Faculty & Staff - Administrators
Jeffrey Kovac, Director
Jeffrey Kovac was born in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1948, one of the few years the Indians won the World Series. In 1961 he moved with his family to Beaverton, Oregon. After graduating from Sunset High School, he attended Reed College in Portland where he majored in chemistry, played on the soccer team, worked as a resident advisor, and edited a literary magazine called No Bare Foot Dogs. He received the B.A. in chemistry in 1970 and went to Yale University to do graduate work in statistical mechanics, earning the M. Phil. in 1972 and the Ph.D. in 1974. After two years as a postdoctoral research associate at MIT he joined the faculty of the University of Tennessee where he is Professor of Chemistry and Director of Undergraduate Studies. For the past several years he has taught honors general chemistry and usually offers an interdisciplinary honors seminar during the fall semester.
Dr. Kovac's interdisciplinary scholarly interests have resulted in more than one-hundred publications in areas ranging from theoretical physics to philosophy and history, including three books. His book, The Ethical Chemist: Professionalism and Ethics in Science, published by Prentice Hall in August 2003, has been translated into Japanese. His latest book, Refusing War, Affirming Peace: A History of Civilian Public Service Camp #21 at Cascade Locks, will be published by Oregon State University Press in the fall of 2009. In 2001 he was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has been Director of the Governor's School for the Sciences and Engineering since 1994 and in 2008 became the Director of the Tennessee Science Olympiad State Tournament.
Dr. Kovac is married to Susan Davis Kovac, an attorney with the Tennessee Department of Children's Services. They have two adult children, both of whom attended Governor’s School for the Sciences. He has been an active soccer referee since 1978, officiating more than 2000 games, including many high school varsity contests. He is also interested in theater and is a member of the Board of Directors of the Actor’s Coop, a Knoxville theater company.
Rai-Lynne Broach, Administrative Assistant
Rai-Lynne Broach received a B.S. in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Tennessee in 2002. She began working for the Governor's School for the Sciences in 2003.