Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics (FPE)

Director: Captain David Iglesias ’80, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy (Ret.)

The Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics hosted “Income Inequality: The Role of Markets & Government,” an in-depth look at the impact of public and private sectors on the issue of income inequality as it relates to family structures, healthcare, and poverty, in January. Dr. Sam Peltzman and Dr. Bruce D. Meyer of the University of Chicago as well as Dr. W. Bradford Wilcox of the University of Virginia were panelists at the discussion. Also this year, FPE Director David Iglesias ’80 taught Civil Rights/Police Action, Criminal Procedure, and U.S. National Security courses. FPE will send approximately 10 students out to travel with the 2017 Iron Sharpens Iron program from May 8 through July 1. The trip will explore the interaction between public policy and the economy in a post-communist era, and students will travel to the Czech Republic, Poland, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.

Learn more on FPE's website.

Billy Graham Center For Evangelism (BGCE)

Executive Director: Dr. Ed Stetzer, the Billy Graham Distinguished Chair for Church, Mission, and Evangelism

The Billy Graham Center for Evangelism (BGCE) has grown and launched new endeavors in recent months. Most recently, the BGCE launched a Gospel Life weekly podcast with the goal of speaking into conversations about evangelism among Christians today. The podcast is part of the Gospel Life brand, which includes blogs and video training. The BGCE also launched the first of what will be quarterly webinars designed to help church and lay leaders implement new evangelism tools and discussions into their leadership. The BGCE also launched two new institutes: the SEND Institute for church planters and the Rural Churches Institute for pastors serving in rural areas. The BGCE’s Institute for Prison Ministries held its fifth annual Correctional Ministries and Chaplains Association (CMCA) summit in Philadelphia, where hundreds convened for networking and learning about issues of corrections and reentry. The BGCE will host their second Amplify National Evangelism Conference June 27-29, 2017.

Learn more on the BGCE's website.

Opus: The Art of Work

Director: Dr. Chris Armstrong Assistant Director: Ben Norquist

This past fall, Opus piloted its first Staff & Faculty Vocation Seminar, hosting 16 staff and 14 faculty. In six sessions, participants explored their own vocations as well as their mentoring roles in students’ vocational journeys. This popular seminar will be repeated each semester. On December 12, the Opus Schoology Group launched, providing faculty with substantial resources on vocation. Meanwhile, faculty participants in the Theology of Vocation Project continue to write vocation-related white papers to be shared across the faculty. From March 20-24, three Opus-sponsored Graduate Alumni Panels brought in alumni to address vocation with current graduate students. Opus Director Chris Armstrong, CVC Director Dee Pierce M.A. ’17, and Provost Margaret DuPlissis Diddams ’83 presented on Wheaton’s vocation initiatives at the Network for Vocation in Undergraduate Education (NetVUE) biennial national conference, March 23-25. Opus will host the national meeting of Consortium of Christian Study Centers at Wheaton July 24-26.

Learn more on Opus' website.

Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI)

Director: Dr. Jamie Aten, the Dr. Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech associate professor of psychology Faculty Fellow: Dr. Ward Davis, associate professor of psychology

THE HUMANITARIAN DISASTER INSTITUTE (HDI) deployed a team to southern Louisiana after massive floods hit the region in late August 2016. To help prepare local churches and ministries in their disaster relief efforts and to create resources to help people respond to future disasters, the researchers collected data and conducted trainings for over 600 people. In December, the HDI team received a three-year, $300,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation to research the subject of “Humility in Humanitarian Aid Leadership.” The team gathered research for the grant at Accord Network's 2016 Developing Excellence Forum and Disaster Response Summit in North Carolina, where Dr. Aten was a plenary speaker. Also in December, an HDI team published a study in Spirituality in Clinical Practice, an APA journal, on a culturally adapted treatment model for restavek children in Haiti who are forced to work as indentured domestic servants for affluent urban families.

Learn more on the HDI's website.

HoneyRock - Wheaton’s Outdoor Center for Leadership Development

Director: Rob Ribbe ’87, M.A. ’90, assistant professor of Christian formation and ministry

Director Rob Ribbe and Program Manager Rachael Cyrus are continuing their study of the impact of employment on summer camp staff. Their research found that camp staff grow in leadership, emotional intelligence and spiritual maturity. The goal of this multi-year effort is to discover best practices for developing -college-aged camp staff. Christian camps employ thousands of young adults per year in the United States. They recently shared the results in a nation wide webinar, at multiple conferences, and in the CCCA journal. In April, HoneyRock convened a symposium involving Wheaton faculty and outside experts on "Ministry to the Fatherless" in collaboration with Psalm68Five Ministries. This is part of major grant to develop a curriculum and leadership training program that will hopefully be replicated at camps across the country. Honey Rock will serve nearly 700 Wheaton students this upcoming summer in leadership schools, Wheaton Passage and other courses. Ten graduate students in the Outdoor and Adventure Leadership program will complete their degrees this year.

Learn more on HoneyRock's website.

The Marion E. Wade Center

The Marion E. Wade Center presented the final of three lectures on George MacDonald given by Dr. Timothy Larsen ’89, M.A. ’90 for the 2016-17 Hansen Lectureship series. The final talk was on March 23, titled "George MacDonald and the Reenchantment of the World.” Farmer Giles of Hamby by J. R. R. Tolkien was adapted as a play by the Wheaton College Tolkien Society and performed on March 28 and 30 as part of a “Staycation” for local families on spring break at the Wade Center. More than 200 parents and children attended each performance. 

The Wade Center and the Billy Graham Center for Evangelism co-hosted “The Evangelism of C.S. Lewis” event with Douglas Gresham, stepson of C.S. Lewis, Dr. Jerry Root, and singer-songwriter Meg Sutherland on April 3, for which they welcomed near to 500 persons in attendance. 

During the season of Lent, from March 8 through April 12, the Wade Center presented Lenten reflections on “The Man Born to be King” by Dorothy L. Sayers, using the World War II BBC radio recordings of six plays to reflect in a new way upon the life of Christ (one per week over the 6 weeks of Lent). Two additional lectures occurred during the spring 2017 semester: Dr. Corey Latta spoke on “C.S. Lewis and the Art of Imaginative Writing” on February 21 and Reverend Professor Paul S. Fiddes addressed “The Poetics of Desire in Thomas Traherne and C.S. Lewis” on January 24.

Learn more on the Wade Center's website.

Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE)

Director: Dr. Vincent Bacote, associate professor of theology

Wheaton’s Center for Applied Christian Ethics (CACE) hosted numerous speakers and events this semester: James K.A. Smith spoke on “A Postmodern Saint?: Augustine in France;” Bryan Stevenson, author of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption (Random House, 2014) and founder of Equal Justice Initiative, addressed over 700 participants; CACE and the Artist Series co-hosted a concert featuring music and dance by Max ZT and Andrew Nemr; and Dr. Vincent Bacote was a respondent to “How (Not) To Have A Foot in Both Kingdoms: Protestant Models for Christian Citizenship.” CACE and the Dean of the Humanities Department also welcomed Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger and Palestinian Activist Ali Abu Awwad to address “Painful Hope: Unlikely Partners for Peace;” ethicist Myles Werntz spoke on “Immigration, God’s People and Christian Moral Vision” at the Christian Moral Formation Lectureship; and CNN Political Reporter Eugene Scott lectured on “The Role of Faith in Politics in the 2016 Election.”

Learn more on CACE's website.

Center for Urban Engagement (CUE)

Director: Dr. Noah Toly '99, M.A. '12, professor of urban studies and politics & international relations; director of Urban Studies program

In December, Wheaton in Chicago students concluded another successful semester of living, studying, and working throughout the city. In January, CUE hosted Efrem Smith, President and CEO of World Impact, who lectured on Philemon and spoke in a chapel service remembering the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. Katie Day ’73, professor at The Lutheran Philadelphia Seminary and author of Faith on the Avenue: Religion on a City Street (Oxford University Press, 2014), spoke in February on the role of faith communities in shaping their urban environments. CUE also added four colleagues to its Supporting Faculty: Dr. Sally Canning (Psychology), Dr. M. Daniel Carroll R. Rodas (Biblical & Theological Studies), Dr. Theon Hill (Communication) and Dr. Susan Greener (Intercultural Studies). For the fall of 2017, CUE projects a record Wheaton in Chicago enrollment.

Learn more on CUE's website.