BOONE, N.C. — Appalachian State University's College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) is pleased to announce the appointment of four new department chairs in the 2026-27 academic year, effective July 1, 2026.
Dr. William Hicks has been appointed chair of the Department of Government and Justice Studies, and Dr. Twila Wingrove has been appointed chair of the Department of Psychology. Additionally, Dr. Derek Martin will serve as interim chair of the Department of Geography and Planning, and Dr. Matthew Wright will serve as interim chair of the Department of Sociology.
Department of Geography and Planning
Dr. Derek Martin will serve as interim chair of the Department of Geography and Planning. A broadly trained physical geographer, he joined the department in 2014 and was promoted to full professor in 2025. Since 2018, he has also served as graduate program director for the department.
Martin earned his Ph.D. in Geography from the University of Tennessee, his M.S. in Geospatial Science (Geography/Geology) from Missouri State University, and his B.S. in Biology with a concentration in Aquatic Ecology from Lake Superior State University. His research focuses on fluvial geomorphology, hydrology, and field applications of geospatial technologies. His work spans local, regional, and international sites — including the Southern Appalachians, the Ozarks, the coastal plain of the southeastern US, the Ecuadorian Andes, and most recently southwestern Jamaica — and has been supported by external funding from the National Science Foundation and American Rivers.
He teaches courses in Physical Geography and Quantitative Methods across the undergraduate and graduate curriculum and regularly leads study abroad programs to the tropical Andes and the Caribbean.
Martin has been recognized by App State's Cratis D. Williams School of Graduate Studies for his excellence as a researcher and mentor. He received the 2023 Wachovia Environmental Research Award for his work evaluating beaver dam analogs as a stream restoration and sediment management strategy in Appalachian streams, and a 2020 Graduate Research Associate Mentor (GRAM) Award to mentor a geography graduate student studying the geomorphic impacts of the Ward's Mill Dam removal on the Watauga River.
Department of Government and Justice Studies
Dr. William Hicks has been appointed chair of the Department of Government and Justice Studies. He joined the department as an assistant professor in 2014, was promoted to full professor in 2025, and has held several leadership roles, including assistant chair (2022–25) and interim chair (2025–26).
Hicks earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Florida, his M.A. in Political Science from Florida Atlantic University, and his B.A. in Political Science from the University of Montana. His primary field of study is American government and politics, with a research focus on direct democracy, legislative processes and behavior, and political representation in the American states. His methodological interests include political science research methods and applied quantitative approaches for clustered and longitudinal data.
His recent scholarship has appeared in leading refereed journals such as Political Research Quarterly, American Politics Research, and State Politics & Policy Quarterly. He is also co‑author of The Politics of Innocence: How Wrongful Convictions Shape Public Opinion (NYU Press, 2023), which examines how wrongful convictions influence public attitudes toward the criminal legal system and the development of innocence‑related policies across the U.S.
Hicks teaches courses in State and Local Politics and Southern Politics and has previously taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate classes, including Introduction to American Government, State and Local Government, Public Opinion, Methods and Statistics, Practical Research Skills, and Scope and Methods.
He has been nominated for the CAS Richard N. Henson Outstanding Advisor Award for three consecutive years, reflecting his commitment to high‑quality academic advising and its impact on student success.
Department of Psychology
Dr. Twila Wingrove has been appointed chair of the Department of Psychology. She joined App State as an assistant professor in 2009, was promoted to full professor in 2020, and has served as assistant chair since 2024. From 2017 to 2024, she directed the department's psychological science master's program.
Wingrove brings deep expertise in experimental research design, survey development, factorial analyses, multiple regression, and structural equation modeling to her work in App State's Office of Research and Innovation, where she has served as Director of Research Design and Analysis since 2018 and will transition into a smaller role as a statistical consultant as she begins her chair appointment.
She earned her Ph.D. with a specialization in law‑psychology and her M.A. in Psychology from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, her J.D. with high distinction from the University of Nebraska College of Law, and her B.A. in Psychology from Carleton College. A developmental and legal psychologist, Wingrove focuses on how jurors make verdict judgments in sexual assault trials.
Her work has received funding from the National Science Foundation and the Association for Psychological Science, and she has earned multiple Graduate Research Associate Mentor (GRAM) Awards to mentor psychology graduate students. She currently serves on the editorial boards of Psychology, Crime & Law (since 2022) and Law & Behavior (since 2026).
Throughout her 16 years at App State, Wingrove has taught a wide range of undergraduate and graduate courses, including The Science of Wrongful Convictions, Quantitative Methods in Psychology, Developmental Psychology Lab, Kids in Court, Human Growth and Development, and Forensic Psychology.
Department of Sociology
Dr. Matthew Wright will serve as interim chair of the Department of Sociology. He joined the department as an assistant professor in 2020, was promoted to associate professor in 2025, and has held several leadership roles, including department honors coordinator (2024–25) and assistant chair (2025–26). Additionally, he has served on the department's Chair Advisory Committee since 2024.
Wright earned his Ph.D. in Sociology from Bowling Green State University and his M.A. and B.S. in Sociology from Ball State University. His research examines the implications of family change in later life, with emphasis on marriage, divorce, and cohabitation. His work — published in leading refereed journals such as the Journal of Marriage and Family, the Journal of Gerontology, Demography, and the Journal of Health and Social Behavior — explores relationship quality, well‑being, and social relationships among cohabitors, particularly those aged 50 and older. Another line of research investigates family attitudes among older adults in the U.S. and internationally and how these attitudes have shifted over time.
His teaching focuses on families and intimate relationships, aging, demography, and statistics. He has taught The Sociological Perspective, Sociology of Intimate Relationships, Sociology of Families, Gerontology, Social Statistics and Data Analysis, and Advanced General Sociology.
In 2023, Wright received the Ann Louise Page Award for Faculty Research Excellence from the Department of Sociology and a Research/Proposal Development Summer Grant from CAS to support his project on intergenerational relationships among older cohabitors.
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To learn more about CAS and its many departments spanning the humanities and the social, mathematical, and natural sciences, visit cas.appstate.edu.
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About the College of Arts and Sciences
The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Appalachian State University is home to 17 academic departments, two centers and one residential college. These units span the humanities and the social, mathematical and natural sciences. CAS aims to develop a distinctive identity built upon our university's strengths, traditions and locations. The college's values lie not only in service to the university and local community, but through inspiring, training, educating and sustaining the development of its students as global citizens. More than 6,800 student majors are enrolled in the college. As the college is also largely responsible for implementing App State's general education curriculum, it is heavily involved in the education of all students at the university, including those pursuing majors in other colleges. Learn more at cas.appstate.edu.
By Lauren Gibbs
July 1, 2026
BOONE, N.C.
Dr. Derek Martin (top left), Dr. William Hicks (top right), Dr. Twila Wingrove (bottom left), and Dr. Matthew Wright (bottom right)
Dr. Derek Martin (top left), Dr. William Hicks (top right), Dr. Twila Wingrove (bottom left), and Dr. Matthew Wright (bottom right)