Indonesian university presidency goes to Corban trusteeJune 18, 2007
A Corban alumnus and trustee is the new president of a Christian university in Indonesia. Sheldon Nord, ’82, is leaving an administrative position at Eastern Oregon University in LaGrande, Ore., to take the top job at Universitas Pelita Harapan. He will be the 13-year-old university’s first exclusive president, as the previous president served as both president and rector. Located 12 miles from Jakarta, Universitas Pelita Harapan serves about 8,000 students, offering degrees in everything from engineering to the humanities. “It is a Christian university. It wants to influence Indonesian culture through Christian education,” Nord told his hometown newspaper, the LaGrande Observer. Nord forged a connection with the Indonesian university when he helped establish its student affairs division in 1994, its start-up year. While he was visiting Jakarta last April, the university’s administrators asked him to apply for the presidency. Nord’s administrative experience includes a stint as dean of students at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah and six years as vice president of student affairs at Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, Ore. He’ll leave his job as vice president for student affairs at Eastern Oregon University on July 13 and will start his job in Indonesia on Aug. 1. “We are going to miss him. He has a strong passion for working with and advocating for students,” Eastern Oregon’s Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs John Miller told the Observer. “He is the sort of person who doesn’t spend a lot of time in his office. He is often out working directly with students.” Nord knows it will be tough for he and his family – his wife Jamie and daughter Hannah – to leave LaGrande, but he believes God is clearly leading them to Indonesia. “Our number one goal is to serve Jesus Christ,” he told the Observer. |
