Philip Mathis

served as dean of the Middle Tennessee State University Honors College from 2004 to 2008, but his connections to the College span a four-decades-long teaching career. Highlights of his work include publication of twenty-odd research articles, several biology-related books, and receipt of local, regional, and nation awards for teaching, service, and scholarship. A biologist by training and experience, his poems have appeared in several anthologies and periodicals such as The Inkslinger and The Journal of Kentucky Studies. His poem, "Two Bits of Botanic Art," won the 1996 Silver Quill Award from the Poets' Roundtable of Arkansas.