Michael Pyle

Biography

Dr. Michael Pyle is a board certified general surgeon who, in 2008, accepted an invitation to teach in Biology and currently serves as chair of the department. He continues to do surgery on a part-time basis and enjoys involving students on those occasions. With the family in tow, he served the Church of the Nazarene for four years as a medical missionary to Swaziland. Recent years brought short term service in Haiti, Rwanda, Nepal and Papua New Guinea. Since 2010 he and Nancy have taken teams of ONU nursing and pre-medical students to Kudjip Nazarene Hospital in Papua New Guinea. Each trip combines a service project with observation time in the hospital and its clinics. Dr. Pyle established a new course in human anatomy using human donors. In addition, he developed a relationship with Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee, through which students shadow medical and dental practitioners. In 2013, this program won a national award for excellence from the American Hospital Association. He also teaches medical terminology, anatomy/physiology, pathophysiology and biology seminar. Dr. Pyle enjoys nurturing community partners like Riverside Medical Center. He attends a weekly conference at the hospital and enjoys an excellent relationship with the Osteopathic residency program which yearly offers mock medical school interviews to ONU students. Through the biology club, Biophilic, he has helped establish a yearly campus bone marrow registration drive (Be The Match) and a Health Science Career Night. Before coming to Olivet, Dr. Pyle served several years as associate pastor and later as pastoral assistant at Parkside Church of the Nazarene in Avon, Indiana. Before joining the faculty, he served as a member of the ONU Board of Trustees for five years. He married Nancy in 1979 after they came face to face during hospital rounds. Nancy earned her R.N. degree from Ball State University in 1978. In 2011, she completed a Master in Nursing Education degree at Olivet and currently teaches in the nursing department. The Pyles are the parents of three children, Matt, Nathan and Katie — all ONU graduates. They immensely enjoy their latest assignment as grandparents! Laura Leigh and Lauryn Elizabeth arrived in 2012. Austin Mark and Easton James joined the posse in 2014.

Research Interest

Biological Sciences