College’s new leader reveals agenda for the future
By Matthew Purucker · News Editor
Taking on the position from former President Paul McNulty, a fellow alumnus, Brad Lingo became the college’s 10th president on July 1, initiating a rare change in the nearly 150-year history of the educational institution. Since arriving, Lingo has focused on his first-year agenda. The 2,000 graduate has high aspirations for the college, and he is excited to work on strengthening the Christian formation of students.
“The Bible says, ‘Go and make disciples of all nations.’ As a faculty and staff, we don’t even have to go out to all nations to make disciples. Talented, eager students come here,” Lingo said. “They come here to live and learn alongside of us, and they come here to learn. So, we can be one of the best, if not the best, four-year discipleship program on the planet with that opportunity that we have,” he said.
One of the ways Lingo plans to increase the Christian and academically strong constitution of the college is by introducing the President’s Scholarship Program. Beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, incoming freshman students can earn the scholarship if they have a 3.5 high school GPA and meet a SAT score of 1400, a CLT score of 100 or an ACT score of 31. Along with a $7,500 per year scholarship, President’s Scholars can regularly meet with President Lingo, network with alumni and take part in other programs to develop their Christian and academic character.
“Those (excellent) students have a lot of scholarship offers at a lot of different places,” Lingo said. “We want to be committed to being the place to be for the most academically talented Christian young men and women in high school in the country. … So, one of my priorities, from a fundraising standpoint, is going to be raising more money for merit scholarships that we can use to attract some of the most talented students in the country.”
Another aspect Lingo believes can improve the college is completing the Impact 150 fundraiser. The Smith Hall (formerly Rockwell) project, the most expensive among the financial campaign goals, impressed the Harvard Law School graduate.
“I think our biggest area of opportunity academically is with the opening of the newly renovated Smith Hall and then the STEM Hall, which is, in the scheme of things, not all that old. So, we now, for a Christian college, have some of the best science facilities of any Christian college in the country,” Lingo said. “If you go to a lot of other Christian colleges, they just don’t have the money to have these kinds of science facilities. So, we have a legacy of excellence in engineering that we’ve then built on into really having world-class science facilities.”
With the Smith Hall transformation finished under former President McNulty, President Lingo could lead the college through planned athletic capital projects, increasing the annual fund and more financial aid offerings.
However, with the opening convocation and other start-of-year festivities in the past, Lingo’s core, day-to-day duties begin.
“I’m most excited about the possibility of doing for the next generation of Grove City students what Grove City did for me. I know how significant and transformational that was in my life,” Lingo said. “And the idea of being able to be a small part of that, not just for one life, but for 2,000 or more lives, and hopefully not just for one year, but for many years, is just an overwhelmingly exciting possibility.”
