New Provost Speaks at Convocation
Sep 10, 2009
Cornerstone University kicked off the first day of the fall semester with Dr. Rick Ostrander, provost, sharing his vision for the school’s academic future during Fall Convocation held Sept. 9 in the Hansen Athletic Center. 
During the morning service, Dr. Joseph Stowell, president, recognized Dr. W. Wilbert Welch for 50 years of service to Cornerstone beginning in 1959 as president until 1983. Dr. Welch, 91, has served as chancellor since 1984 and continues to lead prayer on campus and eat in the dining hall with students.
In addition, Larry Rice, director of global opportunities, presented the Student Leadership Award to Ashley DeWitt and Stephen Winkelman. The two seniors will each receive a $1,000 scholarship and designate $250 to the charity of their choice.
“One of the most important roles on campus is the chief academic officer who guides, directs and drives our academic programs,” said Dr. Stowell before introducing Dr. Ostrander. “We are delighted to welcome him to our university family.”
Dr. Ostrander began by explaining convocation “is like a huddle where I get to lay out the game plan.”
“Cornerstone University has grown and broadened while holding fast to its fundamental Christian beliefs,” said Dr. Ostrander, who started his duties in July as provost overseeing all academic endeavors at the university. “But what does that mean for the future? Who do we want to become?
“Rather than simply seeking to preserve who we were 50 years ago, we need to understand the culture that we find ourselves in today and think intentionally about how we can best fulfill our mission and influence that culture for Christ. Who, then, do we want to become?”
Ostrander proposed three traits for the university.
“First, we should be a university that takes the life of the mind seriously. Loving God with our minds is not our only calling, but it is an important one, and it’s the particular one that Christian universities are designed to do. If we don’t get this one right, everything else is meaningless.”
He encouraged students, faculty and staff to commit to putting learning first, “not because it’s the most important thing in life, but because it’s the particular contribution of a university to the body of Christ,” he said.
“Second, even though we are no longer a Baptist college, we should seek to become Baptist in the best sense of the term,” said Ostrander who recently published his third book, Why College Matters to God. “If understood properly, the Baptist heritage means that each of us has a unique perspective and something to offer the community. It means that Cornerstone should be known as a place where vigorous dialogue and even disagreement can take place.
“Third, we should prepare students to engage today’s culture in meaningful ways. We need to be a university that prepares Christians to value other cultures and thrive in them. That doesn’t happen by sitting in a classroom but by getting off campus and immersing oneself in different cultures, both here in Grand Rapids and around the world.”
He hopes someday all Cornerstone graduates will have a passport full of stamps from countries around the world.
He reminded the university community that “our basic purpose is to be a Christ-centered learning community that is both academically excellent and spiritually contagious. We want to become a university that makes Christ pre-eminent over every aspect—from the classroom to the dining room, from to the dormitory to the gym. My prayer is that Cornerstone would become a university where we love God with our minds, learn from each other and produce graduates whose full lives cannot help but influence the cultures around them.”
Ostrander holds a doctorate in American History from the University of Notre Dame. He also holds a master’s degree in American History from the University of Notre Dame, a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and a bachelor’s degree in theology from Moody Bible Institute.
He served as a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Wurzburg in Wurzburg, Germany, received a grant from the Lilly Endowment to support participation in “The History of Christian Practice in America” and received a Teagle Fellowship Award.
Prior to accepting the job at Cornerstone, Ostrander served at John Brown University in Siloam, Ark., for 12 years, most recently as interim vice president of academic affairs.
For more information about Cornerstone University and its academic programs, visit www.cornerstone.edu/academics/.
