President's Cabinet

Message from Dr. Carol Taylor, President

April 15, 2009

These past few weeks have been full of excitement and hard work for everyone here at Vanguard as we prepare for the graduation of 543 students from our traditional undergraduate programs, our graduate programs, and our School for Professional Studies programs. Your encouragement, prayers and support during my first few months as president of Vanguard University have provided strength and comfort as I, and all the faculty and staff, work diligently to ensure that Vanguard continues to serve our students well and produce graduates who live out our mission of Christian leadership and service around the world.

We continue our progress in meeting the recommendations of the WASC Commission in order to ensure our continued accreditation. In preparation for our annual meeting of the Southern California Assemblies of God District Council, earlier this month our Board Chair, District Superintendent, and Chair of our Board Governance Committee, our CFO Bob Allison, and I , met with many of our Assemblies of God pastors in their districts to discuss the proposed board restructure and answer questions. It was a privilege to meet so many of our pastors who care deeply for Vanguard.

On April 13-17 the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God hosted the Southern California District Council where a resolution to restructure the Vanguard board of trustees was presented to the membership. Please see an announcement from Acting Board Chair, Dr. Russ Spittler regarding the outcome from this meeting. As we move through the spring semester and begin to look forward to the festivities surrounding commencement in May, I’d like to take a moment to share some wonderful news about our VU community.

• Alumna Rachel (Gil ’00, MA ’03) Gruwell has been honored as a Santa Ana Unified School District 2009 teacher of the year. We are so proud of Rachel and her accomplishments! Please take a moment to read about what a positive difference she is making in the lives of her students and fellow teachers. http://www.vanguard.edu/pr/news/detail.aspx?id=24172
  
  
• Spring Pre-VU was a huge success! We welcomed 100 prospective students to the VU campus to spend a day as one of our community – attending a class, worshiping in chapel, eating in the caf, and gathering information to help them make Vanguard their college of choice. Their excitement was contagious and we hope to see them back on campus at the end of August as part of VU’s class of 2013!
  
  
• Seventy three of our students spent their spring break in the service of others, traveling to Galveston, San Francisco, Mexico and Northern Ireland. They worked to restore churches, schools and neighborhoods devastated by Hurricane Ike; shared their testimonies at local high schools and youth meetings; provided practical needs and spiritual direction to the homeless; worked in orphanages and women’s shelters. What a joy it is to see these young people living out the mission of this University – they are already world-changers! To read more about these amazing student servants, please go to http://www.vanguard.edu/pr/news/detail.aspx?id=24592
  
  
• Three of our communication department students – Cody Crawford, Josh Hamilton and Scott Houston – were selected as finalists for the audience award in the 2009 National Geographic Society’s “Preserve Our Planet” public service announcement (PSA) contest. You can view their PSA, vote (by April 15^th!), and learn more about these talented young people by visiting http://www.vanguard.edu/pr/news/detail.aspx?id=24544
  

As we move toward the end of this academic year, I invite your continued prayers and support for Vanguard and all who are part of this special community. Many across campus are putting in extraordinary efforts right now to ensure Vanguard's future, and I want to thank them for investing in our current and future graduates. Please join us at commencement on May 9 (www.vanguard.edu/commencement) as we celebrate our 2009 graduates and send them off with our prayers and blessings.

In His Service,

Carol Taylor, Ph.D.

President