Geneva College Announces Steven Warden as 2025 Distinguished Service Award Recipient
Beaver Falls, PA – geneva College has announced Steven Warden as one of its 2025 Distinguished Service awardees, recognizing his decades of dedicated service to both Geneva College and Beaver County Christian School (BCCS). The award honors individuals demonstrating exceptional commitment to Christian higher education and impactful contributions to their communities.
Warden’s connection to Geneva College runs deep, beginning with his time as a student and continuing through over four decades of teaching at BCCS. He graduated from Geneva in 1981, having been influenced by a cohort of impactful thinkers who visited the campus, including john Gertsner, Oz Guinness, Harold Perkins, and R.C. Sproul. This foundation was further strengthened by Geneva professors Williard McMillon, Byron Bitar, and John White - affectionately known as “Uncle Jack” by Warden due to his close friendship with Warden’s nephew, Joel Adams. Warden fondly recalls pleasant one-on-one basketball games with White in the Field House during lunch breaks.
Beyond academics, Warden actively participated in Geneva’s vibrant arts scene, eventually working backstage in theater productions under the direction of Harry Farra and Chris Faye. He later directed plays himself, including a co-directed production of Dirty Work on College Hill with paul Kilpatrick, who, along with his wife Shirley, transitioned from BCCS to Geneva for long and distinguished careers. Warden also enjoyed attending Friday night movies in SE 115 hosted by Dr.Norman Carson, who introduced him to influential filmmakers and fostered a lifelong love of cinema.
Following graduation, Warden began a teaching career at BCCS in 1981, where he remains today, set to conclude his service this coming spring after more then 40 years.He developed numerous courses and led student trips to Rome and Paris, deeply influenced by his principal, Ralph Phillips, whose exmaple inspired him to maintain a commitment to cleanliness and service.
Warden’s passion extends to athletics,having coached soccer and basketball for many years.He served as an assistant coach for Geneva’s men’s soccer team, initially under his former college coach, and later under Dave Murray, from whom he learned invaluable lessons about leadership and coaching. He applied these lessons during his three-year tenure coaching Geneva’s women’s soccer team and a subsequent 12-year period coaching the BCCS girls basketball team.
The son of james Warden, a 40-year veteran of Geneva’s education department, Steven’s family moved to Beaver Falls to enable their children to access a Geneva education. Four of his siblings also graduated from Geneva, with all five children having studied at the college.
Warden’s enduring hope is to inspire a love for ideas, particularly those rooted in the christian worldview, citing C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien as key influences. In 2016, he married Lori Woodling ’89, a fellow Geneva graduate, and has embraced the joys and challenges of family life.
Geneva College’s distinguished Service Award recognizes individuals whose lives exemplify the college’s mission of equipping students to serve Christ and society. Warden’s dedication to education, mentorship, and community service embodies this commitment, making him a deserving recipient of this prestigious honor.
