, the College of Business won’t be able to tell whether their curriculum changes are effective until new students cycle through the program and take the exam at the conclusion of their senior years. “The goal is always to do better, but it could be one of those situations where you’re trying to do something in an area where students tend to learn about that particular topic earlier on,” said Crawford. So, how do the students feel about the Peregrine exam? “Students don’t typically go away from the test saying that the material was unfamiliar or that they forgot most of a particular subject,” said Crawford. Similar sentiments were expressed by recent Lipscomb graduate...
Freedom Rider Dr. Rip Patton inspires students in MASK chapel for Black History Month

Freedom Rider Dr. Rip Patton inspires students in MASK chapel for Black History Month

In a chapel meant to foster cultural communication, racial reconciliation and acceptance, Freedom Rider Dr. Rip Patton spoke to students about his fight for desegregation through nonviolence. “Nonviolence is a way of violence,” Patton said to the group of students gathered. “It’s a way of fighting — fighting with love.” During his sit-down in Multicultural Awareness Skills and Knowledge (MASK) chapel with Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Norma Burgess, Patton began the conversation before the first question was asked by drawing a contrast between what Lipscomb students see every day on their walls with what he saw as a college student in segregated Nashville. “I’m sure we’ve all heard the prayer, but when I first walked in through those doors, I saw this up here,” Patton said, gesturing to the words of Mark 10:45 embossed into the top of the stained-glass window in Ezell chapel. “‘I did not come to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many.’ Think about that,” the Freedom Rider said. “Put yourself in that place. That’s what happened here in Nashville in 1960 through 1964. It took us about four years to desegregate everything in Nashville. Everything you could think of was segregated.” Freedom Riders are those who boarded the buses heading to the most notably segregated cities in the South to challenge Jim Crow laws by using peaceful means in 1961. The rides were a tactic established and organized by the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) aimed at desegregating public transportation in the South after the Supreme Court ruled segregation in interstate buses...
Former student-led newsletter resurfaces on campus

Former student-led newsletter resurfaces on campus

After eight years of silence, the Lipscomb Underground is back in circulation. The Lipscomb Underground is a newsletter that was founded in 1994 by former Lipscomb students Todd DuPriest and Justin King. According to their first issue, the Underground was meant to be a free and open-forum news source for Lipscomb’s campus, relying almost entirely on student discussion for its content.  In efforts to stay true to the original intent, the new host senior William Sisson wrote in the first issue since 2008, “This is college. We should be able to spread our ideas without fear of administrative retaliation.” One former contributor who knew the original hosts still calls Lipscomb’s campus home. Lipscomb’s Assistant Director of Security Patrick Cameron said the beginning of the Underground was far from an underground paper as it was once sent to the White House and the Space Shuttle.  “When I was an undergraduate, there were a couple of guys that I was good friends with: Justin King and Todd DuPriest, and Justin and Todd were the original founders of the Underground,” Cameron said. “Since I was good friends with both of them, I had the opportunity to contribute and to publish occasionally.” Senior and Lipscomb Underground subscriber Jay Klein is only a recent patron, and he says he sees the Underground’s role on campus as a facilitator and encourager of free-thinking and...