This semester BJU welcomes Mrs. Kelly Crum as a professor in the Division of Nursing and Dr. David McKinney, associate professor in the Division of Natural Science.

Crum said that she believes she was called to nursing from a young age.

Because she was born with a cleft palate and lip, she said she has always felt empathy toward those in need of medical help.

The procedures and surgeries relating to cleft palate sparked an early interest in the medical profession for her.

However, the healing of her cleft was not the only factor that contributed to Crum’s interest in medicine.

“[My] Dad was a pastor, which gave me an opportunity to visit the hospital often, which fanned the flames of my desire,” Crum said.

She is now married to her high school sweetheart, and they have four college-aged sons.

Crum said she loves teaching and the opportunities it presents.

“Every day is different,” Crum said.  “There are so many opportunities to impact students, community, missions and healthcare in general.”

Crum said she enjoys sharing her zeal for the medical profession with her students but said a biblical focus is most important in a Christian nursing education.

“In all reality, everything that we teach must come from a biblical worldview and be taught in a manner that points the student to Christ,” she said.

Crum said she believes that this principle applies to both nursing and academic excellence.

When not teaching, Crum works with a non-profit that seeks to combine nursing education and missions. This outreach also enables her to travel internationally.

Outside of her field, Crum’s interests include reading from many different genres, hiking and camping with her family.

Crum’s degrees include a BS and MS in nursing from Pensacola Christian College and the University of South Alabama respectively.

She also has a post-master’s degree in women’s health and nurse practitioner course work and is currently working on her dissertation for a PhD in nursing at the University of Phoenix.

Crum formerly served as an instructional specialist in the health science and nursing department of the University of Phoenix.

She has also taught at Pensacola Christian College, Piedmont International University (Winston-Salem, N.C.) and Maranatha Baptist University.

Dr. David McKinney joined the BJU College of Arts and Science as an assistant professor in the department of biology in the Division of Natural Science.

McKinney has had a long-standing interest in biology. At 17 years old he felt very strongly that God wanted him to pursue entomology (the study of insects) but was unsure how best to do so as a Christian and young-earth creationist.

McKinney found out about BJU after conncecting with Dr. Joseph Henson, a long-time faculty member in BJU’s Department of Biology.

McKinney didn’t begin to consider teaching until his junior year at BJU.

“Seeing the influence the teachers here had [on me] at Bob Jones University and seeing how they had ministry opportunities and were able to interact with people just inspired me,” McKinney said.

“I love working with living things as a scientist, but it’s also a powerful teaching tool,” McKinney said of his zeal for the scientific.

“It’s one thing to tell someone a piece of information. . .that they can learn as a block of knowledge. . .[and] it’s a completely different thing to see them interact with an actual living system.”

McKinney explained his methodology for instruction.

“I try to teach Socratically,” McKinney said. “I try not to just give people information, but to ask them critical questions to cause them to reach the right answers without telling them the answers.”

McKinney maintains several interests outside his field as well.

“I have a problem: I have too many hobbies and interests,” McKinney said.

These interests include photography, fiction writing and music.

McKinney’s primary advice is to follow Christ despite hardship.

“The goal of being here at Bob Jones University is to glorify God,” McKinney said. “To learn where He’s put you and to gain from that.”

McKinney said if you stray from this principle in order to maintain a letter grade or focus on your major, you miss the point of a BJU education.

Before he began teaching at BJU, McKinney worked as a teaching assistant for biological sciences at the University of Georgia.

McKinney’s degrees include a BS in biology and an MS in counseling from BJU as well as an MS in entomology from the University of Nebraska. He earned his PhD in entomology from the University of Georgia.

McKinney’s professional activities include membership in the Entomology Society of America, South Carolina Entomology Society, Association for Biology Laboratory Education, University of Georgia H. O. Lund Club and American Arachnology Society.