1 March 2016 | Berrien Springs, MI, United States [Andrew McChesney, Adventist Review/tedNEWS] Andrea Luxton has been named as the next president of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s flagship Andrews University, offering what colleagues call a stellular track record in leadership as she joins a growing number of female presidents at Adventist institutions of higher education.
Born in the UK and a product of the Adventist educational system at both Stanborough Secondary School, Watford, and Newbold College in Binfield, the Berrien Springs, Michigan-based university announced Tuesday that its board of trustees had elected Luxton, the university’s provost since 2010, to replace Niels-Erik Andreasen when he retires after 22 years as president at the end of the current academic year.
“I am excited and humbled by this opportunity to serve and lead at Andrews University,” Luxton said in a statement. “I look forward to the opportunity to carry on the incredible heritage of Dr. Andreasen’s two decades of leadership at Andrews University, and to find powerful and strategic ways to continue to support and serve the constituencies of Andrews University.”
Luxton has education in her blood. Both her parents were much loved teachers at Stanborough school and Luxton taught there herself before moving to lecture at Newbold College where she eventually became principle.
David Trim, director of the Office of Archives, Statistics, and Research for the Adventist world church, recalls that Luxton gave him his first academic job as a history teacher at Newbold College in 1998. He states that he was impressed to see her turn around a school that faced declining enrollment and financial difficulties.
Luxton made some tough decisions, closing one programme, but also made bold decisions, adding a new programme in Behavioral Sciences, Trim said. She brought new types of faculty to the college, drawing on British Adventists with experience in government and business, and paved the way for the college to receive its first British accreditation for postgraduate degrees.
“Andrea had a powerful vision of what Newbold could be, and she successfully cast that vision to everyone who was part of the Newbold community: faculty, staff, students, alumni, and stakeholders,” Trim said. “We all bought into that vision and worked toward achieving it. She listened to everyone, too, and made each member of the Newbold community feel valued and part of a team that would help Newbold realise its potential to be a blessing to the church.”
This set her in good stead for a career that then led her to serve as president of Canadian University College (now Burman University) and associate Education Director at Adventist World Church headquarters before moving to the role of provost at Andrews University. She will now become the fourth woman at the helm of an Adventist college or university in North America.
Andrews University, founded as Battle Creek College in 1874 and the first Adventist institution of higher education, has a history of gender inclusivity in employment. In 2014, the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary, the preeminent training ground for the church’s religious leaders at Andrews University, chose Teresa Reeve as its first woman to serve as associate dean. That same year the university named June Price, an associate dean of its Lamson women’s residence hall, as its lead chaplain.
“God-Centred Leadership”
Benjamin Schoun, chair of the Andrews presidential search committee and chair of the university’s board of trustees, said the search committee had evaluated “a broad array of well-qualified candidates from around the world — including a number of minorities, women, and men — which finally led to the prayerful selection of Luxton.”
“We believe that Luxton … reflects the sort of visionary, thoughtful, and God-centred leadership that president Andreasen has offered to Andrews over the last two decades, while also offering the university new and significant perspectives to the journey ahead,” Schoun said.
A member of the search committee said Luxton’s administrative experience at Andrews as provost, as well as her being president at two other Adventist colleges, was a key factor in her appointment.
“I think the decision was to stick with a proven figure versus others who have not had that level of experience,” the member said.
Sauder, the Union College president, also said college presidents are chosen based on qualifications, expertise, track record of servant leadership, and a passion for Adventist higher education.
“I don’t view Adventist presidents in terms of their gender, but whether they were called by God to lead and if they have a burning desire to see students mature and succeed in their chosen professions and ministries,” she said.
Sauder also expressed delight with Luxton’s appointment and described her as “a respected, skilled leader and administrator … who will assume the role of president very naturally.”
“My No. 1 piece of advice is to give it all to God every morning and seek His guidance and wisdom, asking Him to walk alongside her, as she tackles the opportunities and challenges each day,” she said.
Luxton will be the sixth president of Andrews University and 24th president overall since Andrews opened as Battle Creek College.
Luxton holds a doctorate in English from Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. and a postgraduate diploma in Institutional Management and Change in Higher Education from University of Twente in the Netherlands.
Good Impressions From Newbold Days
Friends and colleagues spoke warmly about Luxton’s leadership and teaching skills.
Trim knew Luxton as his English teacher at Newbold, taking her “superb” Bible as Literature class at Newbold in the late 1980s.
“Every one of us — and the class included students from Africa and the Caribbean — found it transformative for our view of Scripture,” Trim said. “She taught a very high — orthodox Adventist — view of the Bible and inspiration. But understanding its literary qualities and how it was shaped by the literary conventions of the ancient Israelites gave us — gave me — a new understanding of God and of how to interpret scripture.”
Luxton’s Bible as Literature class at Newbold also left a deep impression on Kirsten Øster-Lundqvist, pastor of the St. Albans and Hemel Hempstead churches in England. “Her extensive knowledge both of the Bible and of literature made the class inspirational,” she said, adding that Luxton “was ready to listen and engage with students… Her approachability and inspiring classes made her a well-loved teacher at Newbold.”
Victor Hulbert, communication director for the Trans-European Division who studied with Luxton at Newbold College in the 1970s, said he remembered her as “a very kind person.”
“Andrea’s life has always been one of inspiration,” he said. “She has the balance of academic excellence, spiritual discernment, and personal care for those with whom she comes into contact.”
Other alumni shared their best wishes via the Newbold Reunion ’70-’85 Facebook page and other social media, including Hymers Wilson, now a pastor in Toronto Canada, who wrote, “you are just the right person at the helm to steady the Andrews vessel.” Luxton, now serving as president elect, will take full charge of that helm after a formal vote by the board of trustees on Thursday, 2 June. [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Victor Hulbert, director; Esti Pujic, editor
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