Biology faculty members are committed to excellence in teaching and research, engaging students in coursework and creative inquiries by promoting the free and friendly interchange of ideas.
Full-time, tenured, and tenure track
Malcolm R. (Mack) Powell, Ph.D., Professor and Department Head; elucidating host - pathogen interactions, with a focus on Chagas' disease
Greg Adkison, Ph.D., Instructor; environmental biology, plant biology, human biology, general biology
Indrani Bose, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; molecular biology of Cryptoccucus neoformans virulence
Kefyn M. Catley, Ph.D., Associate Professor, science education; systematics and biology of spiders
Chris Coburn, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; control of gene expression
Beverly Collins, Ph.D., Associate Professor; plant community ecology
James T. Costa, Ph.D., Director, Highlands Biological Station and H. F. and Katherine P. Robinson Professor of Biology; evolutionary genetics and behavior of social insects, especially social Lepidoptera and Symphyta
Laura E. DeWald, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; ecological genetics, restoration ecology, conservation biology
Sonja Himes, M.S., Instructor; anatomy and physiology, environmental biology
Fred D. Hinson, Ph.D., Associate Professor; Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Director Learning Communities; bacterial cytotechnique, antigen-antibody reactions involving Salmonella species.
Jeremy Hyman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; evolution, behavioral ecology, ornithology
Karen Kandl, Ph.D., Instructor; anatomy and physiology, ecology
Thomas H. Martin, Ph.D., Associate Professor; population and community ecology of aquatic organisms, with particular emphasis on the life history and population dynamics of littoral predators and their prey, and on stream fish movement and habitat fragmentation
Kathy Gould Mathews, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; plant systematics
Ron C. Michaelis, Ph.D., Instructor; biochemistry, human genetics, general biology
Seán P. O'Connell, Ph.D., Associate Professor; microbial ecology, diversity of bacteria and archaea in soils and waters, zymurgy
Joseph Pechmann, Ph.D., Associate Professor; population and community ecology, herpetology, wetlands ecology
Sabine J. Rundle, Ph.D., Associate Professor; molecular biology of plant development
Lori Seischab, Ph.D., Assistant Professor; molecular pathology and biophysics
Anjana Sharma, Ph.D., Instructor; human biology, plant biology.
Librarian and Liaison to Biology, and Chemistry and Physics
Krista Schmidt, M.S.L.S., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Emeritus Faculty
Richard C. Bruce, Ph.D., Duke University; life histories, ecology, and evolution of plethodontid salamanders
Frederick A. Coyle, Ph.D., Harvard University; systematics, behavior, and ecology of spiders.
Gerald Eller, Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
James Horton, Ph.D., University of North Carolina; plant anatomy
Roger H. Lumb, Ph.D., University of South Carolina; lipid biochemistry, dynamics of lipids in membranes
Henry R. Mainwaring, Ph.D., University of College of Wales, Aberystwyth; mycology, cell biology, DNA content and cell division rates
Allen Moore, Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; aquatic ecology
James W. Wallace, Jr., Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin; plant biochemistry, physiology, and distribution of secondary metabolites; medicinal plants of the southern Appalachians; biological photography
Jerry L. West, Ph.D., North Carolina State University; fishery biology, ecology of fish in the southern Appalachians
C. Paul Wright, Ph.D., University of Utah; lethal mutants and developmental genetics of Drosophila melanogaster
Administrative Secretary
Debbie Smith, A.A.S., Business Administration, Haywood Community College







