The Berry College Board of Trustees recently approved tenure and promotion decisions for multiple professors.
Dr. Miguel Ampuero (psychological science), Dr. Caitlin Conn (biology), Dr. Zachary Lindsey (physics) and Dr. Kelsey Rice (history) received tenure and promotion to associate professor. Dr. Ashleigh Woods (nursing) was promoted to clinical associate professor. Dr. Zachary Taylor (environmental science) was promoted to professor.
Ampuero holds a doctorate in special education with a focus on applied behavior analysis and autism from the University of Pittsburgh. He is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral and has accumulated over 20 years of field experience, contributing significant research publications in his fields of study.
Conn specializes in genetics, biological diversity and evolution. She received her doctorate from the University of Georgia. Her research interests include parasitic plants, gene duplication and phylogenetics. Half of her work focuses on parasitic plants and the genes that enable them to interact with hosts, and the other half focuses on American chestnut trees and the fungus that drives them towards extinction.
Lindsey is a professor of physics and technology. He earned his doctorate in physics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is passionate about mentoring students and applying work in the classroom to future careers. He has made significant contributions to research and continues to pursue an interest in electrodeposition of crystalline semiconductors, x-ray crystallography, raman spectroscopy and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
Rice is a historian and professor of history with special emphasis on Middle East history, Russia and the Soviet Union, world history and public history and material culture. She earned her doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focuses on the history of Azerbaijan and the Turkic intellectual networks that spanned the Russian Empire, Ottoman Empire and Iran in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Woods has special interests in intensive nursing care, medical surgical nursing care and senior internship. She earned a doctorate in education from the University of Alabama. Her research interests include scaffolding case studies, hybrid teaching modalities and role modeling in simulation. Additionally, she is a member of many prestigious organizations, including Sigma Theta Tau, Nursing Christian Fellowship, National League of Nursing and American Association of Critical Care Nurses.
Taylor is a professor of environmental science and studies. He achieved his doctorate from the University of Tennessee. His teaching interests include environmental science, geographic information systems, biogeography, global change and sustainability. His work focuses on lakes and relies heavily on the analysis of lake sediments, which serve as a window to the past and provide context for modern environmental changes and possible analogues for future conditions.
To view their biographies, please visit https://www.berry.edu/academics/fs/.
Written by Public Relations Student Associate Ellie Davenport
