Introducing the new faces around Bethel

News | Roberta Fultz

--Dr. Halvorsen’s interest in health and wellness began within his family in Owatonna, Minnesota.  His father was a physician, and his grandfather was a Lutheran pastor.  During college he focused on chemistry and biochemistry, but was an avid collegiate athlete, playing a variety of sports including tennis and basketball.  “For my master’s and Ph.D. work it was a natural fit to go into physiology, clinical physiology, exercise and nutrition,” he said.

--A former University of Minnesota professor, Halvorsen came to Bethel through Dottie Haugen, a Bethel professor emerita who was one of his master’s students.  “She was very interested in doing more in the whole area of wellness here at Bethel, so I started to work with Dottie,” he said.  Halvorsen has been a guest lecturer at Bethel for over twenty years and has spent the last two years as an adjunct professor.

--Halvorsen is looking forward to teaching Physiology and Intervention of Chronic Disease and Disabilities this semester.  “It’s a brand new class,” he said.  “It gets people thinking and doing some critical analysis on the whole world of exercise medicine.”  One of his long-term goals is to develop “a more comprehensive body/mind/spirit wellness program here on campus.”