Dr. Chaván began working at ORU in 2015 as the founder and inaugural director of the International Center, a division created to advance the internationalization of ORU. After successfully establishing the center and its programs, in the Fall of 2017, Dr. Chaván joined the Communication and Media Department as full-time faculty, bringing 25 years of teaching experience in undergraduate, graduate and professional development programs. She also has more than a decade in higher education administration experience in the US and abroad.
Throughout her career, Dr. Chaván has developed, implemented, and evaluated traditional and non-traditional, on-campus, online, and off-campus college and post-secondary educational programs with governmental organizations such as the Consejo Nacional de la Juventud, in Perú (National Peruvian Youth Department) and the Instituto Nacional de Administración Pública de Guatemala (Guatemala’s National Institute for Public Administration), faith-based organizations, such as the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, Semilla and the Tidewater Hispanic Ministers’ Association and grassroots organizations such as the Virginia Latino Higher Education Network, Hispanic Leadership Forum Virginia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Hampton Roads Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, among others. Dr. Chaván has also designed and implemented mentoring and student development programs for minority and international students such as the “Hispanic College Institute”; “Take 2 to College” and the “Global Ambassadors Program.” During her teaching, administrative or grassroots efforts, Dr. Chaván distinguished herself by leading new endeavors while fostering cooperation and civic engagement.
Dr. Chaván sees the classroom as a place and a space for transformation. In it, students and faculty are challenged and confronted by the newness of knowledge that comes out of strong scholarship, divine revelation and communion with others. She believes that “this transformation and revelation does not happen in a vacuum, but in a community and in context.” Her classes emphasize a sense of belonging and, the pursuit of academic excellence. So if you are in one of Dr. Chaván classes, you will work hard, research tough and get hands-on practical assignments.
Dr. Chaván is the humble recipient of the 2015 ORU Globalization Award and the 2014 City of Virginia Beach Human Rights Award. Her publications reach a wide variety of fields from sports celebrities to pedagogy, from theology to leadership.
Dr. Chaván encourages student growth by integrating faith into academics and creating spaces to address societal issues in transformative, empowering life-giving ways.
Research interests include the Charismatic Pentecostal movement, celebrities’ cultural and social influence, globalization in higher education, and youth and leadership. She holds a Ph.D. in Communication - Intercultural and International Communications Concentration (2005) Regent University, Virginia Beach, VA, USA; a Master of Arts- Church Ministries-Counseling Concentration (1999) Church of God Theological Seminary, Cleveland, TN, USA; Licenciatura en Comunicación Social/ (Master of Arts in Social Communication equiv.) (1994) Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina; Técnico Superior en Comunicaciones Masivas/ (Bachelor in Mass Communications equiv.) (1992) Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina. She is currently an associate professor in the Communication and Media Department in the College of Arts and Cultural Studies at Oral Roberts University.