CIU Today Summer 2016

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South Carolina Business
Leader to Direct CIU
Business Program
A Lexington, South Carolina businessman
and attorney has been named the new
director of the Business & Organizational
Leadership program at Columbia
International University.
Dr. Scott R. Adams has nearly three
decades of experience in law and
business management for major
corporations including Dow Corning
Corporation, Insignia Financial Group,
Inc., Prysmian Group North America and
most recently with TrioIP Group, Inc. in
Lexington.
Adams earned a Doctor of Jurisprudence
(J.D.) degree from Brooklyn Law School
in New York City and a bachelor’s degree
in Public Administration and Allied Legal
Services (double major) from University
of Central Florida in Orlando, the area
where he grew up.
Adams has been very involved in
community affairs in the Midlands of
South Carolina, serving in key leadership
positions with several civic organizations.
He has also garnered several honors,
including “South Carolina Ambassador
for Economic Development” awarded by
Gov. Nikki Haley and State Commerce
Secretary Bobby Hitt in 2012.
CIU Counseling Program
Strengthened with
National Accreditation
Graduate students studying Clinical
Mental Health Counseling at Columbia
International University are now enrolled
in a program that carries “the gold
standard” in accreditation for their
profession.
In February, Dr. John Harvey, dean of the
program received word from the Council
for Accreditation of Counseling and
Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
that CIU’s Clinical Counseling program
meets their criteria for accreditation, the
culmination of seven years of rigorous
work by the professors and staff of the
program.
“Increasingly, state licensing agencies are
looking for counselors who are graduates
of a CACREP-accredited program,”
Harvey said. “CACREP has become the
‘gold standard’ for students pursuing
licensure.”
CIU is one of only three higher education
institutions in South Carolina offering
a CACREP-accredited master’s degree
in Clinical Mental Health Counseling,
as well as the only Christian higher
education institution in the state to do
so. Only a limited number of evangelical
universities in the nation have the
CACREP seal of approval, making CIU
attractive to counseling students seeking
a program based on a biblical worldview.
“Students are looking for Clinical
Counseling, a biblical worldview, and
CACREP accreditation,” Harvey said.
“We are now at the intersection of all
three.”
CIU Adds Undergraduate
Philosophy Major, Ph.D.
in Intercultural Studies
Two new programs will be offered in
the 2016-2017 school year at Columbia
International University.
A bachelor’s degree in Philosophy has
been added to the list of majors for
undergraduate students while a Doctor
of Philosophy in Intercultural Studies is
now available at the graduate level.
The Philosophy major offers students
a pre-law track, a pre-seminary track
or preparation for graduate school,
providing a foundation for careers
ranging from law to ministry to business.
Meanwhile, the Ph.D. in Intercultural
Studies prepares students to produce
research in areas such as history
and theology of mission, cultural
anthropology, mission strategy, and
Islamic Studies. The program is available
in three-year and five-year formats.
Dr. Ed Smither, dean of the College of
Intercultural Studies says the program is
modeled after the European Ph.D. and
can be pursued from anywhere in the
world.
“It’s a research degree without classes
that focuses on a 100,000 word
dissertation under the supervision of
a qualified specialist,” Smither said.
“Instead of having students come
to Columbia, we can take the Ph.D.
to them on the field where they can
do meaningful research in their own
context.”
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