Seven Lee University faculty members earned promotion in rank from assistant professor to associate professor and include Drs. Caroline Maher-Boulis, Shane Griffith, Hermilo Jasso, Christie Kleinmann, Brad Moffett, Austin Patty and Lori West.

Dr. Maher-Boulis joined the Department of Natural Sciences and Mathematics in 2004 and is now an associate professor of mathematics. Prior to joining Lee, she worked as a teaching assistant in the mathematics department at Florida State, as a freshman advisor at the American University in Cairo, and as a cultural coordinator for the Zenab Kamel Hassan Foundation for Holistic Human Development. She has also worked for a TV commercial production company and as a private mathematics tutor in both Sudan and Egypt.

Dr. Maher-Boulis earned her doctorate and master’s degree from Florida State University and her bachelor’s degree from the American University in Cairo.

Dr. Griffith joined the Lee faculty in the fall of 2002 and teaches Business Statistics, Management Science, Business Finance and International Financial Management. He is also the discipline coordinator for the business administration major and the faculty sponsor for Students in Free Enterprise.

Dr. Griffith received his Doctor of Business Administration with an emphasis in Decision Sciences from Nova Southeastern University. In addition, Dr. Griffith holds a master’s in Actuarial Science from Georgia State University, a master’s in mathematics from the University of Tennessee, and a bachelor's in mathematics from Lee University.

Dr. Jasso joined Lee's business faculty in 1987 after working as a stock broker for Merrill Lynch and as a financial analyst for Metropolitan Life. A popular classroom lecturer, Dr. Jasso customarily teaches Macroenomics, Microeconomics, Investments, Social Issues in Economics and International Business. He was the first recipient of the Janet Rahamut Faculty Award and has been a guest lecturer at multiple universities in South America as well as the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a U.S. Department of Defense Institution.

Dr. Jasso earned his doctorate from the Universidad De La Empresa in Montevideo, Uruguay, his master's from Laredo State University, and his bachelor's from Lee College.

Dr. Kleinmann is an associate professor of communication, and teaches courses in public relations, sport communication, organizational communication, and print graphic design. Dr. Kleinmann has been a featured presenter at many regional, national and international research conferences and was named a Page Legacy Scholar by the Arthur W. Page Center for her research in sports social responsibility.

She received her PhD in communication from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville with an emphasis in sport public relations. She received her master’s degree in communication from Auburn University and her bachelor’s degree in English and Secondary Education from King College in Bristol, Tn.

Dr. Moffett joined Lee's Department of Vocal Music in the fall of 2006 as an assistant professor and currently serves as Lee’s director of graduate programs in music. He is the author of "The Great Fifty Days: A Devotional from Easter to Pentecost" and was a contributor to the "Ultimate Idea Book for Music Ministry."

Dr. Moffett is a member of the Church of God International Division of Discipleship Ministries Board of Directors and has served on the Church of God North Georgia State Music Committee and the Church of God National Music Advisory Committee. He earned his doctorate in worship studies from the Institute for Worship Studies in Orange Park, Fla., his master’s degree in sacred music and choral conducting from Georgia State University, and his bachelor's in music from Lee.

Dr. Patty joined the faculty of the Lee University School of Music as an assistant professor of music in the fall of 2006. Before coming to Lee, he taught as an instructor at the Eastman School of Music. Dr. Patty has delivered presentations at regional and national music theory conferences on changing meter, rhythm, form, the music of Mozart, and the music of Brahms. 

As an undergraduate in the Robert D. Clark Honors College at the University of Oregon, Dr. Patty received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities for work on his senior thesis, “Elements of Moravian Folk Music in Leos Janácek’s Second String Quartet.” He received his doctorate in music theory from the Eastman School of Music in 2006 upon completion of his doctoral dissertation, “A Theory of Pacing Scenarios with Application to Brahms’s Violin Sonatas.”

Dr. West, a native of East Tennessee, joined the Lee University faculty in the department of Natural Science and Mathematics in the fall of 2006. She earned her doctorate from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville in the Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology Department. She conducted post-doctoral research in the nutrition department at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She received her bachelor's from Maryville College.

Dr. West is actively involved in research, spending most summers working with Lee University students on various research projects which have been presented nationally. She and her colleagues are also recipients of a grant from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission to conduct a workshop entitled "Mathematics in Biotechnology" for high school biology teachers.