Dr. Doug Needham, Provost and Vice President, Academic, today announced that Dr. Robert Joustra, assistant professor of international studies, has been appointed as the inaugural director of Redeemer’s new Centre for Christian Scholarship. The appointment is effective November 1, 2014. “Dr. Joustra’s vision for the Centre is bold and striking,” said Needham. “The Search Committee was excited about his plans for increasing the prominence of Christian scholarship across Canada and North America. Even more exciting is the impact that those ideas could have.” Joustra’s passion is for translating high level Christian scholarship into treasures offered to and for Canadian and North American society. “It’s not about diluting or diminishing scholarly quality, but about orienting that scholarship in accessible ways to answer questions that our neighbours are actually asking,” notes Joustra. In an op-ed he wrote recently for The Globe and Mail, Joustra makes the point that Christian academics have a place in the wider Canadian context. He argues that Redeemer’s distinctive contribution is teaching and research that offers itself as part of, and to the benefit of, an increasingly receptive public. “We’ve offered our students as our best gifts to Canadian and North American society for decades,” says Joustra. “This Centre will build the other half of what an academic institution offers — high quality Christian scholarship for the common good.” Besides his role on faculty at Redeemer, Joustra is well connected in broader Christian academic and public policy circles: he is an Editorial Fellow for The Review of Faith & International Affairs, and a Fellow at The Center for Public Justice. A graduate of Redeemer’s History and Political Science program, Joustra earned an MA in Globalization Studies at McMaster University and his Ph.D in International Relations at the University of Bath (UK). Before coming to Redeemer, he worked at Cardus, a Hamilton-based think tank dedicated to the renewal of North American social architecture. Joustra is excited about the impact the Centre will have on Redeemer and beyond. “We – Christian scholars at Redeemer and elsewhere — have enormous treasures to develop and share. We are only beginning to understand how well they can be used for this moment.“ The Centre for Christian Scholarship was established to foster the work of Christian scholarship in Canada and leverage that work for maximum public impact. Supported by a grant from the Stronger Together Foundation, the Centre will formally launch in early 2015.