Featured Faculty

Skip Sparkman - Faculty Member of the Decade for the Regents Online Degree Program

Director of Distance Learning/Associate Professor of Communication (Retired)

Volunteer State Community College

Skip Sparkman has been heavily involved in home campus and system-wide exploration of distance education methods and technology since the mid 1990s.

At Volunteer State, Skip was dubbed “Mr. RODP” for the amount of time and effort he invested on various task forces, ad hoc groups, and committees. Skip was a member of the five-person Faculty Training Team which prepped instructors for RODP’s fall semester launch in 2001. He is also an original and long-serving member of the RODP Curriculum Committee. As a member of this committee, he was instrumental in developing a number of programs, including the General Education Core. Skip served as a member of the SACS accreditation team and worked to establish the document center in preparation for the first system-wide approval/accreditation of the RODP.

Skip played an important role in the Laptop Project implementation, the first official linkage between RODP and K-12. This effort opened the door to high school Dual Enrollment, which is now a growing program. He has developed and continues to teach the Survey of Mass Communication and Public Speaking courses.

Skip is an original MERLOT member, has presented at various distance learning conferences, and was the recipient of Volunteer State’s Outstanding Faculty Award in 1991.

Richard Woodward - Faculty Member of the Decade for the Tennessee Technology Centers

TTC/ROCE Education Technology Coordinator

Richard Woodward, known to all as Woody, joined the Tennessee Technology Centers (TTCs) in 2003 as an instructor for the Presentation Software and Operating Systems courses. In subsequent semesters, he developed the Advanced Graphics and Client Server courses for the Computer Information Systems certificate and diploma programs. In less than two years, he added Faculty Mentor to his responsibilities and was later promoted to Mentor Coordinator with supervision for three mentors to cover statewide training needs. Initially, Woody was the only TTC Mentor responsible for performing all mentor roles and duties.

To enhance the student experience in on-ground courses offered at the TTCs, Woody championed a “hybrid” concept that gives students online access to specific lessons and course components. Because the on-ground courses are open enrollment, Woody is constantly monitoring course rosters to ensure that all students have online access at the appropriate times.

Over the course of his career, Woody has been a tool and die maker, the owner of an engineering firm and computer retail operation, and has been an examiner for the FCC. As a design engineer, Woody holds a patent (No. 4,860,413) for a BNC connector.

Debbie Green - Faculty Member of the Decade for Continuing Education

Debbie Green, Faculty Member of the Decade for Regents Online Continuing Education, was the program’s first course developer, instructor, and only faculty mentor. Since 2005, she has developed and facilitated three Certified Professional Secretary (CPS) review courses, a Certified Administrative Professional review course, and a Records Management course. These review courses prepare administrative personnel for certification and recertification exams administered by the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP). As a developer and facilitator, Ms. Green has worked closely with campus administrators at Volunteer State, Nashville State, Columbia State, and Tennessee State. Students taking Debbie’s courses have exam pass rates exceeding 95%.

Ms. Green has actively served as President of the Nashville chapter of IAAP for two years and is the author of Records Management, a textbook used at two- and four-year colleges in the U.S. and Canada.

Dr. George Meghabghab - Course Developer of the Decade

Professor of Computer Science

Roane State Community College

Dr. George Meghabghab, Course Developer of the Decade, developed three online computer science courses in 2001 which are still being taught in the RODP program today. He continually strives for improvement in his courses by utilizing developer tools in the content management system, working with content providers to design learning aids, creating learning objects, and conducting course design research. In addition to his course developer responsibilities, George has been Roane State’s RODP Faculty Mentor since 2009 and is responsible for faculty orientation, CMS tool training sessions, and course quality checks. Many faculty members who have been hesitant to use the course management system have found George to be a wonderful inspiration and source of encouragement.

George has been an active member of the ROCC Curriculum Committee for eight yearsand the Educational Technology Committee at Roane State for two years. In 2002-2003, he was the recipient of the RODP Outstanding Teacher award. He has been recognized for his accomplishments in Who’s Who in American Education and Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.

George has a long list of conference presentations, has published over a dozen journal articles, and is the author of two books, Introduction to UNIXand Search Engines, Link Analysis and User’s Web Behavior: A Unifying Web Mining Approach.

Dr. Andrea Sanders - Faculty Mentor of the Decade

Professor of English and Humanities

Chattanooga State Community College

Andrea Sanders has been mentoring her colleagues in online education since 1998. As a professor at Walters State, she became one of the first in her department to develop and teach an RODP course. This experience prepared her for the role of becoming one of the first RODP Faculty Mentors assigned to assist instructors across Tennessee.

Upon arrival at Chattanooga State in 2003, Andrea became the resource for RODP and general online education issues. As the Campus Mentor for the college, she works closely with instructors who teach developmental writing, nutrition, early childhood education, literature, environmental science, history, humanities, physical education, philosophy, and women’s studies. She coordinates staffing of all course sections, trains new faculty, and performs course quality checks. Andrea also serves as an RODP Campus Contact in a student advising capacity. She has been instrumental in growing the program at Chattanooga State to over 2,400 student enrollments per term.

In her RODP Mentor role, Andrea has trained faculty on-ground and online at many TBR institutions. She has led workshops in online course development, the pedagogy of online teaching and learning, and a variety of course management tools. Andrea has served or is currently serving on the following ROCC committees: Strategic Planning Committee, Curriculum Committee, the AA/AS/BIS Subcommittee, the Proctoring Committee, the Academic Integrity Committee, the AAS Academic Audit team, and the eLearning Initiative MERLOT App Review team.

Doug Jameson - Campus Contact of the Decade

Coordinator of Online Learning

Nashville State Community College

Doug Jameson has been a Campus Contact for the Regents Online Degree Program since the program began in 2001. As a Campus Contact, Doug assists students with the RODP admissions and registration process and advises students on an appropriate plan of study. Doug’s approachability and willingness to help makes him a popular administrator with students, colleagues, and peers alike. He often goes the “extra mile” to help online students acquire books, supplies, and other essentials. Frequently, he is the student’s voice to their instructor when language and disability barriers exist. Campus colleagues see Doug as their “go-to” for any and all ROCC requests. Peers throughout the state regard Doug as an experienced professional who handles all student-related issues with great care and efficiency.

Doug has served two appointed terms as President of the TBR Distance Education Committee and is a member of the ROCC Student Life and Integrity Committee.