The Lee University Board of Directors recently awarded 13 faculty members promotion in rank: one from professor to distinguished professor; four from associate professor to professor; seven from assistant professor to associate professor; and one from lecturer to associate lecturer.

Terry Cross was awarded the rank of Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology. This title is the highest honor that can be bestowed on a member of Lee’s faculty. He is one of only seven professors in Lee’s history to be awarded the title of Distinguished Professor.

In addition to teaching, Cross serves as dean of the School of Religion. He has been on Lee’s faculty since 1997. Prior to his work at Lee, Cross was a pastor for 12 years, pastoring churches in Connecticut, New Jersey, and Ohio. He was also a high school teacher of Latin and history.

Originally from Big Rapids, Michigan, Cross has spent over 17 years at Lee dividing his time between teaching and administrative duties. He also oversees the religion graduate programs from Lee at the European Theological Seminary in Germany and at SEMISUD in Ecuador, traveling to Germany almost annually to teach.

Cross was awarded the Lee University Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000 and the Excellence in Scholarship Award in 2001. He is also listed in “Who’s Who Among American Teachers.”

He received his Doctorate of Philosophy (PhD) in Systematic Theology and his Master of Theology (ThM) from Princeton Theological Seminary, his Master of Divinity (MDiv) and his Master of Arts (MA) in church history from Ashland Theological Seminary, and his Bachelor of Arts (BA) in biblical education from Lee.

Matthew Krepps, Caroline Maher-Boulis, Austin Patty, and Lori West were promoted to professor.

Krepps came to Lee from the University of Kentucky in 2002 as an adjunct professor of chemistry. He now teaches general, analytical, instrumental, and inorganic chemistry courses, as well as astronomy. Since earning his doctorate in inorganic chemistry, Krepps has written several articles for publication in scientific journals.

He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), Community Advisory Panel for Olin and Lonza chemical companies, along with the American Guild of Organists. He has also been a presenter at multiple regional and national ACS meetings.

Apart from chemistry, Krepps is the Lee Cycling Club sponsor.

Maher-Boulis joined the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 2004. She earned her PhD and Master of Science (MS) from Florida State University and her Bachelor of Science (BS) from the American University in Cairo.

Prior to her arrival at Lee, Maher-Boulis worked for a TV commercial production company and as a private mathematics tutor in both Sudan and Egypt. Since her arrival at Lee, she has helped to start the Mathematics with Actuarial Emphasis degree and created an internship program for mathematics majors. She also serves as the chair of the Cultural Diversity Committee at Lee.

Due to her efforts, the university will host, for the first time, the annual conference of the Southeastern section of the Mathematical Association of America in March 2019.

Patty joined Lee’s School of Music in 2006 as an assistant professor. Prior to Lee, Patty taught at Eastman School of Music, where he also earned his PhD. He has presented at regional and national music theory conferences on changing meter, rhythm, and form, among other topics. In June 2017, Patty served as director of local arrangements for a three-day conference, “Pedagogy into Practice: Teaching Music Theory in the Twenty-First Century.”

Along with Professor of English Dr. Arden Jensen, Patty leads a two-week musical missions trip to Japan every other year.

West joined Lee’s Natural Science and Mathematics faculty in 2006. She earned her PhD from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and her Bachelor of Arts (BA) from Maryville College. Prior to her arrival at Lee, West conducted post-doctoral research in the nutrition department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and taught at Maryville College as a visiting professor.

West has served as program director for four recently funded Tennessee Higher Education Committee grants and as a mentor for many student research projects at Lee. She has also served as event coordinator for the local Science Olympiad tournaments, a competition for middle and high school students.

Jonathan Cornett, Sarah Schlosser, Laura Singletary, David Smartt, Kirstee Williams, William Woolfitt, and Alan Wyatt were promoted to associate professor.

Cornett, a Lee alumnus, joined Lee’s full-time faculty in 2012. He earned his PhD in genetics and molecular biology from Emory University and completed his postdoctoral studies in the genetics department at the Yale University School of Medicine. He has published articles in peer-reviewed journals, such as Nature Genetics, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, and PLoS One.

As a student at Lee, Cornett was a Centennial Scholar, a Ledford Scholar, winner of the E.K. Hamilton Scholarship in Math and Sciences and the recipient of the departmental biochemistry award. He holds professional memberships in the American Society of Human Genetics and the New York Academy of Sciences.

Schlosser joined Lee’s faculty in 2012. She earned her PhD and MS from Purdue University and her BS from Lee University.

Schlosser serves the nursing majors with their introductory chemistry course and teaches non-science majors in physical science and earth and space science. She advises and teaches science education majors in their methods of teaching course. Her work on a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant allows her to interact with science and math majors through the iMASS program.

Singletary, a Lee alumna, returned to join her alma mater’s faculty in 2012 as an assistant professor of mathematics. While a student at Lee, where she received her Master of Arts in Teach (MAT) and BA, Singletary was a Centennial Scholar and the recipient of the departmental mathematics award.

Her research has appeared in publications like Mathematical Thinking and Learning, Educational Studies in Mathematics, Mathematics Teacher Educator, and School Science and Mathematics. She has also co-directed grant projects from the Mathematical Association of America and the Tennessee Department of Education.

Singletary earned her PhD from the University of Georgia, where she was awarded the Presidential Graduate Fellowship.

Smartt joined Lee’s School of Business in 2012, where he teaches Principles of Management, Organizational Behavior, and Business Ethics, as well as Organizational Theory for the graduate program. Prior to joining Lee’s faculty, Smartt served 29 years on active duty as a U.S. Army Chaplain, where he achieved the rank of Colonel.

Smarrt is a graduate of Lee and of the Pentecostal Theological Seminary. He is also an ordained bishop in the Church of God. He received his PhD in management from Northcentral University and his Master of Business from Syracuse University.

Williams joined Lee’s faculty in 2012. She serves as both a professor of psychology and the program and clinical director of Lee’s Marriage and Family Therapy graduate program. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist, a clinical fellow of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), and an AAMFT-approved supervisor. She also just completed her five-year term on the editorial board for the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, the field’s premier journal.

Williams received her PhD and MS from Loma Linda University in Southern California.

Woolfitt joined Lee’s English Department in 2012, where he teaches multiple writing classes. He received his Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Fine Arts from Pennsylvania State University, along with a Master of Arts from Hollins University.

Woolfitt is the author of two books of poetry, “Beauty Strip” and “Charles of the Desert,” along with a chapbook of fiction, “The Boy with Fire in His Mouth.”

His short stories, poems, and essays have appeared in African American Review, AGNI, The Threepenny Review, and Tin House, among others. He also received the Howard Nemerov Scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference.

Wyatt joined Lee’s faculty in 1990 and has served in the School of Music since.

Wyatt teaches applied saxophone, commercial music theory and history, and jazz improvisation. He also acts as director of the Lee University Jazz Ensemble and is the area coordinator for music business. Earlier this year, he served as the director of the 2018 Tennessee Music Educators Association All-State Jazz Band.

In addition to teaching, Wyatt has performed and toured with groups such as Dorsey Brothers Orchestra, Frank Sinatra Jr., and The Temptations, among others. He currently leads the Alan Wyatt Jazz Quartet that plays monthly at the Barking Legs Theater in Chattanooga.

Allison Sneed was promoted from lecturer to associate lecturer in chemistry.

Sneed joined the full-time faculty of Lee’s Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 2014. Prior to serving as lecturer, she served as the department’s laboratory manager.

Sher earned her MS from the University of Florida and her BS from Lee. While in her graduate program in chemistry, she served as a chemical hygiene officer, as well as a graduate teaching assistant in general chemistry.