Steve Perdue has devoted more than 39 years to education across an unusually diverse range of learning environments—from traditional classrooms and alternative education to correctional education and higher education. Whether teaching gifted students, leading alternative schools, or working with incarcerated learners, his passion has remained constant: helping students discover their potential and experience meaningful personal transformation through education.
Perdue has served as a classroom teacher, principal of an alternative high school, and principal of the school within Oklahoma's only maximum-security juvenile treatment facility. He also taught college courses through Langston University at Dick Conner Correctional Facility, experiences that profoundly shaped his understanding of education as a catalyst for hope, identity development, and redemption.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Oklahoma Baptist University, a Master of Arts in Education from Oral Roberts University, and a Master of Arts in Humanities (Communication) from Tiffin University. He has taught courses including Pre-Calculus, Calculus, Quantitative Reasoning, Public Speaking, and Humanities at both the secondary and collegiate levels.
Perdue's current scholarship explores how sustained allegorical learning environments influence student identity development and academic engagement. His research examines the role of narrative, symbolism, and immersive educational design in helping students reimagine the roles they occupy within their own educational journeys.
Before retiring from military service, Perdue served as both a public affairs officer and education and training officer in the Air National Guard, experiences that continue to influence his leadership, organization, and instructional design. Outside the classroom, he enjoys hiking, cycling, playing piano, studying languages, reading, and exploring the intersection of faith, learning, and human flourishing.
Students know Perdue for creating classrooms that are both intellectually challenging and personally encouraging. His teaching philosophy centers on a simple conviction: education is most powerful when it not only informs the mind but also transforms the person.