What is your educational background?
I studied social work, psychology, business, environmental design, and poverty reduction at Harding, Cornell, Brigham Young, and London.
Dr. Monty Lynn
What is your work background?
I’ve enjoyed teaching at ACU for more than three decades! Once in a while, I get the chance to delve into a business environment for a few weeks, most recently last summer with World Vision’s food security team in Washington, DC.
Dr. Lynn on a trip to Ethiopia with VisionFund
What do you teach at ACU?
Management is my primary field. For the past several years I’ve taught the Introduction to Business course and an upper-level course called, “International Poverty and Development.”
What committees/other duties do you have at ACU aside from teaching?
I’ve served in a variety of administrative roles, and loved each one. At present I’m teaching full-time.
What drew you to teaching? Why did you want to work with students?
We have 14 teachers in my family, nine of whom are university professors, so I guess you could say it’s in my blood. When my wife Libby and I first visited ACU, we immediately fell in love with the opportunity to contribute to a Christian business school. It’s been an amazing ride.
Monty and Libby Lynn
What’s the best part of working with students?
Although I enjoy teaching class, it’s the one-to-one encounters with students that create relationships and memories which remain for years.
Have you ever given up any big opportunities to keep working with students?
I can’t imagine not working with students. Working in a university has been a lifelong blessing.
Dr. Lynn working with students on creating lighting for underdeveloped areas
Outside of teaching, what passions and hobbies do you have?
Several years ago I started keeping bees. It’s a modest hobby but it has some interesting bits—a little science, problem solving, the unbelievable wonder of nature, plus, the bees are always trying to kill you. Somehow it’s all quite relaxing.
Monty Lynn, aka “Buzzy” the beekeeper
What is a good, early story about your teaching?
I overslept the first final exam I gave at ACU. I arrived ten minutes late with hair dried through the open window of my car as I drove to campus. Somehow the students knew.
Tell me about a project or accomplishment that you consider to be the most significant in your career.
It’s not career, the deep love we feel for our two children, their spouses, and seven grandchildren, and for students we’ve come to know—it’s hard to think of an accomplishment that approaches these in meaningfulness.
Do you do any charity or non-profit work?
Currently, I serve in a local church (Highland) and on a board in Peru—both of which deal with missions and humanitarian development. I enjoy delivering Meals on Wheels on Thursdays too, and often go with students.
Who is your role model, and why?
My parents and in-laws have been exemplars—they’ve lived creative and faithful lives, loving and serving, in pioneering and sacrificial ways. Friends at St. Benedict’s Farm in Waelder, Texas inspire me with their quiet and steady walk with God.
Who was your most inspirational professor and why?
So many professors have shaped me, including professor-colleagues. In terms of inspiration: Keith Warner, a sociologist at BYU, inspired me to think deeply; Warner Woodworth, a BYU business professor, inspired me to act justly; and David Moberg, a research colleague in sociology at Marquette, did both. Duane McCampbell and Dwight Ireland, professors at Harding University, forever changed me with literature and learning.
Dr. Lynn with students in Oxford
If you could have a superpower, what would it be and why?
I have enough trouble living with normal powers, but to see one’s desire for God, written on the heart, and to expand human flourishing for all—how wonderful.
What is something that students might be surprised to find out about you?
It’s a real stretch to locate a claim to fame, but my wife’s uncle sang backup for Elvis. Also, I was shot once (everyone survived), was lost in the Canadian Rockies, and I thought very seriously about taking a small airplane for a spin (literally, likely) after finding its key on an airport sidewalk. Oh, and I survived the ACU rodeo (barely) as a member of the COBA faculty steer riding team.
What would you really want students and alums to know about you?
That God’s love, often expressed through others, sustains me; and that he loves us all.