Paul Clervi, Division Chair and Professor of Art
pclervi@williamwoods.edu 592-4367

Paul Clervi, a professor at William Woods for more than 35 years, has served as Chair of the Arts Division for the past 15 years. In addition to his duties as division head, Professor Clervi teaches sculpture and ceramics. He holds a B.S. in Education, an M.A. in Art, and a Masters of Fine Arts Degree in sculpture, all from the University of Missouri. Professor Clervi is an active sculptor and ceramic artist.

Adrienne Branson (Dance Instructor & Choreographer)
adrienne.branson@williamwoods.edu 573-592-1650

Adrienne began her dance training at age five and has studied extensively in New York and Los Angeles. In 1989 she earned her B.A. in Performing Arts - Dance concentration from WWU. She is currently a dance instructor at WWU, and owns her own dance studio, Tonanzio’s School of Dance. She was a Jazz, Tap and Modern instructor for three years at Dancenter of Jefferson City. Her WWU credits include choreographing Godspell, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Little Me and Once Upon A Mattress, The Pajama Game.

Jack Dudley, M.A., Professor (Geography)
jdudley@williamwoods.edu 592-4315

I am still Here! I have been here since 1964 with a brief absence from 1968-1970. I received a BS and MA in Geography from the University of Missouri at Columbia. I finished course work in geography for a PhD from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. I am currently teaching courses in Earth Science, Geography and Human Sexuality. I offer hypnosis and other mental techniques to students with minor academic difficulties.

My current research topic is the relationship between the accident rate on I-70 and topography. I am currently the faculty advisor to one of the two WWU fraternities, Pi Kappa Alpha. There will be no more three-week camping trips to the far corners of the US.....I have had enough camping to last the rest of my life. I am a volunteer fireman. The oldest one in the county at the age of 61. I am also on the Callaway Humane Society Board

Bob Elliott, Assistant Professor (Graphic Design)
belliott@williamwoods.edu 592-4369

Professor Bob Elliott is the coordinator of the Graphic Design Program at William Woods. His teaching responsiblities include graphic design and photography courses. Professor Elliott holds a Bachelors in Photojournalism and a Master of Arts Degree in Publishing from the University of Missouri. He has been on the faculty of William Woods since 1990. Professor Elliott's artistic interests include computer-manipulated digital photography, large format digital print making, and Web design.

Ken Greene, Adjunct (Studio Art)
kgreene@williamwoods.edu 592-4578

Professor Ken Greene teaches the Jewelry and Introduction to Art courses at William Woods. He has been with the Division since 1989. Professor Greene holds both a B.S. in Art and B.F.A. from Columbia College. As an active professional jeweler he owns and operates Monarch Jewelry in Columbia, Missouri.

Joe Kyger, Assistant Professor (Chemistry)
joseph.kyger@williamwoods.edu 592-1197

Terry Martin, Professor of Art
tmartin@williamwoods.edu 592-4373

Terry Martin is a certified art teacher for grades k-12. He received his B.S. Art education from the University of Missouri, Columbia and also M.Ed. and M.F.A. degrees. Terry is a signature member of the National Oil and Acrylic Painter’s Society, The International Society of Experimental Artists, Best of Missouri Hands (juried artist) and is a member of the Missouri Watercolor Society, Mid America Pastel Society, and the Jefferson City Art Club. Terry serves on the Board of Directors of Capital Arts and is a participant in the Healing Arts Program at the David Pratt Cancer Ctr., St. John’s Mercy Hospital, St.Louis, Missouri. Terry is active in community arts programs through the William Woods University Mentor/Mentee Program.

Katharine Mixter Mayne, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Biology
kath.mayne@williamwoods.edu 592-4361

Katharine Mixter Mayne of Fulton is a new assistant professor of biology at William Woods University. Mayne attended the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, and completed her AB at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she graduated magna cum laude with high honors in biochemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in biology at the California Institute of Technology.

Most recently, she was an adjunct professor of biology at WWU for a year and before that was a visiting assistant professor at Westminster College. From 1993 to 2000 she was an assistant professor at Birmingham-Southern (Ala.) College. From 1988 to 1993 she was an assistant professor at Vassar College.

Mayne is an active member in her community, serving as Cub Scout den leader and cubmaster for Pack 50, committee member for Boy Scout Troop 53 and board member for Callaway County’s Habitat for Humanity. She also is a member and elder at First Presbyterian Church in Fulton, involved in AIDS ministry and a lecturer to various community groups.

She was a recipient of an Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institutes of Health for her research titled “New Virulence Factors from Streptococcus pneumoniae.” Mayne is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, Council on Undergraduate Research and Project Kaleidoscope.

Gary Moss, Adjunct (Math)
gary.moss@williamwoods.edu 886-9829

Jane Mudd, Instructor of Art (Visual Arts and Art History)
jmudd@williamwoods.edu 592-4201

Professor Jane Mudd teaches a number of core studio art courses including Drawing, Watercolor and Basic Design. Professor Mudd did her undergraduate work at Fontbonne College and received a Master of Fine Art degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She has been with William Woods since 1997.

Katricia G. Pierson, Assistant Professor (English)
katricia.pierson@williamwoods.edu 592-1107

Professor Katricia Pierson teaches both core and elective classes in the English program. She specializes in Medievalism, the history of the English language, rehotric and composition theory, jungian criticism, and women studies. Professor Pierson also speaks and reads several languages. She received her PhD from the University of Arkansas in 2004 and joined the faculty at William Woods that same year.

Joe Potter, Assistant Professor & Artistic Director of Theatre
jpotter@williamwoods.edu 592-4281

Joe is Artistic Director of Theatre and has been a full-time WWU theatre professor for 25 years. He earned his B.A. in Theatre from Drury University and his M.A. in Theatre Arts from Cal State University, Los Angeles. Before coming to WWU, he worked in professional theatre, television and film. His professional theatre credits include four seasons with Starlight Theatre in Kansas City, Mo. His television and movie credits include such productions as Star Trek: The Movie, 1941, Blade Runner, Superman, The Waltons, Little House On the Prairie, Dukes of Hazzard, Charlie’s Angels, M*A*S*H, Fantasy Island and The Carol Burnett Show.

Aimee Sapp, Assistant Professor (Communication Arts)
asapp@williamwoods.edu 592-4391

Professor Aimee Sapp joined the University faculty in 1998. She has responsibility for teaching a number of core classes in the Communication sequence. Professor Sapp, herself a 1992 graduate of William Woods, went on to complete a Master of Arts degree from Northern Colorado University and her Ph.D. in Communication from the University of Missouri.

Chris Schneider, Assistant Professor (Math)
chris.schneider@williamwoods.edu 592-1183

Greg Smith, Assistant Professor (English)
greg.smith@williamwoods.edu 592-4364

Professor Greg Smith teaches Film Studies and Composition at William Woods. He holds a Ph.D. in English with specialty areas in Film and American Studies. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit, MI and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI. As evidenced by his published work on American cinema, American literature, British literature, and even rock music, his interests are wide-ranging and interdisciplinary. Professor Smith sponsors Moviegoers, the WWU student film club, and participates in Viewer's Eye, the Fulton community film discussion group. Outside of work, he enjoys baseball, golf, going to concerts, playing drums in a band, and hanging out with his wife Chris and their three unbelievably obnoxious dogs.

Mary Spratt Ph. D., Professor (Biology)
mspratt@williamwoods.edu 592-1143

Dr. Mary Spratt is Professor of Biology at WWU, and teaches lecture and laboratory courses in General Biology I and II, Vertebrate Zoology, Genetics, and Cell and Molecular Biology. At WWU she has also taught Environmental Science, Brain and Behavior, Evolution, Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, and Introduction to Biology. She was principal of a girls' boarding school is Liberia, West Africa where she lived and taught for four years. Other previous teaching experience includes high school teaching in Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri, before becoming a faculty member at the Universities of Missouri-Kansas City, College of Arts and Sciences, and UMKC Medical School, where she worked with undergraduate medical students as well as Family Medicine residents. She also taught at Baker University and at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo in California. Her B.S. degree in Biology and English isfrom St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, her M.S. in Biological Sciences from St. Mary's in Winono, MN, and her Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Physiology (Neuroscience) is from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Spratt came to William Woods in the Fall of 1992 to bring back the WWU Biology Program, which had been discontinued in the 1980's. She has focused on the redevelopment of the Biology Major and providing modern laboratories and equipment through being awarded external grants from private agencies and from the National Science Foundation, in addition to WWU support. She is currently Principal Investigator on a second NSF Grant, which has just provided us with an automated DNA sequencer and a real-time thermal cycler, as well as other state of the art molecular biology equipment.

Her current research interest is in the field of vector-borne diseases, particularly the study of the emerging ehrlichial diseases as carried by ticks in Missouri. Six undergraduate students have participated in this research; students have presented their work at the Missouri Academy of Science, the area branch meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and the national meeting of the ASM, and have won awards for their presentations. Dr. Spratt has presented research at national meetings of the American Institute of Biological Science (AIBS), the Federation of Associated Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the American Psychological Association, and American Psychiatric Association, the ASM, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) of the Association for Experimental Biology. Dr. Spratt has been awarded the Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching; the T. A. Abbott Award, Certificate of Recognition for Faculty Excellence from the Division of Higher Education of the Disciples of Christ; and seven Faculty Enhancement Awards from the National Science Foundation. She was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship by the American Society for Engineering Education for the summer of 2001, and spent the 2001-2002 academic year on sabbatical leave in the Rickettsail Diseases Department of the Infectious Disease Directorate at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in the Washington, D.C. area, where she worked on the cloning and expression of a protein fragment which may be used in the development of a vaccine against another vector-borne disease, scrub typhus, of importance to the U.S. military. She also is in collaboration with the Navy at the NMRC.

When away from WWU, Dr. Spratt enjoys reading, cooking, outdoor photography, and spending time with her husband George at the cabin in northern Minnesota. The Spratts have three adult children and two grandchildren.

Melissa Alpers-Springer, Adjunct (Theatre)
maspring@williamwoods.edu 573-592-1650

Melissa holds a B.F.A. in theatre and interpretation from Missouri State University (formly SMSU) and an M.A. in theatre theory and criticism from Northwestern University. Her theatre credits include Springfield Little Theatre, Ozark Area Community Theatre, Clowns and Criers Community Theatre, Columbia Entertainment Company Theatre School, and Chalkboard Theatre in Columbia, Mo. Her WWU directing credits are The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, Blood Relations, How the Other Half Loves, A Piece Of My Heart, Ain’t Nothin’ Quick’n Easy, Bedroom Farce and Phaedra.

Stephanie Wells, Assistant Professor (Communications and English)
swells@williamwoods.edu 592-4370

James D. Wilson, M.S., Instructor of Biology
jwilson1@williamwoods.edu 592-1637

James D. Wilson is a new instructor of biology at William Woods University. He had been an adjunct professor at WWU since retiring from the Missouri Department of Conversation, where he was an ornithologist from 1977 to 2001.

An artist, Wilson also exhibited 25 pieces of his original artwork of birds at WWU’s Gladys Woods Kemper Center for the Arts in 2001. A resident of Jefferson City, he received a B.S. in animal science, a B.S. in zoology and an M.S. in animal ecology from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

His past teaching experience includes instructor and teaching assistant at Iowa State University and instructor at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa.

As a specialist in ornithology (the study of birds) for the Missouri Department of Conversation in Jefferson City, he served as a liaison with citizens groups, presented information to the public via presentations and coordinated the restoration of rare species. Wilson is the author of “Common Birds of North America: Midwest Edition,” which was published in 2001. Another of his books, “the Atlas of the Breeding Birds in Missouri,” was published in 1992 with the Missouri Department of Conversation. His artwork was also used in the department’s leaflets, brochures and articles.