I was an undergraduate biology major with chemistry minor at Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY.  After completing the Ph.D. degree in biology with a minor in molecular biology from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, I was employed for three years at the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario.  I returned to the US in 1976 to teach in the Department of Biology, Marshall University, Huntington, WV.  I now serve as Associate Dean of the College of Science and Professor of Biological Sciences.

I spend a lot of time advising and working with students, helping them with steps toward goals leading to their academic success, and their achieving their life’s ambitions.  In the deans office I track probationary and suspended students.  I also serve as the Chief Pre-health Care Advisor.  My major role in pre-health care advising is to coordinate the preparation of student’s applications to medical or other professional school.  As a part of this effort I am web master of a site designed to provide information to pre-med and other pre-health care students at http://www.marshall.edu/preprof. 

Throughout my career I have been associated with teaching life sciences for freshmen.  My teaching responsibilities have included plant physiology, plant developmental biology, introductory biology, botany, zoology, evolution, introductory biology, and integrated science for non majors.  In the classroom I attempt to stimulate learning by prompting students to think critically and to reason for themselves.  In the web course I attempt to prompt student interest with information and then pose questions to determine whether they can apply information learned.   I am interested in using technology in teaching in innovative ways that promote learning.  My overall instructional goal is to help prepare students for the real world by fostering their ability to assimilate information, gather data, and make connections within their knowledge matrix.  I want students to be problem solvers because individuals who can process information and formulate a sound response are more likely to succeed.

My research involves the hormonal and regulatory factors that control growth and development in plants, and the control of gene expression.  Most of my work has involved the study of single-celled plant suspensions cultures including those of ferns and trees.  I have been particularly active in involving undergraduates in research projects and approximately two-dozen have co-authored scientific papers or presented their work at scientific meetings.

In my leisure time (limited as it is) I really have difficulty separating my vocation from my avocation.  Because I thoroughly enjoy learning about the ever-changing, intellectual landscape of the life sciences, most of my time is spent reading science.  I also like history, philosophy, novels, and science fiction.  I enjoy almost all music, especially jazz.  I enjoy nature and look forward to a few days each year spent on the water.  A leisurely day spent float fishing on a small river with arching silver maples, tulip poplars, and black willows is a slice of time worth savoring.