Subject: NR #1995-008: Calvin College Announces Presidential Finalist To Reach RBPS Staff, Contact: Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer [For news tips or content-related inquiries] Voice: (616) 674-8446 * FAX: (616) 674-8454 * E-Mail: Darrell128@AOL.com PO Box 691, Lawrence, MI 49064-0691 Wayne Martin, Circulation Manager [For missing or back issue inquiries] Voice: (708) 895-2139 * FAX: (708) 963-6342 * E-Mail: WayneM55@AOL.com 3539 Madison, Lansing, IL 60438 Ron Ellens, Subscription Services [For subscription inquiries or address changes] Voice: (708) 331-0847 * FAX: (708) 636-9366 16424 Cottage Grove, South Holland, IL 60473 NR #1995-008: For Immediate Release Calvin College Announces Texan Finalist in Presidential Search by Darrell Todd Maurina, Press Officer Reformed Believers Press Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (January 13, 1995) RBPS - Calvin College is thinking big in its search to replace retiring president Dr. Anthony Diekema, set to retire at the end of the current academic year after 20 years of service at the helm of the official college of the Christian Reformed denomination. In an announcement to the local media, Calvin reported that the finalist in its presidential search process is a vice-president in a Texas natural gas company. Dr. Gaylen Byker, a 1973 Calvin College graduate and West Michigan native, will bring a banking, business, and international relations background to the Calvin post if confirmed as the president of Calvin College by Synod 1995. Raised in the CRC, Byker is currently an elder, adult Bible study teacher, and nominee for the finance committee at New Life CRC in the north Houston suburb of Spring, Texas. While employed in a subsidiary of Chase Manhattan Bank, Byker was an elder, adult Bible study teacher, and chairman of the Stewardship Committee/Campaign at the prestigious Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) in New York City. Byker is currently completing a two-day campus visit with faculty, staff, and students, the last stage in the search committee process. If reactions to the campus visit are positive, the search committee will recommend him to the February meeting of the full board of trustees, which must then present the nominee to synod. Calvin College has not yet released Byker's address or phone number and requests that he not be contacted to "preserve the integrity of the search process." Although Diekema, then associate chancellor of the University of Illinois Medical Center, was presented to Synod 1975 as a dual nomination with Calvin College philosophy professor Dr. Nicholas Wolterstoff, the search committee intends to follow recent practice with top denominational appointments by presenting a single name to Synod 1995. While Byker has spent most of his career in the business world, he holds three advanced degrees: a law degree and an M.A. in world politics from the University of Michigan, and a Ph.D. in international relations from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to financial and political seminars for business purposes, Byker has taught courses at the University of Pennsylvania, Calvin College, and Fuller Theological Seminary, where he is currently a trustee. He also taught for three semesters in the Graduate School of Business at the American University in Beirut until terrorist groups began kidnapping American citizens. Byker, currently a steering committee member of the Campaign for Calvin College, highlighted his business background in application documents released by the search committee. "I believe that these skills would enable me to work well with the Board of Trustees, to manage the day-to-day activities of the College and to guide the administration, faculty, and student body through the processes of renewal and change," wrote Byker. Asked to list "the most pressing issues for higher education in the decade ahead," Byker cited seven issues: "marginalization of faith in academic circles and growing skepticism in society at large about the possibility of doing credible 'Christian scholarship,'" "the use of new technologies," "the two sides of the budget struggle - fundraising and cost containment," "maintenance of academic excellence," "diversity of students and faculty," "better utilization of the gifts of women and minorities," and "student values and conduct." "My vision for Calvin College in the next decade is based upon my understanding of its impressive history and its present strengths and weaknesses," wrote Byker. "It assumes that Calvin remains true to the Reformed tradition of historic Christianity and is successful to a considerable extent in addressing the issues listed in my answer to the previous question." Responding to a more general introductory question about his personal background, Byker related his experience of attending Calvin for six weeks as a freshman, dropping out with the full expectation that he would be drafted into the Vietnam conflict, and returning after three years of military service with the intent to "attend the University of Michigan because I thought I had had enough of Dutch Reformed culture." Instead of going to the University of Michigan, Byker wrote that he enrolled in Calvin again to "try it for a semester," partly because his new wife was a Calvin junior. "In retrospect that was the single most significant decision of my life for my intellectual and spiritual development and for the development of the world and life view that has guided me since I left Calvin," wrote Byker, pointing to numerous Calvin professors who exercised a formative influence on him in his pre-law studies preparing for admission to the University of Michigan law school. "One result of this process is my unusual ability to function comfortably both in academic settings and in the business/professional world," wrote Byker. A Texas natural gas company executive may be an unusual choice to head up a Christian liberal arts college, but a combination of business and academic skills certainly will not hurt a candidate for the presidency of a college which has lost nearly a fifth of its student body in five years and has seen denominational ministry share receipts drop from 92.0% of assessed funds in 1980 to 74.5% in 1990 - the last year for which figures are publicly available in the Acts of Synod. Whether a Texan at the helm is the best choice to turn the tide remains a good question, one which Synod 1995 will likely need to answer. Crossreferences to Related RBPS Articles: #1994-008: President Diekema Announces Retirement from Calvin College #1995-003: Calvin College Reverses Five Year Enrollment Decline Contact List: Phil De Haan, Director of Media Relations, Calvin College 3201 Burton St. SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49546 * O: (616) 957-6000 * F: (616) 957-8551 * E-Mail: DEHP@Calvin.edu Grace Achterhof, Chairperson, Calvin College Presidential Search Committee O: (616) 459-7555 * FAX: (616) 459-9810 ------------------------------------------------ file: /pub/resources/text/reformed: nr95-008.txt .