Meet Ben Gates

Senior Lecturer of History

Ben Gates is a senior lecturer for the Department of History in the College of Liberal Arts. He was awarded the IPFW Continuing Studies Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007. He is the History Department liaison for dual credit history courses taught in area high schools. 

Ben served as the Director of Campus Ministry at IPFW/PFW for 23 years from 1997 through 2020. He also currently serves as the senior pastor of Trier Ridge Community Church in Fort Wayne. 

Ben presented the paper, “‘Novanglian Cant:’ The Missionary Ordeal of Matthew Graves,” at the 1996 Spring Conference of the Southeastern American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies at Florida State University. His research interests include the history of Colonial America and the Early Republic period, especially religious history in the American colonies, American constitutional history and the history of the United States Supreme Court, and the history of American sports.  

Ben is the author of A Word that Sustains: 40 Reflections for Today (Credo House, 2020) and A Light that Guides: 40 Reflections for Today (Credo House, 2021) along with numerous review articles in academic journals. 

Ben enjoys walking, biking, historical fiction and watching Hallmark movies with his wife, Janet. Ben is also a dog lover for life.