MANCHESTER, NH (December 24, 2001) – A $3.35 million federal grant has been awarded to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College in Manchester.
Dale Kuehne of Bethany Covenant Church in Bedford, New Hampshire, founded the institute and serves as its director. Kuehne’s work has helped the institute secure a total of $9.2 million in federal assistance, including a $4 million grant in January. The grants were secured with the aid of U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire.
Kuehne took a leave of absence from teaching to help the school expand its programs. He will resume teaching in September and a new director will be hired. Besides working at St. Anselm, Kuehne serves as part-time interim pastor of Emmanuel Covenant Church in nearby Nashua.
A teacher at St. Anselm for eight years, Kuehne found during the 1996 presidential primary in New Hampshire a good opportunity to engage students in the political process. He approached St. Anselm administrators with the idea of expanding the school’s political studies program, a move that has enjoyed wide support, both inside and outside of the school. Two years ago, the school received $1.85 million, much of it to renovate a 20,000-square-foot facility provided by the federal government.
A portion of the recent grant will help complete construction. Classrooms, research and resource centers and meeting rooms are already being used. A 300-seat auditorium and media center are expected to be finished by fall. The institute will host political debates, lectures and town meetings that will be open to the public, anticipating a busy schedule during the next presidential campaign season.
The center will have four research centers: New Hampshire politics, American politics, international affairs and religion and public life. The latter area is of particular importance to Kuehne, who helped secure then-Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Arizona) two years ago for a town meeting at Bethany Covenant.
“We’ve always hosted presidential candidates in New Hampshire,” said Kuehne of St. Anselm. “And since I’m lining up candidates at the college, it’s not hard for me to put on my pastor’s cap and approach candidates about coming to local churches.
“I believe in the deepest part of my being that the gospel has implications for the entirety of our lives,” Kuehne continued as he discussed the necessity for Christians to understand political issues. “(John) Calvin said that politics was the highest of all civil callings, and it’s really important for the church to participate in public life. Because civic life is so important, the stakes are high and it gets pretty dirty. I think that has caused many churches to remove themselves from politics. I think that’s a big mistake. We need to be as engaged in this as much as we’ve ever been.”
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