HELM adds Kagiwada, Strong, and Underwood to Board

Higher Education & Leadership Ministries will have three new members of its Board of Directors beginning in 2008.

Trained as a lawyer specializing in international human rights, JoAnne Kagiwada headed the final phase of the lobbying initiative for the Japanese American Citizens League that achieved full funding of a $1.25 billion redress program for Americans of Japanese descent who were interned by the US government during World War II. She has served as vice president of the National Council of Churches and, with her late husband, David, was among the founders of what is now the North American Pacific Asian Disciples. She resides in Oakland, California.

The retired president of Culver-Stockton College, Ed Strong served as an ex officio member of the board while he chaired the Council of Colleges and Universities. He has served for several years on the HELM investment committee and is employed as Director of the Comprehensive Campaign for West Central Illinois Public Television. Prior to his service at Culver-Stockton, he taught at the University of Tulsa. He resides in Kirkwood, Missouri.

An M.Div. student at the Disciples Divinity House of the University of Chicago, Beau Underwood has served on several Disciples organizations. A graduate of Eureka College, he served two years on the STEP Leadership Team and is currently a member of the Disciples Young Adult Commission and the Executive Committee of the General Conference of Disciples Men. He is a native of Princeton, Illinois.

Kagiwada and Strong will serve through 2011. Underwood will complete his term in 2010.

In addition to the new members, two current members of the HELM Board have agreed to serve a second four-year term.

Miriam Cruz is co-founder of Cruz & Associates, a communications firm specializing in political campaign consulting, public affairs and educational consulting targeted at the Hispanic community. She has also been an advocate for education, business, health care and other issues in the Hispanic community. Prior to establishing the consulting firm, Ms. Cruz worked as deputy assistant to President Carter for Hispanic Affairs. She is a member of First Spanish Christian Church in Chicago and an associate member of National City Christian Church in Washington, D.C.

A former Dean of the University of Chicago Divinity School and the nearby Disciples Divinity House, W. Clark Gilpin is a historian of Christianity who studies the cultural history of theology in England and America since the seventeenth century. Gilpin is a graduate of Lexington Theological Seminary and the Disciples Divinity House of the University of Chicago.

Cruz and Gilpin will serve four-year terms.

Departing the board are Carla Fletcher and Richard Marshall, both from St. Louis, Missouri.

Members of the HELM Board of Directors are confirmed by the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) after selection by the HELM board. Board members may serve a maximum of two terms or eight years.