Ashley Quinn earned a B.A. in Secondary English education and a B.A. in Secondary mathematics education from Ferris State University in 2017. After teaching High School English at Ionia High School for one year, she decided to continue her education. Quinn received an M.A. degree in English from Grand Valley State University in 2020.

Upon entering the English Ph.D. program at Middle Tennessee State University in 2020, Quinn began teaching first year composition as a graduate assistant. She has since taught ENGL 1010: Expository Writing and ENGL 1020: Research & Argumentative Writing. Additionally, Quinn has guest lectured in film and literature courses at MTSU. 

Quinn’s Ph.D. research has centered around the reclamation of female voices within the horror film genre. However, her dissertation will explore the filmography of Mike Flanagan through a collaborative auterist lens. Outside of the classroom, Quinn is devoted to spending time with her partner and cats (Billy & Kiki). 

Lacie Carpenter is an award-winning musician and hit songwriter and is known as a dynamic music performer, author, and scholar.

Lacie actively writes and co-writes with other songwriters and authors.  She spends a lot of time mentoring others to fulfill their highest potential, performing with companies that utilize her musical and theatrical abilities. She speaks internationally on global access to music education, hit songwriting, ethnomusicology, and music psychology in Chengdu, China at the Music Cities Convention and National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Conventions 2019, 2020, and 2022.

Lacie is a psychology and music professor at three colleges within the Nashville area.

Brandon Elkins is an adjunct instructor of Criminal Justice at Cumberland University. Mr. Elkins has been a Special Agent Criminal Investigator with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) since 2013. He is currently assigned to the TBI Criminal Investigation Division in Knoxville, TN where he oversees TBI’s Cold Case Homicide Initiative.

Prior to serving with the TBI, Special Agent Elkins served as Captain of the Criminal Investigation Division for the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office in Jacksboro, TN.

He holds an Associate of Applied Science from Walters State Community College, Bachelor of Arts Degree from Cumberland College, and a Master of Science in Justice Administration from the University of the Cumberlands.

During his career, he has investigated criminal offenses of all kinds, including many homicides, and has a passion for cold case homicide investigations. Mr. Elkins has been successful in identifying five unidentified individuals that were located in East Tennessee beginning in the 1980s.

Mr. Elkins has completed hundreds of hours of law enforcement and criminal investigation related training in his career. He is a graduate of the National Forensics Academy, TBI Basic Criminal Investigation School, the TBI Director’s Academy, and is a Nationally Certified Public Manager. He also serves as an instructor for Interview and Interrogation, Cold Case Homicide Investigation, Close Quarter Command and Control, Homicide Investigations, and Crime Scene Investigations for the TBI Special Agent Academy.

He was recognized as one of the “Forty under Forty” by the LaFollette Press in 2017, the recipient of the 2017 Award for Excellence in Law Enforcement from the US Attorney’s Office in the Middle District of Tennessee, as the 2018 Special Agent of the Year by the Optimist Club of Knoxville, and the 2021 Tennessee Bureau of Investigation CID Special Agent of the Year. Mr. Elkins was featured on the Investigation Discovery show “See No Evil” in 2018 for a complex murder investigation he conducted in rural East Tennessee. He is also a member of the International Homicide Investigator’s Association.

Di Ann Callicott Perry is a native of Union City, Tennessee where she was born and raised. She is a graduate of the University of Tennessee at Martin and has done graduate work at Union University and Cumberland University.

She is a retired public-school teacher, having taught in the Union City School System, Obion County School System, and Wilson County Schools. In addition, she has taught English at UT-Martin and worked as a writing consultant in the Hortense Parrish Writing Center. Mrs. Perry has served on the Development Committee at UTM and served as chairman of the Friends of UTM. She was also a member of the SACS committee.

She is the mother of two daughters and one son. In addition, she has two grandsons. She is very active in the First Baptist Church of Nashville where she is a member of the Sanctuary Choir, Keyboards at Christmas, Encouragers, VBS, and an instructor in the Music Arts Camp.

Mrs. Perry is actively involved in various community activities, including the parent group of Mount Juliet Christian Academy, where her son attends.