Kevin M. Dunning serves as the Executive Director of Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, the largest non-public school in the state and one of the fastest growing Lutheran schools in the country.
During his tenure at Faith the school has grown from 450 to nearly 1300 students. The school has embarked on an aggressive building campaign to support its programs, including recent construction of a 30,000 sq ft chapel/performing arts center. Under his direction, the school has also taken a leadership role in using technology to accelerate and engage student learning. He was also a driving force behind the Mark 10:14 program at Faith, a program that provides Christian education for students with autism and Down’s syndrome.
A frequent presenter at Lutheran Education Association (LEA) conferences and the author of several published essays and devotional materials, Kevin currently writes the Secondary Sequence column for the Lutheran Education Journal. He has served the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran church as a member of a convention floor committee and helped plan the 2000 Lutheran Elementary Administrators conference in San Diego. In 2007 he was selected as the Pacific Southwest District Administrator of the Year.
He previously served on the Board of Directors for both the Lutheran Education Association (LEA) and the Association of Lutheran Secondary Schools (ALSS). He serves his community as a board member of the Summerlin Children’s Forum. A member of First Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, he is an usher, greeter, and reader and often delivers the children’s message.
A 1978 graduate of Concordia University-Chicago, he has an MA in Government and Politics from St. John’s University (1986) and has done additional graduate work in educational administration at Concordia University-Chicago, Cleveland State University and University of Nevada-Las Vegas. He is a member of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the International Society of Technology Educators, the Nevada Association of School Administrators and the Lutheran Education Association.
During his 30-year career as a Lutheran educator Kevin has taught at both the elementary and high school levels, served as a church youth counselor, girls varsity basketball coach and Model UN advisor. Prior to coming to Faith, he was principal at St. John Nottingham Lutheran School in Cleveland and Walther Lutheran High School in suburban Chicago. He taught in Lutheran schools in Portland, OR, New York City and Cleveland.
Kevin is married 29 years to Mary, who is also a teacher at Faith. They have two children, Jeremy and Maggie.
Kevin Dunning has served in Lutheran schools in Oregon, New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Nevada – truly affecting students and faculty across the country.
As Executive Director of Faith Lutheran Jr/Sr High School in Las Vegas, Kevin took over a school with a few hundred students. Today, Faith Lutheran has 1300 students making it the largest non public school in the state of Nevada. Despite a tough economy, Faith Lutheran has waiting lists in four grades for this fall.
Under Kevin’s leadership, Faith Lutheran has been awarded the “Best Place to Work” for mid size companies by the Southern Nevada Human Resources Association the past two years.
Always giving God the glory, Kevin is a model of servant leadership. One of his mantras is “What’s best for kids?” Kevin is a great leader whose experience, listening ear, communication skills, vision, financial wisdom, and intelligence makes him a truly worthy recipient of the Paul Lange Award.