My wife Amanda is an
associate professor of
Communication Studies at Samford University.
Amanda is a yellow-dog democrat and a lover of
all things British. She knows more than anybody I know about Winston
Churchill. Lately, though, her research interest has taken her beyond the UK
to a broader sense of cultural awareness. She's wrestling with the
distressing realization that international travel by itself often
increases rather than decreases ethnocentrism, and she is exploring
ways to incorporate service learning as a way of bringing cultures
together. "People who sweat together understand each other." I think
she's on to something.
Amanda is the past chair of the church council at
Vestavia Hills
United Methodist Church. She teaches regularly about applying
Biblical principles to issues of peace and justice and about God's
call to care for the disinherited.
Amanda is learning to speak Spanish. She already speaks French
well, so soon she will be trilingual.
For those of you familiar with the story of Mary
and Martha and the way they interacted with Jesus, Amanda is high
Martha. She is beautiful, competent, and although entirely too
insecure, an absolute joy to be married to and to be friends with.
I've added this paragraph so people can find Amanda who
know only her maiden name. Amanda was formerly known as Amanda Jean
Welch or sometimes simply as Amanda Welch.
