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by Joy Huff

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Faculty, Staff Resign in Unprecedented Numbers

Miriam Gibby has directed the music ministry major at Multnomah since 1994.
--Joy Huff, photo

Five of Multnomah's faculty and staff have submitted notice of their resignations. Dean Kelly Fried, Professor Miriam Gibby, and Mr. Lee Odell are resigning from positions in the college. The seminary will be losing Dr. Ron Frost and Dr. Barry Davis.

Meanwhile, the school is still looking at applicants to fill the educational ministries chairperson position Professor Steve Patty vacated at the beginning of the school year.

Dean Fried has directed student services since January 2006. Dr. Strickland said: "Fried told us at the beginning that he would not be here a long time. I felt we could convince him to stay longer, but I was not able to trump grandkids in Montana."

Dean Fried plans to open a counseling practice in Bozeman, Mont., fly fish, and market his youngest daughter's clothing line.

Professor Gibby became the interim music director in 1994 and was hired as the permanent chair in 1995. Her biggest motivation to resign was to have more family time, she said. "I have never not worked and [have always] been extremely busy, but I feel it is time to slow down and have time to spend with my parents, daughters and grandkids," she said.

In the fall, she plans to begin a Spanish course to better equip herself to help at the Mexican orphanage where her youngest daughter works.

Mr. Odell has been employed with MBC for 23 years. He began as the manager of the accounting department and has been in charge of MBC's phone system for the past 10 years. Mr. Odell will be turning 70 this year and is planning to help raise his 7-year-old grandson, Brennen.

Dr. Ron Frost originally taught at MBC from 1983 until 1992. Then, from 1995 until now, he taught history of theology and ethics at the seminary. He said the reason for his resignation is complex. He said that he felt that he was not able to teach holistically when students spend 50 minutes in one class, close their notebooks and move on to the next class.

"How do you teach a relationship in an academic setting?" Dr. Frost asked. He is exploring options to move into a church setting in which he feels he will be more able to teach a holistic approach than in a classroom setting.

Dr. Barry Davis, associate professor of Bible and Hebrew, has taught at the seminary since 1998. He declined to comment on the reason for his resignation. Dr. Donald Brake, seminary dean, said that Davis will be missed.

Dr. Brake said, "Davis has three gifts: communication, teaching, and business. He will probably fin

d a place where he can use all three of those gifts." The high number of resignations this year is an oddity for Multnomah. Dr. Brake said, "We haven't lost any of the seminary faculty in the last eight years."

Dr. Wayne Strickland, academic dean, echoed, "On the college level, we are pretty stable; we lose one faculty member every five years or so."

Both Dr. Brake and Dr. Strickland said that they prefer to have faculty members for long periods of time and desire to create an environment where people want to stay.

Search committees to find replacements are in place, and they have already begun reviewing applications.

Dr. Stickland said: "This is the first time in the 16 years I've been here that something like this has happened. There was a time when I would have panicked, but I realize now that God is sovereign, and He will come through. Please pray as we go through this time."

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