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Merrill Hawkins

Professor of Christian Studies

 

B.A., Baylor University (1985)

 M.Div., Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (1990)

 Ph.D., Baylor University (1994)

 Additional Study:  Clinical Pastoral Education Residency, University of Tennessee Medical Center, 2003-2004 Dr. Hawkins joined the faculty at Carson-Newman in 1995 and has taught both in the areas of historical studies and ministry studies, including Love, Grief, and Anger. From 2008-2013, he held a joint appointment in the Department of Graduate Counseling and he continues to teach a course each summer in that program: Foundations of Spirituality.  In addition to his Ph.D. in Religion with a concentration in the history of Christianity, he has received post-doctoral education in clinical pastoral education and spiritual direction.  Dr. Hawkins has served as a pastor of Baptist and United Methodist congregations since 1983.  In 2005, he became the pastor of Mt. Pleasant United Methodist Church in Talbott, Tennessee.

 Mel is married to Dr. Kimberly Hawkins, who is also part of the Carson-Newman faculty and Chair of the Department of Education (fall 2014).  They are the proud parents of Anna Lee, a student at the University of Alabama, and Conner, a high school student.”  As a family, they enjoy hanging out at home and travel.