Faculty highlights

Academic highlights

Notable activities of NCU faculty

Aaron M. McKain

Aaron M. McKain, Ph.D., MSL (English, Digital Media, and Communication Arts), launched a national high school curriculum pilot on algorithmic bias in conjunction with the Anti-Defamation League. Guiding NCU’s student-led Institute for Digital Humanity, McKain has played a part in helping ban discriminatory facial recognition technology in Minneapolis and partnered with the Netflix documentary team that produced “Coded Bias.” In October, McKain and several others, including Thomas Freeman, J.D., MBA (adjunct), Ayin Monge ’21, and Julius Hernandez ’21, presented at the Heider Business Symposium at Creighton University.

Nan Muhovich

Nan Muhovich, Ph.D. (Global Studies), founded and directed the Kidz Read after-school homework help program, a partnership between NCU and Christ Church International. She served as co-director of Come Grow with Us, a community garden in South Minneapolis that provided fresh vegetables and connection in South Minneapolis during the pandemic and rioting. She also chaired and directed the Justice & Mercy 5k Walk/Run to raise funds for Global Horizons, Inc.

J.P. O'Connor

JP O'Connor, Ph.D. (Theological Studies) was recently honored as the Upper Midwest Society of Biblical Literature (SBL) Regional Scholar Award Nominee for his paper “From Imagination to Practice: Burial Rituals in Paul” and is under consideration for SBL honors at the national level.

Andy Schuttinga

Andy Schuttinga, Ph.D. (Psychology), earned a Ph.D. in 2020 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2021. He contributed to the revamp of NCU’s Psychology major and consolidated two courses to serve Psychology and Education students better.

Allen Tennison

Allen Tennison, Ph.D. (Church Leadership), authored an entry in Brill’s Encyclopedia of Global Pentecostalism (2021).

Gail Weinhold

Gail Weinhold, Ph.D. (Education), received her Ph.D. in Education from the University of St. Thomas in May 2020. Her dissertation was titled “The Impacts of Affective Teaching Behaviors and Performance Techniques on Student Engagement by Exemplary Teachers.”

Phil Zarns

Phil Zarns ’00, Ph.D. (Global & Theological Studies), published a paper in the Journal of the European Pentecostal Theological Association and contributed a coauthored chapter with Jonas Sjöström ’99, ’18 M.A., and Darrin Rodgers for Entusiastisk Kristendom och fanatism I Knutby, a collaboration between theologians from Sweden and the USA.