New VP for Student Life announced at CSU

By Jenna Johnson | May 25, 2023

Rev. Jody Jennings will begin his role as VP for Student Life at Charleston Southern University in August. Photo provided

Charleston Southern University has selected Rev. Jody Jennings as its next vice president for student life.

Jennings currently serves as the vice president for campus ministries and student engagement at North Greenville University, where he has invested 15 years of service and leadership. He will begin his new role at Charleston Southern on August 14, 2023.

Jennings said he is excited to build upon the solid foundation constructed in Student Life over the years. “The exceptional Student Life team is positioned for maximum Kingdom impact. Student Life has an opportunity to create a Christ-centered environment that prioritizes making disciples who will change the world with the gospel,” he said. “As I reflect on the path that led me to CSU, I see God’s faithfulness at every turn. The institution’s commitment to integrate faith in learning, leading, and serving resonates with the calling God has on my life. It is an honor to join what God is doing at CSU!”

Prior to his current role, Jennings was associate vice president for campus ministries at North Greenville and Baptist Collegiate Ministry director. He led the merger of campus ministries and student life areas into one unified department for the university, where he supervised campus ministries, student ministry, chapel, residence life, student activities, clubs and organizations, career services, health services, student accountability, and campus recreation. Before entering the world of higher education, Jennings served with the International Mission Board in Uganda, East Africa and was a church planter with the North American Mission Board in North Dakota.

The Jennings family. Photo provided

With a heart to serve students within Christian higher ed, Jennings said, “I believe the greatest contribution I could make to CSU is a life of radical obedience to Jesus. It is my aim to love God and love people. Jesus provided a call to this obedience in Matthew 22:37-40 when he said, ‘Love the Lord your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’”

An alum of his current employer, Jennings earned a Bachelor of Science in business administration from North Greenville. He also holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and is currently completing a Doctor of Education there as well.

“With every leadership transition, we pray that God would call the right successor to accept the baton for his turn around the track,” said President Dr. Dondi Costin. “That our friends at North Greenville would release Jody to follow that call is yet another reminder of our collective ambition to advance the Kingdom as God directs. Jody is cut from the same gospel-saturated cloth as his predecessor at CSU, and I can’t wait to see what God does as Jody runs the race with perseverance in the Lowcountry and beyond.”

He and his wife Emily have been married for 23 years and have five children: Silas, Hattie, Luke, Millie, and Ada.