Serving where you are D
r. Karel Sovak didn’t know what he wanted to do with his life but knew he wanted to serve. “When you don’t know what you want to do, you join the Air Force,” Sovak said. He joined the Air Force right out of high school and was stationed in Minot, North Dakota. “I was told I’d see the world. And that was the only place that I got sent.” A native of Ohio, Sovak realized North Dakota was a great place to live, so when he was done with the Air Force, he decided to stay, and he ran his own insurance agency for 20 years. Teaching was always a dream in the back of his mind, so he jumped on the opportunity to teach courses that help people get licensed to sell insurance. “I fell in love with the classroom. I fell in love with facilitation. I fell in love with the discussions before and after class,” Sovak said. Sovak decided he wanted to get into higher education, so he cashed out his business, went back to school, and let everyone know he wanted to teach at the university level. “I truly believe that it was a calling. I was called to teaching and to make use of the talents that I had,” he said. Shortly after he graduated with his master’s, the University of Mary introduced its accelerated face-to-face classes through the College of Professional Studies, now known as University of Mary Online. Sovak admired the five-week course set-up and decided that the University 11
Momentum
of Mary was where he wanted to work. Sovak accepted a position in the School of Business in 2005. For the first two years, he drove two hours from Minot to Bismarck each day to teach with his family still living in Minot. Sovak smiled as he shared that he only missed one class those two years due to weather. His passion for teaching and belief in the University of Mary motivated him to make that drive each day. “I really loved what we were doing and the difference we were making in people’s lives. I was able to talk about my spirituality and bring my faith into the classroom. I have no regrets whatsoever,” Sovak said. In 2007, Sovak’s wife started a job in Bismarck and the family moved to town. His passion for
