At the beginning of the 2017 fall semester, John Brown University welcomed several new faculty to its ranks.
These fteen new members range from undergraduate professors to graduate professors to cybersecurity.
New to the staff are three graduate counselors, ten undergraduate professors of whom two are music, two are nursing, one is biblical studies, one is accounting, one is biology, one is English, one is psychology and one is communication. Additionally, there is one new director of the cybersecurity program.
Candy Gregor is the new assistant professor of Communications, joining forces with the growing communications department.
Gregor teaches several communications classes and coaches the forensics and debate teams. She enjoys working and interacting with her students.
“I love the students. They’re engaged, they’re polite,” Gregor said. “In my Faith, Media and Calling class, we had our rst exam, and almost [every] person, when they handed me their exam, they said ‘thank you,’ which just blew me away. So, they’re great. I feed off their energy and I’m learning a lot from them.”
Gregor, a veteran journalist, has worked for newspapers in North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Illinois and Virginia as a reporter, editor, columnist and editorial writer. These positions prepared her for her time in the classroom here at JBU.
In 2016, Gregor quit working for newspapers and became the communications director of Louisburg College, a two-year college in Louisburg, North Carolina and moved to Siloam Springs when Dr. Marquita Smith, the JBU communications department head, invited her to teach at JBU. In the past, they worked together at a newspaper in Virginia.
Communications wasn’t the only department to introduce several faculty members. The nursing department welcomed two new professors, including Janet Gardner, a nurse with 18 years of experience, who previously taught a clinical course at the University of Arkansas.
For Gardner, being able to integrate her faith in her work was a huge attraction to JBU.
“I have really enjoyed being able to integrate my faith into teaching into the classroom, because as a nurse it is a really easy connection to make, so when I taught at a non-Christian university, I found myself kind of holding back sometime and being unable to say what we were all thinking,” Gardner said. “And here we have that freedom to really explore the spiritual part of it and how nursing is a calling and our foundation of being nurses.”
Gardner teaches mainly seniors in her Professional Concepts III and Professional Leadership classes, while also leading a clinical group.
The nursing department is still in the developing stages, so Gardner believes the year will have challenges in program development and in assignment creations, but she is excited to teach.
The psychology department welcomed Dr. Michelle Satterlee, the new assistant professor of psychology, who teaches Intro to Psychology, Developmental Psychology and will be teaching in the graduate counseling program in the spring.
Hailing from urban lands like Portland, Kansas City and Richmond, Satterlee feels a bit challenged with the prospects of living in Siloam Springs.
“I like small town [environments], but it’s an adjustment,” Satterlee said.
Satterlee worked at multiple schools, both state and private, where she gained experience. However, JBU’s reputation stood out to her. “When I came for the interview it was just a really nice t,” Satterlee said.
Satterlee is excited to teach a promising student body with colleagues eager to grow in their work and faith.
“I think there is a strong sense of the desire to be changed, like a desire for transformation,” Satterlee said.
“I think people come to JBU to be encouraged and strengthened in their faith, but also to be prepared. And that’s going to necessarily include some change and I think there is an openness to that.”