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Alumni Achievements

Additional Alumni Achievements


Featured Alum
Evan Cate,'08
Major: Theology

Current Position: received a Duke Scholarship to pursue a master's in divinity degree at the university's School of Divinity. The scholarship covers full tuition and is awarded to entering students based on academic achievement and exceptional promise for ordained or diaconal ministry.

Why Whitworth: I was drawn to the small school, liberal arts environment, especially in regard to student-faculty interactions. When I visited, Whitworth seemed to be a place that fostered unique interpersonal relationships, both among students and between students and faculty. Whitworth was truly unlike any other place I visited in this respect. I was also fortunate enough to receive a generous financial aid package.

Whitworth Activities: I was involved with ASWC during my sophomore year, serving as the Dorm Senator of McMillan Hall. I also participated in a variety of intramurals. And, though not officially connected to Whitworth, I served for two years as a volunteer high school youth group leader at a local Presbyterian church.

Quote: "My education at Whitworth gave me valuable critical thinking, reading and writing skills, and helped me to begin to think well about what it means to be faithful to Jesus Christ in this world. My theology degree prepared me to engage immediately with the material in my Master's of Divinity program at Duke, and to do so at a high level. In fact, I was able to get four entry-level courses waived because of the stellar education I received at Whitworth, allowing me to take more advanced (and more interesting) electives."

Influential Whitworth Experiences: I was fortunate to have many formational experiences, classes and mentor relationships while at Whitworth, but one course that stands out is Adam Neder's Christian Theology course. The class taught me how to approach theology, forced me to grapple with the content of the church's doctrines, and reminded me of the importance of sound theological thinking for the church’s witness and proclamation. I continue to apply these insights daily, both as an individual Christian and as a seminarian.

Career Goals: I am currently on the ordination track with the Presbyterian Church (USA), and am still discerning whether my call is to vocational ministry or to pursue further studies in order to eventually teach in a college. If I were to do the latter, I would like to teach Church History, especially the history of doctrine.

Here's what some Whitworth graduates are doing with their theology degrees:

• Scott Donnell, '08, (theology and business management double major), is enrolled in the Acton MBA program in entrepreneurship, which is ranked one of the best entrepreneurship programs in the country.

• Glen Alberto Guenther, ’09 (minors in Spanish and political science), is completing a two-year internship in Ecuador with World Vision and has been appointed an international election monitor for the presidential election in El Salvador. He plans to pursue a master's degree in public policy.

• Nathan Mesaros, '05, is a project coordinator with World Vision, traveling to international locations to match funds with needs.
  David Sittser, '07, received a full-tuition Divinity Fellowship to pursue a master's degree in New Testament at the Duke University School of Divinity.
  J. David Thorpe, '05, is a freelance artist in Colorado Springs and works to promote the development of intentional sustainable communities /urban planning through speaking venues and artistic renderings.

• David Lincicum, '01, is a lecturer in New Testament at the University of Oxford.

• Charlie Shepherd, '05, taught for a year in a theological seminary in Cameroon, West Africa and is now enrolled in a master's program in theology at the University of Durham, United Kingdom.

• J.P. Carlson, '02, earned an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and is an associate pastor at Eastridge Presbyterian Church, in Lincoln, Neb.

• Ben Robinson, '03, is completing an M.Div. at Princeton Theological Seminary and has received a call to serve an Episcopal church in Cairo, Egypt.

• Matt Lincicum, '05 (theology and physics double major), earned a master's degree in engineering from the University of California, Irvine, and entered Harvard Law School in fall 2007.

• Josh Mikelson, ’03, received an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and is now ordained and serving a church in Scotland.