Andrea Sears
Assistant Professor of Intercultural Studies
B.A., Psychology – University of Kansas M.A., Intercultural Studies – Johnson University
Andrea Sears teaches in both the Intercultural Studies and Humanitarian & Disaster Relief programs at JBU. She spent 13 years as a missionary in Costa Rica, co-founding the Christian community development nonprofit giveDIGNITY in the largest immigrant squatter settlement in Central America.
Her research interests have included the theology of suffering and the well-being of missionaries. She is a member of the John Powell Institute, a research group that examines factors that help missionaries to thrive on the field. She contributed a chapter on the top ten reasons for missionary attrition, based on her own research, in the book Essentials for People Care and Development, published by Missio Nexus. She is also a founding member of the Shared Foundations Initiative, a collaboration of professionals and organizations working across missions to support the health of cross-cultural workers.
In her free time, Andrea enjoys time with her husband Seth, their crazy orange cat, and their Aussie shepherd. While her adult children, Annabel, Alden and Jude, have flown the coop, she enjoys spoiling her two grandchildren, A.J. and Reuben. She is a voracious reader, likes a home improvement challenge, and keeps a sizeable part of her heart in Costa Rica.
