Humanitarian Disaster Institute
Director: Dr. Jamie Aten, Founder, and Blanchard Chair of Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership
Humanitarian Disaster Institute (HDI) hosted its fifth annual Disaster Ministry Conference in June at Wheaton Bible Church in West Chicago, IL. The theme was “Do Justice. Love Mercy. Walk Humbly.” Keynote speakers included Miriam Burnett, Eugene Cho, Jo Anne Lyon, and Richard Stearns, among others.
The first cohort of the newly launched M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership arrived on campus in August. This cohort is made up of full-time, on-campus students as well as part-time, hybrid students who will complete the degree in a mix of in-person and online coursework.
With the launch of this new M.A. program, HDI became its own department and Kent Annan joined the staff as Director of the M.A. in Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership. In this full-time role, he will support, mentor, and train students enrolled in the program, and will also teach various courses. Founder and Executive Director Jamie Aten’s faculty title also changed from Arthur P. Rech and Mrs. Jean May Rech Associate Professor of Psychology to Blanchard Chair of Humanitarian & Disaster Leadership.
Learn more at wheaton.edu/HDI.
The Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics & Economics
Director: Captain David Iglesias ’80, Judge Advocate General’s Corps, United States Navy (Ret.)
The Wheaton Center for Faith, Politics and Economics (FPE) is pleased to announce new board member Greg Adams, who now serves as the Chief Operating Officer for the State of Tennessee, after serving with IBM for 37 years.
FPE held its inaugural Data Driven Debates this past spring on climate change, mass incarceration, and the Affordable Care Act. Students competed for a final spot in the debates through research papers and oral presentations. Also this spring, FPE Scholar Lydia Granger ’19 presented her research, coauthored with Assistant Professor of International Relations Timothy Taylor, at the Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) 2018 Conference.
FPE looks forward to an exciting fall when Steve Preston, former Secretary of the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), will lecture on “The Financial Crisis of 2008: A View from the Inside,” on September 24.
During the summer of 2019, FPE will run its Iron Sharpens Iron: Southeast Asia program, in which students earn eight credits as they learn about the relationship between public policy and business, with travel to sites in Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Singapore.
Learn more at wheaton.edu/FPE.
Opus: The Art of Work
Director: Dr. Chris R. Armstrong
Opus awarded 11 Wheaton students with scholarships to attend Praxis Labs’ week-long Redemptive Entrepreneurship training program which took place during summer 2018. In spring 2018, Opus hosted three Lunch and Learns, featuring conversations between an interdisciplinary group of faculty and one author of an Opus Vocation Scholars paper on the intersection of vocation and human flourishing within Wheaton faculty’s academic disciplines. In February 2018, Assistant Director Ben Norquist organized and led a panel at the CCC&U’s 2018 International Forum representing four Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCC&U) schools on different institutional approaches to vocational programming. Opus partnered with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute to host a March 2018 colloquium for 17 Wheaton undergraduate students exploring the Christian and Enlightenment roots of the American Dream. The Kern Family Foundation awarded a grant to Opus to continue its work at Wheaton College into its fifth year. Opus, in partnership with the Acton Institute, hosted a colloquium in May 2018 on populism with 13 Wheaton College faculty from an array of disciplines. Lastly, Opus supported the Wheaton in Washington program in summer 2018 with a classroom presentation and curricular support in the area of vocation.
Learn more at wheaton.edu/OPUS.