ARKADELPHIA, Ark.—With the spring 2012 semester under way, several new staff members have been named to positions at Ouachita Baptist University while others have shifted to different areas of responsibility.
Among recent changes, Lauren Land has been named director of career services, Jon Merryman has been named director of alumni, Clayton Chapuis and Lauren Hardy have been named development officers and Issac Dulaney has been named assistant baseball coach.
Land, who has served since 2006 as Ouachita’s director of alumni, is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Prior to beginning work at Ouachita, she served as operations manager at Shaker Museum in Bowling Green, Ky., and as public relations manager of the Atlanta Community Food Bank in Georgia. Land is a former vice president of the Arkadelphia Area Chamber of Commerce and was named to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette Tri-Lakes edition “20 to Watch in 2010.” She and her husband, Kendal, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Arkadelphia, are the parents of three children.
In her role as OBU’s director of career services, Land succeeds Mallory Moddelmog, who resigned in January to move to Colorado. Land is responsible for providing resources tostudents in the areas of internships, resumes, job placement and related areas as well as coordinating campus career fairs and other events.
Merryman, who succeeds Land as director of alumni, is a 2000 Ouachita graduate. He is responsible for directing alumni programming, communications and campus events as well as coordinating the Ouachita online community and the annual Tiger Network Leadership Award.
He previously served four years in communications, events and church partnerships at Sweet Sleep, a non-profit organization that provides beds to orphaned and abandoned children, and seven years in children’s ministry as associate children’s minister at Brentwood Baptist Church in Brentwood, Tenn., and as children’s pastor at Rolling Hills Community Church in Franklin, Tenn. As a student at Ouachita, he was involved in the Ouachita Student Foundation, Campus Activities Board, Kappa Chi men’s social club, Ouachita Sounds, Praise Singers and Ouachita Singers. Merryman and his wife, Emily, who serves as Ouachita’s Annual Fund director, are the parents of one son.
Dr. Wesley Kluck, vice president for institutional advancement, supervises both Land and Merryman.
“Lauren will bring a great deal of experience and enthusiasm to her new position,” Kluck said. “Her alumni experience will open doors to career opportunities for our students with our alumni and her knowledge will help expand our internship program through alumni.
“Jon is excited about the opportunities in the area of alumni,” Kluck added. “His own Ouachita experience will help provide a link to the university with not only established alumni but also with younger alumni.”
In the Office of Development, Chapuis is responsible for development work in north Arkansas,Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Hardy will call on donors and prospective donors in south Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee and Mississippi.
Chapuis, a 2010 Ouachita graduate, earned his Bachelor of Arts degree with a major in Christian studies. He has served at Ouachita for the past year and a half as hall director of O.C. Bailey Hall and director of outdoor recreation.
Hardy is a 2007 Ouachita alumnae with a double major in political science and mass communications. She also holds her juris doctorate from Mississippi College. As a student at Ouachita, she served on the Tiger Serve Day leadership team and the Signal staff. She also was a member of Student Senate and was a Tiger Tunes director for Tri Chi women’s social club.
“I am pleased to welcome Lauren and Clayton as newdevelopment officers,” said Terry Peeples, vice president for development. “Both are energetic and eager to tell the story of Ouachita and raise money from their areas. Both were highly recommended by their former employers and board members. I am so excited to have them on the team. They bothlove the Lord and love Ouachita.”
Dulaney, assistant baseball coach, is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University and played for the 2006 Gulf South Conference championship team. Before joining the Ouachita staff as a graduate assistant in 2010, he coached baseball and basketball at Trinity Christian Academy in Texarkana. In his new role, he will work with Jeremy Haworth who was named Ouachita’s head baseball coach effective Jan. 1.
