The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU) recently awarded Lee University a $5,000 grant to support conversations about the intersection between Christianity and international relations at Lee. The project will be directed by Dr. Ana Shippey, associate professor of political science at Lee.  

The grant will go toward a conference, titled “Christian-Informed International Relations: Thinking, Teaching, and Practicing,” which Lee will host in April 2025. Three CCCU faculty from Lee University, Westmont College, and Northwest Nazarene University will collaborate and host the three-day conference for international relations scholars, including panels, workshops, and a public panel.  

“My colleagues and I are honored and thankful to the CCCU for supporting our project through this grant,” said Shippey. “I expect this conference to ‘put Lee University on the map’ of scholarly work on Christianity and international relations and to continue to affirm Lee’s distinctiveness and excellence in faith integration.”  

International relations is a subfield of political science that studies the interactions of nations and states on a broad range of topics, including politics, economy, diplomacy, conflict resolution, and more. The mission of “Christian-Informed International Relations: Thinking, Teaching, and Practicing” is to address the biblical foundations of international relations as a discipline, how to teach it, and how to approach debates on it from a Christian perspective.  

“I hope that this conference will strengthen the work that we already do at Lee-teaching our students to love our neighbors well, locally and globally,” said Shippey.  

Lee University acknowledges funding from the Networking Grants for Christian Scholars, a project run by the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities.  

The CCCU is an international association of over 185 Christian higher education institutions, emphasizing public advocacy, professional development and scholarship, and experiential education while maintaining a Christ-centered outlook.  

For more information about the CCCU, visit cccu.org/.  

For more information about the History, Political Science, and Humanities Department at Lee, visit leeuniversity.edu/academics/arts-sciences/hps/.