Bio: Jerry Pattengale, Executive Director, Green Scholars Initiative

Jerry Pattengale, Ph.D.,
Executive Director, Green Scholars Initiative

A seasoned academic, researcher, author and speaker, Dr. Jerry Pattengale brings his passion for innovation in education to his work leading the Green Scholars Initiative, the research arm of the world's largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifacts.

As executive director of the Green Scholars Initiative, Pattengale leads a team of researchers at more than 40 universities around the world in advancing groundbreaking discoveries on artifacts in The Green Collection. Putting his educational research expertise into practice, Pattengale is turning the scholarly world on its head by making rare items from the collection accessible to undergraduate students teamed with acclaimed biblical experts and scholar-mentors. Preliminary studies of undocumented papyri from The Green Collection have already revealed some of the earliest-known Christian Scriptures and early sections of rare Greek classics.

After graduating from high school homeless at the age of 16, Pattengale earned a bachelor's degree in history from Indiana Wesleyan University, master's degrees from Wheaton (Ill.) and Miami University (Ohio), and a doctoral degree in Ancient History from Miami under the tutelage of eminent historian and biblical scholar Dr. Edwin Yamauchi. 

Since 1997, Pattengale has served 16,000-student Indiana Wesleyan University in administrative leadership, currently serving as Assistant Provost for Public Engagement. He is a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, a Senior Fellow at the Sagamore Institute, a regional policy think tank, a research associate at Tyndale House, Cambridge, and is a Research Scholar at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Pattengale won international acclaim in the mid-1990s for his work on the "Odyssey in Egypt" program, connecting U.S. middle-school students via the Internet with their archaeological excavation of a 4th-century Egyptian monastery.

Pattengale is frequently tapped as a speaker on higher-education issues and Bible history and is the author of 11 books (other manuscripts in progress). In 2000, the National Resource Center (University of Southern California) and Houghton Mifflin recognized him with the National Student Advocate Award, which recognizes faculty who enhance the lives of first-year college students. Pattengale has also held a National Endowment for the Humanities award to Greece and was twice named Professor of the Year by the Azusa Pacific University student body. He also directs NationalConversations.com, is Associate Publisher for Christian Scholar's Review and serves on the board of Religion News Service.

Pattengale and his wife, Cindy, have four sons and one grandson.

Dr. Jerry Pattengale Quick Facts

• Executive Director: Green Scholars Initiative, research arm of The Green Collection, the world's largest private collection of rare biblical texts and artifact
  
• Scholar: Assistant Provost, Indiana Wesleyan University; Distinguished Senior Fellow, Baylor University's Institute for the Studies of Religion; Senior Fellow, the Sagamore Institute, Research Scholar, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary
  
• Speaker: nationally recognized lecturer on education innovation and biblical studies
  
• Author: 11 published books on higher education, history and student motivation; newspaper columnist; regular contributor, Books & Culture
• Expert: higher education issues; biblical antiquities and historical Bible translation; student advocacy, mentoring and research

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