Source: Orthodox Church in America
SOUTH CANAAN, PA [STOTS]
STOTS board members participate in DC seminar.
At its June meeting, the Board of Commissioners of the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada [ATS] voted to extend Saint Tikhon’s Orthodox Theological Seminary’s next accreditation visit by two years, from Fall 2014 to Fall of 2016.
In their decision, the Board of Commissioners accepted the recommendations of an ATS site team that visited the seminary in February 2012. During their visit, the ATS tean found that significant institutional progress had been made in the past two years under the leadership of the seminary’s Dean, Archpriest Alexander Atty, whom the team commended for upgrading the seminary’s physical plant, moving forward with married student housing, fostering greater collaboration between various institutional constituencies, and promoting a greater spirit of shared responsibility.
The ATS site team also commended the seminary’s Board of Trustees and Administration for making progress in areas of institutional governance, strategic planning, and institutional assessment.
In their recommendations to the Commission, the ATS site team noted that an extension of the seminary’s period of accreditation would appropriately serve as “an affirmation of the school’s renewed sense of vitality.”
In accepting the recommendations of the site team, the ATS Board of Commissioners said that it “acknowledge[d]the progress that has been made in the last two years and encourage[d]the seminary to implement the changes it has identified” in making the school more vibrant in the years to come.
In learning of the Commission’s decision, Father Alexander extended his sincere thanks to all those who worked diligently in making the ATS site team visit productive, and specially acknowledged Dr. Paul Witek for his professional contributions as institutional liaison to the ATS Board of Commissioners.
In related news, members of the seminary’s Board of Trustees recently gathered in Washington, DC for a two-day seminar featuring nationally-known consultant Mary H. DeKuyper, a facilitator and trainer for non-profit agencies who specializes in fundraising, board development, and general governance. Among the other presenters was Archpriest Dennis Swencki, the seminary’s development and chief financial officer, who recently completed a 13-week fundraising course at Villanova University, and Archpriest Yaroslav Sudick, renowned educator and trustee emeritus, who conducted a session detailing the legal responsibilities of board members.