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Higher Ed News from around Province VII, June 2006
Communication grants, news about students and graduates, upcoming events, and more . . .
By: Susan Hanson
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Greetings! I hope your spring semester went well and that your summer is off to a great start. I have several important items to pass along.
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COMMUNICATION GRANTS AVAILABLE FOR CAMPUS MINISTRY
You might want to sit down for this one.
A friend of Canterbury at Texas Tech has given $10,000 to improve communications by and among campus ministries around our province. How we spend the money will be up to us, with just a few guidelines:
• The money must be spent for ministry with college students, not for regular parish activities.
• The funds cannot be spent on "bricks and mortar" or general programming, including salaries. Grants will be awarded for electronic communication needs: that is, hardware and software.
• Grants will be given in blocks of $1,000 or less. The math is pretty simple: If all the grants are for the full amount, then 10 different campus ministries will receive funds. If some ministries request less than $1,000, then more sites will receive grants.
• Given that we haven't been able to pull off a chaplains conference in recent years, one goal will be enabling chaplains to hold video conferences. That may sound horribly expensive and complicated, but
it's not. All you will need is a webcam for your computer, which should cost no more than $300; many are available for significantly less. Depending on what you're running, you might also need to
upgrade your operating system. Grant funds could be used for either or both of these.
Once you have the appropriate hardware in place, you're ready to download the software--at no charge to you. The program we'll be using is SightSpeed, which you can find at <http://www.sightspeed.com>. You
can read about system requirements at <http://www.sightspeed.com/support/system>. You will be downloading
the Basic Plan, which can be found at
<http://www.sightspeed.com/plans.php?page=basic>.
As the administrator, I'll be downloading the Pro Service Plan, which will cost $50 for the year. For this fee, I'll be able to initiate a video conference with up to three of you at any time (I was hoping for a larger group, but this seems to be the norm). And again, there is no charge at your end. One other plus: The program is cross-platform, so our PCs and Macs will be able to talk to each other. What a deal.
Given that the theme for our national chaplains conference later this month will be "Wireless Fidelity," this seems like a great time to be thinking creatively about how we use electronic communications. To that end, you might consider applying your grant toward the purchase
of any of the following:
• a new computer
• database software
• web design software
• graphics programs
• e-newsletter software
• upgrades for hardware and/or software
You get the idea.
So what do you need to do to apply? It's very simple:
• Determine your need. (In other words, don't ask for the full amount unless you know how you plan to use it.)
• Send me an e-mail explaining your project or plan, including what it's going to cost.
• Do this by July 1.
• Send me a follow-up note detailing what you did with the money. I'd like to be able to share your ideas with the rest of the province.
It would be nice to say that the grant money will be going to those ministries that submit the most creative ideas, but that could get sticky given that some of us have much more basic needs than others. To keep things simple, then, the funds be awarded on a first-come,first-served basis to those ministries whose needs fit the above criteria.
Let me know if you have any questions.
****************************** STAFF CHANGES . . .
David Krause, Episcopal chaplain at Texas Tech for the last 13 years, has accepted a call to become rector of St. Peter's, McKinney, Texas. You can learn more about this parish at <http://www.stpeters-dallas.org/home.shtml>. Although David and Julie are excited about beginning this new
ministry, we're definitely going to miss them!
The announcement of the new chaplain at Texas Tech is expected in the next week or so.
A belated welcome to Ed Ziegler, who became the Director of Youth and Young Adult Ministries at Trinity Church, Houston, earlier this year. Ed also now serves as college missioner for Houston Community
College.
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PROVINCIAL FUNDS AVAILABLE
With the new triennium beginning, I'd like you to be thinking of how the Province can help support your ministry. Do you need funds to send students to a national gathering? Do you have a mission trip planned? Are you developing a new program or internship? As a province, we will have $6,500 available to us in the next three years. We need to spend this carefully . . . but we do need to spend it. Grants are also available from ECUSA once provincial funds are spent.
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A MESSAGE FROM OUR STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE
Andrew Davis, a native of Lubbock and now a senior majoring in
mathematical economics at Rice University, is Province VII
representative to the national Episcopal Student Leadership Team. He
recently asked me to pass on this message about Celebrate!, the
ecumenical student gathering scheduled for Dec. 28-Jan. 1 in New
Orleans:
• Hello and good news. The Celebrate! web-site is finally up and can
be found at <http://www.cescm.org/Celebrate06/>. This web-site
contains detailed information about when, and where the conference
will be held. There is a general schedule for the event, although the
Episcopal schedule is still undergoing some slight alterations. It is
going to be a lot of fun and I hope that we can all work to gather as
much student support as possible. I don't like to harp on money, but I
would like to emphasize that the cost per student is $275. So, if at
all possible, it would be wonderful if all the different ministries
tried to work scholarships into the budget so that as many students as
possible can attend.
Thank you,
Andrew Davis
andrew.b.davis@rice.edu
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NEWS OF STUDENTS & GRADUATES
• Ryan Kuratko, a native of Lubbock and graduate of the University of
Illinois, will be ordained to the priesthood at St. Paul's on the
Plains in Lubbock in July 22. He will be serving there as Associate
Rector. Ryan is a Dec. 2005 graduate of Virginia Seminary.
• James Derkits, a May graduate of Virginia Seminary, will be ordained
to the deaconate at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston on June 24.
James and his wife, Laura, were both peer ministers at Texas State
University. He will serve as Assistant Rector at St. Mary's Church in
Cypress, Texas.
• Another Texas State graduate and former peer minister, the Rev. Bill
Love, was recently elected Bishop Co-Adjuctor of the Diocese of
Albany. The Rt. Rev. Gary Lillibridge, also a graduate and one-time
peer minister at Texas State, was installed as Bishop of West Texas
this past February.
Do you have news of students or graduates that you would like to
share? If you do, please pass it on to me for the next newsletter.
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WHO'S GOING?
If you're planning to attend the chaplains gathering in Minneapolis
later this month, please let me know by checking the space below and
hitting "Reply."
_____________ Yes, I will be there.
I'd like for us to get together sometime during the conference.
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YOUNG ADULT FESTIVAL
Do you have any students attending? If so, please let me know, again
by simply filling in the blank:
I have _______________ students attending.
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That's all for now. Please stay in touch!
Peace,
Susan Hanson
Coordinator for Ministry in Higher Education
Province VII
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Higher Ground
Lutheran-Episcopal Campus Ministry at Texas State-San Marcos
512-353-1928
510 N. Guadalupe St.
P.O. Box 1326
San Marcos, TX 78667
http://www.highergroundtxstate.org/
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