Written by: Mathaüs Schwarzen, staff writer
DAYTON, Tenn.—Bryan College held its twice-annual president’s round table Feb. 27 in the Stophel Welcome Center. The evening included food, speakers and music from the College’s music department, and was the last round table of Bryan President Stephen Livesay’s presidency.
The President’s round table is an event hosted every semester by the administration of Bryan College. Its intent is to increase support for the College, according to Livesay.
“It’s a way to generate interest in the school and also in things like the opportunity scholarship dinner,” Livesay said.
The guests in attendance included business owners and public figures, as well as Bryan staff and professors. The evening began with a half-hour reception and moved to dinner and performances in Osborne Hall in the College’s newly-completed Stophel Center.
Bryan chooses one of its programs to feature at each round table, and this year the feature was the music department, according to Livesay.
Livesay opened the meal with a prayer, and Associate Professor of Music Kimberly Keck spoke about her time at Bryan and the different roles of the music department.
“It’s a really exciting thing that we get to get up every morning and come to school and do what we love, which is music,” Keck said. “Beyond that, we get to work with wonderful students and we get to see them grow a lot.”
Music students Isaac Mullet and Laura Neff also spoke about their experiences as students at Bryan, and Mullet performed Handel’s operatic “Sibillar gli angui d’Aletto” with accompaniment from Associate Professor of Music Olivia Ellis.
The Bryan College chamber singers performed arrangements of “All that has Life and Breath” and “Jesus Paid it All,” before Ellis performed Franz Liszt’s piano arrangement of “Löse, Himmel, meine Seele” and a rendition of “In Christ Alone.”
Livesay also took the opportunity to recognize changes within the administration of Bryan College. Chuck Baker will be stepping down from the position of vice president of advancement at Bryan, while Scholarship Fund Director David Holcomb will be taking his place.
“It has been a great privilege to be a part of this group,” Baker said. “We have many treasures here at Bryan College. I’ve discovered them over the past four years in particular, and tonight we’ve highlighted one of the most special treasures with our music department.”
Vice President of Academics and Provost Douglas Mann closed the evening by thanking Livesay for his service to the College.
“He has taken a lot of arrows in his back, and he’s taken a lot of arrows in his front,” Mann said. “But he stood for Christ, and he stood for God’s word. He does not like attention being drawn to himself, and that is a testament to his humility and to his leadership.”
Mann also teased the upcoming announcement of an unnamed new program at Bryan College, saying that an official announcement would be coming soon. The evening ended with a communal singing of “In Christ Alone,” led by Keck and Ellis.
Mathäus Schwarzen is a staff writer for the Bryan Triangle who specializes in campus news. He is a junior at Bryan College, majoring in creative writing. He spends his free time writing, drawing and listening to music.
