Dr. Jenny Mason is an Associate Professor of Psychology and Cumberland University’s Dean of the Millard and J.J. Oakley School of Humanities, Education and the Arts. Dr. Mason began at Cumberland in the fall of 2014 where her teaching responsibilities have included undergraduate courses in developmental psychology, abnormal psychology, statistics for the behavioral sciences, and research methods in psychology, as well as graduate statistics courses in other programs at the university. She served as Assistant Dean for one semester and then Interim Dean for one year before being selected to her current position. Prior to arriving at Cumberland, she taught as an Adjunct Professor at Lipscomb and Belmont Universities, was a Research and Corporate Consultant across the state, and a Clinical Therapist working in both individual and group settings with a concentration on aggression and sexual violence.

A Nashville native, Dr. Mason graduated from St. Cecilia Academy and went on to attend college at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. In search for more research opportunities, she transferred to the University of Tennessee, Knoxville her junior year, where she graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Psychology. Following graduation from Auburn University with her Master’s degree in Community/Agency Psychology, Dr. Mason worked for two years as a Child Therapist before returning to school to obtain her doctoral degree in Experimental Psychology from the University of Southern Mississippi, taking nearly the full course load required for doctoral degrees in both Counseling Psychology and Experimental Psychology.

Research experiences for Dr. Mason included assisting parents of diabetic children to better understand medication and nutrition regimes in managing Type I Diabetes, developmental-based parenting training for parents of children ages 2 to 6, determining levels of change agency and diversity valuing in college students, and assessing the characteristics of those who most effectively challenge workplace bullying in order to provide useful training opportunities for new hires in a business or academic setting.

Wyatt Keener began teaching at Cumberland University as an adjunct instructor in 2018 before being appointed to a full-time position in 2019. He has previously taught at the University of Tennessee, Pellissippi State Community College, and Volunteer State Community College. Mr. Keener holds a Master of Arts degree from the University of Tennessee. He specializes in Old English Literature and First-Year Composition.

Mr. Keener’s teaching responsibilities include Composition, Sophomore Literature, and Writing Workshop courses. In addition to his work at Cumberland, Mr. Keener volunteers as a mentor with tnAchieves. His favorite aspect of teaching is helping students navigate the transition to post-secondary education. He resides in Wilson County with his wife and their dog.

Suzann Lafferty is an Assistant Professor and Program Director of Criminal Justice at Cumberland University. Prior to coming to Cumberland, Ms. Lafferty served as a Special Agent Forensic Scientist with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) for seventeen years. During this time, she was a member of the Violent Crime Response Team and processed complex crime scenes throughout the state of Tennessee, specializing in microanalysis and latent prints. As a forensic scientist in TBI’s Nashville crime laboratory, she was assigned to the latent print unit where she processed evidence for the presence of latent prints and compared submitted and developed latent prints to known impressions. Ms. Lafferty has been accepted in the state of Tennessee as an expert witness. 

During her last six years at TBI, Ms. Lafferty was assigned to the Training Division. In this capacity, she instructed in the TBI State Academy, TBI Special Agent Academy, and at the Tennessee Law Enforcement Training Academy. She additionally instructed courses for the TN Department of Children Services, TN Department of Human Services, Comptroller’s Office, and the Office of the Inspector General. She also led a multi-agency team to develop the curriculum for Just and Fair Policing, which was a mandatory four-hour course for law enforcement in Tennessee. Ms. Lafferty was also instrumental in implementing and developing TBI LEARN (Law Enforcement Access Right Now), an online platform that delivers training courses to law enforcement and other state agencies. 

During her time at TBI, she attended numerous training courses and conferences. Ms. Lafferty is a life-time member of the Tennessee Division of the International Association for Identification (TN IAI). She also previously served as president, vice-president, conference chair, and treasurer for the TN IAI. 

Prior to joining as full-time faculty, Ms. Lafferty also served as an adjunct instructor in Criminal Justice at Cumberland University for four years.

Dr. Natalie Inman joined Cumberland University in 2010 after receiving her doctorate from Vanderbilt University. Dr. Inman is the author of Brothers and Friends: Kinship in Early America (University of Georgia Press), articles in the Tennessee Historical Quarterly and Journal of East Tennessee History, as well as a chapter in Before the Volunteer State: New Thoughts on Early Tennessee History, 1690-1800 (University of Tennessee Press). Her current research is on the cultural change and power dynamics within cross-cultural marriages between American Indians and Anglo-Americans in Early America. She serves as a consultant for the American Indian Rights event within the Nashville Public Library series on Civil Rights Activism led by Dr. André Churchwell of Vanderbilt University. She has a forthcoming chapter in the book, New Directions in Family History. Dr. Inman maintains a non-profit, Haiti Heart Books, that promotes reading and celebrates Haitian culture. She is also active with organizations that support Haitian education.