Educator Conference 2024

Dr. Oliver Hersey began serving as the eleventh president of Jerusalem University College on August 1, 2021. Shaped by his own experiences in the Holy Land, Hersey desires to help students better understand the Bible by providing them with opportunities to study in Israel the geographical, cultural, and historical contexts of God’s Word. He taught high school math for five years and coached. He is a pastor in the Reformed Church of America, previously serving as the director of Discipleship and Teaching at Calvary Church in Orland Park, IL. With over 20 years of combined experience in fields related to education, research, pastoring, coaching, and management, Hersey is driven to help grow both people and organizations for service in God’s kingdom.

Hersey earned his BA in secondary education: mathematics and Spanish from Calvin College; his MA in biblical archaeology and ancient Near Eastern languages (Summa Cum Laude) from Trinity International University; and his PhD in theological studies: Old Testament and ancient Near Eastern history and languages from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. Throughout the course of his education, he received multiple awards for his leadership and academic research.

Dr. John Lee is associate dean for Faculty and Academic Affairs and a professor in the Department of Teacher Education and Learning Sciences in the College of Education at North Carolina State University. He was an author of the "College, Career and Civic Life Framework for Standards in Social Studies" and is a founder and co-director of the C3 Teachers project. He has authored or co-authored several books, including Inquiry-Based Practice in Social Studies Education: Understanding the Inquiry Design Model; Teaching Social Studies: A Methods Book for Methods Teachers; Teaching the C3 Framework; Visualizing Elementary Social Studies Methods; Research on Technology in Social Studies; and Guiding Learning with Technology.

Lee focuses on issues related to teacher knowledge and practices related to using inquiry in the classroom. His scholarly work with colleagues has resulted in an innovative approach to learning and teaching called the Inquiry Design Model. He is also interested in the uses of digital historical resources in learning and teaching as well as efforts to theorize and develop tools related to new literacies. His research focuses on inquiry design and classroom implementation and best design practices for online collections of historical resources targeted for K–12 classrooms.

Dr. Craig Perrier is the high school social studies curriculum and instruction specialist for Fairfax County Public Schools in Fairfax, VA. He is also an online adjunct professor of education for Framingham State University and the teacher certification program, EducateVA. Previously, he taught at American Schools in Brazil for six years and six years in public schools in Massachusetts. After leaving the classroom, he was the coordinator for curriculum and instruction for social studies and history at Virtual High School and then the PK–12 social studies coordinator for the Department of Defense Dependent Schools. He has consulted for World Savvy, IIE, iEARN, ABC-Clio, Knovva Academy, the US Department of State, and the OER Project. In addition, he has an MA in global history and an MEd in secondary education and serves on advisory boards for the American Historical Association and the National Humanities Center. He has served on advisory boards for the American Historical Association and the National Humanities Center and is the creator of the free digital history resource "Globalizing U.S. History."

Dr. Cheryl White is a professor of history at Louisiana State University at Shreveport, where she teaches medieval and early modern European history, emphasizing the history of Christianity. White holds the endowed Hubert Humphries professorship and is actively engaged in ongoing research projects related to various historical topics that connect faith and reason. She has been a frequent lecturer and consultant for Museum of the Bible and appears in programming for the A&E Network, EWTN, and the History Channel.  

Dr. Tremper Longman III (BA Ohio Wesleyan University; MDiv Westminster Theological Seminary; MPhil and PhD Yale University) is a distinguished scholar and professor emeritus of biblical studies at Westmont College. He has written more than 35 books, including commentaries on Genesis, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Daniel, Nahum, and Revelation. His most recent books include Confronting Old Testament Controversies: Pressing Questions about Evolution, Sexuality, History and Violence and Revelation through Old Testament Eyes. He is co-author of A Biblical History of Israel and is presently writing The Old Testament as History, which explores the intersection of the Bible, archaeology, and extrabiblical texts in the reconstruction of the history of Israel during the period of the Hebrew Bible. He is also a senior translator of the New Living Translation.

Marcella Barbosa was born and raised in San Diego, California, and first felt the calling to be an archaeologist when she was about 11 years old. She received her BA in history and ancient Near Eastern archaeology from Lycoming College, her MA in archaeology and biblical studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and is currently a PhD candidate in the doctoral program for archaeology in the ancient Near East at Lipscomb University. She has presented at multiple professional conferences, as well as published several articles. Her research focuses on the end of the Late Bronze Age to the early Iron Age in the Shephelah of Israel, and she has nearly 20 years of archaeological experience, having worked in Israel, Cyprus, Egypt, and Menorca. Currently, Barbosa serves as part of the senior staff for the Tel Gezer Excavation and Publication Project, and as a senior staff member on the Tel Burna Excavation Project. She has worked as a docent and artifact handler for the Dead Sea Scrolls and the Bible exhibit in Fort Worth, Texas, and as the curator and educational coordinator for the Tandy Institute for Archaeology, before working in her current position as the full-time curator and educational coordinator at the Lanier Center for Archaeology at Lipscomb University.

Yolanda Henry is the manager of audience engagement at Museum of the Bible. Yolanda spent the first 18 years of her career in the medical field before rediscovering her passion for acting. The pursuit of acting led Yolanda to Museum of the Bible in 2017, where she became an inaugural living history interpreter in the Education Department. In this role, Yolanda was immersed in learning more about the first century AD and Gutenberg's press, interacting with learners of all ages, and igniting the curiosity of students through educational programming.

In 2020, Yolanda transitioned to the role of museum educator, and in 2023, she became the manager of audience engagement, where she now oversees the team of living history interpreters, educators, and interns who engage all guests with the transformative power of the Bible. Yolanda holds two certifications from Harvard Graduate School of Education in Universal Design for Learning and Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique. She spends her days building and reviewing curriculum, leading programs, and innovating activities for daily engagement at the museum.

Texas native Priscilla Schubert completed her undergraduate degree in history education from Dallas Baptist University. From there, she completed her masters in history and taught five years in middle and high school classrooms. Her favorite subject to teach is American history. Priscilla transitioned out of the classroom as a museum educator for two museums in Texas before moving to Washington, DC, in 2023. She now works as the Museum Educator for School and Family Programs at Museum of the Bible. Besides history, Priscilla loves thrifting, iced coffee, and her three cats.

Kellie Mitchell is the public programs associate at Museum of the Bible. Previously, she worked as a program assistant for the Semester in Jerusalem program with Wheaton College, IL. Kellie earned her BA in cultural anthropology from Wheaton College and the graduate certificate in Middle Eastern cultures and religions from Jerusalem University College. After living in Jerusalem for more than a year, Kellie is passionate about helping guests see the Bible come alive through immersive, innovative programs that encourage deeper study of the Bible’s cultural and anthropological context.

Dr. Robert "Bobby" Duke (University of California, Los Angeles) serves as the Director of the Scholars Initiative at Museum of the Bible. He is also a professor in the Honors College and former dean of the School of Theology at Azusa Pacific University. He is the author of The Social Location of the Visions of Amram (Peter Lang) and the forthcoming Biblical Hebrew and Aramaic Dictionary (Zondervan). 

Before beginning graduate studies at Hebrew University and UCLA, Duke taught 6th and 7th grade in Southern California. These years were formative for developing pedagogical strategies to connect with all audiences. From 2009–2012, he also chaired the Service-Learning and Biblical Studies workshop at the annual Society of Biblical Literature meeting. Connecting curriculum to real-world realities was a goal of this workshop.