William P. Dunham
Dr. Dunham received his B.A. and M.A. in Technical Education and Ph.D. in Education from the University of Akron in Ohio. He worked in the hospitality industry for 10 years in positions ranging from cooking and managment to sales and marketing. Following that he spend 4 years with the pharmaceutical business as an account representative. He has done consulting and training in the fields of business and customer service.
He held a tenured position as an Associate Professor in the school of Hospitality Management at Cuyahoga Commuity College in Cleveland, Ohio for 11 years. Dr. Dunham left that position in 1999 to join Cooperative Studies International teaching in the Czech Republic as a business professor.
In addition to teaching Dr. Dunham has written in the area of business ethics and has developed college courses focusing on customer service, business communication, information technology and restaurant managment.
Biographical Information
Bill Dunham was born at an early age in Cleveland, Ohio in 1957 and grew up in Kent, Ohio. He graduated from high school in 1975 and started attending the University of Akron in Akron, Ohio. Working full time at a local hospital as a kitchen supervisor on the weekends and early morning shift, he was able to go to school full time during the day and evenings. The plan was to get an Associate degree in Hospitality Management and go to work in a restaurant as a manager trainee. He finished the degree in three years instead of two because of a short detour through southern California.
Upon graduation, Bill took a job working for a catering firm managing company cafeterias that the firm had been contracted with to operate. He continued college at night working on a Bachelor’s degree in Technical Education. After several months with the catering firm a restaurant supply house approached Bill and asked him to come and run the showroom and do in-house sales. This was the beginning of an 8 year run doing sales, marketing and design for the restaurant and hotel business.
During this period of time he met his future wife at the university. They were married in 1981 and within a few years had four children as well as a menagerie of a dog, cats, rabbits and some horses. During this same period of time he started teaching at Kent State University and Cuyahoga Community College part time at night. He finished his work on a Masters degree in 1989.
In 1989, he was offered a full time position in the Department of Hospitality Management at Cuyahoga Community College. He was involved in course and program development, instructing, advising students, placing students in internships, and in consulting in the business community of Cleveland Ohio. During this eleven year tenure, he began and completed his PhD in Secondary Education at the University of Akron. His research and dissertation centered on the effectiveness and evaluation of the growing “Tech Prep” or “School to Work” curriculum. While in Cleveland he was actively involved in the Council of Hotel and Restaurant Industry Educators, National Restaurant Association and the American Association of University Professors.
As Bill’s professional life was developing, so was his personal life and a desire to help and serve other people. He was heavily involved with the high school youth group of his church from 1981 until 2000. He volunteered at Akron Pregnancy Services—a Crisis pregnancy center. He served on the Board of an education oriented organization called “Abstinence: The Better Choice”.
He also went on numerous short term mission trips with the youth group. It was during these trips that he became aware of a bigger world and some of the needs of people in other countries. As time went on Bill began to have a restlessness and a desire to make contact with people internationally.
It was at this time the Bill connected with Cooperative Studies International (www.coopstudies.com), an organization which places professors in universities all over the world. After an application and interview process, Bill was placed in Prague, Czech Republic. This city is a strategic location for the education of university students from all over Europe.
A Common Story with an Uncommon End
I was born in Cleveland, Ohio and lived there for the first two years of my life. After that, my family moved to a smaller town south of Cleveland called Kent. Here I grew up and enjoyed the advantages of a university town in a rural setting. My father worked in Kent for most of my growing up years and then became a professor at the University of Akron after receiving his PhD. My mother managed the busy home and created a safe and caring environment for her family. My father and I would spend time every morning together exercising, running or just eating breakfast.
My fondest memories of growing up involve the group of boys that lived in our neighborhood. We shared everything, learned together, got into mischief together and drew close together if there was trouble. These are special friends that are the brothers of my youth.
I started cooking in a restaurant when I turned sixteen and was able to make enough money to have gas money and other necessities of a teenage boy. Because of working many hours after school and on the weekends, high school was not the center of my social world. It was just a place to go and get enough credits to graduate. I graduated with good grades and no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
After graduation from high school I started to attend the University of Akron. My father taught there and it seemed like a good place to start. My life became a routine of work, partying, and school. I had no real long term goals and very little direction other than making money. When I turned twenty-one, I quit work and school and left for southern California for a few months to live with my best friend from high school and his wife. Life was good and all my needs were met, but there still was a feeling of emptiness below the surface. I moved back to Kent later that year and started back to school and work. I then met a young lady who would eventually become my wife after she turned my comfortable world up side down.
She asked questions that made me think about not only what I believed but also how I was living. She was a follower of Christ, one of those people who I thought were just out to be serious and not have any fun in their lives. I was wrong. I began to go to church and learn about this Christ, who claimed to be the ONLY route to God, but offered equally to all people the chance to know the truth. It was not mysterious, the teacher was clear about the claims of the Bible and of Christ. I found out that the offer of coming to God through His son, Christ was my choice to accept or reject. When I was twenty-three, I accepted this offer and have been amazed since then at God’s creation, His attention to detail, and the unconditional love that He has for people.
That was twenty-one years ago and my life continues to be a story of God working through a weak imitator of Christ to tell others the Good News. You are valuable, a unique creation of the one who existed before there was time. It may sound to good to be true but God wants you to spend the rest of your life on earth and life beyond this shell of a body in the company of Himself.
I am always available to talk to about spiritual matters, how you can know the peace that only Christ can provide, or if you just need a set of ears that will listen to your thoughts. My e-mail address is dunham43@juno.com. I will close this with a quote that has helped guide me through many times of decision making. It is from a letter that a man named Jeremiah sent to Jewish exiles who had been taken from their homeland and forced to go to another land far away. Jeremiah is passing on the words God that has spoken to him about these people. “For I know the plans I have for you, “ declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you.”
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