Staff Shoutouts

SALOME PALMER | Director

Hugh of St. Victor said it best, “Learn everything. Later you will see that nothing is superfluous.” This has proven true in Salome's eclectic educational experience that positions her to direct Gordon's Heritage Program. Her earliest years in the public schools fostered a curiosity for learning and creative approach to problem-solving. In middle school, she transferred to Mars Hill Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio where she experienced firsthand the power of a classical education. It was in designing D.C. leadership seminars, teaching AP Latin, and parsing pages of syllogisms that she cultivated a love for the design and discipline of education. She matriculated at Gordon College as a part of the inaugural Global Honors Cohort and has triple-majored in Music, Comparative Literature, and Biblical Studies.

Growing up in a bicultural family, Salome spent the summers in the heart of Athens, Greece, serving refugees and forming friendships with people from around the globe. She is an enthusiastic advocate for cultivating and creating Kingdom culture wherever she finds herself, whether playing Chopin in the airport of Rome, following in the footsteps of the Apostle Paul in Turkey, or traveling by tuk-tuk in Nepal. Salome will graduate this spring with her MA in Educational Leadership through Gordon College. 

JASON LAWRENZ | Course Instructor & Chaplain

Jason Lawrenz is the chaplain and Rhetoric School bible teacher at Covenant Christian Academy, a classical school that serves northeastern Massachusetts. His vocation as a minister of God's Word is attributable only to God's grace. On a December night during his senior year in high school, Jason went to bed planning to pursue meteorology and a career on television; he awoke the following morning with an unshakeable desire to study the Bible so that he might participate in cultivating the mind of Christ in future generations.

When he is not at Covenant, Jason can be found teaching theology at Gordon College, writing Sunday School curriculums for his local church, coaching his two sons' soccer and baseball teams, and working alongside his wife of 14 years, Robin, to open their home to friends and guests. When asked about their favorite meal of the day, each member of Jason's family would respond the same way: breakfast.

JOHN SKILLEN | Program Advisor

John Skillen (Ph.D., Duke University) is currently the director of the Studio for Art, Faith & History. He formerly served as the medieval & Renaissance literature specialist in the English Department of Gordon College. For a decade, Dr. Skillen resided most of the year in Orvieto, Italy as the inaugural director of the arts-oriented semester program sponsored by Gordon College.

For several years Skillen worked in the Global Education Office at Gordon developing new international programs. Until his recent retirement from the college, he served as Senior Advisor of a new track in the graduate program in educational leadership designed for administrators and teachers from classical Christian schools.