Liberty professor makes presentation at Oxford

Liberty University professor Rob Van Engen participated in the fifth annual Autonomous Learning World Caucus (ALWC) at Linton Lodge and Exeter College at Oxford University, Oxford, England, March 8-12. The ALWC is an international forum that discusses human resource development, autonomous learning and learner-centered leadership.

Van Engen is Liberty’s assistant director for Christian/Community Service and teaches GNED classes as an assistant professor in the School of Religion. He graduated from LU in 1987 with a bachelor’s in Pastoral Leadership and holds a master’s in Ministry Leadership from Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.

His presentation, “For Human Resource Professionals: Embracing a Biblical Worldview for an Improved Global Perspective beyond the 21st Century,” will also be used for his doctoral thesis, the only remaining part of his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership at Regent University.

“The theme of all my degrees has been leadership,” said Van Engen.

He called his time at Oxford an “unbelievable experience,” especially the opportunity to see where J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis learned, wrote and communicated their ideas. While there, he was able to relate much of what he teaches in his GNED course on the Christian worldview.

“The environment was incredible, just to be in an atmosphere of learning like that. … The university that we presented at … was established in 1317, and so just knowing that you’re in that environment gives you a sense of ‘wow,’ of awe, that you’re there,” he said.