intercultural studies – Houghton STAR

By Abigail Bates ('26)

Dr. Marcus Dean is a professor of Global Studies, and the Director of Off-Campus Studies at Houghton University.

Before coming to Houghton, Professor Dean and his family were Wesleyan missionaries. At the time, Professor Dean pursued his Ph.D. in Intercultural Studies with the expectation that he would use it in Latin America, however he decided to teach college courses instead.

Growing up in the Wesleyan Church, Professor Dean had always known about Houghton, but it wasn’t until his hunt for a teaching position that he became involved in the community. In 2003, Professor Dean joined Houghton’s faculty.

“At first I taught Spanish and worked with Off-Campus studies,” Professor Dean stated, “but soon moved more into the classes I am teaching now, in the areas of Intercultural Studies and Missions.”

Off-Campus Studies Assistant, Karen Hotchkiss first met Professor Dean just before she interviewed for the assistant position.

“He has worked tirelessly to make sure there are study abroad opportunities for our students,” Hotchkiss said. “He’s very knowledgeable and works with students to make sure they find a good fit for their passions.”

Professor Peter Meilaender—the Dean of Religion, Humanities and Global Studies, and a professor of Political Science—has worked together with Professor Dean for a long time, in a number of contexts: in the Off-Campus Studies office when taking students abroad, reviewing International Development majors’ senior capstone projects (along with Dr. Oakerson) and developing the new Global Studies major.

“His background in missions gives him a perspective that most of us lack in trying to understand different cultures,” Professor Meilaender remarked, “and many Houghton students have benefited from his experience over the years.”

Professor Meilaender commented that Professor Dean has worked hard to give students opportunities to travel and engage in other cultures, even as enrollment in the program dropped over the past few decades.

“But Dr. Dean,” Professor Meilaender said, “despite these challenges, has remained committed to helping students understand, engage, and travel the world.”

In both the last academic year (2022-2023) and this current year (2023-2024), Professor Dean has worked tirelessly, helping students complete their requirements in the discontinued Intercultural Studies and International Development majors.

“Dr. Dean puts in long hours on behalf of his students,” Professor Meilaender added. “He is in his office more than most faculty and is always available to students.”

Professor Dean has always enjoyed teaching, especially in the work he does to inform students about different cultures. He hopes that by sharing his experiences of living in other parts of the world, his students will be able to meaningfully interact with our increasingly diverse world and touch the lives of people facing cultural differences. To make choices, thinking, “How can we be like Christ?”

“It is interesting that we really don’t know how what we do will [eventually] end up,” Professor Dean contemplated. “My first year here, I had a student in class [Dr. Klejment-Lavin, who] has been on the mission field, now has his doctorate, is a college professor, and will be the speaker Monday April 22nd for the Chamberlain Missions Lecture … teaching really is about the long term, but today matters so that students engage for the long term.”

In his years of teaching, Professor Dean has learned alongside students in order to continue connecting with them. He enjoys exploring new topics and areas students are interested in, and applying that knowledge in future conversations.

Julia Collins (‘26) describes Professor Dean as a good professor who has a lot of knowledge in addition to personal experience.

“The most important thing I’ve learned from him,” Collins said, “is that Christians need to be tolerant towards other cultures. It is important to treat everyone with love and respect.”

Professor Dean’s classes have been described by students as informative, interesting, organized, and students know what to expect from him.

“His teaching style is organized and foreseeable,” Chesnie Waddingham (‘26) said. “He follows a set schedule when assignments are due … I like it because it’s nice to know what to expect, and I can trust nothing is going to sneak up on me to do [later]. I think he does it this way for the benefit of the students. It prevents a lot of stress for us.”

Waddingham described Professor Dean’s lectures as being calm and incorporating group discussion and interactions about one to two times a class.

“I love Marcus Dean,” Waddingham declared. “He is very approachable, and cares deeply for his students and what he is teaching us. I appreciate [his] comforting classroom atmosphere, and I know that his office door is always open if I need anything.”

Waddingham explained that one of the biggest things she’s learned from Professor Dean is the practice of considering her assumptions and beliefs about the world, while aligning her reflections with scripture.

“He encourages all of us to see the world through the lens of the Bible, and it’s a beautiful and powerful thing,” Waddingham reflected.

Looking towards the future, Professor Dean said, “We always look forward to understanding what God has next. Before we came here, we had no idea what would be next. Yet I am now finishing my 21st year at Houghton! I need to remind myself that I can look forward to what God will do.” ★

As part of a recent series of academic budget cuts, Islamic Studies will no longer be offered as a minor or as a concentration in the Intercultural Studies major. Decisions to make such cuts began back in October, with various meetings with the Academic Council, faculty, and the academic affairs committee of the board of trustees aiding the decision-making process. Academic Dean Linda Mills Woolsey, in charge of making such cuts, stated that, “Ultimately, the decision is my decision as the dean, so I take responsibility for it even though I’ve consulted with other people,” adding that “the decision making for these things is a process.”

Courtesy of http://iqraislamicstudies.webs.com/

One of the driving reasons behind the cuts is a lack of student interest and enrollment in the program. The Islamic Studies program had managed to occupy a middle ground in terms of enrollment in the early years after its initiation in 2006; however, enrollment numbers have since dwindled. The minor has managed to maintain an average of 8.2 minors every five years between 2009 and 2013, but the concentration in the Intercultural Studies major experienced a decline in numbers between 2011 and 2013, averaging 3.6 majors with the Islamic Studies concentration per five years. This year the minor numbers three students while the concentration numbers two. Mills Woolsey cites an overall decline in college enrollment as one of the reasons behind the shrinking of the program, but admits that certain disciplines have suffered more than others. “As our enrollment has declined, it hasn’t declined proportionately across the board, so we’re investing a lot in really small majors.” Michael Walters, chair of the religion, theology, and Bible departments, takes a different view. “I know our numbers in our department have been down a little bit, so I think it’s reasonable to assume that the pool of students who would normally be interested in that sort of thing has been a bit smaller than it was in the past, but I don’t think that’s a sufficient explanation.” Mills Woolsey also expressed a sense of confusion at the lack of student interest. “I thought with the coming of the Arab Spring there would be a resurgence in student interest in Islam, so I don’t know whether it’s that our students aren’t interested in that or that there’s something about the way we framed the minor or the concentration didn’t have a broad enough usefulness for students.”

Further rationale for the cuts determined that the funds from the minor and concentration were needed more in certain under resourced disciplines such as finance, digital media, and biochemistry. According to Mills Woolsey, the cut of the Islamic Studies program is part of the college’s effort to deal with problem areas “where we need to make full-time hires and we don’t have the budget to make those hires, so right now we’re looking at, and will continue to throughout the course of this year, minors and concentrations that have very few students.”

Another problem for the program is its dependence on two part-time professors also engaged in missions work, a situation which creates potential for future career conflicts. “It’s just owing to the good generosity of the missions agencies that Drs. Hegeman and Little work with that we’ve been able to do what we’ve done,” said Walters. “I think that’s very unsettling to a college administrator. What happens if those missions organizations simply say, “we need you to be full-time in Benin or Morocco’? We don’t have anybody in our department who can teach that stuff.” There had been consideration of merging Islamic Studies with the religion department with religion professors teaching similar classes, but, as Walters further explained, “I don’t think we have faculty right now in the department that are qualified to do it.”

While various faculty members expressed regret at the cuts, there is some agreement that changes need to be made to its structure if there is any chance for its reinstatement in the future. Marcus Dean, chair of the Intercultural Studies department, attested to the diversity of the program in its applications, stating that “Some focus on developing an academic understanding of Islam and some are more outreach or missions focused. This makes the content applicable in diverse areas of service. For example, one of the Islam courses has been an option for international development programs.” Walters also cited applications in international business.

Mills Woolsey wondered if more areas could be covered in the program to capture student interest. “Islamic Studies as we’re doing it is primarily the study of Islam as a world religion and a study from an apologetic, missiological perspective, which are very good things, but it may be that there’s not a big enough group of students who want that perspective on Islam. The other areas where you could study Islamic culture would be social, political, even the art and architecture of the Islamic world. Islamic Studies is kind of a broad field.” She added, “It’s obvious that Islamic Studies is an important field of study, but we haven’t framed it in a way that’s attracting a lot of students, so we have to go back to the drawing board and see what can be done to make this more inviting to students, more accessible to students… sometimes you do have to take something down to build it up again.”