Stephenson, John B. -- 1937-

Abstract Under President John Stephenson, Berea College undertook the first systematic review of the Great Commitments of Berea College in the 1992-1993 academic year.  The Committee to Review the Commitments (CRC) took an in-depth review of the Commitments resulting in a report containing a recommended restatement of the commitments (or mission statement). The Berea Board of Trustees adopted the recommended restatement of the Great Commitments on April 24, 1993. The motivation for the review of the...

Abstract Having just been constituted, the first meeting of the Executive Council was held in President Stephenson's office on February 20, 1989. At Berea College the Executive Council is charged to oversee campus governance; to identify what issues need governance attention; to prioritize policy and governance issues; to charge standing Committees and to form and charge ad hoc teams as necessary; to set agendas for College Faculty Assembly and General Faculty Assembly meetings; and to perform other...

Abstract John Bell Stephenson (1937-1994) was born in Staunton, Virginia, to Louis Stephenson and Edna Moles Stephenson. Stephenson earned a B.A. in sociology in 1959 from the College of William and Mary and his M.A. in sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1961. From 1961 until 1964 hetaught at Lees-McRae College in Banner Elk, North Carolina, where he met and married his colleague Jane Ellen Baucom. During his time in Banner Elk, John Stephenson developed a passion to...

Abstract In 1987 the New Opportunity School for Women was founded by Jane Stephenson, wife of former Berea College President John Stephenson.  Jane recognized a chronic problem in the Appalachian region of women needing to be better educated and needing assistance in the search for employment.   The mission statement of the New Opportunity School for Women is “...to improve the educational, financial, and personal circumstances of low-income, middle-aged women in Kentucky and the south central...

Abstract Paul David Nelson (Dave) came from Patrick County, Virginia to attend Berea College, graduating in 1965. He went on to Duke University for a master’s degree and then a Ph.D. After a brief stint at Villanova University, he returned to Berea to teach in 1970, becoming Julian-Van Dusen professor in 1993. From 1992 to 2003 he served as chair of the History Department.  Nelson won the Seabury Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1996 and retired from Berea College in 2005. Nelson published eight...