mckenna_indiaThe McKenna School of Education was dedicated on the campus of the Immanuel University in Hyderabad, India, on January 29th, 2015. The school is named in honor of David and Janet McKenna, Asbury Theological Seminary’s president and first lady from 1982-1994. Dr. Rob McKenna, Chair of the Department of Industrial-Organizational Psychology at Seattle Pacific University, gave the dedicatory address and represented the McKenna family on this occasion.

Immanuel University is the result of a dream which began in 2010, for a graduate school that would educate Dalit (formerly called untouchables) and tribal men and women, which make up one-quarter of India’s population. Higher education has been mostly out of reach for them. The University is sponsored by the Free Methodist Church in India and the Bishop of that denomination, Dr. Joab Lohara, is its Founding Chairman.

The dream for Immanuel Academy is to provide graduate training in such fields as education, social work, hotel management, mass communication, economics, etc. The MBA program began in 2012 and just graduated its first class. The McKenna School of Education will welcome its inaugural class in 2015.

Asbury Seminary Board of Trustees member David Goodnight is Chair of the Friends of Immanuel, a fundraising group for the University.

“The loop is now closed between the senior chapel at Asbury Seminary in 1953 when Dr. J.T. Seamands asked, ‘Who will answer the call of God and go to India?’” Dr. David McKenna said. “The call was for me and the decision of whether I would choose God’s way or my way. Although I never made it to India, the commitment to His will has been the testing point of my career at every intersection, especially when we answered His call to the presidency of Asbury Theological Seminary and had to uproot Rob, a high school freshman, in order to make the move. At that time, God gave us the promise through Rob, ‘You can trust me.’ The loop is closed now with Rob giving the dedicatory address at the University. The naming of the School of Education is only incidental. On its masthead should be God’s promise for all of us, ‘You can trust Me.’”