First-ever webcast keeps online faculty connected to campus

Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. speaks at the first webcast meeting for Liberty University Online faculty members.

Liberty University held its first-ever webcast meeting on Wednesday for faculty members in its online program.

Liberty currently has more than 2,000 faculty members around the globe teaching courses with Liberty University Online. More than 1,200 logged in to Wednesday’s webcast – including faculty in Columbia, Germany and South Korea. They were joined by about 300 residential faculty who attended the event in Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center.

Faculty members were introduced to academic deans and had the chance to hear from Chancellor and President Jerry Falwell, Jr., Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Ron Godwin and Vice Provost Dr. Ron Hawkins.

A special video presentation surveying Liberty University’s academic life, athletics programs and spiritual activities was shown for the first time. (View the video here.)

In welcoming online faculty to the webcast, Godwin said the purpose was to help them connect “as real, true members of the Liberty University academic family.”

“We want their experience to be comparable in every way possible (to residential faculty),” he said. “We want this to be a global community of scholars and academics that are servicing a global population of Christ-centered students.”

Chancellor Falwell said he was proud of the growth of Liberty’s online program, which now has more than 70,000 students enrolled.

He gave updates on construction projects and Liberty’s financial outlook.

“We want you to learn more about Liberty, why we’re unique in our business plan … and our Christian mission, our main purpose and reason for existence,” he said.

Faculty were also given updates on the latest accreditation report, new online programs being offered, new digital library resources for online students, and ways in which they can be more actively involved in the academic process.

Hawkins ended the meeting by speaking on the spiritual integrity of Liberty’s academic programs and how faculty can play a large role in maintaining that.

The event was a collaboration of different departments and offices within the university, including Information Technology, Technical Productions and the offices of the Chancellor, Provost and Vice Provost. They worked in conjunction with Cisco, an external vendor.

Because of Wednesday’s success, the administration plans to hold online faculty meeting webcasts four times a year, twice during the fall semester and twice in the spring, with more interactive features.

Liberty University Online is the world’s largest, private, Christian, non-profit institution among online universities. Students can choose from more than 115 programs of study and earn associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees. For more information on Liberty University Online, go to www.luonline.com.