By Colter Hettich, Features Editor
ACU Study Abroad directors returned to Abilene for the Spring 2008 semester. Ron and Janine Morgan have much more than a vacation on their agenda.
This semester, Janine is teaching two sections of Christianity in Culture while working on her doctoral dissertation; Ron is teaching History of Brazil and Western Civilization while coordinating future Study Abroad endeavors on the side.
The Morgans have worked with Study Abroad in Oxford for four and a half years. They have traveled with students to France, Spain, Italy, Wales and northern England. In the fall, the Morgans will take students on a two-week excursion to three regions of Spain.
In 2007, a death in Janine’s immediate family reaffirmed their already rising concerns with being so far away from their daughters and family for so long.
“We had felt for some time the need to be a part of the ACU community, to teach on campus and to remember what it feels like to be a part of the university,” Ron said. “We are so thankful to the administration- and especially Kevin Kehl- for enabling us to be here for this time.”
The paths that led Ron and Janine together crossed during their university days.
One day, while Ron was attending ACU, he went to lunch with Dan Coker. Coker told Ron that he wanted to introduce him to a new graduate student working in his department. Ron said the two of them went straight to Coker’s office after the meal.
“He introduced me to a gorgeous woman wearing green, and I never looked back,” Ron said.
Fifteen weeks after their first meeting, they were pronounced Mr. and Mrs. Ron Morgan at Minter Lane Church of Christ.
After moving to Brazil, Ron and Janine had their two daughters: Daniela, 22, and Lara, 20. They eventually moved to California but after a while, they felt an itch.
“We had been interested for some time in returning to ACU,” Ron said.
Ron taught at Biola University in Los Angeles, and Janine began a Ph.D. in intercultural studies. One September day in 2002, the Morgans picked up a copy of ACU Today and read about the Study Abroad program in Oxford.
By November, ACU hired Ron as director and associate professor of history and Janine as an instructor in Biblical studies and ministry.
Ron said ACU has changed in “huge ways” since he left in 1983.
“Not only in infrastructure but in terms of the university’s values, openness and diversity,” he said. “I am really glad to see students from other faith backgrounds and traditions leavening the ACU experience as we also influence them.”
