Six Lee Faculty Promoted To Professor

Six faculty members were awarded promotion in rank to professor from associate professor by the Lee University Board of Directors and include Drs. Ron Brendel, Skip Jenkins, Patricia McClung, Megan Moe, Louis Morgan, and Jeffrey Sargent. 

Dr. Brendel received his master’s and doctoral degrees in voice performance at Temple University in Philadelphia, and his bachelor’s degree in music education at Evangel College. He joined Lee’s School of Music in 2005 as assistant professor of voice.  He teaches all levels of applied voice in the School of Music, coordinates music for the Liturgical Chapel services, and coordinates Performance Seminar for the School of Music. 

Dr. Brendel sings a wide repertoire of opera, oratorio, and recital music. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 2006 at tenor soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass. In oratorio, he sings the music of Handel, Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Paart and others. He has done many standard tenor roles in the music of Mozart, Donizetti, Britten, and Gilbert and Sullivan. He has done dozens of solo recitals, and has presented papers and performances at academic conferences worldwide, from New Zealand to England to the United States. His specialization is the music of Benjamin Britten. Further, he has 20-plus years of ministerial experience in church music in a variety of denominational settings. 

Dr. Jenkins joined Lee’s faculty in August of 2004 as an assistant professor of historical theology. He earned his doctorate at Marquette University, two master’s degrees at Duke University Divinity School, and his bachelor’s degree at Lee College. He is an active member of The Society for Pentecostal Studies and currently serves as the Chair of the Department of Theology in Lee’s School of Religion. Dr. Jenkins has received Lee University’s Excellence in Advising Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award, and he has also been the recipient of the Janet Rahamut Award. 

Dr. Jenkins and his wife, Larisa, founded a student-oriented mentoring house whose stated purpose is spiritual, academic and social accountability. 

Dr. McClung received her doctorate at the University of East Anglia, United Kingdom, her master’s degree at Lee University, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of London. She joined Lee’s faculty in 2002 and teaches special education in the Helen DeVos College of Education.  

After beginning her career as a high school teacher in the U.K. Dr. McClung moved to the U.S. and served students with disabilities. Initially, she was a coordinator for students with disabilities for Project Head Start and then worked in the Bradley County school system as a special education teacher and then as a coordinator from 1993-2001. Dr. McClung was recognized as Teacher of the Year for Bradley County schools and for her work with Inclusion, by the state of Tennessee. She has also received Lee’s Excellence in Advising Award and the Charles W. Conn Award for service. Dr. McClung has traveled extensively to many parts of the world, accompanying students on their Lee University Global Perspective Experience. Her research interests and writing involve narrative and biographical inquiry that includes the Life Perspective Story Method as a primary means of investigation. She attends conferences on education, diversity, and globalization as well as conducting in service trainings for local school systems. 

Dr. Moe (known to students as “Doc Moe”) joined the Lee faculty in January 2005 and is a professor of communication. She received her doctorate at the Pennsylvania State University, her master’s degree from the University of California, Davis, and her bachelor’s degree from Westmont College. 

Dr. Moe is the discipline coordinator of the of the communication degrees at Lee and oversees the advertising, communication studies, and education emphases. Moe is an active member of the National Communication Association and was honored with the Mid-Career Award for teaching leadership and artistic scholarship in 2013.  A 10-year board member of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) of Chattanooga, she is also the faculty advisor for the Lee Advertising Federation, as well as advisor for Lee’s National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC) team.  She was recently named the AAF District 7 Educator of the Year, receiving the Donald G. Hileman Award. Dr. Moe continues to spend her time engaging in and presenting research at various academic conventions. 

Dr. Morgan, originally from Morgantown, Miss., serves as a professor and as the director of Library Services. A faculty member at Lee since 2003, he previously served as archivist at the Dixon Pentecostal Research Center (Church of God archives). In addition to his responsibilities in Squires Library, Morgan teaches graduate courses in leadership and serves as an academic advisor. He also serves on the Dean’s Council, Academic Council, and Master of Ministry Studies graduate committee. His honors include Lee’s Excellence in Advising Award, the prestigious James E. Ward Library Instruction Award from the Tennessee Library Association, and inclusion in a list of international men and women as one of “40 Young Influencers in the Church of God.” 

Dr. Morgan has presented papers on servant leadership, self-sacrificing leadership, and transformational leadership. He earned his doctorate in Organizational Leadership from Regent University where he received the Outstanding Graduate honor. He earned his master’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, and his bachelor’s degree at Lee University. 

Dr. Sargent joined the Lee faculty in 2005 and currently serves as the chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences and as a professor of psychology. Prior to joining the Lee faculty, he worked as a mental health therapist and a school counselor in Alabama. 

Dr. Sargent earned his doctorate and a master’s degree at the University of Alabama, a master’s in counseling at the University of Alabama Birmingham, and his bachelor’s degree from Lee College.