AUM Faculty & Staff
Directory
Jana Sparks
Associate Professor | College of Education
Dr. Jana’ Sparks joined the faculty following eighteen years in the public school system, during which she held roles as Principal, Assistant Principal at both the elementary and middle school levels, and Coordinator of the New Teacher Mentoring Program. Dr. Sparks has taught all of the Master’s and Educational Specialists level courses that provide opportunities for future leaders and instructional leaders to enhance their personal and professional career. She currently serves as the Program Coordinator for the Instructional Leadership department.
Faculty’s Expertise: Educational Leadership, Mentoring Programs, School Improvement, Innovative Leadership, Staff Development
Alexis Sponsler
Academic Advisor- Accounting, Finance, Management, and Human Resource Management
Alexis Sponsler
Academic Advisor- Accounting, Finance, Management, and Human Resource Management | University College
Dominique Spriggs
Senior Program Associate
Alisa Stanford
Program Associate
Todd Stanton
Client Service Provider
Claudia Stein
Associate Professor | College of Sciences
PhD, Biology, University of Potsdam & Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, Germany, 2008
Diploma Biology (chemical ecology, botany), Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, 2003
Dr. Stein is Assistant Professor in Biology and Environmental Sciences specializing in plant ecology. She is broadly interested in understanding the patterns, causes and consequences of plant diversity. Her main research focusses on the mechanisms by which species interactions, such as plant-soil microbial feedbacks and plant-herbivore interactions, affect species diversity, biological invasions, and ecosystem functioning under climate change. The motivation of her work is to develop management solutions to successful restoration and conservation and to mitigate the effects of climate change. She works in a variety of systems, including grasslands, working rangelands, and woodlands.
Her recent publications include journal articles in Ecology, Journal of Ecology, Oecologia, Plant and Soil, Mycorrhiza, and Ecology and Evolution. She is a member of the Ecological Society of America (ESA) and Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ).
Aundracus Stephens
Human Resource Generalist II/III
Carmen Stephens
Student Conduct and Resource Coordinator
Tracy Stephenson
Admin. Dispatching Associate
Eric Sterling
Distinguished Research Professor, MLA Program Director | College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences
Eric Sterling earned his PhD in English (Renaissance and Eighteenth-Century Literature), with a minor in Drama and Theatre, at Indiana University. He has taught at AUM for 32 years. Dr. Sterling was the AUM English student advisor for 28 years and is Director of the Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) graduate program.
Dr. Sterling has won the following awards:
- AUM Ida Belle Young Endowed Professorship Award
- AUM Distinguished Research Professor Award
- AUM Distinguished Teaching Professor Award
- AUM Distinguished Faculty Service Award
- AUM Alumni Association Professor Award
- AUM Alumni Association Service Award
- College English Association’s Robert E. Hacke Scholar-Teacher Award (national award)
- University of Wyoming’s Amy and Eric Burger Essays in Theatre Award (national)
- Association of College English Teachers of Alabama’s Eugene Current-Garcia Award
- Association of College English Teachers of Alabama’s Calvert Scholarship Award (twice)
- Association of College English Teachers of Alabama’s Woodall Pedagogy Award (five times)
Dr. Sterling has published four books and more than 100 refereed articles in academic journals. His four books are entitled:
- Life in the Ghettos during the Holocaust
- The Movement towards Subversion in Renaissance History
- Play Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman: Dialogue.
- The Seventeenth Century Handbook
Dr. Sterling lives in Alabama with his wife. They have two children and three grandchildren.
