PAUL M. PERCY

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Professor of Business
ppercy@cumberland.edu
(615) 453-6309
Bone Hall, Room 205
Faculty
The Labry School of Science, Technology, and Business
B.S., Houghton College
M.B.A., State University of New York at Buffalo
Ph.D., University of Kentucky

Paul Matthew Percy, Ph.D. joined Cumberland University as Professor of Business in the Labry School of Science, Technology, and Business in Fall 2019 where he serves as director of the MBA program and teaches leadership, management, and strategy courses.

Dr. Percy holds a Bachelor’s in Communication and Business Administration from Houghton College, an MBA from the University at Buffalo, and a PhD in Business from the University of Kentucky. He has over 35 years of professional, teaching, entrepreneurial, and administrative experience. Dr. Percy has taught leadership and management, business ethics, organizational behavior and development, Human Resources, entrepreneurship, finance, research methods, marketing, and strategic management at several colleges and universities including the University of Kentucky, Liberty University, Transylvania University, Central Virginia Community College, King University, and Carson-Newman University.

Dr. Percy served as Interim President and Executive Vice President, Provost, and Ted Russell Distinguished Professor of Management at Carson-Newman University; leading the school in new program development and record enrollments.

Prior to joining Carson-Newman, he was the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor of Management at King University, where he served for a total of 19 years in various roles and responsibilities. During his tenure with King, Dr. Percy developed new academic programs and strategic partnerships that helped the university grew by over 400 percent.

Prior to his career in education Percy worked for M&T Bank in Retail Product Management and Mortgage Banking.

Dr. Percy is a retired officer (Major) of the Tennessee Air National Guard, graduate of Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, and led the Military Equal Opportunity Office.

He has been married for over 40 years to Janet and they have three children, Paul (Jennifer), Rachel (Chase), and Sarah (Tommy), and seven beautiful grandchildren.

Paul Matthew Percy is a team builder and leader who empowers and develops people to their fullest potential. A strategic thinker, problem solver, relationship builder, financial manager, and transparent leader who has God given abilities to effectively steward intellectual, human, financial, and spiritual resources.

BARBARA PARKER

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Assistant Professor of Education
bparker@cumberland.edu
(615) 547-1393
Bone Hall, Room 104
Faculty
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.S., Middle Tennessee State University
M.A., Middle Tennessee State University
Ed.S., Middle Tennessee State University

Barbara Parker began teaching at Cumberland University in the fall of 2018.  She teaches graduate courses in Education and is the Director for the Instructional Leadership Program.  Prior to arriving at Cumberland University, Mrs. Parker was a teacher, TNDOE federal programs coordinator, and Director of Schools for the Cannon County School System in Tennessee.

Mrs.  Parker holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Arts Degree in English from Middle Tennessee State University.  She also holds an Education Specialist degree in Administration and Supervision from Middle Tennessee State University.   

C. WILLIAM (BILL) MCKEE

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Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and Professor
bmckee@cumberland.edu
(615) 547-1311
Memorial Hall, Room 103
Faculty
Office of Academic Affairs
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.S., University of Tennessee, Knoxville
M.Ed., Auburn University
Ed.D., University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Dr. C. William (Bill) McKee is currently Cumberland University’s Provost, Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Professor of Education and Public Service Management. He has served the institution in a number of other administrative posts including Executive Vice President and Dean. Additionally, he was previously an administrator at Georgia Southwestern State University.

A Nashville native, Dr. McKee graduated from the University School of Nashville (USN) and then earned the B.S. in Public Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the M.Ed. in Counseling and Student Personnel from Auburn University, and the Ed.D. in Adult and Higher Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Additionally, he is a graduate of the Carnegie-Mellon University Academic Leadership Institute, the American Council of Education/National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Stevens Institute on Leadership and Administration, as well as the University of Georgia Leadership Institute.

Believing that part of the responsibility of a great University is to impact the community, Dr. McKee practices as well as teaches public service management. He devotes many hours of volunteer service to provide leadership in a variety of governmental and not-for-profit agencies and organizations in middle Tennessee and beyond including Trustee of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Commissioner on Colleges, Member of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Education, Health and Human Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Commissioner of the Nashville and Davidson County Historical Commission, Chair of the 15th Judicial District Child Advocacy Board, President of the Tennessee College Association, and Chair of the Buchanan Log House Historical Site. Additionally, Dr. McKee is a member of the Lebanon Rotary Club and a Paul Harris Fellow.

His research interests include studies on prominent Tennessee historical figures, and current issues in state and local government. His involvement in the campus community includes advising Alpha Lambda Delta (the freshman honor society) and Omicron Delta Kappa (the national leadership honor society).

Current teaching responsibilities for Dr. McKee include graduate courses in public service such as community issues, professional communications, and public policy.

Dr. McKee regularly serves as a consultant to institutions of higher education, is a workshop leader, and presenter at both local and regional conferences.

SEAN MCDANIEL

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Assistant Professor of History
smcdaniel@cumberland.edu
(615) 453-6374
Labry Hall, Room 228
Faculty
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.A., University of Michigan
M.A., Wayne State University
Ph.D., Michigan State University

Dr. McDaniel is a historian who specializes in Russia and the Soviet Union with particular emphasis on Central Asia. His research, in large part, focuses on migration and the environment in the region of the Kazakh Steppe. Dr. McDaniel’s first major project – now manuscript in progress – is an analysis of the centrality of horses to the convergence of Russian and Soviet state power with both Slavic settler and indigenous Kazakh societies in the Kazakh Steppe. His research was funded primarily by the US Department of State’s Fulbright-Hays Program, allowing him to conduct archival fieldwork in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and St. Petersburg, Russia over the course of the 2017 calendar year.

Dr. McDaniel’s current project, still in its infancy, is an exploration of the Virgin Lands Campaign – Nikita Khrushchev’s ambitious plan to boost agricultural production in the Soviet Union by opening vast tracts of untilled land in the Kazakh Steppe and bordering regions. While the program initiated far-reaching environmental and societal change in Kazakhstan and beyond, relatively few works exist on the period. With the support of CU’s W.P. Bone Research Grant, he conducted preliminary field research in Kazakhstan for the project in the summer of 2023.

Amongst his other hobbies, Dr. McDaniel has a passion for foreign languages and travel. He has lived and traveled in Russia, Central Asia, and beyond and always loves to share his experiences with those wanting to hear more.

In January 2023, Dr. McDaniel was fortunate enough to travel to Riga, Latvia with students from across the country participating in the US Department of State’s National Security Language Initiative for Youth. At CU, he has helped initiate a travel abroad group which has two separate trips to Europe planned for the 2023-24 scholastic year.

Dr. McDaniel regularly teaches lower-division survey courses on Western Civilization (1715-Present) and World Civilization (1500-Present), and upper division courses on the Soviet Union, Central Asian History, and Comparative Empire, a course most recently focused on contextualizing Russian and the US expansion.

His research publications include: “Our Greatest Riches’: Horses at the Intersection of Settler and Kazakh Society in the Late Imperial Period.” Journal of Migration History 3 (2017): 210-228.

Manuscript: “Equine Empire: Horses and Power on the Kazakh Steppe, 1880s- 1920s.” (In Progress).

Dr. McDaniel’s awards include: Cumberland University- W.P. Bone Research Grant. 2023, Dissertation Completion Fellowship – Michigan State University – Dissertation Completion Fellowship, 2019, Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant (for fieldwork in Russia and Kazakhstan. 2017), and University of Illinois – Summer Research Lab Fisher Research Fellowship, 2015.

 

WHITNEY MATTHEWS

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Assistant Professor of Education
wmatthews@cumberland.edu
(615) 547-1273
Bone Hall, Room 106
Faculty
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.A., Western Kentucky University
M.A., Belmont University
Ed.S., Austin Peay State University
D.A., Murray State University

A native of Memphis, TN, Dr. Matthews engaged in interdisciplinary learning at Western Kentucky University focusing on education pedagogy. She then completed her Master’s Degree in the Art of Teaching – Elementary Education at Belmont University in Nashville, TN. She later continued her higher education in Reading and Literacy at Austin Peay State University. She has completed her Doctoral Degree at/from Murray State University in English Pedagogy with a concentration in Literacy. 

While completing her Master’s and Ed.S, she began her teaching career in the public school system while holding a multitude of leadership positions. At the completion of her doctoral degree program, she became an Assistant Professor at Cumberland University. Research Interests include mentoring novice teachers, non-profits focused on improving the mental health of student and novice teachers, as well as literacy and reading learning through all ages. 

In her free time, Ms. Matthews enjoys spending time with her wonderful husband, son, and three miniature dachshunds.

 

LARRY MENEFEE

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Professor of Communications and Theatre
lmenefee@cumberland.edu
(615) 293-7304
Memorial Hal, Room 210A
Faculty
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.A., David Lipscomb University
M.A., Southern Illinois University
Ph.D., University of Denver

“Doc” Menefee joined the faculty in 1996 as Professor of Theatre and Speech. He has served as Director of Theatre at several universities and has directed more than a hundred university and community theatre productions. He has written and published several articles in regional and national theatre journals, as well as serving as editor for Theatre Southwest, a regional theatre journal.  Dr. Menefee has also completed his own translation and adaptation of Sophocles’ Oedipus the King from the original Greek which was produced as a main stage production at Cumberland. 

Dr. Menefee is an avid reader with wide-ranging interests from the classical to contemporary novels.  He particularly enjoys novels of other cultures, sci-fi, and western fiction.  Two of his favorite novels are The Count of Monte Cristo and Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead. His personal study regularly involves reading from the Greek New Testament and the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Old Testament).

An accomplished speaker, Dr. Menefee has taught thousands of students in basic communication courses, and has taught courses in Linguistics, public speaking, oral interpretation, speech for the elementary school teacher, and presently teaches voice and articulation for theatre which focuses on dialect problems, stage speech, phonetics (IPA), and the British dialect.

 

MAX MELNIKOV

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Professor of Economics and Finance
mmelnikov@cumberland.edu
(615) 547-1260
Labry Hall, Room 110
Faculty
The Labry School of Science, Technology, and Business
B.S., Dnipropetrovsk National University , Ukraine
M.S., Dnipropetrovsk National University , Ukraine
M.A., Middle Tennessee State University
D.A., Middle Tennessee State University

Dr. Melnikov earned his doctorate degree in Economics and Applied Mathematics at Middle Tennessee State University (Murfreesboro, TN) in June 2004.

Prior to the service at Cumberland University, he worked as an Instructor and an Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Actuarial Sciences at MTSU for five years. He also worked as a Research Associate at the MTSU Business and Economic Research Center in May 2000 – August 2001.

As a teacher, Dr. Melnikov has taught a variety of courses in business, economics, statistics, mathematics, and actuarial sciences. The areas of his research expertise are financial mathematics, computational methods in financial economics, and macroeconomics.

Since the beginning of his academic career in the United States Dr. Melnikov has published more than 20 articles and papers in journals and conference proceedings both nationally and internationally. In 2012 he co-authored a book titled “Green’s Functions” published by De Gruyter. Dr. Melnikov also presented his work at 15 regional, national, and international conferences; he has “hands-on” business experience trading currencies for FOREX Consulting, Inc. in New York City, NY and in Moscow, Russia.

Dr. Melnikov has been a member of the American Economic Association and the Tennessee Academy of Science since 1999, a member of Beta Gamma Sigma honor society since 2000, and a member of Delta Mu Delta honor business society since 2006.

He is fluent in Russian and Ukrainian languages; his hobbies include soccer in sports, science fiction in literature, and movies, and spending time with his family.

 

KERRY ANN MOORE

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Assistant Professor of English and Creative and Imaginative Writing
kmoore@cumberland.edu
(615) 257-2008
Memorial Hall, Room 200D
Faculty
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.S., University of North Carolina, Charlotte
M.A., University of North Carolina, Charlotte
M.F.A., University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

Kerry Ann Moore joined Cumberland University in the fall of 2015, and she teaches Creative Writing and English courses in the School of Humanities Education and the Arts. Mrs. Moore specializes in teaching the writing and reading of Creative Nonfiction and Fiction. Before coming to Cumberland, she studied and taught courses at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Mrs. Moore holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and a Master of Arts in English. Her writing earned a prestigious fellowship from the University of Minnesota, various graduate assistantships and arts grants, and publication in a longstanding, reputable literary journal. She participated in several writers’ conferences and workshops with award-winning authors from around the world.

TARA MITCHELL MIELNIK

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Associate Professor of History
tmielnik@cumberland.edu
(615) 453-6423
Labry Hall, Room 233
Faculty
The Millard and JJ Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts
B.A., Sewanee: The University of the South
M.A., Middle Tennessee State University
Ph.D., Middle Tennessee State University

Dr. Tara Mitchell Mielnik began teaching history courses at Cumberland University, first as an adjunct in 2013, and then as full-time faculty in 2017.  Her areas of emphasis include Public History and 20th century American History, with specific research interests in the built environment, the homefront in World War I, and the Depression and New Deal.  Courses that she offers at Cumberland include Emergence of Modern America; Environmental History; Introduction to Public History; Museum Studies; American Crime and American Sports History, among others. Dr. Mielnik began serving as Program Director in History in 2020.

Prior to coming to Cumberland, Dr. Mielnik was a historic preservation specialist with the Metropolitan Nashville Davidson County Historical Commission for fifteen years and served previously at the Tennessee Historical Commission and the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.  She currently serves on the Tennessee State Review Board for the National Register of Historic Places, and the Boards of Directors of the History Associates of Wilson County and the Tennessee Council for History Education. 

Dr. Mielnik combined work in historic preservation, New Deal history, and environmental history with her book, New Deal, New Landscape: The Civilian Conservation Corps in South Carolina State Parks (University of South Carolina Press), and is a contributor in Tennessee’s Experience in World War I (University of Tennessee Press), and the Tennessee Encyclopedia.

Dr. Mielnik is a frequent invited presenter to local historical groups as well as at regional and national conferences.  In her classes, she strives to connect local historic events and buildings to larger national historical themes, and to connect to history to other disciplines.  She serves as the faculty advisor for Pi Gamma Mu, the social science honor society, and is active in the campus chapters of Phi Alpha Theta and Omicron Delta Kappa.