Tartan update #3: Goodbye to Faculty Shepherds

[Published April 16, 2010]

It’s been a long and victorious run for women’s basketball team head coach, Jeannine Cavallaro, and for Gordon in Boston director, Craig McMullen, but next year both will be running new roads that lead away from Gordon.

“I have been able to coach some amazing young women and have been so blessed by them,” said Cavallaro, who just coached her tenth season with Gordon. “That's the part I will miss most for sure.”

Cavallaro has been coaching for 16 years and hopes one day to make her love for athletics into a Christian ministry. In the meantime she’ll be working with her brother’s company, World Championship Fighting, promoting mixed martial arts events in the New England region.

But she will never forget everything she and her teams accomplished at Gordon or the meaningful conversations she’s had with team members over the years. Cavallaro was more than a coach; she was a friend and a shepherd for her team. Gordon will be hard pressed to replace her, but they will soon conduct a national search for someone to fill her shoes.

McMullen was one of the founding fathers of Gordon in Boston and served as director for eight years. “The intent,” said McMullen, “is to have the program be not just an extension of Gordon but a meaningful presence in the city.”

McMullen has been involved in pastoral work for 30 years and now has an opportunity to reconnect with that calling at the Potters’ House church in Denver. “I was born to pastor,” he said. “I look forward to rejoining congregational life.”

As GIB director, McMullen created a place for students to participate in urban internships, established partnerships with Boston school so students could cross-register there, and brought Selected Topics classes to the GIB program.

This may be goodbye for McMullen, but GIB isn’t going anywhere. Cliff Hersey, Dean for Global Education, will take up McMullen’s mantle. McMullen said, “Urban studies is healthy and alive and open to all majors.”