First-Ever Endowed Professorship Established
| by Carol Best cbest@mnu.edu
Alums Brent (FS ’85) and Lynette (Hight, FS ’84) Barkman of Barkman Honey established the university’s first endowed professorship with a gift to support scientific scholarly activity. The Barkman family announced the endowment at President’s Honors April 13, 2018.
The endowed professorship funding will provide for expenses related to Taylor’s ongoing scholarship, research efforts and instructional support. Dr. Rion Taylor, MNU professor of biology at MNU, was selected as the first recipient of the Brent A. and B. Lynette Barkman Endowed Professorship in Science.
Taylor joined the MNU faculty in fall 2010. His research and teaching interests focus on microbiology and parasitology. Taylor earned a BS in biology from Augusta State University and a PhD in biology from Syracuse University.
“I feel incredibly blessed,” said Taylor. “I know many have worked hard to make this possible. I am thankful to the Barkman family and the university’s advancement team. I hope to represent this honor well.”
The Barkmans support the university in a variety of ways including their 2017 donation of two bee colonies containing 120,000 honey bees. With their gift and support from the Title III Department of Education Strengthening Institutions Program (SIP) grant, Taylor started the MNU Apiary, to support students’ applied learning projects in biology.
