Centre College announces 2022 promotions
The following faculty members were recently awarded promotions at the April meeting of the Centre College Board of Trustees:
Allison Connolly
Awarded Promotion to Full Professor
Allison Connolly joined Centre’s faculty in 2007 as an assistant professor of French and was named a Centre Scholar in 2011 and again in 2018. She held an NEH endowed professorship from 2014-16. She received the Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching, and in 2020 was named the Marlene and David Grissom Professor of French, and she will hold this professorship until May 2023. An exemplary teacher and scholar, Connolly also directed the Strasbourg study abroad program in 2010-2011.
Connolly’s most recent interests have moved to the influence of tea on French culture, including literature, language, and art, and she has had multiple publications on the subject in both scholarly and popular publications, including Tea Time Magazine. Her most recent book was published in 2016, Spaces of Creation: Transculturality and Feminine Expression in Francophone Literature.
She graduated summa cum laude from Hollins University with a B.A. in French and Spanish. She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. in French and Francophone literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jeffrey Heath
Awarded Promotion to Full Professor
Jeffrey Heath joined Centre’s faculty in 2007 and became associate professor of mathematics in 2013. He was named a Centre Scholar in 2011 and received the Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2019, and his courses consistently get remarkably high praise from students. His research interests include sports analytics and applied statistics in pharmacology, and he has mentored nearly 40 students in undergraduate research projects that have opened the doors to unique careers, including working with the Pittsburgh Steelers as just one example.
Heath and a student developed a statistical model that produced the appropriate dosage of vancomycin for patients with severe infections based on Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center (EMRMC) patient biometric data, dosages, and vancomycin trough levels in retrospective data. This nomogram was adopted by EMRMC, validated and dosed by over 20 pharmacists and administered by countless nurses under the direction of multiple physicians. Their nomogram was also adopted by at least one additional hospital. Many of the projects he has collaborated on at EMRMC have resulted in new pharmaceutical and/or hospital protocols. These projects are impactful and make a difference for many in our region and the more than 119,000 people that EMRMC serves. Last year he was published in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists MidYear Clinical Meeting.
Heath graduated summa cum laude from Georgetown College with a B.S. in mathematics. He earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in applied mathematics and scientific computation from the University of Maryland, where he served as a teaching fellow in the mathematics department.
John Kinkade
Awarded Promotion to Full Professor
John Kinkade joined Centre’s faculty in 2006 as a visiting assistant professor of English. In 2010, he was named a Centre Scholar.
Kinkade is a highly regarded teacher who draws out the best in his students. His courses are rigorous, but his uniquely engaging style keeps students wanting to reach his high standards. Their appreciation for improved writing skills is especially noteworthy, as is their newfound (or rediscovered) love of the humanities. In 2012 received a Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching.
He worked with the Kentucky Governor’s Scholars Program for almost two decades in multiple roles, including as faculty member, as Associate Campus Director, and, for four years, as Campus Director. Additionally, he served as the campus liaison for the Program for three summers.
Kinkade is currently the coordinator of the Brown Fellows Program at Centre College, working with the James Graham Brown Foundation and the University of Louisville to administer one of the top scholarship programs in the nation.
Kinkade has had multiple presentations and publications, and his most recent article, “Sympathetic Education in Anne of Green Gables,” appears in the Kentucky Philological Review.
He graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Centre College with degrees in English and government and earned a master’s and Ph.D. in English literature at the University of Texas at Austin.
Sarah Murray
Awarded Promotion to Full Professor
Sarah Murray joined Centre’s faculty in 2006 as an instructor of education and completed her doctorate at the University of Kentucky in 2007.
Following tenure and promotion to associate professor, Murray served as a Posse Mentor for the ninth cohort of students from Boston, Mass. She has also taught several study abroad courses based in Costa Rica, Ghana, Merida, Myanmar and Thailand. Her current scholarly interests are in comparative and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education. Murray was elected by Centre’s three-institution partnership (Centre, Rhodes, and Sewanee, funded by the Mellon Foundation) to develop and lead the first semester abroad in Ghana, launching this fall as a new addition to Centre’s permanent study abroad locations.
Murray regularly presents at conferences, including the Lilly Conference on Innovative Strategies to Advance Learning and the 21st Online Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies. Her most recent publications have been on topics such as Primary Mathematics Pedagogy at the Intersection of Education Reform, Policy, and Culture: Comparative Insights from Ghana, Singapore, and the U.S. and Supporting the Development of Information Communication Technology Education in Ghana.
These publications were co-authored with a recent graduate, Princess Allotey, now a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University.
Murray received her B.A. in mathematics from Western Kentucky University, an M.A. in mathematics education from Eastern Kentucky University, and a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction from the University of Kentucky.
John Perry
Awarded Promotion to Full Professor
John Perry is an associate professor of economics and business. He joined the Centre faculty in 2007, was named a Centre Scholar in 2010 and awarded the Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching in 2017. In 2019, Perry was appointed to and continues to serve on the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Consensus Forecasting Group.
Perry is an applied, empirical microeconomist with an active research agenda. His primary areas of expertise are labor and health economics. His most recent papers investigate the labor market impacts of medical malpractice reform on health and legal labor markets and economics education. In the past, he has written and published on topics ranging from expanded legalized gambling to college admissions, to the impact of non-physician practitioners receiving greater practice authority. In 2012, Perry won the National Association of Business Economists’ Abramson Award for his work on medical liability’s impact on the physician labor market.
Perry graduated from Centre in 2000 with a degree in economics. He worked as an actuary with Milliman USA, returning to full-time studies at the University of Kentucky where he earned an M.S. (2003) and Ph.D. (2007) in economics. While completing his Ph.D., Perry worked for the nonpartisan Legislative Research Commission of the General Assembly of Kentucky where he had research duties over health, labor, and gaming issues.
