Ron DeLap, Ph.D.

Professor of Engineering, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean, School of Engineering
Academic Affairs
ronald.delap@arbor.edu
517-750-6471
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Bio

After graduating from Midland High School I attended college for a few years before I married my high-school sweetheart and enlisted in the Air Force as a radar repair technician. A wonderful Air Force career followed, punctuated by breaks to attend college and earn multiple degrees in engineering. As a senior research engineer in the Air Force, I was blessed to be able to work on multiple high-tech systems, including satellite radar, navigation, and data collection systems. After retiring from the Air Force my wife and I spent time teaching high school in the Dominican Republic and the US, opened and ran a wedding videography company, and I also worked for an automotive company in Saginaw. Eventually I found myself teaching engineering coursework at Lake Superior State University, and from that point God began moving me into administrative positions. I served as the engineering dean at LSSU and at LeTourneau University for a combined total of nearly seven years before spending a short time in San Diego teaching university physics and engineering courses.

I believe that God continually prepares us for what is ahead, and His preparation has been perfect for what He has me doing now – building the Engineering Department at Spring Arbor University. My life experiences have shown me what makes a strong engineer, and I have been blessed to see this from several different perspectives – military, industrial, academic, missions – so that I have a really good feel for what will make Spring Arbor University’s program stand out from its peers. I am really excited about what God is going to do here!

God has always been an intimate part of my life, but I didn’t know Him personally until I understood the Gospel at 17. I am a child of the King. I want to serve Him with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength. While I will pour my life into this effort, I fully recognize that any success will be due to God’s blessing.

My wife, Marie, is truly an amazing woman. In the midst of a very difficult childhood she found God on her own while reading a bible which had been donated to the boarding school she was in. She’s never looked back. From day one of our marriage, Marie has supported and loved her family through the easy and hard times, the highs and the lows. God blessed me when He gave me Marie. Together, we have been blessed with four children.  Our first three, Matthew, Andrew and Rebekah, are grown, married and have children of their own (we have eight grand-children). Each of our children know the Lord. I am so proud of them, especially in terms of their character and commitment to Christ. Additionally, our son Micah blessed our lives as a newborn in 2013. He is full of energy and a joy to us! He brings perspective to what it means, to me, to be adopted into God’s family. Even when Micah is being difficult, I love him so much and could never think of “un-adopting” him. I think God feels the same way about His adopted children.

My life verse is Daniel 12:3.  I would love to share why – give me a call!

Education

  • Ph.D.: (Electrical/Systems Engineering) University of Michigan

Why SAU

I believe God prepares us throughout life for each new opportunity we are blessed with.  The call to Spring Arbor was very clear for me and for my family, given our life experiences in Leadership, Engineering, Academia, and Missions.  Spring Arbor’s decision to add an Engineering program was a grand opportunity and I feel very blessed to be part of bringing the program to life.  Spring Arbor University is a rich, Liberal Arts University, which provides an amazing base for future engineers.  When that base is coupled with a strong faith-oriented mission, wonderful community support, small class sizes, outstanding faculty and amazing laboratories, it results in a superb program for “custom building” strong engineers with a Christ-centered world view.  Our world needs more of these desperately!  I am thankful that Spring Arbor chose to begin this program, and blessed to partner with  our amazing faculty and staff in bringing it to fruition.