Associate in a year

Carl Bishop is an experienced teacher who puts students first.

Throughout his career, Carl has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in speech, intercultural communication, the rhetoric of war, political communication, research methods, journalism, public relations, corporate governance, and assessment in higher education.

In a 24 year teaching career, Carl directed speech programs and has written speech communication textbooks and supplements that have been used at colleges and universities across the country.

According to Carl, “Public speaking is a real fear for most people. I love helping students find their voices. We all have important things to say.  I am proud to help folks find ways to say them.”

Ryan Brown is originally from Chicago, Illinois, but he has lived in North Carolina for the past twenty-seven years. He is a former student of South Piedmont Community College. He graduated with his Associates in Arts degree from South Piedmont in 2008. He then went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, which he earned in 2011. Ryan continued his education at UNCC and earned a master’s degree in English in 2013. After graduating, he started teaching at SPCC in Fall 2013. In addition to teaching, he serves as an advisor to the Poetry Club, Film Club, and Gaming Club. Ryan is also the director of the First Year Experience program.

William K. Dick  is a native of Albemarle, NC, and a graduate of Pfeiffer University (Class of 1983);  he also has an M.A. from UNC Greensboro.  He has taught at SPCC for twenty-seven years; he has also served as an adjunct at Pfeiffer University, Wingate University, Randolph Community College, and Montgomery Community College.  While his primary teaching duties are in American History and World Civilization “survey” courses, he has also taught courses in African-American History, North Carolina History, and The Second World War.    In his spare time, he sings with the Anson Singers in Wadesboro, and he also enjoys reading history books from his extensive personal library.  His areas of interest include military history, aviation history, naval history, and music history.  As the senior faculty member at SPCC, he serves as the Grand Marshal at the college’s  graduation ceremonies.  He has also served in the United States Coast Guard.

Tammy Frailly graduated from Mitchell Community College in 1990 with an Associate in Arts degree. At Mitchell, she realized that she wanted to teach college writing and literature.

 In 1992, she earned a B.A. in English at UNC Charlotte and started a Master’s degree. While at UNCC, she worked as a graduate assistant in the English Department by tutoring in their Writing Center and teaching composition. After completing an M.A. in English, she taught composition and literature for UNCC, Mitchell Community College, Rowan Cabarrus Community College, Central Piedmont Community College, Wake Technical Community College, and in 2000, South Piedmont Community College, where she has worked as full-time English instructor, Program Coordinator for the Associate in Arts program, English Department Chair, Director of the Communication Center, and Director of Academic Enrichment Programs including ePortfolio, Honors, Global Scholars of Distinction, and Service Learning.

She has taught freshman composition, creative writing, technical writing, American, British, and World Literature, developmental English, English labs, college transfer success, and humanities courses.

As a member of the High Impact Educational Practices team, she works with Dr. Diane Paige, Ryan Brown, and Stephen Silvoy to provide our students with access to engaging learning experiences that prepare them for the future.

Her mission as an educator is to connect with students and create experiences that challenge them as thinkers and learners.

Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, Jim presently lives in Indian Trail, North Carolina. Jim earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Montreat College in Montreat, NC. Since then, he has earned an M.S. degree in Guidance & Counseling (with additional graduate studies in Psychology) from the University of West Alabama and a M.A. in Religion from Reformed Theological Seminary. Jim worked in higher education as a guidance/admissions counselor for over 13 years and has been with SPCC since 2008 (full time since 2014). Prior to teaching with SPCC full time, Jim taught Psychology and Religion with the University of Phoenix for over 10 years and Psychology at Montreat College in Charlotte for a year. He is a current member of the North Carolina Community College Sociology and Psychology Association. In addition to teaching Psychology and Religion at SPCC, Jim has also served as a Master Advisor and each year leads Mindfulness Meditation seminars and a weekly meditation meeting on campus. Jim has also written on the subject of Mindfulness Meditation for the Positive Psychology Program online. Interestingly, his wife, Kristen is a teacher in the COMPASS Ed program at SPCC and his 28 year old daughter, Molly Olson is an adjunct Psychology instructor with SPCC. Teaching at South Piedmont is definitely a family affair for Jim.

Dr. Diane Paige’s primary musical training was as a trumpeter and she earned a bachelor’s degree in music education.  After college, she performed semi-professionally but soon realized that her true passion lay in the classroom, not on the stage.   As a doctoral student in musicology, she specialized in the music of the Czech lands and lived abroad in the Czech Republic working on her dissertation, a study that focused the operas of the composer Leoš Janáček.  After graduate school, Dr. Paige moved to upstate New York, where she taught music history and world music for 20 years to both music majors and non-majors.  She recently joined South Piedmont in January 2020.

Dr. Paige believes that students learn best by doing and, to that end, she led music courses abroad to Ghana, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Italy, and Anguilla – British West Indies.  In order to engage students in the course material, she uses play in the form of role-playing, historical simulations, and games. Despite what they tell you, music history is anything but boring!      

She currently serves as the Dean of Arts & Sciences, the school under which the AA in a Year program is housed. 

Originally from Chicago, IL, Steven Smith earned a Bachelor’s degree from Eastern Illinois University in Health Studies, a Master’s degree from DePaul University in Public Administration, and a Master’s Degree from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville with a concentration in sociology and sports studies, he is currently working on an Ed.D. at UNCC with a concentration in Education. While pursuing his degrees, he has worked as a personal fitness trainer, semi-professional basketball coach, manager, and as an instructor at the community college and university levels where he has taught online and in traditional class settings.

His research interests and expertise lie within the realm of education administration, political economy and policy, and sports. In his spare time, he likes to attend academic conferences that focus on social sciences or health issues, traveling to all fifty states (38 down – many to go), and exercising. His main goal is to get my students to be able to apply the things they learn in sociology courses to their jobs or majors in a way where it can enhance their workplace performance and personal lives.

For 12 years, Smith has been married to Anjella Tabor-Smith, who is also an instructor at SPCC; together they have a cute baby girl.