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.

Jared Oakes is an English adjunct instructor teaching courses in freshman composition and sophomore literature. He began teaching at Cumberland University in 2019. A Tennessee native, he did most of his growing up in Knoxville before earning his Bachelor of Arts from Welch College and his Master of Arts from the University of Dallas. Besides Cumberland, he has also taught classes for Welch College, Trevecca Nazarene University, and Nashville State Community College.

Dr. McMurray began his professional career as a patrolman with the Bristol Tennessee Police Department in July 1989. I worked my last semester as a patrolman and graduated in December 1989 from King University. During the summer of 1991, Trevor left the BTPD and started taking accounting classes at ETSU, attending classes from 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM each day for 8 weeks. Once classes were over, he began working as an accountant at Jay Construction Company in Abingdon, Virginia. After a year or so, Mr. McMurray was promoted to Manager of Accounting and Data Systems.

After leaving Jay Construction in 1993, Trevor worked as a Staff Accountant in a CPA firm for the next two years. Mr. McMurray had previously interned with this firm while attending a college. When the CPA firm closed its doors and moved to Nashville, he found himself headed to the Virginia State Police Academy as a trooper in September 1996.

Dr. McMurray spent the next two years patrolling Appomattox and Prince Edward Counties in Central Virginia just east of Lynchburg. In 1998, he was promoted to Special Agent Accountant, and for the next three years, Dr. McMurray investigated financial crimes all over Central Virginia.

In August 2001, at 34 years old, Dr. McMurray reported to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Academy in Brunswick, Georgia. Upon graduation in February 2002, he was assigned to the IRS-CI office in the Bristol Virginia Post of Duty investigating money laundering, tax fraud, public corruption, and other financial crimes. He was promoted in June 2021 and became the Supervisory Special Agent for IRS-CI in Roanoke, Virginia, where he supervised and led six agents in all criminal financial investigations before retiring in April 2022. Dr. McMurray is now employed as a government contractor working for the United States Department of Justice US Attorney’s Office as a Financial Investigator.

Dr. McMurray has taught online classes at Southwest Virginia Community College, Virginia Western Community College, and Cumberland University.

Dr. McMurray holds a PhD in Leadership with a concentration in Justice Administration from the University of the Cumberlands from which he also holds a master’s in justice administration as well as an MBA. His graduate degrees have allowed him the opportunity to teach at the collegiate level and prepare the next generation of patrolmen/women, correction and probation officers, and investigators in the most rewarding and honorable profession known – law enforcement.

In his spare time, Dr. McMurray dons a kilt, and throws heavy objects as a Highlands Games Athlete. A world-class athlete, Dr. McMurray travels and competes all over the United States. He finished second in the Master’s World Championships in both 2019, and 2021.

Ted Edinger moved to Nashville, TN in 1997 to begin his career in Art Education. His work has gone far beyond his classroom. He has worked at the district and state level with curriculum, standards, teacher evaluation, and textbook adoption. He also was selected to represent the state of Tennessee in setting the art education cut score for the national teacher exam. Mr. Edinger has spoken at the National Art Education Association Conference in Fort Worth.

He has also been published several times in School Art Magazine (Davis Publishing). During his career he has been recognized by the Tennessee Art Education Association as the Middle Tennessee Art Educator of the Year & amp; the Elementary Art Educator of the Year. Mr. Edinger has also been recognized numerous times for his work on his art education blog, www.artwithmre.com.

Mr. Edinger lives in Lebanon, TN with his wife (also an educator) and their three children.

Dayron Deaton-Owens is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Sociology at Motlow State Community College. Dayron earned her Master’s degree in Sociology with a Graduate Certificate in Gerontology from Middle Tennessee State University. Dayron earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Middle Tennessee State University.

Dayron has been teaching full-time at Motlow since 2011. Dayron serves as an advisor for the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society and the PTK Alumni Association at Motlow. Dayron is also the Administrator for the McMinnville Tourism Development Board with the City of McMinnville. Ms. Deaton-Owens serves as the Co-chair for Leadership Warren which is a program of the McMinnville-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, where she earned the 2021 Volunteer of the Year Award. Dayron is a member of the McMinnville Young Professionals organization, and enjoys spending time with her husband, Daniel, and their fur-babies and loves to travel.