Stephen P. Shao, Jr. is a college professor/administrator, researcher and technical consultant.   He joined Cumberland University as a full time faculty member in 2017 after serving as an adjunct instructor for several years.  Dr. Shao holds a Ph.D. degree in Management Science from the University of Maryland, an M.B.A. in Business Administration from Old Dominion University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia.  He has received additional training from courses, institutes and industry workshops at the University of Minnesota, AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Northern Research.

Dr. Shao has served as a faculty member and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in mathematics, computer information systems, marketing research, project management, operations management and economics at universities in Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Dr. Shao is a former director of two university research centers and currently serves as founding editor of the CU Labry School’s business publication Wilson County Trends and founding program director of the school’s supply chain management curriculum.  Before his current academic activities, Dr. Shao was employed in the telecommunications industry as a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ and later as Senior Manager of Strategic Network Planning for the Canadian telecom manufacturer NorTel Networks’ U.S. operations headquartered in Nashville, TN.

Dr. Shao’s research efforts have been supported by a variety of sources, including grants received from the National Institutes of Health, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Tennessee Valley Authority, IBM Corporation, Dell Foundation, BellSouth Foundation, AOL Foundation, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Baltimore Regional Planning Council, and others.   In addition to serving on numerous national, state and local advisory boards, Dr. Shao has authored over 150 published articles and conference presentations. Past awards and professional memberships include a AT&T Special Telecollaboration Award, Tennessee Governor’s Certificate of Appreciation, IEEE Society; National Engineering Consortium; Institute of Management Science; International Teleconferencing Association; Who’s Who in Technology Today; International Who’s Who; Tennessee Association of Independent Colleges and Schools and Omega Rho Honorary Society.  

Dr. Julie Baker Phillips is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Bobby Nichols Professorship holder at Cumberland University. She joined the faculty in fall of 2017. Prior to coming to Cumberland, she completed her undergraduate degree in mathematics at Middle Tennessee State University. After completing her baccalaureate, she stayed at MTSU to complete her masters degree in biology, studying reproductive and stress physiology of the eastern fence lizard under the supervision of Matthew Klukowski. She then moved to California to complete her doctorate in Quantitative and Systems Biology at the University of California, Merced, under the supervision of David Ardell. Her dissertation, entitled “Evolution of Eukaryotic Transfer Ribonucleic Acid|” searched for footprints of functional constraints highlighting patterns of evolutionary change in transfer RNA (tRNA) in Drosophila. Upon returning to Tennessee, she started as a postdoc in the Rokas lab at Vanderbilt University, where she focused on uncovering genes associated with variation in birth timing as well as molecular evolution of gene families associated with negative pregnancy outcomes under a grant from the March of Dimes.

Dr. Phillips is currently conducting research evolution of reproductive life history traits as well as continuing to investigate the evolutionary history of interesting gene families. She is always seeking motivated students to mentor in research. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Phillips enjoys providing theatrical science demonstrations free of charge to area elementary schools. 

Professional and organizational affiliations include Sigma Xi, the Society for Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health, and the Tennessee Academy of Sciences.

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.

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.

Dr. Valerie King, DBA is an Associate Professor of Marketing for both Undergraduate and Graduate Business degree programs. Prior to teaching full time, she was a Marketing Specialist at a major global healthcare organization with specific responsibilities for developing marketing strategies for public health education initiatives. Additional experience includes management and oversight of a Marketing and Media department at a non-profit organization located Nashville, Tennessee. During this time, she managed a team of 40 staff members and over 50 volunteers will full strategic development, implementation, budgeting, and people management responsibilities. Further, she has a strong background in Healthcare Finance particularly in the area of pricing and relationship management. She is a Marketing Consultant specializing in strategic marketing, branding, and social media management for non-profit organizations, ministries, and small business organizations.

Dr. King received her bachelor’s degree and master’s degree from Belmont University. Dr. King completed her Doctor of Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing at Argosy University, Nashville. She has also earned a Graduate certificate in Non-Profit Management from Tennessee State University.

Dr. King actively volunteers in various community organizations in her local community with a focus on healthcare, education, and poverty initiatives. Dr. King is a graduate of Young Leaders Council and regularly supports various non-profit initiatives. She is an avid sports person with a strong interest in women’s basketball, football and hockey. In fact, she is a former student athlete as a member of the collegiate Women’s Basketball team at Belmont University.