Danette Dean This is Me

Education

 Web References

1. 1. Recordnet.com

   www.recordnet.com/daily/lifest - [Cached]

   Published on: 10/12/2002   Last Visited: 10/12/2002

   So is Dean, a woman in whom students find a source of conviction and direction for their lives.
   
   ...
   "We wanted to be centrally located to make it easier for people to reach us," Dean said. "It accommodates those who are traveling from out of town and allows us to expand."
   
   The school offers four courses of ministerial study per semester in bachelor's and master's programs, with additional work required for a doctor's program. Thirty-six home study courses are also offered. Costs are $25 per credit hour for the four-year bachelor's program ($3,200), $35 per credit hour ($2,240) for the two-year master's program and $50 per credit hour for the three-year doctorate ($4,800), with aid available in the form of internships and through a scholarship program.
   
   ...
   Dean has commitments from 15 new students who will begin work with the new semester in January and plans to add three more instructors to her staff.
   
   The school has begun with evening classes only but may expand into day classes next year. Since its opening, word of mouth is bringing a cross-section of visitors and prospective students to the site, Dean said -- working people like Henderson, professionals and educators.
   
   A Stockton businesswoman and mother of four, Dean, 36, received her doctorate in Christian counseling and psychology in May from Sacramento Theological Seminary and Bible College, enabling her to receive a charter for her proposed school.
   
   "Danette is a very bright person and likable teacher, dependable and hard-working," said Bishop John Blouin, president and founder of the Sacramento parent school and leader of Spiritual Temple Full Gospel Baptist Church.
   ...
   Blouin recalled Dean as the kind of student who asked a lot of questions and didn't hesitate to voice her opinions.
   ...
   Dean said she wants to help people get the Christian education they need and equip them with "the skills to become proficient in the field of labor in which they feel called by God."
   
   "It allows for ministry to go forth," she said.
   
   ...
   The Rev. Quincyetta McClain, who worked with Dean when the two women served as associate ministers at Greater Faith Baptist Church in Stockton, commended Dean's passion for education and commitment to the advancement of women in ministry.
   
   "One of her biggest assets is that she is a very determined and highly motivated person, and those are very admirable qualities to have, given the high degree of stress upon women in ministry," said McClain, a staff chaplain at St. Joseph's Medical Center who has just founded Abundant Love Christian Church in Manteca.
   
   McClain sees Dean's biggest challenge in "keeping her life in balance and perspective with family, seminary and ministry."
   
   It's a challenge many women in ministry face, but peers say Dean thrives on challenges. She's a single mother raising four children who works full time as an account executive for Valley Yellow Pages and runs her own business -- Doula Dean, A Mother's Helper, which provides childbirth and lactation education.
   
   Add to that her new administrative and educational duties at A Ray of Hope.
   
   How does she do it all?
   
   With God's help, she said.
   
   The decision to open the school entailed "much prayer and research" on her part, Dean said.
   
   "Who were we going to reach, and what people where we going to target? I found out by talking to people in the (Stockton) community and finding out how they would feel if there was a college here."
   
   The response since she's opened the school has been gratifying, with "a lot of inquiries and a lot of phone calls." Now, she said, the college is reaching out to the community -- and giving back to the community with initiative programs and scholarship awards for those who cannot afford tuition.
   
   ...
   Dean also expects growth among students who wish to attend to take a course of interest to them.
   
   "You have a lot of Christians who need to know how to enhance prayer and worship," Dean said. "And I think we can better serve our Christian community with people educated in church administration and people able to counsel the community by having the necessary skills of a Christian counselor."
   
   Born and raised in east Palo Alto, Dean received a bachelor's degree in business administration and marketing from San Francisco State University in 1988 before earning her bachelor of theology, master of Christian counseling and doctoral degrees from Sacramento Theological Seminary.
   
   Beyond the classroom, she puts her life experiences and her training as a Christian counselor and psychologist to work through her A Ray of Hope ministries, counseling victims of domestic violence, substance abuse and sexual molestation and rape.