Ecclesia College is pleased to announce that it has named its new President. Dr. Randall Bell is a lifelong educator who has most recently been working with the same accreditation body through which Ecclesia College maintains accreditation. The Ecclesia Board of Governance named Dr. Bell as Ecclesia College’s new president on April 13, 2018 but his first day in the office was, April 23, 2018.
Dr. Randall Bell's Bio
Dr. Randall Bell served three and a half years on active duty with the U.S. Navy from 1970 to 1973. During his active duty service, he served in several administrative roles with Navscon, the Navy’s school that taught construction battalion enlisted men the various construction trades. In 1972, he was honored as an outstanding junior officer of the year by the Ventura County Navy League. After completing his active duty, he continued to serve as a Naval reservist for another four years as both an assistant training officer for a Naval Construction Battalion and officer-in-charge of a ninety (90) man detachment.
Following his years on active duty, in September of 1973, Dr. Bell accepted a position as assistant to the executive director of the accrediting association of what is now the Association for Biblical Higher Education (“ABHE”). This began a career with the U.S. Department of Education recognized accrediting body that lasted nearly four decades. During his career with the Commission, he made hundreds of consulting visits with colleges, universities and seminaries throughout both the U.S. and Canada helping them work through the Commission’s accrediting process, and assisting them with efforts to strengthen their educational practices. In February of 2011, Dr. Bell was the 21st recipient of the Distinguished Service Award granted by the alumni association of the Moody Bible Institute. Upon his retirement in 2012, Dr. Bell was honored with the Biblical Higher Education award, given annually to an outstanding educator within the membership of the ABHE. He has continued to serve the Commission on a contractual basis as a senior staff consultant.
Dr. Bell’s educational credentials include the following:
- 1964, Moody Bible Institute, Diploma in Missionary Technology, with honors in scholarship
- 1969, Purdue University, B.S. in Electrical Engineering Technology, with highest distinction
- 1973, California Lutheran University, MBA
- 1986, University of Arkansas, Ed.D. in Higher Education Administration (Upon graduation, the faculty of the College of Education of the University of Arkansas recognized him for outstanding scholarly achievement in higher education.)
For four and a half years, Dr. Bell served on the Recognition Committee of the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation. He served at the national level on multiple accreditation committees. He was active within the Secretariat of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities. In 1998, he served on an advisory committee for the U.S. Department of Education’s negotiated rule-making process for the purpose of establishing regulations to implement the reauthorized higher education amendments. He served nine years on the board of the National Association of Evangelicals. He also served as Commissioner for Recognition of the International Council for Evangelical Theological Education.
Since his official retirement in 2012, Dr. Bell has completed contract work for his former employer, for multiple institutions of higher education, and for the Ambassador-Enterprises Corporation. He also has completed the certification process of the Quality Management Institute.
Dr. Bell and his wife, Carol, of 48 years have three children and eight grandchildren.
