by Cameron Anderson

As the director of InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministries, it is my privilege to work alongside many gifted women. Side by side, we plan, pray, and labor to see "campuses renewed, students and faculty transformed, and world changers developed."

Over the years, my female colleagues have helped me to understand that women who pursue graduate degrees, serve as university faculty, or engage in one of countless other professions are not always granted the same encouragement and support as their male counterparts. In fact, the academic world, society at large, and even our Christian communities frequently fail to "cheer on" women who choose to pursue one of these worthwhile paths.

With this need and corresponding opportunity in view, InterVarsity has chosen to develop a ministry dedicated to the needs of female graduate and professional school students and faculty. Given InterVarsity's long history of support for women in leadership, it seems to me that our campus ministry is a logical point of beginning. This new website, The Well, is just one of the programs that Sharon Gartland, our first-ever director of Women in the Academy & Professions, and her team plan to develop. In it you will discover feature articles, encouraging testimonies, and other reflections that, I believe, will strengthen the ability of women to pursue their educational and professional goals in a manner that advances God's Kingdom purposes in their chosen field and beyond.

As a brother in Christ in a campus ministry — not to mention an actual brother, father, husband, and son of some truly remarkable women — I join the Apostle Paul in saying, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Gal 6:9).

I have a keen sense that the time is right to launch this new effort and my hope is that it will stimulate many godly women to become the "light of Christ" in their respective universities and professions. In a similar vein, it is my hope this new website along with the many other projects that we have planned, will inspire a band of "good brothers" who are marked by their ability to bless their sisters as all of us, together, strive to reach our full potential in Christ.

Cameron Anderson is the national director of InterVarsity's Graduate & Faculty Ministries.