Speakers
Ruth H. Chung, Ph.D.
Ruth H. Chung, Ph.D., is an associate professor of Counseling Psychology at the University of Southern California, where she teaches primarily in the graduate program in Marriage and Family Therapy. Her areas of expertise are in acculturation and cultural identity of Asian Americans, as well as intergenerational conflict in immigrant families. Currently, she co-directs the largest research project funded by the Korean government to create a super database of the Korean American community.
Chung’s most recent publication is a co-edited book with Dr. David Yoo, published by University of Illinois Press, which is an interdisciplinary examination of the critical role that religion plays in Korean American history and contemporary communities. In her current research project, Chung is conducting a comparative study of how parenting style and family functioning differ among Asian, Asian American, and European Americans, and how these factors contribute to intergenerational conflict in families and self-esteem in young adults.
Chung is a recent recipient of a Fulbright award and taught for a year at Sogang University in Korea. In addition, she has been invited to present at international conferences on Korean American identity and family, hosted by the presidents of Yonsei and Korea Universities. She has also conducted numerous workshops and seminars in the Korean-American community.
Chung received her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
LTC Les Knotts, Ph.D.
Lieutenant Colonel Lester W. Knotts has served in the US Army for twenty-six years on five continents. He continues to serve the country in uniform as an associate professor of English at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. He has spent much of his adult life alternating formal schooling with Army operational assignments at Infantry battalion and division level. In addition to his degree in science from West Point, Professor Knotts has earned degrees in business, literature and higher education, military art, and rhetoric and composition. During his career, he has been involved in community leadership as town association secretary, community mayor, and president of his West Point class.
Colonel Knotts is a deacon in his local church. He discipled peers for four years with the Navigators, conducted Bible studies and served as an area coordinator for Officer's Christian Fellowship in the Pacific, served on the Board of Directors for Military Community Youth Ministries, and teaches Sunday school for officers, cadets, and family members.
While directing the writing program at West Point, Colonel Knotts teaches composition and literature courses, plus electives, with an emphasis in African American literature. He also works with the Educational Testing Service, serves on the Academy Admissions Committee, and helps develop and teach the English as a Second Language program for international cadets.
His current research involves learning how best to leverage diverse thinking in the composition classroom and in learning environments across the curriculum to enhance learning for the entire mixed-culture cohort. His current book project is Greatest Among Equals, a memoir of H. Minton Francis, a distinguished black graduate of West Point whose story will inspire and equip young people with coping skills to achieve their life goals.
Colonel Knotts is married to the former Monika Gayle Churchill of Radcliff, Kentucky, herself the daughter of a career Army Soldier. They have two sons, William Tyler Taliaferro Knotts (17) and Aaron Bailey Knotts (13).
Pete C. Menjares, Ph.D.
Pete Menjares, Ph.D., serves as associate provost for diversity leadership, and as an associate professor of education, at Biola University in La Mirada, California. Prior to his administrative appointment, Menjares served as education department chair and continues to teach courses in educational philosophy.
Menjares earned his Ph.D. in Education with a specialization in Language, Literacy, and Learning from the University of Southern California in 1998; an M.A. in Education with an emphasis in Curriculum and Teaching from California State University, Dominguez Hills in 1992; and a B.A. in Religion from Vanguard University in Costa Mesa, California in 1987.
Menjares has served on the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities’ (CCCU) Commission for Advancing Intercultural Competencies and is a CCCU Leadership Development Institute Fellow. His work in diversity and intercultural competencies in Christian colleges and universities has led him to research, audit, consult, speak, teach, and learn from individuals and institutions around the country. Some of these institutions include Biola University, Calvin College, Westmont College, Fresno Pacific University, Grace College and Seminary, Gordon College, Greenville College, Hope International University, Huntington University, John Brown University, North Park University, Crown College, Waynesburg College, and Union University.
In 2005, Menjares was awarded the Biola University Robert B. Fischer Award for Faculty Excellence, the highest award granted to a faculty member at the university. He is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors, such as the Spirit of Fatherhood Award (The National Center for Strategic Non-Profit Planning and Community Leadership, Washington, DC, May 2002); the Positive Image Award in Education (The Hispanic Outreach Taskforce, November 2001); and Who’s Who In American Education, 2005.
In addition to his university responsibilities, Menjares served as a senior pastor in his hometown of Pico Rivera, California for the past three years. He is a frequent speaker and conference presenter with more than 30 scholarly papers, publications, and research grants to his credit. His most recent publication, “The Great Comeback,” appears in College Faith 3: 150 Christian Leaders and Educators Share Faith Stories from Their Student Days, released in June 2006.
Menjares’ life and work were featured in Today’s Christian Magazine in an article entitled “Redeeming Public Education” (September/October, 2005). Additionally, his testimony was featured in Teach Kids! magazine published by Child Evangelism Fellowship (Summer, 2007) as a curriculum designed to reach at-risk Latino youth.
