- Department: Biology - Cellular
- University: Wenatchee Valley College
- Location: Washington
I've loved science and people since a boy. I grew up collecting insects & rocks and fell in love with the ocean when my family moved to Thousand Oaks, California when I was in 5th grade. I decided to become a marine biologist after spending time at the beach and watching Jacques Yves Cousteau videos. Through high school and college, I worked summers as a YMCA camp counselor - where I met my wife! Working as a professor at a Community College during the year combines my love for science and my love for people - a perfect match! I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior when I was five years old. My family attended a Billy Graham crusade at the Astrodome in Houston, Texas. Even though we attended church, I remember walking down to the field and asking Jesus into my heart at that crusade. My relationship with Christ really grew in Jr Hi and High School through the youth group at our church. One of the joys and struggles in being a Christian and a Biology professor are questions of the origin of life, the meaning and purpose of life and trying to find the balance between science and faith. A book by Darrel R. Falk called, "Coming to Peace with Science" given to me by a Christian biology professor helped me find my own peace as well. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams with a wife and two daughters whom I adore, a career doing "what I was built for" and a life growing in my relationship with Christ each year. The more I "know" of God, the more I realize it will take eternity to truly come to know the love of God.
Favorite Quote
I wish you the very best of success.
Friends describe me
Outgoing, enthusiastic, passionate about life
My hobbies
Ocean activities, racquet sports, gardening
Fantasy dinner guests
The disciples, Sean Connery, Ronald Reagan
Best advice I ever received
Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life!
My undergrad alma mater
University of California, Santa Barbara; MARINE BIOLOGY
My worst subject in school
Psychology
In college I drove
1966 VW Beetle
If I weren't a professor, I would
Be a tour guide narrator for the Jungle Cruise in Disneyland
Favorite books
Clive Cussler novels, action/adventure novels
Favorite movies
Lord of the Rings
Favorite city
Lahaina, Maui, Hawaiian Islands
Favorite coffee
Starbucks House Blend
Nobody knows I
Wear gel insoles in my shoes!
My latest accomplishment
Both daughters through their 4-year degrees debt free