8 July 2015 | San Antonio, Texas, USA [Kirsty Watkins, tedNEWS] Around 100 former students, staff, and friends of Newbold College of Higher Education met on Tuesday evening, 7 July for a special get-together at the General Conference (GC) Session.
Newbold graduates from between the 1950s and 2015 travelled from all over the world including South Africa, Australia, Brasil, Cyprus and across Europe to attend the GC Session. This diverse group included representatives from the College’s Board of Governors, and one of Newbold’s partner institutions, Andrews University.
“Newbold is a very small College but we do punch well above our weight”, said Dr Baildam, who has just commenced his second year as Principal. “Wherever you go, whichever booth you visit at the GC, there are people who have studied at Newbold. All around the world we find alumni who are in high positions in both the Church and in secular organisations. There can’t be many institutions with a body of just under 250 students, whose graduates have such a global impact.”
Newbold’s student enrolment was one third higher last year than in the previous year, but according to Dr Baildam, the College still has some way to go towards meeting key performance indicators set by a review panel in early 2014.
Dr Baildam reflected on a recent student survey demontrating that one of the things students appreciate most about Newbold is the spirituality on campus. “One of our Adventist Colleges Abroad (ACA) students came to us from California for the semester and at the end she gave her heart to the Lord. She wanted to be baptised, not in the US, but at Newbold because that was where she found God,” said Dr Baildam. [See ‘Please baptise me before I go‘.]
While explaining the expanding variety of programmes now available, Dr Baildam was also delighted to announce that the Senate of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David voted to accept Newbold as a partner of the University just last week. “There are no conditions to be met, and we are now moving straight to the stage of validating our undergraduate and postgraduate Theology programmes,” said Dr Baildam. The College will continue its valued partnerships with Theologische Hochschule Friedensau, Andrews University, and Washington Adventist University, but this new partnership will enable British students to obtain grants and loans for their studies. [Click here for more.]
Dr Baildam also spoke about the College’s recent Awards Ceremony which celebrated the academic success of thirty graduates. The ceremony also recognised the achievements, and continued efforts on behalf of the College, of four retired staff members – Drs Harry Leonard, Michael Pearson, Gunnar Pedersen and Laurence Turner, who were well-remembered by those at the alumni gathering – by honouring them with the title of Principal Lecturer Emeritus. This rank, awarded on the basis of strict criteria, enables retired colleagues who are still active in research and lecturing to maintain Newbold as their academic home while also representing the College around the world.
After introducing Alumni to the recently launched Newbold Academic Press (NAP),
Dr Baildam closed by inviting alumni to visit the campus to see the recent improvements that have been made, including the introduction of biomass boilers to heat the main campus buildings, a renovated cafeteria and halls of residence, and improvements to the common areas of Moor Close. “We are currently accepting gifts towards the refurbishment of all 17 bedrooms in Moor Close, and we are grateful to the Board of Governors, Conferences, Unions and individuals who have contributed so far,” said Dr Baildam. He also invited alumni to attend the upcoming reunion for staff and students from the 1990s (7-9 August 2015), offering another opportunity to reconnect with one another.
Following Dr Baildam’s address, alumni circulated and reminisced together about their time at Newbold.
“One of the unique things about my Newbold experience was the ability to connect with other people from the US whom I would probably never have connected with if we had been studying together in America. But because we were in the UK, and we were thrown together as Americans on a small campus, we became great friends,” said Dan Serns, an alumnus from the 1970s. “There are 16 of us from the US, the UK and Australia who still get together every couple of years.”
Sylvia Stilinovic (Australia) spent several years at Newbold in the 1980s with her husband, John, who was one of the College’s first Business graduates. “We loved every minute of our time at Newbold, and never regretted it”, said Sylvia. There’s something about Newbold that just stays in your heart! We made so many friends and that is so special to us – we still run into them all over the world when we travel.”
If you attended Newbold, keep your details up to date online at newbold.ac.uk/alumni to receive The Newboldian as well as invitations to exclusive events.
To see more photos from the reunion, please visit our Facebook page. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
119 St Peter’s Street, St Albans, Herts, AL1 3EY, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.ted-adventist.org
tedNEWS is an information bulletin issued by the communication department of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the Trans-European Division.
You are free to re-print any portion of the bulletin without need for special permission. However, we kindly request that you identify tedNEWS whenever you publish these materials.
