Distinguished Faculty Lecture 2023–2024
Rodd Strobel, Chair Department of Health and Physical Education:
The Oldest Profession in the World: What Coaching Can Teach Us About the Essence of Being Human
Sunday, November 5, 2023, 7 p.m. Melvin K. West Fine Arts Center.
The Oldest Profession in the World: What Coaching Can Teach Us About the Essence of Being Human
From the creation of the world, coaching has connected people in moments of instruction and growth. A great coach must have a thorough understanding of where their learner is, where they must be, and the skills necessary to get there. In our modern world of a thousand distractions, what can the art of coaching teach us about finding success in the things that really matter?
Rodd Strobel, chair of the Department of Health and Physical Education and assistant professor, has long been fascinated with the role of coaching as a way to support growth in others.
As a physical educator for over 30 years, Strobel is convicted of the interdependence of physical, mental, and spiritual growth. In Ellen White’s book Education, she says that educational institutions are to “send forth men strong to think and to act, men who are masters and not slaves of circumstances, men who possess breadth of mind, clearness of thought, and the courage of their convictions.”
In his lecture, Strobel will explore the biblical examples of coaching and how the art of coaching has helped him understand the importance of our physical being, the key to thriving, and our Christian purpose.
Previous lecturers
2022-2023
Jerry Hartman, Professor of Communication
2021-2022
2021-2022 Austin Archer, Professor of Psychology and Education
2020-2021
2020-2021 Dave Thomas, Professor of Practical Theology and Apologetics
2019-2020
Debbie Muthersbaugh, Professor of Education
2018-2019
Kari Firestone, Professor of Nursing
2017-2018
Pedrito Maynard-Reid, Professor of Theology
2016-2017
Paul Dybdahl, Professor of Theology
2015-2016
Kellie Bond, Associate Professor of English
2014-2015
Linda Emmerson, Assistant Professor of Philosophy
2013-2014
David Bullock, Professor of Communication
2012-2013
Karen Tetz, Professor of Nursing
2011-2012
Joseph G. Galusha Jr., Professor of Biology
2010-2011
Pamela Keele Cress, Professor of Social Work and Sociology
2009-2010
Thomas M. Thompson, Professor of Mathematics
2008-2009
Gregory D. Dodds, Associate Professor of History
2007-2008
Bruce C. Johanson. Professor of Biblical Studies
2006-2007
Jon A. Cole, Professor of Engineering
2005-2006
Beverly G. Beem, Professor of English
2004-2005
James R. Nestler, Professor of Biology
2003-2004
Alden L. Thompson, Professor of Biblical Studies
2002-2003
Kraig S. M. Scott, Associate Professor of Music
2001-2002
Douglas R. Clark, Professor of OT and Archaeology
2000-2001
Rodney Heisler, Professor of Engineering
1999-2000
C. Loren Dickinson, Professor of Communication
1998-1999
Roland R. Blaich, Professor of History
1997-1998
Verlie Y. F. Ward, Professor of Education
1996-1997
Thomas J. Emmerson, Professor of Art
1995-1996
Claude C. Barnett, Professor of Physics
1994-1995
Terrie Dopp Aamodt, Professor of English and History
1993-1994
Ernie J. Bursey, Professor of Biblical Studies