GREENVILLE, PA—Dr. Derek Nelson, associate professor of religion and chair of the Department of Religion, is the 2011 recipient of the Judge and Mrs. George H. Rowley Endowment for Teaching Excellence award from Thiel College.

The award provides financial support to faculty for the revision and enhancement of academic curricula, development of new programs, study with colleagues from other institutions, attendance at workshops or conferences, or independent research and travel that will strengthen the academic initiatives of the college. Nelson will use the funds to study adding a month-long study abroad component to the existing “Luther and His Legacy” course. The goal is that students in the course will study the Reformation and Martin Luther’s role in it during the spring semester and then spend a month in Germany studying Reformation figures and concepts in their original setting.

Nelson, who has taught at Thiel since 2006, has a bachelor’s degree from Wabash College, a master’s of divinity from Yale University and a doctorate in systematic and philosophical theology from Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, Calif. He also is an ordained Lutheran minister. Nelson lives in Greenville, Pa.