Announcing: Baylor University Partners with Northrise!

Excerpt taken from official Baylor University announcement, found on the Baylor University Website. 

WACO, Texas (May 29, 2014) – Ushering in a new era of global engagement that seeks to serve Christ and the world, Baylor University today announced a generous gift from Charles M. and Debra J. Stroupe of Paradise Valley, Arizona, that will initiate a significant partnership between Baylor and Northrise University of Ndola, Zambia.

 Northrise University is a Christ-centered educational institution dedicated to equipping men and women to work in ministry and business to contribute to the spiritual and economic transformation of Zambia. This latest partnership will extend even further Baylor’s existing relationship with Northrise.

 For the past several years, Baylor MBA students have worked alongside Northrise business students to examine a business challenge for a sponsoring company in Zambia. Dozens of Baylor student-athletes with the Sports Ministry Mission team spend two weeks every summer partnering with Northrise to do sports ministry in Ndola and Kabwe, Zambia, and also serve at Family Legacy orphanage in Lusaka. As the Baylor School of Social Work expands its Global Mission Leadership program into sub-Saharan Africa, the educational institutions have partnered to plan a Social Work program at Northrise, which will be led by a Northrise alumna, now studying graduate social work at Baylor.

 The latest alliance between Baylor and Northrise, in collaboration with Baylor Missions, will provide academic, experiential and spiritual formation opportunities to individuals aspiring to be impactful members of a global society informed by their Christian commitment.

 “Baylor has clearly positioned itself as a National University with a worldwide impact,” said Dr. Ken Hall, Senior Vice President for University Development and Strategic Initiatives at Baylor. “The affiliation with Northrise University will allow Baylor to further expand our impact with one of the premier distinctly Christian universities in Africa. The potential for Kingdom expansion is truly significant, and we are deeply grateful to Charles and Debra Stroupe for their faith and foresight in supporting this Baylor/Northrise initiative.”

 Dr. Moffat Zimba, president of Northrise University, said of the partnership, “God has blessed us greatly with the Baylor/Northrise partnership. Baylor, its faculty and students will have an immeasurable impact on Northrise, our community and our nation as we empower the people of Zambia… one student at a time. We are beyond grateful!”

This Baylor-Northrise partnership will focus on programs and services in four areas:

• Summer Discipline-specific Initiatives at the Northrise University campus, including a multi-week intensive internship class for Baylor and Northrise students on “Business as Mission,” taught by Blaine McCormick, Ph.D., associate professor of management, and Van Gray, Ph.D., professor and associate director of the Center for Nonprofit Studies, both at Baylor’s Hankamer School of Business. In addition are workshops and/or classes taught by Baylor faculty and staff and the establishment of a micro-financing business through work with nonprofits and/or individual students.

• Research and Business Initiatives, including an extension of the “Message in a Bottle” program to involve additional Baylor and Northrise faculty and possible external participants and planning for a future Northrise Equities Foundation

• Summer Internships for Baylor Students and/or Staff Development at Northrise University campus

• Semester-long Internships for Northrise Faculty Development at Baylor University

“This partnership empowers both Baylor and Northrise to encourage and promote Christian higher education in Zambia. I’m glad that we can come alongside in this effort,” McCormick said.

“Baylor University and Northrise University have created a partnership that will involve multiple academic units working in collaboration with Baylor Missions. This ushers in a new era of global engagement at Baylor as we strive to make a deep, long-lasting impact in strategic worldwide locations,” said Rebecca A. Kennedy, director of missions and associate chaplain in Baylor’s Office of Spiritual Life.

Under Pro Futuris, Baylor’s strategic vision for the future, Baylor focuses primarily on a discipline-specific approach to missions to help students understand how they can use their strengths and passions in service of Christ and the world. Each year, along with faculty and staff from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds, the University sends hundreds of students to worldwide locations, allowing them to use their intellectual and spiritual gifts to serve others while at the same time broadening their understanding of the world’s rich cultural diversity.

 Together as partners, both universities will actively involve students, faculty, staff and alumni, along with for-profit and nonprofit leaders, to facilitate awareness, transformation, enthusiasm and hope.

 “This partnership with Northrise University has exceeded all our imaginations,” said Diana R. Garland, professor and dean of the Baylor School of Social Work, who traveled to Zambia in 2012. “Many other schools send Americans to teach in global settings like Zambia. But we know of no other that has forged a mutual partnership in which together we are shaping Christian social work education in another country by working alongside their academic leaders who are shaping their own program.”

“This has been an incredible partnership that has taught us a lot about mutuality in our mission,” said Jon E. Singletary, Ph.D., associate dean for baccalaureate studies and The Diana R. Garland Endowed Chair of Child and Family Studies at the Baylor School of Social Work.

“We too often assume that we travel to share our knowledge and skills in a developing context. With the support and the leadership of the Zimbas, we have learned that we are truly partners on this journey together, learning from each other about how to address the needs of our world,” Singletary said.