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COMMUNITY NEWS
Welcome new faculty
Birmingham-Southern is pleased to introduce four new faculty members who will contribute in BSC’s classrooms and within the
academic community for the 2014-15 year:
•
Dr. Jeremy Grall,
Assistant Professor of Music,
•
Dr. Kate Hayden
, Visiting Assistant Professor of Chemistry,
•
Dr. Shelia Ingram
, Assistant Professor of Education, and
•
Dr. Meghan Mills,
Assistant Professor of Sociology.
In addition, seven professors have been awarded promotion and tenure:
•
Promoted to full professor:
Dr. Barbara Domcekova
(Spanish),
Dr. Megan Gibbons
(biology),
Dr. Guy Hubbs
(library
science),
Dr. Doug Riley
(mathematics), and
Dr. Kathleen Spies
(art history).
•
Promoted to associate professor and granted tenure:
Dr. Jeff Kensmoe
(music) and
Dr
.
Amelia Spencer
(education).
Heaton receives 2014 faculty development award
Dr. Jason Heaton, assistant professor of
biology at Birmingham-Southern, is this
year’s recipient of the Bob Whetstone Faculty
Development Award.
Heaton, who joined the BSC faculty in
2010, has conducted archaeological and
paleontological research in South Africa
for more than a decade, much of it at the
Swartkrans Paleoanthropological Research
Project, one of the most important human
fossil sites in the world. In addition to teaching
biology and anthropology courses, he has
published peer-reviewed research in the Journal
of Human Evolution, Journal of Taphonomy,
and many others. His work has also appeared
in two magazines aimed at the general public,
Popular Archaeology and Quest: Science for
South Africa. His page on Academia.edu, a
social networking page for scholars to share
their research, is in the top 5 percent of views for
the site.
Heaton recently served as the principal photographer for the book
Caves of the Ape-Men
and authored a chapter titled
“Human Evolution in the Neogene” for
Quaternary Environmental Change in Southern Africa
, a book that will be published
by Cambridge University Press in March.
In addition, Heaton has mentored 19 students during their senior research projects. His students have traveled to
archaeological digs in South Africa and to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History to study primate skeletal
collections.
“In my department and across campus, I am surrounded by colleagues who have modeled excellence and who are
always seeking to improve their teaching,” said Heaton, who earned bachelor’s degrees in biology and anthropology from
the University of South Alabama and a master’s and Ph.D. from Indiana University at Bloomington. “This pushes all of us
to be better mentors and instructors. Among this caliber of faculty, I am honored to receive this award.”
Named for Professor Emeritus Dr. Bob Whetstone ’55, the former longtime chair of the education division at BSC, the
annual award goes to a non-tenured faculty member for excellence in teaching and includes funding for professional
development and travel.
From left are Dr. Bob Whetstone ’55 and his wife, Janelle; Heaton; and BSC Provost
Dr. Michelle Behr.