Eastern Nazarene College made a long-awaited announcement answering a question that has puzzled the campus since the beginning of the 2016-2017 academic year: Who will succeed Dr. Corlis McGee?
On March 24, a press release informed the community that Dr. Dan Boone, President of Tennessee’s Trevecca Nazarene University, will now serve Trevecca’s sister school, ENC, in the same role, while continuing working at one of the largest-growing Nazarene institutions in the country.
ENC and Trevecca Nazarene University will begin a three-year exploratory merger benefiting both schools while maintaining each college’s identity.
Dr. Dan Boone and his wife, Denise, were in Quincy when the announcement was made. They later spent the entire weekend attending events and meetings to create awareness of this change and begin the first steps of transition.
The duo has already made strides to get to know students as they embark on this new journey of dual-presidency among colleges and have made their transparency of mission on this campus known. He has displayed an open uncertainty of what this merger will look like and how he will be able to manage two institutions simultaneously. However, we do know that he is expected to make approximately twenty visits in the upcoming academic year. The goal is that both colleges can benefit from each other as Trevecca is currently in a place of rapid growth. In the past year, they have added 581 students making their total enrollment 3,221.
During his visit, Boone pitched ideas that would allow for intermingling and travel for students between ENC and Trevecca to explore each other’s home locations of Boston and Nashville, both for academic purposes and potential spring break trips. The idea is to bridge the two schools and begin a new culture of affiliation.
Dr. Boone also addressed the hard-pressing issues at ENC including the need to improve facilities and Internet connectivity as funding will allow over the next few years. Boone and his wife have shown that they will be investing their time and efforts in helping their sister school, ENC, in a time of need. Without accepting any salary from ENC, Dr. Dan Boone will be installed as the 14th President of Eastern Nazarene College as he assumes his official role on September 1.
For more info on Dan Boone, please visit www.trevecca.edu/about/president.