鈥淲e don鈥檛 know what God has in store for our students, but God does,鈥� said Dr. Thomas Parham. 鈥淎nd sometimes it鈥檚 beyond what they even dream of. And that excites me.鈥�
Parham, the keynote speaker for the University鈥檚 upcoming Interdisciplinary Research Conference, cited a case in point: his former student Ricky Staub, 聽writer and film director. In the photo above, Staub, at left, laughed with Parham last month in Parham鈥檚 Hollywood-adorned office as they reminisced. Staub, at Parham鈥檚 invitation, visited 海角在线 to speak at the Art of Storytelling Conference.
At the research conference, set for March 22-23, Parham will speak on 鈥淪ecret Origins of a Research Mentor.鈥� As he talks about helping undergrad students pursue research, look for him also to share a story or two about the film and TV career he enjoyed before he became a communication professor.
A United States Naval Academy grad, Parham served seven years in the Navy, including three Persian Gulf deployments, before he left the service to study at Regent University. After earning his Ph.D. there, he headed to the entertainment industry. He worked at Paramount Pictures in the mid-1990s as supervisor of publishing for the studio鈥檚 licensing division and also worked on more than 100 episodes of broadcast television during that decade. He has written for the long-running CBS drama JAG and the Family Channel sit-com Big Brother Jake and also served as an on-location writers鈥� assistant for the third season of Touched by an Angel.
Parham came to academia after 鈥淕od really convicted me that I needed to put this Ph.D. to use and get in the classroom.鈥� He taught at Biola and Azusa Pacific universities before joining the 海角在线 faculty in 2020 as a professor of communication and media studies.
He delights in telling about former students making their mark in entertainment and related fields. 鈥淪eeing my students succeed just gives me great pleasure,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 can tell already that some of my 海角在线 students are going places the same way.鈥�
Students hear providential stories, like 鈥渁ll the ways God lined things up for me to be on Jag.鈥� And they also hear down-to-Earth advice about succeeding in show business.
鈥淎re there people in Hollywood who are against Christians?鈥� he asked. 鈥淎bsolutely, but people there don鈥檛 care what you believe as long as you鈥檙e doing a great job. And remember: never burn a bridge; you never know when you might need to cross that river again.鈥� Parham鈥檚 keynote address is 11 a.m. March 23 in the Helen K. Persson Recital Hall of Vera Lea Rinker Hall, the location of all the conference’s oral presentations.
The聽conference schedule聽includes a wide variety of research by 海角在线 faculty and students, as hinted by the samples below:
- President Dr. Debra A. Schwinn will report on her research about best practices and policies for community and academic physicians working together in integrated healthcare systems.
- Dr. Tom Chesnes will discuss the link between the decline in seagrass and the mortality of manatees.
- Dr. David Horkott will present what he calls 鈥淜ierkegaard鈥檚 baffling book,鈥� Fear and Trembling.
- Dr. Michael Kolta and Dr. Marsha Guntharp will demonstrate 鈥淭urning Colors into Music with Robotics.鈥� It鈥檚 an interdisciplinary work involving visual arts, musical performance, computer science, and robotics. It also represents research into pedagogy, showing a fun way to fill the classroom with STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, and math).
- 聽Senior history major Caleb Bowman traveled to Ireland in the summer to participate in an archaeological investigation by the Irish Archaeology Field School. He鈥檒l explain what he learned from the excavation of the first recorded Anglo-Norman fortification in Ireland. 鈥淭he fort at Carrig marks the beginning of English military control of Ireland and is crucial for understanding the development of political tensions between these countries in the centuries to follow,鈥� he said.
Presentations will be video recorded and made available for viewing on the web. In addition to those oral presentations, the conference features a variety of poster presentations by faculty and students. These will be on display at the Warren Library March 21-25.
Psychology Professor聽Dr. David Compton, fellow for research in the sciences and chair of the Office of Academic Research, is the coordinator of the research conference.