Marla Nedelcu, PhD

Dr. Marla Nedelcu is a professor of Religion at AdventHealth University.  She has also taught for nine years at Southern Adventist University, both online and in-person, where she developed the Religion curriculum for all the graduate nursing programs.  She graduated with her Ph.D. in Religion (Theology emphasis with a New Testament cognate) in 2019 from the Andrews University Theological Seminary.  Her area of emphasis is personal ontology, studying current models of human constitution and human nature and exploring the origin of these models.  Prior to this, she enjoyed serving as a pastor in the Georgia-Cumberland Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.  Her M.A. in Religion was also from Andrews University (2003).  This followed her B.A from Southern Adventist University (2002), where she graduated with majors in Religious Studies, Near Eastern Archaeology, and Classical Archaeology, and minors in Biblical Languages, English, and Music.  For each degree, she graduated with honors, and has received numerous academic awards and been involved in various honors societies throughout the years, including as president of Southern Scholars for three years. In addition to teaching Religion and pastoring, she has also worked as a writer, editor, music teacher, and volunteer chaplain.  She currently serves as Youth leader of her local church.  She and her husband Adrian have two young children, and their family loves to explore nature together—backpacking, RVing, geocaching, stargazing, and drawing closer to God by spending time in His creation.  It is Dr. Nedelcu's joy to teach Religion and to form meaningful relationships with her students, as she pursues the mission of developing skilled professionals who live the healing values of Christ.