“Empowering People to Dream” ft. Gordon College’s Michael D. Hammond I Saturdays at Seven Ep. 28

In the twenty-eighth episode of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Michael D. Hammond, the President of Gordon College. Hammond opens by discussing his loyalties as an avid baseball fan and his experience of throwing out the first pitch at a Boston Red Sox game. He then discusses the discernment process he undertook and the critical role mentors played as he made the transition from a department chair to a dean, to a provost, and now to a president. Ream and Hammond discuss Hammond’s leadership style and how that style has contributed to the considerable rise in engagement and morale at Gordon even though morale and engagement have declined across higher education in recent years. They also talk about how that leadership style pays dividends during the season of political, social, and even religious fragmentation presently plaguing the United States. Ream and Hammond then close their conversation by exploring how the Christian academic vocation is understood and exercised at Gordon and the unique opportunities that come with its exercise in New England.