Much of Andrew Holt’s career has been marked by divine intervention. 

He never had plans to go to college, yet in 2015, he graduated from Trevecca with a degree in worship arts. And it never crossed his mind that, as the worship pastor with The Belonging Co., he would be able to reach so many people with his work, but as of this month, more than 1 million people have streamed his original song, ‘Holy – Song of the Ages.’ 

In just under two weeks, Trevecca’s first Giving Day will be underway! We can’t wait for the excitement and fun to unfold on March 25. So, what exactly will Giving Day look like? What can alumni and friends of the University expect?  

We recently sat down with Peg Cooning, vice president for external relations, and asked her those questions and more. Here’s what she had to say. 

With experience in higher education and choral arts, Dr. Tim Sharp is well prepared to serve as the program director for Trevecca’s Center for Community Arts Innovation. Based in Trevecca’s School of Music and Worship Arts, the center offers workshops and boot camps entirely online and is specifically designed for educators and those working in the community arts field. Sharp, who most recently was the Executive Director of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), also previously served as the dean of fine arts at Rhodes College in Memphis, and earlier, as the director of choral activities at Belmont University.

A member of Trevecca’s faculty since 2013, Dr. Nyk Reed holds a bachelor’s in biology from Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University, where he was first introduced to genetics and developmental biology. He earned his doctorate at Meharry Medical College in 2010, completing his dissertation under the guidance of Douglas Mortlock in Vanderbilt’s Center for Human Genetics. Later, while working as a  postdoctoral fellow in Thomas Aune’s lab at Vanderbilt University, Reed began teaching life science at Trevecca.

At Trevecca, community really is at the core of who we are. Community is about more than our location; it’s a feeling of fellowship and connection with those around us. Community doesn’t just happen, though. It has to be nurtured.

It’s a new year and a new semester is just around the corner. While our minds are focused on fresh starts and new habits, one thing that won’t change in 2021 is our commitment to keeping our campus safe and healthy in the middle of a global pandemic. 

With just a few days left in 2020, most of us are already making plans for the new year. From setting goals to creating must-read (or must-watch!) lists, we’re all looking forward to the fresh start a new year promises. 

This post is part of an ongoing blog series from Trevecca’s SWEET (Student Wellness Education and Engagement at Trevecca) team. We hope to encourage our traditional undergraduate students as you head home for the holidays and prepare to come Back Home to the Hill in 2021.

2020 has been a year for the record books! While the global pandemic has changed so much about our daily lives, at Trevecca, we want to end the year focused on something that will never change: our love for and pride in our graduates. 

Dr. Penney Carden says one of the highlights of her teaching career has been to teach overseas. “On two different occasions I was asked to teach for a month in Beijing, China,” she said. “It was life-changing for me and gave me a whole new outlook on teaching English language learners.” A long time faculty member in Trevecca’s School of Education, Carden currently serves as the school’s coordinator of curriculum, assessment, and instruction and the program director for Trevecca’s English as a second language programs and one of the University’s newest programs, the Master of Education in curriculum and online teaching.