Meet the Real Tom Pirtle

I am a member of a select group of people who can claim to be a “native” of Arizona. I was born in Tucson, but lived most of my pre-adult years in Mesa, Arizona.  Mesa is one of several suburbs of Phoenix--one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas of this country.  After I graduated from Dobson High School in Mesa, I entered college at Abilene Christian University.  I graduated from Abilene Christian University with a B.S. in Biology in 1990, but stayed at ACU for two more years as a Master’s student.  Dr. Pat Hernández was my major professor. My work as a Master’s student was in the area of neurophysiology. Using a neonatal mouse preparation as an experimental model we investigated how different neurotransmitters affect spinal motor rhythms. 

I moved back to Arizona following completion of the Master’s program in Biology at Abilene Christian University.  I worked at various places (including a fast food joint) before finally landing a job as a chemist for a drug testing laboratory in Tempe, Arizona.  The company I worked for in Tempe monitored the dog and horse racing industry, contracting with several states to test racing dogs and horses for performance enhancing drugs.  I worked at this laboratory for almost two years and then decided that I needed to move on to something new. 

I made a decision to continue my education as doctoral student at Arizona State University.  My area of research at Arizona State University was also in neurobiology of locomotor control.  Here, I studied the cellular mechanisms underlying locomotor speed changes in the marine mollusk, Clione limacina.

Before graduating from Arizona State University I made a decision to contact Dr. Hernandez.  I had not been in contact with anyone from ACU since I had moved back to Arizona.  That decision to tell Dr. Hernández what I had been doing the past ten years since completing my work with her set the stage for my coming to ACU as a new faculty member.  I believe that my coming to ACU is no accident and that the decision to teach at ACU is a calling from God.