Olivet Nazarene University is pleased to announce Kent Olney, Ph.D. as the two-year interim Vice President for Academic Affairs (VPAA), effective July 1, 2026. This appointment came following the announcement that Stephen Lowe ’88, Ph.D. had accepted a cabinet-level position at Northwest Nazarene University.
In his announcement to the faculty and staff, University President Gregg Chenoweth ’90 Ph.D. recognized Dr. Lowe’s 33 years of service at Olivet as a member of the faculty in the Department of History, dean of the College of Arts & Sciences and then as the VPAA for the past six years. In those roles, Dr. Lowe taught full-time, steered the University through the re-accreditation process, expanded the work of institutional research at Olivet and helped to revise the general education curricula, in addition to other responsibilities.
Dr. Olney has also had an extensive career at Olivet, serving as a faculty member and then chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences before assuming the role of Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. For 31 years, he has shared his talents and his heart for servant-minded leadership in the classroom, as an ordained minister in the Church of the Nazarene, and on a variety of academic committees.
Dr. Olney graduated from Asbury College in 1977 and has earned a variety of advanced degrees including an M.Div. in 1979 from Asbury Theological Seminary; an M.A. degree from Gallaudet University in 1985; and both M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Oregon in 1995 and 1999, respectively. In addition to his work at Olivet, Dr. Olney has served as a professional sign language interpreter, co-led a marriage initiative with his wife, Beth, and has spoken at numerous events around the United States.
As Dr. Olney had previously planned to retire two years from now, the decision to appoint him as the long-term interim VPAA provides some consistency and stability for the leadership team as the University will seek to fill both that and the dean position that he will now vacate.
Dr. Chenoweth said the following about the rationale for this choice.
“This plan also allows us to have stability to conclude the final Year 5 of our PAVER Priorities (2026-2027) and roll into what I imagine for us to be an ‘active waiting’ subsequent year in 2027-2028 — time for many ONU departments to do environmental scans, industry reading, site visits, dreaming, etc., before entering the formal discernment process in mid-to-late 2028 to name our next set of multi-year priorities. Presumably, the permanent VP will be installed for that discernment process.”
For more information about leadership team at Olivet, visit Olivet.edu/About.
