Scott & Tasha Jones
Program Director & House Manager
Dr. Scott (’96) and Tasha (’96) Jones have been the on-site staff for the Irish Studies Program since August 2023. Scott is the program director overseeing operations in Northern Ireland, and Tasha is the house manager, covering food service and student care.
Prior to moving to Belfast in 2023, the Joneses lived for four years in Moscow, Russia, working as missionaries at Hinkson Christian Academy, an international school for K-12 students. From 1999-2011, Scott worked full-time at JBU, teaching in the political science and history departments. Scott and Tasha ran summer study abroad programs for JBU in Ireland in 2004 and 2005, in Italy in 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011 and 2015, and served as the Irish Studies Program staff for the 2008 fall semester.
In their free time the Joneses love reading, playing board games, traveling, and getting to know students better.
Jamie Meaklim
Chaplain
Jamie Meaklim serves as chaplain for the students studying at Lakeside Manor, guiding them on their walk with Jesus as they spend time in Belfast.
Meaklim, who serves as the founder of a local Christian non-profit, Made for More, works to link students with the local church and introduce them to the vibrant Christian student ministry in Belfast.
Ross Wilson
Teaches: Irish Art & Culture
Ross Wilson is one of Ireland's leading artists and sculptors and a regular lecturer to JBU students in the Irish Study Abroad program. Among his many noted commissions are the C.S. Lewis Centenary Sculpture in East Belfast and a portrait of Nobel Laureate Seamus Heaney for the National Portrait Gallery in London. His work is featured in collections worldwide including Tate Britain, The British Museum, and the Boston Museum of Fine Art. Ross believes strongly in community outreach through creativity and education. He was recently honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, receiving a British Empire Medal for his charity and outreach work.
>> Watch Video
>> Listen to 10/3/19 JBU Chapel with Ross
>> Listen to After the Chimes Podcast interview
Dr. J N Ian Dickson
Teaches: Irish Literature, Integrated Humanities II: Irish History & Literature
Dr. Ian Dickson is a writer, academic and public speaker. With beginnings in literature and drama, later extending his expertise in history and spiritual theology, he values interdisciplinary and creative approaches to education. Educated in Belfast, Cambridge and Glasgow, Ian entered academic life in 2002, holding research and senior teaching positions in several UK universities and colleges. He has a Ph.D. from Queens University Belfast.
Drawing on his experience of over fifteen years in church ministry, his time as principal of Belfast Bible College, his pioneer work in disability and faith within the charity sector, and his passion for preaching, he is in a unique position to inspire and teach the next generation. His credits as a published non-fiction author include “Beyond Religious Discourse” and a diverse range of academic articles. Now freelance, he continues to teach literature and history, exploring the rough borderlands in writing where disciplines merge to reflect the complexities of human life. Currently, he is working on a novel and a collection of short stories. Ian is married, has a son and daughter, and lives in Belfast.
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Paddy Roche
Teaches: Global Environment of Business
Patrick “Paddy” J. Roche holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and politics from Trinity College in Dublin and a master’s degree in political philosophy from the University of Durham. Paddy has served as a lecturer at the University of Ulster (economics) and Queens University, Belfast (mathematical economics) and a tutor in philosophical theology and Christian ethics at Irish Baptist College.
Roche was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly in 1998, where he served until 2003.
Roche has written extensively on the economics and politics of Irish nationalism and is a frequent contributor to political and economic debate on local radio and television. The forthcoming “William J. Abraham: A Theological Profile” (Baylor University Press) contains a chapter titled “Evil and the Terrorism of the IRA” by Roche.
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Dr. James McKeown BD., FHEA
Teaches: Evangelical Theology
Dr. James McKeown was vice principal of Belfast Bible College and lecturer in Old Testament for over 20 years. He left Belfast Bible College in 2009 to spend more time writing and teaching in Church settings. He has taught Old Testament and Advanced Hebrew at Union Theological College Belfast and supervised post-graduate students.
He has written several articles on Old Testament studies for the IVP Dictionary of the Old Testament series and commentaries on Genesis and Ruth in "The Two Horizons Series," published by Eerdmans. He is writing another commentary on Ruth for the revised Oxford Bible Commentary.
Dr. McKeown's lectures and preaches regularly. His passion is to teach and preach in a way that explains the biblical text’s original context and cultural setting while showing its relevance and power to change lives today.
Dr. McKeown has been involved in JBU's Irish Studies Program since 2012 and has found it encouraging to play a small part in the spiritual development of the students during their time in Ireland.
Rev. Helene Steed
Teaches: Christian Formation
Revd Canon Dr. Helene T. Steed was ordained priest in 1996 and began her ministry in the Church of Sweden. After eight years of rural parish ministry, she moved to Ireland and worked in the Church of Ireland Cathedral of St. Fin Barre’s in Cork. Since then, she has ministered in Anglican parishes on both sides of the Irish border. Presently, she is the rector of St. Mark’s Church in East Belfast, which is the baptismal church of the famous Christian apologist and author C. S. Lewis. Previously, she has been a member of the Anglican-Lutheran International Commission (ALIC iii), the Anglican-Lutheran Co-Ordinating Committee as well as the International Reformed and Anglican Dialogue. For a decade, she represented the Church of Ireland in the Porvoo Communion.
Dr. Steed has an M.Div. from Uppsala University and a doctorate in theology from Lund University, and her theological interests are missiology, Anglican church history, liturgy and spiritual formation. In her spare time, she enjoys running, walking, and needlework. She is married and has a daughter.
Christopher Steed
Teaches: Intercultural Communication
Christopher Steed is a specialist in the History of African Christianity and the history of Christian-Muslim relations in Africa. He has a BA Hons in African History and African Politics from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. Moving to Sweden as a researcher on African Church History, he worked at the Nordic Africa Institute. He has taught at Uppsala University lecturing in African History (both in Swedish and English), he was also editor for nine years of the quarterly periodical SMT: Svensk Missionstidskrift / Swedish Missiological Themes. Researching and writing the first comprehensive African ecclesiastical history, he co-authored A History of the Church in Africa. Comprising over twelve hundred pages in length, this was published by Cambridge University Press. He continues to lecture widely on African and Asian Christian History.
Billy Stevenson
Teaches: Peace & Conflict Reconciliation
As Chief International Programs Officer at John Brown University, Bill Stevenson loves to create a global learning environment for university students.
Born in Northern Ireland during The Troubles, Billy's life story is a testimony to the goodness of God and the power of peace.
Stevenson’s life has followed a circuitous route -- starting with an early childhood in Northern Ireland, moving on to South Korea and, ultimately, bringing him to the United States. His own intercultural experience has equipped him to understand the unique struggles and challenges that face students studying in different countries.
Scott Jones
Teaches: Selected Topics: C.S. Lewis
Dr. Scott L. Jones graduated from John Brown University in 1996 with degrees in history and pre-theological studies. He earned his juris doctorate from the University of Colorado, Boulder School of Law. Scott joined JBU in 1999, later completing a master’s in political science from the University of Arkansas and a Ph.D. in history from Swansea University, focusing on fifteenth-century Venetian lawyers.
In 2009, Dr. Jones co-founded a restaurant in Siloam Springs, selling it in 2016. From 2016 to 2020, he and his family lived in Moscow, Russia, where he taught and served as president at Hinkson Christian Academy. Dr. Jones enjoys teaching history, political science, and law. In his free time, he plays board games, reads, and explores Northern Ireland. He and his wife have two children studying in America.