Latest News
My newest essay is part of a series on higher education and the good life. Read it here!
I am pleased to announce the publication of an article with Dorothy Chappell on the history of women in the American Scientific Affiliation. This article explores relationships among a distinctive set of institutions: American culture, professional scientific community, evangelical Christian community, and the women that live in all of them within the ASA.
https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/2023/PSCF9-23dyn.html
__________________________________________________________________
I recently gave a presentation to the Christian Women in Science Affiliate on the history of women in the ASA. To watch the recording, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8FrypL7TTI
On Sunday, December 4, at 2 PM ET / 11 AM PT tune in to Voices in the Wilderness with special guest Dr. Janel Curry, president of the American Scientific Affiliation, with hosts John Kirkwood and Kristine Johnson to discuss science and faith and finding our way in evangelicalism, feminism, and academe.
To watch recording, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kcKU3DUpvk
___________________________________________________________
I’m glad to have been able to make a presentation to the Red River Chapter of the ASA on Christian Environmental Worldviews. The Recording is here:
___________________________________________________________
Dear Janel,
On behalf of the ASA Executive Council, I would like to announce the appointment of Janel Curry as the next Executive Director of the American Scientific Affiliation.
Janel succeeds John Wood who has served three years as our Interim Executive Director. At our July meeting, the Executive Council approved giving John the honorary title of Executive Director Emeritus. John has led us through challenging years, and we thank him for his faithful service.
Janel is an ASA Fellow and well known to many of our members. She has been an active member of the ASA for 25 years and presently serves on the Executive Council. Janel brings a combination of outstanding scholarly achievement, cross-cultural experience, and extensive administrative expertise. She received her PhD in geography from the University of Minnesota. Most recently, she served as provost at Gordon College in Wenham, MA, and interim vice president of academic affairs at Medaille College in Buffalo, NY. Currently, she consults with institutions of higher education and nonprofit organizations around executive leadership.
Janel's father was a Baptist pastor who was greatly influenced by seminary professor Eric Rust, at Southern Baptist Seminary, who helped him integrate faith and science. Thus, she grew up in a home that did not see a conflict between science and faith. She and her siblings all studied science fields as did her two adult married daughters, one of whom is a middle school science teacher. She was introduced to the American Scientific Affiliation in graduate school through William Monsma and the Maclaurin Institute at the University of Minnesota.
Janel's appointment will be effective October 1, 2022, and she can be reached at janel@asa3.org.
The American Scientific Affiliation was founded in 1941 to integrate, communicate, and facilitate properly researched science and theology in service to the Church and the scientific community. The ASA is headquartered in Topsfield, MA, and has members all around the world.
Media inquiries can be directed to Vicki Best at vicki@asa3.org.
Sincerely in Christ,
Bill
William Jordan, Executive Council President
______________________________________________________________
I’m pleased to have an essay in the online journal of the American Scientific Affiliation, God and Nature. I write about the humility needed in our life long search for truth and knowledge. https://godandnature.asa3.org/curry-knowldege-and-truth.html
_____________________________________________________________
A week ago Hodos Institute published a book in Russian on creation care and environmental leadership titled 'EcoHodos: Eco-theology, Mission, and Leadership.' I was pleased that they asked to include a translation of my paper 'Living With a Posture of Courage and Care.'
i HAVE BEEN PLEASED TO BE ABLE TO SERVE wHEATON cOLLEGE, wHEATON, iLLINOIS, IN ITS PROGRAM PRIORITIES pROCESS, 2020
I look forward to serving Medaille over the next fifteen months.
https://www.registryinterim.com/The-Registry-is-pleased-to-announce-the-appointment-of-Janel-Curry-as-Interim-Vice-President-of-Academic-Affairs-at-Medaille-College-1-6721.html
I am pleased to announce that I am returning to Forman Christian College in February 2020 to continue to work with my colleagues there. I will be assisting on several projects that range from curriculum development to budget modeling. I’m pleased to be able to contribute to the development of this wonderful institution.
The Centre for Public Policy and Governance (CPPG)
cordially invites you to a Seminar on
“Social Capital and Religious worldview”
on
Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 4 pm
Venue: Rt. Rev. Alexander John Malik Public Policy seminar room E-002
Distinguished Guest Speaker
Dr. Janel Curry is Professor of geography and has been Provost (Vice Rector) at Gordon College in Massachusetts-- a liberal Christian College. She has also served as Dean for Research and Scholarship at Calvin College prior to going to Gordon. She did her PhD is in geography from the University of Minnesota. She has researched and published extensively in academic journals on issues of migration, diversity, religious tolerance and social capital and rural communities.
Abstract
SOCIAL CAPITAL: A STUDY OF EIGHT ETHNIC FARM COMMUNITIES IN IOWA
In this talk I will argue that social capital cannot be understood apart from the religious worldviews that underlie communities – worldviews that are reflections of ultimate commitments associated with answers to fundamental questions of existence: What is the nature of humankind? What are the most fundamental problems facing society and ourselves. What is the nature of evil? On what do we place our hope for these problems’ solution? Social capital must be unraveled through understanding the societal visions that arise out of communally-held worldviews about these fundamental questions.
For the purpose of this study I will use the following broad definition of social capital: Those practices, structures, persons or community characteristics that together allow a community, city, or region, to be able to creatively respond and adjust to global economic restructuring. These same characteristics lead to the sustainability of places. They can reproduce themselves because a sufficient number of young people, who can choose to live elsewhere, desire to return. In addition, people have the ability to conceive of the common good. Thus places with social capital are capable of economic change and are socially healthy. My goal is to describe the relationships between religious worldview and social capital using the findings of a study of farm communities in Iowa and then reflect further on questions of social capital in light of the findings.
A pair of yellow-eyed penguins arrive on the shore of the south island of New Zealand in spring 2019. Yellow-eyed penguins are the world’s rarest penguins with little over 5,000 estimated left in the world. These birds arrived in the surf at dusk on the Otago Peninsula.
Gordon Provost Janel Curry Co-Authors Article in God and Nature Magazine
Sy Garte, Editor-In-Chief of the quarterly online magazine God and Nature published by The American Scientific Affiliation (ASA) has announced publication of the Fall 2019 issue, which contains an article entitled “Declare the Glory,” co-authored by Dr. Janel Curry and Vicki Best.
The article features photos and narrative about the birds of New Zealand from a tour conducted in Spring 2019 that was led by Dr. Curry and her Gordon colleague Dr. Gregory Keller, Professor of Biology and Biology Department Chair at Gordon College, Wenham, Mass.
The Fall 2019 issue of God and Nature is now online at https://godandnature.asa3.org/ with a link to the “Declare the Glory” feature here: https://godandnature.asa3.org/curry-photoessay.html.
Janel Curry awarded third Fulbright Scholarship to develop center for leadership at Forman Christian College, Pakistan.
Gordon Provost Janel Curry Awarded Third Fulbright
Gordon Provost Janel Curry was awarded her third career Fulbright Scholarship for fall 2019. Curry will help develop a strategy and plan for a center for leadership at Forman Christian College, an independent liberal arts university in Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan.
Curry’s Fulbright Scholarship is among two others awarded to Gordon faculty in just two years—a rare accomplishment for liberal arts colleges.
“We are extremely proud of Janel Curry for achieving such a prestigious honor,” said Gordon College President D. Michael Lindsay in a news release. “Receiving these well-deserved Fulbright Scholar Awards highlights the excellent scholarship of our faculty and underscores Gordon’s place among the nation’s top institutions.”
Equipping ethical leaders in Pakistan
Under a Fulbright Specialist Award—which sends U.S. faculty and professionals to serve as expert consultants—Curry will spend six weeks at Forman Christian College. She will assist in the College’s long-term goal to establish a nationally prominent center for leadership by doing a feasibility analysis and assisting with the development of a five-year strategy.
Building on her work for the national Women in Leadership study, Curry’s projects will help Forman to identify and secure the right human and financial resources, and to create the local and international partnerships necessary to establish the center. She has already helped create a framework for a consultation on how to develop such a strategy.
“Forman Christian College is committed to raising up strong, ethical, public-minded leaders whose deepest desire is to see the country of Pakistan thrive,” says Curry. “The institution would like to serve the nation in the development of these leaders, but it needs to be intentional, sensitive to the cultural and religious divides, and thus contextualized its strategy within this particularly challenging time in Pakistan.”
The center, she says, will not only develop the leadership skills of students at FC College, but also has executive education programs for corporate leaders, senior civil servants and political leaders.
“Leadership can be taught through the provision of frameworks, practice and mentoring,” Curry says. “Effective leadership development involves both inherent personal characteristics and learned behaviors which contribute to the development of ethical and competent leaders.”
Curry will also participate in the preparation for the institution to host a visitor from the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) as Forman Christian College explores the route to American accreditation.