Spire Magazine 2021

A WORD FROM THE President

A new academic year, and the start of our 100th year of Christian higher education, was celebrated at President’s Convocation last month. We celebrated this historic milestone in grand fashion, and we have planned a number of special events and activities throughout this centennial year, which you will find listed in this publication, to commemorate the rich history of this revered institution. In addition to launching the centennial year festivities, we announced a new name— Bluefield University! With a growing number of graduate degree programs and the new relationships with our sister institutions; the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine and the Appalachian College of Pharmacy, the Board of Trustees believed the name change best reflected the strategic direction of the institution as we look toward our second century of service. While our name has changed, the institution remains a Christ-centered learning community developing servant leaders to transform the world. We will seek to continue graduating students who exhibit a devoted heart to God, a broadened mind that leads to a lifetime of continued learning, and a purposeful soul that guides their vocations and service to others. As we look to the future, we will also spend time this year looking back over the last century at those who attended here as students, along with those who contributed to what Bluefield University has become today. We are grateful for the visionaries who partnered with Virginia Baptists to plant this institution here, a place that has provided educational opportunities to young people throughout Central Appalachia and the Common Wealth for ten decades. Our centennial theme, Lighthouse on the Hill, reflects this sentiment. Those who brought this institution into being reflected on it as “a lighthouse on top of the Appalachian Mountains” and described it at its founding as “a powerful lighthouse for the youth to whom no college has come before.” Bluefield University was planted here for a purpose. Our campus community eagerly embraces the opportunities we have to transform the heart, mind, and soul of those who come to better their lives through education and the campus experiences that enrich the persons they are becoming. In the earlier years of my tenure here at Bluefield, I closed many of my messages with an invitation to each and every alumnus/alumna and friend of this venerable institution to "join us in the journey." We have come a long way over the past 100 years, and yet we are imagining a future that takes us even further with new degree programs and expanded opportunities. So now, in similar fashion, I am asking and inviting you to "go further" with us as we celebrate our centennial and prepare to enter the next century of fulfilling our Christ-centered educational mission!

Partnering with you in faithful service,

David W. Olive, President

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