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Whitworth President Beck A. Taylor has been elected to the board of directors of the Association of Presbyterian Colleges and Universities.
APCU is an independent, not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to strengthen the mission of colleges and universities related to the Presbyterian Church (USA), according to a press release. The organization also serves as a resource for presidents and staffs of member institutions, and helps enhance diverse partnerships with governing bodies within the PC (USA).
“Because APCU is the PC (USA)’s primary organization of affiliated colleges and universities, I hope that my leadership will yield more meaningful relationships between Whitworth and other member institutions,” Taylor said. “I also hope that I will be able to represent Whitworth and other Presbyterian institutions to the denomination in ways that yield deeper mutual support.”
He said his responsibilities as a board member will be to work with other APCU members and the executive director to ensure that the organization lives out its mission faithfully and to promote the cause of Presbyterian higher education in the United States.
Robert S. Badal, Ph.D., chair of the APCU board of directors and president of Jamestown College, in Jamestown, N. D., says there will be 13 new or interim presidents at APCU colleges and universities when classes begin next fall, which is three or four times the usual number. “Having a new president on the board will help give us perspectives on the issues and challenges that new presidents face,” Badal says. Badal also led the committee that invited Taylor to join the board.
Tracy Simmons is an award-winning journalist specializing in religion reporting and digital entrepreneurship. In her approximate 20 years on the religion beat, Simmons has tucked a notepad in her pocket and found some of her favorite stories aboard cargo ships in New Jersey, on a police chase in Albuquerque, in dusty Texas church bell towers, on the streets of New York and in tent cities in Haiti. Simmons has worked as a multimedia journalist for newspapers across New Mexico, Texas, Connecticut and Washington. She is the executive director of SpokaneFāVS.com, a digital journalism start-up covering religion news and commentary in Spokane, Washington. She also writes for The Spokesman-Review and national publications. She is a Scholarly Assistant Professor of Journalism at Washington State University.
