DAVID S. DOCKERY INAUGURATED AS 15TH PRESIDENT OF UNION UNIVERSITY
JACKSON, October 17-- David S. Dockery was inaugurated as Union University's 15th president today during ceremonies in the University's G.M. Savage Memorial Chapel.
"It is with great humility, a deep gratitude to God, and a confident trust in God's guiding providence that I stand here today to accept the responsibility to lead Union University into the next century," Dockery told students, faculty, and delegates from 64 universities and organizations. "It is with thanksgiving for all of you and an overwhelming sense of God's enabling grace that we look forward to investing our lives with the Union University family in the years to come."
Tennessee Governor Don Sundquist and Jackson Mayor Charles Farmer provided resolutions proclaiming Thursday, Oct. 17, as "Union University Day" in the State of Tennessee and the City of Jackson. Other delegates included Morris Chapman, president of the executive committee of the Southern Baptist Convention, and James Porch, executive director and treasurer of the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Both Porch and Chapman reflected on Union's strong Baptist ties and charged Dockery to build on Union's Baptist heritage during his tenure as president.
"As the new president of Union University, I charge you to be with God as you lead this institution," Porch said. "To lead alone is to neglect responsibility-- to lead with God is to fulfill his admonition and hear him say `Well done my good and faithful follower."
"Union University is respected far beyond the State of Tennessee, and I congratulate the trustees and administration in this high hour of the institution's history," Chapman said. "It is not Dr. Dockery's election by men that makes him a leader, however-- only God can make a man a leader. David Dockery is a man of integrity and honesty; he's full of wisdom and has a fine spirit. May all those who receive a diploma from his hands know that they've received a torch to carry God's light into the world."
In his inaugural address, titled "Vision and Values: Toward a Great Commandment University," Dockery outlined the challenges of a new century and described his vision for Union's continued impact on a changing world.
"As the oldest school on the life of both Southern Baptists and the schools associated with the coalition of Christian Colleges and Universities, Union University has a rich heritage and long tradition of faithful service," Dockery said. "Certainly there have been equally important times in the history of Union but few more challenging for the future of this university."
Addressing the changes in values systems worldwide, Dockery discussed the issues facing Christian higher education in years to come.
"The restlessness that characterizes so much of Western society evidences the enormous changes in our country and in our world. The challenges posed for Christian higher education by these cultural shifts are formidable indeed. Throughout education and culture, the very existence of objective truth is being challenged. A normative view of truth and a Christian world view are rejected or devalued, seemingly lost in our contemporary culture."
Dockery then affirmed Union's call to become a Great Commandment university.
"Union University has been called at this unique time in history to step forward as a leader in Christian higher education to prepare students to enter the 21st century. In order to answer this call we must prioritize our commitment to the words Jesus called the Great Commandment," Dockery said in reference to Matthew 22:36-40.
"Here we are told to love God with our hearts, our minds, our souls-- and to love others completely. These words of Jesus serve as the foundational framework for Union University to carry out its mission to our changing postmodern world."
"Union University's purpose is not just the educating of business students, or nursing students, or art students, or music students, or science students to the latest fads. Nor is it bound to certain methods of delivering this information. For our goal is not just the teaching of certain subject matter. It is broader and more basic than that."
"For Union University to become a truly Great Commandment university does not mean that we will blur disciplinary matters-- not at all! If we can learn to integrate faith thoroughly with our various disciplines, drawing on the long Christian tradition to do so, we can restore coherence to learning."
"We need vision shaped by commonly held values-- values established on the Word of God and our great Baptist heritage..." Dockery said. "We must remind ourselves that if Union University were to accomplish aspects of its vision without such values we would fail-- and fail miserably. For Union University is not called just to be a great institution of higher learning, but a distinctive Christian university. To start with the wrong goal is to run the wrong race."
"I believe a great commitment to the Great Commandment, its implications and applications, will bring about a great university, faithful to a great heritage, resulting in great days for the future of Union University, which can only be accomplished by God's grace and for his glory."
The inauguration ceremony highlighted a week of community-wide festivities, including an outdoor concert featuring contemporary Christian band Newsong and a prayer breakfast for area business leaders. An academic convocation featuring Millard Erickson, distinguished professor of theology at Baylor University's Truett Theological Seminary and at Western Seminary in Portland, Ore., was held on campus Wednesday, Oct. 16, and a community praise service featuring James T. Draper, president of the Baptist Sunday School Board, was held that evening at the Jackson Civic Center.
Union University, located in Jackson, Tenn., is a four-year, liberal arts university affiliated with the Tennessee Baptist Convention. Founded in 1823, the 2,000-student institution is the oldest university related to the Southern Baptist Convention.
