Office of Public Relations
Missouri Baptist University
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Saint Louis, Missouri 63141-8698
314.392.2307 / fax 314.392.2265
www.mobap.edu / pr@mobap.edu
For Immediate Release
RE: 30 somethings
30 somethings
March 19, 2007
They’ve garnered terminal degrees, researched life-saving vaccines, been published in dozens of scholarly publications and performed on world-renowned stages. And they are only in their thirties. Meet a sampling of some of MBU’s brightest—and youngest—faculty members.
Read about other MBU faculty members in their 30’s:
Dr. Lydia Thebeau, assistant professor of Biology
Ms. Joy Powell, instructor of theatre arts
Dr. Keith Beutler, assistant professor of History
Greg Farris, Assistant Professor of Health and Sport Sciences
Coordinator of Sports Medicine Program
MBU: The sports medicine academic program at MBU has proven to prepare students for many careers. Every year, a number of MBU alums are hired at school districts, rehabilitation centers, and for athletic teams.
Education:
M.S.ED in Education with an emphasis in Exercise Physiology, Baylor University
M. Ed in Health Education, University of Houston
B.S. in Education, Baylor University
“God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees, and flowers, and clouds, and stars.” –Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Some might describe 36-year-old Greg Farris as an outdoors man.
Greg Farris
After all, he has reached the summits of twenty 14,000-foot peaks in Colorado. He’s seen the highest geographical point in 35 U.S. states. He’s backpacked and day hiked in 30 states, including a six-state backpack trek on the Appalachian Trail.
That’s not all.
He’s ran seventeen road races, including a marathon, competed in forty-two triathlons and, in his spare time, leads church leaders on weeklong backpacking trips through the Pisgah National Forest.
Farris, an assistant professor of health and sport sciences and coordinator of MBU’s Sports Medicine Program, uses his zeal for the outdoors as a platform to teach inside the classroom.
“I am continually excited about my work because it really applies to my life passions,” said Farris, now in his second year at MBU. “I spend time in the outdoors being very active, so I get to have a very practical relationship with the theories that I teach in the classroom.”
For Farris, sharing his passion for health—whether it be through theories, practical knowledge or merely a chat over coffee about his latest hike—is something that just comes natural.
“I believe that the most rewarding aspect of my job is seeing the students at that moment when the light bulb turns on over their head, when they have put several ideas together, they understand the concept, and they have a practical application for their newfound knowledge,” Farris said.
And while providing students with the information needed to be leaders in the sports medicine industry after graduation is an important facet of Farris’ mission, his teaching has an even more life-altering potential.
“Improving one’s health and fitness can be paramount to their enjoyment of life,” he explained. “Implementing the practical and theoretical ideas of this course of study can be used to help people everyday. They can improve the lives of garbage men, teachers, and CEO’s. It’s a way I can minister to everyone.”
MBU’s growing sports medicine program is designed to provide students with a strong science foundation that emphasizes preparation for further specialized graduate study or direct entrance into a related career.
Opportunities include athletic training, biomechanics, exercise physiology, fitness management, medicine, and pre-physical therapy.
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Missouri Baptist University is a premier Christian university in Saint Louis, offering graduate and undergraduate studies in over thirty specialized fields and nine degrees. MBU's education and fine arts programs are nationally known in addition to business, religion, administration of justice, and more. MBU is one of the fastest growing higher education institutions in Missouri with an enrollment of over 4,500 students at five locations in the bi-state region — West County, Lincoln County, Jefferson County, Franklin County and the new Illinois extension at Lewis and Clark Community College.
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