2025 Lipscomb University President's Report

fueling tomorrow

TODAY

“Perfect submission, all is at rest I know the author of tomorrow has ordered my steps…”

— Trust in God, by Brandon Lake, Chris Brown, Mitch Wong and Steven Furtick

I heard this line this past August, just a few days before the beginning of the 2025 school year. Our very own Gospel Choir sang this line in a song called “Trust in God,” a contemporary song that alludes to a line in a classic hymn: “Blessed Assurance.”

I couldn’t help but reflect on that phrase, “the author of tomorrow,” as I was about to speak to our entire Lipscomb community about the challenges we all face in today’s environment of volatility and ambiguity.

It’s hard to deny that today, with major shifts in society, technology and politics daily filling up our screens, our tomorrow appears to be uncertain and complex. But here at Lipscomb, a Christcentered community—if not a family—we have the ability to not just face tomorrow bravely, but to fuel tomorrow for the better, because we know the author of tomorrow and we know how the story ends.

As a focused, nimble university, we have displayed the ability throughout our 135-year history, to not only make it through the storm, but to re-emerge stronger. The strengths we gained facing those challenges of yesterday is what makes us uniquely positioned today to fuel a healthier tomorrow.

That confidence, born from blessed assurance, propels us to dream, to imagine, to try new things without fear, to even, as one might say, disrupt the status quo. It gives us the ability to innovate.

And that’s what we have done over the past year. We have been focused on building AI literacy across our entire campus, empowering faculty, staff and students not just to consume AI outputs, but to have the wisdom to use them purposefully, asking better questions, thinking critically and leading with integrity.

Holding true to our mission to transform people’s lives through Christ-centered education, we are continuously transforming ourselves to become today what the marketplace of tomorrow will need. That means offering alternative instruction-delivery methods, packaging knowledge for specific industry needs, identifying and meeting the workforce needs of the coming decades and creating easier access for those who do not fit the traditional mold.

Our students walking campus today are the artists, professors, caregivers and leaders of tomorrow. To prepare them for a purposeful lifetime, we work to ensure they are thriving today through resources and services to address their physical, mental and financial well-being, their relationships and unity as a community, and their ability to meet academic goals and professional standards. Students who thrive today will flourish as leaders tomorrow.

With a record-making year in enrollment, retention and donations, Lipscomb is thriving today despite today’s uncertainty, and as we stretch our imagination to prepare students for a workplace that doesn’t even exist today, we can rest in the blessed assurance that the author of tomorrow is ordering our steps.

DR. CANDICE Mc QUEEN Lipscomb University President

fueling tomorrow through...LEADERSHIP

“Lipscomb’s commitment to innovation and student success positions the institution at the forefront of higher education’s technological transformation. Lipscomb is preparing its community not just for today’s challenges, but for the opportunities of tomorrow.”

— CANDICE MCQUEEN, PRESIDENT

It’s clear that today’s world needs leaders, and tomorrow’s world will need them even more. With a clear focus on its Christ-centered mission, over a century of experience and a unified campus community, Lipscomb University is uniquely equipped to not just weather today’s storms but to lead others out of the tempests of the future.

While surveys show that higher education is less valued today than ever before, Lipscomb continues to grow, setting four new enrollment records in fall 2025 (see page 5). In addition, graduate enrollment grew significantly in 2025, and more students opted to live on campus compared to last year.

These gains are attributed to enhanced cooperation among key university stakeholders that strengthened outreach efforts, an institutional focus on making a Lipscomb education more affordable and spreading the word to potential students on the value and achievability of a Christian, private education.

Specifically, Lipscomb Admission worked to convert more applicants into registered students through the Be A Bison Tour, a personal one-on-one experience that meets students where they are, literally. The tour sent Lipscomb representatives to prospective students, their families and community college graduates in various cities throughout the Midsouth region to provide a taste of the vibrant community and opportunities available at the university.

Lipscomb proactively shares its leadership success with the nation’s higher education community, especially in 2025 through a slate of conferences held on campus. In 2024, Lipscomb was tapped by the Tennessee

Higher Education Commission to bring together higher education leaders, faculty, staff and students from across Tennessee to collaborate on best practices for supporting military-connected students at the TN VET Reconnect Conference

The May conference drew representatives from 58 universities and organizations from six states to hear leaders from Operation Stand Down, the Tennessee Department of Veteran Services, Vanderbilt University and Lipscomb’s own president and Veterans Affairs staff, discussing the evolving landscape of veterans education.

The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities also looked to Lipscomb to host its Doctoral Education Conference in late 2024 and its Advancing Women in Leadership Conference , with more than 200 guests, in 2025.

This year marked milestones for university leadership, as President Candice McQueen’s (BS ’96) contract was renewed for the next five years, and three new members of the Board of Trustees were appointed: Anna Grizzle, a partner at Bass, Berry & Sims legal firm in Nashville, Dr. Raye Mitchell (LA ’81, BS ’85), a retired orthopedic surgeon and Nashville native, and Joey Hogan (BS ’84) of Chattanooga, an accounting graduate and member of the Covenant Logistics Group board.

In addition, Brian Mast was named senior vice president of student affairs. Mast had previously served at Lipscomb as interim executive vice president, vice provost, associate provost and senior director of student success, before joining Lipscomb’s Executive Leadership Team.

Shaping Tomorrow’s Universities

In 2022, when the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the American Council on Education convened an institutional roundtable to revamp its national college classification system, they saw Lipscomb’s success as a must for the selected group. Lipscomb’s leader, President Candice McQueen, was one of 18 college presidents from across the nation invited to play a role in developing the redesigned Institutional Classification announced in April.

faith-forward culture

Mark Whitacre, the real-life subject of the movie The Informant, spoke on how

SIGNATURE SERIES BRINGS NATIONAL INSIGHT TO CAMPUS COMMUNITY

In 2025, the Presidential Signature Series offered an impressive slate of events featuring national thought leaders and artists to elevate scholarly conversations and illuminate significant work in the pursuit of flourishing.

After celebrating a successful Don R. Elliott Distinguished Presidential Lecture in November 2024, featuring Dan Heath, author of Switch and The Power of Moments, the series launched into 2025 with the McClure Lecture on Faith and Science featuring Dwayne Simmons, the Cornelia Marschall Smith

Endowed Professor and the Senior Director of STEM Initiatives in the College of Arts and Sciences’ at Baylor University.

Ruta Sepetys, New York Times

bestselling author of historical fiction including Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray, spoke to students and the community as the 2025 Landiss Lecture guest speaker.

David French (BA ’91), New York Times columnist and Lipscomb’s Turner Family Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy, and Russell Moore, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today and Lipscomb’s inaugural Bill and Crissy Haslam Endowed Distinguished Visiting Professor of Faith and Reason, engaged in conversation around “Talking Politics, Keeping Faith” at the Fred D. Gray Lectureship

In October, the second annual Illuminate conference was held, spotlighting the theme, Working with Purpose. The conference featured Moore and Mark Whitacre, vice president of Culture & Care and executive director of the t-factor initiative at Coca-Cola Consolidated Inc., a publicly traded company with a faith-forward culture.

The series finished out 2025 with Fashion Week 2025, featuring a

slate of events tracing the lifecycle of fashion in Music City from concept to consumer; Liz Wiseman, author of New York Times bestseller Multipliers and Wall Street Journal bestsellers Rookie Smarts and Impact Players at the 2025 Elliott Lecture; and a new addition to the series, The Presidential Lectureship on Art

This lecture presented Lipscomb alumnus and Fine Arts Ambassador Michael Shane Neal (BA ’91), internationally acclaimed portrait artist with two portraits in the Smithsonian and a recent commission to paint former President Joe Biden.

The campus looks forward to the rest of the series in 2026, including an art exhibit with artist talks by Neal and his daughter Mattie Ree Neal (LA ’20), who is an up and coming portrait artist in Nashville and served as an artist in residence during 2025.

2025 ENROLLMENT RECORDS

741

Largest day 1 total enrollment in university history

LARGEST CLASS OF FRESHMEN IN UNIVERSITY HISTORY (FOR 3RD CONSECUTIVE YEAR)

917

TOTAL NEW UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

2025 OFFICIAL ENROLLMENT

6,347

ACADEMICS Undergraduate Graduate Fall 2025 Applicants

FALL SEMESTER YEAR-OVER-YEAR INCREASE IN GRADUATE ENROLLMENT

Total 4,840 11% 422 RECORD NUMBER OF MILITARY-RELATED STUDENTS

ADMISSION

4,932 3,056 1,829

26.5 AVERAGE ACT SCORE

1,270 AVERAGE SAT SCORE

1,462

39 NATIONS STUDENTS FROM Academy

50 STATES

23 ACCREDITED PROGRAMS

1,514 DEGREES AND CERTIFICATES AWARDED IN 2024-25

JOB PLACEMENT RATE +D.C. and Puerto Rico

98.7%

fueling tomorrow through...STRATEGY

THE LIPSCOMB IMPACT 360 STRATEGIC PLAN COMES TO A CLOSE IN MAY 2026 ESTABLISHED

NEW CORE CURRICULUM: JOURNEY

CENTER FOR VOCATIONAL DISCOVERY

OFFICE OF SERVICE & MENTORING

FIRST YEAR PROGRAM

BISONS EXCELLING AND SUCCEEDING TOGETHER (BEST)

BISON ONE STOP

LU INNOVATE

BOODLEBOX AI CAMPUSWIDE INTEGRATION

CENTER FOR TEACHING & LEARNING

LIBRARY CAREER CENTER

MASTER’S IN APPLIED ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

MASTER’S IN SPORT ANALYTICS

BACHELOR’S IN COMMUNICATION SCIENCE & DISORDERS

ACCELERATED BACHELOR OF NURSING

ONLINE DOCTOR OF PHARMACY

MASTER’S IN ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANT STUDIES

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN LEADERSHIP

THE LEARNING COMMONS

LEADING TO LAUNCHED

2025 RECORD FRESHMAN TO SOPHOMORE RETENTION

86.5%

ACADEMIC SUCCESS CENTER

ACCESSIBILITY & LEARNING SUPPORTS

FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE

INCREASE IN ENDOWMENT

LARGEST ENROLLMENT IN HISTORY

$36.7m 4,885 365 90% 77% 50% $30m 24% 87% ALUMNI

STUDENTS SERVED BY THE ACCESSIBILITY OFFICE

INCREASE IN AMOUNT OF GIFTS OF FACTORS ON THE STUDENT SATISFACTION SURVEY HAVE SEEN IMPROVEMENT

NEARLY

DECREASE IN DEBT

INCREASE IN STUDENTS ATTENDING CAMPUS EVENTS

DECREASE IN DAYS WHERE MENTAL HEALTH NEGATIVELY IMPACTED STUDENTS’ ACADEMICS

INCREASE IN ALUMNI EVENT ATTENDANCE

A REINVIGORATED VISION AND NEW STRATEGIC PLAN IS IN THE WORKS TO CARRY LIPSCOMB THROUGH 2030.

fueling tomorrow through...

INNOVATION

“At Lipscomb, we see innovation as change for the better by design. We’re using tools like design thinking to shift from reacting to challenges to imagining what is possible.”

— TODD MCCOLLOUGH, CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER

It’s time for education to lead, not lag. That makes innovation central to our mission of preparing our students for purposeful lives of impact.

Lipscomb is embedding innovation across all aspects of university life—from AI-enhanced academics to smarter campus operations. We’re building a learning environment that not only uses emerging technology but also asks how it can be used ethically, creatively and in service to others.

The nexus of these efforts since February is the university’s new LUInnovate Office, led by Todd McCullough, the university’s first chief innovation officer. Under his leadership, LUInnovate aims to reimagine higher education by using an outside-in model which focuses on partnerships, increasing collaboration across colleges and beyond the university, and focusing on skills and experiences that will help students flourish in an AIenabled world.

A key shift is Lipscomb’s students, faculty and staff partnering with organizations to be an important part of their talent strategy. Furthering these efforts, Lipscomb’s College of Bible and Ministry received an almost $1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment Inc. Pathways for Tomorrow program in 2025 to establish a new program to partner with congregations to develop noncredit learning modules, helping ministers equip their congregational lay leaders.

Student-staffed projects, structured internships, guest lectures on campus, codeveloped offerings, microcredentials and executive education are all potential opportunities for increased collaboration and mutual benefit for Lipscomb and community partners.

McCullough, a seasoned executive, brings to the role more than three decades of experience advising Fortune 500 companies, global consulting firms and higher education institutions. His expertise in business strategy, innovation and organizational transformation has helped shape the growth of companies such as SC Johnson, Ford Motor Company, Target and Anthem.

In 2025, Lipscomb began offering its first two credentials, Advancing Nurse Leaders and Emerging Nurse Leaders, both for nurses who have found the transition from bedside nursing care to leadership or managing teams challenging. In each credential, three carefully curated, self-paced courses, called micro-credentials, can be taken over the course of six months for a flat fee. Students are paired with nurse leaders from across the nation to provide mentorship and feedback, and real-world projects.

In tandem with LUInnovate is the work of new Chief Revenue Officer Jerold Givens, who brings together strategic initiatives that support revenue generation beyond tuition. Givens works to identify, create and implement new revenue streams as well as to foster collaboration across departments to support institutional growth.

Among the projects already implemented are a new business approach to operation of the downtown campus facility Spark, which has resulted in a growth revenue stream, and installation of an LED Volume Wall (see page 9) in the Bill and Dot Mullican Studios, which will be rented to local filmmakers and videographers for use. Other potential revenue streams for the future include dual enrollment opportunities, development of commercial space owned by Lipscomb and executive education.

Tomorrow’s World On Screen

Lipscomb’s Innovation and Start-up Fund, set up to develop new programming and new revenue sources that will be sustainable over time, has drawn more than $150,000 from contributors, and its first funded project is up and running: a new LED Volume Wall, a 13- by 30-foot curved wall made of high-resolution LED pixels that display realistic virtual environments. The technology has been used in TV and movies such as The Mandalorian and Rogue One, and will now not only be available to Lipscomb’s future filmmakers and future broadcast media professionals, but also to today’s community of filmmakers and videographers in Nashville.

fueling tomorrow through...

TECHNOLOGY

“Together, we’re discovering how responsible AI use can create time for what matters most: meaningful conversations, personalized mentoring, student growth, and learning breakthroughs. Our approach is about using AI to enhance the very human art of teaching.”

— SARAH GIBSON, AI FACULTY FELLOW

Artificial intelligence is a powerful tool, but its greatest potential will only be realized through the people who use it. That’s why we are expanding AI literacy across disciplines— from health sciences to business to education. Students are gaining AI literacy not in isolated courses—but in the fabric of their everyday learning.

Two years ago, the university formed an AI Committee to develop a responsible integration strategy. That group now serves as an advisory body guiding policy development, training initiatives and academic integration.

Last year, a group of on-campus “super users” piloted use of AI tools, and in summer 2025 the university released its official AI usage policy to faculty, staff and students, underscoring its commitment to responsible application with a focus on data security.

Also this past summer, Lipscomb launched a bold, campuswide initiative to give every student, faculty and staff member access to enterprise-level AI tools through a first-of-its-kind partnership with BoodleBox. With secure, unlimited access to top platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity, our community is moving beyond experimentation to practical solutions—and students are gaining skills that will define the next generation of leadership.

To help shepherd the integration of AI into the academic arena, Lipscomb became one of the first universities in the country to appoint a faculty fellow for AI. An early adopter and champion of AI, Sarah Gibson, director of Lipscomb’s School of Communication, was appointed to fill this unique role to help her peers embrace using the technology in their disciplines. Gibson has led AI workshops, collaborated with

departments to redesign curriculum and encouraged a culture of experimentation.

Planning for a January launch, a task force of faculty is developing a 12-hour undergraduate certificate in applied AI (AAI), accessible to students from any major. The certificate, made up of four core courses, is being designed with flexibility and customization in mind. Academic departments will have the option to develop their own discipline-specific AAI course that may substitute for one of the core courses.

Faculty working on the certificate include Lipscomb’s AI fellow and professors in the School of Computing and Technology, which launched a successful master’s program in applied AI last year and will house the new AAI undergraduate certificate.

Lipscomb’s Registrar’s Office is developing bots to help students understand how credits transfer from other institutions, and the Advancement Office debuted use of a virtual engagement officer (VEO) powered by AI in September. The VEO is a digital role that focuses on building and maintaining relationships with various stakeholders, including donors, alumni and community members, through online channels, freeing up other development officers to devote more time to other duties.

This innovation mindset extends into Lipscomb Academy, where AI integration is taking the flexibility of the Endeavor Program further. Endeavor gives students an opportunity to personalize their learning through a blend of in-classroom and online instruction, allowing students to customize their education with time for personal pursuits like music, athletics and service.

Lipscomb’s new director of its College of Health Sciences Simulation Center isn’t waiting around to give tomorrow’s health care providers experience with AI in a health care setting. Jeffrey Adams is already bringing AI-driven simulation tools to the simulation center, where students experience case studies compiled by AI to better match specific course learning objectives and patient simulators that can talk to the students, outlining their symptoms and changing the conversation based on the situation.

MEETING NEEDS WITH CHANGE FOR THE BETTER

Academic innovation is about creating new and more efficient ways to fill the gaps.

The knowledge gap between entry level employee and degreeholding educator. The access gap between the desire to earn a degree and the geographic inability to go where the courses are. The employment gap between Tennesseans who want to work and the lack of local programs to provide the skills.

These are the workforce gaps Lipscomb worked to fill in 2025, either through new delivery methods leveraging technology, new pipelines leveraging untapped population pools for particular careers or new methods of offering credits in a more focused, strategic way, among other offerings.

Reimagining what’s possible

Communication Undergraduate Certificates :

In a first for Lipscomb, six undergraduate certificates debuted in the 2024-25 school year in the School of Communication, replacing minors with 12-hour specialized certificates designed to keep students’ practical knowledge aligned with industry needs. Students are able to design their own educational journey and study more than one field to enhance their employability in various market sectors upon graduation. Certificates are offered in public relations, advertising, sports media, broadcast journalism, digital and AI storytelling, and client and event management.

Foundations for Futures: The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development (TDLWD) named Lipscomb as the state’s first early childhood education apprenticeship hub in July. The hub is designed to create a robust pipeline of highly qualified early childhood educators, through a three-year, online bachelor’s program in infant to Grade 3 early education and apprentice work in early learning settings. Pending state and accreditation approvals, the program will offer fully paid tuition and books for qualifying participants.

Online Pharmacy Pathway: In August Lipscomb became one of only 13 universities in the nation offering an online Doctor of Pharmacy, offering a flexible but rigorous and comprehensive program using both asynchronous and synchronous online coursework with in-person immersions for labs and experiential learning.

Online Graduate Certificates: The College of Health Sciences launched in May three new graduate-level certificate programs in exercise physiology, strength and conditioning and sport nutrition. The 12-hour, fully online certificates are tailored for working professionals seeking to deepen their knowledge, earn continuing education credits or prepare for certification exams through the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) or International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN).

Driving meaningful impact

Communication Sciences and Disorders Program (CSD):

In February, Lipscomb announced plans to develop a new CSD undergraduate program, designed to meet the growing demand for professionals in speech-language pathology and related fields. To be offered in August 2026, pending institutional and accreditation approvals, the program will be the only such undergraduate program in Nashville. Plans also include launching an online post-baccalaureate leveling certificate for second-degree students interested in entering this field and a master’s program as students matriculate from the undergraduate program. Meagan Spencer joined Lipscomb as founding director of the program in summer 2025.

Tennessee Rural Workforce Initiative for Nursing:

The Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development’s Rural Healthcare Initiatives Program tapped Lipscomb to establish this pilot program to address the critical nursing shortage in Tennessee’s rural communities. A grant of $220,000 will fund recruiting and supporting students from underserved areas to complete Lipscomb’s Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) program, a hybrid learning model, combining online coursework with in-person clinical experiences. Public-private partnerships will financially support participants, including full tuition, fees, supplies, travel expenses and overnight accommodations, for the first two semesters of the four-semester ABSN program.

Certified Anesthesiologist Assistant (CAA) Program

: With new Tennessee legislation going into effect in January to allow CAAs to serve the state’s patients, Lipscomb was the first in Tennessee to announce a master’s program offering

Little Wonders Early Learning Center will serve as Lipscomb’s first apprenticeship employer partner in the Foundations to Futures program.

the highly specialized training needed for these indemand health care professionals. Announced in April, the program began accepting applications this past summer for classes beginning in June 2026, pending accreditation approval. Lipscomb’s CAA master’s is housed in the College of Pharmacy, a unique structure that will allow for a high degree of pharmacological training, an area of focus in the field. Todd Christian has been hired as the CAA program director.

Access to Become an Educator : In 2025, the College of Education established two new programs designed to make it easier to become a teacher in high-need areas of Tennessee: a partnership with the Memphis Teacher Residency (MTR) allows college graduates training with MTR mentors and coaching to seek licensure and a master’s at Lipscomb through on-site courses in the city, and a new $10,000 flat fee tuition rate for its educational leadership master’s, Ed.S. and graduate certificate programs provided in an online, asynchronous learning format and designed for working educators in rural school districts.

Health Care of Tomorrow

As part of her Master of Health Care Informatics, Ashley Rector (Pharm.D. ’25, MHCI ’25, MPS ’25) carried out a health care informatics project for a start-up company called Emyra, which is developing an AI digital platform for physicians. Rector developed a systematic process to test and evaluate the responses of the Helix AI platform which provides rapid pharmacogenomic information to physicians as they are providing personalized drug therapies.

fueling tomorrow through... 21 ST CENTURY ACADEMICS

“Our mission is to prepare students for a world that doesn’t yet fully exist. That means we cannot rely only on what has worked in the past. We must equip our students with the tools, the critical thinking and the ethical imagination to navigate what’s next.”

— JENNIFER SHEWMAKER, PROVOST

In addition to innovative approaches to market-driven academic programming and high-tech delivery systems, Lipscomb’s academics expanded in 2025 through the appointment of nationally known distinguished faculty, new graduate areas of study, enhanced focus on undergraduate research and new leadership.

Lipscomb’s Ph.D. program in leadership expanded with new concentrations—one in strategic innovation and a second in policy. The goal of this program, launched in 2023, is to equip professionals to pursue challenging, high-level responsibilities requiring advanced knowledge, training and rigor.

In the undergraduate curriculum, a focus on providing as many students as possible with hands-on research opportunities in 2024-25 resulted in 60 courses converted to Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CURES), which embed research into classroom content. The new FOCUS Initiative (Freshman Orientation to Collaborative and Undergraduate Scholarship) engages first year students in research and creative activities in their freshman seminars and offers them a chance to present their work at the Student Scholars Symposium.

In 2025-26, three distinguished individuals who have left their own indelible mark on the world are now leaving their mark on the Lipscomb campus.

Internationally renowned portrait artist and Lipscomb alumnus Michael Shane Neal (BA ’91) has been appointed Lipscomb’s first Fine Arts Ambassador, bringing his passion for mentoring young artists to campus through workshops, a Presidential Signature Series lecture and gallery exhibits.

Russell Moore, editor-in-chief of Christianity Today, has a two-year appointment as the inaugural Bill and Crissy Haslam Endowed Distinguished Visiting Professor of Faith and Reason, teaching courses, delivering public lectures and leading special programs to elevate the broader conversation in Nashville and beyond about how faith and reason can shape our world for good.

Finally, Ralph Schulz, former president and CEO of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce and one of Middle Tennessee’s most respected civic and business leaders, has been named an executive in residence in the College of Leadership & Public Service.

Among the academic leadership changes this year was the appointment of Florah Mhlanga as vice provost in April. Mhlanga served as interim vice provost during the 2024-25 academic year, and before that as associate provost for undergraduate academic affairs, senior associate dean in the college of Liberal Arts and Sciences and as professor of biology.

Higher education veteran and human resources expert Allison Duke (MBA ’02) was appointed dean of the College of Business in January. She previously served as senior associate dean and professor of management in the college, and was instrumental in developing and implementing strategies to earn and actively maintain the college’s three accreditations.

Lastly, in July Lipscomb appointed internationally recognized music educator, conductor and researcher Wendy K. Matthews as director of the School of Music. Matthews comes from Kent State University, where she served as associate dean of undergraduate programs and assessment.

Telling Tomorrow’s Stories

At Lipscomb, our academic programs stretch as far as we can imagine. That forward-thinking fueled the establishment of Imagine House, Lipscomb’s professional content production house, which provides students real-world experience on projects such as the feature-length films Sun Moon and SKETCH (shown here in a behind-the-scenes photo), the animated series Dead Sea Squirrels and the release of an album by River and Rail, while also bringing revenue and high-profile partnerships, such as with Angel Studios, to the university.

STUDENTS EMBARK ON A NEW JOURNEY THIS FALL

In August, Lipscomb University debuted its new purpose-driven general education curriculum, Journey: Lipscomb Core, ensuring that every student develops the skills, knowledge and spiritual grounding necessary for purposeful living in the 21st century.

Journey has been in the works since the 2022 launch of the university’s Lipscomb Impact 360 strategic plan.

This curriculum invites each and every student to embark on a transformative academic journey to Seek, Discover, Know and Flourish, with specific course milestones intended to enhance consistency in learning outcomes, shared learning experiences and strong community among engaged learners.

Drawing on a strong body of research, the new core curriculum was crafted to connect the core skills society has considered essential for millennia to the modern day, highly valued preparation for vocations. It is also designed to dovetail with the spiritual and life discovery activities of the Center for Vocational Discovery and the Office of Student Life’s First Year Experience programming.

Journey: Lipscomb Core takes each Lipscomb undergraduate student through a 10-step path studded with four signpost courses: a first year seminar called Compass, two courses in communication and writing called POWERS and a capstone course called Virtue, Flourishing and Vocation.

Compass, the required freshman seminar, includes four common assignments for all students in every section of the course exploring the questions: who am I, what is truth, what is a good life and who am I becoming?

The two POWERS courses, which serve as Lipscomb’s Quality Enhancement Plan for renewed accreditation*, develop students’ writing and communication skills through both classical and digital approaches, requiring them to transform one idea across three different communication modalities.

A newly developed capstone course, Virtue, Flourishing and Vocation, nurtures students to demonstrate the depth of their learning and to integrate new insights into studies for their particular major.

*Lipscomb is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

UNIVERSITY HONORS

9 years on the Phi Theta Kappa Transfer Honor Roll

PROGRAM HONORS

BEST UNDERGRAD BUSINESS SCHOOLS 2025 (9TH CONSECUTIVE YEAR)

ONE OF

“America’s Best Colleges” ACCORDING TO FORBES

13 Years

RECOGNIZED AS ONE OF THE MOST EFFECTIVE TEACHER PREPARATION PROGRAMS IN TENNESSEE BY THE 2024 TEACHER PREPARATION REPORT CARD #13 Niche.com best Christian Colleges in America

NICHE.COM TOP 5 IN THE STATE 10 U.S. NEWS AND WORLD REPORTS RANKINGS IN:

• BUSINESS

• ACCOUNTING

• ATHLETICS

• FOR STUDENT ATHLETES

• EDUCATION

• ENGLISH

• COMMUNICATION

ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

• BEST NATIONAL UNIVERSITIES (CLIMBED 22 SPOTS)

• TOP PERFORMERS ON SOCIAL MOBILITY (CLIMBED 50 SPOTS)

• BUSINESS SCHOOLS

• PART-TIME MBA

• ENGINEERING (CLIMBED NINE SPOTS)

• EDUCATION GRADUATE

• NURSING

• PHARMACY

• HEALTH CARE MANAGEMENT

• PHYSICIAN ASSISTANT

$2.01 m Research expenditures 2024-25 94% Physician Assistant students’ first-time pass rate on the licensing exam 90%

94% Pharmacy Residency Placement Rate (National Average: 80%)

Student-athletes who earned a 3.0 GPA or higher in 2024-25 (First time in program history!) in the top 50 Poets&Quants for Undergrads

fueling tomorrow through... GRADUATES EQUIPPED

FOR PURPOSEFUL LIVES

“We aim to foster holistic growth through prioritizing whole-person flourishing—mind, body, and spirit—through an innovative approach emphasizing spiritual formation, belonging, mental and physical wellbeing, and cultivating curiosity about gifts, purpose and calling.”

— BRIAN MAST, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT AFFAIRS

Preparing leaders who succeed in tomorrow’s workplace means providing a consistent, relevant, engaging experience for the students of today, and that takes a lot more than rigorous academic programs.

The Office of Student Life’s student success model came into its own this past year with advancements in student wellbeing, student engagement and enhanced ability to measure students’ thriving in their first year of college.

Each fall, students take the Student Satisfaction Survey, scoring Lipscomb on how well it meets their expectations. In fall 2024, students indicated they were more satisfied with a host of the factors. Highlights included improvement in academic advising, seeking and finding information on campus, the presence of school spirit through athletic programs, residence hall regulations, student activities and how well their student fees are used.

The Office of Student Life has also made headway in grounding its activities, policies and future plans in hard data on students’ preferences, needs and growth (see page 21).

In 2025 a new stoplight assessment, an evaluation tool that uses red, yellow and green to represent levels of progress, was administered to the freshman class to determine their levels of thriving at the semester’s sixweek mark and at the end of the semester. The Thriving Quotient™, developed by Laurie Schreiner, professor at Azusa Pacific University, was used to measure students’ thriving in categories such as engaged learning, diverse

citizenship, social connection, positive perspective and academic determination.

Throughout the school year, student evaluations are now requested after all student events and attendance numbers recorded, an annual spirituality survey is now in place and a new Healthy Minds survey was administered in January, the second time it has been taken since 2022. The number of Lipscomb students who consider themselves to be flourishing, beat the reported national sample of college students by 9 percentage points.

The Office of Student Engagement saw advancement this year with an uptick in the numbers of both students participating in Singarama and ticket sales for the show. The number of student touchpoints in Campus Recreation, which includes the Student Activities Center (SAC), Intramurals and Group Fitness classes, topped the 20232024 school year by about 5,000.

That may be due to the enhanced Intramural field, which has been re-sodded and fenced to keep it in better shape throughout the year; two new clubs in volleyball and soccer; and new equipment in the SAC, including six new treadmills and a barbell weight machine. A new Stairmaster™ and new Smith machine were donated by the Student Government Association.

Strategic efforts to raise the perception and esteem of Lipscomb’s Greek Life have paid off with membership climbing back to pre-pandemic participation levels with 151 new members initiated in spring 2025. Inactive clubs

Thriving Today, Flourishing Tomorrow

In 2025 Student Life fully implemented Lipscomb’s First Year Experience, a program designed to provide freshmen a seamless experience from the moment potential students put down their admission deposit to the end of their first year of studies. Through a combination of partnerships with key university departments, orientation events, 14 workshops on thriving, a revamped freshman seminar course and frequent communications with students, the First Year Experience instills in students the skills needed to successfully thrive in their freshman year.

Gamma Xi and Delta Sigma were resurrected in fall 2024, and Gamma Lambda, which was on the verge of becoming inactive, was rejuvenated in 2025 through targeted recruitment efforts.

In September, the office welcomed Candace Bass, the new dean of student engagement, bringing experience as director of residence life at Oklahoma Christian University for eight years and as youth program director at North City Church of Christ in St. Louis.

The Office of Student Success and Wellbeing cemented itself as a single, centralized location for all of students’ social, emotional, physical and spiritual needs in 2024-25.

In addition to the existing Hygiene Locker, providing free hygiene supplies for any student in need, the fall semester saw the establishment of the Nourish Nook, funded by a generous donor.

The nook is a pantry of free, easy-on-the-go snacks for commuter students experiencing financial hardship or food insecurity.

Lipscomb’s partnership with Sodexo grew in the Swipe Out Hunger program, providing 124 students with free meals in the dining hall.

Plans are also in the works to use funds donated by the Parent Alumni Council to buy Lyft gift cards for students who experience transportation insecurity.

Finally, the office received a grant to carry out an evaluation needed to become a JED Foundation campus. The JED Foundation works directly with colleges to put systems, programs, and policies in place to create a culture of caring that protects student mental health and prevents suicide. page 18 continued...

STUDENT SUCCESS AND WELLBEING Greek Life Campus Recreation Intramurals NEW RECORD! 661 2,403 896

Students served by student care services

490 $49,000

Students supported through the C.A.R.E. Team

Provided to students to meet needs and promote retention

300 $8,750

Awarded through the Student Care Emergency Fund First Year Experience Events Held

23

Individual Student Academic Honors

American Pharmacists Association-Academy of Student Pharmacists

National Chapter of the Year

National winner in the Operation Heart and Operation Reproductive Health competitions

American Society of Civil Engineers National Student Championships

Concrete Canoe Team, placed in the top ten in Women’s Sprint, Men’s Sprint and Co-Ed Sprint

Alex Aylor-Ibarra, Jackson Stephens (BS ’25), Alisa Rowell, Josh Brake (BS ’25), Joelle Noble (BS ’25), Bryan Beasley, Reece Boyd, Anthony Buckland and Alexa Cady

10th annual Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry

Preston LeMacks, Song of the Year in the pop/contemporary/dance category, winner for his song “Tell Him about Me”

Texas Christian University Neeley School of Business Values and Ventures® Competition

Kendal Matas (BBA ’25) and Natalie Blickensderfer, second place, $25,000 Fourth year in a row with a Lipscomb student placing in the top ten.

Tribeca Festival

Avery Kroll (MFA ’25), Best Animated Short, nomination for her film The Piano

Excellence in Pharmacy Award from the United States Public Health Service

Chelsey Sparks, Pharm.D. Candidate, one of only 89 pharmacy students nationwide

God and Nature online magazine

Lily Robinette, essay selected for publication

Poets&Quants for Undergrads

Best & Brightest Business Majors

Natalie Blickensderfer, one of 100 nationwide

National Collegiate Honors Council Conference

Audrey Birdwell (BA ’25), second place poster on “Elucidating the Effect of Carnitine-Dependent Fat Metabolism

Inhibition in Breast Cancer Cell Migration.”

National Conference on Undergraduate Research

Inaugural Presenters: Josh Asselin (BS ’25), Arlo Colvard, Gabriella Longoria, Audrey Birdwell (BA ’25), Jackson Head, Morgan Martin, Jafer Aljorani, Maryam Gerges (BS ’25), Vivi Radiro, Kaitlyn Sneed (BS ’25)

Southeast Journalism Conference

Best of the South Awards

The Bison, second place, Best Radio Station

Sports Journalism Institute

Alaina Morris, one of 16 students selected nationwide to attend program

Supporting Tomorrow’s Special-Needs Students

In her Communication Law and Ethics course, senior Lorelai Kline used AI tools to create educational bots, such as tutor bots for communication law and Spanish. She went on to develop a bot named “Morgan,” an AI companion designed to assist her friend Hannah in navigating epilepsy, autism and social situations. “Morgan” explains social constructs through Hannah’s special interests, recognizes warning signs of epileptic seizures, provides step-by-step guidance during medical events and offers biblical analogies to clarify complex concepts.

Individual Student Athletic Honors

ASUN Freshman of the Year

Dan Karsten, Men’s Soccer

Giovanni Ciocca, Men’s Tennis

ASUN Players of the Year

Kiara Pralle Locklear (BS ’24), Women’s Soccer

Jacob Ognacevic (BBA ’24), Men’s Basketball

ASUN Most Outstanding Track Performers

Braeden Ofosu-Kwarteng, Track & Field (Indoor)

Colbi Borland (BS ’24), Track and Field (Indoor)

ASUN Most Outstanding Field Performer

Justin Davis, Track & Field (Outdoor)

ASUN Scholar

Athletes of the Year

Jason Leasure, Men’s Golf

Levi Streeval, Track and Field (Outdoor)

Mackenzie Barnett (BS ’25), Cross Country

Sofia Paladi, Women’s Tennis

Jacob Ognacevic (BBA ’24), Men’s Basketball

U.S. Women’s National Team Open Program

Sophia Hudepohl, Courtney Jones and Berkley Mischler, Volleyball

Recruited to the Haitian National Football Team

Kaïna Cesar, Women’s Soccer

DI-Athletics Directors

Association Scholar Athletes

Bella Vinson, Women’s Basketball

Will Pruitt (BBA ’24), Men’s Basketball

Jacob Ognacevic (BBA ’24), Men’s Basketball

2025 Preseason All-ASUN

Charlie Williams, Men’s Basketball

Molly Heard, Women’s Basketball

Courtney Jones, Volleyball

Sophia Hudepohl, Volleyball

Bella Carapazza, Women’s Soccer

Bekah Doolittle, Women’s Soccer

University and Staff Athletic Honors

ASUN Coaches of the Year

Lennie Acuff, Men’s Basketball

Nick Polk, Women’s Cross Country

Awarded in both 2024 and 2025 seasons

400th win at Lipscomb

Brandon Rosenthal, Volleyball

Also all-time winningest active volleyball coach in the ASUN

500th win at Lipscomb

Jeff Forehand, Baseball

Also inducted into the Tennessee Baseball Coaches Association 2025 Hall of Fame

Berkley Mischler

MAKING HISTORY ON A NATIONAL SCALE

“Our department’s mission statement—Highest Level, Higher Calling—underscores our dual dedication to achieving top athletic performance while focusing on a spirit of a deeper purpose—our faith.”

— PHILIP HUTCHESON, ATHLETIC DIRECTOR

This year has been a year of record-breaking success as student athletes faced off with the nation’s best both on the road, competing nationally in the NCAA, and here at home with historic competitions in our own Allen Arena.

The women’s cross country team claimed the 2024 and 2025 ASUN Women’s Cross Country crowns, marking its third and fourth consecutive titles. The team ended both seasons at the NCAA National Cross Country Championships, marking their second and third NCAA consecutive appearances. In 2024, the Bisons finished 23rd in the nation at the NCAA championships. The men’s cross country team placed seventh out of 26 teams at the NCAA Regionals in Tallahassee.

The women’s soccer team brought home its fourth ASUN Championship trophy and a ticket to its fourth appearance since 2021 in the NCAA National Tournament, also in fall 2024. In the tournament, the Bisons played Vanderbilt University in Nashville, and several players earned postseason honors.

These accomplishments in the fall paved the way for two particularly historic accomplishments in spring 2025, as the men’s basketball team made their second appearance in the national NCAA tournament and the women’s basketball team enjoyed several historic firsts in its 2025 season.

The men’s team was the pre-season favorite to win the ASUN conference and No. 24 in the College Insider midmajor preseason ranking. They finished the regular season with a 14-4 conference record and earned 20 wins on the season for the third consecutive year.

The road to the NCAA tourney began by securing the ASUN conference tournament championship. Inside a packed Allen Arena, Lipscomb, the No. 1 seed, defeated No. 2 seed North Alabama 76-65 to earn an automatic bid to the NCAA.

The season ended with the appointment of a new head coach, Kevin Carroll, a coaching veteran known for transforming basketball programs and a former assistant coach for the Bisons from 2019 to 2023. A native of Wildwood, Georgia, Carroll has more than 25 years of coaching experience, and as assistant coach for the Bisons, Carroll helped recruit and develop multiple allconference players.

The women’s team enjoyed its second 20-win season, its best win-loss record in the DI-era and their second trip to the ASUN tournament semifinals. The team also scored the program’s first bid to the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT), making the postseason for the first time in 20 years.

Under the leadership of sixth-year Head Coach Lauren Sumski, the team rewrote the program record books this season, setting new highs in scoring average, field goal percentage, three-pointers made and three-point attempts.

At the start of the fall semester, Lipscomb volleyball faced a national No. 1 team, a first for the university, and they were able to do so in front of a near capacity crowd inside Allen Arena. The University of Nebraska, ranked No. 1 in the preseason American Volleyball Coaches Poll, and they played Lipscomb this past September in the Lipscomb University Volleyball Invitational. Attendance for the game was 4,235, setting a new volleyball record in Allen Arena.

Today’s Teams, Tomorrow’s Leaders

In addition to excellence on the field, each day Lipscomb student athletes, like these members of the men’s basketball team celebrating their 2025 ASUN Championship, reach toward a higher calling. They strive in their academics, with more than 90% of all Bison student-athletes earning a 3.0 GPA or higher in 2024-25; in their spiritual lives, with 15 baptisms and 6 mission trips taking place since fall 2024; and in their leadership abilities, in the Athletics Leadership Summit, where 15 student-athletes welcome the challenge of leadership in every facet of their lives.

EMBEDDING FAITH WITHIN STUDENTS’ SELF-DISCOVERY

“We aim to foster a community where students can grow personally through spiritual formation in unexpected ways. We offer spaces to encounter Jesus, not as a distant historical figure, but as a present companion.”

— JOSEPH MANKIN, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF SPIRITUAL FORMATION & CAMPUS MINISTER

Thematic topics and engaging chapel speakers, campuswide service, spiritual retreats, student-led worship and variety in breakout chapels continue to spark spiritual growth among Lipscomb’s student body. This past year brought a new leader for spiritual formation and a new formula for embedding self-discovery in students’ first year on campus.

In July, Joseph Mankin (BA ’04), formerly youth minister at Hillsboro Church of Christ in Nashville since 2006, was appointed as associate dean of spiritual formation and campus minister, providing vision and strategy for the university’s chapel program, coordinating spiritual life efforts across campus and offering pastoral care and spiritual support to students.

Mankin brings more than two decades of experience in student ministry to the role, and is working to continue to build a relevant and resilient campus focused on spiritual hospitality for students, offering welcoming, safe and open spaces where students feel loved, valued and connected while embracing God’s love and care.

In addition, Jordan McDonald, formerly director of spiritual formation, has been promoted to assistant dean of spiritual formation. Over the past year, McDonald has sparked positive student feedback on The Gathering, Lipscomb’s weekly undergraduate chapel service in Allen Arena, with semester-long themes, speakers students

know and love, and performances by student ensembles. In addition, students this fall chose from 37 breakout chapel options, including studies categorized by major, demographics and varying topics.

Three student interns in the Office of Spiritual Formation are key each year in planning monthly student worship nights, worship during The Gathering, breakout chapel options and special events such as Holy Week at Easter.

In fall 2025, the Center for Vocational Development (CVD) held a breakout chapel on the topic of identity, and the Office of Student Success and Wellbeing held a breakout chapel on various wellbeing topics. In addition, the CVD began administering its annual Clifton Strengths® assessment in the revamped freshman seminar, Compass which debuted this fall, resulting in 96% of freshmen taking the assessment, which helps individuals identify their top strengths and talents.

The center developed an AI bot to help students understand how their CliftonStrengths align with their academic journey, developed a podcast in collaboration with the Career Development Center and is offering more than 40 workshops this fall to help students develop their understanding of their identity in Christ, discover their God-given purpose, discern their vocational calling and design a pathway to engage their faith in their career.

Meet Tomorrow’s Needs Today

Lipscomb University already lives out its core value of serving others through at least two campuswide service opportunities each year, such as freshmen service during QuestWeek (pictured here). This fall the university took a big step toward enhancing service opportunities for individual students by establishing a new Service Office within the university’s Office of Spiritual Formation, to be a service hub for both university and Lipscomb Academy students.

fueling tomorrow through...COMMUNITY

“At Lipscomb, innovation isn’t just our goal—it’s our commitment. We’re dedicated to finding fresh ways to engage our alumni, parents and friends as essential partners in our mission. Every dollar given is a direct investment in transforming students’ lives and empowering them to shape a better tomorrow.”

— S. KEITH HINKLE, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVANCEMENT

The mark of a strong community is individual engagement, and 2025 set a high bar of active engagement for the future. From special events for Lipscomb fans to special recognition of successful alumni, the Lipscomb community came together to celebrate.

Many of the region’s sports fans are also some of Lipscomb’s biggest fans, and they came out in droves in 2024-25 for annual and special events involving Nashville’s favorite competitions.

More than 500 alumni turned out for the Battle of the Boulevard block party on campus in fall 2024, celebrating the night that Lipscomb’s men’s basketball team plays local rival Belmont University. Their passion continued into March, when more than 300 alumni traveled to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to enjoy a pre-game party and to watch the Bisons compete in their second appearance in the NCAA National Tournament (see page 24). Finally in September, volleyball team alumnae turned out in force at a reunion to see today’s team face University of Nebraska, ranked No. 1 in the nation.

On top of that, Nashville alumni continued to enjoy Lipscomb Night at the Preds and Lipscomb Night at the Sounds, as well as six alumni groups gathering for Bison basketball games in the presidential suite in Allen Arena.

Tomorrow’s community is built on the relationships formed today, and there’s no better place to build relationships than the annual engagement events for alumni and

parents. With 51 events to choose from, more than 5,500 alumni chose to join the Bison Herd at one of Lipscomb’s 2025 alumni engagement events, the most in recent memory. The school year’s events included Lipscomb Night at Boo at the Zoo, a special Lipscomb Day at alumniowned Walden Farms in Smyrna and the on-campus Senior Send-off, which drew 400 new alums to celebrate their graduation. The annual Bisons Weekend was packed full of events and activities to bring alumni and the campus community closer together. With performances, reunions, a parade, guest lectures and the fun Bison Square Fair, the event has steadily grown in popularity over the past few years, with a 20% jump in attendance in 2023 and a 37% jump in 2024, drawing more than 2,300 people.

The Parent Leadership Council continued to lead the way in university involvement by helping to host Summer Send-Offs for new Lipscomb Bisons and their families. Send-Offs grew in number to 11 this year, adding six new locations across the nation from Texas to Cincinnati. From hosting interest receptions to serving on panels at admissions days, from manning a welcome tent on move-in day to greeting alumni at Bisons Weekend, the members of the parents council are bringing and sharing their enthusiasm for the Lipscomb community.

In 2025, Alumni Relations and the Black Alumni Council worked with the Nashville Christian Institute (NCI) Alumni Association to bring a long-sought project to fruition: placing a historical marker at the original site of NCI in Nashville as well as a replica plaque placed on Lipscomb’s

campus. Founded in 1940, NCI was a primarily African American school for students in the Church of Christ tradition, operated during a time of deep racial segregation. Lipscomb came to own the school and then later closed in the 1960s.

In addition, Lipscomb held special gatherings to celebrate specific accomplishments of two successful members of the Herd: David Sampson (BA ’78), former deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce in the George W. Bush administration, was selected for the Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities Association 2024 Hall of Fame; and Michael Shane Neal (BA ’91), was honored upon the official acceptance of his portrait of iconic civil rights attorney Fred D. Gray into the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery’s in Washington D.C.

participated in the 2025 Clevenger Pitch Competition.

INVESTING TODAY FOR TOMORROW’S GROWTH

Building progress for tomorrow takes a great deal of investment today. This year Lipscomb’s supporters poured not only their financial investment into the university, but also their personal support for innovative programs designed to build stability and growth over time.

The cornerstone of funding for innovative new programming and new revenue sources is the Innovation and Start-up Fund, established this year to fuel programs and projects that do not currently have operational dollars but that show promise for additional revenue, such as a new state-of-theart LED Volume Wall on (see page 9).

In addition, contributors in 2025 donated millions of dollars toward programs to nurture innovation in areas from teaching to a real-world business pitch competition, from one-onone laboratory research experiences to career exploration programs at Lipscomb Academy middle and high schools.

Lipscomb’s five Faculty Excellence Awards were expanded in 2025 with the awarding of the Clevenger Family Endowed Faculty Excellence Award in Theology and Ministry funded by Ernie Clevenger, a Lipscomb trustee, and his wife Arjaree. In 2026, the university plans to award a new Innovation in Teaching Award, funded by the Innovation and Start-up Fund.

The Clevengers also funded the continuation of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation’s highly successful business pitch competition that gives students experience pitching for real-world businesspeople and investors. The now-Clevenger Pitch Competition has helped mold various young entrepreneurs who have gone on to national competitions to win investment capital for their innovative ideas.

Terry and Carolyn Hamby helped fund new nursingfocused programming in the academy’s Paths to Distinction program, a creative university and academy collaboration to bring career-focused experiential learning to students from 5th grade through high school, including hearing from industry experts, dual enrollment courses, opportunities to do industry networking, on-site experiences and hands-on opportunities.

Student access and opportunities were also top of mind for university contributors in 2025, with major gifts for first generation students, to student wellbeing projects, to expand access to research opportunities, to fund capital projects at the academy and to enhance student scholarships.

Lipscomb received a $1 million gift from Joe and Mary Slawek to establish the Slawek Family Opportunity Scholarship Fund, providing four years of scholarship support to students who have demonstrated a strong potential for success, with a preference given to first-generation college students, among others. Recipients benefit from additional resources including academic success coaching, mentoring and tutoring.

In an effort to enhance students’ wellbeing, the Parent Leadership Council created the Parent Impact Fund to provide immediate resources to directly benefit students, including academic support, emergency assistance, financial aid, mental health services and enhanced campus experiences. In 2025 the fund established the Nourish Nook, offering grab-and-go snacks for commuter students (see page 20) and donated to the campuswide service project carried out during Beautiful Day.

Raye Mitchell (LA ’81, BS ’85), a Lipscomb trustee, and his wife Elise, founded the Mitchell Family Endowed Scholarship, funding summer research opportunities for a selected health science student each summer, through the J.S. Ward Society, a Lipscomb alumni affinity group for health care providers.

Building on the success of Lipscomb’s J.S. Ward Society, an alumni and donor affinity group focused on aiding students targeting health science careers, the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences has established an equivalent group to aid students headed for careers in the humanities. The John Parker Humanities Society leverages alumni and donor relationships to nurture academic and spiritual growth for students in English, history and philosophy by offering resources for research, mentorship and personal development.

Alumni have already interacted with students through the Be a Light in the Humanities initiative, established in 2024 to engage humanities students directly through a classroom presentation. Those activities will continue through the Parker Society and expand over time to include a summer research program, a mentoring program and a Heroes of the Humanities Awards Banquet.

$3.1 m Raised nearly 4,700 Donors Participated 4 th Record-Breaking Year $135 m Total Endowment 856

1, 2024Aug. 31, 2025)

One Lipscomb WE MUST BE TO THRIVE IN THE FUTURE

The 2025-26 school year is a milestone for myself and our university as a whole.

When students cross the stage to receive their diploma in May 2026, I will be concluding my fifth school year as Lipscomb’s president, and the university will be bringing to a close the Lipscomb Impact 360 strategic plan, an initiative to develop one mission, one set of core values and one set of goals crafted to work within that mission to fulfill one vision.

Many of the goals within that strategic plan were achieved. You have read about the fruit of those tactics in this report. Some of our ambitious dreams still require work and commitment, and some of our vision for Lipscomb has been impacted by the uncertain, ever-changing times we live in today.

As humans, we don’t tend to like constant change, but as Christians we can see hope in the fact that God created change. He embedded it in our world and He even calls for it in Romans 12:2: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

That is one reason why the world needs Lipscomb now more than ever. Despite the world’s ambiguity, we know how the story ends. So we can see opportunity in conflict. We can innovate without fear. We can nurture effective leadership. We can be people of character. We can lead with hope.

Throughout this milestone school year, we are deepening our vision of the future and looking to what comes next to develop a new strategic plan stretching through 2030 We are asking ourselves and our community: What does the world deeply need from Lipscomb, and in turn, what do we desire for her future?

We desire Lipscomb to be the place that equips learners to grow in wisdom, serve with purpose and lead with hope today, tomorrow, and throughout their lives. We desire Lipscomb to be the community that is at the forefront of innovation, is a beacon of leadership and consistently provides what our learners need even before they know they need it.

This visioning process will involve surveys of the entire Lipscomb community, focus groups involving alumni, community members and employers as well as the on-campus community, a team to assess strengths and weaknesses and a steering committee pulled from the entire university population. In short, the vision for Lipscomb’s future will be crafted by the entire team, because Lipscomb is, in fact, one team.

Lipscomb is not a “multi-versity.” We are a uni-versity, with a common vision and mission, and you too, are part of that team. When we all find ourselves absorbed into the work of Jesus in this world, we become more than the sum of our particular skills. We become something more.

Likewise, when you further the work of Jesus through Lipscomb by volunteering time and effort to interact with our students, giving of your financial resources, serving on advisory boards or the Parents Council, furthering innovative new initiatives or simply taking the time to meet your fellow alumni at annual events and gatherings, you too become something more. You become part of one Lipscomb team.

We must be One Lipscomb to thrive in the future. We must work as one to have greater impact, more efficiencies and deeper value in our community. When we work as one, we eliminate silos that are present in the very DNA of higher education. When we work as one, we care less about who gets the credit and more about supporting each other.

That is how, as one team, working and visioning together, we can fuel tomorrow today

Blessings,

Dr. Candice McQueen (BS ’96) Lipscomb University President

VISION

Anchored in our Christ-centered mission, Lipscomb University will lead as a top-tier, nationally recognized institution. We will excel in teaching, learning and research; be ambitious in our service to others; and be driven by continuous improvement.

MISSION

We are a Christ-centered community preparing learners for purposeful lives through rigorous academics and transformative experiences.

OUR CORE TENETS

We are a community engaged with the life and teachings of Jesus. We are committed to an ongoing search for truth. We provide excellent, whole-person learning experiences to shape lives of character, leadership, service and faith. We equip people to succeed in their vocation and contribute to the common good by living out their faith in action.

Candice McQueen Preside nt

Lindsay Bales Chief of Staff

Jeff Baughn Senior Vice President of Finance and Technology

Kim Chaudoin Vice P resident of Communications and Marketi ng

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP

Jerold Givens Chief Revenue Off ic er

Keith Hinkle Senior Vice President of Adva ncement

Byron Lewis V ice President of Enrollment Mana gem ent

Todd McCullough C hief I nnovation Officer

Hope Nordstrom Spe cial Counsel to the President for Strat egy

Brian Mast Senior Vice President for Student Affairs

Jennifer Shewmaker Provost

Brad Schultz Lipscomb Academy Head of School

William Turner Special Counsel to the President

David Wilson General Counsel