Bluefield College
Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Campus News
Bluefield College Celebrates Inauguration of President David W. Olive  (November 2, 2007)
 
Visit the official Inauguration Web Site
 
     Bluefield College celebrated the inauguration of a new president, Dr. David W. Olive, during a ceremony on campus, November 2, which challenged the BC family to embrace its heritage, while imagining its future.
     Hundreds of local and regional dignitaries and educators filled BC's Harman Chapel to witness the formal installation service, the culmination of a weeklong series of events designed to commemorate the induction of the school's ninth president in its 85-year history.
     With vigor and passion, much like that of an evangelist, Dr. Olive, the son of a retired Baptist minister, shared his vision for Bluefield College during an Inaugural Response. He challenged the campus community, in light of his new presidency, to consider the questions, "Who are we?" and "Where are we going?"
     "We are a Christ-centered college," Dr. Olive said. "We are a college that was founded by Christians who had a heart for young people in Appalachia. And, unlike other colleges and universities that began through the mission of the Church, Bluefield College has remained faithful to its heritage, a rich heritage, as a Christian college."
     Dr. Olive -- who came to Bluefield with more than 15 years of experience in higher education, including most recently as the executive vice president and chief operating officer at Pfeiffer University in Charlotte, North Carolina -- expressed appreciation to the founders of Bluefield College who "worked tirelessly" from 1919 to 1922 to see the creation of a Christian higher education institution in Bluefield. He spoke of the historical Virginia Baptist references to the school as a "lighthouse on top of the Appalachian mountains," providing "educational and spiritual development" for young men and women of the region. He assured Virginia Baptists that Bluefield College still, today, is a "champion of historic Baptist principles."
 
New Bluefield College president, Dr. David W. Olive (center), takes his formal oath of office, alongside his wife, First Lady Kathryn Olive (left), and led by BC Chairman of the Board Dan Grabeel.
 
Hear it...Download audio files of President David W. Olive's Inaugural Response and Dr. Frank Campbell's Inaugural Address.
 
Dr. David W. Olive, BC's ninth president,
delivers his Inaugural address.

     "Our relationship with Virginia Baptists is important to us," said Dr. Olive, who once served as an interim and associate pastor. "We are deeply indebted to Virginia Baptists, and as we seek a new path today of partnership and collaboration, please know of Bluefield College's commitment to always stand alongside the work and ministry of the Baptist General Association of Virginia. That is our sentiment. That is our commitment."
     In addition to being Christ-centered, Dr. Olive said Bluefield College is student-focused and globally-minded, as demonstrated by professors through the years who have given "their very being to impact students' lives" and by alumni who share testimonies about the intellectual and spiritual growth and preparation to make a difference in the world they received on campus.
     "We are blessed to have such capable and learned faculty who choose to serve here every day," Dr. Olive said. "Our professors are actively engaged with students both in and outside the classroom. We care about students, and we work to help them succeed and reach their God-given potential."
     And, while embracing that rich heritage, Dr. Olive encouraged the BC family to "imagine the future," a scholarly environment that, he said, can be "so seductive and personalized that students are drawn into new worlds of learning." He challenged the college and its supporters and friends to imagine a campus with more faculty resources, bold new academic programs, and additional personnel and resources to support the school's service, mission and ministry initiatives. Imagining such a future, he added, will further demonstrate how globally-minded the school is.
     "We are called to be servants," said Dr. Olive, whose career also includes work in law firms as a licensed attorney, "and in our work here at Bluefield College, we are developing servant leaders, those who are willing to give of themselves for the good of others or their community. If you have not already felt it or are not aware of it, we are passionate about service and meeting the needs of others, both in our immediate community and around the world."
     The new president also challenged faculty, staff, alumni and friends to imagine a Bluefield College with more students studying on campus and more living on site in a new residence hall. He encouraged listeners to envision a new Campus and Community Center for students and the public at-large, and the development of new and improved athletic facilities.
     "There is too rich a heritage for us to fail now," Dr. Olive said. "We have too vital a mission to pursue to rest or be content.  We must tell our story. We reside in Virginia's highest town. From the top of East River Mountain and beyond, we must proclaim what God has given us and enabled us to do, and we need to make sure that everyone knows -- everyone -- about the awesome experience, a life-transforming experience, that awaits them here at Bluefield College. Christ-centered. Student-focused. Globally-minded. That's who we are. And, together, with hard work and God's gracious blessings and presence among us, we can only imagine -- immeasurably more than we can imagine -- where we are going."
     In addition to Dr. Olive's Inaugural Response, Dr. Frank Campbell, former president of Averett University and a longtime friend of Bluefield College, offered an Inaugural Address. Dr. Campbell, the current executive director of Stratford House in Danville, Virginia, spoke about the role of a college president and the relationship between the president and his trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, and community.
     "David Olive will continue the proud relationship Bluefield College has with Virginia Baptists," Dr. Campbell said. "He will be a good fundraiser and a hard worker. He will remember that it's all about students, and he will remember that this community is proud to have you here, and Virginia Baptists are proud to have you as one of its own. What a great day! What a great school! What a great new president!"
     The Inauguration program also included formal greetings to the new president from Senator Phillip Puckett (representing the Commonwealth of Virginia), Dr. John Upton (executive director of the Virginia Baptist Mission Board), Mark Meachum (president of the Greater Bluefield Chamber of Commerce,) Professor Bryant Moxley (BC faculty president), Derrick Wagoner (president of the Student Government Association), Donald Kidd (president of the Alumni Association), Dr. Dan Grabeel (chairman of the BC Board of Trustees), and Dr. Charles Ambrose (president of Pfeiffer University, Dr. Olive's previous institution).
     "God has again done a mighty work in completing not only a call for Bluefield College, but also a call in your life," Dr. Upton told the new BC president. "I am so thankful God has brought you here. We give praise and thanks to God for your leadership at this place."
     Dr. Ambrose described the new BC leader and his former colleague as "a close friend, a loving father and a servant leader." Senator Puckett thanked the college's leadership for "staying true to its mission" as a Christ-centered institution. He also shared a message from the book of Ecclesiastes and spoke of this being the "time and season for Dr. David Olive at Bluefield College."
     In like manner, Moxley said Dr. Olive had been called to BC "for such a time as this." Meachum recalled the Chamber's connection to the founding of BC, and Kidd shared a serenity prayer on behalf of alumni, while Wagoner spoke of the student body's confidence in the new BC leader.
     "I wasn't around Dr. Olive very long before I realized he is a visionary, and he pursues his vision with great intensity," said Wagoner. "I have confidence he will lead Bluefield College to become a premier Christian college."
     Dr. Grabeel and Rev. Jack Marcom, chair of the Presidential Search Committee, performed the formal installation of Dr. Olive. Dr. Charles Warren, BC's interim leader during the presidential search process, and First Lady Kathryn Olive participated in the ceremonial presentation of the presidential medallion.
     "Bluefield College is fortunate to have Dr. David Olive," said Dr. Grabeel. "God has a plan for Bluefield College, and we believe Dr. Olive fits in that plan and can help us become the college we want to be."
     Other special guests recognized in attendance included Dr. Roy Dobyns, BC's seventh president, and John Harman, the son of the late Dr. Charles Harman, BC's fifth president.