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John Stennett

Associate Professor of Social Work, MSW Program Director

Biography: John Sennett is the Director of the MSW Program and an Associate Professor of Social Work. He primarily teaches courses in the ICCP track. He feels very fortunate to have been married to his wife for 33 years. They have two adult daughters, one son-in-law and four grandchildren. One daughter lives in Tokyo and the other in New York City, which means that they travel often. John earned his MSW at Northwest Nazarene University (NNU) in 2003 and has been an LMSW since 2004. He started his social services career investigating child abuse for the State of Texas for two years. Subsequently, he worked in social service administration with The Salvation Army for 21 years in various locations and at various levels of responsibility. In these positions, he had the opportunity to run food pantries, emergency shelters, transitional shelters, Housing First programs, licensed childcare facilities, youth camps, a large athletic/family wellness center and emergency disaster services. John’s final position as the Territorial Social Services Secretary included responsibility for all social service programs of The Salvation Army in the 13 Western States. This included program creation, implementation, review and revision. He also briefly worked for the International Rescue Committee, supervising refugee resettlement in Boise. John began teaching for the MSW program at NNU in 2019. He enjoys teaching and hopes to continue doing so for many more years. John was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala. His parents were missionaries. He also lived in San Salvador, El Salvador, and did not move to the United States until he was almost 19 years old. Most of his years living in El Salvador were during the Civil War. When he arrived in the U.S., he promptly joined the United States Marine Corps and served in the infantry. This enabled him to use the GI Bill to attend Grand Canyon University where he earned his Bachelor of Science degree (double-majoring in Psychology and Religion).

Fun Fact: I was born in Guatemala and raised there and in El Salvador. I did not move to the USA until I was 18.

Favorite Thing About Working at NNU: My colleagues and my students.