List of Bob Jones University people

This is a list of notable people associated with Bob Jones University.

Notable graduates

*Cliff Barrows, long-time music and program director for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association
*Alan Cropsey, Michigan State Senator.
*Gordon Denlinger, Pennsylvania state representative.
*Matthew Diffee, "New Yorker" cartoonist.
*Ed Dobson, former associate of Jerry Falwell, pastor, evangelical author.
*Stuart Epperson, co-founder and chairman of Salem Communications and a member of the conservative Council for National Policy.
*Terry Haskins (1955-2000), former Speaker Pro Tempore, South Carolina House of Representatives. [ [http://www.terryhaskins.com/index.html Biographical information on Haskins.] ]
*Ken Hay, founder, "The Wilds" Christian camps.
*Arlin Horton, founder, Pensacola Christian College, Pensacola, Florida
*David Hocking, former pastor, Calvary Church of Santa Ana, founder of Hope for Today ministry.
*Rand Hummel, director of The Wilds of New England.
*Asa Hutchinson, lawyer, former U.S. Representative and Under-Secretary for Border & Transportation Security, Department of Homeland Security; Republican candidate, 2006 Arkansas gubernatorial election.
*Tim Hutchinson, pastor, former U.S. Representative and U.S. Senator from Arkansas.
*Billy Kim, immediate past president, Baptist World Alliance.
*Tim LaHaye, best-selling author of eschatological fiction.
*Rhonda Paisley, artist, author, and former Ulster politician; daughter of Ian Paisley.
*Monroe Parker, evangelist; president, Pillsbury Baptist Bible College.
*Ernest Pickering, pastor, author, president of Baptist Bible College, Clarks Summit, PA, and Central Baptist Theological Seminary, Minnesota.
*Robert L. Reymond, Reformed theologian and author.
*Sam Rohrer, Pennsylvania state representative.
*Peter Ruckman, Baptist minister, writer, and founder of Pensacola Baptist Institute; leading proponent of one of the most extreme "KJV-only" positions; outspoken critic of BJU.
*Joel Salatin, organic farmer and author; owner of Polyface Farm, which is featured in Michael Pollan's "The Omnivore's Dilemma".
*Moisés Silva, authority on biblical hermeneutics; past president of the Evangelical Theological Society.
*Bryan Simonaire, Maryland State Senator.
*Richard Stratton, president, Clearwater Christian College, Clearwater, Florida
*Danny Verdin, South Carolina State Senator
*Robert E. Webber, theologian, author of more than 40 books on worship, liturgy, and the early church.

Notable faculty and staff

*Jim Berg (b. 1952), Dean of Students since 1981; author, seminar instructor in biblical counseling and leadership development.
*Carl Blair (b. 1932), painter and sculptor. [ [http://www.state.sc.us/arts/verner/2005/blair.htm Blair biography] on South Carolina state web page.]
*Emery Bopp (1924-2007), painter and sculptor; chair, Division of Art, 1953-92. [ [http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=DATA04&pagename=obittext&id=97405 Bopp obituary] ; [http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070203/NEWS01/702030312/1004 Bopp memorial article in the "Greenville News", February 3, 2007] ]
*Dan Forrest (b. 1978), composer, John Ness Beck Foundation Award 2005,First Place; ACDA Raymond Brock Contest Winner 2005; 2006 ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award; Winner, 2006 Vanguard Voices Choral Composition Contest (Emerging Composers category). [ [http://www.danforrest.com/?page_id=14 Dan Forrest awards.] ]
*Walter Fremont (1924-2007), Dean of the School of Education, professionalized BJU's education curriculum; leader in the Christian school movement. The University fitness center is named in his honor. [Turner, "Standing Without Apology", 282-84; [http://greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/section?Category=DATA04&pagename=obittext&id=96772 Fremont obituary] ]
*Dwight Gustafson (b. 1930), conductor and composer. Gustafson assumed the position of acting dean of the BJU School of Fine Arts in 1954, when he was 24 years old, and served as dean for forty years. Outside fundamentalist circles, he is best known for the more than 160 musical compositions he has written and arranged, including a violin concerto, five film scores, three one-act operas, and a number of extended works, notably "Three Psalms for Chorus and Orchestra" (1989). In 1999, the Dwight Gustafson Fine Arts Center was dedicated in his honor. [Turner, "Standing Without Apology", pp. 284-86.]
*Robert Kirthwood "Lefty" Johnson (1910-71), University business manager from 1935 until his death. A residence hall is named for him.
*Darell Koons, (b. 1924), painter [ [http://www.myrtlebeachartmuseum.org/artists/darell_koons.htm Myrtle Beach Art Museum web site] .]
*Eunice Hutto Morelock (1904-1947), mathematics professor; so impressed Bob Jones, Sr. with her managerial and organizational skills that she became one of the first female academic deans of a coeducational college in the United States. ["Reflecting God's Light", 11.] A wing of the Bob Jones Academy quadrangle is named in her honor.
*Joan Jacobson Pinkston (b. 1947), choral composer and arranger; prolific composer of hymn tunes. [ [http://www.asaphmusic.com/biography.asp?id=22 Biographical information on Pinkston.] ]
*Katherine Corne Stenholm (b. 1917), founding director of the University's Unusual Films studio; one of the first women film directors in America; keynote speaker at the Cannes Film Festival, 1958. [ [http://university.imdb.com/name/nm0826594/bio Stenholm biography at IMDB] .]
*Jamie Langston Turner (b. 1949), novelist; her novel "A Garden to Keep" won 2002 Christy Award; her "Winter Birds" was named one of the "one hundred best books" of 2006 by "Publishers Weekly". [ [http://www.jamielangstonturner.com/ME2/Sites/Default.asp Biographical information on Turner] ]

Notable honorary degree recipients

*John Ashcroft, Attorney General of the United States (1999)
*David Beasley, governor of South Carolina (1999)
*Chiang Kai-shek, President of the Republic of China (1952)
*Madame Chiang Kai-shek (1952)
*Vic Eliason, founder of VCY America (2001)
*Theodore Epp, founder, Back to the Bible radio broadcast (1955)
*Billy Graham, evangelist (1948)
*Lindsey Graham, U.S. Senator, South Carolina (1999)
*Mordecai Ham, evangelist and prohibitionist (1935)
*Jesse Helms, U.S. Senator, North Carolina (1976)
*Richmond Pearson Hobson, admiral, congressman from Georgia, Medal of Honor recipient, temperance crusader (1935)
*Bob Inglis, U. S. Representative, South Carolina (1995)
*Harry A. Ironside, Bible teacher, author, pastor Moody Memorial Church, Chicago (1941)
*Robert T. Ketcham, founder, General Association of Regular Baptist Churches (1961)
*B.R. Lakin, Baptist evangelist (1949)
*Olin Johnston, U.S. Senator, South Carolina (1948)
*Lester Maddox, governor of Georgia (1969)
*Ernest Manning, premier of Alberta (1947)
*Carl McIntire, radio preacher, founder, Bible Presbyterian Church (1953)
*Henry Morris, a founder of the young-earth creationist movement (1966)
*Harold J. Ockenga, pastor, Park Street Congregational Church, Boston, Massachusetts; later, a leader in the “neo-evangelical” movement opposed by BJU (1944)
*Ian Paisley, founder and moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church of Ulster; future leader of the Democratic Unionist Party and First Minister of Northern Ireland (1966)
*John R. Rice, evangelist and founder of "The Sword of the Lord" (1945)
*Homer Rodeheaver, music evangelist, pioneer gospel music publisher (1942)
*Charles Stevens, founder and first president of Piedmont Baptist College (1958)
*Billy Sunday, evangelist (1935)
*Helen “Nell” (Mrs. Billy) Sunday, evangelist (1940)
*Strom Thurmond, U.S. Senator, South Carolina (1948)
*Mel Trotter, rescue mission founder, Bible conference speaker (1935)
*George Wallace, governor of Alabama (1964)

Notable benefactors

*W. J. Barge (1898-1968), founding member of the American Board of Abdominal Surgeons and president of the Miami Christian Businessman's Committee. Barge Memorial Hospital, the University's infirmary, was dedicated in his memory in 1968.
*David D. Davis (1917-2002), founder, D.D. Davis Construction Co., Youngstown, Ohio; philanthropist; member BJU Board of Trustees for 31 years. The Davis Field House (as well as two buildings in Youngstown) are named in honor of Davis and his wife, Velma.
*Bibb Graves, two-term governor of Alabama (1927-31, 1935-39). Although Graves was Exalted Cyclops (chapter president) of the Montgomery branch of the Ku Klux Klan when he was first elected governor, he was also a progressive who sought to improve public education in Alabama. Graves served as a member of the board of trustees of Bob Jones College and a BJU dormitory is named in his honor. [ [http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_graves.html Biography of Graves] from the Alabama state web site; Dalhouse, "Island in the Lake of Fire", 36; "Dictionary of American Biography", Sup. 3: 317-18.]
*Lillian R. Howell (1876-1958), native of Bridgeport, Connecticut; although she never visited the campus nor met any of the Joneses, at her death, she left the bulk of her estate to BJU. The Howell Memorial Science Building is named in her honor.
*John Sephus Mack (1880-1940), early twentieth century entrepreneur who (with Walter C. Shaw) created G.C. Murphy Stores, a regional chain of more than two hundred "five and dimes" headquartered in McKeesport, PA. Mack was a significant contributor to Bob Jones College during the Depression -- when Murphy Stores were actually expanding -- and he underwrote major building projects on the Cleveland campus. Mack also gave business advice to Bob Jones, Sr. and "Lefty" Johnson before his death in 1940. The BJU library is named for him and a residence hall for his wife. [ [http://www.murphymemories.com/history.html Information on Mack and Murphy stores] ; Turner, "Standing Without Apology", 59-60, 350]
*Robert Lee McKenzie (1870-1956), developer and first mayor of Panama City, Florida. The college charter was signed in the office/library of his home, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [ [http://www.flheritage.com/preservation/markers/markers.cfm?ID=bay Biographical information on McKenzie from Florida Heritage website] ] The Dixon-McKenzie Dining Common is named in honor of him, his wife, and his sister-in-law, Mary Elizabeth Dixon.
*Agnes Moorehead, actress of "Bewitched" fame, willed her Ohio estate to BJU. Moorehead's father was a Presbyterian minister, and in 1921, when Agnes Moorehead was an undergraduate at Muskingum College, New Concord, Ohio -- a Presbyterian school founded by her uncle -- the college presented an honorary degree to Bob Jones, Sr..
*James Y. Smith (1873-1953), owner of Smith Cafeteria, South Bend, Indiana; a chance meeting with Bob Jones, Sr. led to a friendship and increasing financial contributions to BJU. A residence hall is named in his honor.

Notable former students (non-graduates)

*Billy Graham, evangelist, attended one semester.
*Katherine Helmond, actress, attended one year and had role in Unusual Films' "Wine of Morning" (1955).
*John F. MacArthur, radio preacher; pastor, Grace Community Church, Sun Valley, California; president, The Master's College.
*Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and perhaps best known for his "God Hates Fags" website and public protests. His association with the school ended abruptly after three semesters. Phelps claims he left in opposition to the school's racial policies. In 1994, BJU employees told the "Topeka Capital Journal" that Phelps was expelled due to mental instability. In 2006, Phelps--who has picketed BJU as well as funerals of servicemen--denied that he had ever attended the University. [ [http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/news/nation/14299998.htm News article from the Columbia (SC) "State"] ]
*Charles D. Provan. His "Bible and Birth Control" provides a theological justification for Quiverfull; attended two years.
*Chris Sligh, "American Idol" finalist during season 6.

References