乌鸦传媒 and its legacy partners strongly believe theological education is something that must happen in community and that the community in which it happens has a profound formational impact on students. As a result, when working with Legacy Partners the university makes a commitment to honor the history, heritage, and identity of each Legacy Partner. The stakeholders, local communities of faith, students, faculty, and administrators of each Legacy Partner have faithfully pursued their respective missions, and 乌鸦传媒 is committed to honoring that work.
While honoring the past, the university and its Legacy Partners are also embracing a future wherein students from around the world can access a wider array of expertise, theological traditions, and unique learning experiences 鈥 all while adhering to our shared desire to provide a system of theological education that is affordable, accessible, relevant, and faithful.
To achieve this goal, each Legacy Partner enters into a teach-out agreement with 乌鸦传媒 wherein each partner commits to formally close its accredited degree programs and invite 乌鸦传媒 to receive its students. For its part, 乌鸦传媒 pledges to honor each Legacy Partner name and identity as a unique brand (鈥渄ba鈥) of the university.
Teach-out plans developed by each Legacy Partner provide a pathway for both existing and new students.
鈥⒙New students聽(i.e. students who contact a Legacy Partner after it has entered into the teach-out agreement with 乌鸦传媒) are enrolled directly into compatible academic programs within 乌鸦传媒 and complete their entire degree on that platform. New students are enrolled as 乌鸦传媒 (i.e. Kairos) students. Because Kairos has pledged to honor the history, heritage, and brand of each Legacy Partner, students with a connection to a legacy partner may continue to feel a connection to the historic brand of the Legacy Partner. In some ways, this is like a student in The Wharton School seeing herself as both a student of Wharton and a student of Pennsylvania University.
鈥⒙Existing students聽in each Legacy Partner are given the opportunity to complete the degree into which each matriculated provided they do so in the agreed upon teach-out window. During this time, they are able to utilize coursework from any of the partnering institutions in the Kairos Network to satisfy degree requirements, thereby gaining access to a wider array or expertise, theological traditions, and unique learning experiences.
鈥⒙Existing students in each Legacy Partner who will not be able to complete their degrees within the teach-out window may transfer, at any point, to 乌鸦传媒 (i.e. Kairos) to finish their degrees in a comparable academic program, with full credit being given for work completed through the Legacy Partner.
All students聽are fully advised of their options, both at the beginning of this process and throughout, and are supported in pursuing them.
Core faculty members of each Legacy Partner (that is, those with annual contracts) continue to serve students and programs of the Legacy Partner through the teach-out period.
When the teach-out period for each Legacy Partner is concluded, its core faculty, in most cases, are invited to continue their service as Kairos faculty, albeit with an ongoing recognition of聽 their Legacy Partner connection and market region. Through this network approach, the faculty of 乌鸦传媒 becomes a larger, more diverse, and more widely-credentialed network of faculty. See a list of Kairos network faculty by clicking here.
In most cases, 乌鸦传媒 offers academic programs comparable to or compatible with those of the Legacy Partner. However, it does not usually carry the same expertise or rich traditions as the Legacy Partner. In order to serve students well while also ensuring an ongoing commitment to the Legacy Partner鈥檚 expertise and tradition, 乌鸦传媒 works with each Legacy Partner鈥檚 academic offerings in two ways: 1) expertise and tradition integration or 2) new program development.
In cases where 乌鸦传媒 already provides degree programs offered by a Legacy Partner (e.g. Master of Divinity), students from a Legacy Partner can be easily and immediately transferred into the equivalent programs at 乌鸦传媒. In practice, this means that the 乌鸦传媒 program becomes the only accredited program of that type (thereby reducing cost and making things more affordable for students).
At the same time, however, the expertise, tradition, and unique passions imbued in the Legacy Partner鈥檚 program are integrated into the comparable or compatible program offered by 乌鸦传媒. In this way, students across the network gain access to enhanced opportunities for study and growth. For example, if a Legacy Partner has a strong tradition of biblical studies, those courses and learning experiences are integrated into the standing degree programs offered by 乌鸦传媒.
To reduce duplication of efforts, and therefore be better stewards of the resources entrusted to the network, the comparable academic programs of each Legacy Partner are discontinued by the conclusion of the teach-out period.
鈥 Non-degree and Graduate Certificates
Legacy Partners will expand the number of faculty and discipline expertise thereby providing more opportunities for all students. In particular, non-degree certificates in spiritual formation and spiritual direction will be greatly enhanced.
鈥 Bachelor of Arts in Christian Thought and Practice
Legacy Partners will expand the number of faculty and discipline expertise thereby providing more opportunities for all students. In particular, BLI School of Ministry will apply its experience with undergraduate students to bolster the undergraduate programs at 乌鸦传媒.
鈥 Master of Arts
Legacy Partners will expand the number of faculty and discipline expertise thereby providing more opportunities for all students. In particular, new options for Wesleyan theology, leadership, spiritual formation and direction, restorative theology, archeology, and biblical studies will be more readily available.
鈥 Master of Divinity
Legacy Partners will expand the number of faculty and discipline expertise thereby providing more opportunities for all students. The increased expertise offered here will match that of the MA program.
鈥 Doctor of Ministry
Legacy Partners will expand the number of faculty and discipline expertise thereby providing more opportunities for all students. The increased expertise offered here will match that of the MA program.
鈥 Master of Arts in Counseling
Legacy Partners will expand the number of faculty and discipline expertise.
In some cases when 乌鸦传媒 does not have a comparable degree program, 乌鸦传媒 seek approval for that degree program under its own accreditation and control thereby making it possible to continue a unique Legacy Partner offering. In other cases, it may mean significantly revamping an existing program rather than starting an entirely new program.
Here is a list of programs that originated with a Legacy Partner.
鈥aster of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy
Previously offered by Evangelical Seminary, this COAMFTE-approved program is now an approved program of 乌鸦传媒.
鈥octor of Theology
Previously offered by Evangelical Seminary and now an approved program of 乌鸦传媒.
鈥 Doctor of Professional Counseling
Previously offered by Houston Graduate School of Theology and now an approved program of 乌鸦传媒.
Because the original mission of each Legacy Partner continues to be supported in their respective regions and with their respective constituencies both during and following the teach-out period, alumni, donors, and other stakeholders of each Legacy Partner typically see little external change in the institution. The partner鈥檚 brand, key administrators, and faculty often remain after the teach-out period is concluded, which means 乌鸦传媒 can continue to contextualize learning for those regions and those constituencies.
The legal identity and accreditation of the institution will change, however, as each Legacy Partner will no longer be a stand-alone legal entity at the conclusion of the teach-out period (as permitted by law). While the partner鈥檚 brand, key administrators, mission, and faculty often remain unchanged, ownership and stewardship of each will become the responsibility of 乌鸦传媒.聽 Each Legacy Partner鈥檚 brand will be honored as a sub-brand within Kairos. In addition, in terms of accreditation, only the campus in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, will carry a 鈥渟ite鈥 designation.
Through these missional approaches to theological education, students from Legacy Partner constituencies will be offered the opportunity to participate in an accredited, innovative learning experience that is more affordable, more accessible, more individualized, and simultaneously more global than what the Legacy Partner had been able to offer on its own.