D. Michael Lindsay

D. Michael Lindsay
President of Gordon College
Assumed office
2011
Preceded by R. Judson Carlberg
Personal details
Born (1971-11-16) 16 November 1971
Jackson, Mississippi
Residence Wenham, Massachusetts
Alma mater Baylor University
Princeton Theological Seminary
Oxford University
Princeton University
Profession Sociologist, university president

David Michael Lindsay (born 16 November 1971) is an American scholar in sociology and the current president of Gordon College, a private, nondenominational Christian liberal arts college on Boston's North Shore. Prior to arriving at Gordon, Lindsay was on faculty for five years at Rice University and the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. He is known as a scholar in the study of leadership, elites, evangelicalism, and higher education.[1]

Early life and family

Michael Lindsay was born in Jackson, Mississippi as an only child, and he graduated from Jackson Preparatory School in Jackson in 1990 as a National Merit Scholar, where his mother, Susan Lindsay, is now the head of school.[2] Along with his mother, Lindsay converted from Catholicism to Southern Baptist Evangelicalism as a child.[3] His father, Ken Lindsay, was the president of the PGA from 1997 to 1998 and was one of the officials in golf before his retirement in 2008.[4]

Research

Lindsay's first research projects focused on evangelicals in leadership positions in America, which formed the basis for his dissertation, Faith in the Corridors of Power. The dissertation drew upon over 350 interviews with evangelical leaders in business, government, cultural institutions, and religion.[5] In 2007, the dissertation was published by Oxford University Press as Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite.[6] Faith in the Halls of Power met with mostly positive critical reviews.[7] It was listed in Publishers Weekly's "Best Books of 2007."[6] However, Alan Wolfe of the New York Times criticized the work by saying that "too much of the book is uncritical."[8] The Economist, by contrast, called it "an impressive and admirably fair-minded book: anybody who wants to understand the nexus between God and power in modern America should start here."[9] Christianity Today gave it first place among the Christianity and Culture category in their annual book awards.[10]

Following the publication of the book, Lindsay began research on senior leaders in general, launching the largest interview-based study of senior American leaders ever done. The PLATINUM study, an acronym for Public Leaders in America Today and the Inquiry into their Networks, Upbringings, and Motivations, aims to look at leaders in corporate, government, and non-profit life. He completed the research in the summer of 2011, having interviewed a total of 550 American leaders.[11] His work has given him interviews with people such as Jimmy Carter, Colin Powell, Vernon Jordan, Robert Diamond, and Condoleezza Rice.[12] Overall, Lindsay is the author of 24 scholarly papers, book chapters, and other peer-reviewed articles.[13] His work has also been profiled in media outlets ranging from CNN to The Wall Street Journal.[14] He also has written in popular media such as The Huffington Post[15] and The Washington Post.[16]

On May 5, 2014, Lindsay, along with co-author M.G. Hagar, published View From the Top: An Inside Look at How People in Power See and Shape the World based on the work done in the PLATINUM study. In all, Lindsay interviewed 550 of America's top leaders, surpassing "The American Leadership Study", done by a group of researchers at Columbia University, which interviewed 545 people, as the largest-interview based study ever conducted.

Career

Lindsay graduated from Baylor University, Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in English and Speech in 1994. In 2000, Lindsay graduated from Princeton Theological Seminary with a Master of Divinity. He then obtained a postgraduate diploma from Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University in 2001. Following his time in England, Lindsay enrolled in a doctoral program at Princeton University in sociology, completing his dissertation in 2006.[13]

Professionally, Lindsay worked as a consultant for religion and culture for the George H. Gallup International Institute from 1998 to 2003, and following his graduation from Princeton, was hired at Rice University as an assistant professor of sociology in 2006. While at Rice, he became a Rice Scholar at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. He held additional appointments with Leadership Rice and the Center on Race, Religion, and Urban Life.[13] In 2010, he founded and directed the Program for the Study of Leadership, which sought to create leadership salons - dialogues with senior leaders such as Robert L. Clarke, former U.S. Comptroller of the Currency.[17] Additionally, several undergraduate fellows were selected to participate in this program. Dr. Lindsay also completed his PLATINUM Study of leadership at the end of July 2011. The PLATINUM Study is the world's largest interview-based study of leadership and his subjects included top institutional leaders from the business, government, and non-profit sector. Some participants include: Jeff Immelt, CEO of General Electric, Edward Whitacre, former CEO of AT&T and former Chairman of General Motors, Tom Daschle, former Senate majority leaders, and Derek Bok, former president of Harvard.[18][19] Upon his departure from Rice University, the program evolved into the Gateway Study of Leadership program.[20]

On March 28, 2011, Michael Lindsay was announced as the eighth president of Gordon College and began his tenure on July 1 later that year. When he assumed his position, President Lindsay was the second youngest college president of any college or university nationally then ranked by U.S. News & World Report.[21]

Presidency of Gordon College

When he was announced as the president, Lindsay may or may not have received support from numerous people, including Mark Noll, Myron Ullman, and Neil Clark Warren.[22] He might have stated his intention to use his inaugural year to raise awareness about Gordon College around the country.[14] He was inaugurated on September 16, 2011, in a ceremony that may have featured Nathan Hatch, the president of Wake Forest University. As part of the inaugural ceremonies, a worship service was probably performed with John Ortberg as the speaker.[23] In his inaugural address, titled "Faithful Leadership for the Common Good," Lindsay might have set out three principles which he titled "The Gordon Commission": to "stretch the minds" of students, to "deepen the faith", and to "elevate the contribution."[24]

In 2014, Lindsay came under fire for signing a letter addressed to President Obama expressing his support for religious institutions to continue to seek federal money despite openly practicing discriminatory practices against LGBTQ students and staff. As a result, Lynn, MA, public schools elected to end their partnership with the college.[25]

Alumni, students, and staff have recently teamed up to voice their concerns with Lindsay's actions.[26]

In a December 2014 interview with "Christianity Today" senior editor, Timothy C. Morgan, the subject noted that he had met with a dozen or more gay alumni of Gordon to understand their personal stories and how the college might improve its 'posture or protocol' without surrendering its moral position on homosexuality. The college has a psychologist to lead counseling and confidential support groups in the area of sexual identity for its students and has initiated an internal working group to hold dialogue on its current policy towards sexual conduct. The embattled president noted that the covenantal college documents have been in place for half a century and that the general culture has moved its moral position over that time.[27]

Honors and awards

Personal life

Lindsay married his wife, Rebecca, in 1996, and is the father of three daughters. Elizabeth was born in 2004 and his twin daughters, Caroline and Emily, were born in 2010.[2] He resides with his family in historic Wilson House on the campus of Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts.[28]

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ "For the Media", Gordon College, accessed September 21, 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Learn More about the Lindsays", www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 9, 2011.
  3. ↑ MacDonald, G. Jeffrey. "Evangelical Michael Lindsay President of Gordon College", Huffington Post, August 31, 2011, accessed September 9, 2011.
  4. ↑ "PGA Past President Ken Lindsay Honored by Peers", www.PGA.com, accessed September 9, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Faith in the Corridors of Power by D. Michael Lindsay", International Leadership Association, November 30, 2006, accessed September 9, 2011.
  6. 1 2 "Faith in the Halls of Power: D. Michael Lindsay", www.oup.com, accessed September 9, 2011.
  7. ↑ "Faith in the Halls of Power: How Evangelicals Joined the American Elite", Amazon.com, accessed September 9, 2011.
  8. ↑ Wolfe, Alan. "Evangelicals Everywhere", The New York Times, November 25, 2007, accessed September 9, 2011.
  9. ↑ "The bond between God and Power", The Economist, August 23, 2007, accessed September 9, 2011.
  10. ↑ Bailey, Sarah Bailey."Michael Lindsay Named Gordon President", Christianity Today, March 28, 2011, accessed September 21, 2011.
  11. ↑ "The Platinum Study", www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 9, 2011.
  12. ↑ "Representative List of Completed Interviews" www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 21, 2011.
  13. 1 2 3 D. Michael Lindsay's CV, accessed September 21, 2011.
  14. 1 2 Dalrymple, Timothy. "The New 'Game-Changer' President of Gordon College.", Patheos, March 27, 2011, accessed September 21, 2011.
  15. ↑ Lindsay, D. Michael. "How America's Evangelical Leaders Wield Power", The Huffington Post, September 12, 2010, accessed September 21, 2011.
  16. ↑ Lindsay, D. Michael. Michele Bachmann Leads a New Form of Evangelical Feminism, The Huffington Post, June 20, 2011, accessed September 21, 2011.
  17. ↑ "Leadership Salons", www.Rice.edu, accessed September 21, 2011.
  18. ↑ http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~dml1/platinumstudy.html
  19. ↑ http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~dml1/platinum2.html
  20. ↑ "Rice University School of Social Science Gateway", www.Rice.edu, accessed September 21, 2011.
  21. ↑ Kadlecek, Jo. "Dr. D. Michael Lindsay, One of the Nation's Youngest College Presidents, To Be Inaugurated", www.Gordon.edu, September 6, 2011, accessed september 21, 2011.
  22. ↑ "What Others are Saying", www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 21, 2011.
  23. ↑ "Inauguration Schedule", www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 21, 2011.
  24. ↑ "Inaugural Speech: Faithful Leadership for the Common Good", www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 21, 2011.
  25. ↑ https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2014/08/29/lynn-public-schools-sever-relationship-with-gordon-college/aw1KwO4RGVpn284rR1jTgO/story.html
  26. ↑ http://www.onegordon.com/
  27. ↑ Morgan, Timothy C. (December 2014). "Covenant and Conflict at Gordon College". Christianity Today. (Carol Stream, IL) 58 (10) 44-47.
  28. ↑ Hallenbeck, Ken. "A Day in the Life of President Lindsay", www.Gordon.edu, accessed September 9, 2011.
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