Some years ago, I was laser-focused on two things: raising my young children and getting promoted to the next rung on the academic ladder. Although I was a believer, I had never considered the university as my mission field. Fortunately, God pulled back the curtain and let me see what He was doing, despite me. […]
Academic conferences. Man… I hate those things. I’ve been told that conferences are places for networking to advance my career. I never could bring myself to network with this intent – it felt disingenuous and exhausting. Time after time, I felt that I failed with every attempt. However, an academic conference I attended this summer […]
Life was good: two kids, a career in academia, and a decade of walking with Jesus. Then a decision from my early teens threatened to ruin it all. It was disorienting to realize that being a “new creation” did not entirely erase the consequences of bad decisions from the past. Reality was forcing me to […]
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:34-35 God shows us great compassion. And in my transformed identity as a Christian, God has put in […]
“Mom!” he yelled, bursting into the room. “Cutie has a hole in her bottom!” “Son! That is completely inappropriate!” I snapped. “Plus, I asked not to be interrupted while taking this timed online quiz.” “It’s not like that, Mom! Something else!” He left the room and promptly returned with the cat, who had, in fact, […]
“Dr. Ken, can I talk to you for a minute? I know that you are a Christian….” It was the first week of classes for the spring semester, and a student I will call Alice stopped me after class. She had struggled in a previous math class of mine, and I knew her slightly. I […]
Becoming a disciple of Jesus turned my thinking upside down in many ways, including the image of myself as a professor at a medium-sized, regional state university. The pre-pandemic Faculty Commons discussion group on the book “A Grander Story” resulted in a shift from seeing myself as a professor who happens to be a Christian […]
Is it possible to connect with students and be a light while teaching on Zoom? Yes—surprisingly—it is! As an assistant professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin, I begin my classes each semester by talking about my three passions: theology, my family, and physiology. I relate theology to the motto engraved on […]
At the start of each semester, I ask my students to write a short biography about what means most to them. They each have a fascinating story; it’s just a matter of whether they tell it. Students are near graduation when they take my class, so they often express excitement, trepidation, and occasionally serious doubts […]
An inquisitive student in the vestibule just outside my large lecture room asked me a question before class that caught me off guard. He said, “On the ‘Meet the Prof’ website that you have linked on the course syllabus, I read your entry entitled The Wisdom of God or Man? I wonder why you, as […]
