Angela Morris Appointed Chair of the Humanities Department
Maranatha Baptist University (MBU) is pleased to announce the appointment of Angela Morris as Chair of the Humanities Department.
Morris holds an M.S. in Speech Communication from UW-Whitewater, a B.S. in Speech Education with a minor in English from Maranatha, and is TESOL certified (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) with a CELTA certification through Cambridge University.
Angela is married to Dr. Dwayne Morris, an Associate Pastor at Calvary Baptist Church in Watertown. Dwayne also teaches part-time at Maranatha. They have three adult children—all graduates of MBU—who are serving the Lord. Alysha (Todd) Morris Howard is a nurse and mother of the Morris’s granddaughter, Kyla. Judson (Megan) Morris is a history teacher at Harvest Christian Academy in Guam. Tori, their youngest, is working on her Ph.D. in Human Pathophysiology and Translational Medicine.
Morris was reared in a Christian home—the daughter of Dr. Thomas Martin Brown, Sr. (a cardiologist), and Joyce Brown (a nurse). Around the age of 5, Angela had questions about what she had heard in Sunday School. Her mother opened her Bible and explained salvation to Angela who that day accepted Christ as her personal Savior. Morris graduated high school from Heritage Hall Christian School of Muncie, Indiana.
In college at Maranatha, Angela Morris’s academics and extracurriculars defined her as a true Renaissance woman. She was cast in numerous plays and musicals: Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and Twelfth Night, Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance, Spoon River Anthology, and The Gilded Age. She took voice lessons, was a member of Chamber Singers, won the Commencement Sacred Art Song Contest, and represented the school two summers traveling with The Victory Players—a music and drama team. At her college graduation, Morris received the “Thelma Melford Cedarholm Founder’s Award”.
During her 30 years teaching at Maranatha, Angela Morris has embraced the humanities—teaching English (Grammar and Composition), Speech (Fundamentals of Public Speaking, Oral Interpretation, Teaching Children’s Drama, and Persuasion), Linguistics, TESOL classes, and Online Communication courses. She has directed plays both at Maranatha Baptist Academy and at the University, as well as writing and directing numerous Fall Festival Programs for the university.
Mrs. Morris’s influence in the local community reaches past the boundaries of university academics. She is in charge of the ESL classes and activities of Calvary Baptist Church, teaches an ongoing Bible study with Maranatha Academy students during their lunch hour, speaks for ladies conferences and local church women’s meetings, and has assisted her husband in leading multiple foreign and domestic missions trips with college students and church youth groups. Furthermore, she has served eight years in a political appointment within the local city government.
Angela Morris said she is “incredibly humbled” by her appointment. One friend Morris spoke to while considering the department chair position said, “Angela, you have a great team. Just keep influencing them for future success.” In an address to the Humanities faculty acknowledging her acceptance of the position, Angela remarked, “I’m thankful for the team that God has raised up for such a time as this.”
Nathan Huffstutler, English professor at MBU commented, “Angela is a natural fit for this position. She loves her students, knows the department’s needs, and has a passion for the humanities. As her colleagues, we are excited about her new role.”