(upbeat music)

- Just imagine standing in line

at 5:00 AM in the brutal cold.

Why are you doing it?

You just wanna buy a single quart of milk

or maybe you'll get a potato for lunch

or another for dinner.

Anna Ord faced thesedeprivations far worse,

growing up in the formerSoviet Union, take a look.

(effects whooshing)

(Orchestral music)

- [Announcer] ProfessorAna Ord was born and raised

in the former Soviet Union,

not long before it's collapsed 1991.

Today she's the new Dean

of Regent University's Schoolof Psychology and Counseling.

Dr. Ord came to Americaby herself at age 19

on a full scholarship.

She found the contrastbetween Western abundance

and Russian scarcity to be stunning.

Today, she'll tell usmore about her background,

her faith and hopes forthe students of Regent.

(gentle music)

- Well, for me it's a pleasure to welcome

the new Dean of the Regent University

School of Psychology andCounseling, Dr. Anna Ord.

Anna it's so good to see you.

You came out of the Soviet Union...

I understand when you were a little kid,

you were strapped down without anesthesia.

What did they do to you?

- It was a pretty scaryexperience, I'm not gonna lie,

but because healthcare was ju...

It was nationalized andit was just a poor quality

and they used like anesthesiafor real surgeries,

where people had to be out.

And so I remember just goinginto the operating room,

they put you on the chair

and they strap your hands and your feet.

I didn't know why, I was six.

And then just pull your tonsils.

It was pretty bad,

but that is experiencewas not unique to me,

it was that's how it worked,

our healthcare in USSR.

- Oh, how did you get out?

- I will not lie.

I was hoping to leave thecountry as soon as I could.

So I studied really hard,

I had a 4.0 GPA in high school,

and then I started college,

I was 15 years old, Igraduated at 19, 4.0.

And I was able to get a full scholarship

to go to business school here in the US

and at 19, me and my suitcase,

we got in the plane and from Moscow to DC

and the rest is history.

- How'd You get the money to do it.

- So, it is a very good question

because our salaries or myparents' salaries back then

were 100 or $200 a month.

So of course it's not comparable

to the wealth and money that we see here,

so it was a family effort,

we were able to have enough money

for me to fly and things like that.

But because I had goodgrades, good scores,

I was able to get full scholarship,

and they also paid mestipend to live on campus

and things like that,so that was wonderful.

- Now, you not only finished that,

you got a PhD from Regent University,

and then you went on and got

a degree in Neuropsychology.

- [Anna] So I have my PsyD,

my doctor of psychologydegree here at Regent,

and I was this thrilled tobe here, I loved my program.

I had top-notch clinical training

and I recently did complete

my two year fellowship

in neuropsychology and research as well.

Yes, so I am on my way to become

a board certified neuropsychologist.

- Are you really?

- Yes, fingers crossed

hopefully by the end of this year, yes.

- Now, your parents were atheist,

how did you learn about God?

- So the generations of myparents and grandparents,

they were all atheist.

We grew up in USSR.

But my great grandmother,

she was 16 years old when thecommunist revolution happened,

and we had been a Christian nation

for a thousand years at that time.

And so she carried her faiththrough 80 years of communism,

in that regime where it was dangerous

for anyone to have a Bible or a cross,

they could be prosecuted, theycould be in jail for that.

And it's interesting to me

that it took the communist regime,

just a few decades toeradicate that legacy

we had for a thousand years.

So the first stories of Bible and Jesus,

of course, I heard from my great grandma

who carried her faith through that time,

but it was also very confusing as a child,

the propaganda and thebrainwashing became very early on.

They start early on

and they tell you that there's no God,

you have to believe scientific communism,

scientific materialism.

And it's very conflicting asa child to hear those stories.

And so

I was already here in America

and I was working in the business world.

I got my master's in business,

I was making a good career,

I was buying my first house at 24,

driving a nice car,living the American Dream,

and yet I was struggling a lot

with depression and loneliness.

I was moved away from my support system

from everyone I knew, frommy parents, my friends,

and it was a lonely time.

And I think a lot of times God finds us

in those lonely places and meets us there.

And in my case He used a coworker.

She was around my age

and she was just invitingme to go to church.

We were in the early to mid twenties

and she said, let's gomeet people our age,

get lunch, things like that.

And I said, "Sure, I'll get lunch."

And I started going to church with her.

And within about six months,

I just remember justlistening to the stories

and hearing just how amazing God is,

and it touched me.

And I experienced Him just asa healing for my soul really,

and grace and then mylife changed 180 degrees.

So if anybody watching there

and the Lord is speaking to your heart

to speak to your coworker, perhaps,

invite them to church,

listen to that call

because that's how sometimes God uses us.

- You have a very responsibleposition in Regent

is put together a whole college

of behavioral and physicaland behavioral psychology.

What is it?

What are you gonna be doing there?

You've got a very important role.

- Absolutely, so I'm notgonna do on my own strength.

First of all, with Godall things are possible.

And we have an amazing,

just the stellar groupof faculty and staff

in the School of Nursing, inthe School of Applied Health

in the school ofPsychology and Counseling.

And as we're going towards the transition

of merging those schools

of behavioral and healthcare sciences,

I think the Lord will open the doors

and lean on his leading of course,

but we're going to continuegrowing enrollment,

adding new programs that people want,

that there is a demand for,

we're going to maintain ourstellar quality in our programs,

and we're gonna increase it as well.

And my hope and my prayer

is that we can be that hub, that place

for integration of faith, and health,

faith and mental health,faith and physical health,

because we know thatthose two go hand in hand.

- Great, well,

I wanna say there are150 unique areas of study

in Regent University,

business, counseling communication,

cybersecurity, divinity, education,

government law and nursing.

And Anna Ord, Dr. Ord isgoing to be heading up the...

It's going to be a physicaland behavioral science.

Am I good?

- Mm-hmm.(Pat laughing)

- Well, I'm so glad to welcome you

and thank you for what you're doing.

You speak English,

your transition fromRussian wasn't a problem?

- It was, there is of course,

when you transition fromone culture to another,

of course, there are a lot culture shocks

and I've actually experiencedthe American people

as very open, people hug each other,

people are just very friendly.

That was my first memory.

And I did start learning English

when I was about 9 or 10 years old

and then by the time I was 15 or 16,

my first job was tutoring,little kids in Russia,

I was giving them English language classes

for a dollar, $2, something like that,

and I thought I was makingthe big bucks and yeah.

But transition of course is hard,

especially at 19 andespecially not knowing anybody

on this part of the world

and some people telling you,

well, it's so brave.

And I say, well, when you're 19,

it's more reckless (laughing) than brave.

But God has seen it all

and he's carried me through all of that.

And just looking back at my journey,

how he carried me through the times

when I didn't know if I can...

I didn't have the strength orthe courage to go on my own

and he has been faithful.

- Well, we're delighted to see you.

Thank you for being here on the 700 Club.

God bless.

- My pleasure.

Thank you for having me.