SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Southern Conference named its All-Southern Conference Faculty and Staff Team on Wednesday, with two representatives each from all 10 member schools being recognized by the league. Wofford's Dr. Dan Mathewson and Curt McPhail were among those honored.
While the selections were left up to each institution's discretion, the recipients all shared the common characteristics of demonstrated service to the institution and contributions to campus life and the local community. Faculty members selected have demonstrated strong contributions to teaching, research and/or service, while staff members are being recognized for bringing out the best in others and creating conditions for success.
The faculty and staff recipients include: The Citadel's Dr. James Bezjian and Stanton Adams; ETSU's Dr. Joe D. Moore and Jay Seehorn; Furman's Dr. Virginia W. Gerde and Elaine Baker; Mercer's Dr. Sybil Keesbury and Myra Cameron; UNC Greensboro's Tom Martinek and John Chapman; Samford's Dr. Emily Hynds and Theresa Kanute; Chattanooga's Dr. Debbie Ingram and Terry Denniston; VMI's Col. Jack B. "Jay" Johnson Jr. and Col. Sarah L. Jones; Western Carolina's Dr. Channa De Silva and Dr. Lowell K. Davis; and Wofford's Dr. Dan Mathewson and Curt McPhail.
Each member of the All-SoCon Faculty and Staff Team will be presented a plaque and honored at a home basketball game at his or her institution. Wofford will hold the recognition on February 15, 2020.
Dr. Dan Mathewson is an Associate Professor of Religion and the Director of New Faculty Teaching Initiatives in Wofford's Center for Innovation and Learning. Mathewson, who has been teaching full-time at Wofford since 2005, has served as Cohort Leader for the First-Year Seminar; Lead Facilitator of the General Education Reform Steering Committee; and Co-Coordinator of "Re:Thinking Education," a yearlong campus-wide conversation about the liberal arts. Mathewson's teaching generally centers on contemporary expressions of religion and spirituality. His primary research area over the last decade has been an exploration of the intersection of religion, professional wrestling and Southern culture. With a group of international scholars, Mathewson recently co-founded the Professional Wrestling Studies Association and was elected to the Executive Board as PWSA Website Editor and Managing Editor of the public scholarship e-magazine, PWSA Ringside. He also helped launch the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal, the first peer-reviewed academic journal devoted exclusively to this topic. Mathewson's other research interests center on the scholarship of teaching and learning with a particular focus on student increases in intercultural competence in non-study away contexts.
Curt McPhail is a 1996 graduate of Wofford College with a Bachelor of Arts in business economics and sociology. Wofford's 2012 Young Alumni of the Year and a two-time winner of the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, McPhail serves as the Executive Director of The Space, Wofford's career development and entrepreneurship center, since 2016. At the Space, McPhail leads a team focused on preparing and launching students into jobs, grad school, or into businesses and nonprofits started while at Wofford. Prior to working at Wofford, McPhail worked for the Northside Development Corporation working on the "most ambitious redevelopment opportunity in Spartanburg's history – Spartanburg's Northside." McPhail is the founder of globalbike, an international nonprofit using the transforming power of bicycles to connect women and resources.
