About
Anthony Frye has served as Dean of the AB College of Health Sciences, Math & Technology since 2022, having joined the AB Chemistry faculty in 1998 — a 28-year continuous service record that makes him the second-longest-serving member of the current AB faculty.
A native of Beckley, West Virginia, Frye holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Vanderbilt University (1996), where he worked with the late Eugene Vogel on organic synthesis methodology, and a B.S. in Chemistry from Bethany College (WV, 1991). He completed a two-year NIH postdoctoral fellowship at the University of North Carolina before coming to AB.
As Dean he oversees five departments — Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Computer Science, and Engineering — and the AB Honors Research Program. He continues to teach the full organic-chemistry sequence every academic year, which is the prerequisite for the AB MPAS, BSN, MSAT, and pre-medical pathways. He is famous for refusing to use the smartboard ( "I came to AB in 1998 and I have not yet been convinced" ) and for grading every chemistry exam within 48 hours of administration.
Education
- 1996Ph.D., Chemistry — Vanderbilt University. Dissertation: Asymmetric Synthesis of β-Amino Acid Derivatives via Sulfoxide Auxiliaries.
- 1996–1998NIH Postdoctoral Fellow — University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- 1991B.S., Chemistry (cum laude) — Bethany College (WV). Phi Beta Kappa.
Teaching
Dean Frye teaches the full two-semester organic chemistry sequence each academic year, plus a junior-level advanced course. He has not missed a teaching semester since 1998.
- CHEM 311Organic Chemistry IThe first semester of a two-semester sequence required for all health-sciences pre-professional students. Includes a 3-hour weekly laboratory.
- CHEM 312Organic Chemistry IIContinuation of CHEM 311. Topics include spectroscopy, multistep synthesis, and biological organic chemistry.
- CHEM 415Advanced Organic Synthesis (Junior Seminar)A reading-intensive junior seminar surveying the modern literature of organic synthesis. Capped at 8 students.
Teaching, Research & Service
Frye's primary professional identity is as a teacher — specifically, as the teacher of organic chemistry, the gateway course for the AB pre-health majors. He is the recipient of the 2019 West Virginia Professor of the Year award (CASE/Carnegie), the AB Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award (2024), and four AB Faculty Awards.
His scholarly research, conducted with undergraduate co-authors over the past three decades, has focused on green-chemistry synthesis methods for natural-product analogs. He is co-author on 28 peer-reviewed papers (22 with undergraduate co-authors) and has presented at every ACS National Meeting since 1999.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- 2024"Twenty-Five Years of the AB Organic Chemistry Track Record." Journal of Chemical Education.
- 2022Co-author, "Green Synthesis of β-Amino Acid Analogs." Organic Letters.
- 2020Lead author, Pre-Health Organic Chemistry: A Pedagogical Field Guide. ACS Press.
- —28 peer-reviewed papers, 22 with AB undergraduate co-authors (1999–present).
Honors & Service
- 2024AB Lifetime Teaching Excellence Award.
- 2022Appointed Dean, College of Health Sciences, Math & Tech.
- 2019WV Professor of the Year (CASE/Carnegie Foundation).
- 2014AB Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching.
- 1998NIH Individual NRSA Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Organic chemistry is not the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper is the student who decides whether to come to office hours. My job is to be in office hours when they decide.— Dr. Anthony L. Frye
Beyond the Classroom
Frye lives in Philippi with his wife Marie (a retired Barbour County English teacher). Their two children are both AB graduates (BSN '14 and MPAS '18) and now practice in Charleston, WV. He has been a deacon at First Baptist Church of Philippi since 2003.
A serious wood-turner, his lathe in the basement has produced more than 200 pieces over thirty years; his students each receive a hand-turned pen at organic-chemistry final-exam time.