Summit Christian University was an idea that was discussed by several professors from Mid-Continent University when it closed in 2014. Dr. Keith Roach, who was the Psychology Department Chair at MCU, has been working to put things in place ever since.
Preview Days were held at Community Fellowship Baptist Church on Monday and Tuesday nights, so non-traditional students could get more information. Roach said about a dozen people stopped by, but he had also received lots of emails from people wanting information and applications.
Three majors will be offered for Bachelor's Degrees in Business Administration, Christian Studies, and Psychology. An Associate Degree program for General Studies is also being offered.
Classes will begin later this month, and will be held one night each week for five weeks for each course. They will be taught at the church, which is across U.S. Highway 45 from Kentucky State Police Post 1 in Hickory.
"You've gotta start small. We're doing one location, and then if we need to grow and we need to have a class in Princeton or Paducah or elsewhere, as we grow we'll build those classes," Roach said.
For now, there will be only a couple of full-time professors, but Roach says the university has a good reservoir of adjunct professors available to teach classes as needed.
The 501(c)(3) non-profit institution is led by a board of three local people that will soon grow to five or six. Roach said the current board members are locals: Mayor Teresa Cantrell of Mayfield, Pastor Wes Fowler of First Baptist Church of Mayfield, and businessman David Wright of Mayfield. Two others have been asked to participate on the board, and are considering it.
SCU is licensed in the state of Kentucky for education. Accreditation will take a little time, since the university must have students, classes and finances first.
"You've gotta show the accreditating agency that you are doing what you said you were gonna do. That's about an 18-month process. So, anybody that takes a class - once we get accredited - it will be retroactive to the time that we started classes."
Tuition is about $3,500 per term. Roach said that financial aid is not available, but, "deep discounts," are also available to bring the figure down by more than 50 percent.
Roach added that while most details are falling into place, if anyone wants to make a tax-deductible donation to help the school as it launches, he would love to talk to them.
"I'm willing to talk to anybody and share the mission, the vision, and the dream, and try to get this thing to happen," Roach said.
For more information, click one of the links below for the university's website or Facebook page.
On the Net:
Summit Christian University websiteSummit Christian University Facebook page
