Vanguard University

This is Dr. Derrick Rosenior. His last name is pronounced, "Rosa-neer." He is an Associate Professor of Communication at Vanguard. 

When he is not working, he enjoys spending time with his wife Karine; eating Indian red curry, making an occasional breakfast omelet, and watching movies.

Dr. Rosenior’s office can be found on the second floor of Heath where it is full of intercultural books and also has a few framed posters hanging on his back wall. Coming in, visitors will see a copy of the Declaration of Independence and the Emancipation Proclamation and a graphic of two people shaking hands.

Dr. Rosenior was born and raised as an only child in Freetown, Sierra Leone, West Africa. There, he spent his childhood and teenage years before attending college in the United States. He smiles and reflects, "I had a pretty normal upbringing going to school and hanging out with friends. When I was in high school, I was very involved with the Christian club. My mom did not let me watch too much television growing up so I enjoyed reading when I had time."  During that time, he loved reading mystery novels but as he grew older he describes his interest shifting to reference-type books on mythology or culture. Dr. Rosenior’s family comes from a Methodist background, but at the age of 10 his family became more involved in the Assemblies of God church. His mom was a high school teacher in Sierra Leone while his Dad was a pharmacologist in Canada. 

After high school, Dr. Rosenior attended Fairmont State University in West Virginia. He had extended family there, and went into college as a history major before eventually switching to Communication with a journalism minor. He remembers being interested in communication because he saw how practical the field was in the working world. He recalls, "Back in those days, the major was called Speech Communication. A lot of courses were geared towards Publish Speaking so I took a lot of courses in oratory and voice and diction." Upon finishing his undergraduate degree Derrick considered going to seminary until he found out the cost of seminary school. He would later get his master's degree in Interpersonal Communication at Central Michigan University, and after would get a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication from Howard University, in Washington D.C. During his graduate schooling, he was awarded a Teaching Assistantship, which, in addition to a modest stipend to live on, included a full waiver of tuition and fees. This helped him with the cost of tuition throughout his graduate education. As a teaching assistant, Dr. Rosenior taught college courses during the day, while taking his graduate courses in the evening. 

While completing his doctorate in Washington D.C, Dr. Rosenior was attended an Assemblies of God church, where he served as the young adult pastor. While there, he reached out to an African American A/G pastor named Spencer Jones who pastored a prominent African American Assemblies of God church in Chicago to speak at his church.  It was Bishop Spencer Jones who encouraged Dr. Rosenior to consider teaching at an Assemblies of God college. Through contacts provided by Pastor Spencer Jones, Dr. Rosenior was contacted by Dr. Tom Carmody who was chair of the Communication Department here at Vanguard at the time, who asked if he would consider applying for a faculty position in the Communication Department at Vanguard University.  

Today, Dr. Rosenior has been teaching communication courses at Vanguard for the past 15 years. We are thankful for Derrick's heart for the Lord, and his commitment to the university.

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