Read the News From Cedarville University
- College Prepares its Graduates for Success
- Christian College Ranking Names Cedarville Best in Ohio
- Ohio Engineering Students Create Custom Prosthetic Liners
- Sunny Side Up: An Optimistic Book on Loving God
- Aiming for Success from Spring Career Fair
- Seminary Leader Speaking in Chapel
- Home-School Math Day: Connecting to the Community
- One Hymn, Half a Million Views
College Prepares its Graduates for Success
Cedarville University is preparing its graduates for success. According to the recent First Destination survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), 98.3 percent of the class of 2018 are employed or attending graduate school.
According to the data, 72 percent of the graduates are employed; 26 percent are pursuing postgraduate degrees.
“The survey results confirm the tremendous efforts of our faculty and staff to prepare Cedarville students for lives of vocational distinction and godly service,” noted Dr. Thomas White, president of Cedarville University. “We are proud of their accomplishments and humbled by the opportunity we have to impact their lives.”
Over the past five graduating classes, the five-year average first destination rate for Cedarville is 97.4 percent of grads pursuing a master’s degree or employed six months after commencement.
Some of the employers for the class of 2018 included Honda, J.P. Morgan, Lockheed Martin, IBM, General Electric (GE), Samaritan's Purse, Boeing, Ernst & Young, Cleveland Clinic, Dayton Children’s Hospital and Premier Health.
“Employers regularly come back to Cedarville because our graduates are unique. Employers do not always understand the ‘why’ behind that uniqueness, but they see it in the lives of those graduates they hire,” explained Dr. Thomas Mach, vice president for academics and chief academic officer. “Cedarville graduates have integrity. They approach their work from an eternal perspective and that perspective is what makes all the difference.”
Christian College Ranking Names Cedarville Best in Ohio
Online ranking service faithonview.com named Cedarville University the top faith-based institution of higher learning in Ohio, ahead of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Walsh University, Bluffton University, Malone University and Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
“We are honored to be recognized on this listing because our distinctiveness is found in our pursuit of consistency with the clear teaching of Scripture,” expressed Dr. Thomas Mach, vice president for academics and chief academic officer.
Faithonview.com ranks colleges based on how distinctively Christian they are and if they follow a liberal arts or university model of education rather than a Bible college model. There were 204 schools listed in the nationwide ranking. Cedarville was ranked 24th best nationwide.
“Biblical truth is the foundation of all that we do at Cedarville,” noted Mach. “That means courses taught on a biblical foundation, a campus community geared toward discipleship and spiritual growth and vocational excellence designed to prepare graduates to be salt and light in their fields.”
Each institution is analyzed in four categories: reputation, student success and satisfaction, faculty resources and student selectivity. Each of these categories has equal weight in the institution’s ranking.
“At Cedarville, we focus on the student,” explained Mach. “We want them to graduate with the knowledge and skills needed to serve in the church well, live as a responsible citizen and work with Gospel purpose in the field to which God called them.”
Ohio Engineering Students Create Custom Prosthetic Liners
It’s a problem most of us can relate to — clothing material that scratches our skin or causes uncomfortable chafing. That kind of problem is easily solved by changing clothes. But for an amputee wearing what amounts to a sock over their residual limb, such a dilemma can be painful and demoralizing.
To solve this problem, amputees with irregular amputations typically turn to a custom liner. But the custom prosthetic liner manufacturing process is tedious and time-consuming, usually requiring five to 10 days.
Enter Cedarville University senior mechanical engineering students, who’ve dedicated their senior capstone project to reducing the manufacturing process time from 10 days to one day in partnership with Optimus Prosthetics (Dayton, Ohio).
The senior mechanical engineers working on this project include Kenneth Coppens (Chambersburg, Pennsylvania); Tad McKanna (Bowling Green, Ohio); Joshua Wells (Williamsburg, Ohio); and Isaac Wheeler (Newark, Ohio). They are guided by faculty advisors Dr. Tim Norman, distinguished professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering, and Jay Kinsinger, associate professor of mechanical and biomedical engineering.
The primary goal of the project is to develop a process that allows prosthetists to create customs liners for amputees that is more efficient than the current custom liner manufacturing process. They plan to complete their project by April 2019.
While most amputees can be fit with a standard prosthetic liner for their residual limb, those with irregular limb shapes require a custom liner to reduce the load on the residual limb. This allows for a longer wear because it prevents irritation from the air bubbles and chaffing caused by putting a standard liner on an irregular amputation.
Laura Klagstad, a certified prosthetist orthotist, and Russell Hawkes, a prosthetic technician who is also an amputee, from Optimus Prosthetics in Dayton, are working with Cedarville’s engineering students on this project.
"Gel liners are integral in today’s prosthetic fitting process,” explained Klagstad. “Custom distal gel cups and custom liners provide an option for these patients to obtain a comfortable fit, however fabrication of these custom devices is timely and expensive. There is also a great deal of variability due to current fabrication practices. We hope to streamline this process through 3D printing for improved patient satisfaction and overall reduction in fabrication complexity and cost."
The two options to meet this objective are 3D printing the liner itself or 3D printing the mold for the liner material to be injected into. The use of a computer numerical control (CNC) machine, stereolithography (SLA) robotics and fused deposition modeling (FDM) are all possible options to manufacture a custom liner or mold.
“This project is a way that we can use our knowledge and manufacturing experience to love others and share our abilities with people who have a need for the things we are developing,” said McKanna, the team leader.
The ideal outcome would be to develop a process that allows for prosthetists to 3D print a custom liner at their office, which would allow for a quicker and more efficient process to create irregularly shaped liners. Throughout this project, both methods will be evaluated and the best process will be determined.
“It is a thrill as an engineer to see the direct and immediate benefits that a project has on a client,” explained Kinsinger. “Twenty-five years ago an amputee’s only option for a liner was a woolen sock. The creation of polymer gel liners was revolutionary. These students are now revolutionizing the revolutionary.”
Sunny Side Up: An Optimistic Book on Loving God
Scrambled. Over easy. Mixed with grits. Side of bacon. No matter how you like your eggs, “Sunny Side Up” might make them taste a little bit better.
Dr. Dan DeWitt, Cedarville University’s director of the Center for Biblical Apologetics and Public Christianity and associate professor of applied theology and apologetics, just released his new book titled “Sunny Side Up” on February 1.
“Sunny Side Up” unpacks the conversation Peter and Jesus had over breakfast in the last chapter of John’s gospel. The book highlights Peter’s restoration and the importance of what Jesus said to him. “In this short conversation we see God's will for Peter's life, and by application, our life as well,” said DeWitt.
He writes to Christians who do not love God as much as they have in the past and encourages them to rekindle that flame.
DeWitt warns readers of the potential dangers of success and leads them back to the main issue, loving God. “It‘s dangerously possible to grow in our knowledge of God without growing in our love for God,” wrote DeWitt in the book.
DeWitt views himself as a translator between academia and the church pew and aims to write in a manner that the average church reader can understand. “Sunny Side Up” can be found on Amazon or on the website of the Good Book Company.
Aiming for Success from Spring Career Fair
Cedarville University’s spring career fair will take place Wednesday, Feb. 20, from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. in the Doden Field House. Employer registration begins at 10 a.m. The event is free of charge and open to the public.
Jeff Reep, director of career services, anticipates more than 100 employers will attend the fair and interview prospective employees. Companies confirmed for the fair include Honda, FBI, Hyundai, Speedway and Chick-fil-A.
Katelyn Whalen, a senior accounting major from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, has attended career fairs since her freshman year. “It was just a really good chance for me to go and actually talk through my major and what I want to do and just build up confidence,” she said. ”Now when I go to the career fair, it’s led to interviews and offers.”
“If students can get something that first summer, that just jump starts them in the future,” noted Reep. Securing an internship early on positions a student exceptionally well for obtaining a job after graduation, he added.
Career services hosts two workshops prior to the career fair, both of which teach students how to get the most from this experience, including how to talk with prospective employers, what to wear, and how to conduct yourself.
According to the First Destination Survey results for the class of 2018, 98.3 percent of Cedarville graduates were employed or in graduate school within six months of graduation, well above the 83.1 percent national average.
Seminary Leader Speaking in Chapel
Dr. Jason Duesing, provost and associate professor of historical theology at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri, will speak in chapel at Cedarville University on February 20 and 21. Chapel begins at 10 a.m. and is open to the public.
Before serving at Midwestern Seminary, Duesing was on the administrative leadership team at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.
Duesing is a research fellow for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and a member of the Evangelical Theological Society. He is also on the board of directors for The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, where he is the editor for The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood.
Duesing also edits for the Midwestern Journal of Theology, a biannual academic journal focused on assisting the church in disciple-making, and for For the Church, a collection of gospel-centered resources from Midwestern Seminary.
Duesing earned a Ph.D. in historical theology and Baptist studies from Southwestern Seminary and a M.Div. from Southeastern Baptist Theology Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
Home-School Math Day: Connecting to the Community
Home-school students in the Miami Valley will have an opportunity to connect with educators from Cedarville University during Home-school Math Day on Monday, Feb. 25, from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the Apple Technology Resource Center.
At Home-school Math Day, home-schooled students are taught math lessons by Cedarville early childhood education students. This free event is held every semester, as a required part of Cedarville’s Methods of Early Childhood Mathematics course.
Students in preschool through fourth grade will explore mathematical concepts at various stations through age-appropriate games, activities and mini-lessons. More than 80 students are expected to attend. Twelve Cedarville students will gain teaching experience through the program.
“Home-school Math Day will help our students to gain real teaching experience,” said Lori Ferguson, assistant professor of education. “It is an opportunity for them to be as creative as they want without the confines of a school.”
“Home-school Math Day was such a fun way to serve the surrounding home-school community,” said Sarah Moore, senior early education major. “The challenge to create a learning station that would engage and teach K-3 students was an excellent and practical learning experience for all the methods students involved. We love to teach, so it was awesome to have a chance to work with students of all ages and create something that made math fun!”
One Hymn, Half a Million Views
Cedarville University’s HeartSong Ministries has created song arrangements and recorded albums since its formation in 2003. However, in the midst of all that great music, one song stands above the rest — “A Mighty Fortress.”
During the first week of February, the song surpassed half a million views on YouTube, making it HeartSong’s best performing video on the online video service. The reach of HeartSong’s arrangement of the hymn continues to grow as musicians play the arrangement in local and international churches. Two years ago, a megachurch in Porto Alegre, Brazil, celebrated the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation by performing this modern rendition of “A Mighty Fortress” in Portuguese.
The song was arranged for HeartSong’s 2013 album “Cathedral” by Grant McCurdy, a 2014 Cedarville graduate. McCurdy participated with HeartSong during his four years as a worship major.
“A Mighty Fortress” was a collaborative effort between McCurdy, his HeartSong team and Zack Atchley, the former worship pastor for The Church at Osage Hills in Osage Beach, Missouri. “I brought the structure of it, but all those different musicians on the bands brought together the pieces that made it what it is now,” he said.
“I love hymns and the history that’s there and the depth of the theology that’s there,” McCurdy said. “I think there’s something really healthy about keeping songs in front of believers that tie us to our history of Christianity — in this case, the Reformation.”
Jim Cato, associate vice president of Christian ministries, envisioned the recording taking place in a cathedral and found a unique setting to film the recording — St. Joseph's Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio.
“From the very beginning, we knew this arrangement was very special, but we had no idea how wide and deep it was going to go,” said Cato. “The message is timeless, but I think it is particularly relevant for this generation of young people. I think they’re desperate for this. This message, put in a musical form that is approachable by this generation, is really powerful.”
McCurdy still plays the HeartSong arrangement of “A Mighty Fortress” at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas, where he works as a full-time worship leader. He writes and arranges songs for The Village, including the church’s recent recording of a contemporary version of “I Surrender All.”
