Research Interest

Deborah's area of research includes pedagogy, higher education administration, multicultural education engagement, and diversity inclusivity.

Biography

Deborah Hearn-Chung Gin is Associate Professor in Ministry at Azusa Pacific School of Theology and Faculty Fellow in the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment at Azusa Pacific University. She has been teaching in higher education for 15 years; courses include Philosophy of Ministry, Seminar in Educational Ministry—Teaching in Colleges and Churches, Worship Leadership, Seminar in Biblical Interpretation, Exodus & Deuteronomy, 1 & 2 Samuel, and Luke & Acts.

As a Ph.D. student, Gin was awarded the Tae Han Kim Fellowship for commitment to respect for humanity and culture and the Award for Excellence in Higher Education. Gin's areas of research include pedagogy, higher education administration, multicultural education engagement, and diversity inclusivity. Her work on “Asian American Ethnic/Racial Identity Development” was published as a chapter in Asian American Christianity: A Reader. She also published a chapter, "Ruth: Identity and Leadership from Multivocal Spaces," in Mirrored Reflections: Reframing Biblical Characters (Wipf & Stock). Gin also received a research grant to pursue Asian American faculty perspectives on the pursuit of administration in higher education and presented at an international conference on multicultural education, hosted by the Korean Association of Multicultural Education.  She is a recent recipient of one of eight CGU dissertation awards.  Gin is a member of AAC&U’s VALUE initiative Intercultural Competence rubric development team, the Society of Asian North American Christian Studies (SANACS), Evergreen Baptist Church of Los Angeles, and a core member of Asian American Women on Leadership (AAWOL). Gin is Korean American, happily partnered with a Chinese American man.

M.Div., Haggard Graduate School of Theology, Azusa;
M.Mus., Vocal Performance, University of Southern California;
B.S., Psychobiology, University of Southern California

On her experience at CGU:

"Many approach me to ask about my studies at CGU, and I very sincerely reply that everything about my time at CGU has been wonderful. I tell anyone who is interested that CGU is the best thing that has happened to me: I’m a walking commercial for CGU!

Here are some specifics that I regularly share with interested inquirers. CGU provides me, an adult learner who is already working in the field, with plenty of space to design my own program. The program is not overly structured, so I am able to take the courses I want to take, when I want to take them. I’ve seen programs at other universities; it’s amazing how rigid the programming is at these institutions. It almost feels like a glorified bachelor’s!
Another key aspect to CGU’s program is its transdisciplinary emphasis, both in the dedicated courses taught by faculty and taken by students from various schools/departments and in additional course planning available to students. As a student in the School of Educational Studies, for example, I also took courses in the Drucker-Ito School of Business and in the Claremont School of Theology. CGU is way ahead of the game nationally because it recognizes that the world’s challenges can only be addressed in collaboration, having conversations across disciplines. Rather than staying in modern silos, CGU’s constituents value post-modern renaissance and address today’s and future challenges holistically.

My learning in the School of Educational Studies, in particular, has had an impact on me in ways that will outlast even my own lifetime. My work as Director of Diversity Studies in the Office of Diversity Planning and Assessment at Azusa Pacific University was heavily influenced by my education at CGU, at the policy level and at the curricular level and at levels in between. Diversity is one of the four themes of APU’s Academic Vision, and the Office of Diversity addresses issues of equity, development and support of its faculty and students of color, representation, access, intercultural competence, and multiple other structural aspects of diversity.

My education at CGU also continues to yield significant results in my research and teaching. The confidence I gained from taking courses in quantitative analysis enabled me to contribute to the published literature on Asian American identity development and Asian American representation in higher education administration. In addition, through the advocacy of my advisor, I was part of a national group that developed the rubric on intercultural competence for the AAC&U. In the realm of teaching, I am now much more intentional about making sure various perspectives are represented in my content, delivery, and student contributions and that students have access to a diverse representation of scholars, both domestic and global, thereby learning to engage in critical analyses. At the same time, I am careful to make certain that students are equipped to engage the curricular canon as we currently have it, providing valuable intellectual capital as well, but also encouraging students to critique the canon and consider how epistemological decisions made from positions of power affect all learners."
 

Email: deborah.gin@cgu.edu