Rosemary Flaaten
Executive Director for the Center for Healthy Relationships; Instructor of Ministry
M.A., Christian Counseling
B.A., Education
Mrs. Rosemary Flaaten moved to Northwest Arkansas from Calgary, Canada to take on the role of Executive Director of the Center for Healthy Relationships (CHR). She is passionate about seeing people become all they were created to be, living with purpose and joy, and receiving and giving love. Her vision is to see the CHR become a “Center for the times” that provides the students, faculty, and staff at JBU, and the broader community of Northwest Arkansas with resources that will lead people into a deep and personal relationship with God that will impact who they are, how they relate to others, and the choices they make.
Before coming to JBU, Rosemary had positions as an Adjunct Professor at several higher educational institutions on the topics of leadership development, spiritual formation, and sexuality. She ran a consulting business where she offered corporate workshops on building healthy relationships in the workplace, as well as personal life coaching and spiritual direction. She served at a large multi-campus church in a variety of leadership roles, including being part of the preaching team. Rosemary’s experience teaching internationally in Colombia, Haiti, Mali, South Africa, New Zealand, El Salvador, Mexico, and India, as well as across Canada and the United States has fueled her passion for diversity and esteeming the imago Dei. Work toward her Doctorate of Ministry in Leadership at Denver Seminary is almost complete.
It has been a circuitous route for Rosemary to get to Arkansas. A Masters of Arts in Christian Counselling led to the publishing of her first book A Woman and Her Relationships (Beacon Hill Press). Pioneering a ministry to support Christian professional women led to her second book A Woman and Her Workplace (Beacon Hill Press) and its Spanish translation, La Mujer en su Lugar de Trabajo: Construye relations sanas en tu vida laboral (Portavoz/Kregel Publications).
Rosemary and her husband Norlee are thoroughly enjoying NWA, as they are lovers of the outdoors – hiking, cycling, kayaking (skiing and snowshoeing are now past pursuits), and hanging out on the patio with good friends and good food. Rosemary enjoys gardening, reading, cooking, hospitality and board games. She’s slightly competitive, but mainly just loves being around people, meeting new friends, and journeying with others.