Olivet honors Chase Deaton of Indianapolis with Servant Leadership Award

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Chase Deaton (L) receives congratulations from Mrs. Jennifer Johnson (center in blue) and Beth Olney, director of Olivet's Center for Student Success, for his outstanding servant leadership.

BOURBONNAIS, IL (04/24/2014)(readMedia)-- Olivet Nazarene University presented the 2014 Servant Leadership Award to Chase Deaton of Indianapolis and Alex Phillips of Monee, Illinois, during the chapel service on Wednesday, April 23, 2014. This is a national award that Olivet has been presenting for the past seven years.

Faculty, staff and students submit nominations of students in the junior class who demonstrate the qualities of a servant's heart. As part of the award, each recipient receives $1,000 - $250 of which is donated to the charity of his or her choice.

Chase Deaton is a junior sociology major at Olivet. In addition to serving as a Freshman Connections mentor, he is a member of Olivet's Preaching Ambassadors, works for Shine.FM radio network, and volunteers at the Center of Hope in Kankakee. He is also the junior class chaplain. He hopes to continue serving others by pursuing a career as a high school guidance counselor. Deaton chose to make his donation to the Center of Hope in Kankakee, Illinois.

This year's Servant Leadership Award is named in honor of the late Dr. Kenneth Johnson, formerly the chair of the Department of Engineering. Johnson left an engineering firm in Michigan to join Olivet's faculty in 2012. During his brief tenure at Olivet, the engineering department saw unparalleled growth in enrollment, added a new wing, and achieved ABET accreditation through 2016. Besides his academic accomplishments, Johnson also demonstrated servant leadership in his personal and professional life.

Johnson passed away during a bicycle race in 2013. He is survived by his wife, Jennifer, and four children, who were present for the awards ceremony. "His legacy of servant leadership lives on in the lives of those he touched," said Dr. Jay Martinson, chair of Olivet's Department of Communication, when presenting the awards.

Olivet Nazarene University is an accredited Christian, liberal arts university offering more than 100 areas of undergraduate and graduate study, including the Doctor of Education in ethical leadership. Olivet has one main campus in Bourbonnais, Ill. - just 50 miles south of Chicago; three additional sites: Rolling Meadows and Oak Brook, Ill., and Hong Kong; and more than 100 School of Graduate and Continuing Studies learning locations throughout Chicagoland and the Midwest. From Oxford to Tokyo, hundreds of Olivet students also experience the global classroom each year, whether through study abroad opportunities or worldwide mission trips.

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Contact:

Laura Warfel

Public Relations Specialist

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, Ill.

www.olivet.edu

815-928-5403

lwwarfel@olivet.edu