About Lipscomb
Dr. Tom Seals
Lipscomb University Professor
Tom teaches undergraduate Bible courses as well as Biblical ethics and textual studies. He received his BA in Biblical languages from Lipscomb in 1971, his M.T.S. degree from Wesley Seminary in Washington, D.C. in 1976, and his D. Min. degree from Memphis Theological Seminary in Memphis, TN, in 1999. In addition, Tom has completed post-doctoral work in Pentateuchal Studies and in Religion, Politics and Social Issues from Vanderbilt University. He has published Proverbs: Wisdom for All Ages, Sermon on the Mount for Modern Living, and The Quest for Spiritual Maturity. He has served as pulpit minister in Virginia, Tennessee, and Colorado, and is presently pulpit minister for the Echo Hills Church of Christ in Nashville, TN. Tom is actively involved with the Instituto Biblica Interamericano in Lima, Peru, serving as International President. Tom and his wife, Barbara, have three children: Amy, Tom Jr. (deceased), and Melanie, along with three grandchildren.
Mrs. Emily Harris
Lipscomb University Director of Campus Recreation
Emily is the Director of Campus Recreation at Lipscomb University who obtained her undergraduate degree in Health/Physical Education and master's degree in Exercise and Nutrition Science. She has a background in corporate wellness, personal training and group fitness. She incorporates a holistic approach to all recreation programming, which includes physical, mental, spiritual and emotional training. Emily’s passion is to educate and equip others with lifelong habits that will help better their health and ability to enjoy life to the fullest. Emily is a graduate of Lipscomb University and is a former Division I tennis player.
Mr. Paul Stovall
Lipscomb University Director of Gift Planning
Paul began his Lipscomb career in May 2007 after 23 years in the insurance and investment industry. He graduated from Cumberland University in Lebanon, TN in 1987 with a degree in Business Administration. He became a Certified Financial Planner practitioner in 2003 after completing the CFP® certificate program at Belmont University. He has been very active in community and charitable organizations through the years. He serves as song leader and has served as deacon and elder for the Maple Hill church of Christ in Lebanon, TN. He and his wife, Lesa, have two children. In his role as CFP® and Director of Planned Giving, Paul is able to assist the donor in making the best use of income and estate tax law while helping to further our mission to educate and "equip each graduate for leadership in the home, church and community." He may be reached by email at paul.stovall@lipscomb.edu, or by phone at (615) 966-5251 or (800) 333-4358 ext. 5251.
Mr. Cliff Tierney
Lipscomb University Associate Professor
Cliff Tierney is an Associate Professor of Art in Lipscomb University's Art Department
Dr. Joy Samuels
Lipscomb University Professor
Joy Samuels, D.Min., is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Mental Health Service Provider. Her 25 year career path is a snapshot of the many duty stations she and her spouse have travelled and lived throughout his active duty military career. Dr. Samuels received her master's degree in Counseling Psychology (Marriage, Family and Child focus) at California State University Northridge and her Master’s of Divinity and Doctor of Ministry (Spiritual Formation in Congregations) from Wesley Theological Seminary and is ordained in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). Her counseling work has included private practice and Department of Defense counseling agencies and she has served as Hospice and Hospital Chaplain. She currently teaches in the Psychology Department at Lipscomb University and works with non-profit agencies on strategic planning and conflict resolution. Dr. Samuels’ areas of experience are pre-marital, marital, grief and spiritual direction.
Mrs. Gloria Ballard
Freelance Writer
Gloria Ballard is a writer, a gardener, a voracious reader and a family-history buff.
After a long career in journalism, she left the newspaper business to work as a freelance writer. She writes a garden column that appears twice a month in The Tennessean, in Nashville, Tenn., an online garden question-and-answer column and an online garden journal. She also writes travel stories, essays, and a little fiction. She teaches Creative Writing at Watkins College of Art & Design in the school's Community Education program, and leads workshops in creative nonfiction and in travel writing.
Mrs. Elizabeth Coker
Local Historian
Native Tennessean Elizabeth Buntin Coker was born in Madison County, in the western part of our state on a farm owned by her family since the 1840s.
Mrs. Coker is a 1982 graduate of Union University, and the winner of the Tigrett Medal as outstanding graduate of her class. She won a Rotary International scholarship for graduate study abroad and chose to attend the Universidad de Complutense in Madrid and the Universidad de Salamanca in Spain, where she studied journalism and linguistics and international communications. After college, she worked for several media outlets including ESPN, Turner Broadcasting, and an area ABC and PBS affiliate television stations. She was a media coordinator for the State of Tennessee in the Department of Economic and Community Development from 1990 to 1996 and then pursued some independent documentary ventures.
She and her husband, TV cameraman Mike Coker, have traveled around the world. In 1988, she was hired as a media specialist aboard a 550 foot seagoing ship, the SS Universe which circumnavigated the globe in a program called "Semester at Sea" through the University of Pittsburg. She and her husband travelled to ten countries on a three month voyage as part of that program.
Mrs. Coker is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and other historical preservation organizations. She has been involved with various historical preservation efforts in Middle Tennessee, raising money by volunteering at Fall Fest for Belle Meade Plantation, coordinating Ladies and Children's activities for the annual Forrest Homecoming in Chapel Hill, as well as serving as a docent at several historic homes. She has worked most recently at the Mt. Olivet Lantern Tour and Heritage Days on the Courthouse Square in Murfreesboro and as a docent at Rippavilla in Spring Hill, the Carter House in Franklin and at Traveler's Rest in Nashville.
She is currently the featured host of a weekly lecture series at the Battle of Nashville Monument each Tuesday at noon. She portrays twelve ladies of historic significance from Nashville and Middle Tennessee: Granny White, Sarah Childress Polk, Mary Overton, Adelicia Acklen, Rachel Donelson Jackson, Mary Kate Patterson, Elizabeth Harding, Mary Bradford, Fannie Battle, Martha O'Brian, Antoinette Polk and Mary Montgomery Forrest.
Mr. and Mrs. Coker have two children and the family resides in Rutherford County on a farm south of Murfreesboro.
Mr. Gene Andrews
Local Historian
Gene Andrews was born in Nashville TN and attended Overton High School. He served in the Third Marine Division in Vietnam, tried out for the Cincinnati Bengals and played minor league, semi-pro football. He taught High School History for 14 years and has a family, a daughter named Katie who is a nurse at Vanderbilt and a son named Scott who is a hockey player at the University of Tennessee. He currently works for the American Le Mans Racing Series traveling with their Mobile Medical Unit. Gene has been a member of the Son’s of Confederate Veterans since 1988. He participates in re-enactments with Huwald’s Battery in Forrest’s Calvary Corps with the Confederate Army of Tennessee and he is involved with living history demonstrations around the Middle Tennessee area.
Dr. Tim Johnson
Lipscomb University Professor
B.S., University of Alabama
M.A., University of Alabama
Ph. D., University of Alabama
tim.johnson@lipscomb.edu
Dr. Tim Johnson joined the Lipscomb University faculty in 1991, and he is professor of history and chair of the department. He teaches the following courses: U.S. History I and II, National Period (1776-1850), Civil War and Reconstruction, U.S. Military History, The South in American History, Vietnam, and Senior Seminar.
Dr. Johnson’s research interests are in the Mexican War and Civil War. The Virginia Historical Society has named him an Andrew J. Mellon Research Fellow twice (1994, 2002). Recently, Yale University named him the Archibald Hanna, Jr. Research Fellow in American History for 2005, and he will be in residence at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on the Yale campus during the spring semester. Dr. Johnson received the Outstanding Teacher of the Year Award from Lipscomb in 2001, and he has been featured on C-SPAN’s BookTV (1999) and The History Channel (2003). His published works can be found at the Faculty Publications link.
Mr. Michael Shane Neal
Lipscomb Alumni and Professional Portrait Artist
Michael Shane Neal is among the most sought after commissioned portrait artists in America today.
Beginning his career as a full time artist in 1990, Neal recently completing portraits of such luminaries as Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, U.S. Senator Robert C. Byrd, and Federal Chief Judge Anthony Scirica.
Listed among 20 contemporary artists "On the Rise" in The Artist Magazine's annual survey in 2004, Neal's unique, sensitive and insightful paintings display a commitment for portraying not just the outer likeness of his subjects, but their character and personality as well. A self-described “people person” Neal enthusiastically shares his excitement for interpreting his clients on canvas in a traditional yet painterly style.
Neal's current commissions include former Majority Leader and U.S. Senator Bill Frist, Sir Malcom Calquhoun for Rossdhu House in Luss, Scotland, and Oscar award winning actor Morgan Freeman for thSince beginning a full time career as an artist at the age of 21, his dedication to quality and passion for his work has lead to the successful completion of portraits on display around the country. Of particular note was the commission to paint Senator Arthur Vandenberg for the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Vandenberg’s portrait is the first commission of its kind in nearly 50 years, and upon receiving the commission at the age of 32, Neal is among the youngest artists ever commissioned by the United States Senate.
A protégée of the nations leading artist and presidential portraitist Everett Raymond Kinstler (a second generation student of John Singer Sargent), in 2003 Neal exhibited along side Kinstler in a show entitled Realism Now: Mentors and Protégées at the Vose Galleries in Boston, Massachusetts. Neal is the Grand Prize winner of the 2001 Portrait Society of America International Portrait Competition and recently received the Catherine Lorilland Wolfe Award from the National Arts Club and the Tara Fredrix Award from the Audubon Artists of America, both for landscape. In 2004, he received the Artist’s Magazine Award of Excellence at the Oil Painters of America National Exhibition.
Receiving his B.A. from David Lipscomb University, Neal recently received the "Young Alumnus of the Year Award" from his alma mater. He has also studied at the Santa Fe Institute of Fine Arts, The Scottsdale Artist School, and the Lyme Academy of Art. Carving out time for teaching each year, Neal is a popular demonstrator and lecturer at venues around the country. His work has been featured in publications such as American Artist, International Artist, Sketchbook, and The Artist’s Magazine, Art News, Fine Art Connoisseur, and Art Collector Magazine.e Players Club in New York. Neal is an executive board member of the Portrait Society of America and Cheekwood Museum of Art. An Exhibiting Artist member of the National Arts Club, he is also a member the Allied Artists of America, the Artist Fellowship, the Cumberland Society of Painters, the Audubon Artists, the Players Club of New York, the Salmagundi Club of New York, the Copley Society of Boston, and the Lotos Club of New York.
A recent graduate of Leadership Nashville class of 2010, Neal is also a member of the Exchange Club of Nashville and an active member of his church. Neal enjoys community outreach projects, golf, plein air landscape painting, and reading with a particular interest in history. The father of two, Neal and his wife reside near his studio located minutes from downtown Nashville.
Mr. Dick Garner
ATF Special Agent
Mr. Garner began his career in 1970 as an ATF Special Agent. His 28 years of service included the position of Chief, Special Operations in Washington D.C. where he managed some of the Bureau’s most significant cases. He has been a certified Instructor for Explosives Handling (Bomb School), Arson, Illegal Organized Crime Gambling Activities and Violent Gangs Enforcement. Following his retirement in 1997, he was appointed Director of Tennessee’s Bomb and Arson Group where he served until 2003. He currently travels nationwide instructing a Weapons of Mass Destruction course funded through the Department of Homeland Security.
Mr. Starley Carr
FBI Special Agent
Mr. Carr served as a Special Agent of the FBI for twenty-eight years working an array of criminal, civil rights, terrorism and foreign counterintelligence investigations. Mr. Carr was also an instructor at the FBI Academy for new agents and Street Survival Task Force Units. He received specialized training in Foreign Counterintelligence; Espionage; Handling defectors and double agents; Collection and Preservation of Evidence at crime scenes; Team Leader of a Division’s Special Weapons and Tactics Team (SWAT); Sniper; Rappel Master; Firearms instructor; and Defensive Tactics instructor. Mr. Carr was involved in the resolution of prison riots at the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary and Talladega Alabama Federal Correctional Institution. After retiring from the Bureau, Mr. Carr worked ten years as a Compliance Officer for two hospital companies.
Dr. Kimberly C. Reed
Lipscomb University Professor
Professor of English and Foreign Languages
Office: Swang 130
615.966.5810
kimberly.reed@lipscomb.edu
B.A. Harding University
M.A., Ph.D. Vanderbilt University