Bethel University gains a new professor
Chris Shofner joins the Bethel staff as a media production professor, but his story is about more than just media.
By Allison Brodin
Christopher Shofner walks into a dimly lit computer lab that will soon be full of 13 Bethel University students. Shofner scans the room, knowing is about to spend another day teaching the next generation of graphic designers, directors and producers. He turns on all the monitors, switches on a few lamps and waits for the pupils who helped him start Royal Media to arrive. Three months ago, Royal Media was only a concept. Now, it’s an integral part of these students’ curriculum.
Shofner is a man with many titles: musician, father, Christian, friend, and cyclist. Recently, the title of Bethel professor was added to that list. He is someone whose life has led him to a place where is able to combine his passions in many ways and still practice in his free time.
Shofner’s 15 years of teaching experience across Oklahoma, Ohio and Wisconsin as well as a desire to move to the Twin Cities factored into bringing Shofner to his new job, but one thing stood out above all else, combining his passion for teaching and his Christian faith.
“I’ve been wanting to work at a faith-based institution to teach the things that I love,” Shofner said. “I taught in state institutions for about 15 years so now it is really cool to come to a faith-based campus.”
Outside of teaching, Shofner has many other hobbies and passions. One of them being cycling, something completely unrelated to many other aspects of his life. Shofner loves the feeling of gliding at fast speeds. He thinks that there is something very rewarding about pushing himself as hard as he can physically while riding. Shofner also adores the beauty of God’s creation that he can see while on early morning rides as the sun rises.
Shofner’s talents don’t end there, he is also a seasoned musician. Shofner fell in love with the guitar at a young age. His dad was a guitar player and music filled his childhood home in East Texas. He combines his passions for music, media, and teaching through making online guitar lesson videos that help others come to love playing guitar as much as he does.
“I love playing music. That way of expressing things in a nonverbal way is a good way to get things out,” Shofner said. “As long as my hands work, [playing guitar] is something I can continue to do for a really long time in life.”
Shofner had his eyes on a job at Bethel for more than five years. The job he currently has at Bethel was originally posted as a limited-term position, something that as a tenured professor at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point, was not worth taking on. However, once the job changed to a tenure-track position, Shofner applied within days of the change.
During his first semester at Bethel, Shofner laid the foundation for a new student organization, Royal Media. In his small media production class, Shofner taught 13 students, the first members of Royal Media, all about broadcasting. Despite only seeing students for just under two hours twice a week, Shofner became a fast favorite to his students.
“[Shofner] is always rooting everyone on and really wants to help students grow in their abilities,” said junior Ellie Seaberg, one of Shofner’s students. “I’ve never dreaded coming to this class, it’s something that excites me because of him.”
The media production class is full of people from varying majors and backgrounds, but Shofner makes sure everyone is able to find a topic that interests them. He teaches them about how to edit a broadcast, how to be a news anchor, how to conduct interviews in ways that produce good clips for a broadcast, and more subjects in the media production process. According to Seaberg, there’s a topic for everyone in the class. Everyone can find something that they are interested in and want to learn more about.
“[Shofner] really pushes you to be the best you can and pushes you to learn skills that you’re good at and bad at so that you can get better at them,” said junior Eric Watland. Watland worked closely with his classmates and Shofner to create a sports broadcast about Bethel’s football team during his class.
As Shofner’s first semester at Bethel comes to a close, he looks to the future of Royal Media. Although the exact details of his plan are still being created, he hopes Royal Media grows to be something that students of all majors come to be a part of, without needing to take a class in Media Production.
“Everybody needs media. It doesn’t matter what discipline you’re in. If you’re in music, you need media. If you’re in philosophy, you need media,” Shofner said. “Everybody needs a way to get their message out there.”
