"Building on our Strengths"
Workshop Presenter Information
Presenter Biographies
About the Speaker
Dr. John M. Perkins
John M. Perkins is a sharecropper's son who grew up in New Hebron, Mississippi amidst dire poverty. Fleeing to California at age 17 after his older brother's murder at the hands of a town marshal, he vowed never to return. However after converting to Christianity in 1960 he returned to Mendenhall, Mississippi to share the gospel of Christ. While in Mississippi, his outspoken nature and support and leadership in civil rights demonstrations resulted in repeated harassment, beatings and imprisonment. He again was arrested in 2005 year while protesting in Washington D.C. against U. S. Government defunding of programs aiding the poor.
In Mendenhall, Perkins and his wife, Vera Mae, founded Voice of Calvary Ministries. This Christian community development ministry started a church, health center, leadership development program, thrift store, low-income housing development, and training center. From this ministry, other development projects started in the neighboring towns of Canton, New Hebron and Edwards. Philip K. Reed, the previous pastor of Voice of Calvary Fellowship, has assumed the leadership of this dynamic ministry.
In 1982, the Perkins family returned to California and lived in the city of Pasadena where Perkins and his wife founded Harambee Christian Family Center in Northwest Pasadena, a neighborhood that had one of the highest daytime crime rates in California. Harambee is yet standing, running numerous programs including after school tutoring, Good News Bible Clubs, an award-winning technology center, summer day camp, youth internship programs, and a college scholarship program.
In 1983, while yet in California, Perkins and his wife, along with a few friends and other major supporters, established the John M. Perkins Foundation for Reconciliation & Development, Inc for the sole purpose of supporting their mission of advancing the principles of Christian community development and racial reconciliation throughout the world. The Foundation is now headquartered at 1831 Robinson St., in Jackson, MS.
In 1989, John Perkins called together a group of Christian leaders from across America that was bonded by one significant commitment-expressing the love of Christ in America's poor communities, not at arms length, but at the grass-roots level. An association was formed and Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) held its first annual conference in Chicago in 1989. CCDA has grown from 37 founding members to 6,800 individuals and 600 churches, ministries, institutions and businesses in more than 100 cities and townships across the country.
Despite being a third grade drop-out, Perkins has been recognized for his work with eight honorary doctorates from colleges and universities across the country. He is an international speaker and teacher on racial reconciliation, leadership and Christian community development.
About the Presenters
Cynthia Toms Smedley
Cynthia Toms Smedley is the former associate director of the Uganda Studies Program, located on the campus of Uganda Christian University in Mukono, Uganda. In this role, she oversaw service-learning partnerships with local organizations and aided U.S. university students in their immersion experiences in East Africa. Prior to her tenure in Uganda, Cynthia taught cross-cultural immersion skills and facilitated experiential learning environments for Chinese national students at Peking University in Beijing, China.
Cynthia earned her bachelor's degree from Messiah College, her master's degree from Boston University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in Higher Education Administration. Prior to her overseas teaching, she taught Health and Exercise Physiology at Eastern Mennonite University. Her research interests include collaborative partnerships in service learning, higher education access in developing nations, and student success.
She has recently presented on the topic of international service learning in non-traditional locations at national conferences for the Association for the Study of Higher Education as well as the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators' International Symposium. Cynthia has served in a voluntary capacity with civic and Christian non-for-profit groups such as Hope International, ChildVoice International, and the Human Rights Commission of Indiana. She resides in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband and son.
Don Antonio
Don Antonio (as he is known in Costa Rica) has directed the Latin American Studies Program (LASP) for the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities since 1990. He holds a Ph.D. in political economy and third world development from the University of Maryland, College Park, and an M.A. in international relations from the same university. His B.A. is from Messiah College (PA). Prior to his work with the Council, Dr. Chamberlain was a Graduate Fellow/Instructor at the University of Maryland, a Foreign Expert at Beijing University, P.R. China and served as a consultant to Brethren in Christ Overseas Missions in South America.
Dr. Chamberlain has a passionate commitment to experiential learning pedagogies. Since the inception of his program, service and service-learning have been key components of the LASP semester.
Jeff Bouman
Jeff Bouman is a member of the faculty and the Director of the Service-Learning Center at Calvin College, in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a graduate of Calvin College (BA Sociology, 1987), Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania (MA Student Personnel, 1989), and the University of Michigan (PhD, Education, 2004). His research interests include: the role of religion in the history of American higher education; the role that experience, service, and reflection play in the learning process for college and university students; and a redefinition of Christian activism to include both piety and social action. Jeff has been at Calvin since 2002 and is interested in collaborating widely in the area of college students and their making connections between intellectual, spiritual and physical dimensions of their lives. Married with two children, Jeff is an active member of Neland Avenue Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids.
Dr. Ken Bussema
Dr. Ken Bussema serves the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities as the Vice-President for Student Programs. His responsibilities include oversight and leadership for the CCCU's twelve culture-crossing and cultural-shaping off-campus study programs. Ken brings more than thirty years of experience in Christian higher education and a decade of experience in study abroad to the challenges of program development and enhancement, assessment of student learning and cultural engagement. With a background in psychology and counseling, Ken is particularly interested in the influence of off-campus programs on students' emerging sense of identity and calling.
Ken received the Doctor of Education in Counseling Psychology degree from Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ in 1980. Before joining the Council, Ken was professor of Psychology at Dordt College and served as Director of Off-Campus Programs and Service Learning. Ken has been involved in developing and implementing service-learning projects and courses for many years and played a significant role in bringing Iowa in as Campus Compact state.
Gail Gunst Heffner
Gail Gunst Heffner currently serves as the Director of Academic Community Engagement in the Office of the Provost at Calvin College where most recently she served as the principal investigator for a project funded by the Teagle Foundation, "Strengthening Liberal Arts Education by Embracing Place and Particularity. "Prior to this current appointment Gail was the Associate Director of the Calvin Center for Social Research from 2001-2004 and the Director of Academically Based Service-Learning from 1994-2001 where she helped launch the Calvin Environmental Assessment Program. Her Ph.D. is in Urban Studies and Resource Development from Michigan State University and she holds a masters degree in Economic and Social Development from the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research interests include race and religion, particularly focusing on the racialization of congregations and the relationship between institutional and internalized racism. She has also published articles on community-based research, engaged scholarship, social capital and community development. She is a co-author of Commitment and Connection: Service-Learning and Christian Higher Education.
Judy Hutchinson
Judy Hutchinson, Full Professor and Director of the Center for Academic Service-Learning and Research at Azusa Pacific University, comes to the field of service learning with a broad background in education, business, leadership and management and in multi-ethnic community building both domestic and international. As Director of Evaluation for World Vision International, a major relief and development organization, she was responsible for development, facilitation and training for participatory research, planning and evaluation processes for thousands of projects in some 70 countries. Judy led the successful Empowerment Zone application process for the City of Santa Ana, working with schools, non-profits, police, city staff, politicians and neighborhood associations (one of six cities in the US to received the $100 million award) emphasizing that city’s role as a forerunner of the ethnically diverse future for America’s cities. In 2006, Azusa Pacific University was ranked by US News and World Report as one of the top 42 in the nation for 2006 and will appear as one of the top 300 schools in the nation for service-learning in the publication “Beyond the Books” to be made available to high school counselors, parents of high school students and colleges and universities across America. Under her leadership, Azusa Pacific University was rated one of only 121 Schools of Distinction in the first national Presidential Honor Roll for Service. She has taken a lead role in research around the relationship between faith and service-learning and holds a Ph.D. in Urban Planning from UCLA with a focus on Community Development.
Trisha Thorme
Trisha Thorme is the Assistant Director of the Community-Based Learning Initiative at Princeton University, a position she has held since 2000. She facilitates the collaboration of students, faculty, and community partners on community-driven research projects and works with faculty to integrate such projects into courses throughout the curriculum. Trisha is one of the leaders of the National Community-Based Research Networking Initiative, a Learn and Serve America-funded project hosted by Princeton in partnership with the Bonner Foundation. An anthropologist, her recent work explores how students, faculty members and communities change as a result of community-based research.
About the Director
Chad Frey
Chad Frey serves as the Director of the Agape Center for Service and Learning at Messiah College. In this role he provides oversight for the College's local, national and international curricular service-learning and co-curricular learning-guided community service programs. Chad earned his bachelor's degree from Messiah College, his master's from Geneva College (PA), and is currently a doctorial candidate at Penn State University. His research interests include Christian education, spiritual formation, higher education, adult education, and community development.
Prior to returning to his alma mater, Chad served the Brethren In Christ Church as a youth pastor, young adult pastor, and consultant. He is currently a member at Harrisburg Brethren In Christ Church and serves on various local, regional and denominational church boards and committees. Chad's academic field is Adult Education with special research interests in service-learning and community development. He teaches service-learning courses in General Education focused on Christian hospitality, service, mission and social change.
About the Moderators
Dr. John W. Eby
Dr. John W. Eby is currently a Professor of Sociology at Messiah College. He received his undergraduate degree from Eastern Mennonite College and masters and Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University in Development Sociology with minors in Planning Theory and Organizational Behavior and Social Change. Prior to coming to Messiah, John served as an Academic Dean at Goshen College and has administered development and service programs in several church agencies in the United States and internationally including in Botswana, Africa. He has served on many community and church related boards working in areas such as community development, disabilities, and a retirement communities.
Since coming to Messiah, John served as the first Director of the Agape Center for Service and Learning, Agape Center Service-Learning Fellow, and has directed the Faith-Based Service-Learning conference in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006. He first became involved in service-learning, though it was not called that, when he directed summer programs in New York City and Whitesburg, KY for the Council of Mennonite Colleges in 1971 and 1972. Since that time, he has used service-learning and community based research in numerous higher education courses. In 1999, he was designated a Fellow at the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning from 1999-2001 where he compared the effects of courses on students who chose to do service-learning with those who did an alternate assignment. In 2004, John was named a Finalist for the Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award. He is an author and editor of numerous national service-learning publications and is the proud grandfather of four grandsons.
Dr. Mary Ann Hollinger
Dr. Mary Ann Hollinger serves as Dean of External Programs and Director of International Programs at Messiah College. In this role she provides oversight for the experiential and contextual learning opportunities available to students through the College's Agape Center for Service and Learning, Career Center for Vocation and Development, EpiCenter, Internship Center, Latino Partnership and Messiah's urban campus in Philadelphia.
Mary Ann earned her bachelor's degree from Goshen College (IN), her master's from Montclair State University (NJ), and her doctorate from Columbia University in New York City. During her undergraduate and graduate years she studied abroad at Europa Kolleg in Germany and the University of Strasbourg in France. She has done post doctoral studies at Oxford University, England, and has served as a visiting faculty member in Pune, India, and Moscow, Russia. Her academic field is Human Development and Family Science with special research interests in cross-cultural family studies. Mary Ann currently teaches in the Department of Human Development and Family Science at Messiah.
Over the years Dr. Hollinger has been active in a variety of professional organizations including the Family Science Association (President, Vice President), National Council on Family Relations (National Public Policy Committee, International Family Section Chair), DC Sociological Society (Program Chair), Indiana Council on Family Relations (Board of Directors), Pennsylvania Council for International Education (Board of Directors), Student Academic Programs Commission/Council of Christian College & Universities (Commission Member and Chair). Her current involvements at Messiah include serving on the faculty Service-Learning Committee.
