Murl Dirksen  - Ph.D., University of Tennessee at Knoxville Murl Dirksen is in motion. His 6’4” frame, like his mind, seems always to be moving from one place to the next. He is the anti-thesis, always understanding life from elsewhere. Dirksen is the in-between, the believer, the champion of no chance. He is the bridge between “is” and “ought” in a world that sometimes forgets to look after its weak. He has been everywhere, seen everything, done even more than that – and still he believes. “When I was three my dad, a Kansas red-wheat farmer, moved the family to the Hopi village of Kykotsmovi in Arizona because he saw a need.” For the next eleven years the Dirksen family lived among the Hopi Indians where his father served as part-time carpenter and full-time missionary. His mother taught in the school during the day and served the Hopi women at night. Since those early days in Northeast Arizona this cultural anthropologist has worked in the Yugoslavian Red Cross, spent a year in China at Henan University, hunted for relics on the Karak Plateau in central Jordan, hiked the Peruvian rainforest, eaten scorpion, sand snake, dog, eel, and turtle, all while earning the Excellence in Teaching award (1991) and the Excellence in Scholarship Award (1993). “I love teaching at Lee because it’s a ministry,” Dirksen explains. “I like giving students information that will make them better people, prepare them to live in a global community.” Dirksen believes Lee University is best at preparing students for success. “Great students love information. Great professors love students. At Lee we focus on the development of students.” So how does this Chair of the university’s largest department define success? “Helping someone in some small way is a great start. Every person you see is a creation of God, the face of Christ.” Dr. Murl Dirksen and his wife, Carolyn, both work at Lee University where their daughter, Sara, is a student in motion learning how to change the world.