Following is a press release from the Board of Trustees of Covenant College concerning the election of the new president. We are also posting a press release from the Trustees of Providence Christian College which, as you will see, relates to this action.

On behalf of the Covenant College Board of Trustees, Chairman Martin A. Moore announced the selection of Dr. J. Derek Halvorson as the sixth president of Covenant College. Dr. Halvorson’s tenure will begin on July 1, 2012.

“The unanimous vote by the Board of Trustees evidences our strongly-held belief that Dr. Halvorson will provide the godly leadership needed to further advance the College’s mission of exploring and expressing the preeminence of Jesus Christ in all things,” stated Mr. Moore.

Dr. Halvorson is the president of Providence Christian College in Pasadena, California. In addition to his current executive position, he brings experience in fundraising and constituent relations from his previous roles at Covenant, and experience in teaching at the university level and in the financial markets. He has been ordained as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), and he must pass a theological exam administered by the PCA prior to his inauguration.

After graduating cum laude from Covenant in 1993 with a bachelor of arts in history, Dr. Halvorson earned a master of arts from the University of Arizona and a doctorate of philosophy from Loyola University Chicago—both in history. He and his wife, Wendy, are the parents of a son and a daughter.

In addition to selecting the sixth president, the Board of Trustees today unanimously voted to sign a letter of intent with Providence Christian College, expressing Covenant’s intent to acquire Providence.

“We believe this sister institution—a small, Reformed, residential liberal arts college on the West Coast—is a remarkable fit with Covenant’s mission and purpose and offers an opportunity for Covenant to extend the reach of its mission,” says Mr. Moore. “In consultation with key constituencies, including the faculty, we will with due diligence pursue the acquisition and operation of Providence Christian College.

“We are thankful for God’s faithful and generous blessings upon Covenant College since its founding in 1955 in Pasadena, California, and we look forward to continuing to advance Covenant’s founding mission under Dr. Halvorson’s leadership in this new chapter in the life of the College.”

Following is a more detailed biography of Dr. Halvorson from the Providence College website:

Dr. Jon Derek Halvorson is the eldest of four sons of Märni and Steve Halvorson. He earned a B.A. in history cum laude from Covenant College and an M.A. in history from the University of Arizona, where he studied in the Division for Late Medieval and Reformation Studies under renowned Reformation historian Heiko A. Oberman. Between those degrees he worked for NationsBank in Charlotte and for NationsBanc-CRT in Chicago, where he traded foreign currencies. After his M.A. he pursued research at Oxford University through the support of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities.

Dr. Halvorson earned his Ph.D. in history from Loyola University Chicago. His primary field of study was late medieval and early modern Europe, with a minor concentration in ancient Greece and Rome. His research focused on the life and work of a sixteenth-century Carthusian monk, Johannes Justus Lansperger, and on Lansperger’s print debates with the early Protestants over the legitimacy of the monastic life as a Christian calling. While at Loyola, Dr. Halvorson taught undergraduate courses in the history of western civilization and was the recipient of multiple fellowships for teaching and research. He has chaired sessions for the Conference on Faith and History and has presented papers at the American Historical Association and the Medieval Intellectual History Colloquium at the Newberry Library. He also contributed translation work to William Yarchin’s History of Biblical Interpretation and has reviewed for the Anglican Theological Review.

Dr. Halvorson came to Providence from Covenant College, where he served from 2003 to 2009, first as Director of Constituent Relations and then as Regional Director of Development. In those capacities he was involved in a wide variety of external relations and marketing/communications projects, and was one of the lead major gift officers in that college’s successful $31 million capital campaign.

Ordained as a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America in 2003, Dr. Halvorson served on the PCA General Assembly Host Committee (2005) and is a member of Lookout Mountain Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. He and his family are currently attending Grace Pasadena (PCA).

Dr. Halvorson’s wife, Wendy, is a graduate of Wheaton College and a former finance manager in Chicago and Dallas. They have two children: a seven-year old son, Banks, and a five-year old daughter, Whitman.

When he is not spending time with his family, Dr. Halvorson is an avid soccer fan (and occasional player). He played four years as an undergraduate and later spent time on the rosters of the Chattanooga Railroaders (PDL) and Charlotte Eagles (USL). He looks forward to the day when Providence fields its first soccer team, though he fears that he may have exhausted his own eligibility.