Faculty

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

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

Bramsen teaches courses on African politics, comparative politics, democracy, and research, writing and faith integration in political science. He also teaches in and co-directs Bethel's Humanities Program. In addition to his work at Bethel, he serves as pastor at Resurrection Anglican Church in Robbinsdale, Minnesota.

Chris Gehrz

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

Michael Bumann

Adjunct Instructor of History, Philosophy, and Political Science | m-bumann@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2023

Adjunct Instructor of Languages and Cultures

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

Andrew Greenlee

Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy | greand@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2014

Adjunct Instructor of Philosophy

Rushika Hage

Adjunct Instructor of History | rkh33579@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2015

Adjunct Instructor of History

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.

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

Adjunct 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.

Sara Shady

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

Shady's teaching focuses on fostering healthy communities amidst significant difference, including racial/ethnic, religious, and political differences. She is also interested in how we teach empathy. And she is a specialist in 19th and 20th c. Continental Philosophy, particularly Existentialism

Lynn Uzzell

Associate Professor of Political Science | l-uzzell@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2024

Lynn Uzzell joined the HiPPos department in 2024 as Associate Professor of Political Science. She specializes in the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and the political thought of James Madison. Her current projects include studies in the integrity of Madison's Notes of the Constitutional Convention, Madison's understanding of the Free Exercise clause, and Madison's antislavery constitutionalism. She has previously taught at Baylor University, the University of Richmond, the University of V. . . read more.

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.

Adjunct Faculty

Todd Kline

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

Outside of Bethel, Professor Kline retired Navy Captain, have served over 23 years as a member of the Navy's Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAGC). His career hase included serving as the military legal advisor to (or at) the Office of the Vice President, Camp David, the National Security Agency, the Spanish Ministry of Defense, and Navy Special Warfare. A specialist in international law, he has been stationed with his family in Spain and Japan as well as served as Adjunct Faculty at the . . . read more.

Haley Wireman-Sobba

Adjunct Instructor of Political Science | h-sobba@bethel.edu | Started at Bethel: 2024

Haley is a PSEO advisor and an adjunct faculty for Bethel

Emeritus/Emerita Faculty

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.

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

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.