“You are the vanguard of our graduate program,” Sam Isgett told the first class of North Greenville University‘s T. Walter Brashier Graduate School at the school’s opening Feb. 6.
First class – Reid Bowyer listens and takes notes on his laptop in one of the first classes offered at the T. Walter Brashier School of North Greenville University.Isgett, executive director and dean of the school, teaches foundations for Christian ministry and issues in professional ethics for a master of business administration program to begin in July. The school expects enrollment for the first term to reach about 60 for its first term at the Fairview campus in Greer.
“I wanted to be a part of this because I knew the kind of education I would get,” said Reid Bowyer, a student minister from Fairforest Baptist Church in Spartanburg. Bowyer, a 1996 graduate of North Greenville University, said he hoped to gain “practical experience and more ministry opportunities” from the program offering the master of Christian ministry degree.
Two other classes met Feb. 6 – pastoral care, taught by Ron Vaughan, pastor of Berea First Baptist Church in Greenville, and spiritual formation, led by Charles Morton, director of special projects at North Greenville.
Isgett said he is pleased with the calibre of students enrolled. “Our students exemplify the values of commitment and maturity for which we were hoping,” he said.
Greenville real estate developer Walter Brashier contributed $1 million to North Greenville to help launch the graduate school, which meets in facilities leased by Fairview Baptist Church, Greer.