Donna’s special area of research and teaching is in cross-cultural communications, globalization of mission and in the training and development of leaders and staff to work more effectively in today’s complex global missions environment. Her desire is not only to see more effective leaders, but to help these leaders appreciate and even celebrate the creative synergy that diversity can bring to the global church and missions community.

Donna joined the MAGL in 2007 after 23 years on the mission field where she was involved in university teaching and leadership development in Kenya (12 years) and Romania (11 years). Donna’s academic background includes a BA in journalism from University of Missouri - Columbia, an MA in Communications from California State University – Fullerton, and a Doctorate in Missiology from BIOLA University, with a specialty in cross-cultural leadership. While in Kenya, she taught communications at the BA and MA levels at Daystar University where she learned to appreciate and rejoice in the diversity of students from about 30 African nations. Her greatest love was mentoring graduate students in their research and writing for their MA theses and teaching in-service courses for leaders in African mission agencies. In Romania, Donna has been teaching in the missiology department at the Baptist Seminary in Bucharest and has served in a variety of voluntary leadership roles in the NGO sector, the community and the church . Prior to becoming a missionary, Donna worked in Chicago and California as a communications and public relations specialist and taught Communications at California State University, Fullerton.

As associate dean for MAGL (and DMiss), I am responsible for the long-range vision of the Master of Arts in Global Leadership, as well as faculty development and program assessment. I also teach several MAGL courses, such as Leadership Training Models (ML540), Developing your Learning Plan (ML581), Character, Community and Leadership (ML582) and Global Leadership: Implications for Ministry (ML583). I am also leading a DMiss Cohort on Adult Leadership Development.

After graduating from the USAF Academy in 1971, my new bride Kerry and I set out for a rough tour of duty at the University of Hawaii to pursue a Master’s degree in economics and population studies. These studies led them to live for several months in a beatlenut hut in an isolated part of the Solomon Islands while studying the local economy. Here, God began to show us that happiness and fulfillment did not come from possessions. After completing our air force obligations in Virginia, we returned to my home area in New Hampshire. We ran a small ice cream restaurant and manufacturing business for 18 years while we raised our 4 girls, Jen, Hannah, Allison and Rachel. These days, Jen is the mother of Arika and Jasper and lives in Portland, ME. She is working on a Ph.D. in education. Hannah works for Transfair USA which certifies fair trade goods. She lives in Hood River, Oregon. Allison is an elementary school counselor living in Statham, NH. Rachel is a marketing coordinator of EBSCO Publishing on the North Shore of Boston.

Having come to know the Lord deeply in a New England white steepled church, the Lord called me to go to seminary which I assumed was a call to the pastorate. My wife convinced me otherwise and we began to prepare for missions. During this preparation, I studied TEE (Theological Education by Extension) as a alternative leadership development philosophy which encourages people to begin ministry with the call and confirmation of a local body and THEN seek further education while they minister. Gordon-Conwell Seminary asked me to begin such programs in New England. After serving there for a decade and earning a Doctorate in Adult and Distance Education, Fuller called. It was winter time, so I said yes to an interview and finally (long story) agreed to move our 4 girls (teenagers by now) to Southern California! During my decade in Pasadena I served on the Seminary’s leadership team as the Associate Provost for Center for Lifelong Learning which offered in-service programs. It was during this time that I led in the design and development of the MAGL. Kerry founded Neighborhood Homework House during our years in California. It provides after school tutoring in disadvantaged areas of Azusa. She currently serves as their grant writer. In 2006, I asked to work full time on the MAGL from back home in New England to be near my mother, so Kerry and I now live in Maine. My hobbies are grandchildren and vegetable gardening. We have a boat that we love to use in the short summers for picnics and occasional fishing. Recently, Kerry and I filled our empty nest with a Portuguese Water Dog puppy. Fun!

As director of these in-service degree programs, I am responsible for the development of new courses and degree program curricula. I also enjoy teaching in both programs. I also teach several online courses and promote and maintain positive student relations.

After working in sales and in the auto-electric industry, I moved into pastoral ministry. I worked with local congregations for 17 years, ministering in New York, Oklahoma, New Hampshire, and California and participating in three church-planting campaigns (serving as director of one) in Irkutsk, St. Petersburg, and Samara, Russia, during the mid-1990s. Ann and I moved to Pasadena after 12 years with the church in New Hampshire, and I began doctoral work in postmodern mission, birthed out of a strong desire to see the Church more effectively engage contemporary Western culture. Ann is my covenant partner and friend of over 35 years. Ann and I met when she was 12 and I was 14 years old. We lived across the street from one another for a year. My brother and I were looking out the window one day, and saw three girls walking by. I said with all the maturity of a 14 year-old “I want the one in the blue shorts.” We were married 7 years later. We have two married children, a son and a daughter who live in Florida and Colorado. And then, of course, there are the grandchildren!

While completing my PhD I was adjunct professor at Fuller and Pepperdine, where I taught courses in “Christianity and Culture.” Then, in 2005, I was appointed to the faculty at Fuller’s School of Intercultural Studies. My hobbies include fly fishing, and playing with the grandkids!

Director for Member Development, OMF International

Campus ministry, academic administration, teaching and mentoring, organizational leadership, consulting

Academic and Spiritual Mentor and Adjunct Instructor of Leadership, Fuller Theological Seminary, Co-Chairman for the Network for Development of Latin Leaders

As academic and spiritual mentor for Fuller’s Office of Distance Learning, I provide spiritual advice to MAGL and distance learning students. I also teach and facilitate several online leadership courses and promote student growth through relational development.

Campus ministry, academic administration, teaching and mentoring, organizational leadership, consulting