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Office of the President
Office of the President
Hello! Welcome to the LeTourneau University Web site. Spend some time here, and imagine yourself as part of the unique LeTourneau experience.
Want a comprehensive university? We offer more than 85 academic programs for both graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of fields.
Want something more than just sitting in class and taking notes? At LeTourneau University, it is our vision for every student to impact the world for Christ in every workplace and every nation. Our programs provide students with real life, problem-solving opportunities through internships, co-ops and design projects. Our students travel the world each year on mission projects that are life changing.
Want programs that fit your busy life? Are you an adult going back to college? We offer online and on-ground degree completion programs so you can finish your degree in a format that works for you.
It is our desire to glorify and honor God by integrating faith, learning and living that sets LeTourneau University apart.
I look forward to meeting you!
Dale A. Lunsford, PhD
903-233-3100
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LeTourneau University President
In God We Trust
Marsha and I are with the CCCU presidents at our annual meeting in Washington, D.C. this week. It is always a helpful time to reconnect with our broad cause of Christian higher education.
With a free couple of hours this week, I visited a new small exhibit in the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History where the "Jefferson Bible" has been restored and is now on exhibit. I have always been fascinated with this product of Thomas Jefferson's life.
A work of his own hands, he made the book for his own reading and reflection and not as something he ever planned to publish. Only a few in his closest circle even knew about it. The book remained in his family until 1895 when his great-granddaughter sold it to the Smithsonian Institution where it eventually became too fragile to be displayed. In 2011, its restoration was completed and it was returned for display. See it here.
It seems that the same 'cut and paste' continues to be underway in our culture and in our church. Our nation tries to embrace our heritage but cut away our faith in God. In response, Congress last November had to reaffirm 'In God we Trust' as our national motto. (See Fox News story).
Even within the community of believers, we struggle with what to take from the Holy Scriptures and what to cut away.
One particularly regrettable note about Jefferson's Bible is how it ends. He includes no passages about the resurrection of Christ or the power of His sacrifice over sin.
After Jefferson's cutting of God's word those parts that he found contrary to reason, Jefferson's Bible ends:
"Now in the place where he was crucified, there was a garden; and in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus and rolled a great stone to the door of the sepulcher and departed. "
I'm convinced the story didn't end there.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Learning Beyond the Lab
I hope you had the opportunity to read about our engineering professor Norman Reese and his "Frontier Wheelchair" project on the front page of Sunday's Longview News-Journal. (See it here.) And I hope you didn't miss the newspaper's editorial on Tuesday, "Good works: LeTourneau wheelchair project offers a lesson all can learn from." (See it here.) Local television station KETK also interviewed the students working on the project. (See their story here.)
Karen Rispen and students in the School of Arts & Sciences have additional wheelchair research underway. Professor Rispen's "Wheels" project has been at work in Africa now for a couple of years. Both Norman and Karen are focusing on the unique needs of the disabled in developing nations.
The Longview News-Journal editorial writers captured the spirit of LeTourneau ingenuity when they wrote:
"As often is the case at LeTourneau, this teaching project is going far beyond the typical classroom and lab learning experience. It is teaching students cultural sensitivity and giving them experience working with those who have different abilities.
And it should teach all of us that sometimes seemingly small changes and caring, along with a willingness to use our own skills for a greater good, have the potential to make big impacts in the lives of others."
As Professor Kelly Liebengood leads the development of our Center for Global Service Learning, that's our focus: creating unique learning experiences where lives are improved and God is given the glory.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Creating the Future
The gavel was passed to me as the new chair of the Longview Chamber of Commerce Tuesday night by 2011 chair Anne Hugman at the annual Longview Chamber of Commerce banquet at the Maude Cobb Convention Center.During my remarks, I spoke about the bright future ahead for Longview. We have avoided the terrible economic downturn that many cities now face. Our employment rates are much better than the state and national averages. Our housing market has remained strong. Our Longview Chamber of Commerce was recognized this year as one of the best in the nation -- in fact, we were runner-up for "Chamber of the Year" honors.
Our goals are to build opportunity for businesses to grow and prosper. Everyone wins when our business community can do what it does best -- create jobs. One of our goals is educating small businesses on best practices to help ensure their success. We want to encourage in even the smallest businesses a commitment to continuous improvement. I hope to also work with the Longview Economic Development Corporation this coming year to stimulate entrepreneurship and new business start-ups.
Another goal is to organize a group of city leaders to travel on a visioning trip to another city -- to see first-hand how others have created economic development and improved the quality of life.
Peter Drucker, the late renowned management expert, said the best way to predict the future is to create it. I hope Longview will seize that grand idea in the same way we are seizing it here at the university. We are balancing budgets in today's challenging economy while also making investments for future growth -- looking past today and toward tomorrow with a vision for what is possible.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Spiritual Development: A Community Endeavor
"Many people are rejecting our gospel today, not because they perceive it to be false, but because they perceive it to be trivial." The late John Stott's observation really challenges me. I shared it in our first chapel service of the Spring 2012 term yesterday.
We can inadvertently "trivialize" the gospel when we see our spiritual growth as a purely personal experience. When we talk about growing spiritually as a personal discipline much like we would describe attending yoga class or learning a foreign language, it will seem trivial to those around us. It seems to me that we must think about spiritual development as a community endeavor. The gospel is relevant not because it changes me personally, but because it has the power to change you; it has the power to "make all things new."
Our university strategic plan emphasizes the spiritual development of our students. Spiritual growth happens when students commit to grow with each other, when faculty commit to disciple students, when faculty and staff seek to grow together.
Bill Kielhorn certainly understood the power of growing together in a Christian community. He invested 45 years in the lives of our students. I've had more than one alumnus tell me that Bill was "just like a father to me." There was nothing trivial about the way Bill lived a life of faith and learning. He never missed a class and he gave God the glory every opportunity he had. He understood that a LeTourneau education is about information and formation -- the equipping for professional competence and the development of Christ-like character. As we celebrate his legacy this week and mourn with his wife, Betty, I understand better the opportunity we have to make an eternal difference here at LETU.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Graduates of Global Influence
I just returned from Houston where more than 50 graduates received their diplomas Saturday in a ceremony held at Sagemont Church on the southern edge of Houston.
Our Provost, Dr. Philip Coyle, gave a thoughtful reminder of God's love in his address as our commencement speaker. Carol Green and the GAPS team did their usual outstanding work to stage the celebration. The joy of achievement for these graduates and their families was evident in the smiles and hugs. At these events, like the one in Houston and the one the week prior in Longview, I enjoy getting to meet and hear from some of our graduates.
One especially reminded me that LeTourneau University is a global university. Kristi Sparkman is a missionary in the Middle East where she has served the Bedouin people for the past three years. She completed her LETU course work online from across the globe, where sometimes the Internet was a little spotty, where power outages were common and there were threats of war that required her to leave her village. But despite the many difficulties, she persevered and was able to get her assignments in on time amid the chaos.
She said God had placed the need for more education on her heart. She said she was able to use the information she was learning from her classes at LETU to help the Bedouin people. Now she gives God the credit for her Bachelor of Business Management degree with a leadership minor. Her return from overseas for her graduation ceremony in Longview impressed me again of the importance of our graduates serving in every workplace in every nation. You can see a short video interview with her here.
Our strategic goal is to be a university of global influence and Kristi reminds us we are becoming just that.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Celebrating the Season
At the party, Dr. Bill Graff and I compared our festive Christmas ties (at right). Many of you know he is renowned for his extensive collection of ties. It was a pleasure to take some time Friday to celebrate together.As I have mentioned before, I often read the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture. In one of his columns this week, Jim Denison reflected on Mary, the mother of Jesus, when he wrote:
The Jewish people taught their daughters to pray every night that they might be chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Everyone assumed, however, that this great honor would be bestowed on a daughter of the high priest or someone else of great status. Meanwhile, a peasant teenage girl was living in a town so tiny it's not mentioned even once in the Old Testament.The angel Gabriel announced to her great shock that she would be the mother of "the Son of the Most High" (Luke 1:32).
Mary would risk her marriage and even her life if she accepted this calling. Nonetheless, she chose to say, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said" (v. 38). She would later testify, "From now on all generations will call me blessed" (v. 48). And she was right.
The story of Mary's courage and faith inspires me as we take time to focus on the birth of our Messiah during this time of year. While today we recognize that Christmas means making memories and spending precious time with family and friends, it also is a time to remember that God can do eternal things with people who are committed and submitted to Him.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Teaching to Learn
As the fall term rushes to completion, I'm looking ahead to Spring 2012. I've asked our university leaders to teach next semester and I'm leading Marketing Research, a required course for marketing majors in the School of Business.
In most of my 25 years in higher education, I've taught both undergraduate and graduate courses including the teaching of Marketing Research many times. However, this will be my first time to teach marketing at LeTourneau and so I am excited. It will be a new venue to interact with our students and I'm sure it will be beneficial for all those who serve on the President's Cabinet.
In thinking about how this course would be different at LETU than at other universities where I've taught, I came upon a lecture given recently at Baylor University by University of Virginia economics professor Kenneth Elzinga. In considering the differences between Christian and secular higher education, he said,
"I would expect Christian higher education to be characterized by professors who mentor students; not just teach them chemistry and accounting, not just teach them biology and Spanish, but model out for them how to walk with Jesus. Not because these faculty members have mastered how to do this, but simply because they've been pilgrims longer, because they have more experience with the consequences of sin and redemption."
Well said! This is a real distinctive of LETU: a faculty who take an active role in mentoring their students. Disciple-making happens simultaneously with higher learning. In fact, the lessons on following Christ may linger long after the learning objectives of the syllabus have been forgotten. It's an important reminder for me: answering Christ's Great Commission to make disciples should be my most important objective in teaching next semester.
Posted by LeTourneau University
In most of my 25 years in higher education, I've taught both undergraduate and graduate courses including the teaching of Marketing Research many times. However, this will be my first time to teach marketing at LeTourneau and so I am excited. It will be a new venue to interact with our students and I'm sure it will be beneficial for all those who serve on the President's Cabinet.
In thinking about how this course would be different at LETU than at other universities where I've taught, I came upon a lecture given recently at Baylor University by University of Virginia economics professor Kenneth Elzinga. In considering the differences between Christian and secular higher education, he said,
"I would expect Christian higher education to be characterized by professors who mentor students; not just teach them chemistry and accounting, not just teach them biology and Spanish, but model out for them how to walk with Jesus. Not because these faculty members have mastered how to do this, but simply because they've been pilgrims longer, because they have more experience with the consequences of sin and redemption."
Well said! This is a real distinctive of LETU: a faculty who take an active role in mentoring their students. Disciple-making happens simultaneously with higher learning. In fact, the lessons on following Christ may linger long after the learning objectives of the syllabus have been forgotten. It's an important reminder for me: answering Christ's Great Commission to make disciples should be my most important objective in teaching next semester.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Founder's Day
This week we commemorated the 123rd anniversary of the birth of our founder, Mr. R.G. LeTourneau. It was a treat to hear longtime LETU instructor Roger Carr speak in chapel about the legacy of "Mom and Pop" LeTourneau. Roger mentioned in chapel that one of those legacies is Mr. LeTourneau's 299 patents, second only to Thomas Edison. To mark this anniversary, I would like to share these words written by R.G. LeTourneau in 1968:
"I've always said when people ask me about the inventions I've come up with, that anything I've been able to do I credit to God who gave me my mind. Man's mind is marvelous in its accomplishments, but the human mind falls way short when we try to imagine or understand the goodness of God, His love for us, or His plans for our future. 1 Corinthians 2:9 says, 'Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.' Man can't comprehend such wonders with his natural mind - can't imagine it - but the next verse says, 'But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.' So if you want to enter into the wonders of God, don't try to do it with man's natural mind, but accept God's Son as your Savior and let the Holy Spirit show you the wonders of a life in God, both for now and for eternity."
Posted by LeTourneau University
Give Thanks
Give thanks with a grateful heart.
Give thanks to the Holy One.
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ, His Son.
And now let the weak say I am strong.
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us.
Give thanks.
Those words penned by Christian singer/songwriter Don Moen always come to my mind during this Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season as I reflect on the many reasons I have to give thanks and be grateful. As Christians, we are called to be a grateful people, and we have much for which we should daily give thanks.
A story on gratitude I found this past week in Christianity Today caught my eye. It was titled "The Blessings of Gratitude: Why Jesus commands us to be thankful." The writer Stan Guthrie reports that with unemployment numbers high, he would have expected people who had jobs would be grateful for their jobs at Thanksgiving. But he notes that a Gallup poll indicated that 75 percent of the workforce was, as he put it, "phoning it in" and 55 percent were emotionally detached or "disengaged" from their work. How sad.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Give thanks to the Holy One.
Give thanks because He's given
Jesus Christ, His Son.
And now let the weak say I am strong.
Let the poor say I am rich
Because of what the Lord has done for us.
Give thanks.
Those words penned by Christian singer/songwriter Don Moen always come to my mind during this Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season as I reflect on the many reasons I have to give thanks and be grateful. As Christians, we are called to be a grateful people, and we have much for which we should daily give thanks.
A story on gratitude I found this past week in Christianity Today caught my eye. It was titled "The Blessings of Gratitude: Why Jesus commands us to be thankful." The writer Stan Guthrie reports that with unemployment numbers high, he would have expected people who had jobs would be grateful for their jobs at Thanksgiving. But he notes that a Gallup poll indicated that 75 percent of the workforce was, as he put it, "phoning it in" and 55 percent were emotionally detached or "disengaged" from their work. How sad.
Here at LETU we teach that our work is a holy calling with eternal impact. I believe that. Our goal is to equip ourselves and our students to close the gap between Sundays and Mondays, and to follow Christ and reflect him in our workplaces whether we are typing letters, answering phones, teaching students, raking leaves, or doing any multitude of daily activities. Our work matters to God.
Bill Peel, our executive director for LETU's new Center for Faith and Work, and his wife, Kathy, recently joined us in Longview where Bill spoke to our President's Advisory Council about the initiatives of this new center. If you haven't taken the time to look at the new website for the CFW, I invite you to see it here now.
During Bill's presentation he shared a fun and creative video about Work as Worship that reminds us that when we do our jobs with integrity, excellence and diligence, using the skills that God has given us, then our work is an act of worship. I hope you enjoy it. You can see it here.
On another note, a task force chaired by the Provost's office recently began meeting to discuss LETU's Emergency Response (including notification) and Evacuation Procedures on campus in the event of any crisis. Representatives of the Abbott Center and GAPS are included to address their special concerns. If you have a specific concern you would like addressed, I invite you to share it at letournews@letu.edu.
Bill Peel, our executive director for LETU's new Center for Faith and Work, and his wife, Kathy, recently joined us in Longview where Bill spoke to our President's Advisory Council about the initiatives of this new center. If you haven't taken the time to look at the new website for the CFW, I invite you to see it here now.
During Bill's presentation he shared a fun and creative video about Work as Worship that reminds us that when we do our jobs with integrity, excellence and diligence, using the skills that God has given us, then our work is an act of worship. I hope you enjoy it. You can see it here.
On another note, a task force chaired by the Provost's office recently began meeting to discuss LETU's Emergency Response (including notification) and Evacuation Procedures on campus in the event of any crisis. Representatives of the Abbott Center and GAPS are included to address their special concerns. If you have a specific concern you would like addressed, I invite you to share it at letournews@letu.edu.
Posted by LeTourneau University
Impacting Our Local Community
LeTourneau University's participation in the Greater Longview United Way (GLUW) campaign was acknowledged recently by Donna Mahurin, the executive director of the Greater Longview United Way.
She sent her congratulations for our university's participation in this year's United Way campaign, saying:
"What an outstanding United Way campaign you guys had! Thank you so much for your efforts. Your campaign increased by 46% from $5,368 last year to $7,835 this year. Please let the staff and faculty know how much I appreciate their gifts. . . . Again, thanks so much for the excellent participation."
The United Way benefits nonprofits that improve the lives of people right here in Gregg County. One of the agencies that the United Way donations fund is the Boys & Girls Club of Gregg County, a private, nonprofit agency dedicated to youth development for children ages 6 through 18. Most of the youth live in single-parent homes in low-income neighborhoods.
By providing these children with a sense of belonging, understanding, influence and competence, the Boys & Girls Club of Gregg County inspires and enables them to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
The LETU volleyball team has been volunteering there each week since mid-September. About 10 student-athletes tutor the children on their homework and listen to them read. Our students provide one-to-one or small group interaction that many of the children don't get at home.
There are about 150 children at the Boys & Girls Club of Gregg County on any given day in need of tutoring and mentoring. Our students have said they love working with them, seeing it as an exciting opportunity to serve others. Some of the students go more often than the weekly schedule so they can spend extra time with the children.
Our student-athletes are not the only ones helping at the Boys & Girls Club. Other students from around campus also are volunteering, and our Director of Student Support Services Carlton Mitchell has begun a "Passport to Manhood" series with about a dozen 11- to 14-year-old boys on Thursday nights.
Our students, faculty and staff are investing in the lives of these children, helping them to learn, develop character and leadership, and to build relationships. In the process, they are receiving a blessing in return.
Even as I celebrate our participation in making Longview a better community, my heart is broken for our own university community and the losses we are mourning. We have all been in prayer with Wayne and Karen Jacobs and with Yoni Adonyi and his daughter. It is in these difficult moments that God's love is most evident at LeTourneau University.
Ann Marie Adonyi's funeral is at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 11) at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 909 Reel Road in Longview. The burial is at White's Cemetery. No visitation is planned. Engineering Dean Dr. Ron DeLap has authorized the cancellation of classes tomorrow afternoon for those engineering faculty members who wish to attend.
Posted by LeTourneau University
She sent her congratulations for our university's participation in this year's United Way campaign, saying:
"What an outstanding United Way campaign you guys had! Thank you so much for your efforts. Your campaign increased by 46% from $5,368 last year to $7,835 this year. Please let the staff and faculty know how much I appreciate their gifts. . . . Again, thanks so much for the excellent participation."
The United Way benefits nonprofits that improve the lives of people right here in Gregg County. One of the agencies that the United Way donations fund is the Boys & Girls Club of Gregg County, a private, nonprofit agency dedicated to youth development for children ages 6 through 18. Most of the youth live in single-parent homes in low-income neighborhoods.
By providing these children with a sense of belonging, understanding, influence and competence, the Boys & Girls Club of Gregg County inspires and enables them to realize their full potential as productive, responsible and caring citizens.
The LETU volleyball team has been volunteering there each week since mid-September. About 10 student-athletes tutor the children on their homework and listen to them read. Our students provide one-to-one or small group interaction that many of the children don't get at home.
There are about 150 children at the Boys & Girls Club of Gregg County on any given day in need of tutoring and mentoring. Our students have said they love working with them, seeing it as an exciting opportunity to serve others. Some of the students go more often than the weekly schedule so they can spend extra time with the children.
Our student-athletes are not the only ones helping at the Boys & Girls Club. Other students from around campus also are volunteering, and our Director of Student Support Services Carlton Mitchell has begun a "Passport to Manhood" series with about a dozen 11- to 14-year-old boys on Thursday nights.
Our students, faculty and staff are investing in the lives of these children, helping them to learn, develop character and leadership, and to build relationships. In the process, they are receiving a blessing in return.
Even as I celebrate our participation in making Longview a better community, my heart is broken for our own university community and the losses we are mourning. We have all been in prayer with Wayne and Karen Jacobs and with Yoni Adonyi and his daughter. It is in these difficult moments that God's love is most evident at LeTourneau University.
Ann Marie Adonyi's funeral is at 1 p.m. tomorrow (Friday, Nov. 11) at St. Michael's Episcopal Church, 909 Reel Road in Longview. The burial is at White's Cemetery. No visitation is planned. Engineering Dean Dr. Ron DeLap has authorized the cancellation of classes tomorrow afternoon for those engineering faculty members who wish to attend.
Posted by LeTourneau University
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