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National Student Clearinghouse Data Breach

Spalding University was notified by the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) of a recent data breach. An unauthorized party obtained files from within the Clearinghouse’s systems that may have contained personal information of current and former Spalding students. The issue involved a vulnerability in a software tool the NSC uses, called MOVEit Transfer. Spalding University does not use the MOVEit Transfer tool and information stored by the University was not breached. The University sends student enrollment information to the NSC to comply with Department of Education student loan verification requirements and for issuing electronic transcripts.

The NSC has eliminated the vulnerability and is working with federal agencies and other third parties to determine which records and individuals are affected. The NSC has assured Spalding University that if any members of the Spalding community are affected, they will notify them directly. Thousands of schools use the National Student Clearinghouse, so students who have attended other colleges may receive multiple notices.

• Frequently review your financial accounts. See the FTC’s “warning signs of identity theft.”
• Check your credit report at annualcreditreport.com.
• Consider placing a credit freeze on your credit report, with each of the three credit reporting agencies—Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
• Students should consider enrolling in an identity theft protection service such as TrueIdentity from TransUnion.

For more information, the NSC has setup this website – https://alert.studentclearinghouse.org/.

Alternatives to Criminal Thinking provides mental healing to young jail inmates

Meredith Zahirovic wants to change the world, no matter the obstacles

Beginning this fall, Spalding’s School of Business offers the new graduate concentration in Financial Planning within the MS in Business Communication (MSBC) program. Financial planners work one-on-one with their clients to develop strategies and plans for a secure future. This may include paying off debt, saving for retirement, meeting short-term financial targets and long-term wealth management.

The degree fulfills the educational requirement to sit for the CFP ^® Certification Examination that leads to the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certification. Students who successfully complete the concentration may also sit for the and the Accredited Financial Counselor^® exam, which is offered through the Association for Financial Counseling and Planning Education®. The CFP ^® is the gold standard in personal financial planning and holding this certification allows attorneys to expand the services offered to their clients.

In the School of Business, we strive to ensure our offerings provide a strong return on investment for our students. As any educational endeavor requires a time and financial commitment, students should expect to emerge with skills that make them competitive in the job market. The Financial Planning concentration fulfills that expectation.

According to the US Labor Department, employment of personal financial advisors and planners is projected to grow 7% through 2028, much faster than the average for all occupations. Significant job growth and security are anticipated for financial advisors partly due to the large percentage of our population that is aging. As large numbers of baby boomers continue to enter retirement, more are likely to seek planning advice from financial advisors. Also, longer lifespans equate to longer retirement periods, adding even more demand for financial planning services. The 2021 median annual wage for personal financial advisors was $94K.

Financial planning remains steady despite the economic downturn and COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, Americans report feeling more prepared working with a financial advisor during a recession and CFP professionals report a rise in prospective clients during COVID-19 (CFP Board). Being a financial planner helps many achieve a greater level of work-life balance, which employees are seeking more and more from their chosen profession.

The path to becoming a CFP ^® reaches many in the student population. It is a lucrative field for our traditionally aged students to pursue once they complete their undergraduate studies, but it is also appeals to the adult learner. Those already in the financial profession will add credibility to their consulting practice while those looking to make a career change can pursue this opportunity with few barriers to entry. The inclusivity of this degree is a point of pride for our school. It does not require an undergraduate degree in business or the GRE or GMAT.

Currently, Spalding is the only university in Kentucky to offer a Master’s degree with a concentration specifically for Financial Planning. Our Financial Planning concentration program combines the triple bottom line of business—people, planet, profit—with the key knowledge you’ll need to become a trusted financial advisor. You’ll be ready to help others make important financial decisions in their investments, savings, mortgages, insurance, estate planning, retirement and more. As a graduate of Spalding’s School of Business, you’ll be qualified and ready to accept a job offer for a number of positions, including Financial counselor, Financial planner, Risk analyst and Estate planner.

The concentration in Financial Planning focuses on academic and practical competencies relevant to financial advisors. Graduates of this concentration will be able to:

• Address challenges, best practices and industry standards relating to financial planning.
• Apply strong critical thinking, decision-making, presentation and writing skills build upon the synthesis of knowledge.
• Provide problem articulation, situation definition, strategic planning and implementation.
• Analyze and present data to clients.

 Degree Requirements

You’ll take five financial planning concentration courses (15 credit hours) in addition to the general requirements of the MSBC program, for a total of 30 credit hours.

Concentration Courses include:

• Tax I: Individual Taxation
• Behavioral Economics & Finance
• Risk Management & Estate Planning
• Investments & Retirement Planning
• Financial Plan Development

For more information please contact Dr. Robin Hinkle at rhinkle@spalding.edu.

Baxter Yarbrough, M.A.T., hopes to heal the political divide in America

Walking across the stage to receive his Master of Arts in Teaching diploma at the start of this summer, Baxter Yarbrough held his sights past the spectacle of graduation. Starting in July, Yarbrough takes his next big step on the journey language often boxes in as “career.”

His purpose takes him to Washington DC to join the John Robert Lewis Scholars & Fellows Program, organized by the Faith and Politics Institute.

The fellowship brings together a new cohort of 20 emerging leaders, which Yarbrough will meet soon. Named after the civil rights movement’s iconic leader, the John Robert Lewis Scholars & Fellows program builds networks for students seeking solutions to the challenges democracy faces today.

While getting his degree at Spalding University, Yarbrough taught history courses for freshman and sophomore students at Eminence High School. The future of those young adults is at the top of his mind.

“I think a lot about young people’s experience with just being in our world today,” Yarbrough said. “When I was growing up, it didn’t feel like politics was so hostile. How can we lower the stakes to make it where people can have a more civil discourse about what they see going on in their community?”

Yarbrough is thankful for the opportunities his graduate school experience at Spalding offered. In addition to the hands-on support and encouragement from professors, he thanked his classmates for sharing their diverse minds together.

“It allowed me to hear from other people and practice listening to perspectives that’re unlike my own, and try to figure out, ‘What can I do to better understand what this person is trying to express to me?’” Yarbrough said.

Before coming to Spalding, Yarbrough had never stepped foot in Kentucky. Coming from Morrilton, Arkansas, the challenges he witnessed that are particular to rural communities informs his goals to this day. Going to church his whole childhood made spirituality an important part of his identity. He never saw an intersection between politics and faith until he attended a program at the Montreat Conference Center, a private Christian institution in North Carolina, in 2017 — a couple years after the mass shooting that targeted a historic black church in Charleston.

“That was a moment where I realized there is such a huge meeting point between what goes on within our public life and what goes on within our spiritual interest,” Yarbrough said. “In my experience as a teacher, I definitely have realized that the people who are being looked up to, that what they do, what they say, that carries a whole lot of weight.”

Spalding drew Yarbrough in because of its history as a compassionate institution, with a focus on helping those in need within the community.

“I feel like that’s personally a huge central tenet of my own beliefs regarding politics, religion or anything else,” Yarbrough said. “That when I go out into the world, my hope is that I’m serving others.”

Yarbrough’s cohort meets in person for the first time in mid-July. There the group will build connections, and each will speak with government and nonprofit representatives. Later in March 2023, the cohort will follow the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, along the path John Lewis and Dr. King walked decades ago.

As for Yarbrough, he hopes the fellowship will help him discover his next step. Currently, he is considering another graduate degree, either in divinity, economics or public service. He hopes to continue to support his hometown of Morrilton, which he credits for getting him so far.

Watch this video to learn more about Spalding’s graduate programs:

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a crisis of burnout and mental distress in our healthcare workers, resident physicians, and those training to be healthcare providers. This ongoing crisis has led to a need to enhance the education and training of students going into health related fields by adding instruction on well-being and resiliency. To support these efforts, Spalding University has been awarded a grant over $775,000 from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). The grant, awarded through the Public Safety Workforce Resiliency Training Program, will provide funding for resiliency training for healthcare students at Spalding University and the University of Louisville’s School of Dentistry.

The Cultivating Personal Resiliency Program will use evidence-based strategies to reduce and address burnout while promoting resiliency among health care students in the fields of nursing, social work, psychology, and dentistry. Dr. Brenda Nash, Chair of the School of Professional Psychology at Spalding and Dr. Abbie Beacham, Director of Behavioral Science at UofL’s School of Dentistry will research and evaluate the program to disseminate what is learned about best practices for reducing burnout in healthcare profession trainees. Our partnership makes this program both interdisciplinary and inter-university—teaching resiliency building skills to approximately 360 future healthcare professionals over the three-year program. 

Dr. Nash states, “We are hopeful that the integration of such a focused self-care model into students’ early training will help to prevent their burnout as they begin into and progress through their careers.”

The problem healthcare professionals face is only increasing. Healthcare workers were in high demand before the pandemic, and now the need for professionals is at an all time peak. In addition, they are faced with new safety procedures, longer hours, and new methods for treatment.

As Dr Nash explains, “Training to be a human service provider is always stressful and demanding, but this has been compounded in the COVID era…With demonstrated efficacy already established for CPRP with physicians and other health care providers, we are thrilled to have the HRSA funding to bring this intervention to our providers-in-training.”

To provide resiliency interventions for our students, Dr. Abbie Beacham will utilize an evidence-based program to train a Clinical Coordinator, advanced doctoral psychology students, and faculty from each department to deliver the resiliency program to healthcare students. Utilizing a train-the-trainer approach, we will ensure both our students and faculty are equipped to continue providing resiliency training beyond the three-year grant cycle. In total, we anticipate training one Clinical Coordinator, 24 psychology students, and 16 faculty to deliver the model. Our goal is to create and advance a sustainable model for schools of nursing, social work, psychology, and dentistry to address and reduce burnout as well as promote resiliency among their students.

Spalding University held its annual Commencement ceremonies June 2-4, 2022, with President Tori Murden McClure delivering an address to the graduates. Her speech also included her annual list of maxims titled, “10 Things That I Think I Know.” Here are her full remarks:

There are many lies traditionally told on commencement day. One such lie is, “This is your day.”  This is not your day. The evening may belong to you, but the day belongs to those who raised you, and to those who have supported you. It marks and end, not to your suffering, but to their suffering.

It is a day that some thought they might never see. Shortly, you will move your tassel from right to left, and you will leave. Those who helped you through the corridors of Spalding University will cheer. It is not that we do not love you. We do. But, we need no longer worry about whether you will pass your last exam. No more listening to you whine about the heftiness of your many assignments. No more pretending to be interested in your esoteric wanderings along the existential plains of academic syllabi.

This day belongs not just to you, but to all those who helped you reach this goal. Their gentle smiles hide deeper emotions. For some the sense of relief must border on hysteria. This hysteria may exhibit itself in the flash of cameras and in bragging about your accomplishments in unnaturally loud voices. Share the joy of this day with your friends and families. We all could use a little more joy in our lives.

We are in the Columbia Auditorium. This building holds a special place in my heart. In 1954, a twelve-year-old boy rode his red bicycle to this building. He was upstairs eating hotdogs and popcorn when someone stole his bicycle. The boy was distraught as he reported the crime to a police officer who taught boxing downstairs in the basement. The boy was named Cassius Clay. He began his boxing career downstairs. The world would come to know him as Muhammad Ali. The red bicycle over the front door of this building is our tribute to Muhammad Ali.

Muhammad touched billions of lives. He touched Spalding University, one of his first jobs was working in our library, and Muhammad touched my life.

In 1998, I failed to row a boat alone across the Atlantic Ocean. Not long after that failure, I went to work for Muhammad Ali. When he knew I was ready Muhammad said, “You don’t want to go through life as the woman who almost rowed across the ocean.” In 1999, I went back and I succeeded in rowing a boat alone across the Atlantic Ocean.

During that successful journey, I had a run-in with a hurricane named Lenny. At the height of that storm, I went out on deck to pick a fight with God. “If you put this in my path to do, why are you making it so difficult?” That was not an easy time, and this … right now … is not an easy time.

I agree with Adrienne Maree Brown when she wrote:

“Things are not getting worse, they are getting uncovered. We must hold each other tight and continue to pull back the veil.”

Graduates, it does not take an education to see pain, but it takes an education to do something about that pain. As you reenter the broader world you must make a living (your parents and guardians are counting on this), but be sure to make a life as well as a living. It is more important to be a person with meaning than it is to be a person of means. What you have in life is not nearly as important as who you have in your life.

I encourage you to be bold. In the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Speak what you think today in hard words and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said today.”

 It should not surprise you that Emerson also wrote: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds …”

The three things about which I care today are: 1 ) Compassion 2) Justice 3) Fun.

Let’s begin with compassion. The Latin root of passion is the word “pati.” It means suffering. What you are passionate about you are willing to suffer for. The prefix “com” means “with.” Compassion is a willingness to suffer with another. We do not turn away from people in pain because we do not care. We turn away from people in pain because we do not know what to do. Education teaches us what to do, how to help, and sometimes it teaches us to sit still and listen.

Justice comes from the Latin “iustus” meaning upright, equitable, lawful, and proper. Our world has never implemented a full measure of justice. As a result, our world has never experienced a full measure of peace. These are things for which we must continue to strive with every fiber of our beings.

One of the greatest tests in life is to make the most of our gifts. For those of us who believe the source of those gifts is some higher power, how we use our gifts is an act of faith. No one of us is perfect. Each person is a blend of dust and divinity.  Each is mortal and each heroic. It is up to us – it is up to you – to close the gap between the promise of humanity and the performance of human beings. I firmly believe that human beings are capable of traversing the distance between possibility and fact.

The journey may not be easy. We all face obstacles, each and every one of us. We all have mountains to climb and oceans to traverse. We all tangle with storms. We all face waves. We take on the challenges before us one step at a time. If you do hard things … compassion and justice are hard things … you will need to set aside some time to laugh, and you will need to give yourself permission to laugh.

Hillaire Belloc wrote: “Nothing is worth the wear of winning but laughter and the love of friends.”

I commend you for reaching this milestone in life. I commend you for your achievements and for the achievements you are yet to make. Spalding University has prepared you well. As scholars you are creative individuals.  You possess a clarity of mind and an energy of will. I have no doubt you shall meet the challenge of the coming years.

As I wind this up, it is my job to fill your head with platitudes—one or two of which you might actually remember. Socrates said, “All I know is that I know nothing.” I will freely admit don’t know anything for sure, but, I will end with ten things that I think I know:

1. Silence is golden, and, if silence you fail you, duct tape is silver.

2. It is never wrong to do the right thing, but that does not make it easy.

3. Road blocks only block the road … they do not block the grass, the path, the water, or the way less traveled … road blocks just block the road.

4. It is never too late to have a happy childhood … I have had several … I have many more planned. Or the corollary, I may grow old, but I will never be old enough to know better.

5. After a wrong turn, a step backward is a step in the right direction.

6. Learn from the mistakes of others, you cannot live long enough to make them all yourselves.
   a) Or the corollary, it is difficult to become old and wise if you are not first young and stupid.
  b) There are gradations of stupid: stupid, level one gets you heart, stupid level two gets others hurt, stupid level three involves police and lawyers and you might never own your own home.
  c) Avoid all levels of stupid that begin with the phrase, “Hey hold my beer ‘nd watch ‘this.”

7. Do not burn bridges. Just loosen the bolts a little each day.

8. If you have to keep something that you are doing a secret … then perhaps you should not be doing it.

9. Is an important one for and university presidents, don’t take yourself too seriously … no one else does

10. Do not believe everything you think. Or as Socrates said, “all I know is that I know nothing.”

I have tremendous confidence that when you leave Spalding as alumni you will go out. You will teach, heal, feed, and build. You will inform, advocate, comfort, and guide. You will criticize, organize, contribute and in a hundred other ways, you will serve people and causes. You do you.

Last words from me today belong to the wise (if not old) soul of the poet Amanda Gorman:

“When the day calls us to stand together.
We envision a land
That is liberated, not lawless;

We create a future
That is free, not flawless.

Over and over, again and again,
We will stride up every mountain side,
Magnanimous and modest.

We will be protected and served
By a force that is honored and honest.
This is more than protest —
It’s a promise!”