Our Leadership
2022-2023 Executive Committee
President: Melanie Howard
Assistant Professor of Biblical and Religious Studies at Fresno Pacific University. Melanie specializes in the area of New Testament studies where her work focuses particularly on the Gospels.
Vice-President: Eric Ecklund
Eric Ecklund, Ph.D, MBA, has taught a wide range of business-related courses at the collegiate level since 1998. He joined Saint Francis in 2011 and is currently an Associate Professor of Management in the Shields School of Business.
Treasurer: Stephen Baker
Secretary: Amy Berger
Executive Director: Vivienne Felix
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Board of Directors
Joel Cunningham
President Emeritus, Vice Chancellor and Professor of Mathematics at Sewanee: The University of the South; former President of Susquehanna University; chair of Appalachian College Assoc.
Ros Davis
Ros is Clinical Associate Professor and Director of the Mental Health Counseling Program at Indiana University Kokomo.
Terry Shoemaker
Terry is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Religious Studies Department and Affiliate Faculty at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University.
Sylvia McTague
Brandon Render
Brandon is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Utah.
Alex Santrac
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Committees
Finance: Stephen Baker, Chair
Program 2024:
Nominating:
Membership: Eric Ecklund, Chair
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Honorary Fellows
Jianxin Ding
Professor and Dean, School of Foreign Languages, Nanfang College of Sun Yat-sen University (中山大学南方学院外国语学院教授及院长)
Dafu Yang
Director of West China Center for Faculty Development (西部外语教师发展中心主任)
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Associates
Elizabeth Minnich
has served higher education in different roles at a variety of liberal arts institutions as well as through her writing, speaking, special projects, board memberships, and consulting.
Peter Paris
Princeton Theological Seminary’s Elmer G. Homrighausen Professor of Christian Social Ethics and Liaison with the Princeton University African American Studies Program.
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Staff
Managing Director: Sandy McAllister
MEd from the University of Massachusetts, BA in English from Boston University
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With gratitude, we acknowledge the invaluable leadership of our former presidents:
Cathy Bao-Bean
Author of The Chopsticks-Fork Principle, A Memoir and Manual, co-author of The Chopsticks-Fork Principle x 2, A Bilingual Reader with Dongdong Chen, and The Course for Cross-Cultural Communication, also with Dongdong Chen. Team Leader of the Summer Workshop for College Teachers
Pat Barnes-McConnell
Director of Bean/Cowpea CRSP, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan.
Joel Cunningham
President Emeritus, Vice Chancellor and Professor of Mathematics of Sewanee: The University of the South; former President of Susquehanna University; chair of Appalachian College Assoc.
David Hoekema
professor emeritus of Philosophy at Calvin College, recently authored We are the Voice of the Grass:Interfaith Peace Activism in Uganda.
James T. Laney
former U.S. Ambassador to Korea, President of Emory University, and Dean of Candler School of Theology.
John Maguire
President Emeritus of Claremont University Consortium & Graduate University; Director/Senior Fellow, Institute for Democratic Renewal/Project Change, Claremont, CA; President Emeritus, College at Old Westbury, State University of New York.
J. Alfred Martin, Jr.
former professor at Union Theological Seminary.
John Nason
former President of Swarthmore College.
Virginia B. Smith
former Acting President of Mills College; President emerita of Vassar College; Director of the Fund for the Improvement of Post-secondary Education (FIPSE); President of the Board of the Educational Testing Service.
Robert A. Spivey
Senior Associate and Ombudsman for The Florida State University Foundation; former President of Randolph Macon Woman’s College and the VA Foundation for Independent Colleges.
Jon Wiant
Senior Visiting Fellow with the Intelligence and Security Academy, and a consultant with the Institute for Excellence in Public Leadership; Adjunct Professor at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University; decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal from Porter Good of the CIA, and the Career Achievement Award from Secretary Colin Powell; and commands an army of more than 6000 toy soldiers.
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