Karah Sprouse is an Assistant Professor of Business at Cumberland University. She began teaching at Cumberland in 2014 and is the Program Director for 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.

Milton Sager earned a Bachelor of Science from State University of New York (SUNY) Fredonia College (2010) with a major in mathematics. He earned a Master of Arts from MTSU (2013) in applied mathematics. His thesis was the research and development of a Switched Reluctance In-Wheel Hub Motor which was the first interdepartmental thesis between the Math and Engineering departments at MTSU. The concept was to put an electric motor inside the rear wheel of a motorcycle eliminating the gasoline engine. He began teaching at Cumberland University in August 2015. Prior to this he had taught at Middle Tennessee State University, Nashville State Community College, and Belmont University. 

Other than teaching math, his hobbies include backpacking, collecting vintage Star Wars memorabilia, and woodworking. He has consulted several small businesses such as B&B Metal Works, Paul’s Rocket Stoves, and a few cottage backpacking gear startups on the math and engineering aspects of some of their projects. He runs a men’s small group through his Church. He and his wife have two children and live in Murfreesboro.

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 research, project management, operations management and economics at universities in Maryland, Tennessee, and Virginia.  Dr. Shao is a former director of two university research centers and currently serves as founding editor of the CU Labry School’s business publication Wilson County Trends and founding program director of the school’s supply chain management curriculum.  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.  

Dr. Julie Baker Phillips is an Associate Professor of Biology and the Bobby Nichols Professorship holder at Cumberland University. She joined the faculty in fall of 2017. Prior to coming to Cumberland, she completed her undergraduate degree in mathematics at Middle Tennessee State University. After completing her baccalaureate, she stayed at MTSU to complete her masters degree in biology, studying reproductive and stress physiology of the eastern fence lizard under the supervision of Matthew Klukowski. She then moved to California to complete her doctorate in Quantitative and Systems Biology at the University of California, Merced, under the supervision of David Ardell. Her dissertation, entitled “Evolution of Eukaryotic Transfer Ribonucleic Acid|” searched for footprints of functional constraints highlighting patterns of evolutionary change in transfer RNA (tRNA) in Drosophila. Upon returning to Tennessee, she started as a postdoc in the Rokas lab at Vanderbilt University, where she focused on uncovering genes associated with variation in birth timing as well as molecular evolution of gene families associated with negative pregnancy outcomes under a grant from the March of Dimes.

Dr. Phillips is currently conducting research evolution of reproductive life history traits as well as continuing to investigate the evolutionary history of interesting gene families. She is always seeking motivated students to mentor in research. In addition to teaching and research, Dr. Phillips enjoys providing theatrical science demonstrations free of charge to area elementary schools. 

Professional and organizational affiliations include Sigma Xi, the Society for Evolutionary Medicine and Public Health, and the Tennessee Academy of Sciences.