Dr. Michael Friedline: Brain Science, Trail Runs, and Teaching from the Heart
Ask any Piedmont student who’s taken a class with Dr. Michael Friedline, and they’ll likely mention two things: how animated he gets when teaching—and how much he genuinely cares about their success.
“I get very animated teaching challenging material,” said Dr. Friedline, associate professor of Neuroscience and Psychology. “I’m not sure anyone learns anything, but they are certainly entertained.”
That humility is classic Friedline. But don’t let his self-deprecating humor fool you. Since joining Piedmont in 2016 as an adjunct professor, Dr. Friedline has left an undeniable mark on the university. He moved into a full-time role in 2018, earned promotion to associate professor in 2023, and was instrumental in launching Piedmont’s undergraduate neuroscience program that same year. He started the sports psychology minor last year.
His impact extends beyond the classroom. Dr. Friedline is currently serving his second term as Faculty Senate Chair and was named Piedmont University’s Outstanding Undergraduate Advisor in May 2025—a reflection of the trust students place in him.
“A student once told me she felt that I always set students up to succeed,” he said. “That’s probably the most meaningful feedback I’ve ever received.”
Another told him that his class challenged her “in all the right ways.”
“I thought that was pretty cool,” he said.
Dr. Friedline didn’t always know he would end up in psychology. As an undergraduate, he bounced between biology and philosophy before landing on psychology after taking a lower-level Brain and Behavior class.
“I was still uncertain until my senior year when I took three primatology classes and a graduate-level Introduction to Physiological Psychology course,” he said. “That’s when I realized my passion was for the biological side of psychology.”
That spark led him to the lab of his professor-turned-mentor, where he found his path in biopsychology. He went on to earn his M.S., Ph.D., and later a Master of Public Health from the University of Georgia.
“I don’t know if I would have found my way without that professor,” he reflected.
Today, Dr. Friedline makes it his mission to guide students in the same way.
“I tell students, ‘I don’t care what you know. I care what you do with what you know.’ I hope they leave my class feeling like they can use their knowledge in meaningful ways.”
In addition to his professional accomplishments, Dr. Friedline shares a unique connection to Piedmont: his daughter, Dr. Mary Friedline, is an assistant professor of Philosophy and Religion.
“It’s one of my great pleasures to call Mary Leah my colleague,” he said. “When she first started teaching, students would run up to me and say, very excitedly, ‘I have your daughter!’”
Dr. Friedline laughs when he recalls a moment from a travel-study course in Greece when Mary introduced herself as Friedline the Greater and jokingly dubbed her father Friedline the Lesser.
“I’m more than happy to take that title,” he said. “She is smarter, nicer, and a more thoughtful teacher than I am, which makes it even more special to work with her.”
When he’s not in the classroom or attending Faculty Senate meetings, you’re likely to find Dr. Friedline outdoors. He’s an avid long-distance runner and often hits the trails with his youngest daughter, Maggie, who lives in Asheville.
“She ran as my pacer for the last 28 miles of the Georgia Death Race, a 75-mile trail race from Vogel State Park to Amicalola Falls,” he said. “I would not have finished without her encouragement.”
In addition to running, Friedline strength trains, cooks, and reads multiple books at once—proving he’s as much about balance as he is about brain science.
And if you ask him how colleagues and students would describe him in three words?
“I don’t think you want to print those words,” he jokes.
