Bembry resigns after one year of teaching

After teaching at Milligan for less than one year, Assistant Professor of Bible and Humanities Dr. Jason A. Bembry has turned in his resignation to Academic Dean Mark Matson.

“It is with sadness that I have accepted the resignation of Dr. Jason Bembry, our newest member of the Bible and humanities faculty,” Matson said in a Feb. 28 email sent to the faculty and staff. “The good news is that he will remain here in the community as a member of the faculty at Emmanuel School of Religion.” 

At Emmanuel, Bembry will do two things he has wanted to do - teach Hebrew and teach graduate students. “I’ll be an assistant professor of Old Testament,” he said. “I won’t be teaching humanities, which I enjoyed, but it’s not really my field.”

Bembry said he applied for the job at Emmanuel in December. “Both Jason and the Dean of Emmanuel came to me early in the process,” Matson said. “If a person really thinks they’d be happier somewhere else, that’s probably where they ought to be.”

Matson said he sees himself in a dual role on campus. “I am the dean of the college, and I also view myself as dean of faculty,” he said. “I seek to do good of individual faculty members, not just the college. I try to be supportive of them.”

According to Matson, Bembry had a very good evaluation and much positive feedback.

Junior David Bielik, who has Bembry for Old Testament Historical Books and The Prophets, said he will miss Bembry. “Overall he’s a great teacher so I hate to see him go,” Bielik said. “He just has a great passion for teaching students and getting people to learn and to care about what they’re learning.”

“It’s just a part of academic life,” Matson said. “I’m pleased that he’s going to be just across the street and we still have some access to him.”

“I’m really going to miss Milligan. I will certainly miss my colleagues, and I will certainly miss my students,” Bembry said. “If I could do what I wanted to do I would teach up there and always teach down here.”