2016 DSA Recipients

On September 23 – 24 we welcomed alumni and families back to campus to celebrate Homecoming & Family Weekend. As part of that celebration, we honored four outstanding alumni with the Distinguished Service Award. The award is presented each year to alumni of Geneva College who embody the principles for which Geneva College stands, and whose efforts on behalf of the college, the community, and the nation have been exemplary. The award is also a means of honoring alumni for exemplifying Geneva’s standards, mission and commitment to servant-leadership. This year there were four recipients. 

RACHEL CYPHER ‘06

Rachel Cypher is a 2006 graduate from Geneva College where she was an active member of the Track and Field team and worked as a student admissions counselor. She received her B.A. in Human Services.

Rachel is currently working for Post Properties, and has remained a faithful employee there for over 9 years. She started as a Leasing Consultant in Orlando, Florida, in 2007, and was transferred in October 2015 to Austin, Texas, for current Property Manager position. Rachel has received multiple honors with Post Properties, including the Commercial Star award, Assistant Manager Mentor award and Property Manager of the Quarter. She has also served on the Customer Satisfaction Committee for 5 years.

She grew up as a member of Community Alliance CMA Church in Butler, Pennsylvania. She recently began attending South Austin OPC, as well as Grace RP Church in Gibsonia when she is in Pittsburgh. Rachel is widowed after three years of marriage, but she is currently planning a fall wedding to Geneva grad James Samreny (‘05), who has two children, Liliana and Jaxon.

Rachel has a heart for Godly discipleship and encouraging others in their faith, and she loves meeting with people for conversations over coffee.

She is planning a move back to Pittsburgh this fall. The tentative plans are to work on her family’s Christmas tree farm (Cypher’s Tree Farm in Butler, PA) and at The Oven restaurant in Wexford, where her fiancé James is the General Manager.

TITUS MARTIN ‘01

Titus received a B.A. in Elementary Education from Geneva College in 2001. He went on to volunteer for a ministry called Mission Year. Serving in West Philadelphia, Titus learned how it looks to live intentionally in a neighborhood. During that time, he developed a hunger to know God’s Word more than ever. After God opened the doors for him to attend the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary (RPTS) in Pittsburgh, Titus felt a growing sense that God was leading him into pastoral ministry. Shortly after graduating from RPTS (2005), he accepted a call to College Hill Reformed Presbyterian Church in June 2006, where he continues to serve.

As a pastor, his heart’s delight is to study God’s word and to meet with people, whether for evangelism or discipleship. During this time, Titus puts much emphasis on reaching out to the students of Geneva College. He began a discipleship program called DASH, giving students an opportunity to be mentored and discipled in the faith. He and his wife enjoy hosting students and watching them mature and develop over their time at Geneva and then sending them on into the Kingdom to serve the great King.

Titus was born and raised under the hot sun of Phoenix, Arizona to godly parents who loved Jesus and lived for Him. God used their faithful teaching and example early in his life to draw Titus to Him.

After graduating from high school, he followed in his siblings’ footsteps and traded in the year-round Phoenix summers for the changing seasons of Western PA and Geneva College. A few years later, after much convincing, Alyssa Wing agreed to be his wife and they were married in August 2010. Titus and Alyssa celebrated the birth of their first child, a daughter, Finley Hope in June 2016. “God spoils us with way too many good things each day,” Titus says. He and his family currently live across the street from Geneva College and consider it a great privilege to be a part of the Beaver Falls community.

GREGORY L. BEECHAUM, SR. ‘86

After graduating with a B.A. in Broadcast Communications, Gregory went on to serve in U.S. Air Force during the Gulf War (Desert Shield/Storm), where he was honorably discharged. He then continued his education at the Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary. Gregory received his Master of Divinity from Richmond Virginia Seminary, and his Master of Pastoral Counseling from Higher Learning Bible Institute. He earned his Doctorates of Christian Education from Infinity Bible Seminary and Religious Studies degrees from Higher Learning Bible Seminary in Richmond, Virginia. Later, he received an honorary doctorate of Divinity degree from Infinity Bible Seminary.

Gregory has been the Senior Pastor of Little Zion Baptist Church for 16 years, and next year, he will celebrate 25 years of preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Currently, he is serving as the Assistant Secretary of the Baptist General Convention of Virginia.

Gregory is also the founder and Executive Director of the Beyond Walls Ministries, where the Sonship 2 Fatherhood Program and Touch the Heart Experience meets the needs of biblical manhood, relationships, marriage and family. He has also authored a book entitled, As For Me and My House.

Since 2003, Gregory has served on the Infinity Bible Seminary Board of Directors as the Dean of Students and serves as the Advisor of Alumni Board of Directors while continuing to teach in the classroom.

In 1993, Gregory married his friend and his love Toni Yvette Jones. The couple has three children: Oldest son Gregory Jr. is a junior at Geneva College majoring in Public Relations; Jayla is a junior at Richmond Community High School; and Janay is in the eighth grade at Binford Middle School.

Gregory is active in the church and community and serves on several boards within the community. He also enjoys traveling, writing, sports, reading, listening to music, and spending time with his family.

JIM ANDREWS ‘76

After graduating from Geneva College with a B.A. in Economics, Jim went on to receive his MBA from Arizona State University in 2000. He is currently self-employed as

a financial planner and lives in Phoenix, Arizona. His home church is First Southern Baptist of Overgaard, Arizona.

Jim is most passionate about his wife, Jill, of 30 years and has many interests that include walking, playing with his two Yorkie dogs and travel. He is proud to have been involved in Geneva College’s program: Geneva Across America back in the summer 2013. GAA was a 10-week, transcontinental bicycle tour with riders traveling 3,816 miles from San Francisco, CA to Yorktown, VA. He and Jill are currently on a 12-week, Alaskan RV adventure. They left Arizona in July and traveled northwest to Alaska. Currently they are headed back toward Arizona. They have traveled through nine states and three Canadian provinces.