Dana Ayers
Dana Ayers is a 2001 graduate of Lee with a B.A. in business administration.  While at Lee, Ms. Ayers participated in the American Studies Program taking classes and completing an internship at the White House.  She remained in Washington after graduation and was hired as a Political Appointee for the Bush Administration.  In 2003, Ms. Ayers was appointed Special Assistant for Faith-based and Community Initiatives in the Department of Homeland Security.

 

 

 

Susan L. Harwood
            Dr. Harwood’s consulting firm, Potencia Consulting, Inc., assists clients on corporate college relations, work design, career development, employment practices in high tech companies and knowledge worker motivation.  She has spent her 30 year career working and consulting with such companies as Digital Equipment Corporation, Motorola, Inc., Los Alamos National Laboratory, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, Dell, Lockheed-Martin and Telespatzio Italia.  Dr. Harwood is a recognized leader in the establishment of cross-organizational teams, alliances and partnerships.

 

 

 

 

Esmerelda Lee
            Esmerelda Naidoo Lee graduated from Lee with a B.S. in biology and received a Masters in Public Health – Health Administration from the University of Tennessee.  She began her career with Life Care Centers of America in 2000 in the Administrator in Training program.  She has managed facilities in Chattanooga and Cleveland and is presently Campus Manager of the newest Life Care retirement campus, Garden Plaza with 300 associates under her supervision. 

 

 

 

 

Jerry Bohannon
            Jerry Bohannon serves as president and CEO of the Cleveland/Bradley Chamber of Commerce and has been involved in Chamber of Commerce work for more than 20 years.  A graduate of the University of Memphis, Mr. Bohannon has experience in business administration, urban land planning and management. 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephanie Culberson
            Stephanie Culberson is a 2003 Lee University graduate with a double major in business and piano performance.  Ms. Culberson has received numerous awards and scholarships including past winner of the Tennessee Music Teachers’ Association piano competition.  She was second runner-up in the Miss America pageant, was crowned Miss Tennessee in 2001, Miss Tennessee USA in 2004 and placed fourth runner up at Donald Trump’s Miss USA in Los Angeles.   As Miss Tennessee, Ms. Culberson served as the Official Spokesperson for the Governor’s Alliance for a Safe and Drug Free Tennessee.  She presently works as a healthcare representative for Pfizer, Inc.

 

 

 

 

 

Patricia Carroll
            Patricia Carroll, a graduate of Lee, is the director of Carroll Property Investments, Inc.  She manages and organizes franchise brand relationships with national hotel chains and oversees the financial functions for the company.  Ms. Carroll serves on the Lee University Board of Directors, the Advisory Board at Florida Gulf Coast University and the Board of Trustees at CTS, Brussels, Belgium.   She is involved in various community and charitable activities and is the founder of the Second Chance Boutique; a retail thrift store in Fort Myers which benefits underprivileged children and families in need of financial assistance.

 

 

 

 

Ron Dorris
            Ron Dorris is the President and CEO of Georgia Power Federal Credit Union in Atlanta.  He has more than 20 years of financial services, sales and operations management experience in banks, savings and loans and credit unions.  Mr. Dorris graduated from Lee with a B.A. and received the M.B.A. from Southern Illinois University.  He is a ministry elder at Mount Paran Church of God.

 

 

 

 

Will Nelson
            Will Nelson entered Lee University as a business administration major in 2002 and plans to graduate in December, 2006.  He is presently interning at Northwestern Mutual, a financial planning firm in Chattanooga.  Mr. Nelson is a native of Nashville.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Orlando Espinosa
            Orlando Espinosa has been a workshop presenter and national spokesperson for The Sallie Mae Fund since 2003.  His role in the Latino-focused higher education outreach has taken him on a two year tour from Los Angeles to Miami.  Espinosa sits on various boards including the Miami Dade Public School Advisory Committee on Cultural Diversity.  He graduated from Lee University with a bachelor’s in communications.  His master’s degree is from Nova Southeastern.

 

 

 

 

 

Jessica Morris
            Jessica Morris is weekend anchor and producer for NewsChannel 9, an ABC affiliate in Chattanooga.  She moved from her hometown of Athens, Georgia in 1999 to attend Lee.  Her broadcast career began at Fox 61 where she interned while in school.  She also worked at WDNN in Dalton, Georgia before becoming the North Georgia reporter for NewsChannel 9. 

 

 

 

 

Stacey Isom
            Stacey Isom is a 1997 Lee University graduate.  She also holds an M.F.A. in scriptwriting from Regent University and an M.F.A. in creative writing from Old Dominion University.  Her play Letters to John Lennon was nominated for three Portfolio Awards.  Her play Smokin’ Devils was chosen for The Barter Theatre’s Festival of Appalachian Plays and Playwrights.  Most recently, her play Touching Aurora was selected by the Pittsburgh New Works Festival and is slated for production this month.  Currently, Ms. Isom is the Artistic Director of Red Clay Theatre and teaches part-time at Lee.

 

 

 

 

Steve Hartline
            Steve Hartline began his radio career at the age of fifteen working at local Cleveland station, WCLE.  He has covered news, elections and sports for WCLE and for the Associated Press.  He is presently host of Primetime Sports on Charter Channel 22 and a week day morning show on Mix 104.1.

 

 

 

 

Edward Kellogg
            Edward Kellogg is a Professor of Art at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.  He received his B.A. in art and an M.A. in painting and printmaking from San Diego State University.  He has studied under Dutch artist Kenk Krijger at Patmos Workshop and Gallery in Toronto.  Mr. Kellogg’s art has been exhibited in numerous shows throughout the United States, in Canada and the Netherlands.  His work has also been exhibited in the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.   Special features on his life and work have appeared on CNN.

 

 

 

 

Bruce Conn
            Bruce Conn is the Dean of the School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences at Berry College in Georgia.  He also holds a current appointment as Associate in Invertebrate Zoology with the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University.  Dr. Conn has authored more than 200 scientific publications and has lectured around the world.  His textbook, Atlas of Invertebrate Reproduction and Development, was awarded national honors in bio- and medical publishing by the Association of American Publishers.  His first novel, The Curse of Durgan’s Reef, published in 2004 draws on his expertise in biology and international issues, and emphasizes his concerns for wise use of natural resources and encouragement of strong moral development in young people.  Dr. Conn is a Lee graduate.

 

 

 

 

 

Jeff Conn
            Jeff Conn is Director of the VICB Program in Drug Discovery at Vanderbilt Medical Center where he holds the rank of Professor of Pharmacology.  Dr. Conn is Editor in Chief of Molecular Pharmacology, Regional Editor (North America) of Current Neuropharmacology and serves on the editorial boards of six other international journals.  He serves on several national and international committees, including International Union of Pharmacology, the American Society for Pharmacology and Therapeutics Publications Board of Trust, Pharmacia-ASPET Award Committee for Experimental Therapeutics and is Expert Consultant, Compound Selection Committee, Treatment Units for Research on Neurocognition and Schizophrenia. 

 

 

 

 

 

Alan Wheeler
            Alan Wheeler is a visiting lecturer in anthropology for the Department of History and Political Science.  After graduating from Lee in 1991, he and his wife, Kim (Cannon) Wheeler, departed for the outer limits of Mongolia where they lived for six years.  He holds an M.A. in Central Eurasian Studies from Indiana University and an M.Phil. in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge where he is currently a Ph.D. candidate.  He is a founding member of UNESCO’s Center for the Study of Nomadic Civilizations and has done extensive research on the Dukha, Mongolia’s last nomadic reindeer herders and hunter-gathers.

 

 

 

 

 

Judy Markham Pittman
            Judy Markham Pittman is the former Chief Judge and the current Family Law Administrative Circuit Judge for Florida’s 14th Judicial Circuit in Panama City, Florida.  She has served on the bench since 1985, with prior professional service as an Assistant State Attorney.  Judge Pittman also serves on the Florida Trial Court Budget Commission, the Florida Supreme Court Interpreters Commission and the Florida Association of Drug Court Professionals.  After graduating from Lee with a major in history, she received her J.D. degree from the University of Florida.

 

 

 

 

 

Van Deacon
Judge Carrell Van Deacon recently retired after thirty-five years experience as a prosecuting attorney, private practitioner, and, for the last sixteen years, General Sessions and Juvenile Court Judge for Bradley County, Tennessee. In addition to his legal experience, Judge Deacon has been a Lee University Adjunct Professor of Political Science for more than fifteen years, teaching Constitutional Law, American Judicial System, and introducing students to the practice of law through the Legal Internship Program. Educated at Auburn University and the University of Tennessee, he has developed many effective and innovative programs to combat crime, insure the education of children, and promote counseling and appropriate parenting skills for children and families involved in the legal system. 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike Hall
Mike Hall has been in law enforcement for seven years and is currently the director of Tennessee's 10th Judicial District Drug Task Force.  He is a member of the Tennessee Narcotics Officers Association and Vice President of SHIELD, a non-profit drug and safety awareness educational program for children.  He has testified as an expert witness in cases involving methamphetamine.

 

 

 

 

 

Wayne Dickey
            Wayne Dickey is an immigration enforcement agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement – Detention and Removal Operations under the Department of Homeland Security.  Mr. Dickey joined I.N.S. as a detention enforcement officer with the U.S. Border Patrol Office in Nogales, Arizona following a four year tour with the U.S. Coast Guard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Daniel Hoffman
Daniel Hoffman is an Associate Professor of History at Lee and teaches Western Civilization, Ancient History, Rome and the Early Church and the History of the Bible.  He has been awarded research grants from the Mellon and Stephenson Foundations through the Appalachian College Association.  He has published The Status of Women and Gnosticism in Irenaeus and Tertullian (Mellen Press, 1995) and numerous scholarly and popular articles including one on the Gospel of Judas that will appear in the Christian Research Journal in its November/December 2006 edition.

 

 

 

 

Robin White
Robin White is the CEO of Oak Ridge Technology Connection, LLC which provides “technology intelligence” to major national security companies.  Prior to this venture, Dr. Taylor worked as Director of the Center for Homeland Security and Counterproliferation for Oak Ridge National Laboratory.  From 1996 – 2003, she held positions in Y-12 National Security Complex.  A 1979 graduate of Lee College, Dr. Taylor has an M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee.

 

 

 

 

 

Barry Kidwell
            Reverend Kidwell is a 1983 graduate of Lee College.  His sociology degree has assisted him in ministering to the whole person.  Reverend Kidwell is the pastor of an urban Chattanooga United Methodist Church that ministers to a large cross-section of society.

 

 

 

 

Reba Terry
            Reba Terry received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Lee College and her master’s degree in social work at the University of Tennessee.  She is the executive director of The Caring Place, a local non-profit organization whose mission is to model the love of Christ by providing basic physical, social and spiritual needs to the disadvantaged in Bradley County. 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheri Carroll-Morgan
            Cheri Carroll-Morgan has had a 20 year career in criminal investigation for the State of Tennessee.  As a criminal investigator for the District Attorney General, she investigated crimes ranging from murder to official misconduct.  She is a POST certified Law Enforcement Officer trained by the Tennessee and Federal Bureaus of Investigation.  She has conducted training for law enforcement officers in victim interview, rape interview, family and marriage, evidence collection and crime scene investigations.  Ms. Carroll-Morgan is a 1985 graduate of Lee College.

 

 

 

 

 

Sara Dirksen
            Sara Dirksen is a junior English major from Cleveland.  This past summer she started working at Starbucks where she discovered how student-friendly the corporation is for the college-age employee. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shane Griffith
            A faculty member at Lee University since Fall 2002, Shane Griffith currently holds the title of Instructor and directs the internship program for the Department of Business.  Griffith worked as an actuarial analyst for Northern Trust and Ernst & Young, LLP before returning to his alma mater to teach.  He earned master’s degrees from Georgia State University and the University of Tennessee and is presently working on a doctorate in business administration. 

 

 

 

 

 

Camilla Conn Warren
            Camilla Conn Warren graduated in 1974 from Lee with majors in chemistry and biology.  She continued master’s level studies at the University of Tennessee and the University of Ohio.  She is Vice President of Tri-Con, a construction company based in Cincinnati, and is the Chief Operating Officer of Restaurant Associates of Cincinnati which includes eight Burger King locations.  Mrs. Warren serves as a board member of Cincinnati Hills Christian Academy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Cheryl Bridges Johns
            Cheryl Bridges Johns is Professor of Discipleship and Christian Formation at the Church of God Theological Seminary.  Dr. Johns’ publications include two books and numerous articles to scholarly and professional journals.  She has been an active participant in the International Pentecostal Roman Catholic dialogue and is a frequent speaker at ecumenical conferences around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tony Richie
            Tony Richie is Senior Pastor at New Harvest Church of God in Knoxville.  Dr. Richie has been a guest speaker on the subject of Pentecostals and Religious Pluralism for such prestigious groups as the American Academy of Religion and the World Parliament of Religions.  He has served on numerous national and international ecumenical and interreligious dialogue groups and his work has been widely published in theological journals.

 

 

 

 

 

Lisa (Palagyi) Stephenson
            Lisa Stephenson is an alumna from the Lee University theology department.  She completed an undergraduate degree in Bible and Theology and the MABTS degree.  She is currently a doctoral student in theology at Marquette University. 

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Hansen
            Chris Hansen is an award-winning screenwriter and director as well as Professor of Communication Studies at Baylor University.  His latest film, the feature mock documentary The Proper Care & Feeding of an American Messiah, has been an Official Selection of a dozen national and international film festivals and has won several awards.  He graduated from Lee in 1993.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jim Hansen
            After graduating from Lee in 1991, Jim Hansen went on to receive an M.A. in American Literature from Georgia State University and a Ph.D. from the University of Notre Dame.  He is presently an Assistant Professor of English and Critical Theory at the University of Illinois.  Dr. Hansen has published in a number of scholarly journals, and has just finished his first book, Domestic Terror:  The Gothic Tradition and the Gender of Irish Modernism.

 

 

 

 

 

Jeffrey Ringer
            Jeffrey Ringer is a third-year student in the Ph.D. program in Composition Studies at the University of New Hampshire, where he also serves as assistant director of University Writing Programs.  A graduate of Lee University and the University of Vermont, Ringer focuses his research on the ways in which composition, rhetoric and religion intersect.  He has published articles in Christianity and Literature and JAC:  A Journal of Composition Theory. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kim Wheeler
Kim Wheeler graduated from Lee College in 1991 with a major in English. After completing an M.A. in English Literature from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville in 1992, she and her husband Alan joined English Language Institute/China (ELIC) and traveled to the remote town of Hovd, Mongolia, to teach English. After two years in Hovd, Kim returned to Lee as an English instructor from 1994-96. In 1996, the Wheelers again moved to Mongolia with ELIC, with Kim serving as the Curriculum Coordinator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ron Hill
Ron Hill is the Principal of Blythe-Bower Elementary School in Cleveland, Tennessee.  Originally from Knoxville, Mr. Hill came to the Cleveland City Schools 30 years ago after graduating from Duke University.  Mr. Hill earned the Masters of Education at Trevecca Nazarene.   Prior to his becoming a principal, Mr. Hill was an Assistant Principal at Cleveland High School and an American History teacher at Cleveland Middle School.  In addition to his administrative duties with Cleveland City Schools, Reverend Hill has been the Senior Pastor of the local Church of God, Sanctified for the past 25 years. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kellye Bender
A lifetime resident of Cleveland, Tennessee, Mrs. Bender is a graduate of the Cleveland City School System. She earned her bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and her Masters in Curriculum and Instruction with an endorsement in school counseling from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She went on to earn her Ed.S. from Lincoln Memorial University in administration and supervision.  Bender has worked in both the Bradley County and Cleveland City school systems as classroom teacher, school counselor and assistant principal.  She currently serves as principal of Arnold Memorial Elementary School.

 

 

 

 

 

Keisha Thomas Wellington
Keisha Thomas Wellington is a 2003 graduate of Lee University.  Originally from Evanston, Illinois, Mrs. Wellington is currently teaching at Orchard Knob Elementary School in the Hamilton County School District.  Mrs. Wellington received both her masters and Ed. S. from the University of Tennessee – Chattanooga.  Her future plans are to become a reading specialist in the public schools. 

 

 

 

 

 

Autumn Willemsen O’Bryan
Autumn Willemsen O’Bryan graduated Lee University for the first time in 1998, and again in 2001.  Mrs. O’Bryan started her career as a college softball coach for Lee University before transitioning into middle grades education and administration with the Hamilton County Department of Education.  From there she coordinated the Smaller Learning Communities Grant for the HCDE (a 1.5 million dollar grant through the U.S. Department of Education).  Currently she is an Assistant Principal at Red Bank High School leading their 9th Grade Academy and working with professional development and technology.

 

 

 

 

 

Hal Baker
Hal Baker is the Deputy Director of Orange Grove Center in Chattanooga.  He is an active proponent for the rights of individuals with disabilities. Mr. Baker is Chairman for the City of Chattanooga’s Human Rights and Human Relations Commission and President of Hamilton County’s Mental Health Housing Corporation.  He is a Fellow of the American Association on Mental Retardation.  Mr. Baker completed the B.A. in Psychology from Loyola University and the M.Ed. in Special Education from the University of Florida.  He is an adjunct instructor of special education at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga.

 

 

 

 

 

Lynn Staley
Lynn Staley is Professor of Early Childhood Education at Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.  Dr. Staley has a B.A. and M.A. in Elementary Education, as well as an Ed.D. in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Ball State University.  She has taught children from preschool through elementary grades, served as Director of a private children’s center and elementary school principal. Dr. Staley’s articles have been published in the top national journal in the field of early childhood education, Young Children.  Dr. Staley has established a reputation internationally as a scholar and advocate for young children worldwide.  

 

 

 

 

 

Vance Rugaard
Vance Rugaard is the top teacher certification official in the state of Tennessee, serving as Director of the Office of Teacher Licensing.  He is also responsible for Title II Reporting for Tennessee and has become an expert on the No Child Left Behind Act and its implementation in public schools.  Mr. Rugaard is a veteran teacher, with most of his experience in his home state of Illinois.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Jason DeLaLuz
            Jason DeLaLuz earned a degree in psychology from Lee in 1997.  He earned a second bachelor’s degree in nursing at Bellermine University in 1999.  Mr. DeLaLuz practiced critical care nursing at the University of Louisville before studying to become a nurse anesthetist.  He graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University’s Nurse Anesthesia program in 2005. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Michael Fuller
Michael Fuller is an Assistant Professor of Early Jewish and Biblical Studies at Lee and serves as the Graduate Director of the Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies program.  In addition to teaching introductory courses in the Old and New Testaments, Dr. Fuller also teaches Revelation, The Intertestamental Period and the Historical Jesus.  He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Durham (England) in the area of Second Temple Judaism and the New Testament. 

 

 

 

 

Jerry Taylor
Jerry Taylor is the founding pastor of Bay Community Ministries in Daphne, Alabama.   In the six years since the ministry began, it has been dedicated to a vision of outreach for the local and regional community in which the church operates.   Mr. Taylor and his wife, Jerri, are also business owners in Daphne.