Associate professor of biology Dr. Austin Shull ’11 pictured with wife, PC controller Libby Shull, holding his Distinguished Young Alumni Award from Augusta University.

Presbyterian College alumnus and associate professor of biology Dr. Austin Shull ’11 was honored this year by his graduate school alma mater.

The Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University presented Shull with its Distinguished Young Alumni Award for his early career in higher education and cancer research after graduating from the school in 2016 with a Ph.D. in biochemistry and cancer biology.

“I was completely honored to receive this award,” Shull said. “It was quite humbling that the university believes the work that I’ve been a part of and contribute to and help advance meant enough to them to recognize.”

Shull’s collaborative research with colleagues from other institutions and his own undergraduate students has kept him connected to his graduate alma mater. During a sabbatical from PC, Shull worked with the Georgia Cancer Center at Augusta University conducting educational outreach programs in the Augusta community on breast cancer research and health disparity projects with university faculty.

PC’s emphasis on empowering students to challenge beliefs and test assumptions prevailed during his own experiences as a student and continue to drive his professional development as a lifelong learner and mentor.

“I really loved my experience at Augusta University because they were doing incredibly high-impact research,” Shull said. “I was able to work with some phenomenal scientists and mentors. But at the same token, relatively speaking, it was still a very intimate research institution. It was very collaborative. A lot of the relationships I built there were reminiscent of my time at PC and the preparation I received to do good work.”

Shull said both experiences profoundly influence his relationship with PC students and how he invites them to collaborate.

“I learned from my research mentors to teach by doing,” he said. “I discovered that a lot of what I was learning did not come within a formal classroom but by standing side-by-side with them in a conversation. Building relationships and trust allows me to do my most effective work and allows students to do the same. We’re all trying to advance the mission of the college of teaching and developing students. And a lot of times that does not always look like the classical viewpoint that we have as far as a teacher in front of the classroom and a student sitting at a desk.”

In his new role as the inaugural director of PC’s Center for Inquiry, Research, And Scholarship (CIRAS), Shull is now expanding his advocacy for students and faculty to collaborate and search for answers to the world’s many mysteries and issues.

“My goal is to encourage our students and faculty to enhance the learning experience by investigating and figuring out methods to answer their questions,” Shull said. “Research and liberal learning are incredibly intertwined. A liberal arts education and the approaches one takes to research learning are one and the same, so the better we can do that at Presbyterian College, the better we’re going to serve our academic mission.”