The Carl Spain Center at Abilene Christian University is now led by executive director Tryce Prince (’18), after the transition of founding director Dr. Jerry Taylor, and the center continues to work to foster unity among Christians.
“The Spain Center was founded to be a voice of hope that speaks to the hearts, minds and souls of all Christians,” Prince said. “Since 2018, under the direction of Dr. Taylor, the Carl Spain Center has created imaginative spaces where spiritual formation, engaged research and diverse community happen together. We are proud of this work and immensely grateful for the visionary leadership provided by Dr. Taylor. We are also excited for this new chapter of the center’s burgeoning story.”
Prince, a sociology graduate of ACU, was the executive assistant to the center from 2018-20 and has continued to serve as a consultant, helping manage various research projects and programming. He is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Illinois-Chicago and a Center for the Study of Religion and Society Affiliate at the University of Notre Dame. Prince and his wife, Erin, and their three daughters currently live in Chicago.
The Spain Center has several areas of focus for the upcoming year:
- A student lecture series where students participate in guided research opportunities, culminating in a research presentation, as well as long-term faculty mentorship and relationship building
- Continuing the Don Williams and Royce Money Distinguished Lecture Series, bringing in leaders in the field of spiritual formation and race studies to the ACU campus and the Abilene community
- The Larry Bonner and Billy Curl Endowed Scholarship, which supports outstanding students who epitomize their historical and living legacies. Curl (’64) and the late Bonner (’64) were the first two African American undergraduate students to enroll in and graduate from Abilene Christian. Contributions to endow the scholarship in perpetuity can be made here.
- Expanding partnerships with individuals, churches and other organizations to help religious communities strive towards racial unity.
“We find ourselves in what many consider an unprecedented time in our nation’s history. Partisanship, polarization and fragmentation abound. Conversations across social groups have become increasingly contentious. And the church remains fractured. Yet, hope still lives, sustained by the Spirit of God, who lives in us and empowers us to be co-laborers with Christ,” Prince said. “The current moment reveals a need for leadership that can model the boundary-defying and unifying teachings of Jesus to the church and nation. I believe the Carl Spain Center is uniquely equipped to help meet this need and lead the ACU community and Christian church towards unity. I am excited to work with our partners as we strive towards unity and continue to write our story that began almost seven years ago.”
The Carl Spain Center was founded in 2018 and named in honor of Dr. Carl Spain (’38), whose voice was a catalyst for change on the campus in the mid-1900s. Spain, who taught Bible at Abilene Christian, spoke at the 1960 Bible lectureship and challenged the school and other Christian colleges to open their doors to Black students. ACC began admitting Black students the following academic year.
Learn more about the Carl Spain Center.
