Dr. William Keagle prides himself on his ability to make his students think. Born in Denver, Colo., he grew up in Wyoming and attended a fundamentalist Baptist church. As a sophomore in high school, Keagle worked for an oil company; as he got older, he was taught to fly by World War II vets, earned his truck driving license, worked as a cowboy and became an ordained Baptist Minister. Keagle received his first degree in religion at Wheaton College. He went further and received his masters degree in Divinity, and two more degrees in history from the University of Illinois.

Growing up, Keagle led a primarily fundamentalist lifestyle. A fundamentalist believes in the absolute truth. He no longer looks through a fundamentalist lens when he views the world: “I don’t believe there is an absolute truth. I think we arrive at truth by sharing our different perspectives of reality.” Keagle has been married to his wife for 50 years; they have two grown daughters, who are very different people, who each have very different husbands. He also has one granddaughter who is six years old in kindergarten and already learning foreign languages. Keagle prides himself in his traveling, having been to every one of our 50 states and 45 different countries; he has extensively studied five different languages besides English. He has also enjoyed music and theater since he was a kid.

Teaching at Millikin is Keagle’s second job; he is also a pastor and has certification in counseling. “My job is to get people to think. I ask my students to think about everything – to question everything.” Keagle has the gift of making people think; even in the short amount of time we had, I was thinking about more than just this interview. On his desk sits a plaque that says “I still have a lot to learn.” Keagle wants to continue learning. To him, if there is nothing left to learn, there is no point in moving forward.