Transitions in 2015, part 3: GIAL, CEWA, Ph.D. (and other acronyms)

In September 2015, after a few months of furlough travel visiting friends and family throughout the US, we will be moving to Dallas, Texas, and I will join the faculty of the Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics (GIAL).

What is GIAL? GIAL is an accredited, degree-granting institution that grew out of the training school for Wycliffe Bible Translators and the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL International). GIAL’s campus is within the International Linguistics Center, which also houses the offices of SIL International, Pioneer Bible Translators, and other organizations. A primary vision of GIAL is to offer pre-field and furlough training to cross-cultural missionaries and development workers. They offer coursework in areas such as Linguistics, Literacy, Translation, Scripture Use, Anthropology, Sociolinguistics and Language Survey, Multicultural Teamwork, Counseling, and World Arts. Students are equipped for integrative scholarship: that is, they become people who integrate their Christian faith, research, and service. GIAL is not interested only in the acquisition of knowledge, but in the application of knowledge toward building God’s kingdom, scriptural understanding, and ongoing discipleship.

Before we came to PNG, Joyce and I spent a year and a half in Dallas, doing our pre-field linguistics and ethnomusicology training. It was a stimulating environment of learning, sharing, and getting to know people who, like us, were on their way to field locations around the world. In 2001, when we started our time at GIAL, ethnomusicology-in-missions was still in its early days. There were a few short courses offered, but not a degree program, nor a full teaching faculty. Several years later, I and other ethnomusicologists with Wycliffe re-imagined the training to include all of the creative arts: still music, but now also dance, drama, storytelling, visual arts. That shift in perspective has led to the World Arts program, which is growing and expanding in exciting ways. Increasing numbers of students are coming to the program to enjoy training that is not available anywhere else in the US.

One of the outcomes of this growth is the founding of the Center for Excellence in World Arts (CEWA)--GIAL's new space for the World Arts program. Studying at CEWA, students can complete a Master of Arts with concentrations in Applied Arts, Arts and Islam, or Arts and Scripture Engagement. Graduates take this training and apply it to their cross-cultural and development work at home and abroad, just as we've been doing in PNG for the last 12 years.

What will I be doing at the Center for Excellence in World Arts? I will teach some of the core classes at CEWA, such as Research Methods in World Arts, Expressive Form Analysis, and Applied Arts. I'll mentor students, bringing my experience from our years in PNG to the questions that they have about ministry and academic service. I'll also be developing a course in academic writing and editing (one of my loves, and a skill that is very needed but rarely taught; written communication is one of the most vital skills a fieldworker needs). Another major responsibility will be the development of a doctoral program in World Arts at CEWA.

The other people I'll be working with at the Center for Excellence in World Arts. I've worked with them all before and loved it.

I'm not tired of traveling, and so I'm glad that I'll still have opportunities to visit other parts of the world for teaching and research. Other professors at CEWA this past year visited Jamaica, England, Alaska, Chicago, and other locations to lead workshops and participate in conferences. The Pacific region will of course remain close to our hearts, and we would certainly be glad for any opportunity to return for visits and continue building relationships and working with Pacific Islanders on music, arts,  and discipleship.

Why do we still need to raise financial support? All of the faculty at GIAL have cross-cultural living experience, and each faculty member is expected to raise his or her own financial support while working at GIAL. One reason for this expectation is to encourage faithfulness in depending on God to meet our needs. Another reason is to keep costs down for students, many of whom are also supported members of missions organizations. By your help in subsidizing the faculty costs, tuition for students is kept as low as possible, allowing more people to benefit from GIAL's training and take those skills out to the field to benefit communities everywhere. A master's degree from GIAL costs significantly less than master's programs in most other universities--and, as I mentioned before, it's a unique training program that is only available at GIAL. As you continue supporting us, you are now also supporting many World Arts students who will go into all parts of the world to serve Bible translation, promote discipleship, and encourage heart worship.

In the next post, we'll explain why we feel that this is the right time to move from Papua New Guinea to Dallas, and how my experiences in PNG have equipped me to serve at GIAL/CEWA.