Welcome to my dissertation post.

Full access to the finished dissertation available here!!

Do you know what dissertation means? Google defines it as “a long essay on a particular subject.” Merriam (Webster) defines it as “an extended usually written treatment of a subject.” Cambridge says it is “a long piece of writing on a particular subject.”

How unsatisfying.

It is ironic to me, cruel even, that a word that sounds so important about an experience that is transformative for many is defined in such an ordinary way. But, I digress, and that’s not why you’re here.

Below you will find different pieces of information about the research I conducted for my long piece of writing. I also include a link to the PDF of the dissertation so you can read it if you are a masochist or suffer from insomnia. I’m here to serve.

The title of my dissertation is A HISTORICAL NARRATIVE AND STUDENT EXPERIENCE ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF EVANGEL UNIVERSITY.

The abstract to the research serves as a solid and brief introduction, so here it is:

In 1955 a private, Christian higher education institution began with a unique and distinct Pentecostal foundation. Part of the mission was to perpetuate the faith and belief systems of the Assemblies of God denomination. The institution was simultaneously attempting to sustain the denomination’s growth through the training of young people while also perpetuating the belief systems of the denomination. Interestingly, this denomination was largely apathetic, at best, and antagonistic, at worst, towards the idea of higher education. In spite of these attitudes, the founders were successful in starting the college, and success in graduating classes, achieving accreditation, and growing the programs quickly followed. This historical narrative attempts to share the journey of the first 25 years of the institution’s existence while also exploring how the university may or may not have perpetuated the Pentecostal belief systems through the students and alumni.

If you would rather not read the 57,978 words in the long piece of writing, here are a few graphs and charts that tell part of the story with a brief explanation beneath each one.

Given the context within which Evangel was founded, this is remarkable enrollment growth for the first 25 years. It is also remarkable that the first graduating class occurred four years after the school began. Often times, private schools would go several years before establishing a sustainable enrollment which included students who matriculated all the way to graduation.

It would make sense that as enrollment grew so did tuition income for a tuition-driven institution. The large increase towards the end of the first quarter century can be largely attributed to the founding of the football program in 1977.

Evangel was founded on the property of the O’Reilly General Hospital which was an army hospital which was deemed surplus and given to the Assemblies of God for the founding of Evangel at a 100% discount. The campus consisted of old army barracks allowing students to traverse the entire campus inside through hallways and corridors. The unique experience in the barracks was a significant unifying experience for all members of the Evangel community in those early years which made an indelible impact on the founding ethos of the institution.

In his research, Dr. Richard Strahan, the first academic dean of Evangel, estimated the populations of the towns from which Evangel students would come to be between 5,000 and 50,000. Data collected in this study supported the accuracy of Strahan’s prediction. The figure above illustrates that the majority of survey respondents (58.3%) reported the population size of their hometowns to be between 1 and 50,000 people.

Another important component to review from the participants is what variables were most impactful on their decision to attend Evangel. Figure 19 reveals the average scores and rankings delivered on a variety of variables. Survey participants were asked to rank factors from 1 (not important) to 10 (most important). The affiliation with the AG ranked the highest in importance with an average score of 8.02. The academic major averaged 7.36 and ranked second in importance with accreditation ranking third with an average of 6.87. Interestingly, the president’s identity was ranked second from the bottom at 3.99. Considering how highly presidents were admired according to interview and open-ended survey responses, this is a surprising finding. The finding indicates that the president may not have had a strong influence on recruiting students to the institution but played a strong role in retention and student satisfaction once the students arrived on campus.

Questions regarding spiritual development were taken from an annual survey utilized most recently to quantify the spiritual development that occurs in students’ spiritual lives while enrolled at Evangel. To provide comparable data to the experience of alumni from the first 25 years the same or similar questions were used for this survey. The above graph shows how respondents answered the survey item regarding who provided the biggest influence on their spiritual growth while they were a student at Evangel. The top five responses reported to have the biggest influence on the spiritual growth of the respondent were friends (24.8%), professors (18.3%), yourself (14.3%), campus pastor (13%), and parents (9.3%).

Survey respondents indicated they were introduced to Evangel in a variety of ways before deciding to attend. The figure above reveals that the most common way students were introduced to the school (outside of their parents) was through AG Publications such as the Pentecostal Evangel (17%).

The above figure reveals 93.6% of respondents considered themselves adherents to the AG prior to attending Evangel. This represents an overwhelming majority of the participants and may have contributed to the continuity of shared experiences for students during that time.

The above figure reveals the respondents’ claimed church affiliation immediately after their time at Evangel. The data indicates a significant majority (87.7%) of participants continued as adherents to the AG right after their experience at Evangel. The percentage of those who claim the Baptist denomination affiliation doubled from 1.4% to 2.8%, and there is also the addition of Presbyterian as a standalone denomination within the “other” category. Enough individuals identified Presbyterian as a denomination that it warranted adding the denomination to the list. The strong majority still claiming the AG as their church affiliation indicates Evangel fulfilled an important component of the mission to perpetuate the Pentecostal beliefs of the AG.

The figure above signals quite a shift in the data. Depending on when the respondents were at Evangel, this chart indicates the respondents’ claim of church affiliation 43 to 68 years after their time at Evangel. At just 48.1%, the number of respondents who claimed to be affiliated with the AG at the time of this study was nearly half of what it was while they attended Evangel. Several denominations were added to the list to reflect the participants’ responses in the “other” category. The second largest denomination selected is non-denominational at 21.7%. This is a significant increase from 2.5% immediately after the Evangel experience. Baptist and Presbyterian also saw a significant increase, and several other denominations were listed individually after gaining more affiliation during the time immediately after Evangel to today. These denominations are Wesleyan, Anglican, Episcopal, Nazarene, and Church of Christ.

Enough with the pretty pictures. For more on the findings and results of the research along with a general historical narrative of the first 25 years of Evangel, feel free to check out the dissertation at the link above.

DISCLAIMER: The intent for this post was to provide an online home I could reliably link to through hyperlinks and QR codes to include on research presentations and materials.