Jeffrey French, PhD

“We search through the noise for signal, and we learn to ask better questions of ourselves and each other. I call the signal God and search my life for clues that betray the location of the eternal presence...God is present in the love between us...in the way we meet the world." – Bono

• Teaching & Education

  You will learn with me when taking courses in Genetics, Ecology, and related intro courses

  Degrees

  • BA, Furman University
  • MS, University of South Carolina
  • PhD, University of South Carolina
• Professional Experience

  My experience includes working in graduate advising and higher education grant management at the University of South Carolina in Columbia for five years before moving to full-time undergrad teaching and administration in 2007.

  Besides my full-time years at NGU, I have adjunct experience in the full range of SC higher education institutions: Midlands Tech (first instructor position in 2000), USC, Furman, and Wofford.

• Selected Publications
  • French, JO, Diebold EN, Long JA, Seibels RE, Sawyer RH, and Glenn TC. 1998. Mitochondrial DNA variations of the Cinereous Vulture, Aegypius monachus. Proc. of 1st Annual Conservation Research Consortium, June 1998, Columbia, SC, 252-262.
  • Glenn TC, Thompson JE, Ballard BM, Roberson JA, and French JO. 2002. Mitochondrial DNA variation among wintering midcontinent Gulf Coast sandhill cranes. Journal of Wildlife Management 66(2): 339-348.
  • Hughes AL, and French JO. 2007. Homologous recombination and the pattern of nucleotide substitution in Ehrlichia ruminantium. Gene 387(1-2): 31-37.
• Selected Awards Received
  • 2016 – Council for Christian Colleges & Universities Leadership Development Institute participant
  • 2014 – “You Make a Difference Award” presented by the Office of Admissions, NGU
• My Network

  I will gladly involve you in my circle that includes:

  • Riverbanks Zoo & Garden, Columbia, SC
  • Au Sable Institute, Mancelona, MI
• My Story

  A friend told me in middle school that I’d either be a preacher or a teacher. I dabbled in literature, psychology, religion, and computers before settling on biology. I tried to fund my way through grad school by working as a zookeeper, but much of the credit goes to my wife for keeping our family afloat. My son’s interest is in medicine, but mine was always broader, in natural systems and the fundamental rules of life that keep those systems going. As a result, I straddled the subdisciplines of molecular biology and ecology in grad school, and I continue to jump back and forth between the lowest and the highest levels of organization in my teaching and research. My approach to administration is to equip faculty and students to explore that whole range of natural science ideas together as students prepare for their own professions.

  Favorite Course to Teach:

  Ecology. The trips allow me to show students what made me choose to be a biologist.

• Related Links

  Explore more resources related to this field of study:

  • Greenville Zoo
  • NCBI Genome