Bio

Dr. Annette Graves teaches courses in literature, creative writing, grammar, faith integration, and TESOL. In addition, she coordinates the Bachelor of Arts in Language, Culture, and Trade, the undergraduate TESOL certificate, and the Applied Linguistics minor for the Department of Humanities in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities.

Dr. Graves grew up in a missions-oriented home—her parents were missionaries in northeastern Nigeria—so the cross-cultural nature of the Kingdom of God has always been very real for her. Heaven is a place where every tribe, tongue, and nation will sing His praises forever—one glorious voice emerging from many waters—and her heart's desire is to be part of that great coming-together in the here and now. This vision drives everything she does at SEU, whether it’s engaging with the problem of evil in literature courses, encouraging creativity in student writing, equipping students for the international job market, or taking them on Study Abroad trips to places like Nepal or the United Kingdom.

As a teacher, she strives to make her classes places where the Holy Spirit can breathe on subject matter so that students might learn to love Him with their minds as well as with their hearts, souls, and strength. Her research interests include apologetics, the imagination, embodied cognition, and the intersection of these with a biblical exercise of the prophetic and God’s stated desire for a prophetic people (Acts 2:17).

Her husband, Professor Andrew Graves, also works for Southeastern as a librarian and teacher. The Graves team-lead the Study Abroad trips. They have five children; the youngest two are proud Southeastern alumni. Son Philip works for Lockheed Martin in Corporate Financial Analysis and Planning. Daughter Alix (married to missionary Tori Rasmussen, another SEU alumni) is a linguist for Wycliffe Bible Translators/SIL in Tanzania.