The Lee University Board of Directors awarded tenure to three faculty members effective August 2015. The new tenured faculty members are Dr. Christopher Blake, Dr. Carmen Guerrero, and Dr. John Hisey.
Dr. Blake joined the Department of Language and Literature in the fall of 2011 as an assistant professor of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) and Linguistics, and since his arrival, the TESOL program has grown to offer two different major tracks. He is also the director of the English Language Center, which has now helped over 100 adults and nearly 100 children to improve their English language skills.
Before joining Lee’s faculty, Dr.
Blake taught at Western Carolina University, where he prepared both undergraduate and graduate students to work with English language learners. He also taught English in Changchun, China, for two years, and while there, he helped to develop a business English course for budding entrepreneurs.
Dr. Blake earned his doctorate, his master’s, and his bachelor’s at Purdue University and specializes his research in the areas of fluency, intercultural communication, and language assessment.
Dr. Blake is married with four children and spends most of his free time remodeling his house and trying to keep up with his children in their extra-curricular activities.
In the fall of 2007, Dr. Guerrero joined the faculty of the Department of Language and Literature as an assistant professor of Spanish. In addition to teaching courses in Spanish, she also works as the Spanish Placement Test administrator and the Spanish Writing Center coordinator.
Prior to Lee, Dr. Guerrero served as the assistant to the coordinator of second year programs in Spanish at the University of Florida. She also served in Columbia, where she taught such courses as intermediate grammar, composition, computers in technical English, drama, and Latin American and Peninsular literature.
Dr. Guerrero is a past recipient of the Teaching Distinction for the Best Instructor Award at Colegio Americano and the Cooperative Leadership in Teaching Prize at the University of Florida.
She received her doctorate at the University of Florida, her master’s degree at Miami University, and her bachelor’s degree at Corporacion Univeritaria de la Costa, Columbia.
Dr. Guerrero currently resides in Cleveland with her two sons, Navin and Samir.
Dr. Hisey joined the Lee faculty as an assistant professor of biology in the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. He has taught general biology, human and plant biology, environmental science, principles of ecology, vertebrate zoology, comparative vertebrate anatomy, research, and professional presentation.
Before Lee, Dr. Hisey taught college courses for 10 years, seven of which were spent in China as professor and guest lecturer to several national and provincial institutions. He helped to found and direct an internationally staffed system of private schools in four Chinese provinces and was the area coordinator for the University Language Services, an organization which places instructors on Chinese campuses. He received the Jilin Province Model Teacher Award in 1990 and 1991.
Since 1998, Dr. Hisey and his Lee student researchers have published more than 20 abstracts, authored/co-authored nearly 50 research presentations at professional meetings, local to international in scope, and are in the process of publishing feature articles in professional journals. This research focuses on species among the rodents and mid-sized predators that have become overabundant due to human development of the landscape in the southeastern United States.
Dr. Hisey earned his doctorate at the University of Memphis, his master’s at Arizona State University, and his bachelor’s from the University of Washington.
He is married to Lauren, a teacher, and they have a son named Nathaniel.