Meet Dr. and Mrs. Corey during their Biola visit, May 7 & 8. » Download the visit schedule

The Presidential Search Team, formed in July of 2006 and charged by the Biola Board of Trustees to present one fully qualified candidate to the Board for appointment by the Board as the eighth President of Biola University, is excited to announce that it has selected a final candidate.  His name is Dr. Barry H. Corey.

Dr. Corey currently serves as the Vice President for Education (Chief Academic Officer) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, one of the nation’s premiere evangelical seminaries and one of the largest, with 2200 students on four campuses. Dr. Corey has served in his present position since 2002, having previously served for 11 years as the Vice President for Development at Gordon-Conwell. 

For the nine members of the PST, this has been a matter of serious prayer as they have done their best to seek the Lord’s will in this process.  At the same time, the PST believes it has done its due diligence to bring the Board of Trustees a final candidate who is not only fully qualified, but also fully prepared to be Biola’s next president. According to Stan Jantz, chair of the PST,
Dr. Corey has gone through an exhaustive review and fully meets all of the requirements listed in the Opportunity Profile.

The PST is indebted to the Search Advisory Committee (SAC) for its appropriate and informed counsel regarding all of the final candidates.  While it was not the purpose of the SAC to give the PST a final recommendation, the two search committees were completely aligned with their evaluation of all the finalists in a very strong candidate pool.  In particular, as it came time for the PST members to vote on which of the two semi-final candidates should advanced, they had a strong sense of unity of both heart and mind that Dr. Corey should be the candidate of choice.

“Given the diversity of the SAC, the strength of both semi-final candidates, and the complexity of the issues involved, we can only attribute this alignment to the leading of the Holy Spirit,” said Jantz.  “While we don’t want to minimize the amount of work that went into the process from both parties—-Dr. Corey as well as the two search committees—-we cannot overemphasize the faithfulness of our gracious God in this matter.  From the very beginning we have been clear that prayer would be the difference-maker in this process.  Thanks to the fervent prayers of the Biola community, we believe that God has definitely answered our requests for wisdom and discernment.”

After reviewing a comprehensive collection of background material, including detailed responses to questions posed in the Opportunity Profile and the Doctrinal Statement, the PST and the SAC spent many hours in person with Dr. Corey. The consensus of both groups—-and of the many references who were consulted in this process-—is that Dr. Corey is:

• An extraordinarily spiritual man with a deep love of Scripture and a depth of character;
  
  
• Someone who not only fully affirms Biola’s Doctrinal Statement, but will also be its ardent defender;
  
  
• A true collaborative leader who knows how to work with and mobilize teams of people as he moves forward to reach the goals of the organization;
  
  
• A strong academic who understands the educational process;
  
  
• A gifted and experienced fundraiser who clearly understands that any capital campaign must be “articulate, compelling, visionary and tethered to the legacy of Biola University.” During his years leading the Development efforts at Gordon Conwell, the school raised nearly $100 million through two major capital campaigns.
  
  
• An accomplished communicator, both in his speaking and writing style;
  
  
• Someone with a wonderful family who loves students and, along with his wife Paula, seeks to model positive marriage and family values;
  
  
• Someone with a global perspective who desires to lead Biola as a globally-minded university, looking toward the impact Biola can have in the Kingdom of God; and
  
  
• An energetic man who is more than up to the challenge of leading Biola into its next hundred years.  Dr Corey gets excited when he imagines “what God could do in this generation through Biola University to prepare all students in all of its schools to influence all of life and culture for the sake of the Gospel.”

For details on Dr. Corey’s family, current position, education, experience, and personal interests—along with some select quotes from Dr. Corey’s written responses to questions from the Opportunity Profile and Biola’s Doctrinal Statement—please click here.

On May 7 and 8, Dr. Corey will be on campus for two days to participate in events and forums with various constituent groups. Following that, the Board of Trustees will make its decision.

In the meantime, the PST asks that the entire Biola community continues to pray for God’s wisdom in this process.