In 2025, when Seattle Pacific University reorganized its academic structure into three colleges along with Seattle Pacific Seminary, the deans tasked to lead the new colleges included both new and familiar faces. Now well into the first academic year, these leaders are helping to advance SPU’s longstanding academic excellence, innovation, and Christian mission. Meet them here:
Hsi-Jen “James” Yeh joined SPU this Autumn Quarter as the dean of the
College of Business and Technology, bringing more than 20 years of industry and higher-education experience. For CBT, Yeh oversees the academic programs in business, apparel design and merchandising, engineering, computer science, and data science.
A former leader at Azusa Pacific University and Massachusetts Maritime Academy, he has launched interdisciplinary programs, built academic structures, and expanded opportunities in engineering and technology fields. His early career in telecommunications, semiconductors, and biometrics produced seven U.S. patents and a strong record of applied innovation. He holds degrees from Caltech, UC Berkeley, and Columbia University. At SPU, he is committed to preparing graduates who pair technical expertise with integrity and purpose.
Tim Nelson, professor of biology, now serves as interim dean for the
College of Applied and Natural Sciences. A marine botanist and longtime faculty member, Nelson has been part of SPU for more than four decades — first as a student (Class of 1987) and later as a faculty leader and researcher.
His research explores the causes and ecological impacts of macroalgal blooms in Washington state, and his work — conducted in close collaboration with undergraduate researchers — has been supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, NOAA, the Washington Department of Ecology, the Murdock Charitable Trust, and SPU. Prior to being named interim dean, Nelson held several leadership roles at SPU, including director of the Blakely Island Field Station and chair of the Biology Department. As dean, he champions hands-on learning, faculty-student research partnerships, and scientific inquiry rooted in Christian mission and stewardship.
He earned his PhD in botany from the University of Washington and has taught courses in botany, ecology, and marine biology, including field-based study tours in Belize and Bali, Indonesia.
Nyaradzo Mvududu is the dean of Seattle Pacific University’s
College of Humanities, Education, and the Arts, overseeing undergraduate and graduate programs in education, continuing professional education, sociology, English, communication, art, music, and honors. Previously dean of SPU’s School of Education, she assumed leadership of the newly reorganized college in summer 2025.
A respected educator and scholar, Mvududu joined SPU’s faculty in 2003 after earning her MBA from the University of Washington and her EdD from Seattle Pacific. She has taught extensively across undergraduate and graduate programs, bringing expertise in statistics, assessment, and research methods, as well as a deep commitment to student success.
Originally from Zimbabwe and raised in a family of educators, she encourages students to see education as both a public good and a pathway to opportunity.
Rev. Dr. Brian Lugioyo joined SPU in 2021 to lead the
Seattle Pacific Seminary and School of Theology (now the Division of Theology).
Previously a professor of theology and ethics at Azusa Pacific University, Lugioyo is a Cuban American from a family of Presbyterian ministers and theologians. Prior to APU, he served as an assistant professor of theology and Bible, and as the director of the MA program at Spring Arbor University. He has also served in various roles at Vanguard University and Pepperdine University.
Educated at Westmont College, Fuller Seminary, and the University of Aberdeen, Lugioyo has long been a scholar of Christian anthropology, liturgy, ethics, and the Reformation. An ordained Free Methodist elder, he brings pastoral sensitivity and academic rigor to SPU’s theological programs.
This article first appeared in the 2026 Winter Quarter Connections alumni e-newsletter.