HUNTINGDON COLLEGE
News Release
October 27, 2020
For more information, contact:
Su Ofe, (334) 833-4515; news@hawks.huntingdon.edu
Huntingdon Announces Faculty Chemistry Hire
Montgomery, Ala.—Huntingdon College has announced that Dr. James Patterson will join the Huntingdon faculty as assistant professor of chemistry beginning January 1, 2021. Dr. Tom Perrin, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of faculty, said “Dr. Patterson’s credentials are impeccable. More importantly, he demonstrated during his interview that his desire, above all, is to mentor students and to assist them with undergraduate research. Because he is joining a faculty that is known for exemplary teaching, the willingness to mentor students is of particular importance in our hiring process. We look forward to welcoming Dr. Patterson to Huntingdon.”
“Because Dr. Patterson attended Carleton College, he knows and has experienced the special atmosphere of a small private college—the focus on each student as an individual learner,” said Huntingdon President J. Cameron West. “He also has taught for both large and medium-sized universities and worked with students at varying levels of learning, undergraduates through doctoral candidates. We are thrilled that he will bring this breadth of knowledge to his teaching at Huntingdon.”
Dr. Patterson earned his Bachelor of Arts in chemistry at Carleton College in Northfield, Minnesota, and his doctorate of philosophy in chemistry at the University of California-Santa Barbara. He served as a teaching assistant and research assistant at UC-SB. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, he joined the UAB faculty as an assistant professor of chemistry, where he has been teaching since 2004. Dr. Patterson has taught molecular orbital theory and general and introductory chemistry to thousands of undergraduates and has trained doctoral and graduate-level students in performing equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. He also has researched intrinsically disordered proteins and their interactions in heavy metals, small molecules, and proteins using quantum chemistry and molecular dynamics. He has published his research extensively.
Huntingdon College is a coeducational residential liberal arts college of the United Methodist Church.
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