Release Date: 4/18/08

 

Malone College will hold its116th baccalaureate and commencement ceremonies the first weekend in May.  Friday, May 2, at 7 p.m., baccalaureate services will be held in the Johnson Center for Worship and the Fine Arts, located at 2600 Cleveland Avenue N.W. in Canton. Commencement exercises are planned for Saturday, May 3, at 10 a.m. (traditional undergraduate) and 2 p.m. (graduate and non-traditional undergraduate) at Canton Baptist Temple, located at 515 Whipple Avenue in Canton.  All told, Malone will graduate 493 in the spring ceremonies.  The class of 2008 will be the last graduating class to receive diplomas reading “Malone College” as Malone prepares to change its name to Malone University in the fall.  Knute Larson of The Chapel and Malone College President Gary Streit are slated as baccalaureate and commencement speakers, respectively.

 

Pastor Knute Larson has served as The Chapel’s senior pastor since 1983. He is focused on community ties and recognizes the importance of helping to build a strong community. He is the co-founder of Allies, a partnership for ministry designed to help reach across racial lines; and Love Akron, a gathering of pastors and church leaders to pray for the city together. Knute focuses on church strategies, communication, leadership, and development issues. He is also well known for his one-minute radio and television spots. He is the author of The Great Human Race, a book that candidly addresses personal discipline. He has also written three other books relating to ministry and leadership. Knute earned a doctorate of ministry from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a master of divinity from Grace Theological Seminary. His personal majors are family, basketball, and jogging. He and his wife, Jeanine, have two married daughters and three grandchildren.

 

 

Prior to accepting the presidency here, he served as provost, chief academic officer, and vice president for academic affairs at Olivet Nazarene University.  Dr. Streit earned the A.B degree in English from Trevecca Nazarene University (TN), the M.S. degree in education-psychology from the University of Tennessee, and the Ph.D. in English education from the University of Illinois. A native of Winchester, Virginia, Dr. Streit is married to Marla Streit, Ed.D.; they are the parents of an adult daughter, Emily (Mrs. Corey Teague) and have two grandchildren.  

 

In his own words, a college president must “be able to inspire, motivate, and then lead all of the institution’s stakeholders toward a clearer understanding of what it is that we need to continually learn, unlearn, and relearn about ourselves and our institution in order to maintain viability in these ever-challenging times.” 

 

Dr. Streit approaches such challenging times by offering, as emphasized in his inaugural theme, “a new voice for a new era.”

 

The college awards bachelor of arts, bachelor of science in nursing, bachelor of science in education, master of business administration, master of arts in Christian ministries, master of arts in education, and master of science in nursing degrees.