Dr. Jason Morris has been named executive director of Abilene Christian University’s Center for Building Community and director of the Lynay program.

Morris is dean of the Honors College and director of the Office of Major Scholarships at ACU and will continue to serve in those roles. The Center for Building Community and the Lynay program will be shifted organizationally to be aligned with the academic division of the university. 

“Jason has served ACU for 25 years and brings a wealth of experiences, including as director of the federally funded McNair Scholars Program, a faculty member and two-time Fulbright Scholar,” said Dr. Robert Rhodes, provost.

Morris holds a B.A. from Pepperdine University, an M.S. from ACU and an Ed.D. from Texas Tech University. 

Dr. Gary McCaleb founded and led the Center for Building Community and the Lynay program for more than 20 years. After 57 years at ACU, he is retiring this year and will continue to provide a consulting role to the university. Brad Benham led the Lynay program for the past four years and recently took a new role with Hendrick Health.

“The combination of Jason’s experiences over the previous years makes him well prepared and ideally qualified  for this role,” McCaleb said. “The years ahead for the Center for Building Community, and specifically the 300 Lynay students, are in good hands.”

The mission of the Center for Building Community is to address the crises of community at all levels of society. As part of that mission, Lynay is a select and ethnically diverse group of students from all majors that meets weekly to develop insights and sharpen skills as current and future community servant-leaders. In addition, the center provides an ongoing program of research, writing and speaking events for local, state, national and occasionally international audiences.

— Wendy Kilmer

July 16, 2021