Faculty & Staff News – Fall 2022

New Faculty

Left to Right: Kiel Boynton, instructor of kinesiology; Cami Brubaker, Ph.D., assistant professor of Old Testament and Hebrew; Yujia Sproston, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry; Caroline Anglemyer, associate professor of nursing (not pictured: Dr. Becky Cooke, assistant professor of biology).

New Directors and Promotions

Tom Carpenter ’07, ’12 began as associate director for community life in August. He returns to his alma mater after serving for the last four years as campus director, and three years prior as campus staff, with The Navigators at Purdue University.

Rev. Derry Prenkert ’99 was named pastor of church relations for Bethel University, in a part-time role funded through Nappanee Missionary Church (NMC). His position will strengthen Bethel’s relationship with and service to the Missionary Church and Christian churches in our region. Prenkert has served in student ministry for 25+ years, including 22 years at NMC and three years at Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky. In addition to his work at Bethel he is excited to be devoting the second half of his ministry life to coaching, consulting, and caring for starting, stuck, and struggling ministry leaders.

Sue Matteson was promoted to director of international student services. She previously served as international student coordinator & academic specialist and has worked at Bethel 10 years.

Branden Herron has been named director of BU-X (Bethel University Extension Studies) student services. He previously served as a student services/financial aid representative for BU-X and has served at Bethel since 2020.

Sabrina Citte has been named director of financial aid as of July, after serving as interim director for three months. She previously served as assistant director of financial aid and has been working at Bethel for five years.

Ashlyn (Havens) Bumbaca ’14, ’20 has been named associate director of enrollment systems, after previously serving as the admission data specialist. She has been at Bethel five years, serving in various admission roles.

Alaina Myers has been named associate director of admission recruitment, after previously serving as the senior admission counselor. She has been at Bethel three years.

Christine Dickinson has been named director of admission, after serving as associate director of admission recruitment. She also previously served as admissions operation assistant.

Doctorates Earned

Julie Beam, dean of students, earned her doctorate in higher education administration from Azusa Pacific University. Her dissertation was titled, “How Christian Colleges with Open Enrollment Still Create Meaningful Spiritual Formation Processes.”

Keith Koteskey, assistant professor of Christian ministries, earned his doctorate of ministry from Asbury Theological Seminary. His dissertation was titled, “Ministry Mentoring Matters: Best Practices for Mentoring New Pastors.”

Gisela Schmidt, associate professor of nursing, earned her doctorate in curriculum and instruction from Andrews University. Her dissertation was titled, “Baccalaureate Nursing Students’ Lived Experiences of a Leadership Role During Clinical Practicum.”

Articles Published

Samuel Abraham, DHA, associate professor of nursing, contributed toward multiple articles published in 2022, including “The impact of doula support on birth roles, infant and maternal health, and pregnancy,” “A review of the effects of minimal alcohol use during pregnancy”; and, “A comparison review of mechanical cardiopulmonary resuscitation vs manual cardiopulmonary resuscitation,” all published in the International Journal of Science and Research Methodology.

Amy DeCelles, Ph.D., associate professor of math, wrote “Global automorphic Sobolev theory and the automorphic heat kernel,” published in the Illinois Journal of Mathematics (2021).

Rachel Miller, Ph.D., associate professor of chemistry, was one of the authors of “Whole-Cell Yeast-Based Biosensors,” published in Synthetic Biology of Yeasts: Tools and Applications, Springer Publishing (2022). She was also the second author of “Characterizing interactions between the microtubule-binding protein CLIP-170 and F-actin,” published in BioRxiv (2021).

Jennifer Ochstein, assistant professor of writing, published her short essay “Cathedral of Dread” in UNDER THE GUM TREE literary magazine, Spring 2021.

Vicky Warkentien, D.M.M., professor of music, served as Chief Editor for Book 35 and Book 36 of “Century Celebration,” a series of Church choir anthems for Chinese Churches worldwide.