Eastern alumnus Ryan Klein graciously agreed to share a bit about his postgrad life with The Waltonian. His dedication to meaningful and good work ought to serve as a reminder to our community of what it means to live intentionally.

What are you doing now, and how did Eastern prepare you?

     “Back in March, I applied for an internship in social media marketing at Templeton Press, a small book publishing organization funded by the John Templeton Foundation. I had no marketing experience, and I didn’t even have a Twitter (still don’t), but somehow I got an internship. I did that for about seven months, and just this last Friday (Oct. 7) I accepted a full-time job as the Marketing Coordinator. I still have very little marketing experience. I studied philosophy and theology in college. But I think that maybe more than anything else, Eastern (including my time at The Waltonian) and THC taught me how to learn and how to work hard, and that’s what really matters in the professional world. I’m finding both in my own life and in my friends’ that getting your first job isn’t really about already having the right skills–it’s about showing that you’re eager to learn them. So every day at work, when I’m given a new set of unfamiliar challenges, I try to meet them head-on as just more problems to be solved–kind of like the philosophy problems I worked on in undergrad, but different. And it’s working out so far.”

What does a normal day at work look like for you? What is it like being involved with a press? Tell us a bit about the book that was just published and what it was like to be involved in that process.

     “So my job involves marketing, editing, writing, Web site management and other stuff. Outside of publishing books we run an online magazine called Acculturated.com. I help with the editing, and I typically start my day by getting to work on one or two of the four daily articles. Then I’ll move on to one of the projects I’m working on, whether it’s emailing professors across the country about books they should adopt in their courses, buying ad space in magazines and Web pages, creating summaries of our upcoming books’ arguments and sales hooks for our sales representatives, helping edit an author[’s] manuscript or preparing for a conference we’re going to attend.

     We also just published “Men Without Work: America’s Hidden Moral Crisis” by the very successful demographer Nick Eberstadt, who uses tons of data to show an odd paradox: we’ve had 88 consecutive months of post-recession economic expansion, starting in June 2009, and yet the national adult work rate is the lowest it’s been in three decades. Our release of that data has made a real impact: over 60 articles have covered it in the last month, from the Wall Street Journal to TIME to Vox, and Nick has had the chance to speak to at least one or two congresspeople or governors about it. I’m proud to have been a part of that.”

What do you like about where you work?

     “Templeton Press is really unique in that we’re nonprofit. That means our goal isn’t really to sell books–we just want to disseminate ideas that matter. Selling books is part of that, but only as a means. If we can start a conversation about something, as we have with “Men Without Work,” then we’ve done our job.

That’s especially satisfying for me as a philosophy major. In my upperclassman years, philosophy/academia really began to frustrate me in the way that it can be so enclosed. Academic philosophers (maybe academics in general), who sometimes have really important things to say, largely talk only to each other. That’s a shame–philosophy in particular is at its best when lots of people engage in it together. And at the Press, especially as the Marketing Coordinator, it’s my job to make that kind of engagement possible, connecting authors with audiences and encouraging informed and important conversations. I’m very lucky to be where I am.”

     In light of changes made by Eastern president Robert Duffett in response to the recommendations made by the Organizational Design Task Force (ODTF) last fall, many questions have arisen over how Eastern defines itself as an educational institution. In an effort to promote transparency between Eastern students, faculty and administration, Dr. Duffett agreed to be interviewed about his vision for Eastern. Below is a transcript of a portion of the interview, highlighting the two most important sections.

Interviewer: What do you believe the purpose of a university is—in particular a liberal arts university?

     Duffett: “Help love God and love humanity more….The ultimate purpose of Christian higher education  through all the things that you do here is to love God more, and so that has the whole issue of spiritual formation; it has the whole issue of becoming more intentional about your Christian life, and love humanity more. Now, I think specifically education is the whole purpose of vocation. Now, I don’t mean vocational education. I’m using the term ‘vocation’ in its theological sense. God calls us, and God has given us gifts, and there is a role for us to play in society, and I mean vocation. So, it’s not just getting your first job, although that’s part of it. It’s not all just getting a paycheck, although that’s part of it. But in essence that is hopefully what we do at Eastern. Well, if we could find how do you love God, we have found your vocation!”

Interviewer: You have mentioned several times that a goal of the ODOC is to make Eastern more efficient, in turn creating more effective students. We must admit that this kind of language makes some students nervous. Talk of efficiency and effectiveness implies a kind of utility…a concept that ought to play no role in the shaping of human persons, especially at a place that claims to care more about our spiritual growth than our GPAs. Please speak to this concern many students are feeling.

     Duffett: “I challenge that assumption from its absolute core. You mean to say that if you come to Eastern we shouldn’t have an effective education? Effective means a great education; effective means excellent at what we do; effective means giving you the education you deserve; effective means what we say we do, we will do; that’s high on my list. If we aren’t effective in what we claim, then we are worse than cheats and scandals….Now efficiency is also a Christian term because that has to do with stewardship. So if we are not spending our money wisely, if we are mortgaging our future for the sake of the present, I think that that is beneath the dignity of a Christian university. And if we are not effective and we are not efficient, we have no right to claim to be anything close to Christian. So, I love those words.”

     Duffett wishes to add this statement to the question about the purpose of a liberal arts university:

     “Jesus laid out the meta purpose of higher education—love God and love humanity. This is the greatest of all commandments, said Jesus, thus tying the Old Testament with the inauguration of the Kingdom of God in his ministry. Following this theological concept, we at EU try to help students discern their vocation—God’s call and gifting to each student. We individually love God and humanity by performing well our vocation (effectiveness). This is why Christian education is so very important. It is the means to vocation, discerning God’s will and making a difference for the Kingdom.”

     I am thankful that Dr. Duffett took the time to speak with me, and I hope that the community finds his words enlightening and helpful.

     Source: Interview With Robert Duffett

     Sandy Haney, once an Eastern student herself, has returned to the community to teach as assistant professor of biblical studies. She is a wife of 15 years and the mother of two wonderful children, John and Sylvia. Her story is a testament of diligent Christian scholasticism partnered with a fervent dedication to family life.

     Dr. Haney loved her time as an Eastern student, saying how thankful she was to come to a place that “talked about faith in everything.” She remarks how beautiful the diversity of the students was, lending itself to a healthy culture of conversation. Haney came into Eastern thinking she would eventually become a high school English teacher. Although she enjoyed her English classes, she says she really loved her Bible classes. It was not until she was informed by her friends that her love for the subject was unique that she discovered what her true academic passions were. She then changed her course of study to a double major in biblical and theological studies with a minor in English. She was also a member of the honors program.

     Haney describes her academic pursuits as a relationship where she “met the church fathers” and thought, “Oh, I really like them!” It was a love that grew over time with diligent study and dedication. She explains it as a kind of love you cannot help but return to over and over. As Haney continued to study and pursue her loves, her focus narrowed to that of Cappadocians (Gregory of Nazianzus, Gregory of Nyssa and Basil the Great) and St. Augustine, and in particular, their beliefs regarding marriage, celibacy and ascetism. In studying these church fathers, Haney remarks that she was always more interested in studying them from a “people’s history” kind of perspective. She wanted to know what early Christianity was doing for everyone present at the time and tried to find traces of how it was affecting those often left out of historic narratives, like the married women of the time. This, she says, was something she had to dig for in the writings of the church fathers, though the answers were there for the seeking.

     Haney believes that her ecumenical upbringing has allowed her to have a balanced picture of the Christian faith as a larger narrative throughout history. This ecumenical atmosphere was continually present throughout her studies, as her professors and advisors ranged from Protestant to Orthodox. This kind of exposure has given her the unique ability to see beauty in all of the Christian traditions.

     Dr. Haney is excited to be a part of the Eastern community as an assistant professor in the biblical studies department and is looking forward to her family continuing to have a place in this community as well. Her dedication to this school and the students here is inspiring, and gives us one more reason to be thankful for this place.