The promotions were announced by Lee President Paul Conn at a recent faculty meeting.
The faculty members include: Dr. Ron Brendel, Dr. Phebe Gray, Dr. Skip Jenkins, Dr. Patricia McClung, Dr. Megan Moe, Dr. Louis Morgan, Dr. Sara Ortega, Dr. Jeff Sargent, and Xiaoqing Yu.
Brendel teaches voice for Lee’s School of Music and coordinates the graduate program in music performance. He has presented at conferences from Florida to New Zealand and England on a variety of topics related to the vocal music of Benjamin Britten. He has sung numerous opera and oratorio roles with excellent reviews, and in 2006, appeared at Carnegie Hall in Mozart’s Coronation Mass.
Brendel received his bachelor of music education from Evangel College and his master of music and doctor of musical arts from Temple University.
Gray teaches Chinese language and culture at Lee. Prior to her arrival at Lee in 2002, she taught in China and Oregon. She recently released a book called “The Three Character Classic: A Bilingual Reader of China’s ABCs.” Gray completed her doctorate in foreign language education.
She received her doctorate from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, her master of arts from the Church of God Theological Seminary, and a bachelor of arts from Lee College. Gray is also a member of the Association for Asian Studies and the Chinese Language Teacher Association.
Jenkins joined Lee in August of 2004 as assistant professor of historical theology. He obtained his Doctorate in Systematic Theology at Marquette University, two master’s degrees at Duke University Divinity School, one in general theological studies, the other with an emphasis in historical theology, and his bachelor of arts degree in Bible and theology at Lee University.
Jenkins is an active member of The Society for Pentecostal Studies, and is currently the director of the department of theology’s masters of arts in biblical and theological studies.
McClung has taught special education in Lee’s Helen DeVos College of Education since 2002. She has been recognized as teacher of the year for Bradley County Schools and by the state of Tennessee for her work with inclusive practices in special education, and she received the Excellence in Advising Award from Lee University in 2010.
McClung was awarded her doctorate in education in 2006 through the Center for Applied Research in Education at the University of East Anglia in the UK. She earned her master of education degree (special education emphasis) from Lee University and holds a bachelor of education degree from the University of London in education, religion, and philosophy.
Moe joined the Lee faculty in 2005 and teaches courses in communication, overseeing the advertising emphasis of the communication degree. She serves as the faculty advisor for the Lee Advertising Federation and coached Lee’s first National Student Advertising competition.
Moe is a two-year director for AAF-Chattanooga. She earned her doctorate from Penn State University, her master of arts from the University of California at Davis, and her bachelor of arts from Westmont College.
Morgan serves as the assistant director of Squires Library along with being an associate professor. He earned his doctorate in organizational leadership from Regent University and also received the 2009 Outstanding Graduate Award from the School of Global Leadership and Entrepreneurship at Regent.
Morgan earned his master of science in information science from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and is a 1998 graduate of Lee with a bachelor of arts in history and communication, public relations.
An ordained minister with the Church of God, Morgan is also a member of the International Leadership Association, the American Library Association, and the Tennessee Library Association where he serves on the Board of Directors.
Ortega joined the Department of English and Modern Foreign Languages in 2005 as an assistant professor of Spanish and French. She earned her doctorate in hispanic studies from the University of Puerto Rico and her doctorate in romance languages studies from the Université Stendhal, in Grenoble (France). She earned her master of arts in Spanish literature with honors and her bachelor of arts in Spanish and Latin-American literatures and civilizations with honors from the Université Stendhal in Grenoble.
Ortega has had articles published and presented at conferences about Spanish medieval literature, gender studies, and contemporary Spanish theatre.
Sargent joined the Lee faculty as an assistant professor of psychology in 2005. He is the chair of the Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Lee. Sargent earned his Bachelor of arts degree from Lee College, a master of arts in counseling from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a master of science in human and environmental sciences, and his doctorate from the University of Alabama.
Sargent is a member of the American Psychological Association, the American Counseling Association, and the American School Counselors Association.
Yu was appointed assistant professor of music at Lee’s School of Music in 2004 teaching violin, viola, and chamber music. He is the founder and director of the Lee University Chamber Strings and is now in his 19th season as concertmaster of Greenville Symphony.
Yu earned his bachelor of arts from the Beijing Central Conservatory of Music in China, a master of music from the University of South Carolina, and a master of music from the Manhattan School of Music where he studied under prominent violin professor Rafael Bronstein. Yu was featured soloist with New York’s famed classical radio station WQXR and Philadelphia’s WFLN, and has concertized all over Europe, North America and China before coming to Lee.
