Kuyper Board Earns ABHE Certification

Members of the Kuyper College Board of Trustees were recently honored with a Certificate of Excellence in Board Governance from the Association of Biblical Higher Education, becoming one of only four member colleges to earn the recognition this year.

The award followed completion of the ABHE’s Board Governance Training program and represents a year’s worth of effort on the part of the participants, said Kuyper President Patricia Harris.

“I have never worked with a board that has been so intentional in their commitment to board development,” she said. “They didn’t just settle for the minimum requirements; they decided they were really going to shine.” 

The ABHE is a network of over 150 institutions of biblical higher education, spread across the United States and Canada, and it fosters academically rigorous postsecondary education that challenges students to develop critical thinking skills and form biblical, Christian worldviews.

And all the board’s hard work did not escape their notice, said Harris.

“It was mentioned to us time and time again. Even when I received the award, the presenter noted that we set the bar, going above and beyond what was expected of us,” she said.  

Kuyper enjoys a fruitful relationship with the ABHE, through both membership and academic accreditation, said Harris, who completed the program alongside board chair Janice Koopman and members Dave Smies, Gary Bekker and Eric Hoogstra.

Beginning in the fall of 2023, the group worked closely with a leadership coach, traveled to ABHE conferences, met monthly – either in-person or virtually – and attended training sessions.

Koopman noted that the skills and insights she gained during the process have already proved to be useful. 

“They’ve been instrumental in strengthening my leadership abilities and equipping me with practical tools to contribute to the board’s initiatives more effectively,” she said. 

Harris explained that the board’s work began with rating themselves using several essential principles of board governance and, from that, creating five action steps to work on over the next year. 

“We then built an entire board development strategic plan for how we were going to implement them,” she added.

And she doesn’t see the growth stopping any time soon. Going forward, the group has targeted new action steps involving the entire board.

“It’s going to continue. If we’re going to meet all of our goals, it’s going to take us a while,” she said.

Koopman also sees big things happening for the College and its board in the future.

“As the Board continues this work, we are committed to continuing to apply these lessons and creating a long-term positive impact on Kuyper,” she said.

The ultimate goal of all this, Harris explained, is to ensure that Kuyper has strong, godly leaders at the helm for many years to come.

“This will help our board to have a deeper understanding of what being a board member at a Bible college means and the value that adds to Kuyper as a whole,” she said.