Strides During 2005-2006:

Bethel Seminary

• Enrollment continues to climb: the class of 2005 was the largest graduating class in seminary history, and fall 2005 was the largest entering class with 1,146 students. San Diego's fall enrollment increased 17 percent.
• Five full degree programs are now available through the InMinistry at-distance delivery system with a record of more than 350 students enrolled.
• Fifteen seminary students were selected for prestigious Kern scholarships. Of 200 seminaries nationwide considered for the scholarships, Bethel was one of just seven to receive them.
• A new degree program, the Master of Arts in Global and Contextual Studies (MAGCS), was launched and is offered through the traditional classroom model as well as through the InMinistry delivery system.
• The Doctor of Ministry program added a new "Missions" track. Fifteen students are enrolled in this new cohort.
• San Diego began its first Master of Arts in Transformational Leadership cohort in fall 2005.
• Seminary of the East launched its first Doctor of Ministry cohort in Philadelphia.
• Bethel Seminary is the only Association of Theological Schools-accredited seminary in the nation offering the Master of Arts in Children's and Family Ministry in a distance learning format. The program's vision and success led to Bethel University being awarded a $2.1 million grant from Scripture Press in spring 2005.
• San Diego's "Dean's Bible Study," a noncredit program for lay people, drew more than 1,000 participants last year.
• The Cross-Cultural Faculty Grant supported seminary faculty who studied and taught abroad in Malawi, Russia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan, mainland China, Croatia, Peru, England, Romania, and Cameroon.
• The M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy program at Bethel Seminary St. Paul has produced five winners of the Minnesota Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Outstanding Student award in the past seven years, including the 2006 winner.
• San Diego launched a new women's program, Bethel's Women in Ministry (BWIM), which connects current students, staff, and alumni with members of the larger San Diego community.
• Seminary of the East sponsored an open forum in New York City to discuss issues facing the leaders of multicultural, multiethnic bodies of believers. The seminary also hosted Leadership Conferences at all four teaching centers.
• This year marks the first time a Bethel Seminary student is doing an internship in an overseas seminary.
• For the first time, Bethel Seminary of the East offered courses to its region using a full distance education model.
• Seminary of the East's New England teaching center, located at Faith Baptist Church in Auburn, Mass., completed a major building project that provided additional classroom and library space for the seminary's use.
• Seminary of the East librarian Lyn Brown, a military chaplain, returned to Iraq for a second tour of duty.