Let’s be honest. When you hear about the “Covenant College Board of Trustees,” your understanding of its composition is lacking and your perspective on its mission is, at best, hazily optimistic. If you’re a pessimist like me, you might assume the board’s role to be either ceremonial—a sort of participation trophy given to large donors—or dictatorial, where a small group of detached men entirely shape Covenant's future.
While this may be the case for boards of many businesses, NGOs and even colleges, it is simply not how Covenant’s board operates.
“The board provides invaluable guardrails to protect against mission drift in their work of governance, curriculum approval, faculty hiring, fiscal accountability and presidential oversight,” explains President Brad Voyles. He emphasises that the board is composed of faithful Christians who have Covenant’s mission at the forefront of their efforts.
“My husband and I are both Covenant grads and we’re so grateful for the spiritual formation and education we received at Covenant,” says board advisor Beth Nedelisky ’03. “I want more men and women to have a Covenant education so they too can live wholeheartedly following God and be prepared to participate in his good callings.”
“Mission faithfulness is my goal,” Nedelisky emphasizes. “History is full of examples of great Christian schools which lost the script. If we lose the mission, we lose the school and join an undifferentiated cohort of formerly Christian colleges.”
Nedelisky explains that “much of the board's work takes place in committees which oversee various parts of the college.” Among her many roles, Nedelisky serves as Chair of the Joint Investment Committee for the Covenant College Foundation Board, Advisor to the Board of Trustees and the Executive Committee of the Board, and member of the Development Committee of the Board.
Richard Bowser, board member of 16 years and professor of law at Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law, Campbell University, currently serves as chair of the board’s Academic Affairs Committee. Like Nedelisky, he is committed to the college’s mission of “providing a formative, coherent, Christian education to its students grounded in a Reformed understanding of Christian doctrine and life.”
In order to facilitate this mission, Bowser emphasizes the board’s desire for Covenant to simply “have the resources to execute that calling for generations to come.”
To this end, the board oversees various facets of Covenant’s operations, including academic affairs, development, fundraising and endowment fund management (through the Foundation Board, a supporting organization of the College).
The board collectively pours thousands of unpaid hours into the work of Covenant. “The Board meets three times a year, twice for in-person meetings in October and March, and once remotely in the summer months,” says Voyles. Nedeleski approximates that she spends about eight days at Covenant, not including travel time, as she meets with the various boards and committees of which she is a part.
“I am immensely grateful for the countless ways these volunteers serve through governing, praying, giving, supporting and cheering on our students, faculty and staff,” Voyles expresses.