Ms. Natasha McMann received A.A.S. from New River Community and Technical College in West Virginia
in 2007. She then went on to obtain a B.A. Social Science from Bluefield State College in Bluefield, West
Virginia in 2008. She decided not to pursue what she originally planned to as a career and went to work.
She started a job as a tour guide at the Green Bank Observatory in Green Bank, WV and fell in love with
astronomy.

She then attended West Virginia University where she earned a B.S. in physics in 2016. She
then got into the Fisk-Vanderbilt Master’s-to-PhD Bridge Program in Nashville. She earned her M.A. in
Physics from Fisk University in 2018. She then went on to study for a PhD in Astrophysics from
Vanderbilt University. She is taking a leave of absence from Vanderbilt in order to teach at Cumberland.
Her research at Vanderbilt concerned searching for companions to millisecond pulsars in large optical
surveys.

Ms. McMann teaches physics, physical science, and astronomy.

Dr. William Tune joined Cumberland University in the Fall of 2017 and teaches courses in the Mathematics program.  Prior to this, he taught mathematics courses at Motlow State Community College and Indiana University, where he received the Rothrock Teaching Award in 2013.  His research interests are in the field of Mathematical Logic, especially as it applies to natural language, the λ-calculus, and coalgebras.  He received the Robert K. Meyer Graduate Fellowship twice for his research into creating a calculus for representing monotonic patterns in natural language.

Dr. Tune also has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from the University of Tennessee, where he was a member of the Chancellor’s Honor program and the Mathematics Honors program.  He participated in two summer undergraduate research experiences, and was selected by the Mathematics Department faculty as the 2010 Outstanding Graduate.

In addition, he has co-authored two papers: Eigenvalues and Transduction of Morphic Sequences (2014) and A Monotonicity Calculus and Its Completeness (2017).

Dr. Noa D Stroop grew up in Wilson County, attending MJCA. He later acquired a BSBA and MBA from Tennessee Tech University. Finally, he earned his DBA from Trevecca Nazarene University, concentrating in Higher Education Leadership. His work history includes almost 10 years in the food service industry and an equal amount of experience in sales, marketing, and management capacities.

Dr. Stroop is a self-proclaimed ‘goal-getter,’ having made a memory in all 50 states by 27 and earning a doctorate by 30. He is currently achieving his dream career of teaching college students leadership and life principles in his hometown while building a consulting firm specializing in small business growth acceleration//entrepreneurship and coaching his high school alma mater’s soccer team. He is an active member of Joy Church, residing in his hometown of Mount Juliet with his lovely and brilliant wife, Nicole, and corgi-pup, Winston. If he isn’t at CU, consulting, or coaching soccer, he is likely to be at a concert, on a river, starting a business, bingeing a show with his wife, or gaming.

Karah Sprouse is an Assistant Professor of Business at Cumberland University. She began teaching at Cumberland in 2014 and is the Program Director for the Associate of Arts in Business degree program as well as Project Management.

Prior to teaching in Cumberland University’s business school, she worked for companies such as LexisNexis and UL (Underwriters Laboratories) in software implementation. During that time, she became a PMP certified project manager in charge of multi-year implementations with clients such as Walgreens, United Airlines, and Harley
Davidson.

These professional experiences have culminated in her interest to research how Generation Z is impacting project and work team performance as well as how they are motivated and engaged, especially when working with colleagues
and leaders representing older generations.

Stephen P. Shao, Jr. is a college professor/administrator, researcher and technical consultant.   He joined Cumberland University as a full time faculty member in 2017 after serving as an adjunct instructor for several years.  Dr. Shao holds a Ph.D. degree in Management Science from the University of Maryland, an M.B.A. in Business Administration from Old Dominion University, and a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Virginia.  He has received additional training from courses, institutes and industry workshops at the University of Minnesota, AT&T Bell Laboratories and Bell Northern Research.

Dr. Shao has served as a faculty member and taught graduate and undergraduate courses in mathematics, computer information systems, marketing, project management, operations management and economics at universities in Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Dr. Shao is a founding director of two university research centers and currently serves as founding editor of the CU Labry School’s business publication Wilson County Trends. Before his current academic activities, Dr. Shao was employed in the telecommunications industry as a member of technical staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in Holmdel, NJ and later as Senior Manager of Strategic Network Planning for the Canadian telecom manufacturer NorTel Networks’ U.S. operations headquartered in Nashville, TN.    

Dr. Shao’s research efforts have been supported by a variety of sources, including grants received from the National Institutes of Health, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Tennessee Valley Authority, IBM Corporation, Dell Foundation, BellSouth Foundation, AOL Foundation, AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Baltimore Regional Planning Council, and others.   In addition to serving on numerous national, state and local advisory boards, Dr. Shao has authored over 150 published articles and conference presentations. Past awards and professional memberships include a AT&T Special Telecollaboration Award, Tennessee Governor’s Certificate of Appreciation, IEEE Society; National Engineering Consortium; Institute of Management Science; International Teleconferencing Association; Who’s Who in Technology Today; International Who’s Who; Tennessee Association of Independent Colleges and Schools and Omega Rho Honorary Society.