Academic History
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Biola’s School of Intercultural Studies (SICS) was started in 1984. On its 25th Anniversary in 2009 the school’s name was changed to the Clyde and Anna Belle Cook School of Intercultural Studies.

History

Although ICS was started in 1984, its history goes back to 1916. In 1916 Biola founder Lyman Stewart helped to establish the Hunan Bible Institute in China to train men and women in the Bible. Within a decade the school had developed into a half million-dollar 10 acre campus that served as a launching pad for pastors and evangelists into China.

In 1949 with the communist takeover in China, Biola was forced to abandon the property. Due to the communist takeover the Hunan Bible Institute suffered major damage, with the school seeming permanently lost. The Chinese government decided to repay Biola for the property 30 years, 1979, later in the amount $962,000. Biola’s then President, Clyde Cook, a former missionary to the Philippines, used that money which was intended for missions for missions.

In 1983 Cook used that money to transform Biola’s existing Missions Department into what has been known as the School of Intercultural Studies. Marvin Mayers took the helm of the department as the school’s first dean. At first just two masters degrees were offered brining in 12 graduate students during its first semester. By the next year the school expanded to include a Doctor of Missiology degree, the first of its kind in the nation.

Biola soon became known as the place for cross-cultural missions training. In 1986 Dean Mayers and Professor Sherwood Lingerfelter authored the seminal missions book Ministering Cross-Culturally. To this day royalties from the book continue to bring in $5000 to $8000 in student scholarships each year. Under the leadership of the school’s next two deans Don Douglas and Doug Pennoyer the school continued to grow dramatically, nearly growing three times as much in enrollment since 1998. The school now offers 10 different degree programs.

The SICS Department also established a presence on two other continents. Extension campuses opened in Thailand in 2000 and in Lithuania in 2003, allowing overseas students to take modular classes and earn a graduate degree without having to set foot in the USA. More than 400 students now attended the SCIS each year.

The very diverse faculty at SCIS have a high level of experience in their fields, most with 15 plus years of experience working in missions. As of 2009 more than 1,600 alumni are serving in 6 continents and at least 50 countries around the world. The school is currently making a new academic journal, building a Missions Resource room and has established a new name; The Cook School of Intercultural Studies to honor the work and commitment of the school’s founder and his wife Dr. Clyde and Anna Belle Cook.