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2008 Course Faculty & Afternoon Seminar Staff
Mr. Tim Barrington -- Mr. Barrington is the instructor/technical director and sound designer with the Department of Visual and Theatre Arts at UT Martin. While in graduate school at Memphis State University, he was selected as one of five honors students in theatre. A 30-plus-year employee of UT Martin, he is also production coordinator for the Office of Student Life, advisor to the Student Activities Council and technical director of the award-winning Miss UT Martin pageant. For the past 14 years, Mr. Barrington has also been entertainment/technical director of the Tennessee Soybean Festival. He has been the technical director/sound designer for more than 250 theatre, dance and opera productions and has acted roles in more than 50 productions. He is a member of the Southeastern Theatre Conference, The United States Institute of Theatre Technicians, Alpha Psi Omega National Honor Theatre Fraternity, Phi Mu Alpha National Honor Music Fraternity, The National Association of Campus Activities and The Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities. Mr. Barrington has worked with the Governor's School for the Humanities for 19 years and is the public address announcer for UT Martin's Skyhawk football and men's and women's basketball programs. He is also proud to say he is a 26-year veteran volunteer firefighter with the Martin Fire Department.
Dr. Chris Baxter -- Chris Baxter is an assistant professor of political science in UT Martin's Department of Management, Marketing and Political Science, teaching courses in public administration and American government. He graduated with a B.S. in political science from UT Martin in 1994 and obtained his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. Dr. Baxter also serves as a pre-law advisor. His research interests include constitutional law and judicial politics; his recent articles have focused on how interest groups attempt to influence judges' decisions and the outcomes of judicial elections. His wife, Lisa, is also a UT Martin alum and they have one son, Jake. Chris is proud to be participating in the Governor's School for the Humanities for a second time.
Dr. Charles Bradshaw -- Dr. Charles Bradshaw was born and raised in the intermountain west, attending Brigham Young University for his B.A. and M.A. degrees. As an undergraduate at BYU, he worked his way through school as a house cleaner, mover, mechanic, referee, and as a river guide on the Colorado River. He has taught at Brigham Young University, Westminister College, and at the University of Missouri, attaining a Ph.D. in English there in 2002. He is now an assistant professor of English at UT Martin where he has taught for the past five years. He loves Mobey Dick, Early American literature, Film and Literature, and first-year composition courses, where he loves to challenge students' writing and thinking skills. Currently a Coffey Outstanding Teacher nominee and the 2006 College of Humanities and Fine Arts Outstanding Junior Faculty Member of the Year, he has also published articles for The New England Quarterly, The Southern Quarterly, The Dictionary of Literary Biography, and other reference material. He is working on a book-length project about conspiracy fears and literature in early America.
Mr. Andrew Brown -- Andrew Brown is a communications graduate student at the University of Memphis and assistant director of UT Martin’s Center for Global Studies and International Education. In addition, Mr. Brown does consulting work in public relations and project management for religious non-profit agencies. A graduate of UT Martin and Mid-America Baptist Seminary, Mr. Brown has spent several years teaching high school students in various environments, most recently in North Georgia. He enjoys challenging students to bring their best critical and creative skills to the modern world of communications and enjoys traveling to off-the-beaten-path global locales in search of people and communities with religious and humanitarian needs. In his sparse spare time, he mentors college students, runs triathlons and enjoys the outdoors with his family. Mr. Brown’s awards and honors include selection for the WestStar Leadership Class of 2001 and receipt of the UT Martin Department of Communications Chairman’s Award of Excellence. He is an alumnus of the 1989 Tennessee Governor’s School for the Humanities.
Dr. Chris Brown -- Christopher M. Brown is an assistant professor of philosophy at UT Martin, where he teaches courses in ancient and medieval philosophy, metaphysics, the philosophy of religion, and ethics. He received the bachelor of music degree in percusion performance from Western Michigan University, the M.A. in humanities from Western Kentucky University, and the Ph.D. in philosophy from St. Louis University. Dr. Brown's recent publications include a book on St. Thomas Aquinas's philosophy of material objects and an article on God and the problem of evil in an anthology entitled, Star Wars and Philosophy. He enjoys living in Martin with his wife Merry Elizabeth and their three sons, Judah Christopher, Leopold Edward, and Thomas Patrick.
Mrs. Anna Clark -- Anna Clark, who views reading, writing, and travel as creative arts, is a faculty member in the Department of English at UT Martin where she also serves as co-coordinator of the Hortense Parrish Writing Center. She received the M.A. in English from the University of Missouri and has done additional graduate work at the University of Mississippi. She teaches composition and literature courses at UT Martin and has become increasingly involved in leading inter-disciplinary travel-study experiences (primarily to Great Britain, Italy and France) for university students, often co-leading these trips with professors from UT Martin's Department of History and Philosophy. Clark has also traveled personally throughout Europe and in Japan, Korea, and Peru; she has participated in university-sponsored faculty development trips to Venezuela, Germany, Austria, and the Czech Republic. She is an advisor for Writers Guild,a group of student writers who meet weekly to write and discuss their work.
She is a member of the Tennessee Writers Alliance, and her poetry has appeared in a number of state and regional publications. She has received many teaching awards, including the 2003 University of Tennessee National Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award. Special academic interests include the study of modern Southern literature and various forms of creative expression. Personal interests include a love of the outdoors and hiking; she has hiked in many of Tennessee's state parks as well as in Great Smokey Mountains National Park, the Grand Canyon, the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu in Peru, and in Austria.
Dr. David Coffey -- Born in New Mexico and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, David Coffey holds the Ph.D. from TCU. He is currently associate professor and Chair of the Department of History and Philosophy at UT Martin, where he offers classes in United States, military and Latin American history. He also serves as an interim dean of UT Martin's College of Humanities and Fine Arts. His books include John Bell Hood and the Struggle for Atlanta; Historic Abilene: An Illustrated History; and Soldier Princess: The Life and Legend of Agnes Salm-Salm in North America, 1861-1867. Dr. Coffey has contributed to eight major historical reference works and is associate editor of two award-winning, three-volume projects: the Encyclopedia of the Vietnam War and the Encyclopedia of American Military History. In addition, he has had chapters published in critically acclaimed anthologies of Civil War and Mexican history. His latest book is Sheridan's Lieutenants: Phil Sheridan, His Generals, and the Final Year of the Civil War.
Dr. Carol Eckert -- Carol Eckert, an associate professor of art at UT Martin, teaches all of the University's art history and several art education courses. She earned the BFA in sculpture from Austin Peay University, an M.A. in art history from Vanderbilt University and a Ph.D. in art education from the Union Institute and University. Prior to coming to UT Martin, Dr. Eckert taught at Austin Peay State University and ran a private art studio for 10 years. She received the Higher Education Division Educator of the Year Award for 2005 from the Tennessee Art Education Association. In addition, she was recognized by the UT Martin College of Humanities and Fine Arts as Outstanding Junior Faculty Member of the Year for 2005.
Mr. Rodney Freed -- Rodney Freed is an instructor of communications at UT Martin. He received his M.S. degree in communications (with a radio/television emphasis) from Murray State University in Murray, KY, and teaches courses in television production and directing television news and photojournalism. Mr. Freed has worked in the television industry for 12 years and was most recently the director of production for WBBH-TV (NBC) and WZVN-TV Z (ABC) in Ft. Myers, FL. He also actively works with the local PBS affiliate, WLJT-TV, as a freelance director. An avid photographer, Mr. Freed enjoys documenting historical and Civil War sites.
Dr. Chris Hill -- Chris Hill is Tar Heel bred, having received an M.A. and a Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2005. Before that, he spent his college career at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. He met his wife Weslee there, so naturally he remembers the place fondly. Dr. Hill is originally from Manila, Phillippines, where he spent his entire childhood. Dr. Hill has been an English professor at UT Martin for three years, and lives happily within biking distance of campus with his wife of eleven years, a three year old little boy, an infant son, and two tabby cats. He teaches Shakespeare, Milton, sixteenth and seventeenth century literature, and various composition courses. In his spare time, when not playing Candy Land with the little boy, he likes to read anything he can get his hands on, and to ride his bike in the countryside around Martin.
Dr. Jeremy Kolwinska -- Jeremy Kolwinska is in his third year on the Governor's School faculty. Dr. Kolwinska is the Chair of the Department of Music and teaches trombone. He also coaches and conducts chamber ensembles, and has taught courses in music appreciation and brass methods. He maintains the Department of Music and Trombone Studio Web sites. In December 2006, Dr. Kolwinska traveled to Hirosaki University in Japan and presented a solo recital and gave master classes as part of an exchange program with Hirosaki University. His recent research interest has been the use of the trombone in 18th century Moravian communities and the courts of the Hababurg Empire. Dr. Kolwinska keeps a busy schedule as a freelance musician in the West Tennessee area. He is a member of the Jackson Symphony Orchestra and the Artisans in Brass. He has performed with the Orquesta Sinfonica UANL (Monterrey, Mexico); the Paducah Symphony Orchestra; the First Brigade Band of Watertown, Wisconsin; and the Lincoln and Omaha (Nebraska) Symphony Orchestras. Dr. Kolwinska holds degrees from Bob Jones University, the University of Nebraska, and the University of Minnesota. He and his wife Joan live in Martin with their two children (Erin and Owen) and a large cat named Samantha.
Dr. Leslie LaChance -- A native of upstate New York's beautiful Hudson River Valley, Leslie LaChance joined the Department of English at UT Martin in 2002 after completing her doctoral work in English at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. She teaches composition, drama, and creative writing, and has published numerous poems and articles in literary journals and magazines. When she's not writing or teaching people about writing, Dr. LaChance spends her time on the road looking for adventure in the U.S. and abroad.
Dr. Robert Nanney -- Robert Nanney, associate professor of journalism and Chair of the Department of Cummunications at UT Martin, teaches features/editorial writing, desktop publishing, and senior seminar. He received his master's degree in journalism from Louisiana State University and a Ph.D. in mass communications from Ohio University. Prior to joining the UT Martin faculty, Dr. Nanney worked in the newspaper field for 15 years. He received the UT National Association Outstanding Teaching Award in 1999 and has earned numerous other teaching recognitions at UT Martin.
Dr. Henry Parker -- A high school valedictorian, Henry Parker entered St. John’s Abbey to become a monk and a priest. Realizing his true vocation was in the secular world, he left the monastery after three years, enrolled at the University of St. Thomas and graduated magna cum laude in English. He received an M.A. in English from the University of Minnesota and a Ph.D. in Latin and Greek from the University of Illinois. Dr. Parker taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of Northern Iowa and the University of Illinois before assuming his current position as Cunningham Distinguished Professor at UT Martin. Dr. Parker’s most recent American publication, co-authored with his wife Marilyn Crist, is Apollo vs. Dionysus: A Philosophy to Increase College Success by 85%. His most recent foreign publication, an essay entitled "Minnesota's Golden Age: A Tribute to Saul Bellow," was published in Paris inPoesie Premiereand describes Dr. Parker's friendships with Nobel laureate Saul Bellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning poets John Berryman and James Wright. Dr. Parker has alsowritten a monograph entitled Linnaeus on Intoxicants, published at Lund University, Lund, Sweden. He hasserved as co-director of the People to People Citizen Ambassador Program to South Africa and Zimbabwe, and he returned to South Africa in February 2003 to continue his work with preschool children. In April 2004, Dr. Parker served as a member of the People to People education and humanitarian delegation to China, where he spoke on "A Pre-School Curriculum for Developing Nations."In April 2005, he spoke in Alexandria, Egypt, as a member of the People to People delegation hosted by Suzanne Mubarak, wife of Egypt’s president. In January, 2007, Dr. Parker made a presentation at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and the Humanities. Dr. Parker is a speaker on the national lecture circuit and has been featured on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” for his work with medical hypnotherapy, with which he helps alleviate pain in incurable pain sufferers. He has taught in Governor’s School since 1991.
Mrs. Tomi Parrish -- Tomi M. Parrish is an instructor of communications at UT Martin. She holds two bachelor's degrees from UT Martin, in communications and geography, and a master's degree in journalism from the University of Alabama. She worked as a daily newspaper copy editor for more than 10 years, and she now teaches news writing, copy editing and reporting. As coordinator of the Office of Student Publications, Mrs. Parrish advises the student newspaper, The Pacer, and the student yearbook, The Spirit. She also coordinates the Department of Communications' internship program. A receipient of the 2004 UT National Alumni Association Outstanding Teaching Award and the 2005 Coffey Outstanding Teacher Award, she lives in Martin with her husband, Shane; two sons, Jesse and Will; and entirely too many pets.
Mrs. Tracy Rutledge -- Tracy Rutledge is instructor of visual communication and public relations in UT Martin’s Department of Communication. She is also a doctoral candidate at the University of Memphis. A graduate of UT Martin and UT Knoxville, Mrs. Rutledge teaches classes including advertising, multimedia design, and public speaking. Before teaching, Mrs. Rutledge managed publication design, public relations, and marketing at two universities and a non-profit organization. She enjoys teaching students how to communicate creatively and effectively. In her spare time, Mrs. Rutledge enjoys the adrenaline rush that comes from skiing down a large, snow-covered mountain and going to high school football games, especially when her husband is coaching. Mrs. Rutledge’s awards and honors include the 1999 National Association for Community Leadership Grand Award for Best Program Brochure, the 1999 Tennessee College Public Relations Association Bronze Award for Special Publications, several West Tennessee Advertising Federation Addy Awards for advertising design, and the Jackson State Community College 2007 New Horizons Excellence in Teaching Award.
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