Assessing the Denominational Identity of American Evangelical Colleges and Universities, Part II: Faculty Perspectives and Practices

Abstract

This article presents results from Phase II of the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities (CCCU) Denominational Study, a multi-institutional examination of the state of denominational identity at evangelical Christian colleges, their faculty, and the students they serve. This phase of the study involved the administration of an online survey that was completed by 1,557 full-time faculty serving in 37 denominationally-affiliated evangelical Christian colleges. On the whole, faculty expressed a strong sense of affinity toward the sponsoring denominations of their respective institutions, though less than half attended a local congregation in the same denominational tradition. In addition, personal theological traditions were reported to influence faculty classroom practice on a number of dimensions. Faculty also perceived that college leaders and administrators placed a significant amount of importance on the denominational identities of their respective institutions, reporting that denominational identity was emphasized across many facets of institutional life, including campus ethos, curriculum, corporate worship, institutional governance, and public rhetoric. Finally, though respondents valued denominational identity in the faculty search process, a large majority expressed openness toward hiring colleagues from differing denominational traditions.