Brent Treash has done it all at Emory & Henry College. From a full-time student to a full-time faculty member, Treash has expanded the college’s marketing opportunities, captured various campus events and trained numerous students with his gifted abilities in the world of videography.

Outside the classroom, Treash serves as the Chair for the Board of Directors for the Birthplace of Country Music, providing assistance and leadership with the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, WBCM-Radio Bristol and the Bristol Rhythm & Roots Music Festival. His passion for music comes from a lifetime of seeing live music country music live all across the country and his strong connection to Appalachian music. Some of his favorite artists include Tyler Childers, Sturgill Simpson, Ian Noe, John R. Miller, and Billy Strings.

Treash is also the advisor for the social fraternity Beta Lambda Zeta, helping young men develop into becoming excellent citizens of the world. He is an avid pickleball player and enjoys the company and love of his wife Katy, his dog Cooper, and his cat Delilah.

Community Partnerships:

Treash has made incredible community partnerships with various different organizations that allow his students to gain real-world experience inside the safety of the classroom. For example, Treash and other Media & Communication classes have worked with the UVA-Health Cancer Center to bring cancer awareness through projects such as flyers, pamphlets, advanced video production and even news stories.

In the spring of 2022, Treash and fellow MCOM professor Dr. Tracy Lauder hosted a breakout session called “Promoting Cancer Awareness in Southwest Virginia: An Emory & Henry and University of Virginia Partnership” at the First Annual Southwest Virginia/Northeast Tennessee Conference on Community Engagement and Experiential Learning held on the campus of UVA-Wise.

Professional Experience:

Before returning to his alma mater, Treash spent nearly ten years at WCYB working as a photojournalist and telling the stories of the people who inhabit Southwest Virginia, Northeast Tennessee and Western North Carolina.

Upon returning to Emory & Henry College, Treash worked as the Director of Athletic Communications for the Emory & Henry Athletics Department. He helped expand the live video streaming to nearly every sport on campus while also advancing how they live stream so that the cameras could have access to places that fans could not. Additionally, Treash not only helped successfully apply and transition from Division III to Division II but he also capitalized on the transition with the “D-Tuesday” marketing campaign, which explained what the move meant.

Treash has excelled in all his career paths earning various awards throughout his work life. In 2006, the Associated Press honored Treash with the award for the best photography in the state of Tennessee for his piece on the dwindling numbers of live bugle players at military funerals. In addition, as mentioned earlier in videography, his talent has been recognized on numerous occasions by the Public Relations Society of America and the American Advertising Federation of Southwest Virginia. Treash was even named one of the top 40 professionals under the age of 40 in the December 2013 edition of The Business Journal of the Tri-Cities.