Mary Spratt Ph. D., Professor (Biology)
mspratt@williamwoods.edu 592-1143

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Dr. Mary Spratt is Professor of Biology at WWU, and teaches lecture and laboratory courses in General Biology I and II, Vertebrate Zoology, Genetics, and Cell and Molecular Biology. At WWU she has also taught Environmental Science, Brain and Behavior, Evolution, Human Anatomy, Human Physiology, and Introduction to Biology. She was principal of a girls' boarding school is Liberia, West Africa where she lived and taught for four years. Other previous teaching experience includes high school teaching in Minnesota, Kansas and Missouri, before becoming a faculty member at the Universities of Missouri-Kansas City, College of Arts and Sciences, and UMKC Medical School, where she worked with undergraduate medical students as well as Family Medicine residents. She also taught at Baker University and at CalPoly, San Luis Obispo in California. Her B.S. degree in Biology and English isfrom St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, her M.S. in Biological Sciences from St. Mary's in Winono, MN, and her Ph.D. in Cell Biology and Physiology (Neuroscience) is from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Spratt came to William Woods in the Fall of 1992 to bring back the WWU Biology Program, which had been discontinued in the 1980's. She has focused on the redevelopment of the Biology Major and providing modern laboratories and equipment through being awarded external grants from private agencies and from the National Science Foundation, in addition to WWU support. She is currently Principal Investigator on a second NSF Grant, which has just provided us with an automated DNA sequencer and a real-time thermal cycler, as well as other state of the art molecular biology equipment.

Her current research interest is in the field of vector-borne diseases, particularly the study of the emerging ehrlichial diseases as carried by ticks in Missouri. Six undergraduate students have participated in this research; students have presented their work at the Missouri Academy of Science, the area branch meeting of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), and the national meeting of the ASM, and have won awards for their presentations. Dr. Spratt has presented research at national meetings of the American Institute of Biological Science (AIBS), the Federation of Associated Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), the American Psychological Association, and American Psychiatric Association, the ASM, and the American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) of the Association for Experimental Biology. Dr. Spratt has been awarded the Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching; the T. A. Abbott Award, Certificate of Recognition for Faculty Excellence from the Division of Higher Education of the Disciples of Christ; and seven Faculty Enhancement Awards from the National Science Foundation. She was awarded a Summer Research Fellowship by the American Society for Engineering Education for the summer of 2001, and spent the 2001-2002 academic year on sabbatical leave in the Rickettsail Diseases Department of the Infectious Disease Directorate at the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) in the Washington, D.C. area, where she worked on the cloning and expression of a protein fragment which may be used in the development of a vaccine against another vector-borne disease, scrub typhus, of importance to the U.S. military. She also is in collaboration with the Navy at the NMRC.

When away from WWU, Dr. Spratt enjoys reading, cooking, outdoor photography, and spending time with her husband George at the cabin in northern Minnesota. The Spratts have three adult children and two grandchildren.

Jack Dudley, M.A., Professor (General Science & Geography)
jdudley@williamwoods.edu 592-4315

I am still Here! I have been here since 1964 with a brief absence from 1968-1970. I received a BS and MA in Geography from the University of Missouri at Columbia. I finished course work in geography for a PhD from the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. I am currently teaching courses in Earth Science, Geography and Human Sexuality. I offer hypnosis and other mental techniques to students with minor academic difficulties. My current research topic is the relationship between the accident rate on I-70 and topography. I am currently the faculty advisor to one of the two WWU fraternities, Pi Kappa Alpha. There will be no more three-week camping trips to the far corners of the US.....I have had enough camping to last the rest of my life. I am a volunteer fireman. The oldest one in the county at the age of 61. I am also on the Callaway Humane Society Board.

Katharine Mixter Mayne, Ph. D. , Assistant Professor of Biology
kath.mayne@williamwoods.edu 592-4361

Katharine Mixter Mayne of Fulton is a new assistant professor of biology at William Woods University. Mayne attended the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland, and completed her AB at Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where she graduated magna cum laude with high honors in biochemistry. She earned her Ph.D. in biology at the California Institute of Technology. Most recently, she was an adjunct professor of biology at WWU for a year and before that was a visiting assistant professor at Westminster College. From 1993 to 2000 she was an assistant professor at Birmingham-Southern (Ala.) College. From 1988 to 1993 she was an assistant professor at Vassar College. Mayne is an active member in her community, serving as Cub Scout den leader and cubmaster for Pack 50, committee member for Boy Scout Troop 53 and board member for Callaway County’s Habitat for Humanity. She also is a member and elder at First Presbyterian Church in Fulton, involved in AIDS ministry and a lecturer to various community groups.
She was a recipient of an Academic Research Enhancement Award from the National Institutes of Health for her research titled “New Virulence Factors from Streptococcus pneumoniae.” Mayne is a member of the American Society for Microbiology, Council on Undergraduate Research and Project Kaleidoscope.

Joe Kyger, Assistant Professor (Chemistry)
joseph.kyger@williamwoods.edu 573-592-1197

James D. Wilson, M.S., Instructor of Biology
jwilson1@williamwoods.edu 592-1637

James D. Wilson is a new instructor of biology at William Woods University. He had been an adjunct professor at WWU since retiring from the Missouri Department of Conversation, where he was an ornithologist from 1977 to 2001.

An artist, Wilson also exhibited 25 pieces of his original artwork of birds at WWU’s Gladys Woods Kemper Center for the Arts in 2001. A resident of Jefferson City, he received a B.S. in animal science, a B.S. in zoology and an M.S. in animal ecology from Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

His past teaching experience includes instructor and teaching assistant at Iowa State University and instructor at Des Moines Area Community College in Ankeny, Iowa.

As a specialist in ornithology (the study of birds) for the Missouri Department of Conversation in Jefferson City, he served as a liaison with citizens groups, presented information to the public via presentations and coordinated the restoration of rare species. Wilson is the author of “Common Birds of North America: Midwest Edition,” which was published in 2001. Another of his books, “the Atlas of the Breeding Birds in Missouri,” was published in 1992 with the Missouri Department of Conversation. His artwork was also used in the department’s leaflets, brochures and articles.