By Elizabeth Clarke, LCU News
PINEVILLE, La. (LCU News) – Louisiana Christian University welcome the incoming Class of 2028 during its annual freshmen convocation chapel, Aug. 20.
LCU Acting President David Jeffreys offered the message to a packed auditorium, reminiscing on his own freshman experience at what was then known as Louisiana College.
“In the fall of 1988, I was sitting in the same spot as you,” he told the students, many who took their first classes the day before. “I had been to my classes for a couple of days, and the reality of the coursework was terrifying. I was an OK student in high school, but I had looked at my syllabi and was asking myself, ‘Can I do this?’”
He said the Lord truly worked in his life at LC and provided exactly what he needed to be successful in and out of the classroom.
“God has a calling on your life, and He will always provide for you,” he said.
A relatively new tradition at LCU is naming a senior classman as ‘president for a day.’ Baptist Collegiate Ministry President Will Dunham, who was this year’s choice, challenged the freshmen to be intentional and leave their worriers to the Lord.
He shared there would be times of great anxiety and that he too struggled with this as a student. Dunham encouraged the freshmen to trust in the Lord, pray and seek His Word daily.
“I am not the same person I was when I came here in the fall of 2021,” Dunham said. “The friends you make here will get you through your highest highs and your lowest lows. Choose those friends wisely.”
In addition to new students, the university also welcomed four new faculty members for the 2024-25 academic year:
- Amy Chandler, assistant professor of education;
- Amelia D. Davis, dean of nursing;
- Ashar Ghulam, assistant professor of mathematics; and
- Michael Williams, assistant professor of art
“These new professors are first and foremost a nurse, educator, mathematician and artist,” said Vice President for Academic Affairs Henry Robertson. “They practice their profession. Then they enter the classroom to teach, train and uplift students to a higher level of performance. By attending this university, students will reap an enormous transformational education that will continue to benefit them their entire lives.”
AMY CHANDLER
Chandler, who holds multiple degrees from LC, joins the faculty after serving as a public and homeschool teacher. She explained that her approach to teaching is based on a strong Christian worldview, which “gives us hope, peace and direction on any day, in any situation.”
AMELIA DAVIS
Davis, who has nursing degrees from Alcorn State University, Alcorn, Mississippi, and William Carey University, Hattiesburg, Mississippi, brings more than 18 years of nursing experience and 14 years dedicated to nursing education.
She has held several leadership positions, including regional dean of nursing at Unitek Learning and interim director of the School of Nursing at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, North Carolina. In her role at NCAT, she also served as the coordinator of simulation and clinical learning, where she played a vital role in enhancing nursing education through innovative simulation strategies.
ASHAR GHULAM
Ghulam, who earned a doctoral degree from Louisiana State University, returns to the United States after a long career teaching at Forman Christian College in Lahore, Pakistan. A Fulbright scholar, Ghulam’s research centers on Riemann Hilbert problems and boundary value problems involving mathematical physics and measure theory. He has presented findings at conferences he organized in Pakistan, the United States and other international locations.
MICHAEL WILLIAMS
Williams, who has degrees from both LC and Mississippi College, previously taught high school art in Rapides Parish, specializing in ceramics. He has been recognized as a Merit Award winner of the Tom Peyton Memorial Art Festival of First United Methodist Church, Alexandria. His also won 1st and 2nd place prizes at MC.
