doctoral initiative steering committee (disc)

WHAT WE DO

The mission of the DISC is to continue the work of the ICETE Beirut Process. We focus on promoting and supporting the development of sound doctoral education programs in ICETE member schools, particularly in the Global South. This includes developing resources and providing guidance for their use by regional accrediting agencies and member schools. The committee also functions as a clearing house for requests for assistance with faculty development, training events, and doctoral program assessment processes.

Who We Are

The ICETE Doctoral Initiative Steering Committee (DISC) began in 2014 to:

Promote excellence and best practice in evangelical doctoral education
Create resources and structures for accreditation and assessment for doctoral programs
Create a database and disseminate knowledge about current doctoral programs
Provide doctoral programs with ideas and information about resources available for doctoral programs and doctoral students
Provide a locus where key issues and challenges faced by doctoral programs can be discussed, researched, and solutions proposed
Promote and facilitate partnership initiatives both Global South to Global North and Global South to Global South
Promote the writing and publication of materials that will serve the development, running, review, and enhancement of doctoral programs offered in evangelical seminaries, colleges, and universities
Enhance the creation of high-quality research culture within and between institutions offering doctoral education, including Global South to South academic dialogue
Develop benchmarks for adequate bibliographical resources and access to them
Gather and distribute information about common (online) courses that can be shared across programs
Create benchmarks for DMin programs
Provide training and resourcing to supervisory faculty on doctoral programs
Provide advice, consultancy, and training to doctoral programs being developed or in proposal

DISC meets virtually and in person throughout the year, including special sessions at the ICETE triennial consultations. For more information about DISC, please contact Dr. Kevin Lawson, Dr. Jung-Sook Lee, or Dr. Steve Chang.

DISC includes educational leaders from around the world who have experience with doctoral education issues.

Sunday Agang, Jos ECWA Theological Seminary, Nigeria
Scott Cunningham, Overseas Council, USA
Evan Hunter, ScholarLeaders, USA
John Jusu, Africa International University, Kenya, Overseas Council Africa
Darren Kennedy, Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo, Egypt

Bennet Lawrence, Asia Theological Association (ATA India)
Kevin Lawson (co-chair), Talbot School of Theology, USA
Anthony Oliver, Caribbean Evangelical Theological Association (CETA)
Marvin Oxenham, European Council for Theological Education (ECTE)
Parush Parushev, IBTSC Amsterdam, Netherlands, Langham Scholars

Katherina Penner, Library Specialist, Austria
David Roldan, Instituto Teológico FIET, Argentina
Sooi Ling Tan, Asia Graduate School of Theology (AGST) Alliance
Mike Wheeler, Association for Evangelical Theological Education in Latin America (AETAL)

How We Can Help

We desire to assist ICETE affiliated school leaders and faculty in developing and maintaining strong doctoral education programs in their school and region. We develop resources and offer training and consultation to schools with, or seeking to start doctoral programs. If you believe we can be of help in some way, please contact us.

ICETE Academy Courses on Doctoral Education Issues

Check the ICETE Academy website for several courses available on doctoral education issues, including courses on research ethics, dissertation supervision, doctoral program best practices, and doctoral program assessment.

ICETE Resources on Doctoral Education Issues

We encourage you to review and make use of several resources on doctoral education that ICETE has published: