My Roots

Christopher is a third generation Kansan. His paternal great-grandfather and mother came by covered wagon from Indiana to settle in the Cunningham area in 1885. Charles Ignatius Renner, an immigrant from Germany, served in Company G, 83rd Regiment of the Indiana Infantry during the Civil War. He was twice wounded near Reseca, Georgia, while fighting alongside General Sherman.

Christopher’s father, Eugene, was the seventh of 14 children and the first to graduate from high school. Christopher's Uncle Francis was killed in the battle of Wake Island after surviving the attack on Peal Harbor.

Christopher’s mother, Ollie, came from English stock. Her ancestors settled first in Virginia in the 1700s and then in the Appalachian Mountains when Kentucky was opened to settlement.

Christopher’s parents met when Gene was stationed at Ft. Knox during World War II. They married in 1946. Christopher’s maternal grandfather was a coal miner whose family lived in abject poverty. Ollie had no formal education but was taught nursing by the Sisters of St. Anthony. She was the oldest of 12 siblings and when her mother died in 1940, she took on the responsibility of raising her younger brothers and sisters.

Christopher and his younger sister Laquetta grew up in the rural community of Beattie in Marshall County in the 1960's. He attended St. Malachy’s Grade School, a two-room school where two Sisters of St. Benedict taught eight grades. He graduated from Marysville High School in 1974.

The greatest influence on Christopher during his youth was his religious upbringing. His father was a Roman Catholic and his mother a convert to this faith tradition. In 1970 a young priest, Fr. James Wright, was stationed at the Beattie parish and played an important role in encouraging young people to look beyond the boundaries of their local community to the world beyond and challenged them to think of how their faith affected their understanding of contemporary social issues.

College and Beyond

Christopher graduated from Cloud County Community College in 1976. After serving as a Glenmary Volunteer the summer of ’76 in White County, Georgia, Christopher graduated from the College of Steubenville in ’78 with a Bachelor of Arts in Theology, Psychology, and History. He started his professional career working as a youth director in Tulsa, OK, and Portsmouth, VA.

Probably the greatest move in Christopher's own education was when he left the US in 1982 and spent 17 years living in Italy, immersing himself completely in that culture. This experience taught him many things and allowed him to experience being an illegal immigrant. For two years he worked on the black market as his paperwork for a work permit bounced from one office to another. He was privileged in that he spoke English and was employed by the American Studies Center. Many of the people waiting in the long lines for work papers were not so lucky. Many were trying to escape civil war, starvation, and hopelessness.

In 1986 Christopher won a position with the University of Naples and in 1996 gained the rank of associate professor. For 12 years he taught at the Faculties of Medicine and Pharmacology. He was active in professional, educational and civic organizations, co-authored two high school English as a Foreign Language textbooks, published over 20 articles in peer-reviewed journals, and edited several professional newsletters. He made presentations at national and international conferences throughout Europe, the Middle East, and U.S. His most recent writing is a chapter in Democracy Works: Joining Theory and Action to Foster Global Change edited by Torry Dickinson and Terri Becerra.

In 1998 Christopher completed a Master of Education degree through Framingham State College in Massachusetts. His thesis examined the relationship between individual leaning styles and personality types based on data he had collected in his 12 years at the University of Naples.

Returning to Kansas

Following the death of his mother from ovarian cancer in ’97, Christopher returned to Kansas to care for his father. Although this change meant giving up his tenured position with the University of Naples, it was time to return the support his father had always selflessly given to him. Gene’s health held for a couple years before deteriorating in 2001. He died on Easter Sunday in 2002.

During the '98-99 academic year Christopher was a graduate assistant at Kansas State University and completed all 30 hours of course work towards a PhD. His professional work experiences include the Kansas Department of Education, Kansas State University, and Emporia State University. These experiences have afforded him the opportunity to travel across Kansas visiting schools from Elkhart to Troy, from Pittsburg to St. Francis, and have shown him firsthand the importance of maintaining a dynamic and progressive education system for the state.

Foreseeing the teacher shortage Kansas is facing, in 2001 Christopher gained State Board approval for the first teacher exchange agreement with a foreign country. The Visiting Teacher from Spain program has brought over 100 teachers from Spain to Kansas schools to teach not only Spanish as a Foreign Language but also science and mathematics at the secondary level. The teacher exchange has also provided numerous elementary teachers for districts with significant Hispanic populations.

The U. S. Department of State has recognized Christopher’s expertise in building civil societies by sending him to Egypt (3 times), Turkey, and Slovakia as a program specialist in civic education through the Fulbright Program.

Community Engagement

Since returning to Kansas, Christopher has been engaged in a variety of civic and social service projects. He has been active in the League of Women Voters, Riley County Democrats, Regional AIDS Project, Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice, Flint Hills Human Rights Project, and serves on the Social Service Advisory Board for the City of Manhattan.

Since 2005, Christopher has diverted much of his personal energy into media reform and civil society efforts in Manhattan. Beginning in 2006, he started hosting a public affairs talk-radio program, Community Bridge, on KSDB 91.9 FM, which has provided an opportunity to examine issues and topics often ignored by mainstream media. The program has won two first-place awards from the Kansas Association of Broadcasters.

Christopher is single. He is an avid gardener and an accomplished chef. He often hosts family gatherings of cousins from the Renner side of the family. His sister lives in Missouri where she is an elementary music teacher. She and her husband are ranchers and are the parents of three children.