AUM Faculty & Staff
Directory
Adam Holley
Telecommunications Technician
Samantha Hood
Assistant Professor, AUMTeach Co-Director
Samantha Hood
Assistant Professor, AUMTeach Co-Director | College of Education
Dr. Samantha Junkin Hood is currently an Assistant Professor of Secondary Education and Co-Director of AUMTeach. She began her educational career as a Title I Mathematics Teacher, then transitioned to the district role of Professional Development and Leadership Specialist, where she collaborated with struggling high schools. She later became a 6-12 Mathematics Curriculum Specialist.
Faculty’s Expertise: Math Education, Secondary Education, Instructional Strategies, Story, and Teacher Leaders
Shannon K. Howard
Professor | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Dr. Howard loves exploring the tools people use when they write—from cuneiform to Chat GPT. Her favorite place is the first-year writing classroom, where she gets to play a part in setting the tone for the college experience. She also teaches upper-level coursework in the fields of rhetoric, literary/cultural theory, and basic writing pedagogy, among others. Dr. Howard is a proud slow runner who finds exercise necessary for stress relief. She also loves to explore strange places in Alabama that no one has found yet.
Shelly Hudson Bowden
Professor | College of Education
Dr. Shelly Hudson Bowden is a professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Technology within the College of Education, Auburn University at Montgomery. Her Ph. D. is in Early Childhood Education. She taught kindergarten for 14 years and now as a college professor, teaches Education Specialist research courses. Her research interests include mentoring and creating naturalistic classroom environments.
Faculty’s Expertise: Early Childhood Education, Mentoring, Creating Naturalistic Classroom Environments.
Brian Humphrey
Security Specialist
John Hutchison
Associate Professor | College of Sciences
Ph.D. (2007) Organic Chemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR
B.S. (2000) Chemistry, University of Southern Indiana, Evansville, IN
Dr. John Hutchison is an Associate Professor in the AUM Department of Chemistry. His area of expertise is Synthetic Organic Chemistry. His research interest lies in the synthesis of structurally interesting and/or biologically active organic molecules. Graduate and post-doctoral work involved the development of synthetic strategies towards the synthesis of eupomatilone-6, sclerophytin A, cladiell-11-ene-3,6,7-triol, antascomicin B, organometallic Ni and Pd-complexes, and CdSe nanoparticles. While at AUM his undergraduate research students have completed the total synthesis of three natural products gymnoascolide A, eutypoid A, and microperfuranone. Current undergraduate research projects involve short-syntheses of biologically active natural products and structure activity studies of antibacterial C-4 and C-5 substituted butenolides. Dr. Hutchison enjoys working with AUM students in both the classroom and laboratory. He is a good research mentor and he is an outstanding life guide for students.
Rhea Ingram
Professor | College of Business
Rhea Ingram, Ph. D., is an award-winning marketing professor at AUM. She is passionate about innovative thought and leading change. Her students engage in service-learning projects involving hands-on experiential learning, specifically with non-profit organizations.
She is a native of Troy, AL. She attended Troy University, earning her BS in Marketing and MBA. Later, she attended the University of Kentucky, where she earned her Ph. D. in Marketing. She resides in Pike Road with her spouse and has a large immediate and extended family.
Rhea is very active in serving her university, profession, and community. She was the former dean of the College of Business at AUM for eight years and currently serves on the boards of Leadership Montgomery, Family Sunshine Center, and Alabama Technology Foundation. She recently was honored as the Best of Board Volunteer of the Year by Hands On River Region (April, 2024). Rhea’s corporate experience was in sales and marketing for a manufacturing firm and an economic development organization.
Her research has appeared in the Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Research, Electronic Markets, and other journals and conference proceedings.
Katherine Irwin
Lecturer | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Katherine Irwin is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communication and Theatre and teaches media writing, audio production and sound reporting, media law and public communication. She serves as faculty advisor for The AUMnibus, has mentored students recognized at BEA and SEJC competitions, and received Alabama Press Association grants for an AUM summer outreach media camp introducing high schoolers to audio-visual storytelling.
Before teaching, she worked as a newspaper journalist, graphic designer and radio host. She’s interviewed Glen Alyn and Chris Strachwitz about Texas songster Mance Lipscomb, whose legacy she researched this past summer at the University of Texas Briscoe Center archives. She earned a Master of Arts degree in Communication from Auburn University and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from Texas A&M University.
