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In the sixth episode of the second season of the “Saturdays at Seven” conversation series, Todd Ream talks with Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu, Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Westmont College. Denu begins by assessing the state of conversations concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion on college and university campuses and in particular the state of those conversations on Christian college and university campuses. While she believes both secular and Christian institutions have much to learn from one another, she also believes that a proper understanding of the Kingdom of God affords Christian colleges and universities with an added opportunity to appreciate all members of their community as interdependent members of a greater whole as Christs body. Ream then asks Denu about her upbringing in Los Angeles, the profound influence her grandparents had on her spiritual formation, and the paths she took through college and graduate school as a social worker and sociologist. Denu explains the influence the early years of her career at Azusa Pacific University had on her appreciation for the academic vocation and the ways she learned that leaders can nurture an appreciation for such a vocation. Ream and Denu discuss her service with the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, her appreciation for study abroad programs, and the time she spent as a Fulbright scholar in Ethiopia and South Africa. To close the conversation, Denu discusses her calling to serve as the chief academic officer at Westmont College and her hopes for the faculty community she leads.
Todd Ream: Welcome to Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. My name is Todd Ream. I have the privilege of serving as the publisher for Christian Scholar’s Review and as the host for Saturdays at Seven. I also have the privilege of serving on the faculty and the administration at Indiana Wesleyan University.
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Our guest is Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu, Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Westmont College. Thank you for joining us.
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Thank you for having me. It’s good to be with you, Todd.
Todd Ream: The human fabric of higher education, especially in relation to historically underrepresented persons, has been and continues to be a work in progress. In recent history, conversations and practices coalesced around diversity, equity, and inclusion. A growing number of states, though, then imposed limits on those conversations and practices for their institutions. And a growing number of private colleges and universities have also ceased asking, as part of their hiring processes, for statements concerning diversity, equity, and inclusion.
All said, how do you make sense of where we find ourselves in higher education when it comes to its human fabric?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Thank you. Well, very, very compact question, Todd. Honestly, part of my work and career in higher ed education has included some diversity work and I am a sociologist by training who has studied race relations in the US as well as family matters so these are matters that are deeply important to me both as a sociologist, but also more so as a Christian.
I think we see throughout Scripture but more so in, in Revelation, every tribe, tongue, and nation being representative before the Kingdom of God. And so for me, these are not discussions around being politically correct, but more so about being biblically correct. And what does it mean to be a part of pluralistic society where we need to learn to work across different differences?
So for me, when I hear institutions shutting down conversations around how do we work around differences, how do we celebrate the uniqueness of who we are and what we bring to the table, I think sometimes often I know that’s birth out of fear or divisiveness.
But honestly, these are opportunities to engage around, again just a rich mosaic of what the Kingdom of God looks like and who we are as the Body of Christ and bringing our unique cultural perspectives around a variety of differences, age race of course, gender and cultural differences, socioeconomic, et cetera, abilities, disabilities.
So again, the way I approach it is nothing to be afraid of, but how do we learn to prepare our students, in fact, for a world that doesn’t always look and live and think the way they do, and to do that in a civil way.
Todd Ream: Thank you. In what ways then, if any, has progress been made in recent years when it comes to these conversations?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Yeah, well, I can give you one example, in particular, something that we have implemented here at Westmont that I think is a good way to keep the discussion moving forward.
Our board, as well as our faculty and students, weighed in on a process called justice, reconciliation and diversity G.E. courses from a biblical standpoint. So what that means is we’re looking at matters of diversity and what Scripture has to say about again, this rich mosaic. And how do we prepare our students for, again, a very diverse world and what I call “glomestic diversity,” being able to connect the domestic and the global conversations around the table in very meaningful ways.
So I think there are campuses that are doing some really great work, rich work, including some conversations around interfaith dialogue. Not that we’re willing to give up who we are and our Christian distinctions, but how to prepare our students to be able to sit around a table where people, again, come from different religious backgrounds, different persuasions, perspectives, et cetera.
But to be able to do it in a thoughtful way that may, in fact, invoked more of the Christian Gospel for those who are nonbelievers. So again, the Great Commandment to love God and our neighbor, with the Great Commission, I think there are some great models we’re seeing out there.
Todd Ream: Toward what cultural markers then maybe should we look to when seeking to assess whether progress has been made? And then how do those markers perhaps help inform what might be called goal setting towards our future aspirations along these lines?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: I think one of the indicators that we have to look at is what is our posture? When we’re having these important dialogues, these conversations, if we’re coming in with a perspective to protect our territory, maybe we’re coming from a frame of reference that is more fear invoked than not. I think instead, really, the posture needs to be coming with cultural humility.
How do I first of all, listen, listen to what is being said. I think for every leader, a key component of leadership is listening. When we listen, we can lead better. We need to first listen to understand, and then, I think we earned the right to be able to speak into a conversation.
So for me, progress indicators of good markers is what, what is my posture? What are what’s the posture in which I enter a conversation and dialogue? Christian higher ed, in particular, is well poised to do this and to model this for our students coming in with that cultural humility.
Todd Ream: Along those lines then, you know, you talked about the ways that Christian higher education is well poised. How would you estimate it is performing in relation to, say, other institutions with different missions, whether they be public or private?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Wow, that’s a, that’s a great question. I, I’m thinking my response is honestly, I’m thinking about colleagues who are at secular institutions, what they might say about us versus how we speak about ourselves.
So I think it is in some cases, a mixed bag. I think as we look particularly around, again, discussions around diversity, more specifically, sometimes we see ourselves as protecting and stepping away from the conversation when really the model I see through Scripture is Christ engaging the culture. It’s nothing that we need to run away from or be afraid of, but really to be willing to engage. And again, that engagement starts with a posture of humility and listening to come around.
That said, here’s where I think Christians have the upper hand in terms of conversations along these lines. We’re not just engaging for the here and now, we’re preparing people for eternity. And so part of eternity starts right now. How do we love our brothers and sisters? How do we love even our enemies and what does that mean, to be willing to listen to people that we may vehemently disagree with?
What I see in Scripture is Christ saying, hey, it’s not enough to love those who you get along with, that you vote on along the same lines with that your ideological perspectives are the same. He’s saying, love those that you actually totally disagree with. And yet, how do you treat them with that same love and kindness?
And, and you can say respectfully we can say that we disagree, but how do I respect you as an individual, as a person whether or not you’re even a brother or sister in Christ, you are part of God’s creation, and I need to honor that, honor that in you. We call the, you know, you hear the term imago dei, you’re created, each person is created in the image of God. And so how do I honor that even when we disagree, whether, you know, theologically, ideologically, or on other measures?
Todd Ream: Christian colleges and universities then resonate with this story that you’ve talked about and how it informs the ways that individuals relate, people along lines of difference relate and then come to appreciate each other. What though, if anything, could we learn from other campuses, whether they be public or non-sectarian private schools, about how these conversations and how these aspirations can take hold?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: I’ll give you an example, again, partly tied to my international work which, don’t get me started about that because I love the global community.
Todd Ream: I’m afraid we are going to have to ask a few questions about that here in a few minutes, but.
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: I was doing some work in South Africa and the term a greeting, a Zulu greeting called Sawubona was introduced or shared with me. And that concept, that idea, that greeting is analogous to hello, but it actually means the meaning is I see you. And what they mean is it’s not that I just see the physical person who’s in front of me, but it’s seeing the value and the work of that individual who is in front of you.
And so with that, I think part of what I see even from the secular community is that they get it’s important to see and let every person know that you see them, you hear them, you know that they matter. I think the secular community has been great at saying, hey, hold up. These are important things you need to understand even current nomenclature around matters of diversity and engagement. That has been a rich bonus for all of us, I think, whether public or private. We all need to stay current with the literature and know what’s going on.
Now that said, I think where the Christian community can take it to the next level is we say that our motivation is not just for tolerance sake. I mean, most people don’t want to just be tolerated. But our mandate through Scripture is for love’s sake, for God so loved the world that He gave His Son, whoever believes in Him won’t perish but have eternal life.
Our mission and goal is so that people would know that we’re Christians because of our love, that we can disagree and yet we can still uphold dignity and respect for every individual, again across the lines of diversity and that extends beyond just race and ethnicity that might get into some gray matters where some people get a little concerned about gender and, and sexual identity matters. How do we still love people even if theologically we disagree? And so I think that’s a key component.
Scripture talks about we’re, we’re not gonna be known by winning the best arguments that we’re Christian. We’re gonna be known because we were the people who loved our neighbor as ourself, that we loved our enemy. And when our enemy was hungry, we fed that person. That’s what’s going to take the mission of the Gospel greater and beyond just the mandate of teaching diversity or respecting or tolerating differences.
But that’s where people see the light of Christ. And that’s the transcendence of what I hope. It’s not diversity for diversity’s sake. It’s for the greater good to draw people and point people to the cross, that Christ really is the answer.
Todd Ream: Thank you. I want to ask you some questions now, if I may, about your own story. You earned an undergraduate degree from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California. A master’s from Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And a doctorate from the University of Florida.
To begin, where do you identify as home? The West Coast? The Northeast? The Southeast? Not to leave them out, perhaps the Pacific Northwest? Where is home?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: That’s great. California. Uh, true, true, true and true. I am a West Coast gal. I love California. Although I’ve had some great adventures living on the East Coast, love and actually have great friends and family on the East Coast, California is home for me.
That said, I have been richly blessed by being a part of, again, living in different geographical locations, going to school in the Northeast, going to school in the Southeast, and of course, here in California. So, yes, California’s home.
Todd Ream: At what point did you know that sociology and social work would be the focus of your study and that social problems would be at the center of your life’s work?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: So, here’s the crazy thing, Todd. And, and it’s probably not good for me to admit this, but this is the truth. I never planned to go to college. I am a first generation college student. So how does a first generation college student, who never planned to go to college, end up the Chief Academic Officer of a prestigious liberal arts Christian college? And I just think God has the greatest sense of humor ever.
But that said I grew up in a very much, a devout Christian family, more so through my grandparents than even my parents, where my grandfather was a pastor of a small church and then later became a bishop. So through my strong connection with my grandparents in particular, I developed and cultivated this really, this strong heart and love for God and wanted to serve God with my life.
Although I hadn’t gotten encouragement from family members per se to go on to higher ed, it was through that avenue that one day my mom and I stumbled upon a Christian broadcast program that was talking about Christian higher ed. And I thought, huh, that’s interesting. And I ended up doing a college visit to Vanguard and I hate to admit it, but I was interested in going because it was by the beach and I loved the beach and I thought, oh, I could do this. I can, I could do this.
Now, now, mind you, I’d always been a great student graduated from high school with honors. But I ended up getting scholarships and different things to go on to Vanguard and then made a bet with a friend. A friend said to me, why don’t you go on for higher ed? Why don’t you go on for a graduate degree? And I said, no, I’ve done my time four years as if I was in you know, in prison or something. I said, no, I’ve done my time. I’m done. And she said, no, no. She was from Pennsylvania. And she said why don’t you apply to Temple University and you can live with my family in Philadelphia and go to school. And I’m going to apply to USC and live with your family in LA.
It was just a wacky you know, just something that she said off the cuff. And we both ended up applying to those respective schools and we both got in and I got a full ride to go to Temple. So then it was like, okay, this is not so much a joke now. Maybe I should do this. So I think God uses random things sometimes to get us to where we need to go.
But yeah, I decided to do sociology because I’d always been asking the big questions, why, and wanting to understand human phenomenon and why people do what they do and what, what are the various systems and practices that we see in our social fabric that’s happening. So I always wanted to know why. I mean, as a kid, that’s a number one question we ask, why? Your parents tell you to do this, why? Why?
So I was very curious in that sense, but then sociology as a discipline engaged my mind, but my heart and hands wanted it to serve people. So theories and ideas are great, but how do we translate those into actual practices that help ameliorate our communities? And that’s where the social work came in.
My mom’s sister was talking to me one day and she said I think at the time I was, in between majors, not sure what I would major in. And she said, you like helping people. Why don’t you do social work? And I thought, light bulb. That’s right. I do like working with people and helping people. And so that’s where I tied the two together. One is more for my head knowledge and loving to understand the other is to give back and to help.
Todd Ream: You mentioned members of your family and the role and the influence that they played going back to your grandparents and so on. Are there other mentors, who played a role in this process, perhaps teachers or people in your early years of your professional career that helped steer and shape?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: For sure. I mean, again, a big a big part of my story is tied to my grandparents because of the legacy of faith that they laid early for me. They didn’t have much in terms of money or resources, but they gave me Christ. They shared their love of God with me. And that penetrated my heart and changed my outlook cause I was growing up in South Central where I could have, South Central L.A. where I could have made some very different choices, but they kept me in church and really cultivated that love of Christ. So for that, I’m forever grateful.
I can think of other people, including my sixth grade teacher, Miss Liu, a Chinese-American teacher who at the time was working with students who were it was never verbally shared that we were maybe behind academically, but we all knew. We felt the stigma. Even our classroom was on the outskirts of campus as if we were the lepers. So we knew internally that, yeah, we were probably not going to be the leaders and shakers.
And at one point I was a pretty verbal kid and I said to Miss Liu on the first day of class when she had the audacity to give us some actual academic work, I said, Miss Liu don’t you know, we’re not those kids. We’re not the ones who are the smart kids who do this kind of work. And she said, don’t you ever say that again. She said, that is a lie. And don’t believe the lie. You can and you will do this work.
And to that we got into this brief argument because I just thought, who, she doesn’t know me. Who are you? At that time, you know, again, even as a child, I was about the same height as Miss Liu cause she wasn’t a tall woman, and yet she got her point across. And by the end of the year, I had progressed to a significant level that I actually ended up receiving an award from that elementary school.
And I thank Ms. Liu, because she was a woman who reached across differences. She made it her life’s work to work with the kids who others would see as disadvantaged or academically behind. And it was her mission to really push us, to see more in us than what society had already said about us. And so years later, I would go back to her after I got, completed my first college degree, and would thank her in front of her new group of students, that she again was investing in and giving to.
I don’t even know if she was a Christian, but she made it her life’s work to invest across differences to invest in students who otherwise, likely wouldn’t succeed. So yeah, there have been some great people who have been along my path who have invested to make me who I am today.
Todd Ream: Thank you. It’s a beautiful story. You mentioned earlier your service at Azusa Pacific University where for about 10 years, you were engaged in various roles related to diversity. What are among the most important lessons you learned while serving in those roles?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Yeah, so I started off at Azusa Pacific as a full-time faculty member. That was my first full-time appointment as an assistant professor. Progressed to become years later over a decade to become a full professor. It was only at that time that we had what are considered like vice chairs or what we call the faculty moderator. You’re like the president of the faculty.
One of my colleagues had somehow tricked me, but maybe he wouldn’t say that. He had kind of coaxed me into being the faculty moderator on ballot because he said, we don’t have another person to run against. So he’s like, I’m certain you won’t get chosen. You just, I just need somebody’s name on the ballot other than he had one other person. I said, okay, if you’re sure I won’t get chosen, I’ll be that other name, you know, a dummy name on the ballot.
Anyway, I got two thirds of the vote from the faculty to be the faculty representative. And I went to him and I said, this was not supposed to happen. I’m not supposed to be leading the faculty. I don’t want to do that. And he said, Kim, the faculty have spoken. And I was like, dude, what happened?
All that to say, that was my pathway into administration. So I started as an associate provost, became a vice provost for undergraduate programs, and then later vice president, but I was working closely with the president of Azusa at the time and the provost, and I said, as our student population is becoming more and more diverse, someone needs to be paying attention to matters of diversity.
Because diversity in theory is great. We know the research that some of the strongest teams and problem solving groups are diverse groups because you have a myriad of perspectives and ideas to solve a common problem. It makes you richer. But with diversity, you also have a greater likelihood of misunderstandings and clashes, you know, where people are offended about things.
And so someone had to, I really admonish the administration. We need a CDO role, not to mandate how people should treat each other. But really to understand the demographics and pathways to help community provide more community building in the midst of our rich mosaic to build and strengthen our community.
So they said, wonderful. When, when, when will you start? And I said, wait a minute, I’m not saying it for me. I’m saying it for the good of the whole, for the community. And they said, well, we trust you. We know you. And we think you should be the inaugural CDO. I thought, dear Lord, next time I won’t, I won’t be offering any solutions. But that’s how I ended up getting into that role because I thought it was important enough to get it started. And I served in that role I think roughly three years before I passed the baton on to the next person.
But yeah, it was in, I served a number of roles at, at APU and it taught me more than anything, the value of a good liberal arts education, because a good liberal arts education gives you broad exposure to many different ideas and ways of thinking. Not just what to think, but how to think critically and to be a problem solver and to contribute. Be a good communicator, et cetera. So that allowed me to pivot into a variety of leadership roles.
And honestly the biggest takeaway is to, to serve and to listen. Again, I’ve said that already, but I can’t say it enough. Leaders have to listen. And that includes not only live audiences, but listening through the literature, reading, taking in information and data and using that for the good of the whole of the community that you’re serving it.
So it’s not about titles, although titles are great. It’s not about just moving up the ladder or salaries. These jobs are hard and you have to be committed to serving and to a certain extent, sacrificing your life, aspects of your life, to serve those who are within your care.
Todd Ream: In 2022, you began your tenure as the chief academic officer at Westmont College. What process of discernment then led you to accept this appointment? And what might a typical day look like?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: You’re going to say I’m never having this, this, this woman back cause I have some wild stories. Now, my church tradition is, you know, Wesleyan more holiness background, but I come from a more charismatic line. And so it is not uncommon for us to be prayerful and discerning and trust that God will speak in one way or another through a series of methods.
What one mentor taught me circumstances for sure but Scripture. Scripture, of course, God’s not going to contradict Himself through the Word of God. Holy Spirit promptings where you feel God leading you to and then godly people as well. Different mentors who you trust, who speak into your life. And there should be an agreement among those areas across those four.
But anyway, I was living on the East Coast. I had been working at the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, serving as a VP for educational programs and planned to stay on the East Coast. I mean my husband, who’s been greatly supportive of my career and our three children, we had, we moved, after I left APU, we were in Ethiopia. I was doing a Fulbright and then from there Shirley Hoegstra, the president of CCCU contacted me and said, would you be interested in interviewing for this position?
Well, we felt led. I had been at APU for 22 years. We felt led that God might have something else for us to do. So we were open. And I interviewed in Ethiopia for the position and then had a follow up interview that I had to fly to. Where was I? Rwanda. I was actually, I flew to Kigali for an interview from Ethiopia because there was an attempted coup in Ethiopia and I couldn’t get internet access, so I had to fly to another country. I mean that’s dedication for a job interview. Anyway, so long story short, I think they were impressed that I flew to another country. I got the job.
After we left Ethiopia at the end of that Fulbright, our family moved, sold our home in California, moved to D.C. And six months after landing there, COVID hit. And so my job became critical to bring back all the several hundred students across the U.S. who had been working and partnering with the CCCU to bring all those students back into the U.S. before borders closed. So I was working with directors from multiple countries. And it was just crunch time, critical mass where we’re just working around the clock to get people back.
All that to say, after COVID hit, my job description changed dramatically. And I knew, I felt that my time there was, you know, ending. And so I just, you know, had great conversations about what that transition would look like, but left the CCCU, and really started working in full-time ministry work in D.C., a church that is still near and dear to me and my family. In fact, I’ll be in D.C. speaking there next month.
But all that to say was really in a discerning process of is God calling me to full-time ministry? Now, I’m already ordained as a minister and love the church, but also have this mutual love for the academy. And so it was really trying to discern. Well around that time, I felt like, okay, maybe God’s given me a break from higher ed for a while in any drama from some of these leadership roles. Just a time of rest.
But during that time while I was working with families and children and women, a friend of mine texted me, who I hadn’t even spoken to in a while. And she texted me and she said, Kim, I had a dream. And in my dream, I saw the word provost. She said, I don’t even know what that means, but maybe you do. Well, she didn’t know that I had just received a couple of emails from Gayle Beebe, President of Westmont, as well as a couple of faculty members who were here to say, hey, will you at least apply for our provost position?
And honestly, Todd, I was just in a state where coming off the heels of, you know, the pandemic crises, I was just not in the mood for anything what I labeled as any new drama. Like I didn’t want any drama. I was like, no Lord, I’m good. I’ll just work in the church or go buy a farm and work on the farm. I don’t want any stress, drama, et cetera.
So when Westmont first contacted me, I was not interested. I said, no, that’s good for somebody else, not me. This friend texted me. She had that dream. My pastor’s wife, she said, Kim, she’s like, I’ve been praying for you and it seems like in my prayer time, God is directing you guys back to California. I was like, okay, that’s a second person, but that’s good Lord. But no, I’m good.
And then, a third person came to me. These are, again, these were people who are not connected to each other. My small group Bible study leader, out of the blue one day, she’s like, Kim, I’ve been praying for you. She’s like, I know you guys and Yohannes are trying to discern where you’re supposed to go next. She’s like, in my prayer time, it’s so clear. God is calling you guys back to California. She’s like, now, don’t get me wrong. I love having you here. You’re a great friend, but In my prayer time, it’s so obvious to me, God is calling you guys back to California. I was like, please, thank you. But dear God, maybe like Jonah, I’m not interested, Lord. I’m just not interested.
Now, all that to be said, my husband finally came to me and he essentially said, hey, stop being stubborn. I feel like you need to go do that interview. And so eventually I did contact Gayle. Had to come with humble pie because they had been having a process. They had interviewed multiple people, had failed searches twice in a row, but were trying to, at that point, figure out what else they were going to do.
Anyway, had a great discussion with him. At that point, things started moving fast. There was a committee that wanted to have a Zoom meeting with me. Then they invited me out. Then I came to the campus. Had two days of interviews and it was very clear when I came. This is where I’m supposed to be. Now, of course, the outcome is not in my hand, but I know I’m doing what I need to do, steps of obedience to see.
Now, here’s the deal. There were moments when I was interviewing where they were asking me, there were about 12 people, asking me questions that I thought to myself, how do I even know that answer? Like I’m looking out of body experience at myself saying, what did that answer, how did that get downloaded into my brain? Like I was impressed with the answers as if it wasn’t from me. I was like, dear Lord, where’s that coming from?
All that to say, I think when we’re discerning what season and what God wants to do for us, if we are willing to say, yes, God, I don’t understand why or what, because sometimes you’re not always a willing participant, because again, leadership jobs can be hard. They can be hard, but if we’re willing to say, yes, God, I am open to what you want, not just myself. I think God has a way of using people and circumstances, as well as Scripture to direct us where we need to go.
Todd Ream: Thank you. You mentioned your Fulbright experience in Ethiopia. You also referenced your time in Johannesburg where you were also a Fulbright, and then your service to the CCCU, in terms of educational programs.
What role, if any, do these kinds of international experiences have, and I forewarned you that I was going to ask about this now these international experiences have on cultivating the kind of Christian imagination we need to have when it comes to a fabric of relationships that diverse people share in Christ’s name?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Wow. I love that. I mean, it sounds trite, but I would say I am the epitome of the global citizen. I love the global community. Now, you don’t have to travel overseas to engage the global community. Obviously, living in Los Angeles is a microcosm of the world, in terms of groups of people and diverse languages, et cetera.
But I’ve just returned from four countries in the last four weeks. I was spending some time in Uganda with a study abroad program we have, as well as in the Netherlands and Belgium and a brief stop in Qatar. I’ll head out in another week to Mexico. So the global community is a rich community for me.
Here’s why, and here’s why I think study abroad opportunities are so key for our students, as well as the global church, why it’s so important to the American church: the global community, whenever I’m engaged with again, across countries, across differences in languages, it forces me to see and hear things from a different angle, a different perspective, this idea of neuroplasticity where our brains have to adapt to get equilibrium to understand. And we have to begin to be curious and to figure out. As Erin Meyer’s book talks about different cultures, the ability to read the air, to understand contextually what things mean in this context, different from what it means in our own familiar contexts.
It’s been so hugely important to my professional career and academic career, as well as my love of learning to be exposed to differences and to challenge my way of thinking to see things from, again, a different perspective. It helps me hugely when I’m engaged with colleagues who are sharing perspectives here in the U.S. that I’m, it’s totally foreign to me. Because I think, I don’t think like that. I don’t vote like that. I don’t understand the world from that angle, but my global interactions remind me there’s always another way to see something.
And so to posture again in that humility to say, I don’t have all the answers. And in fact, as my kids used to listen to Bill Nye, The Science Guy, he says, everyone you meet will know something that you don’t. And so that humility, that intellectual humility to say, hey, I don’t have all the answers. There’s only one who’s all knowing and that’s God. So let me listen at least and try to understand and try to see. So it gives me that. I think that hospitality to be gracious, to be patient, to hear, to listen and learn and humble myself, to engage across differences. And that, I love it.
And I think it’s so important for our students to have that, to, to be forced, to hear things from another language or to hear someone even speak English with an accent that they have to work to understand and hear. I mean, we get lackadaisical and lazy. Sometimes we think, oh, you’re not speaking English. No, the world doesn’t cater to just us. We have to understand and adapt.
With that, we know the literature as well. Students who engage with study abroad tend to have higher GPAs. We tend to retain them better. They finish in a timely manner, their four-year educational process. And overall they are more well-versed when it comes to understanding differences. And again, posturing from a place of humility to understand people from different backgrounds. So it really is helpful hugely to all of us.
Todd Ream: Thank you. As we turn to the last set of questions for our conversation today, in particular, I want to ask you about the leadership that you exert there, as the chief academic officer at Westmont and in particular to start, how do you define the academic vocation? And then, in particular, what kind of relationship does it form between teaching and service and research?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: So two words really come to the forefront of my mind when I think of the Christian academy in particular, and that is disciples and scholars that it’s a both/and. If we brought in only the top scholars who feel like they’re going to teach their disciplines, do their research and provide service, that’s great. But I can go to Harvard for that. I can go to Stanford. I can be at Pepperdine. I could be here at Westmont. I could be, I mean, I could be at a variety of places.
Here is where I think Christian higher ed is really different and above all else, we’re not just educating the mind. We’re educating the whole person. It’s how do we educate the whole person for the good of the whole, not only for their own well-being and thriving after they complete their education at our institutions, but how do we prepare them to make a difference in the world that has an eternal difference?
So again, we have great professors here at Westmont who have studied at Oxford, at Cambridge, have terminal degrees from Harvard and the likes, but what makes us distinctly different is that we have a commitment to eternal purposes that are kingdom matters. How do we prepare our students to love God and love learning? It’s a both/and. And so I think those are fundamental aspects of what it means to be a part of Christian higher ed today.
Todd Ream: How do you and your colleagues at Westmont then help junior faculty develop this kind of theological imagination that the Christian academic vocation demands? Most terminal degree programs focus on honing people and their skills to be scholars and that’s important. But then there’s this other component and so you recruit great scholars, but how do you introduce them to this understanding and help them cultivate that kind of imagination?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Yes, well, we do that. We start right off the bat here at Westmont by having all new faculty, the first two years that they’re here, they participate in a cohort course called Wayfinding. And in that course for two years, they are inundated with materials about faith integration. How do we tackle faith and learning here at Westmont?
The Westmont way, that it’s not enough to teach biology strictly from your discipline or to be a sociologist and strictly from looking at functionalist perspective, conflict perspective or symbolic interactionism. How do you integrate faith into the fabric of your discipline? What are the resources and materials that would be conduits to help you teach in an integrated way? So we have that for all of our faculty as they come in.
Other things that we include, we have our Martin Institute that really helps provide seminars and colloquiums around engagement deeply into conversations around faith. In fact, we just had the Martin Institute have a whole week seminar around Christian maturity. What does that mean in today’s time? So things like that.
We have our Gaede Institute that really keeps a close relationship between the academy and the Church. And so we have partnerships with pastors, local pastors and engage our faculty in those discussions and really look at partnerships because it’s something that we want to model to our students. It’s not just enough to be a Christian in name, but what does it mean to be in partnership with the, with the Church, with a capital C?
And then we have things like spiritual, I want to say like mentors, spiritual directors that we have grants for those faculty or staff members who say, yeah, I want someone to walk alongside me as I continue to cultivate a life with the mind and the heart towards Christ, thinking more from a rich theological tapestry.
So yeah, those are just some of the things, in addition to book clubs, as we center our conversations around book readings, theological principles, and ideas, so.
Todd Ream: Thank you. For our last question then I want to ask that as a non-denominational Christian college or multi-denominational Christian college, as one of your colleagues once referenced it, what charisms or characteristics, if any, define and perhaps even unify the Westmont faculty?
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: So I love the idea of reframing it to multi -denominational. I love that, instead of the non-denominational. So that’s good, first of all.
So I see it as, again, this is a rich mosaic of representatives of the body of Christ. I think the unifying factor when you get a more ecumenical body or group of people together is the theological humility to posture ourselves to hear from a different angle. We get to have faculty and leadership who will approach a particular, whether it’s a problem or issue, or even a project coming from their rich stream of their denominational background. That enriches all of us.
And so to be able to sit alongside someone who comes from a more Baptist tradition versus an Anglican, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Pentecostal, I think the more it makes us richer, as long as we’re willing to posture and humility to say, we could, you know, if we’re approaching it negatively, we can criticize each other but instead, I think what I’ve found that Westmont has been a gracious community to say, there’s always another way to, to see this and to understand that and to provide that grace and hospitality to each other. So that makes us stronger, actually.
Todd Ream: Thank you. Thank you very much. Our guest has been Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu, Provost and Dean of the Faculty at Westmont College. Thank you for sharing your insights and wisdom with us.
Kimberly Battle-Walters Denu: Thank you. Thank you, it’s been great to be with you today.
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Todd Ream: Thank you for joining us for Saturdays at Seven, Christian Scholar’s Review’s conversation series with thought leaders about the academic vocation and the relationship that vocation shares with the Church. We invite you to join us again next week for Saturdays at Seven.
