An Impact that Lasts Beyond the Grade

For art professor Marvin Eans, empathy design goes beyond industry standards By Kimberly Felton

You can let your experiences lead you to shut people out or let them make you more empathetic. “You choose,” says Marvin Eans.

Eans, assistant professor of art and design and director of internships for the department, chooses empathy, and hopes to guide his students in the same direction.

From Industry to Ministry

Born in Indiana, Eans came from a home that knew brokenness. He loves his dad – this is what he leads with if he says anything about his childhood. His dad finally came to Christ and got clean; that’s where Eans focuses. But he experienced the pain an alcoholic parent brings.

Moving to Florida after college graduation, Eans made a name for himself as a freelancer in the Daytona Beach area. When a marketing company hired him full time, he designed direct mail pieces for Toyota and BMW, later changing his focus to branding and print collateral.

“Teaching was not in my trajectory at all,” he says. Neither was using his skill in ministry. But he was drawn to his church’s outreach efforts and joined Midnight Angels, a group that witnessed to and prayed for people on the streets of Daytona Beach. He understood their stories. Each one had someone, perhaps a son, who loved them. Before long, his church discovered he was a designer. When they asked for design help, he gave it. And when they offered him a full-time job as an art director for marketing, he took it – and found ministry more satisfying than the industry.

Then the church’s high school academy tapped him to teach a graphic design class, and he discovered he liked working with youth. “It just became a part of me. I wasn’t searching for that – it organically grew,” he says.

Eans felt God nudging him toward the classroom full time. But that would require a Master of Fine Arts degree, and he fought the idea of grad school. Who was he to think he could attend grad school, let alone become an educator? This script wasn’t part of his family.

The deal Eans made with himself – or perhaps with God – was this: He would apply to two grad schools. If he didn’t make it in, that was that. When the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design accepted him, he kept his end of the bargain. Post-graduation, he received notice of a position at a university he’d never heard of in Newberg, Oregon. When he visited the George Fox campus, it felt like home. He, his wife and two children moved from the Southeast to the Northwest in 2021.

Tools for Transformation

“There are people who grew up in situations where they see things, and they can become that or they can learn from it,” Eans says.

Perhaps he’d help shelter ministries even if he and his mom hadn’t sought shelter from an abusive husband and father. Or maybe he would show concern for people on the street even if his dad hadn’t been homeless for a time. It’s hard to say what might have been, but easy to see that Eans chose empathy.

Driven to find projects for students that are fulfilling, both spiritually and professionally, he integrates purpose with practice, connecting students with places like Portland Rescue Mission and Habitat for Humanity to create branding, campaign materials and storytelling pieces. He guides students to consider the impact design has in the world, how it shifts narratives when it focuses on the good. “It’s more than a design exercise – it’s an invitation for students to step into the real world and witness how their work can uplift, restore dignity and build community,” he says.

But Eans wants more for his students. His heart beats steady and strong for reaching hurting people outside the church.

Combining forces with Rus St. Cyr, the university’s pastor for service and soul care, Eans merged a spiritual life service trip with an opportunity for students to use their design skills. They spent five days at the Philadelphia Dream Center, based in a historic Catholic stone church surrounded by barbed wire fencing in a dicey part of town. They cleaned up streets, talked with people in and around the center, and collaborated on print and online materials that would help the Dream Center be known throughout the city.

“On that trip, I prayed that God would speak to the students’ hearts and reveal something about themselves,” he says. What Eans didn’t know – or expect – was how God would use his past to help a student make sense of their own.

In one of those “organic moments offline,” as Eans calls them, a student brought up a tough family situation. “We have similar upbringings,” he says. “I talked about the voices being handed to us and working through the pain.”

Vulnerability is not Eans’ strong suit; he’s working on it. “Just learning to let those guards down and be open – I’ve seen how that has impacted this student, at least,” he says.

With industry portfolios in mind, Eans will introduce a footwear design class in spring 2026 with Wilson Smith, a retired Nike senior designer, as guest lecturer. And if God is tugging students toward ministry, Eans wants them to know their gifts are needed there, too. “It was through the church that I realized I can use design as a way to amplify the gospel message,” he says.

“I want students to leave the classroom not only with stronger portfolios, but with a deeper understanding of how their talents can be tools for transformation.”

Philippians 4:13 has carried Eans far, and he emphasizes it frequently to his students. “‘I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.’ It’s a reminder that they’re not doing this alone and Christ gives us strength not just in life, but also in our creative work and studies,” he says.

“These two truths of how we’re created by a creative God, and that we’re strengthened by him, are at the core of how I support and encourage students. Their creativity has a purpose, and they can move forward with confidence in the gifts God has placed in them. I want students to leave the classroom not only with stronger portfolios, but with a deeper understanding of how their talents can be tools for transformation. That kind of impact lasts far beyond the grade.”