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This article originally appeared in the 7/2/15 edition of the Johnson City Press here.
By Tony Casey
As Milligan College President Dr. Bill Greer said, Wednesday was a “momentous” occasion when it was announced that Emmanuel Christian Seminary would become part of Milligan College.
Located directly across the Milligan Highway from the college, Emmanuel joins the school after having on its campus about 50 years ago.
“This is a historic day for Milligan and Emmanuel,” said Greer, who took the lectern first during an announcement ceremony at the seminary. “It is more important than ever for us to prepare faith-driven servant leaders; therefore, we welcome Emmanuel to join us on this mission that has guided Milligan over the past 150 years.”
More than 100 people, including individuals from both schools, were in attendance to hear about the merger, which was a long time coming, according to Milligan’s spokespeople.
“It is really fantastic to see so many people come … to help us celebrate, really, this momentous event, an event we’ve been looking toward and praying toward for the better part of three years, if not more, but certainly very actively over the last three years or so,” Greer said.
During the summer of 2012, the Christian liberal arts college started the most recent effort to make Emmanuel a part of Milligan.
Citing “significant financial issues,” Milligan had worked with Emmanuel for what would be the process of an integration into its neighbor’s open arms. Specifically, Emmanuel is now a part of Milligan’s School of Bible and Ministry, which is one of the five schools of the college’s new academic structure. Rollin A. Ramsaran is set to be the school’s new dean, according to Greer. It will join the Schools of Science and Allied Health, Arts and Humanities, Social Science and Education and The William B. Greene Jr. School of Business and Technology as one of the newest institutions.
Aside from Ramsaran being named as the seminary’s dean, Dan Lawson, executive director of development, will take over as associate director of seminary development and Lauren Gullet as admissions director.
Before Wednesday’s announcement, Emmanuel was already set to be used as a location for the laboratory brought about with Milligan’s newly added four-year degree program in engineering. It was during the time when plans for the new program were unveiled that it announced that Milligan would pursue taking control of Emmanuel, though the two pursuits were initially unrelated.
The school’s president says Milligan will now be able to collectively offer first-class seminary courses.“This clears the way for us to operate as one institution,” Greer said. “Together this will be an amazing group of Christian scholars.”
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