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This entry refers to a departed business — a business that has closed or left town. Information here is mostly for historical reference.

 

Location
800 Bethany Drive, Scotts Valley, CA 95066
Contact Number
(800) 843-9410 Toll-Free
Website
http://www.bethany.edu
Established
1919 - Founded as Glad Tidings Bible College in San Francisco
1950 - Moved to its Scotts Valley location
1955 - Changed name to Bethany Bible College
2005 - Became "Bethany University"
2011 - Acquired by Olivet University.
2012 - Abandoned by Olivet University.
2017 - became 1440 Multiversity

Bethany University officially set to close on August 12, 2011. In July, Bethany Corp. decided to dissolve and give control of the university to the Northern California-Nevada District of the Assemblies of God, who is looking for a buyer for the campus.

In September 2011 the area was acquired by Olivet University. They were to keep the name Bethany. Due to financial problems, by May 2012; Olivet vacated the Bethany campus.

Bethany University was a regionally-accredited, comprehensive Christian university. It was founded in 1919 as Glad Tidings Bible Institute in San Francisco, and was a training center conducted by Mary and Robert Craig for a San Francisco ministry. The University is affiliated with the Northern California and Nevada District of the Assemblies of God. The institution moved to its location in Scotts Valley in 1950, and it became a four year college in 19551, taking the new name Bethany Bible College2.

The name Bethany is derived from the village in Palestine named in the New Testament, and is from the Hebrew, meaning "House of Poverty".

Bethany University has also gone by the names Bethany College and Bethany College Of The Assemblies Of God.

Bethany Park is the residential area that surrounds the campus and was named after the college.

Bethany Drive is the road that leads up to the University, and Bethany Loop and Bethany Way are two small roads connected to Bethany Drive.

 

Stowell Center A sign showing the University's major features The construction in progress at the time of the closure

 

The university mission provided for biblically-centered education, preparing trained leaders for the church and society. Enrollment in the 2010-11 academic year was down to approximately 400 students3, as opposed to the school's website's figure that stated approximately 534 students were enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs in the School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Professional Studies, the School of Theological Studies, and in non-traditional programs for adult learners under the auspices of the School of Distributed Learning. In its final years, the university was down to 22 full-time faculty and 50 adjunct faculty.

 

Craig Memorial Capel or Craig Chapel was the spiritual center of the campus, and students were required to attend a certain number of Chapels to fufill their educational requirements. Programming at the chapel was four days a week. Next to the Chapel were benches and gathering areas, including a small area called Popineau Park.

 

 

Craig Memorial Chapel Craig Memorial Chapel and Popineau Park

 

Wilson Library featured 65,000 volumes of books as well as photocopiers, including one for photocopying microfilm and microfiche, and computers.

Wilson Library

 

The student union was called The Spot, and featured a big flat screen television, the coffee corner, a pool table, a ping pong table, study rooms, and a work out room called the Cardio Room.

The Spot

 

Athletics at Bethany included NAIA & California Pacific Conferences for the men in basketball, baseball and soccer, and for the women in basketball, soccer, softball and volleyball. Their teams were known as the Bruins and the gymnasium was called the Redwood Auditorium.

Redwood Auditorium

 

The Redwood Amphtheter or the Redwood Bowl is a small amphitheter located under the redwoods and is reached by crossing a bridge over Carbonera Creek, which flows through the campus.

Redwood Amphitheater

 

Music at Bethany included the Ambassadors, Concert Choir, Handbell Choir, and Instrumental Ensemble.

Student ministries included, the Drama Association, Men's Ministry, PUSH Ministries-prayer team, Roadtrip (Church relations), Skate Church, Surf Ministry, Urban Ministries, Veritas Forum, and Women's Ministry.

Their website in 2011 described the student makeup as: ■African-American 8% ■Asian-American and Pacific Islander-American 4% ■Caucasian 62% ■Hispanic 17% ■International 2% ■Native American 1% ■Other 6%

Gender ■Male 38% ■Female 62%

Affiliations ■Assemblies of God 50% ■Other Christian denominations/affiliations 50%

Bethany University offered 18 majors and 22 minors, and was served by a highly-credentialed faculty dedicated to teaching, to the integration of faith and learning, and to the translation of Christian belief into global service.

In June 2011, Rev. James Braddy, chairman of Bethany's board of trustees included this in his letter to the University, "There will be an immediate cessation of all teaching activities June 13, 2011 and we will prepare for an orderly shutdown of the university," We did all we could to avoid this painful decision. We simply had no other choice." On the university's website the message was later modifed, and Bethany announced they were in "teach out" mode while arranging a Memoranda of Understanding with their accreditation body and other accredited institutions, and were working with potential agreements with Vanguard University, William Jessup University, and Northwest University, though talks with those institutions eventually broke down.

One of the grim realities of Betrhany's closure is that none of the university's faculty and staff received severance packages when the campus suddenly shut down. The private institution never paid into the state's unemployment fund, so employees of the university were not eligible to apply for assistance.

On July 7, 2011, Bethany Corp. members voted to dissolve itself. The meeting was held at the Capitol Christian Center in Sacramento and streamed online. Many alumni watched as the votes were tallied.

In august/September 2011 Bethany University was acquired by Olivet University. According to the website: "We chose to retain the name "Bethany University" precisely to honor that heritage."

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2012-04-24 09:55:20   I began a search for my alma mater to inquire about a masters program and sadly found out that Bethany was closed. I am still numb. Tony Thomas Alumni 1970. —99.100.247.40

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