Evangel University has announced dates for the inauguration of Dr. Carol A. Taylor, its fourth president. Events will take place Oct. 9 and 10 during homecoming. The theme for the weekend is “Celebrate: Called to Serve!”
“A presidential inauguration is a significant moment in the life of any university,” Taylor said. “I think it takes on special significance this year as we continue to experience what it means to be a comprehensive university with an embedded seminary. There are possibilities today that didn’t exist before the consolidation.”
Taylor will be only the fourth president in the university’s 59-year history.
She was selected in spring 2013 to serve as president of the consolidated Evangel University. During the 2013-14 academic year, Central Bible College and the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary joined with Evangel to form the comprehensive university. Taylor arrived on campus in July 2013 and served as president-elect and CEO during that academic year. She assumed full responsibility as president on May 1, 2014.
A 1973 elementary education graduate of Evangel University, Taylor also earned amaster’s in cross-cultural communication from the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary in 1978. She also took classes at CBC and earned a Ph.D. in multilingual/multicultural education from Florida State University in 1987.
Taylor came to Evangel from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California, where she served as its ninth president from 2009-2013. Prior to that, she served as provost and vice president of academic affairs at Vanguard.
Before joining the Vanguard administration, Taylor served for seven years as the vice provost for undergraduate education at Biola University, 12 years in executive management at Educational Testing Service (ETS) in Princeton, New Jersey, and has taught in public schools and at several state universities at both the undergraduate and graduate school levels.
The inauguration ceremony will be held 10-11:30 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 10. The program for the installation of Dr. Taylor includes the procession, performances by the Evangel University Chorale and Chorus, the commencement of the authority of the university and presentation of the presidential medallion by Dr. George O. Wood, general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, an inaugural blessing by Chancellor Robert H. Spence, and the inaugural address by Taylor. Presidential charges also will be given by representatives from the board of trustees, the student body, and faculty and staff.
The event will take place in the Evangel University Spence Chapel and is free and open to the public. It will be live-streamed on the following site:www.evangel.edu/spiritual-life/chapel/chapel-video.
