My viewpoint on the Christian faith and its integration with knowledge and learning is best expressed by the words I composed in the acknowledgements for my PhD dissertation: “I realize and acknowledge that without God and his Providential care, I am near to nothing and whatever merit that you may find in this research is primarily due to his marvellous love. He reached out to me, showing me things I had to see and places I needed to go. Hence, I thank the Divine Providence that has been guiding, motivating, and inspiring me throughout this journey.” Even though my PhD research observed the missionary movement and Biblical dispersion in India with a critical eye, the Lord guided and directed my intention to seek answers for the many questions I have faced as a Christian and to prepare for new questions that I may face in the future. Striving to understand history from all dimensions helps us to have a more nuanced and balanced understanding of both past and present, thus avoiding the extreme positions often reached through a narrow or underdeveloped historical viewpoint. As a historian, especially a postcolonial historian, my endeavor is to search for and guide my students toward this balanced understanding of human events.

As argued by John Henny Newman, ‘the business of a university is to educate the intellect, to reason well in all matters, to reach out towards truth and to grasp it.’ After experiencing Houghton University for a few days, I was sure that the institution and its academic team were fully committed to that pursuit of truth while holding steadfast to the bedrock of faith in Christ. As a teacher and developing scholar, I find this Christ-centered academic environment very encouraging, as it will inspire me and my students to look deeper into questions in search of Truth, critically reason in all social and cultural matters, and stand up for faith, no matter the consequences.

Courses Taught

• German 101
• German 102
• German 103
• Intermediate German (with an emphasis on literature)
• Graduate reading course

Professional Memberships/Associations

• AATG

Professional Experience/Achievements

• Certification of Completion for Online Teaching and Learning (2014)
• Contribution to German textbook Auf geht’s!

Research Interests

• Textbook development

LinkedIn Profile

I’m one of many Houghton graduates (’92) in my family and I’m thrilled to be part of the work here. Both of my parents (’56 & ’57), my 3 siblings (’81, ’84 & ’89) and my husband (’89) are Houghton alums. I’m also the proud mom of 3 adult kids, 2 Houghton graduates (2018, 2021) and one that is a current student (2024). I appreciate the opportunity to work in academia, with my colleagues, as well as the wonderful students. God has blessed me with the privilege to work at ������.

I enjoy many outside interests, among them: spending time with my family, reading, counted-cross stitch and visiting family in Canada.

Courses Taught:

• Writing In the Liberal Arts
• American Literature
• Spoken Word
• Creative Writing
• World Literature

Professional Organizations:

College Composition and Communication
Christianity and Literature

Publications:

Summer’s Lease…Too Short a Date
Select biographies in The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives
Poem collection in The Shawagunk Review

LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-a-gates

Courses Taught 

• American History Survey
• History of American Christianity
• Western Intellectual Traditions II: Revolutions in Modernity
• American Constitutional History
• British and American Victorians
• History of Nursing
• U.S. Foreign Policy
• The Civil War and Reconstruction

Professional Memberships/Associations

• Conference on Faith and History

Professional Experience/Achievements

• Associate Professor of History
  Houghton University – Houghton, NY (2022-present)
• Associate Professor of History
  Houghton College – Houghton, NY (2018-2022)
• Associate Professor of American History and Department Chair
  Northwest Nazarene University – Nampa, Idaho (2006-2018)
  • Taught more than  30 unique courses

• Outstanding Professor of the Year (four times)
  Northwest Nazarene University – Nampa, Idaho (2008, 2011, 2012, and 2017)
• Co-chair, Task Force on Shared Governance
  Northwest Nazarene University – Nampa, Idaho (2016-17)
• Consulting Historian, Teaching American History Grant,
  Kuna School District –  Kuna, Idaho (2010-11)
• Miller Fellow
  Jack Miller Center for Teaching America’s Founding Principles and History – Bala Cynwyd, PA (2008)
• Lecturer
  University of Maryland – College Park, MD (2005)
• Bradley Fellow
  University of Maryland – College Park, MD (2004-2005, 2006)
• Civitas Scholar
  Center for Public Justice – Washington, DC (2004)
• Research Assistant
  National Bureau for Economic Research (2002-2005)
• H. B. Earhart Fellow
  Earhart Foundation (2000-2004)
• Lindley Research Grant
  Houghton College – Houghton, NY (1996)

Research Interests

• Federalism in the American Constitution
• Puritans (English and American)
• Social history of medicine
• History of Islam
• Mapping Western U.S. history with drones

Publications/Conferences

• “Martin Van Buren as Statesman: State Rights and the Rise of the Free Soil Party,” in Constitutionalism in the Approach and Aftermath of the Civil War. Edited by Paul Moreno and Johnathan O’Neill. New York: Fordham University Press, 2013.
•  “The Rights of Unjust Majorities.” Review of Majority Rule v. Consensus: The Political Thought of John C. Calhoun by James H. Read. In Review of Politics, 72:2, Spring 2010. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
• “‘The Great Primeval Compact:’ New England Conservatism, Organic Social Theory, and Liberal Constitutionalism.” American Historical Association. Atlanta, GA. January 2007.

Link to LinkedIn Profile for Further Information

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Other Interests/Hobbies/Enjoyments

• I love to read, cook, follow the Boston Red Sox, play with my three children, and sing.