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Scholars Online Board of Advisors

The Scholars Online Board of Advisors serves as a resource to the entire community. Our advisors help us define classical Christian education, identify standards for college applicants, provide guidance in the best use of internet technologies, alert us to the possibilities of cooperation with other institutions, and give insight to common challenges and issues from their different Christian traditions. The advisors meet twice a year to review Scholars Online policies, course offerings, specific issues that may arise, and to support each other in their individual ministries.

Dr. Mark Selle

Dr. Mark Selle earned his B.A. with a double major in mathematics and philosophy from Gonzaga University in 1984. He earned his M.Ed. in Educational Administration from Seattle Pacific University in 1995 and his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Washington State University in 2004. Dr. Selle serves as superintendent of both the Valley and Orient School Districts in Washington State, where he oversees Columbia Virtual Academy, an alternative school designed to meet the needs of homeschooling families through public education. Dr. Selle believes that the primary right and duty to educate children rests with parents; the state, in exercising its rights and duties properly, must support, and not usurp, the role of parents in choosing the education they want for their children. Dr. Selle's current research interests include the educational philosophy of Mortimer Adler and how the legal framework of funding public education supports or infringes upon the rights of parents in the United States and other developed countries.

The Reverend Dr. Frank Anthony Spina

Father Spina attended Asbury Theological Seminary and earned an M.A. in Near Eastern studies from the University of Michigan before serving as pastor of Roosevelt Avenue Free Methodist Church in Flint, Michigan, for three years. He returned to academia as professor of Old Testament and Biblical Theology at Seattle Pacific University in 1973, where he still teaches. He was ordained to the Episcopal priesthood in 2000, and now also serves as associate priest at St. Margaret's in Bellevue, WA. Father Spina is the author of numerous academic articles on the Old Testament, as well as the entry on "Canon" in Handbook of Christian Theology. His recent book The Faith of the Outsider (Eerdmans, 2005) explores the Bible's abiding insider/outsider motif, highlighting the remarkable number of stories that treat the non-elect (such as Ruth and Naaman) as strategically important participants in God's redemptive plan. More information is available on Father Spina's homepage.

Father James Thompson, O.P.

Father James received his B. A. in Linguistics at the University of Kansas, then worked in Los Angeles where he continued his Linguistic studies at CSU Northridge and worked in various administrative assistant positions, including the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. After relocating to Seattle, he continued his graduate work in Linguistics at the University of Washington, but eventually switched to studying Theology at Seattle University. Meanwhile, he devoted considerable time to the Newman Center campus ministry at UW. He joined the Order of Preachers (the Dominicans) as a novice in 1995, was ordained to the priesthood in 2003, then served as Associate Pastor at St. Catherine of Siena Newman Center Parish in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is now the Associate Director of All Saints Catholic Newman Center in Tempe, Arizona. Father James has long been interested in the challenges of Classical Christian education. During his studies at The Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology, he assisted with the dialectic writing course taught through the Institute for Study of the Liberal Arts and Sciences. More information is available on Father James' Dominican career at the Western Dominican Province site.

The Reverend Andrew Welch

Andy Welch has pastored the First United Methodist Church of El Cajon since 1997. He received his B.A. from Pomona College (1974), and his Master of Divinity from Boston University School of Theology (1977). He continues to work painfully slowly on a dissertation for his Ph.D. in Old Testament at the University of California San Diego. Andy has been a leader in the San Diego Walk to Emmaus (Cursillo) Community for twenty years. For two years, he has served as Prior of the Southern California Chapter of the Order of St. Luke, a liturgical and sacramental fellowship in the United Methodist Church. He spends his free time feeding his bibliophile habit, gardening, and tending his family's corgis.
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