fter working in secular social work higher education for eight years, Rachel Derrington knew she was called to something more. “I always recognized the parallels between social work values and ethics and Jesus’ teachings but I couldn’t figure out a way to combine the two,” she said. After praying over the situation consistently for two years, she received a call from Toni Damron, assistant professor of social work at HPU. “She got my number from a friend of a friend and told me she heard I had moved to the area from a colleague I had only met once,” said Derrington. “It was quite serendipitous.” Derrington joined HPU’s faculty in 2018 from the University of Denver where she was employed as an adjunct faculty member and curriculum developer. Prior to that, she worked in child welfare, helping to place children with adoptive families and providing the families with post-adoptive support. She additionally worked for the federal government in child welfare policy analysis and marriage/family strengthening activities, and for the state government in Colorado providing policy communications for the state regulatory agency. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Denver and a Master of Social Work degree in policy and program management from the University of Denver
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