Andrews University Agenda

Andrews University Agenda http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/ News and Events at Andrews University en-us Copyright 2024, Andrews University Mon, 6 May 2024 12:53:00 +0000 Mon, 6 May 2024 12:53:00 +0000 webmaster@andrews.edu webmaster@andrews.edu Deeper Roots Bible Study http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/64206 Come join us for an amazing Holy Spirit-led and prayer-saturated Bible study. Journey with us as we commune with God in scripture. This is a Christ-centered study geared toward learning how to cultivate intimacy in our relationship with God, learning how to apply scripture to our lives, and navigating real life issues like emptiness, depression, anxiety, capacity, addictions, etc. Light snacks and fellowship to follow. Thu, 04 Apr 2024 13:40:51 +0000 Kinetic Worship http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/64687 This Spring 2024 semester, the theme for Kinetic Worship is “Jesus is _____.” We are going to dive into Jesus’ “I am” statements and explore Him as King, High Priest, Messiah, etc. Ultimately, we want to understand more about Christ’s authority, kingship and priesthood in our lives and the riches we have available to us in Him because of our new identity as redeemed sons and daughters of God. We will be taking a Jesus-centered journey through scripture, and our hope is that the Lord will ignite a fiery passion in the hearts of everyone on the Andrews University campus (and online) so that people can experience Jesus, the Gospel and radical transformation of heart. We hope that you will see and hear scripture like you’ve never seen or heard it before! It is our prayer that through dynamic worship, powerful Christ-centered messages and loving fellowship, people will leave with faith on fire for Jesus because hope has been restored and they are able to see a clearer picture of who Jesus is and who they are in Him.  Thu, 04 Apr 2024 13:40:29 +0000 Always on Time http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/64778 Join the Andrews University Graduate Student Association for warm drinks, bonding activities, free snacks and new friendships! Sun, 11 Feb 2024 18:00:00 +0000 AUGSA Town Hall Meeting http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/64777 Graduate students, join the AUGSA for a town hall meeting on Monday, Feb. 12. Thu, 08 Feb 2024 15:15:14 +0000 Kinetic Worship http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/64205 Theme: Identity in Christ Find community as you enjoy God's presence, amazing music and delicious food at Kinetic Worship every Thursday night at the University Towers Auditorium from 7:30–8:30 p.m.! Cocurricular credit offered! Thu, 28 Sep 2023 18:54:22 +0000 AUGSA Graduate Student Brunch http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/63311 Thu, 24 Aug 2023 17:22:03 +0000 My (Last) Last Word http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/60211 04.13.2021 We’re close. Close to finishing another scholastic year, close to being globally healthy, and maybe close to giving ourselves grace for not always being at our best. It’s been a tremendous battle, as the continent shut down, as the economy plummeted, and as the planet collectively went into shock because of the pandemic. For recent or soon-to-be graduates, it’s an incredibly stressful time coming into a difficult job and professional school environment. We’re plagued with constant sense of immediacy, and in a year where our societal institutions ground to a halt, it becomes all-too-easy to feel guilty for not making more progress. I’ve been personally trying, somewhat unsuccessfully, to be able to look at life for the immediate moment––if something brings joy, fulfillment, and a sense of peace in and of itself, it’s worthy of your time and brings value inherently. It feels like an unnatural concept when those things that bring joy and peace don’t directly connect to your longer term aspirations.         I wrote earlier this year that I was applying to law school during the fall months. Now, nearly five months later, I’m still hearing back from law schools. In the law school admissions world, this application cycle was drastically impacted by COVID-19 and its impact on the economy. With a 30% increase in applicants from the previous year, the competition for the limited number of law school seats greatly intensified. It drove nearly all of the top-25 schools in the US to waitlist hundreds of applicants––with some programs, such as U of Michigan Law and Georgetown Law, waitlisting thousands. It’s part of a larger issue of yield protection, basically that law schools do not want to accept too many students that ultimately reject their offer. Normally, a law school waitlist would have a 100~ applicants, now thousands of prospective students remain caught in limbo.         What makes this application cycle all the more difficult is LSAT inflation; when LSAT, law school’s standardized test, was moved virtually, scores increased within all score brackets. This led to law school median LSAT scores increasing across the board; in short, the schools that would have been safety schools for me going into the cycles became reach schools. God only knows what happened to any reach schools that I applied to. It’s unfortunate that this year happened to be the year I was applying in – it’s been incredibly stressful and painful having to reevaluate my aspirations. Even with the acceptances I received, the increase in applicants and LSAT scores makes scholarship money even more difficult to attain––the prospects of signing up for a quarter-million dollars of debt don’t excite me. Broadly speaking, every element of this admissions cycle that could have gone terribly wrong went terribly wrong.         Why do I say all of this? Recently, I’ve been struck by the length of time we have in life. Maybe it’s just a defensive reaction to disappointment and perceived failure, having a mindset where acknowledging that you’ve done poorly in the immediate future but knowing that you can always try again helps. As a member of an intramural basketball team for three consecutive years that has only won a single game, I’m familiar with the adage, “we’ll get ‘em next year.” But if there’s something profound, and hopefully to an extent universal, I’ve taken away from this year, it’s that almost all things that plague our mind with anxiety and stress today mean so much less than the weight we give them. The missed assignment, the late meeting, or the unsuccessful job application all pass; if Shakespeare’s Hamlet is correct, that death is the great equalizer, I’m beginning to think that the passage of time is life’s great neutralizer. And by this, I mean you will return to your normal, or at least your composite normal of however long since your normal began. For better or worse, time passing will not inherently change your larger teleological path. Yet, time will gently guide you back to your normal life progression.         The next few years of my life’s trajectory has experienced a shift backwards. Instead of going directly to law school, I’ll be working at a South Bend Probate Court as a detention officer for their juvenile center. It’s not the immediate prestige of attending a top law school, but it’ll allow this cycle to pass, provide me a year to R&R and retake my LSAT, and reevaluate where and why I really want to attend law school. I’m not a particularly optimistic person, so I won’t say this happened for the best. I’d genuinely be much happier knowing my professional school aspirations were secured; however, I’m convinced that it’s alright to give yourself time. In my closing paragraph, to any people who feel a similar anxiety for their futures, I want to affirm that I’ve probably felt something similar. There’s no guarantee that life will become better, but I want to believe that when our societal normal returns, so will yours. For all of those reading this and wondering how they will be able to make back this year and a half that feels like they’ve lost, I wish you the absolute best of luck regaining your footing. <div>  </div> Thu, 24 Mar 2022 03:11:18 +0000 Biden’s Jobs Plan http://www.andrews.edu/agenda/60210 04.13.2021 I was recently listening to a podcast that brought up an interesting <a href="https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-federal-government-spend-its-money" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(58, 123, 170); text-decoration-line: none;">statistic</a>. When the Baby Boomer generation first began to enter the American workforce in 1962, entitlement programs to assist aging populations (which includes healthcare, welfare, and government pensions) comprised 31% of government spending. The remaining  budget was spent on discretionary spending, which includes national defense, transportation, education, housing, social service programs, as well as science and environmental organizations. Today, government spending has reversed, with entitlement programs representing 61% of government spending. The Baby Boomer generation reaped the rewards of a government focused on investing in the future and providing pathways to the middle class. Following this, they proceeded to shut the door and pull up the ladder for subsequent generations. Biden’s massive proposal entitled the American Jobs Plan is a $2.7 trillion dollar program designed to employ <a href="https://www.economy.com/getlocal?q=C228A0FF-2701-47B2-ADE0-D158B5866251&app=download" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(58, 123, 170); text-decoration-line: none;">2.1 million</a> Americans by mid-decade, increase our global economic power, and provide new ladders for us to succeed. The entire piece of legislation is extremely wide ranging, so I will only discuss the parts I found most intriguing.         Biden’s plan includes a significant increase in investment for research and development (R&D), which includes investments in AI, advanced nuclear energy, electric vehicles, and several other fields. America is one of the only major economies whose public investments in R&D have declined as a percent of GDP in the past 25 years, with China ranking #2 in global R&D <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/03/31/fact-sheet-the-american-jobs-plan/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(58, 123, 170); text-decoration-line: none;">investments</a>. An increase in American investment would improve access to higher wage careers and increase America’s global competitiveness. As America quickly progresses into a future dominated by technology and AI, Biden is also calling for a $40 billion investment in a new Dislocated Workers Program and sector-based training. This fund will support those who lose their jobs through no fault of their own, such as truck drivers replaced by automated vehicles.         A major aspect of the plan is an increase in government spending on infrastructure. According to Moody’s <a href="https://www.economy.com/getlocal?q=C228A0FF-2701-47B2-ADE0-D158B5866251&app=download" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; color: rgb(58, 123, 170); text-decoration-line: none;">Analytics</a>, in a weak economy like we are experiencing now, public investment in public infrastructure produces the greatest increase in national income compared with other types of federal government spending and tax policy. The plan contains provisions for $621 billion of spending on transportation infrastructure. Included are funds to incentivize the construction of 500,000 electric vehicle charging stations by 2030, invest $80 billion to improve American railways, and invest $85 billion to modernize public transportation.         Biden plans to pay for this by increasing the corporate income tax from 21 to 28 percent and closing various loopholes corporations use to evade paying taxes. This corporate income tax would still be around its 21st century average from before Trump’s 2017 tax law and well below where it stood before the 1980s.         The American Jobs Plan represents one of the greatest opportunities for our nation to invest in our future and maintain dominance in the global economy. Ezra Lane (junior, undeclared) commented “The topic is so complex it is hard to discuss in a student paper. It is difficult trying to explain why this is a good or a bad plan, or what the real impacts of it will be for AU students. But I believe it is necessary to discuss several positive aspects of the legislation and why it may be worth raising the corporate tax rate.” After decades of neglect, I personally believe now is the time to support America’s next generation. <div>  </div> Thu, 24 Mar 2022 03:09:00 +0000