Jeremiah Kitchel, M.A.

Professor Jeremiah Kitchel brings a unique communication perspective to the classroom based on over 35 years of service in Christian nonprofit work. His professional public relations career began at World Vision U.S.A. in 1985 at the height of a devastating famine in Ethiopia that riveted worldwide attention. His leadership and people skills enabled him to quickly earn a promotion to lead a team of highly accomplished professional communicators. In later years, he held senior positions with Michigan-based International Aid, Open Doors USA, and Union Rescue Mission, Los Angeles.

Kitchel is recognized throughout the nonprofit community as an accomplished international and U.S. media relations specialist. For over twenty years, he traveled extensively to assist print and electronic media outlets cover man-made and natural disasters in hotspots like Rwanda, Somalia, Kosovo and Bosnia.

A compassionate speaker, writer, and communication strategist, Kitchel presents a perspective of professional communication service that is keenly entwined with deep Christian faith. In his words, “I believe my personal faith and commitment to professional conduct have been vastly shaped by frontline experiences, experiences at the intersection of human struggle and Christ-centered compassion.”

In 2006, Kitchel entered a new season in his career when he accepted the position of Director of Advancement for Foothill Christian School, Glendora. Over the next twelve years, he helped design and implement a new model of fundraising that included the creation of a separate 501 (c) (3) public charity (FCS Educational Foundation). The foundation allowed greater access to resources and new opportunities for capacity building and institutional strengthening. In 2019, he accepted a senior leadership position with Health Education for Africa Resource Team (HEART), where he has oversight of Partner Relations, in tandem with HEART’s Founder and the U.S. Board of Directors.

Throughout his career, Kitchel has been recognized for professional achievements by the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors and Board of Education, The Baptist Ministers Conference of Los Angeles and Southern California, where he was presented the Martin Luther King, Jr. Church Beyond the Walls Award, and the City of Glendora’s Community Coordinating Council Humanitarian Service Award. Under his leadership at International Aid, the NGO was presented the West Michigan American Marketing Association’s Best Nonprofit Marketer of the Year Award in 1999 for its statewide campaign to assist Kosovar refugees in collaboration with the State of Michigan (Michigan Cares for Kosovo).

One of the great joys Kitchel derives from teaching university students is helping them understand how communication is a matter of biblical stewardship. “The responsibility we have to receive, process, interpret, and disseminate information is a serious matter of stewardship. How we view and treat communication, in terms of Kingdom values, matters greatly. I believe it is a sacred trust.”