Dedicated to your success
At Murray State University you’ll find professors who are dedicated to your success. The graduate faculty are knowledgeable researchers, talented teachers, and active in their disciplines. These dedicated individuals consider it their mission to help you accomplish your academic goals. The MSU faculty will ask for your best, challenge you, and push you toward excellence. Learning from the best is important to students who want to compete in the marketplace and life. Meet several of our outstanding scholar/graduate faculty:
Bassam Atieh, Sc.D., Professor of Occupational Safety & Health
Dr. Atieh conducts research related to assessing harmful effects from hazardous material such as mercury/cadmium in the food chain, and the effects of pesticides residues from spraying or treating pets with topical solutions like Frontline. Currently he is investigating the impact on driver safety of distractions such as using cell phones, writing grocery shopping lists, putting on make-up, etc. while driving.
Terry Derting, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Science
Dr. Terry Derting's research activities integrate physiology and ecology, currently focusing on impacts of human activities on the health of wild small mammals. Working in the field and the laboratory provides her graduate students with a wide variety of stimulating experiences.
Haluk Cetin, Ph.D., Professor of Geosciences
Dr. Haluk Cetin is taking field spectra using a field spectroradiometer (350-2500 nanometer range) and a Spectralon (white reference). The field spectra were used to calibrate and process airborne and spaceborne remotely sensed data for environmental mapping applications.
C. Jeffrey Frame, Ph.D., RD, RS, Professor of Dietetics
Dr. Frame's research focus area is the delivery of nutrition services in healthcare institutions. Recent projects have focused on the relationship between calcium intake and BMI, food quality measures, and improving patient satisfaction outcomes. Dr. Frame's work is funded by the United States Department of Agriculture. He is the author of two university texts on clinical nutrition published in 2004 and 2005.
Jacqueline Hansen, Ed.D., Professor of Education
Dr. Jacqueline Hansen writes about her work, “My research topic this year is differentiating instruction (DI). This is an instructional strategy whereby teachers use varied instructional strategies and give students choices in an effort to address individual learning styles and academic needs.”
Elizabeth Holcomb, Ph.D., Professor of Nursing
Dr. Elizabeth Holcomb’s clinical and academic interests include the delivery of health care in rural areas and health promotion, particularly among disadvantaged groups She coordinates the family nurse practitioner in the graduate nursing program and practices part time as a family nurse practitioner with the Purchase District Health Department.
Martin Jacobs, Ed.D., Professor of Education
Dr. Martin Jacobs’ current research agenda includes study of curriculum development, curriculum governance, change theory, and teacher leadership.
Bommanna Loganathan, Ph.D., Professor of Chemistry
Students working in Dr. Loganathan’s laboratory are exposed to a broad range of research experience and analytical techniques including trace level (parts per billion-parts per trillion) analysis of organic and organometallic compounds in environmental and biological samples. Professor Loganathan’s research interests are focused on two major areas: assessment of toxic organic/organometallic pollutants in lake ecosystems, and development of analytic methods for emerging new environmental pullutants.
Maeve C. McCarthy, Ph.D., Professor of Mathematics
Dr. Maeve McCarthy’s main interest is inverse spectral problems. Writes Dr. McCarthy, “I use vibrational information to determine models of vibrating systems, including a wide variety of drums.”
William Mulligan , Ph.D., Professor of History
Dr. Bill Mulligan's research on the migration of copper miners from Ireland to the Michigan Copper Country in the nineteenth century, and their lives in the United States, is providing new insights into how we understand Irish migration to the United States and the formation of ethnic identity and ethnic communities. The experience of these skilled miners and their families who went to the western end of Lake Superior is dramatically different from that of their less skilled countrymen and women who remained in east coast cities.
Pearl Payne, Ph.D., Professor of Communication Disorders
Dr. Payne’s research of language development as it relates to development in young children who stutter is put into practice at the University’s Speech and Hearing Center in the Speech Language Pathology Graduate program. Her most recent publication is a chapter in a medical school textbook on stuttering for future pediatricians.
Dan Wann, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology
Dr. Daniel Wann’s research on the psychology of sport fans has gained international attention and he has been hired as a consultant to work with numerous sport organizations, including the NCAA, PGA, and Taylor Made Sports. His work has been featured on ESPN, CNN, and in Sports Illustrated.
David White, Ph.D., Professor, Biological Science
Dr. David White is Director of the Hancock Biological Station, Coordinator of the Center for Reservoir Research and the Water Science Masters Program, and Murray State’s first Distinguished Researcher. His primary research area is aquatic ecology. He presently has four Master’s and one Ph.D. student and has served on more than 70 graduate committees.
Mary Lou Yeatts Ed.D., Professor of School Administration
Mary Lou Yeatts, Associate Professor, Educational Studies, Leadership and Counseling in the College of Education since August, 2001. She teaches Policy and Ethics for School Administrators, Community and School Relations, The School Principal, Practicum and Seminar in Educational Leadership and Topics in Technology for School Personnel. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia with an MA in Curriculum and Instruction, and holds an Ed.D. in Educational Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). She was a teacher and a principal before joining Murray State University.
