Members of the biology faculty are committed to excellence in teaching and research. They engage students in coursework and in creative research by promoting the free and friendly interchange of ideas.


Full-time, tenured, and tenure track

Greg Adkison, Ph.D., University of Kentucky: plant ecology, evolution, and conservation.

Indrani Bose, Ph.D., Duke University: Molecular biology of Cryptoccucus neoformans virulence.

Kefyn M. Catley, Ph.D., Cornell University: Science Education; Systematics and biology of spiders.

Chris Coburn, Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook: Control of gene expression.

Beverly Collins, Ph.D., Rutgers University: Plant community ecology.

James T. Costa, Ph.D., University of Georgia: evolutionary genetics and behavior of social insects, especially social Lepidoptera and Symphyta.

Laura E. DeWald, Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic State Institute and University: Ecological genetics, restoration ecology, conservation biology.

Sonja Himes, M.S., Western Carolina University, Environmental Biology lecture and lab instructor; Anatomy and Physiology lab instructor and coordinator.

Fred D. Hinson, Ph.D., (Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs) Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University: bacterial cytotechnique, antigen-antibody reactions involving Salmonella species.

Jeremy Hyman, Ph.D., University of of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Evolution, behavioral ecology, ornithology.

Thomas H. Martin, Ph.D., North Carolina State University: Population and Community Ecology of aquatic organisms, with particular emphasis on the life history and population dynamics of littoral predators and their prey, and on stream fish movement and habitat fragmentation.

Kathy Gould Mathews, Ph.D., University of Texas: Plant systematics.

Ron C. Michaelis, Ph.D., FACMG, Vanderbilt University: Psychology.

Seán P. O'Connell, Ph.D., Idaho State University: microbial ecology, diversity of bacteria and archaea in soils and waters, zymurgy.

Joseph Pechmann, Ph.D., Duke University: Population and community ecology, herpetology, wetlands ecology.

Malcolm R. (Mack) Powell, Ph.D., (Department Head) University of Georgia: elucidating host - pathogen interactions, with a focus on Chagas' disease.

Sabine J. Rundle, Ph.D., University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana: molecular biology of plant development.

Anjana Sharma, Ph.D., University of Tennessee; Biology of adventitious root formation and study of root stimulating bacterium.

Lori Seischab, Ph.D., State University of New York at Stony Brook: Molecular pathology and biophysics.

Part-time Faculty

Lorraine Maloof, M.S., Western Carolina University, Anatomy and Physiology instructor.

Karen Kandle, Ph.D., University of Georgia, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology lab instructor.

Jenny Extine M.S. (in progress), Western Carolina University, Introductory Biology lab instructor

Librarian and Liaison to Biology, Chemistry and Physics

Krista Schmidt, M.S.L.S., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Emeritus Faculty

Richard C. Bruce, Ph.D., Duke University: life histories, ecology, and evolution of plethodontid salamanders.

Frederick A. Coyle, Ph.D., Harvard University: systematics, behavior, and ecology of spiders.

Gerald Eller, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

James Horton, Ph.D., University of North Carolina: plant anatomy.

Roger H. Lumb, Ph.D., University of South Carolina: lipid biochemistry, dynamics of lipids in membranes.

Henry R. Mainwaring, Ph.D., University of College of Wales, Aberystwyth: mycology, cell biology, DNA content and cell division rates.

Allen Moore, Ph.D., University of texas at Austin: aquatic ecology.

James W. Wallace, Jr., Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin: plant biochemistry, physiology, and distribution of secondary metabolites; medicinal plants of the southern Appalachians; biological photography.

Jerry L. West, Ph.D., North Carolina State University: fishery biology, ecology of fish in the southern Appalachians.

C. Paul Wright, Ph.D., University of Utah: lethal mutants and developmental genetics of Drosophila melanogaster.

Administrative Secretary

Debbie Smith, AAS, Business Administration, Haywood Community College