WINONA LAKE – Grace College and Theological Seminary welcomed five new faculty members for the 2012–2013 school year.
Grace’s math and science department welcomed Ashley Holland, Ph.D., as the newest assistant professor of mathematics. Holland received her Ph.D. in applied and interdisciplinary mathematics from the University of Michigan and joins the Grace faculty after having worked for StataCorp and the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.
The School of Behavioral Sciences welcomed Brooke Kovac, who received her bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and psychology from Grace College and her master’s degree in criminal justice from Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg, as the newest assistant professor of criminal justice.
Kovac has participated in research with juvenile delinquents and transgender inmates in Pennsylvania prisons and in Italy, worked with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and has interned with the United States Secret Service. Kovac also worked with Kosciusko County Emergency Management and with Chasing Rainbows, a community organization that provides equine therapy to children with disabilities.
Grace’s graduate program welcomes three new assistant professors of graduate counseling and interpersonal relations. David Olges, Ph.D., will teach graduate students on campus, while Jenny Preffer, Ph.D. and Rhonda Ladd, Ph.D., will teach students online through Grace’s department of online education.
Olges joins the faculty having earned his master’s degree in counseling from Grace (’97) and his Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from Regent University.
Preffer also earned her Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from Regent University. She is a licensed mental health counselor and is board certified as a nationally certified counselor. In addition to teaching, her career experiences include working with military families, providing intensive in-home counseling with at-risk youth, Christian-based private practice, and providing career counseling to college students.
Ladd also holds a Ph.D. in counselor education and supervision from Regent University. She served at Freedom Fellowship in Virginia Beach, Va., as director of extended pastoral care counseling ministries and comes to Grace having worked in Caldwell College’s master’s in mental health counseling program.
