TORRINGTON – The Eastern Wyoming College Campus Ministry Club will host the Rev. Dr. Donald C. Simmons, Jr. at EWC’s Baccalaureate ceremony for students and their families. Rev. Simmons will deliver the keynote address “Learning to Lead: The Trophy Generation in an Age of Discontent.”
Simmons will also present a talk entitled “Leadership and Communication in a New Age” at noon, May 11 in the Community Training Center. This presentation is free and open to the public. The co-sponsors in sociology, psychology and journalism programs will provide lunch.
Simmons, who holds a Ph.D. in History from Denver University, is the author of more than a half-dozen books, including his most recent “Organizational Leadership: Foundations” and “Practices for Christians.” Both are used in colleges and seminaries worldwide. He currently serves as pastor at Tremont United Methodist Church in Tremont, Miss.
Prior to his appointment at Tremont United Methodist, Simmons held a number of leadership roles in variety positions, including as a corporate and a non-profit CEO, corporate and non-profit board member, university dean, community college trustee, college baseball coach and umpire, documentary filmmaker, author, pastor and city councilman. He has also served the administrations of governors from both major political parties. Additionally, Simmons has lectured at a number of colleges and universities around the globe, including Harvard University Medical School.
While director of the Center for Leadership and Public Service at Dakota Wesleyan University, he focused his attention on political leadership. As part of that enterprise, Simmons co-edited Public Service and Leadership: An Introduction with former presidential candidate and U.S. Senator
George McGovern.
In recent years, Dr. Simmons shifted his focus to include faith-based leadership consulting.
Years after completing his Ph.D. in International Studies from Denver University, he attended Baylor University’s Truett Seminary where he received a Certificate of Ministry in 2014. While in seminary, Dr. Simmons became interested in that he has termed the “hyper-intense leadership challenges” that pastors face.
“There are very few environments, and ironically politics and religion are two of them, in which the work environment places someone in a position so they are a participant in every aspect of the lives of those they lead, from birth to death and everything in between,” Simmons said.
