Archives: Staff
Dean of Student Success Services
Trinity drew Hannah Wasco because it felt like family. She felt it as a student and continues to feel this way working on campus. She believes this really speaks to how special Trinity is. But most of all, she loves being able to work with students and is inspired by their creativity, leadership, and entrepreneurship.
One of the things that she loves about her job is that there is no “typical day.” Since her primary responsibilities are to coordinate new student orientation and involvement, many of her daily tasks change as the academic year progresses, just like it does for the students. Some days include meetings with Student Activities (STAC) leaders to plan exciting events, while other days involve collaborating with other offices on campus to implement the Thrive curriculum for new incoming students.
Before coming to Trinity, she worked at a few other higher education institutions, including the Council for Christian Colleges & Universities in Washington, D.C., and the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO. She has experience in admissions, student conduct, new student orientation, as well as residence life and case management.
During her off hours, she enjoys reading, baking, and exploring new neighborhoods and nature trails. She also tries to travel as much as she can because she loves a good road trip.
Go Trolls!
Linda graduated from Trinity Christian College in 2009 with a BA in Psychology. She received her MA in Clinical Psychology from Wheaton College in 2011. She has worked as a Child and Family Therapist in the Chicago area. Before Trinity, she was the Program Director for a non-profit, overseeing social services, community programs, and pastoral work.
Linda (and Luis) have three children. Andy, Genoveva, and Rafael. Rafael happens to have down syndrome. This extra chromosome has enriched her life and changed how she views the body of Christ. She loves to learn about advocacy and hopes to be part of the change in our society to implement inclusive practices.
She was drawn back to Trinity because it allowed her to grow, learn, and develop as a Christian and student. She hopes to build genuine relationships with students and be part of their support system so they can succeed as students and flourish in the body of Christ.
When to Contact Me: meal plans, help navigating Student Life resources, Test Center
My Office Location: Student Success Services- 2nd floor Library
Dr. Dani is a member of the Student Life staff and greater Trinity community. With years of professional development and community development training experience in the U.S. and abroad, Dr. Dani takes a human-centered design approach to her work, routinely applying design thinking, futures thinking, and systems thinking to opportunity discovery. Dr. Dani joins Trinity Christian College with a Doctorate degree in Strategic Leadership with a concentration in Strategic Foresight. An educator, coach, servant leader, and learning enthusiast, she enjoys coming alongside of diverse learners to influence positive, holistic, transformational, and sustainable change.
Dr. Dani’s office is in the Cooper Center for Vocation and Career Development, located on the second floor of the Library (across from MarComm).
“Those who lived before us have things that they can teach us about how to view the world, how to pursue our dreams, and how to live together in community.”
Dr. John Fry believes that history enables us to listen to the voices of the past. “This is important for a number of reasons: Those voices enable us to trace why the present is the way that it is; listening to those voices helps us to engage people who don’t think the way we do; and people in the past have much to teach us about how to view the world and how to live a meaningful life.”
Fry grew up on a farm in western Pennsylvania. “When I pursued graduate work in history, I chose to focus on the rural history of the American West. I think that rural places and rural people are sometimes discounted when people talk about American culture, and I wanted to study the rural West in order to better remember and understand the experiences of those who have lived in the country.”
What drew him to Trinity:
Fry wanted to teach at a small, Reformed Christian liberal arts college. “I wanted to be able to interact with students on a regular basis in small courses, not large lecture sections. I wanted to be able to talk about how my belief in the Lord Jesus Christ influences what I study. I wanted to be able to help students improve how they read, write, think, and speak. Trinity enables me to do all of these things.”
Research interests:
In addition to rural history and the American West, Fry is also interested in the history of print culture, the American Revolution, and how historians approach history from a Christian perspective. His current research project concerns the faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the Little House books.
When he’s not teaching:
When Fry is not teaching, he spends time with his wife and four children, Deborah, Stephen, Benjamin, and Daniel. “We enjoy taking walks in our neighborhood, Marvel Studios movies, and doing things with our church family at Westminster Presbyterian Church (OPC), where I am a ruling elder, Sunday school teacher, and youth leader.”
Courses
American Colonies: 1492-1800
America and Western Civilization
Envisioning America: 1900-Present
Europe and Western Civilization
Introduction to Historical Inquiry
Papers Published and/or Presented
Books
“On the Pilgrim Way:” The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Book in progress, under contract with Eerdmans Publishers for the Library of Religious Biography. https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/CategoryCenter.aspx?CategoryId=SE!LRB and https://faithofliw.wordpress.com/
Laura Gibson Smith, Almost Pioneers: One Couple’s Homesteading Adventure in the West. Edited by John J. Fry. Guilford, CT: Globe-Pequot Press, 2013. https://www.amazon.com/Almost-Pioneers-Couples-Homesteading-Adventure/dp/0762784393/
The Farm Press, Reform, and Rural Change, 1895-1920. New York: Routledge, 2005. https://www.amazon.com/1895-1920-Studies-American-Popular-History/dp/0415972868/
Articles
“Henry A. Wallace.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
“‘Good Farming – Clear Thinking – Right Living’: Midwestern Farm Newspapers, Social Reform, and Rural Readers in the Early Twentieth Century.” Agricultural History 78 (Winter 2004): 34-49.
Interviews
“Almost Pioneers: One Couple’s Homesteading Adventure in the West.” Interview with Charity Nebbe, Iowa Public Radio, aired on 19 September 2013. http://iowapublicradio.org/post/almost-pioneers-one-couples-homesteading-adventure-west
Paul Kengor and John J. Fry, “V&V Q&A: The Politics of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” Interview with the director of the Center for Vision And Values, Grove City College, published in regional newspapers, 21 September 2009, and The St. Croix Review 42(6)(2009): 56-60; also available at: http://www.visionandvalues.org/2009/09/vv-qa-the-politics-of-laura-ingalls-wilder/
Book Reviews
Review of The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by William Anderson. In The Annals of Iowa 76 (Winter, 2017): 131-132.
Review of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. In The Annals of Iowa 74 (Fall 2015): 426-428.
Review of Sallie Ketcham, Laura Ingalls Wilder: American Writer on the Prairie. In The Annals of Iowa 74 (Summer 2015): 331-332.
Review of Brian Dirck, Abraham Lincoln and White America. In Fides et Historia 46 (Summer/Fall 2014): 133-135.
Review of Alan Petigny, The Permissive Society: America, 1941-1965. In Fides et Historia 43 (Summer/Fall 2011): 164-166.
Review of Brian Dirck, Lincoln the Lawyer. In Fides et Historia 42 (Winter/Spring, 2010): 101-103.
Review of Anita Clair Fellman, Little House, Long Shadow: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Impact on American Culture. In The Annals of Iowa 68 (Winter 2009): 88-89.
Review of Zachary Michael Jack, ed., Black Earth and Ivory Tower: New American Essays from Farm and Classroom. In The Annals of Iowa 66 (Winter 2007): 119.
Review of Anna Lisa Cox, A Stronger Kinship: One Town’s Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith. In Fides et Historia 39 (Summer/Fall 2007): 149-151.
Review of Eric Foner, Who Owns History?: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World. In Fides et Historia 35 (Summer/Fall 2003): 180-182.
Honors and Awards
Recipient of travel grant from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation to do research in West Branch, Iowa for research project on the Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder, 2016.
Almost Pioneers named Best Nonfiction Book on Wyoming History by the Wyoming State Historical Society, 2014
Professional Society Memberships
The Conference on Faith and History
The Midwestern History Association
- + Expertise
-
Dr. John Fry believes that history enables us to listen to the voices of the past. “This is important for a number of reasons: Those voices enable us to trace why the present is the way that it is; listening to those voices helps us to engage people who don’t think the way we do; and people in the past have much to teach us about how to view the world and how to live a meaningful life.”
Fry grew up on a farm in western Pennsylvania. “When I pursued graduate work in history, I chose to focus on the rural history of the American West. I think that rural places and rural people are sometimes discounted when people talk about American culture, and I wanted to study the rural West in order to better remember and understand the experiences of those who have lived in the country.”
What drew him to Trinity:
Fry wanted to teach at a small, Reformed Christian liberal arts college. “I wanted to be able to interact with students on a regular basis in small courses, not large lecture sections. I wanted to be able to talk about how my belief in the Lord Jesus Christ influences what I study. I wanted to be able to help students improve how they read, write, think, and speak. Trinity enables me to do all of these things.”
Research interests:
In addition to rural history and the American West, Fry is also interested in the history of print culture, the American Revolution, and how historians approach history from a Christian perspective. His current research project concerns the faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder, the author of the Little House books.
When he’s not teaching:
When Fry is not teaching, he spends time with his wife and four children, Deborah, Stephen, Benjamin, and Daniel. “We enjoy taking walks in our neighborhood, Marvel Studios movies, and doing things with our church family at Westminster Presbyterian Church (OPC), where I am a ruling elder, Sunday school teacher, and youth leader.”
- + Courses, Publications & Research
-
Courses
American Colonies: 1492-1800
America and Western Civilization
Envisioning America: 1900-PresentEurope and Western Civilization
Introduction to Historical InquiryPapers Published and/or Presented
Books
“On the Pilgrim Way:” The Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Book in progress, under contract with Eerdmans Publishers for the Library of Religious Biography. https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/CategoryCenter.aspx?CategoryId=SE!LRB and https://faithofliw.wordpress.com/
Laura Gibson Smith, Almost Pioneers: One Couple’s Homesteading Adventure in the West. Edited by John J. Fry. Guilford, CT: Globe-Pequot Press, 2013. https://www.amazon.com/Almost-Pioneers-Couples-Homesteading-Adventure/dp/0762784393/
The Farm Press, Reform, and Rural Change, 1895-1920. New York: Routledge, 2005. https://www.amazon.com/1895-1920-Studies-American-Popular-History/dp/0415972868/
Articles
“Henry A. Wallace.” The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Political and Legal History. New York: Oxford University Press, 2012.
“‘Good Farming – Clear Thinking – Right Living’: Midwestern Farm Newspapers, Social Reform, and Rural Readers in the Early Twentieth Century.” Agricultural History 78 (Winter 2004): 34-49.
Interviews
“Almost Pioneers: One Couple’s Homesteading Adventure in the West.” Interview with Charity Nebbe, Iowa Public Radio, aired on 19 September 2013. http://iowapublicradio.org/post/almost-pioneers-one-couples-homesteading-adventure-west
Paul Kengor and John J. Fry, “V&V Q&A: The Politics of Laura Ingalls Wilder.” Interview with the director of the Center for Vision And Values, Grove City College, published in regional newspapers, 21 September 2009, and The St. Croix Review 42(6)(2009): 56-60; also available at: http://www.visionandvalues.org/2009/09/vv-qa-the-politics-of-laura-ingalls-wilder/
Book Reviews
Review of The Selected Letters of Laura Ingalls Wilder, edited by William Anderson. In The Annals of Iowa 76 (Winter, 2017): 131-132.
Review of Laura Ingalls Wilder, Pioneer Girl: The Annotated Autobiography. In The Annals of Iowa 74 (Fall 2015): 426-428.
Review of Sallie Ketcham, Laura Ingalls Wilder: American Writer on the Prairie. In The Annals of Iowa 74 (Summer 2015): 331-332.
Review of Brian Dirck, Abraham Lincoln and White America. In Fides et Historia 46 (Summer/Fall 2014): 133-135.
Review of Alan Petigny, The Permissive Society: America, 1941-1965. In Fides et Historia 43 (Summer/Fall 2011): 164-166.
Review of Brian Dirck, Lincoln the Lawyer. In Fides et Historia 42 (Winter/Spring, 2010): 101-103.
Review of Anita Clair Fellman, Little House, Long Shadow: Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Impact on American Culture. In The Annals of Iowa 68 (Winter 2009): 88-89.
Review of Zachary Michael Jack, ed., Black Earth and Ivory Tower: New American Essays from Farm and Classroom. In The Annals of Iowa 66 (Winter 2007): 119.
Review of Anna Lisa Cox, A Stronger Kinship: One Town’s Extraordinary Story of Hope and Faith. In Fides et Historia 39 (Summer/Fall 2007): 149-151.
Review of Eric Foner, Who Owns History?: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World. In Fides et Historia 35 (Summer/Fall 2003): 180-182.
- + Awards & Memberships
-
Honors and Awards
Recipient of travel grant from the Herbert Hoover Presidential Foundation to do research in West Branch, Iowa for research project on the Faith of Laura Ingalls Wilder, 2016.
Almost Pioneers named Best Nonfiction Book on Wyoming History by the Wyoming State Historical Society, 2014
Professional Society Memberships
The Conference on Faith and History
The Midwestern History Association