We could not be more excited to welcome our new campus staff! Will you join us in prayer as they minister to women across the country and around the world?
Katherine Ashbaugh – Winthrop University
Katherine Ashbaugh grew up in Harrisburg, PA, but has been steadily making her way south ever since. She attended Virginia Tech, where she met her husband Mark, played field hockey, and graduated with a degree in Public Relations. After a yearlong internship with MTW in Dublin, Ireland, she and Mark married and moved to Charlotte to attend seminary at RTS. Katherine graduated with a Masters in Biblical Studies in 2013, with two children, Julia and John, already in tow. In 2014, their family moved to Rock Hill, SC, as Mark accepted the call for Campus Minister with RUF at Winthrop, and her last child, Emmett, was born. Katherine has spent the last 11 years raising her babies, volunteering with RUF Winthrop and in various ways at her home church, and working part-time for a local business. She is excited for this new season, which allows for more time with the wonderful woman of Winthrop! Katherine learns as much as she can about decorating, gardening, and personal finance. She enjoys eating (but not cooking), reading, and is happiest when she’s skiing with Mark or hanging at the pool with her crew.
Bethany Ekdom – University of Tulsa
Bethany grew up in Allen, Texas and graduated with a degree in School Health from Texas A&M University (whoop!). Riding horses, rock climbing, going to concerts, and watching and making movies are a few things she enjoys. Since her freshman year at RUF, Bethany has always seen the RUF internship as a total dream job, and after growing so much through the four years of community and teaching it provided, she is thrilled to have the ability to continue being a part of this ministry as an intern.
Mary Henley Green – University of Texas – Austin
Mary Henley Green is from Memphis, TN and graduated from the University of Mississippi with a bachelors and masters degree in Elementary Education. RUF was such an important part of her Ole Miss experience through the community, fellowship, and the way the Lord worked through her life during her college years. Outside of RUF, Mary Henley loves to be outdoors, go on road trips, and have game nights. After two years as an intern, she is excited to continue serving as Campus Staff at the University of Texas.
Norah Harvey – Western Washington University
Norah Harvey was born in New York and raised in rural Pennsylvania. She graduated from Millersville University with a B.A. in Music. It was during her time at Millersville that she began to know and love God through her experiences at RUF. After interning with RUF for two years she decided stick around and go on staff in one of her favorite places, Bellingham, Washington. When Norah isn’t curled up with a good book, she loves to go on train rides and eat good food.
Morgan Kendrick – University of California – Berkeley
Morgan is from Wrightwood, California – a small ski town north of Los Angeles. In 2014 she moved to the Bay Area to attend UC Berkeley. As a student, she joined RUF and came to know Jesus. In 2018 she graduated with a degree in Political Science, and started working as an RUF intern at her alma mater. Summer of 2020 she started as RUF Campus Staff for Berkeley’s ministry. Morgan loves coffee, live music, and driving around to explore Oakland.
Hailey Kim – Univeristy of California – Irvine
Hailey grew up in multiple different states, but finds Oklahoma to be her mainland when her family settled down in Tulsa in 2009. She went to high school there and graduated from The University of Tulsa (Reign Cane) with a bachelor’s degree in Speech and Language Pathology. The Lord led her to RUF when she was a freshman and the ministry became an integral part of her college experience. She loved the genuine community and how she was able to hear the gospel every Wednesday night during large group. She is grateful that RUF was able to connect her to a church, a local PCA in the heart of Tulsa. She is thrilled to be able to continue working for RUF to share the same gospel that has transformed her life with college students.
Ava Ligh – Columbia University
Ava Ligh is joining RUF as Campus Staff because she wants to help students from different backgrounds who feel “in the dark” with respect to God. As a sophomore at Columbia, she joined a Bible study originally to prove to a friend that she could dismiss Christianity’s claims. Instead, she ended up with more questions, and it was through a campus ministry that she surrendered to Christ and gained a passion for helping students confront the claims of the Gospel. Ava attended Columbia (CC’99) and her husband Peter attended Columbia Law School (’01). She worked as a consultant before obtaining a Masters in Education and teaching for two years. For ten years she stayed home to care for her children Karis (16), Erenei (13), and Checed (11) before starting to explore her calling to campus ministry. As a member and elder’s wife in Emmanuel Presbyterian Church a few blocks away from Columbia’s campus, she’s been serving in a campus ministry at Columbia for six years and is eager to transition to its RUF ministry because of its sound theology and accountability structure. She enjoys making fun of her kids, Netflix comedy specials, knitting, calligraphy, and playing Settlers of Catan with the family!
Kelley Sanford – UCLA
Kelley grew up in Sanford, FL, and it was pretty fun sharing a name with her hometown. She was really involved in high school, especially in band and sports. When she went off to the University of Central Florida in Orlando, she knew she wanted to be involved in a campus ministry. She was familiar with a few, but had never heard of RUF. Through the invite of a roommate, she found this ministry and a home for the next four years. Kelley saw the Gospel truly transform the attitudes and actions of RUF’s leadership and students, and it was through experiencing and learning how to pursue people for Christ there that her heart was first stirred toward vocational ministry. She is so excited to invest in UCLA students and point them toward the sweetness and power of Christ.
Katie Stapleton – UNC Chapel Hill
Katie is from Morgantown, West Virginia and graduated from West Virginia University with a degree in Business Management and a minor in Leadership Studies in 2018. When she’s not going on walks around UNC’s campus or drinking coffee you can find Katie spending time with friends or enjoying a good movie. Katie deeply appreciates how the Lord used the Church in her life during college and loves that RUF is from the Church. She grew up hearing about how the Lord has worked through this ministry and she was pumped when RUF came to WVU during her senior year! RUF not only brought Katie friendship, but also taught her more about the character of Jesus and gave her the opportunity to consider a future in ministry.
Through serving as an intern for two years at UNC, Katie developed a love for Carolina. She has enjoyed rushing Franklin, picnics on the Quad, and many walks in the Arboretum. Katie has loved being a witness to some of the beautiful and powerful ways the Lord has worked at Carolina. It’s been an honor for her to serve at UNC, and she is very excited to be staying on as campus staff over the next few years!
Carissa Waller – Appalachian State University
Carissa moved to Boone, NC in the fall of 2018 to work as an intern with RUF at Appalachian. Boone and its community has captured her heart, and so she is so delighted that the Lord, in His kindness, has called her to work as Campus Staff at Appalachian starting June 2020!
Carissa grew up in Nashville, TN and attended college at Western Kentucky University, where she received her Bachelor’s degree in Family and Consumer Sciences, with a concentration in Child Studies. While a student at WKU, Carissa so enjoyed playing rugby on the university’s club team. She misses those days!
Carissa loves her dog, Pepper, and you can often find them walking or hiking together, laying in the sun, wrestling, cuddling, and howling at each other. Pepper was adopted during Carissa’s senior year of college, and the two of them have been inseparable since.
RUF has changed Carissa’s life! God’s work has been so evident and clear, and so she is humbled and thankful for what He’s doing and for the ways He has lovingly pursued her. Carissa is excited to see how the Lord will continue to work in the coming years, particularly through RUF at Appalachian. Go ‘neers!