Averee Deck, human resources operations specialist at John Brown University, has been selected from 268 applicants to participate in the 2026-27 CUPA-HR Ignite program, a 12-month leadership development experience designed for early-career higher education human resources professionals.

Deck and her 12-person cohort will develop their professional skills through tailored learning experiences — including mentorship, learning events and courses, and the completion of a project showcasing the insights they gain throughout the year — and will be connected to higher education leaders experienced in areas that align with their professional development goals.

“I am most excited to participate in the experiential learning parts of the program,” Deck said. “I’ve spent much of my professional journey earning degrees through classroom learning, so I am grateful for the opportunity to branch out into more personal, one-on-one mentorship and connection with peers and leaders in the higher education space.”

Deck and the other program participants were selected based on their HR strengths, the development areas they identified in their program applications and their interest in and commitment to the program.

“We are so pleased to welcome this outstanding group of early career higher ed HR professionals as our 2026-27 Ignite cohort,” said CUPA-HR President and Chief Executive Officer Andy Brantley, Ed.D. “The next 12 months will be transformative as they engage in an immersive leadership journey with one another and higher ed HR leaders from across the country.”

CUPA-HR’s Ignite program is led by outstanding current and past CUPA-HR leaders and national office staff and made possible in part thanks to support from HigherEdJobs.

CUPA-HR serves higher education by providing the knowledge, resources, advocacy and connections to achieve organizational and workforce excellence. Serving more than 23,000 HR professionals and other higher ed leaders at more than 1,700 member organizations around the country and abroad, the association offers learning and professional development programs, higher education salary, benefits and demographic.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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Ted Song, Ph.D., chief intercultural engagement officer and chief innovation officer at John Brown University, was selected among higher education leaders for the 2026–27 Executive Leadership Academy — a distinguished national program designed to prepare experienced administrators for senior executive roles across colleges and universities.

ELA is offered through a collaborative partnership among the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, the Council of Independent Colleges and the American Academic Leadership Institute. Together, these organizations provide participants with a comprehensive experience that emphasizes leadership development, mentorship and professional networking.

Following a competitive, nationwide selection process, the 36 higher education professionals chosen for this year’s cohort represent a broad cross-section of institutions. Participants include senior leaders such as provosts and vice presidents who are preparing to step into presidential and chancellor roles.

"It is an honor to join such a distinguished cohort of leaders from across the country,” Song said. “I am grateful for the chance to learn from experienced presidents and peers through the ELA program. As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, I look forward to gaining new perspectives and skills that will strengthen my service to JBU and the Christian higher education community."

The ELA opened the 2026-27 program with the first of two in-person seminars, June 15–16, in Washington, D.C., bringing members together for an intensive learning experience led by current and former presidents, as well as subject matter experts, who addressed key issues shaping higher education today.

“At a time of significant change across the higher education landscape, programs like ELA play a critical role in supporting and preparing the next generation of institutional leaders,” said Charles L. Welch, AASCU’s president and CEO. “Through our partnership, we are proud to invest in leaders who are deeply committed to their campuses and communities.”

Since its inception in 2009, the Executive Leadership Academy has cultivated a strong pipeline of executives, with many alumni advancing to top leadership positions nationwide. The program equips these leaders with the strategic insight and adaptability required to navigate the evolving demands of higher education.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (June 9, 2026) — John Brown University announced new programs to expand access to career-connected learning for high school students in Northwest Arkansas.

A grant from the Walton Family Foundation will provide $294,941 to expand equitable access to computer science programs and $146,870 to expand JBU’s Summer Academy career exploration programming that focuses on additional high-demand sectors. Both initiatives will prioritize career-connected learning for high school students from low-income backgrounds in rural and smaller school districts in Benton and Washington Counties.

“Northwest Arkansas is experiencing tremendous economic growth, but not all students have equal access to the pathways that lead to high-demand careers,” said Ted Song, Ph.D., chief innovation officer at JBU. “JBU continues to expand as a regional connector — partnering with school districts to remove barriers to computer science education and career exploration, so that all high school students in Northwest Arkansas have an opportunity to thrive in our region’s workforce.”

JBU’s first initiative will create a 16-week, online Python programming course, offered each fall, for NWA high school students that earns both high school and college credit. In the spring, JBU will launch a program for computer science professionals to earn a teaching certificate and become academically qualified to serve as instructors for the Python course in future semesters, expanding capacity.

JBU will collaborate on its concurrent approach with NWA public high schools to remove financial barriers for local students while creating clear, early pathways into high-demand technology careers.

The second initiative will build on nearly a decade of successful summer programming by expanding the capacity of JBU’s residential Summer Academy to allow high school sophomores through seniors to explore high-demand career programs, including healthcare, engineering, criminal justice, construction, sports medicine, business operations and more. JBU will also launch a 9th Grade Career Explorer Day program to allow younger students to sample multiple career pathways before selecting a residential track in later years. Need-based scholarships for NWA students will be available using an income-based sliding scale.

"Scholarship support opens doors that have been closed to too many talented students in our region,” said Ryan Ladner, DBA, JBU vice president for enrollment management. “Our summer academy can now serve students from districts and backgrounds who might have difficulty accessing career-connected learning opportunities."

These new initiatives will enable NWA students to explore high-demand fields, build foundational skills and identify concrete steps such as advanced coursework, career and technical education pathways, certifications or future work-based opportunities.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (May 27, 2026) — The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities has named Ted Song, Ph.D., senior fellow for global engagement, effective July 1, 2026. 

While continuing his work at John Brown University, Song will collaborate with the CCCU Office of Membership to develop and support opportunities specifically designed to engage and serve the CCCU’s international member institutions. These initiatives may include strategically and regionally located conferences and workshops across multiple continents, the cultivation of key leadership networking groups and sustained dialogue on the integration of faith and learning within diverse geographic and cultural contexts.

At JBU, Song serves on the presidential cabinet as chief intercultural engagement officer and chief innovation officer, providing institution-wide leadership for intercultural engagement across education, board engagement and oversight of global and intercultural programs, while also leading academic innovation and strategic program development. 

“I am honored to serve the CCCU in this role at a time of growing global engagement across Christian higher education,” Song said. “Across the U.S. and around the world, we need each other to faithfully equip the next generation of Christian leaders who are called to make disciples of all nations. I look forward to fostering meaningful partnerships and strengthening collaboration across our global community.” 

Song also brings a broad cross-cultural perspective to his new CCCU role. A Korean American raised in both Korea and the United States, with significant engagement in global Christian missions including participation in the North American Delegation of the Lausanne Movement, he offers a globally informed understanding of the Christian faith and its expression across diverse cultural and institutional contexts. 

“Ted is a gifted leader for JBU, and I am grateful that the CCCU will also benefit from his wisdom and faithful service in this volunteer role,” said JBU President Chip Pollard. “Ted’s deep commitment to the global witness of Christ-centered higher education, combined with his cross-cultural experience and heart for building authentic Christian community, make him an ideal bridge-builder for the CCCU’s growing international membership.” 

Song has served as chair of the CCCU Diversity and Inclusion Commission since 2022 and was selected in 2023 as an inaugural CCCU Presidential Fellow, a yearlong fellowship designed to prepare leaders for Christian college presidencies. 

“As the CCCU continues to grow its global membership, it has become increasingly clear that we must be intentional in how we serve and equip our international institutions,” CCCU President David A. Hoag said. “Our focus is on creating meaningful, accessible opportunities for connection, professional development and shared learning that strengthen their work within local contexts and home countries. Ted’s background, passion for the global Christian witness and deep commitment to Christian higher education uniquely position him to help the CCCU strengthen its global partnerships and faithfully support the shared mission of Christ-centered higher education around the world.”

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (April 2, 2026) — John Brown University's music & theatre department invites you to its Honors Showcase and Faculty Recital on April 9, at 7:30 p.m., in the Berry Performing Arts Center in Siloam Springs.

“The showcase is a celebration of our students and faculty. Students are selected by a competitive process to perform in this annual event," said Liesl Dromi, department chair and associate professor of music. "This year, the showcase will feature vocal, piano, guitar and theatrical performances in works by Bach, Schubert, Mangoré, Dave Malloy, Henrik Ibsen, Johann Strauss II, Duke Ellington and more.”

This event is free and open to the public.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (March 20, 2026) — John Brown University has named Gentry Turk, Ph.D., the university’s executive director of Community Counseling Clinics, effective January 1, 2026.

Turk will oversee JBU’s Graduate Counseling program’s applied, clinical training at on-site Community Counseling Centers on JBU's main campus and in Little Rock. In this role, Turk plans the curriculum for and manages the provision of high-quality, well-supervised counseling services to the local community by our practicum students.

"We are deeply excited that Dr. Gentry Turk has accepted the role of executive clinical director of our clinics," said Emily Moore, dean of the College of Education and Social and Behavioral Sciences at JBU. "She’s an experienced clinician and excellent counselor. Just as significantly, she is a wonderful teacher who will be able to balance coordinating our graduate students' clinical training while ensuring that JBU’s clinic provides the highest-quality clinical care to members of the Northwest Arkansas community. Gentry is wise, compassionate and direct. We are deeply grateful to have her."

Turk discovered her calling to counseling during an undergraduate internship in the counseling department at Focus on the Family, leading her to pursue a master’s in counseling at Denver Seminary. After graduating, she focused on addiction counseling in community mental health, then co-founded a Christian private practice in Lakewood, Washington. To deepen her clinical expertise and invest in training future counselors, she completed a doctorate in counselor education and supervision at Denver Seminary, where she discovered her love for teaching future counselors. In June 2025, she was hired as a professor in JBU's Graduate Counseling program.

“As executive clinic director, I am excited to support our community through the meaningful work of counseling," Turk said. "The Community Counseling Clinic at John Brown University offers opportunities for people to experience hope and healing by engaging the impactful care of our counselors-in-training. By combining my previous experience as a clinician, supervisor and now educator, I look forward to developing unique programs and opportunities within our clinic to enhance the care provided to our community." 

Turk is dedicated to cultivating a thriving counseling practice environment that challenges students to grow as clinicians. She is also committed to providing high-quality, low-cost counseling to Siloam Springs and the broader Northwest Arkansas region.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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Greg Robinson, outdoor leadership professor and head of the Bible and ministry department, released his new book “Leaders of Another Kind: Living the Radical Paradox of Servant Leader” in January.

In his book, Robinson reveals that a leader’s identity determines how he or she leads more than learning any leadership technique.

“Mostly we use the same models to understand leadership regardless of the situation or context,” said Robinson, for whom leadership has been a 30-year focus. “For many who follow Jesus, we tend to use corporate models but put a moralistic spin on them or simply try to be nicer.”

Robinson explains in the book that the idea of servant leadership, which can be traced back to Jesus and was made popular in the modern age by Robert Greenleaf — an American business executive and leadership consultant and the founder of the modern servant leadership movement and the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership — has surfaced and retreated many times.

“Currently, much of what is being written about servant leadership defines it as a collection of behaviors,” said Robinson. “But Jesus and Greenleaf both seemed to believe that it starts with the kind of person you are.”

Robinson wrote the book as an exploration of Jesus’ formation process with his followers and the identity he revealed to them as a way to help us rethink leadership today.

“Christ-centered leadership is more than taking modern leadership models and attaching Bible verses to them,” he said. “It is about understanding the truly unique way of being that Jesus was both making possible and teaching his followers at the same time."

“Leaders of Another Kind: Living the Radical Paradox of Servant Leader” is available via Amazon. 

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

SILOAM SPRINGS, Arkansas (Feb. 25, 2026) – John Brown University will host former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft for its annual Ray and Laurine Barnett Civic Leadership Series to present "America250 and the Future of Liberty" on Tuesday, March 10, at 7 p.m. in Simmons Great Hall B.

Ashcroft served as Missouri governor from 1985 to 1993 and as a Missouri senator from 1995 to 2001, before becoming the 79th U.S. attorney general under President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.

"John Ashcroft has served the American people at both the state and federal levels during defining periods in our nation’s history," said Daniel Bennett, Ph.D., professor of political science and director of the Center for Faith and Flourishing. "His visit reflects JBU's commitment to engaging with figures who have shaped American public life. We look forward to a thoughtful conversation about leadership, governance and the challenges facing the country today."

The Ray and Laurine Barnett Civic Leadership Series, established in 2016, is funded by an endowment created with gifts from the Barnett family and donations from more than 20 organizations and individuals. The series, which brings a speaker to JBU each academic year, focuses on Christian leadership and addresses the intersection of faith and public service.

Past speakers include Alveda C. King, niece of Martin Luther King Jr.; Mike Huckabee and Asa Hutchinson, former Arkansas governors; Chief Judge Lavenski Smith; Philip Todd, JBU alumnus and chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security; Molly Rapert, associate professor of marketing at the University of Arkansas; Shapri LoMaglio, vice president for government and external relations at the CCCU.

The event is co-sponsored by the Center for Faith and Flourishing and JBU's student chapter of TPUSA. It is free and open to the public.

John Brown University is a leading private Christian university, training students to honor God and serve others since 1919. Arkansas’ top-ranked regional university (U.S. News) and No. 2 private university (The Wall Street Journal), JBU enrolls more than 2,500 students from 34 states and 43 countries in its traditional undergraduate, graduate, online and concurrent education programs. JBU offers over 50 undergraduate majors, with top programs including business, nursing, visual arts, engineering, teacher education, psychology, computer science, construction management, graphic design, family and human services, and engineering. Twelve graduate degrees are available in business, counseling and cybersecurity.

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