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In this role, Spaulding will be a part of MVNU’s senior leadership team and a member of the president’s cabinet. “I'm looking forward to working alongside Dr. Spaulding as he assumes this vital leadership role,” said MVNU President Dr. Daniel Martin. “He is a gifted professor, highly respected scholar and experienced administrator. His commitment to academic excellence will enhance current academic programs while ensuring higher levels of significance and impact in the future.”

Responsibilities
The CAO is responsible to the president for all undergraduate and graduate operations related to curriculum, recruitment of faculty, instructional programs, educational policy, development of innovative and effective pedagogical methodologies and skills, operational and strategic planning for the academic enterprise, and academic resources. Spaulding will work to ensure the continued accreditation of the University’s programs and serves a primary role in the accreditation relationship with the Higher Learning Commission and other accrediting agencies.

From the Search Committee
Dr. Jeanne Serrão summarized the thoughts of the search committee, “Dr. Spaulding is a godly man and a proven leader in Nazarene higher education, who knows what faculty need and will be a strong advocate for faculty and quality education. He shares the vision of President Martin that MVNU would become a premier university and understands that academic decisions must be mission-driven. We look forward to working with him as MVNU moves ahead into a new era.”

A Word from Spaulding
“I am most excited about the opportunity to join others at MVNU in the task of the intellectual and spiritual formation of the next generation of reflective Christians for the Church and the world,” said Spaulding. “John Wesley was fond of saying that the world was his parish. It is with this in mind that I will endeavor to lead a dynamic and resource-rich faculty toward a Wesleyan-Holiness vision of higher education.”

Spaulding's Bio
Before coming to NTS, Spaulding was the dean of arts and sciences and professor of theology and philosophy at Trevecca Nazarene University in Tennessee. He also served as the director of the graduate program in religion while at Trevecca. Before coming to Trevecca in 1995, Spaulding was senior pastor of the First Church of the Nazarene in Woodbridge, Va. He was professor of religion at Eastern Nazarene College (ENC) in Massachusetts from 1982-92. Before coming to ENC, he served as senior pastor at First Church of the Nazarene in Thomasville, Ga.

Spaulding holds a B.A. in religion and history from Trevecca in 1974, an M.Div. from Nazarene Theological Seminary in 1977 and a Ph.D. in religion studies/humanities from Florida State University in 1982.

He has written a book as well as several articles for Holiness Today, Come Ye Apart and Illustrated Life. He contributed to the Wesley Study Bible and is active with the Wesleyan Theological Society where he has published several scholarly articles and book reviews. He served as the chairperson of the Commission on the Doctrine of the Church of the Nazarene for the 1989 General Assembly.

Spaulding is married to Sharon, a second-grade teacher. They have three children: Shelly (31), Megan (23) and Hank (21).

About MVNU
Mount Vernon Nazarene University is a private, four-year, intentionally Christian teaching university for traditional age students, graduate students and working adults. U.S. News & World Report ranks MVNU in the top 50 Best in the Midwest (Baccalaureate) institutions for the fifth year in a row. With a 400-acre main campus in Mount Vernon, Ohio, and eight additional satellite Adult and Graduate Studies sites throughout the state, MVNU emphasizes academic excellence, spiritual growth and service to community and church. MVNU offers an affordable education to more than 2,500 students from 25 states and six countries/U.S. territories.