The Tusculum College Pioneer Jazz Band will host a Valentine’s Day Dinner/Swing Dance benefit on Tuesday, Feb. 13, at the General Morgan Inn, beginning at 6:30 p.m. The event includes dinner and a performance by the Pioneer Jazz Band, along with special guests.

The event is a fundraiser to raise money for much-needed equipment for the entire Tusculum band program, according to David A. Price, director of music at Tusculum College.

“This will be our fifth year for this event and it has proven to be a popular and enjoyable way to celebrate Valentine’s Day,” said Price. “Each year we have had tremendous feedback on the quality of the food, as well as the fun of dancing the night away to the sounds of jazz standards. This year, we are even planning some special fun to celebrate Mardi Gras as well.”

Ticket prices for the event are $55 per person or $400 for a table of eight guests. Ticket or table purchases include dance tickets, free dance lessons, an opening reception, dinner and a special dessert. Please call in advance to request a vegetarian substitution. A cash bar will be available.

In preparation for the event, dance lessons will be provided at the Chalmers Conference Center in Niswonger Commons on the Tusculum campus for two evenings by Robin Beal. Dance lesson dates are January 30 and February 6 at 7 p.m. There will also be a lesson held the night of the event, beginning at 5 p.m. The lessons are free to anyone that has tickets for the event. Dance lessons without event tickets are $10 per person.

Tickets are available for purchase by contacting Price at 423-636-7303 or emailing daprice@tusculum.edu.

The Pioneer Band Program at Tusculum College began in 2010, with the creation of the Pioneer Pep Band. The Pep Band became a much-enjoyed feature of the 2010 Pioneer football and basketball seasons, as the band performed at the Pioneer Club tailgate parties before each home football game and during pregame and half-time festivities.

Since that time a concert band, jazz band, marching band, handbell choir and several small ensembles have been added to the program. The groups play several events on campus each year, as well as events in the community.

Tusculum’s annual Theologian-in-Residence Lecture Series will be held again this year each Tuesday in February.

The series, sponsored by Tusculum with funding from Ron Smith, will be led by Dr. Joel Van Amberg, professor of history at Tusculum. The title of the lecture series is, “The Historical Luther: Tracing the Development of Martin Luther’s Central Reformation Views.”

The 2018 Theologian-in-Residence series will join with people around the world in commemorating the 500^th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation (1517-2017).          According to Dr. Van Amberg, “As Luther’s involvement in the church increased, first as friar, then priest, then doctor of theology, and finally as professor of sacred scripture and pastor, his engagement with the scriptures deepened. In it he found not only a textual source of doctrinal authority, but also a living word that addressed his most pressing spiritual concerns.”

In October 1517, Martin Luther wrote down 95 propositions, or theses, intended to form the basis of an academic debate among the faculty at the University of Wittenberg. According to Dr. Van Amberg, instead, this document swept across Europe in a matter of months, helping to spark the firestorm that would come to be called the Protestant Reformation.

“Although the Reformation is much larger than Martin Luther, this series will focus on the evolution of Martin Luther’s positions on the central issues of his religious movement,” he said.

The lecture series will open on February 6 with the topic of “Luther and the Scriptures.” This session is the first of two that considers Luther’s struggle to define the nature of religious authority.

On February 13, the topic will be “Luther and the Papacy.” This session focuses on the events that brought about the break between Luther and the Catholic Church. According to Dr. Van Amberg, Luther was an unlikely revolutionary. He considered himself a faithful son of the Church. He had a strong respect for authority. The monastic life he had led instilled deeply in him the values of humility and obedience. Yet, the dramatic events surrounding the publication of the “95 Theses,” coupled with his own spiritual development, led him to reject the authority of the Pope and the Church hierarchy to define religious truth.

The topic on February 20 will be “Luther and Justification by Faith.” This session will address the position that is often seen as at the heart of Luther’s theology, the doctrine of justification by faith. Both the concepts of ‘justification’ and ‘faith’ were the subject of intense debate in the Middle Ages, and, as an academically trained theologian himself, Luther understood the issues well. This session will explore how Luther’s view on this issue developed between 1508 and 1520 both in continuity with and in contrast to medieval precedent.

The final session will be held on February 27 and will focus on the topic, “Luther and the Sacraments.” This session will also explore issues of continuity and change, in this case regarding Luther’s view of the sacraments as it developed over his career as a reformer. For the Catholic Church, the administering of the seven sacraments lay at the heart of the Church’s mission, namely, bringing God’s grace to a needy humanity. From the Catholic perspective, Luther’s position on the sacraments was nothing less than a full assault on the most holy rites of the Church. For many Protestants, both contemporary and modern, however, Luther’s view on the sacraments seems surprisingly Catholic. This session will identify the issues behind Luther’s unique perspective on the Sacraments.

The February Theologian-in-Residence lectures will take place on each Tuesday of the month – Feb. 6, 13, 20 and 27. Each lecture session will begin at 10 a.m. in the Chalmers Conference Center in the Niswonger Commons. The sessions typically end around noon, with lunch in Tusculum’s cafeteria following the conclusion of the lecture. There is no admission fee to attend the lectures or the luncheon.

Dr. Van Amberg received a Bachelor of Arts in religious studies from Bowdoin College and a Master of Arts in church history from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He received his doctorate in European history in the division for late Medieval and Reformation studies at the University of Arizona.

His book, “A Real Presence:  Religious and Social Dynamics of the Eucharistic Controversies in Early Modern Augsburg 1520-1530,” was published in 2012. It explores the factors that led to divisions within the early Reformation movement in southern Germany.

Dr. Van Amberg has been a faculty member at Tusculum College since 2005. He teaches the pre-modern European history courses, as well as courses on the Hebrew and Christian traditions and on the history of representative government in the West. He has also served as the chair of the department of history (later history and museum studies) since 2006.

He and his wife Deirdre have five children, Jane, Samuel, Rebekah, Peter and Susanna.

Although the series has no admission fee, reservations are required. For more information or to make a reservation for the series, please call 423.636.7304 or email bsell@tusculum.edu.

Tusculum adult undergraduate students now have access to Prior Learning Assessment, which can help them save time and money while earning their degree.

Prior Learning Assessment documents learning experiences including employment training, military service, and volunteer activities which are gathered into a portfolio and then evaluated for college credit, according to Dr. Jo Lobertini, assistant vice president for academic affairs at Tusculum.

“Adult students at Tusculum or those thinking of attending Tusculum may have skills and knowledge they gained through work, volunteering or service in the military, and by matching it to college credit they can reduce the time it takes to earn a degree and see significant cost savings,” said Dr. Lobertini. “This new course will guarantee better opportunities for Tusculum students, returning and new.”

Tusculum College is part of the coalition of Adult Learning Focused Institutions. As a member of ALFI, Tusculum faculty and staff will have the opportunity to participate in workshops with other successful colleges and universities in an effort to continuously advance programs and services for adult students, evaluate their adult degree programs and share best practices.

“Tusculum College has a long tradition of developing innovative ways to help improve the educational opportunities for our adult students. By being a part of the ALFI coalition, we can continue to have the most cutting-edge and effective programs,” said Dr. Lobertini.

In order to earn credit, Tusculum students develop an online learning portfolio, an effective tool for evaluating college level learning acquired outside of traditional academia. Once the portfolio is completed, faculty with appropriate subject matter expertise evaluate the student’s portfolio to determine a credit award.

Tusculum continues to be a leader in education today. The college was the first east of the Mississippi to adopt a focused calendar and the first institution of higher education in East Tennessee to provide degree programs specifically designed for working adults.

The Graduate and Professional Studies programs are designed to accommodate adult students’ family and career responsibilities. Graduate and Professional Studies classes meet in locations throughout East Tennessee, with locations in Greeneville, Morristown and Knoxville, as well as fully online.

This uniquely focused and practical program has enabled thousands of men and women to obtain the degrees they need to succeed professionally and personally. Tusculum College’s Graduate and Professional Studies offers flexible scheduling, convenient locations, reasonable tuition and quality programs that help students meet their goals.

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