Virginia Baptist Library Association plans conference. VBLA has announced plans for its fall conference, to be held Oct. 12-13 at First Baptist Church in Richmond, focusing on the theme “The Church Library—Treasury of the Past, Key to the Future.” The guest speaker,
Roberta M. Damon, is an author as well as a Christian counselor and therapist. She and her husband are former missionaries to Brazil. For more information, click on www.vachurchlibrary.org.
Special to the Herald
Virginia schools pull rank. Two colleges affiliated with the Baptist General Association of Virginia were among 42 members of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities listed among America's best colleges in annual rankings compiled by U.S. News & World Report magazine. Bluefield College and Virginia Intermont College were listed with 1,900 colleges and universities ranked in the magazine's 2008 report. The magazine's rankings are based on data provided by the institutions and by a survey of colleagues. Colleges and universities were then grouped into four major categories following a system devised by the Carnegie Fund for the Advancement of Teaching. Most of the Baptist institutions — including the Virginia schools — are in the Baccalaureate-South division, a category of southern colleges offering primarily undergraduate liberal-arts programs and with fewer than 50 percent of students receiving degrees in traditional liberal-arts disciplines. Thomas Corts, executive director of the International Association of Baptist Colleges and Universities, said Baptists should “take pride” in their long-term investment of “nurturing strong institutions.” Though only one estimate of institutional standing, “the continued excellent representation of Baptist colleges and universities in the U.S. News & World Report rankings confirms that Baptist colleges are competitive and well-considered in the world of higher education,” he said.
Associated Baptist Press