08/31/2026
Ask Troy Fitzgerald who he is, and his answer doesn’t begin with degrees or publications, but with relationships.
“I am a husband, a father, a grandfather, a son, a pastor,” he said, before adding with a smile, “and now a professor.”
That combination of ministries and relationships has shaped Fitzgerald’s career. For the last three years, he has served as pastor of the Wenatchee Seventh-day Adventist Church in Washington. Before that, he spent 25 years as an associate pastor at the Walla Walla University Church, focusing on youth ministry, outreach and discipleship. As director of the Religion Program at Union, he will continue the central theme of his career: working with young adults.
Early in his career, Fitzgerald put his master’s degree on hold to serve as a chaplain and Bible teacher at Great Lakes Adventist Academy in Michigan. His life in ministry has moved between pastoring and education ever since. He has taught as an adjunct at Walla Walla University and Andrews University, directed a mentorship program for the University of Washington and served as Walla Walla’s head soccer coach.
When he received the offer from Union, Fitzgerald said, “I felt compelled and called to be with our students and in a campus setting where we can launch young people into life with grace and with a mission.”
There is a family connection, too. Fitzgerald’s eldest son, Cameron, is the young adult pastor at the College View Church. A move to Lincoln gives Fitzgerald, his wife, Julie, and their younger son, Morgan, the chance to live near his one-year-old granddaughter.
Fitzgerald says he’s not much of a writer; he just sometimes has ideas he needs to put on paper. Those ideas have become at least 14 books, devotionals and discipleship guides.
As he begins his work at Union, Fitzgerald hopes to bring the strands of his career — ministry, mentorship, teaching and service — together in one place, helping students discover not only what they believe but how they will live it.
“Ultimately, I’ve always been drawn to a campus that’s focused on people,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m so proud to be part of the beautiful mission of Adventist education.”
