As a university professor at Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, Kansas, Dr. Runyan teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses in the Department of Teaching and Leadership in the College of Education. Known for developing and teaching such innovative graduate courses as Restructuring the American School, FUNdamentals of Teaching, Current Teaching Practices, Trends and Issues, Methods for Secondary Teachers, Methods and Materials for Academic Literacy, Methods of Research, and The Mentorship, he also supervises student teachers in the public school system.

Active nationally, Dr. Runyan has been invited to present at over seventy national and international conferences in America, Canada, and Russia over the past twenty-five years. He has appeared before such groups as the National Middle School Association, Association of Teacher Educators, American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, International Mentoring Association, Academic and Business Research Institute, and the National Council of States. He is also a popular local presenter with over a hundred state or regional presentations to his credit. Regionally he has appeared before the Midwest and Eastern Educational Research Associations, Kansas Effective Schools Conference, Missouri Principals Association, Kansas United School Administrators, Kansas Association of Teacher Educators, Kansas School Board Association, and numerous school districts. Dr. Runyan also served on the National Council of State’s Classrooms for the 21st Century National Task Force. In addition to being selected into Who’s Who in America and America’s Faculty Row, he has authored over 50 articles and papers, edited journals, and written several books.

Active in the state of Kansas, Dr. Runyan is involved in a number of endeavors that offer him a broad perspective. He has served as a North Central Outcomes Resource Specialist for eight different school districts and a KSDE folio reviewer for nine different institutions of higher education. He has served as president and a long-time chapter delegate for Phi Delta Kappa and was the recipient of the PDK Service Key Award. He also has served on a number of Kansas State Department of Education committees, most notable the KSDE’s Mentoring Task Force, the Early Career Teacher Induction Task Force, and the Peer Assistance Task Force. Also, participating over the past decade in developing a different vision for teacher training, Dr. Runyan was a founding member of the Kansas City Teaching Fellows steering committee, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation. Helping to develop the courses, he presently serves as an instructor for the Kansas City Teaching Fellows, an innovative alternative certification project. In 2006, he tried his hand at state politics and ran unsuccessfully for the Kansas State Board of Education.

At Pittsburg State, Dr. Runyan serves as a senior professor in the Department of Teaching and Leadership being honored with the rank of University Professor in 2010. He has served on various university committees such as the Faculty Senate, Graduate Council, Grievance, Honors College, and University Promotion committees. In the College of Education, he has chaired numerous search committees as well as the Teacher Education Knowledge Base, Assessment, and various accreditation committees. Being an original founder and presently the co-director of the Kansas Early Career Teacher Academy, he is most proud of his work in developing a multifaceted mentoring program for first through third year teachers in southeast Kansas. Over the past two decades, Dr. Runyan trained all mentors for the academy, worked with helping the Academy’s early career teachers start their careers, and coordinated the monthly academy sessions and banquets.

Dr. Runyan is also involved with the community. He has served as the past-president of Pittsburg’s USD #250 Board of Education, chairman of the board for the Kansas Teachers Credit Union, and board president of