Biography
With over 15 years of experience teaching and leading in graduate education, Kyle J.A. Small serves as Dean of Graduate Studies at Calvin University. In this role, Kyle integrates expertise in organizational culture, leadership, and Christian formation to develop and improve educational programming and systems for adult learners and professional leaders.
Previously, at Anderson University, Kyle founded a leadership center and developed graduate programs exploring the intersections of spirituality, business, justice, and human flourishing.
Kyle serves on the boards of The William Carey Heritage Foundation and The Academy of Religious Leadership and is a past chair of the International Leadership Association’s Leadership Education Committee. He teaches philanthropy through the Lake Institute and the Lilly School of Philanthropy and has served as a Fellow with the Villanova Center for Church Management.
He lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with his wife, Lindsay, and their three children: Micah, Madeline, and Maggie.
Education
Ph.D. (2009) Luther Seminary, Theology and Social Science
M.Div. (2003) North Park Seminary
B.A/B.S. (1999) Augustana University, Majors: Mathematics and English
Professional Experience
Professor of Leadership and Director, Center for Leadership and Organizations at Anderson University (Anderson, South Carolina)
Professor of Leadership and Dean of Formation for Ministry at Western Theological Seminary (Holland, Michigan)
Academic Interests
Leadership & Leadership Formation
Organizational Culture, Design, and Change
Spiritual Formation
Case Study Pedagogy
Coaching & Consulting
Research
Kyle J.A. Small and David G. Forney, “From Performance to Formation: Reimagining Servant Leadership Education” in The Journal of Religious Leadership (Fall 2025)
David G. Forney and Kyle J.A. Small, “The Hidden Curriculum of Servant Leadership: A Critical Analysis” in The Journal of Religious Leadership (Spring 2025)
“Preaching and Leadership: Becoming Social Friends in the Theological Academy” in The Journal of The Evangelical Homiletics Society, Volume 24, Number 1 (March 2024)
“Walk This Way: Reimagining Religious Leadership” in The Journal of Religious Leadership, Volume 22, Number 2 (Fall 2023)
“Befriending Donors: Fundraising as Relationship” for Villanova Center for Church Management, Philadelphia, PA (June 2023)
“Cosmology, Coram Deo, and The Camino: in Before the Face of God: Essays in Honor of Tom Boogaart, ed. Dustyn Keepers (Historical Series of the Reformed Church in America, 2019)
“Ordained, Called, and Employed: Clergy Tax Case Study” for Villanova Center for Church Management, Philadelphia, PA (January 2019)
“Presidential Address to the Academy of Religious Leadership: Engaging Sacred Texts for Engaging Religious Leadership” in The Journal of Religious Leadership, Volume 15, Number 2 (Fall 2016)
Professional Associations
Academy of Religious Leadership
Academy of Management
Religious Research Association
Social Scientific Study of Religion
International Leadership Association
Awards
Church Management Research Fellow Mentor at Villanova University’s School of Business, Center for Church Management, 2024-2025
Academy of Management (AOM) Organizational Behavior (OB) Division Best Reviewer Award, 2024
Calvin Symposium on African American Religious Autobiographies, selected participant, 2023
Kellogg Fellow, Faith and Economics, Garret Evangelical Seminary 2020-2023
