Get to Know Some of Your Favorite Professors and Why They Chose to Teach (Part Two)

I believe teachers provide so much more for us than just lecture material. They encourage us and walk alongside us, and do not get enough credit for all the amazing things they do that deeply affect the lives of so many students. This piece seeks to honor a few of our notable professors at CCU and to learn more about their background and why they felt called to become a teacher. Thank you to all the teachers out there that do so much for us. – Love, Your Students

Charlie Denler, Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Production & Engineering

“I was a worship leader for about 12 years, before I became a recording engineer, working in a recording studio. During my time as a recording engineer, I had a funny dream about a purple piano. I ended up building the piano, and producers from National Geographic heard some of the work I had recorded with the piano. They approached me and asked if I would start writing music for their National Geographic Television films. This led to a 20-year career as a composer for film and television.

I was often contacted by universities to lecture on the music business. During this time, I felt that God might be leading me to help other musicians find a path into the music business. I never set out to be a professor at the University, it just happened by God’s grace. And to be honest, it’s the best thing that has ever happened to me! I absolutely love working with college students and sharing my life and career with so many wonderful musicians.” – Charlie Denler

Dr. Megan DeVore, Associate Professor of Church History and Early Christian Studies

“I’ve taught at CCU since 2006. That’s a significant portion of life! Yet the years seem to fly. Literature, languages, history, and spiritual formation have captivated me since I was a child in the mountains of New Mexico. Even before I knew the Triune God of the Bible, I was asking theological questions… theologically oriented thinking and living has always drawn me like a magnet, especially because it brings to life all of the academic disciplines. My life has been committed to the truth of Christ since I was in high school. In undergrad, I met my husband, who is now a pastor. We were married after I spent time studying church history and philosophy at Oxford University in England – a place that will always somehow still feel like home. We adopted our amazing daughter seven years ago, and our son was born not long after. So now, my family and I are in the always-adventurous worlds of full-time ministry, academia, parenting, and so on.

Ever since I was young, teaching in some capacity just seemed to be in the marrow of my bones. I pursued and continue to pursue how to serve and be excellent in this. Work as a college professor seemed a natural fit, once I finished my MA degree and began my PhD. I love the intense seasons of life that college involves, and I am privileged to participate in the journeys of my students. I also love having a job that involves my own continual education and growth. What I teach flows out of the things I’ve been captivated by, continue to invest and grow in as an expert and lifelong learner, and am compelled to share.  I delight in teaching at a university, in researching and writing, and in serving in my church.

In whatever places and seasons of life I find myself, I trust that the Triune God has a ‘job’ for me. I don’t know if I could specifically label my work as a professor as “my calling”, then, because in all and whatever tasks and commitments we steward as Christians (for me, including my being a mother, a wife, a neighbor, an evangelist, a disciple, a teacher, and so on), we are “called” foremost to relationship with God. This means that it’s out of this participation with our Creator (2 Peter 1) that all of our work flows – all of our work is stewardship fitting under the rubric of the Greatest Commands and the Great Commission, because of Whose we are. If I lose my job, or make a vocational change, or when my kids become adults, my calling is not gone – it just manifests differently.” – Megan DeVore

Dr. Diane Badzinski, Professor of Communication

“As I think about my story, it reminds me of how God’s gracious hand was on me throughout my life. I like to share my story with my students as I hope it reminds them that God’s hand directs their life journey, even when we fail to recognize His hand. In both high school and college, I was on the speech and debate team, and I graduated with my undergraduate degrees in Criminal Justice and Communication. I was all set to go to law school. During the six months before beginning law school, I decided to work on my Master of Communication at the University of California-Santa Barbara.

It was at that time that I fell in love with the Lord through a group called Campus Ambassadors for Christ, pivoting my passion from law to communication. I never did go to law school; instead, I earned my PhD in Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. My first professor post was at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. It was there that I feel in love with my husband, married, and began our little family. We have three children: Aly (28), Luke (26), and Hannah (20). About 15 years ago, my husband accepted a job for the City and County of Denver, and that’s what brought our family to this area. One day, after dropping my two oldest kiddos off at school, Hannah (then five years old), and I took a “field trip” to CCU and walked around campus. It was then that I knew God would open the door for me to work here, and He did. I am so grateful that I have been part of the CCU community for about 15 years. I teach many different classes in communication, but my main area of scholarship is interpersonal communication.

I knew I wanted to teach college students the first time I stepped into a college classroom as the instructor rather than as a student. I was a graduate student assigned to teach a public speaking course. I was terrified and thrilled at the same time. Forty years later, I am still terrified (well, maybe not quite so much) and thrilled to teach college students. The students bring me great joy (well, most of the time) and challenge me not only in term of my thinking about communication but in my faith walk. My students are without a doubt one of God’s greatest blessings in my life. Every time I hear ‘hi Dr. B” from one of my students, I am reminded that God is so good at giving us; each and every one of His children, the desires of our hearts.”
– Diane Badzinski

Dr. Peter Kerr, Dean and Associate Professor of International Business and Marketing

“I am a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and hold degrees in Engineering, Leadership, Communication, Divinity, and a PhD in Business Administration with emphases in Leadership and International Business. I have traveled to more than 50 countries on six continents, speak multiple languages, and served at the Pentagon with deployments to the Middle East. I was in charge of media relations at the Roland Reagan State Funeral and was the Chief Media Liaison Officer for all Outdoor Games at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. I currently serve as Dean of the School of Business and Leadership at CCU and as President of KerrCommunications delivering world-class crisis planning, leadership, and media engagement training. I live in Colorado with my wife and four children. I enjoy traveling, strategic games, and reading about quantum physics, theology, and history.

I never intended to be a teacher. In fact, I started teaching in order to pay the bills through seminary, but after seminary God made it clear that His calling was for me to teach while also ministering to college students. I now see myself as a professor-pastor, and since I own my own business, I am also a professor-practitioner, which fits well with SBL’s culture. Being called to teach at the university level is not the “what” of my calling but is the “how” of my calling. I knew at 11 years-old that my life’s calling is to raise up the next generation of Christian leaders for the Church and the world. That means preparing them intellectually and spiritually for the road ahead, as well as loving them where they are and living with them through their challenges and celebrations. I absolutely love working at CCU and I am grateful God has given me the opportunity to serve His Kingdom by being a professor rather than a politician or a pastor, or one of my other self-planned careers to fulfill my calling. My advice is that you aim high and prepare hard but be ready to walk through the door when God changes your plans and ultimately gives you a better life than you could have imagined.” – Peter Kerr

Dr. Debora Scheffel, Dean and Professor of Education

“I became interested in teaching because I love helping children/adolescents, and I enjoy seeing the “ah-hah” moments when something that didn’t make sense, finally does. I began teaching in Douglas County, Colorado, working with special needs elementary age students. I decided I needed more education to better understand how learning can be challenging for some students, so I pursued earning a doctorate at Northwestern University in Evanston, Il., in communication sciences and disorders, studying psycholinguistics and neuropsychology. I pursued additional education through a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Diego, in cognitive science. Then I took a number of positions across 6 states in some capacity in academia, in New York, Minneapolis, Kansas and Denver. In all these positions, I met wonderful people, and always have enjoyed the challenge of working in academia, whether teaching or doing research.

I felt teaching at the University level was a wonderful opportunity for a Christian—I have always worked at secular universities, until I came to CCU 7 years ago. Universities are a crucible for ideas that influence our culture and being part of that cultural impact always appealed to me, as we are called to be salt and light in our culture. Coming to CCU enabled me to speak about knowledge and content in light of our faith, which is also a tremendous privilege. As far as a passion/calling, we are instructed by Christ to do all we do for His glory and with our might. So, I attempt to do that!” – Debora Scheffel