Alumni

John Adams ('63)

John Adams graduated from Union University in 1963 with a Bachelor of Arts in religion. He has earned Master of Divinity and Doctor of Divinity degrees from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He served as vice president for religious affairs and professor of practical Christian ministries at Union University from 1982 to 1999. While at Union, he implemented several notable programs, including the missionary-in-residence program and a lunch and learn program for senior adults that is now the annual Senior Adult Extravaganza.

John has also served the church and the Southern Baptist Convention, including pastorates at Hillcrest Avenue Baptist Church, Springfield Baptist Church, First Baptist Church in McKenzie, and 31 other congregations as interim pastor. He has served as a trustee for Union University, the Tennessee Baptist Convention, the International Mission Board, and the former Christian Education Commission of the SBC. Along with Gayle Alexander, he has coauthored "Who is in Control of the Church: A Guide to Peace and Unity within the Church."

John and his wife Robbie have been married for 64 years and now reside in McKenzie, Tennessee. They have two daughters, Kim and husband Mike Creasy of McKenzie and Tracey and husband Bob Thompson of Jackson, two granddaughters, Ashley Johnson (A.J.) and Courtney Kee and husband, Benji, and seven great-grandchildren.

Ashley Blair ('94)

Ashley Fitch Blair is chair of the communication arts department at Union University where she coordinates the public relation major and serves as the faculty advisor for the Public Relations Student Society of America, Bulldog Communication Group, Alpha Psi Omega, and Blank Slate Improv. She is chair of Union's Faculty Development Committee, an Edelman PR Fellow, and an active member of the National Communication Association.

In her 23 years at Union, Ashley has received multiple Newell Innovative Teaching Awards and was the 2015 Faculty of the Year. Ashley and her husband, fellow Union academic Chris Blair, are both Union alumni and enjoy leading the biannual UU in the UK study abroad together. Their children, Madeline and Seth, are currently both students at Union.

Ashley's research interests include organizational communication, classroom pedagogy, and strategic communication, with her most recent publication a book chapter on the challenges for new academic chairs. She fuels these academic passions with personal ones: roasting coffee, reading fantastically long novels, and occasional axe throwing.

Tony Wamble

Dr. Tony Wamble is a 1978 graduate of Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. He did his undergraduate work at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. After completing his studies at Auburn, he returned home and opened a solo practice in Henderson, Tennessee. The final 10 years of his practice career was spent in a specialty practice he developed in south Jackson. Being on the cutting edge of his profession has always been at the forefront of his efforts. Dr. Wamble came to Union after retiring from practice in 2009.

After a very active career, retirement did not meet Dr. Wamble's expectations. He was asked to assist in a gross anatomy lab at Union. God had opened a door and enabled Dr. Wamble to fulfill a dream of teaching. He was later asked to come to Union full time as a laboratory specialist and instructional staff. Dr. Wamble teaches gross anatomy, advanced anatomy and physiology and advanced pathophysiology.

Dr. Wamble has developed one of only seven plastination labs in the U.S. at Union University. He has developed procedures for colored latex infusion of arteries and veins in human cadavers, which enhance the learning experience. Dr. Wamble has recently completed development of the Plastination Learning Center in Providence Hall. This self-teaching center allows students to use plastinated specimens with QR codes to access recorded lectures of anatomy and pathology of that specimen.

Dr. Wamble says the greatest gift he has been given at Union is the opportunity to share his faith. Teaching about God's great creation, the human body, affords him many opportunities to incorporate his faith, and he is blessed to be able to end every class he teaches with prayer.

Gary A. Taylor

Gary Taylor is the president of Gary A. Taylor Investment Company in Jackson, Tennessee, and has developed approximately 3,000,000 square feet of commercial retail, office, hotel, banking, and restaurant space in his career. He has received numerous honors and awards, including the Jackson Exchange Club Man of the Year in 2007, and has served on numerous boards, including Union University's Board of Trustees. Union named him an Honorary Alumnus in 2001.

Gary is married to Lisa with five children and four grandchildren. He is a member of Englewood Baptist Church where he has taught the Adult II Sunday school class since 1992. He enjoys spending time with his family and traveling overseas where he has helped construct approximately 400 chapels in Brazil since 1990, working through the International Mission Board and Pioneer Missions. He enjoys sports, golf, and Memphis Grizzlies basketball.

Joshua B. Clarke ('07, '11, '16)

Josh Clarke is a three-time graduate of Union University, earning a Doctor of Education as his last degree in 2016. While an undergraduate student, Josh met his wife Courtney, and they married in June of 2010.

Currently, Josh serves on the executive leadership team of Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, as the missions pastor. In this role, Josh is leading efforts to help equip, mobilize, and send God's people at Shades Mountain to fulfill the Great Commission in their everyday lives whether that is in inner city Birmingham or on the other side of the globe.

Previously, Josh served as president of Doulos Partners, an international church planting organization based in Birmingham, Alabama. In this role he was able to help provide leadership in fundraising and development as God grew the ministry to open three regional offices in the United States, increase coordinated work in 190 countries and territories around the world, and see record setting years of financial giving. From 2007 to 2016, Josh dedicated his life to higher education at Union University. He started his career at Union in the newly founded School of Pharmacy where, for four years, he served as director of pharmacy outreach, providing oversight to admissions, marketing, and mission trips for the school. In 2011, Josh transitioned within the university to become the director of alumni and annual fund, where he provided oversight to the day-to-day operations of the Office of Alumni Relations and leadership to special events and fundraising.

In addition to his professional roles, Josh has used his skills and talents to benefit several non-profits. He has served on the board for Hands Up! Preschool, West Tennessee Adoption and Family Matters, and 5:9 Ministries. He is a graduate of Leadership Jackson where he went on to serve as vice chair and chair of the program. In 2015, he was named one of Jackson's Finest Young Professionals by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and tapped for the Real Men Wear Pink campaign for the American Cancer Society of Greater Birmingham.

Most recently, he co-authored "Empowering the Indigenous," a book detailing the missions strategy and story of Doulos Partners.

Josh, Courtney and their four children, Olivia, Judah, Micah, and Asher, currently reside in Hoover, Alabama.

Katie McCoy ('07)

Katie McCoy serves as director of women's ministry at Texas Baptists. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree in systematic theology from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas where she served on faculty for five years. Katie's research includes the patterns of justice for women in Old Testament laws as well as the intersection of theology, gender, and women's studies. She has co-authored a work on the doctrine of humanity as part of the "Theology for the People of God" series (B&H Academic) and is a frequent speaker and writer on women's and gender issues.

Drew Yates ('05, '10)

Drew is a Jackson native and works at FirstBank as a senior relationship manager. He is a 2001 graduate of Jackson Central-Merry High School as well as a 2005 and 2010 graduate from Union University with Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Business Administration degrees. He is also a 2008 graduate of the Southeastern School of Banking.

Drew and his wife, Allison, have two daughters (Sophie, 10, and Evie, 5) and a dog named Murphy. He loves being a "girl dad" and being involved in their lives, whether through coaching, traveling, or dance parties. He serves as a deacon, trustee, worship leader, Sunday school teacher, and community group leader at West Jackson Baptist Church.

Drew is a member of the Jackson Exchange Club, and he serves on the Board of Directors for Trinity Christian Academy and the Central Board of Directors for the Exchange Club/Carl Perkins Center for the Prevention of Child Abuse. He has served as a Board member for RIFA, Leadership University, and Jackson Exchange Club in previous years. Drew has been a member of the Red Tie Society for the American Heart Association and Real Men Wear Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness. Over his career, Drew has served on various committees for the Carl Perkins Center's largest fundraisers - The Blue Suede Dinner and Auction and as chair of the Circles of Hope Telethon.

He was recognized as one of Jackson's Finest Young Professionals in 2013 by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and was part of the Forty under 40 Class of 2015. Drew is a Jackson Chamber of Commerce emissary, a 2010 graduate of Leadership Jackson, and is a 1999 graduate of Leadership University. Drew has also served as president of Sigma Alpha Epsilon's Tennessee Eta alumni chapter. In his abundance of spare time, he also enjoys playing golf, guitar, and Alabama football.

Karen McWherter ('81)

Karen graduated from Union University with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science in 1981. She recently retired from Union after a 40-year career in the IT department. She was named Staff Member of the Year for 1998-1999 and elected to the Union University Sports Hall of Fame in 2019. She was also named to the IT Hall of Fame in 2021.

Karen serves on the Jackson and West Tennessee Tennis Association Board of Directors and is a member of West Jackson Baptist Church.

Health Care: Kimberly Holland ('99, '01)

Kimberly Holland is the director of nursing at The Jackson Clinic in Jackson, Tennessee. She earned an Associate of Science degree from Jackson State Community College in 1997, a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from Union University in 1999, a Master of Science degree in nursing administration from Union University in 2001, and a Doctor of Nursing Practice degree in administration from the University of Tennessee in 2016. Prior to her position at The Jackson Clinic, Kimberly taught nursing at Jackson State Community College and was a nurse education instructor at the Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. She also has experience as a registered nurse at JMCGH.

She has service in community outreach with Scarlett Rope through Englewood Baptist Church and has been honored with a Heroes Among Us award from the Rotary. Kimberly has been married to Brent for 23 years and is the mother of two boys, Jack and David.

Business: Stephen Moore ('84)

Stephen Moore graduated from Union University in 1984 with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree. During his time at Union, he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity where he served as chaplain and pledge trainer and was elected Student Government Association treasurer his sophomore year.

Upon graduation from Union, he joined Nationwide Insurance where he spent 11 years as an agent, financial plans advisor, and a district manager. In 1997, he founded his own independent financial planning firm, Financial Strategies Group in Franklin, Tennessee, where he helps his clients steward the resources God has entrusted to them. He is a member of Kingdom Advisors, an organization that helps Christian advisors have a process to deliver biblical advice to their clients, and he has earned the Certified Kingdom Advisor designation.

Stephen served Brentwood Baptist Church for many years as a deacon and was the 2009 chairman of the deacons.

Stephen and his wife of 30 years, Stephanie Lyn Moore, have five children and 13 grandchildren and reside in Franklin, Tennessee. Currently, they are part of a new church plant, Cultivate Church Nashville, where he leads a Bible study group. Stephen and Stephanie founded the yield2Yield Scholarship Fund in the McAfee School of Business for juniors and seniors as they believe the business marketplace is the mission field of our time. It is an essay-driven scholarship on "How I Plan to Succeed Financially without Failing Spiritually."

Stephen's next goal is to finish well by pursuing righteousness, living generously, and investing in our future generations.

Education: Chris Mathews ('95)

Dr. Christopher W. Mathews serves as the vice president of academic affairs at Crown College in St. Bonifacius, Minnesota. Prior to his role at Crown, Dr. Mathews was dean of the College of Fine Arts at Oklahoma Baptist University, chair of the Department of Music at Union University, and director of choral activities at Clemson University. In addition, he has ministered in full- and part-time capacities at churches in Missouri, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Oklahoma.

Dr. Mathews earned a Bachelor of Sacred Music degree from Union University, a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Southwest Missouri State University, and a Doctor of Music Arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Kentucky. He has written several articles and book chapters and presented at professional conferences in areas related to music, worship, and higher education. Choirs under his direction have performed at conferences and venues including Tennessee Music Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., St. Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, Ireland, St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, and at the National Choral Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Chris and his wife, Dr. Leslie Mathews ('96), have been married 28 years. After a career in public K-12 education, Leslie now serves at Crown College as the chair of the Department of Teacher Education. Together, they have three grown daughters. Ellen, her husband, Jonny, and their son, Leif, live in Oklahoma, where Ellen works in real estate marketing and Jonny is a band director. Becca teaches math in Memphis, and Natalie is completing her degree in exercise science at Crown College.

Church Ministry: Trent Bullock ('88)

Originally from Gleason, Tennessee, Trent Bullock graduated from Union University in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He has also earned a Master of Divinity degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary in 1991 and a Doctor of Ministry degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 2006. He is currently the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Paris, Tennessee, where he has served since 2009.

Trent has served in various leadership positions in the Weakley County Baptist Association, Dyer Baptist Association, and Western District Baptist Association. He has also led in Baptist denomination life, including service on the Executive Board of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, vice president of the West Tennessee Pastors Conference from 2010-2011, and president of the West Tennessee Pastors Conference from 2011-2012. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees at Union University. Trent is a 2010 graduate of Leadership Henry County and has served on and led numerous mission teams to Florida, Iowa, Arizona, Kentucky, Senegal, and Guatemala.

Trent married Lori (Winstead) Bullock in 1993, and they have two adult daughters and one grandson.

Research/Sciences: Kerstin Ure ('04)

Originally from Kansas, Kerstin graduated from Union University in 2004. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy in the lab of Dr. Jenny Hsieh at the University of Texas Southwestern in Dallas, Texas. Her thesis described how two proteins regulated the birth and development of new neurons in the adult brain in both healthy and epileptic brains. She then joined the lab of Dr. Huda Zoghbi at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, where she studied the contribution of different types of inhibitory neurons to the pathogenesis of Rett syndrome, a genetic neurodevelopment disorder mainly affecting young girls.

She now serves as the manager of the University of Ottawa Behaviour and Physiology Core in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The Core facility provides state-of-the-art equipment and protocols for behavioral testing of mouse and rat models of human disease. She regularly uses her over 10 years of behavioural testing experience to assist researchers and students from multiple universities and industry partners with developing new rodent behaviour research projects, managing and executing these highly technical projects, and analyzing, interpreting, and publishing their data. She also develops modules on animal behaviour testing for graduate and undergraduate courses and for public audiences. Her work has been published in Nature, Neuron, Nature Neuroscience, Cell, eLife, Journal of Neuroscience, and Bone and Joint Journal.

Kerstin and her husband, Jyh-Yeuan Lee, have two children, Kaihui and Minghui. She is a member of Southeast City Church in Ottawa and serves in the children's, music, and food bank ministries.

Humanities: Cody Curtis ('09)

Cody Curtis is a composer, educator, and performer who serves as assistant professor of music theory and composition at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. He also oversees and writes music for Psallos.

A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Curtis grew up immersed in the sounds of blues, jazz, and rock music. His background in popular music intersected with the world of classical music during his training in higher education. He completed three degrees in music composition, earning a Bachelor of Music from Union University, a Master of Music from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Memphis. He studied with a variety of notable composers including Ron Boud, Mark Engebretson, Alejandro Rutty, Kamran Ince, and John Baur.

Curtis' compositional voice is a blend of traditional, avant-garde, and popular idioms that adventurously explores the rich palette of musical possibilities yet maintains an accessibility for the 21st century listener. He writes music of all types, from witty instrumental reflections on poetry to solemn orchestral song cycles on the theme of exile. His works have been performed and commissioned across the U.S., including collaborations with the LCD Trio, the Inklings Conference, Grammy-award winner Peabody Southwell, Andrew Peterson, Taylor Leonhardt, Shai Linne, and Grammy-award winner Dennis Parker of Kentucky Thunder, as well as a commission for President George W. Bush.

Besides numerous choral, instrumental, and electronic works, he has also written, produced, and engineered over 100 songs since 2014. Curtis' musical language is manifested most clearly in his involvement with a group he founded, directs, and composes for called Psallos. For this eclectic mixture of vocals, chamber ensemble, rock/folk band, and electronics, Curtis writes music that teaches biblical theology, cultivates worship, and infuses an artistic quality into the contemporary Christian music scene. His musical adaptations of Romans, Hebrews, Jude, and Philippians have been lauded for their creative pairing of biblical exegesis with complex and imaginative musical expressions. The "Hebrews" album was ranked 14th on the list of Best Christian Albums of the 2010s by The Gospel Coalition.

In addition to having spent seven years working in student life, Curtis has been teaching music in higher education since 2009. He has engineered and produced six albums and is the author of the fantasy-adventure novel "The New and Better Way."

He currently lives in Jackson with his wife, Melody, and their daughter, Elowyn.

Athletics: Tommy Sadler ('76)

Tommy Sadler has spent the last 36 years working at Union University, his alma mater. A native of Jackson, Tennessee, he graduated from South Side High School before coming to Union as a student-athlete to play baseball. After starting off at Union in the fund raising and media relations office, he transitioned to a newly created position as the associate director of athletics. He worked in that role for 15 years before stepping into his current role of director of athletics in 2008.

During his time in athletics, Tommy has been awarded numerous opportunities to serve at the conference and national level. He currently serves as the Gulf South Conference baseball liaison. He has served as a voting member of the NCAA Division II South RAC Committee for two years, the D2 South RAC Committee chairman for four years, and the NCAA D2 National Baseball Championship Committee for four years. He also served as the chairman of the NCAA D2 National Baseball Championships Committee in 2019. He has served as NCAA site representative at numerous baseball conference and region tournaments. He has also been named the TranSouth Conference AD of the Year.

Tommy led Union through the transition from NAIA to NCAA over the three years of 2011-2014, earning high praise for the Union athletic department from the NCAA. He has also been instrumental in fund raising efforts for each athletic facility addition or remodel since the campus moved to its current location. This includes Fesmire Baseball and Softball fields, Fesmire Field House, Smith Memorial Soccer Complex, and four renovations to Fred Delay Gymnasium.

Tommy also pitched for the Union Bulldog baseball team, earning the Best Pitcher Award and team MVP in 1975. He pitched in 25 of the team's 33 games. Sadler held the school record for appearances in season for 37 years. He played baseball, football, and one season of basketball at South Side High School and was named Most Outstanding Pitcher in 1972.

Not-for-Profit: Felipe Araũjo ('12)

Felipe Araũjo came to Union to play soccer and received his Master of Business Administration degree with an emphasis in sports management in 2012. After Union, Felipe returned to Brazil and soon joined Minas, one of the biggest sports clubs in the country, as a sports manager. In the last decade, he also provided service for some of the biggest soccer clubs in Brazil, sharing knowledge and/or intermediating international business.

In 2014 he started his entrepreneurial journey by co-founding Next Academy, which became the biggest chain of soccer academies in Latin America. He also co-founded Tero, a startup built to democratize opportunities in soccer by using technology. With these two companies, Felipe was able to help thousands of aspiring players to earn opportunities to study and compete in their favorite sport on four different continents.

Felipe is one of the masterminds behind the project "Sports Beyond Borders" as one of the authors of a series of educational books that uses sports to improve students' social-emotional abilities. The aim of this project is to partner with state and city governments, allowing teenagers that go to public school in Brazil to have free access to these books, which leads them to learning, experimenting, and playing different sports, and improving their social and academic indicators, besides offering them opportunities for being scouted.

Arts/Media: Brad Douglass ('86)

Originally from Brownsville, Tennessee, Brad graduated from Union University in 1986 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications arts with an emphasis in radio and television communications. He began his broadcasting career at WDXI-AM in Jackson as an on-air personality in 1983 and spent 10 years in radio at various stations in West Tennessee, most notably WZDQ-FM in Jackson. He began at WBBJ in April 1994, and his first assignment was weekend weather anchor.

In 1996, the news department expanded, and Brad became a reporter/anchor for Live at 5 and Eyewitness News at 10. Recently, he served as news director in addition to being a report/anchor. Currently, Brad is serving as anchor for 7 Eyewitness News at 5:30, 6:00 and 10:00.

Brad has helped co-host many telethons for the West Tennessee Cerebral Palsy Center, The Circles of Hope telethon, and the Children's Miracle Network telethons. His news philosophy is that journalists should inform, educate, and in some cases, entertain viewers, but it is ultimately up to the viewers to decide what they think about issues affecting them.

Government/Public Service: Olivia Abernathy ('11, '12)

Olivia grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas, but has called Jackson home since 2007. Olivia earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in social work from Union University, where she met her husband Jon. They now have two daughters, Avery and Annie. Olivia went on to get licensed as a professional social worker and has accumulated a wide variety of experiences working with individuals and families in Madison County.

Olivia is now the director of Early Education Initiatives at United Way of West Tennessee where she partners with community leaders and stakeholders to build high quality early care and education systems in West Tennessee. Prior to serving in this role, Olivia was the family advocate at Hands Up! Preschool where she oversaw family engagement initiatives and helped develop a scholarship structure that allowed for the first balanced budget in the nonprofit's history. She has also served with Madison County Juvenile Court Services, worked as an academic counselor at Union University, and helped direct a support ministry to moms in the community called Baby University. She was also recently elected as a commissioner to the Madison County Commission for District 2.

Olivia's strong background in education and social work has given her a deep understanding of the challenges and hopes of families in Madison County. In 2021, she was appointed to the Jackson-Madison County School System's ethics committee. She now serves as the chair of the Jackson Equity Project Education Committee and sought out certifications in school funding advocacy and Adverse Childhood Experiences. She is deeply committed to making Madison County a better and safer place for children to grow and thrive.