Milligan is now offering two full-tuition scholarships for Master of Divinity students at Emmanuel Christian Seminary. The John Robert Neely, Jr. Scholarship will cover all tuition and required fees and will provide a stipend for book costs. This is the most prestigious scholarship to be offered for M.Div. students, comparable to the Alexander Campbell Scholarship, another honors scholarship for M.Div. students.
According to a Milligan press release, Neely was a graduate of Georgia Institute of Technology and held many high level positions in engineering upon his graduation. His family says in all of these things he was a “spirit-led Christian servant-leader.”
Neely’s daughter, Lane Neely Pyke, and her husband Charles were the donors for this scholarship. They wanted a way to honor the memory of her father, who passed away in 2015.
Milligan President Dr. Bill Greer also spoke on the scholarship: “We are incredibly grateful to Mr. Neely’s family for their generosity, supporting Milligan’s mission to train servant leaders. These scholarships will allow numerous seminary students to further their studies and do God’s work. It’s because of generous donors like the Pyke family that Milligan is able to offer a high-quality education at an affordable price.”
Jack Simpson, vice president for institutional advancement, was a part of the team that helped to secure this scholarship. He worked with the donors to help clarify and specify arrangements related to the scholarship. Simpson said he worked to make sure that the college “honored their wishes through the gift and established it in a way that properly memorialized the life and legacy of John Robert Neely, Jr.”
“We have a lot of really great students that are applying to the M.Div. program at Emmanuel,” Simpson said, “that are coming from Milligan’s undergraduate school of Bible and Ministry, but we also have a number of students that are coming to us from Georgia Tech and Auburn through campus ministries there, and those students are top students. This gives us more ways to recruit and attract top students into the seminary, students who I think have great potential to be very effective leaders in the church.”
Students applying for the Neely scholarship must meet the following requirements: have a 3.0 GPA undergrad, be a residential degree-seeking student (consecutively-enrolled and full-time: 9 hrs/semester) and strongly exhibit the fruit of the spirit in life and call to ministry. The application process includes completion of the M.Div. Honors Scholarship application, three references and the Neely Scholarship Essay.
The Neely scholarship is available to students as early as fall 2018. Applications are due by March 1, 2018. Awards will be announced April 1. Decision for the scholarship recipients will be “based on the strength of the essay, references, and academic performance.