Our professors are distinguished scholars, active researchers, published writers, and faithful Christians who demonstrate what it means to be both Christ-followers and leaders in their academic fields. As mentors and role models, they play a huge role in the integration of faith and learning at Bethel.

Department Chair

Andrew Bramsen

Department Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science | a-bramsen@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2013

Comparative politics, political theory, African politics and Islam

Chris Gehrz

Department Chair and Professor of History | cgehrz@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2003

Gehrz teaches courses on international, European, military, and sports history. He is the author or editor of three books on the Christian movement known as Pietism. His most recent publication is a spiritual biography of Charles A. Lindbergh.

Faculty

Bruce Berglund

Adjunct Instructor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science | brb78988 | Started at Bethel: 2022

Adjunct Instructor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science

Omar Fakhri

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy | odf85224@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2021

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Philosophy

Bart Fischer

Adjunct Instructor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science | b-fischer@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2021

Adjunct Instructor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science

Charles Goldberg

Associate Professor of History | c-goldberg@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2016

Roman history and digital humanities

James Hurd

Professor of Anthropology Emeritus | hurd@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1982

Cross-cultural Christianity, Amish and Mennonite culture, sociobiology, Latin America, demography, physical anthropology, concepts of community.

AnneMarie Kooistra

Professor of History | a-kooistra@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2005

Kooistra's research involves the study of prostitution in Los Angeles from 1880 to 1940. She examines the process by which a handful of men began a systematic domination of the business and the ways in which the prostitution racket drew people of various racial and ethnic backgrounds together.

Matthew Kuchem

Assistant Professor of Political Science | m-kuchem@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2019

Assistant Professor of Political Science

John Lawyer

Professor of Political Science Emeritus | lawjoh@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1976

Research interests in Celtic studies, international relations, foreign policy, European politics and globalization

Christopher Moore

Associate Professor of Political Science | c-moore@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2008

Dr. Moore studies interstate violence including terrorism, insurgency, political coups, and weapons of mass destruction. He is also interested in the intersection of faith and foreign policy, and has teaching interests in international relations, foreign policy, and political psychology.

Sam Mulberry

Assistant Professor of History and Co-Director of the Academic Enrichment and Support Center | s-mulberry@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2003

Much of Mulberry's original work centers on media production for both the Christianity and Western Culture program and the Academic Enrichment and Support Center. Currently, he's focusing on academic podcasting and producing online workshops and training sessions for students.

Amy Poppinga

Associate Professor of History | a-poppinga@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2012

Poppinga studies the history of Islamic communities in the United States and works with local community members to construct oral history profiles. Her most recent project explores how oral histories and ethnographic narratives can be integrated into the pedagogy of interfaith studies. She's also interested in the history of Islamic societies in the Middle East (particularly after the end of colonialism) and the global history of Muslim women.

Benjamin Rhodes

Adjunct Instructor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science | b-rhodes@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2022

Adjunct Instructor of General Studies

Sara Shady

Professor of Philosophy | s-shady@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2002

Shady's interests include the construction of healthy communities and political societies; the role of religion in politics, especially inter-faith dialogue; and early to mid-20th century Continental philosophy.

Dan Yim

Professor of Philosophy | dyim@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2006

Dr. Yim has interests in early modern philosophy, the intersections of race, gender, and sexuality, the philosophy of popular culture, and the epistemology of self-deception.

Samuel Zalanga

Professor of Sociology Emeritus | szalanga@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 1999

Zalanga's doctoral fieldwork focused on the comparative role of ruling elite coalitions in development policy formulation and implementation in Malaysia and Nigeria. He specifically studied the process and politics of neoliberal economic reforms and implementation in the two countries as part of a broader global political-economic issue of the relative role of states and the market in the contemporary incarnation of global capitalism. Zalanga grew up in the rural, social margins, and peri. . . read more.