DIU is proud to announce one of our newest faculty members, Dr. Ria Martin. This fall, Dr. Martin will contribute to the Applied Anthropology department by teaching the Multicultural Teamwork course remotely from her hometown of Seattle, Washington. It is no light responsibility to take on this course, which is central to DIU’s values of preparing graduates to work successfully in multicultural environments in ways that understand and respect differences among team members. The course is included in several programs, including the BA in International Service, MA in Human Migration, Graduate Certificate in Scripture Engagement with an emphasis in Multicultural Teamwork, and MA in Translation Advising.
Born and raised in the bustling Philippines, Dr. Martin first heard and received the gospel in college. For nearly a decade, she ministered to college students in the Philippines before moving to Seattle to establish a college ministry there for her church. Her fifteen years of ministering to college students in the Philippines and the US prepares her well for mentoring students here at DIU.
After earning her doctorate in Intercultural Studies, her university invited her to train faculty in intercultural competency, which helped her discover her passion for the subject. It was during her doctoral studies that she first heard about DIU, and she further connected with the school while attending the EMS National Conference in 2022, which was held at DIU’s campus. While staying on campus, she discovered the warm community among DIU’s students, faculty, and staff. Now on a one-year sabbatical from her ministry, Dr. Martin looks forward to investing in her new DIU teaching duties.
Dr. Martin eagerly expects to further her academic competence and create room for people of different backgrounds at DIU. “There’s so much potential.… It’s so enriching to work with people of other cultures, and I’m hoping to showcase that,” she says. “It is a privilege to impact parts of the world I can’t go to directly,” she continues. Dr. Martin explains that she is most excited to see how her students use interculturality “as a beacon of hope for this divided nation.” She is eager to demonstrate to her students that “mosaic is a model for reconciliation.”
