Top teachers

Each year, George Fox University presents faculty awards for undergraduate teaching, graduate teaching and research. Melanie Springer Mock, Mary Peterson and Chris Koch were winners for the respective honors.

Mock, a professor of writing/literature, not only teaches the craft she loves, but she also gets to know students on a truly personal level. “Being a writing teacher allows me to learn students’ stories, to discover fascinating elements of their pasts, their families, their failures and successes,” she said.

“Peterson is a great model for doctoral-level students in how to balance competing yet important roles of wife, mother, colleague, clinical practitioner and academe – and doing each admirably,” Wayne Adams, chair of the Graduate Department of Clinical Psychology, said.

Koch said he was “appreciative and humbled” by the award. “Winning it led me to reminisce a bit about all the students I have had the privilege to get to know and work with over the years. They have made doing research at George Fox special.”

Professors in print

John, Jesus, and History; Vol. 2, Aspects of Historicity in the Fourth Gospel (Society of Biblical Literature Press, 2009) by Paul Anderson, professor of biblical and Quaker studies; and Felix M. Just and Tom Thatcher, editors. This is the second of a three-volume collection of essays by leading international biblical scholars on a controversial topic: challenging the standard practice of excluding the Gospel of John from the conversation of a historical Jesus.

Anderson also published the third printing of The Christology of the Fourth Gospel (Cascade Books, 2009), which features a new introduction, new outlines, new theories of John’s composition and authorship, and new contributions to the quest for the historical Jesus. Anderson also engages more than 40 reviews of his book in the epilogue.

The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations in the American Founding (Liberty Fund Press, 2009), edited by Mark David Hall, Herbert Hoover distinguished professor of political science, and Daniel L. Dreisbach. This 712-page book provides students, scholars and general readers a rich collection of primary sources that illuminate discussions and debates about religious liberty in early America.

Buffoonery in Irish Drama: Staging Twentieth-Century Post-Colonial Stereotypes (Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., 2009) by Kathleen Heininge, assistant professor of English. Heininge’s book looks at the way generations of Irish dramatists, both the famous and the obscure, have attempted to fight the stereotyping of “Irishness” on stage.

Meeting the Ethical Challenges of Leadership: Casting Light or Shadow, 3rd ed. (Sage, 2009) by Craig Johnson, professor of leadership studies. Johnson takes an interdisciplinary approach to leadership ethics, identifying the unique ethical demands of the leadership role while equipping readers to meet these challenges through research and theory, skill development and self-assessment.

Johnson also wrote Leadership: A Communication Perspective, 5th ed. (Waveland Press) with Michael Z. Hackman. It provides an introduction to leadership and followership from a communication vantage point, including sections on the fundamentals of leadership, leadership contexts and contemporary issues in leadership.

Make/Believing the World(s): Toward a Christian Ontological Pluralism (McGill-Queen’s University Press, December 2009 release) by Mark McLeod-Harrison, professor of philosophy. McLeod-Harrison argues for a type of actual pluralism with truths that conflict across conceptual schemes, all of which are consistent with traditional Christianity.

Making Room for Leadership: Power, Space, and Influence (InterVarsity Press, 2008) by MaryKate Morse, professor of leadership and spiritual formation. Using Jesus as a model, Morse unpacks the physical and social dynamics of power and influence.

The Heart of the Sea (SynergEbooks.com, 2009) by Phil Smith, professor of philosophy. Smith’s fantasy novel follows a young prince who flees his kingdom to establish a new nation that grows in power and influence and becomes the world’s best hope to stop a spreading evil. The author weaves together economics, politics, intrigue, spies, magic and even intelligent parrots.