Eleven Lee Faculty Earn Promotion

Eleven Lee University faculty members were awarded promotion in rank by vote of the Lee Board of Directors. Eight faculty members earned promotion from assistant professor to associate professor, Drs. Daniela Augustine, Christopher Blake, Aaron Johnson, Mary McCampbell, Debra Mimbs, Thomas Pope, Chad Schrock and Jared Wielfaert. Three faculty members were promoted from lecturer to associate lecturer, Amy Mercer, Alex Sandoval and Diette Ward. 

Dr. Augustine joined Lee’s full-time faculty in 2010. In addition to her time at Lee, she has also been a guest lecturer, speaker, and presenter at many theological forums and educational institutions such as Charles University located in Prague, Czech Republic, Princeton Theological Seminary, Bangor University located in Wales, United Kingdom, Harvard Divinity School, Wheaton College, and Regent University. Her areas of interest and academic research include theological ethics, public theology, interdisciplinary studies in social transformation, postmodernity, theology of economics and globalization, religion and culture. She was recently named the recipient of Lee’s 2016 Excellence in Scholarship Award. 

Dr. Augustine earned her doctorate at the University of South Africa, a Master of Divinity degree at the Church of God Theological Seminary, and both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees at the University of National and World Economy, Bulgaria. 

Dr. Blake joined the Department of Language and Literature in the fall of 2011 as an assistant professor of TESOL (Teaching English as a Second Language) and Linguistics.  He is also the director of the English Language Center, which has served over 300 adults and nearly 150 children. Prior to Lee, Dr. Blake was a faculty member at Western Carolina University where he prepared both undergraduate and graduate students with strategies for teaching English language learners. He also taught English in Changchun, China, for two years where he developed a business English course for entrepreneurs. 

Dr. Blake received his doctorate, master’s, and bachelor’s degrees from Purdue University and specializes his research in the areas of fluency, curriculum development and language assessment. 

Dr. Johnson is an associate professor of classics and humanities and joined Lee’s faculty in 2010. He earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from the University of Colorado and his bachelor’s degree at Colorado Christian University. In 2013, Johnson received Lee’s Excellence in Scholarship Award. 

Dr. Johnson specializes in the Greek literature and intellectual culture of the later Roman Empire, particularly in the areas of ethnic and religious identities and Hellenism. His publications include books published by Oxford University Press and Cambridge University Press, over 20 scholarly articles, and many dictionary entries and book reviews. Much of Dr. Johnson’s recent scholarship has been dedicated to an ancient philosopher named Porphyry of Tyre, who wrote one of the most widely-used logic handbooks of the middle ages, as well as a lengthy defense of vegetarianism and a critique against Christianity. 

Dr. McCampbell, associate professor of humanities, joined Lee’s faculty in 2010. She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees from Newcastle University, Newcastle up Tyne, U.K., another master’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and her bachelor’s degree from Covenant College. 

Dr. McCampbell’s doctoral work at Newcastle University focused on the relationship between postmodern fiction, late capitalist culture, and the religious impulse. Recent publications include chapters or articles on contemporary fiction in “Spiritual Identities: Literature and the Post-Secular Imagination,” “Sacred and Immoral: on the Writings of Chuck Palahniuk,” and “The Modern Humanities Research Association’s Yearbook of English Studies.” She speaks frequently on the intersection of the Christian faith and culture (in film, fiction, and music), and was the summer 2014 Writer in Residence at the Greatham, England, Branch of L’Abri Fellowship. 

Dr. Mimbs joined Lee’s faculty in fall 2010. She earned her doctorate and master’s degrees in applied and computational mathematics from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her bachelor’s degree from Lee University. She has published research in such publications as Transactions of the American Mathematical Society. 

She currently directs or co-directs multiple grants involving undergraduate research and promoting the awareness of the beauty of mathematics among high school students.  She co-directs the Mentoring Mathematicians in the Making program, serves as a counselor on the Council for Undergraduate Research, and has participated in National Science Foundation sponsored programs such as Center for Undergraduate Research in Mathematics and ProjectNeXT. 

DR. Pope joined Lee's faculty in 2010 and currently teaches courses in political theory and American constitutional law. He serves as a faculty sponsor for Lee's Alpha Chi honors society and Pi Sigma Alpha political science honors society. He also serves as the university’s Pre-Law advisor and Law School Admission Council liaison, advising students who are preparing for law school and sponsoring Lee’s Society for Law & Justice. He is the assistant coordinator for Kairos, a Scholars Honors Program at Lee. Pope’s most recent publication is “Social Contract Theory in American Jurisprudence: Too Much Liberty and Too Much Authority.” 

Dr. Pope received his doctorate and master’s degrees from Baylor University and his bachelor’s degree from Berry College. 

Dr. Schrock has been at Lee University since 2010 as an assistant professor, now associate professor, of English, specializing in early British literature. His first book, “Consolation in Medieval Narrative,” was published in May 2015.  He also has articles published on literature from the eighth, 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 19th, and 20th centuries.  

Dr. Schrock earned his doctorate at the Pennsylvania State University, his master’s degree at James Madison University, his Master of Divinity from Eastern Mennonite Seminary, and his bachelor’s degree from Pensacola Christian College. 

Dr. Wielfaert has been a part of Lee’s faculty since 2009 and is currently an associate professor of humanities. He researches the cultural history of the Latin West in the early middle ages with a particular focus on the literary culture of the Carolingian Renaissance. He also teaches introductory courses in the humanities, Latin, and upper-level courses in the history and literature of the Middle Ages. 

Dr. Wielfaert earned his doctorate and master’s degrees from the University of Toronto and another master’s degree and bachelor’s degree from Lee University. 

Ms. Mercer has served at Squires Library since 2003. She currently holds the position of Technical Services / Serials Librarian and associate lecturer. In addition to leading those departments, she contributes in the areas of reference service, library instruction, student advising and departmental liaison duties. 

Ms. Mercer earned both her master’s and bachelor’s degrees from the University of Kentucky. 

Mr. Sandoval joined Lee’s faculty in 2010 where he currently serves as an associate lecturer of special education in the Helen DeVos College of Education. Prior to Lee, he had several years of experience in the Georgia public school system, where he worked as a special education teacher and autism consultant.  

Mr. Sandoval received his master’s degree from the University of Missouri and his bachelor’s degree from Lee University. 

Ms. Ward joined Lee’s faculty in 2007 as a lecturer, now associate lecturer, and Instruction / Electronics Resources Librarian at the Squires Library. Before coming to Lee, she spent five years working at the Science Library at the University of California, Riverside. 

Ms. Ward earned her master’s degree from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville and her bachelor’s degree from Lee University.