Dennis Dirks

Dennis H. Dirks was Dean of Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He was a member of the Talbot graduate faculty, teaching in Christian Education, Educational Ministries, and Talbot's PhD programs. He and a team of colleagues established the Talbot-Kyiv Extension in Kyiv, Ukraine, in partnership with Kyiv Theological Seminary in Kyiv. The program has full U.S. accreditation by the Association of Theological Education (ATS). He worked with Chosen People Ministries in Manhattan, NY (now in Brooklyn) to begin a Master of Divinity in Messianic Jewish Studies, serving the needs of Messianic churches and other related Messianic organizations. This program is also accredited by The Association of Theological Schools. He was awarded the Biola University Faculty of the Year Award for Excellence. He was Chairman for and participant in many accreditation visits of the Association of Theological Schools (ATS) to accredited seminaries and other related institutions in the United States and Canada. ATS is overseen and approved by the United States government. He made many presentations regarding quality theological education to national and international biennial gatherings of ATS, and served on committees to improve and rewrite standards of theological education. He helped create the International Council for Higher Education (ICHE) based in Bangalore, India. Its purpose is to help raise the quality and standards of seminaries, Christian colleges, Bible Institutes and related institutions world-wide. He was a national and International guest faculty member/lecturer at many seminaries and Christian colleges. He provided consultations at numerous national and international academic and other professional religious institutions. To help fulfill one of Talbot's commitments, that of assisting the church community; he made many presentations on improving church effectiveness to paid church staff and volunteer leaders.