President’s Message: Moving Forward

I am very pleased to report that the Middle States Association Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) acted on June 22 to accept the Unification Theological Seminary (UTS) “Progress Report” and to notify us that our next evaluation visit is scheduled for 2023-2024. This brings to a close a nearly four-year re-accreditation cycle which began with submission of our self-study in July 2013, three follow-up monitoring reports & team visits, and the recent progress report that was submitted on April 1.

I am extraordinarily grateful to our UTS team, particularly Drs. Winings, Mickler and Wilson who prepared the report, and to our Board and sponsoring church for their support. UTS is now fully recovered from issues stemming from the development and eventual closure of the undergraduate program, and we are preparing to move forward with new initiatives identified in our draft 5-year strategic plan — distance learning, preparing a new generation of Unification and UTS leadership, strengthening community relations and academic programs in the urban context, and locating UTS in a sustainable facility.

In October, two courses, both credit-bearing, that lead to a master’s degree will be taught online by Dr. Andrew Wilson (Advanced Divine Principle) and Dr. Tyler Hendricks (Unification Apologetics). These two courses are different from the non-credit Continuing Education Units (CEUs).

I am planning to circulate a more extensive update on UTS in the near future and look forward to interacting with many of you during the upcoming 2017-18 academic year.

Hugh D. Spurgin, Ph.D.
President