Meet Dr. Jena Dunn
Dr. Jena Dunn currently serves as the Provost of Stark College and Seminary. Dr. Dunn has She also currently serves as Chair of the Commission on Accreditation of the Association For Biblical Higher Education (ABHE).
You have degrees in both Ministry (Master of Divinity) and High Education (Doctor of Education). What led you to pursue a career in Christian higher education administration?
I grew up in a very stable, Christian home. I have great parents who love me and have supported me in almost everything I pursued. However, I grew up in a very conservative southern Baptist church. My freshman year of high school I began to become more involved in my own church and another church in a nearby town. I was given opportunities to teach and lead in the other church, including opportunities to travel on regular mission trips to serve in various ways, but was not provided similar opportunities in my home church. Through prayer and these experiences I began to feel called to ministry in the church, but I did not think that was possible as a woman, I didn’t have any examples to follow, I wasn’t shown passages of scripture related to calling, I didn’t even have the words for what God was speaking to me about because it wasn’t encouraged for me to be a leader in the church. But I knew God was calling me to something and like a good southern baptist woman, I assumed the only ministry I could do was missions, so I dove in.
Even though my gifting didn’t necessarily always fit with missions, I participated in many mission opportunities from that point through college and started my Master of Divinity in cross-cultural studies to prepare for the mission field. During my studies, however, I was drawn to courses covering the interpretation of scripture. The opportunity to read about the context of the biblical text and how that impacts meaning and application was fascinating to me and I began to seek God’s wisdom as it related to this newfound love of scripture. I was given opportunities to teach the scripture through my studies and thrived in that environment. I also began working as an assistant at the seminary and loved engaging with students and the administrative side of academics. It would bring me so much joy when I saw a student matriculate through the program and graduate. It was exciting to me to look at degree audits and help advise students in their programs. I began to think that God had gifted me for this work, but still was fighting my upbringing and didn’t know if this role was possible for me. Then I took a course with a female professor who encouraged my passion and giftedness in biblical interpretation, teaching, and administration. She suggested I look into a career in theological higher education and her example led me to believe it was possible that God was calling me to this work.
I stayed with the seminary after completing my MDiv. I moved from a student worker to the position of registrar. From registrar to institutional accountability. From institutional accountability to Student Experience. And from Student Experience to Provost. I have seen my institution grow and develop an institutional culture based upon our mission and thrive because of it. I have seen students thrive and succeed. I have spent 14 years of my life living in my giftedness, fulfilling God’s call at a place where my calling and the institutional culture collided and has created joy and satisfaction and success.
Could you discuss your involvement with the Association for Biblical Higher Education (ABHE)? How has your experience in accreditation shaped your role at Stark?
After Stark achieved initial accreditation with ABHE, I volunteered to serve on evaluation site teams whose purpose is to travel to institutions and evaluate them as they approach milestones in the accreditation process (candidate status, accredited status, reaffirmation, etc.). I really enjoy getting a front row seat to emerging institutions as they grow and achieve accreditation. I’ve been able to be on site with diverse schools from a variety of cultural and denominational contexts. I’ve evaluated two Korean schools, a Historically Black College and University, and a Greek Orthodox school, among others! Experiencing the diversity of Biblical higher education across North America has been invaluable to my growth as leader at Stark and my appreciation for the work ABHE does for accreditation.
After serving on evaluation teams, I was nominated and voted to serve on the Commission on Accreditation of ABHE. The COA is the adjudicating body of the accreditation process. While the evaluation teams make recommendations, the COA makes decisions related to accreditation. I currently serve as the Chair of the COA and also Chair the Criterion Committee, which reviews and recommends edits to policies and standards to the COA.
All of this work has sharpened my understanding of the accreditation journey and the Standards and Essential Elements Stark must comply with in order to maintain our accredited status.
How has your academic research impacted or informed your role as Provost?
My dissertation was a case study on Stark and our tiered programming model. I interviewed students, administrators, and local pastors to determine why students pursue Bible certificates and diplomas and if they were marketable for service in the church and Christian community. It definitely informed my understanding of our mission and target student audience. I better understand the needs of our students to build confidence in their academic skills as they seek to fulfill their calling. That understanding helps me to make decisions related to curriculum, faculty, classroom environment, etc. that will best improve our students’ likelihood of success as they pursue biblical higher education.
What are some hopes you may have for the future generations of women professors, pastors, or scholars?
I hope that their callings, giftedness, and contributions will be welcomed and encouraged by their male peers. I pray that God will continue to use them for the advancement of the Kingdom.
What women (past or present) have shaped your vocational calling and how have they influenced?
Lottie Moon – She was a single, female missionary running one of the most successful evangelistic ministries to the Chinese through evangelistic preaching provided in the guise of “women’s meetings” that men attended. Leanne M. Dzubinski and Anneke H. Stasson state of Lottie Moon in their book Women in the Mission of the Church, “Today the entire Southern Baptist Christmas offering for mission work is named for her, which is ironic because far more than money, she had desired workers for the spread of the gospel in China. Nevertheless, the money raised in her name continues to fund global mission work.”
Brenda Sanders – Brenda Sanders is the Director of Go Now Missions for the Baptist General Convention of Texas. She manages a team who sends out hundreds of college students every year to hundreds of locations around the globe. She connects (not just on an administrative level, but on a relational and spiritual level) with local on-site contacts, BSM Directors, students, etc. to ensure the right students are sent to the right location. She connects college students’ passions with local needs around the world and she loves them through the process.
Dr. Karen Bullock – She is one of the most brilliant people I have ever met. Intimidatingly brilliant. Yet she saw me, encouraged me, challenged me, and inspired me. I am forever grateful to the example and support she provided that helped me realize my calling.
As a woman in Christian education leadership, what are some of the unique challenges that women face in the academic sphere, and how can we work to address those challenges?
- The problem (and it’s worse in Christian higher education but I don’t have that data): https://www.aauw.org/resources/article/fast-facts-academia/
- The solution: https://www.cupahr.org/surveys/research-briefs/women-executives-in-higher-ed/
Why is it important that more women are represented in church and theological institutional roles?
I would not have believed I would be in the position to minister that I am today without the example of women who came before me. I would not have pursued graduate studies at all without the example of women who came before me. Representation matters more than any other strategy (apart from the work of God) to improve the potential for women to live out their calling in the church and theological higher education. That is why I will continue to use the position God has given me to encourage women to discern God’s call, pray, and read scripture to overcome the challenges that will come their way. God wants to use women to further the Kingdom, and it often takes seeing God use others to believe it is possible for God to use us.