About the School of Arts & Sciences

Meet Our Alumni

• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/670-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,250,250/6034_Micah_Morris.rev.1551713188.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,250,250/6034_Micah_Morris.rev.1551713188.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,250,250/6034_Micah_Morris.rev.1551713188.jpg" alt="E&H's Micah Morris, Class of 2009" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="250" data-max-h="250" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/670-"><p> Micah Morris (’09) Fighting Apathy</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Micah Morris is a political and nonprofit professional with over 10 years experience raising money, coaching teams, and running programs to create a tangible difference in people’s lives.</p><p> A native of the Chattanooga, Tennessee, region Micah focused on social change work and community organizing while attending college at Emory & Henry.</p><p> After three transformational years at Planned Parenthood Federation of America on their Political & Advocacy teams, Micah struck out on the campaign trail and has worked in fundraising, operations, and field under Democratic standard bearers such as Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, Hillary for America campaign manager Robby Mook, and California US Senator Kamala Harris.</p><p> Micah was recently selected to be in the 2019 Virginia Cohort chosen by the <a href="https://www.newleaderscouncil.org/about" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">New Leaders  Council (NLC)</a>. She is one of only 20 chosen for the honor in the Commonwealth.</p><p> Micah currently works remotely in Richmond, Virginia as an Account Executive for NGP VAN / EveryAction, a software platform for progressive nonprofits and Democratic campaigns. When not working, you can find her drinking IPAs, boxing, or hiking in the Shenandoahs with her husband and dog.</p><p> Micah says one of the best lessons she has learned in life is that “Everyone can get together and make a difference – you don’t have to be an elected official.”</p><p> She says at Emory & Henry she learned the value of social capital. “Everyone has the right AND the responsibility to make our communities better. You don’t have to be mayor; everyone can do this.”</p><p> Her career started at the Bristol Crisis Center, where she quickly began to see that progress was dependent upon finding civic leaders and elected representatives who share your values for the community. So she reluctantly dipped her toe into the waters of politics by joining a phone bank for Creigh Deeds. </p><p> Micah’s success as a sales executive is anchored in a belief of a stronger world through good leadership. “When it comes to politics, so much is about how we see the world. I learned early on that it doesn’t work to try to tell people their point of view is wrong – or that other people needed to convert to my way of thinking. The best way to move forward is to talk about the kind of world we all wish to live in. Once we start talking about values, we’ll find common ground.”</p><p> Interestingly, one of Micah’s first glimpses of the power of a strong community came through the campus health center at Emory & Henry. “When I was growing up in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, my family didn’t have consistent access to health care – and we used to joke, ‘Don’t get sick this month!’ At Emory & Henry I had the opportunity for preventative health care and that was a new experience. Once I saw that I could take control of my health, I understood that I could control other parts of my life, as well.” This became part of her motivation for helping get leaders elected who could shepherd good legislation and block laws that didn’t promote a strong community.</p><p> Micah was a first generation college student and says her family was thrilled to see her get a college education. Micah has taken her opportunity for an education and created opportunities for others through stronger communities. She likes to tell people that if they’re not happy with how things are in government to get busy. “I find that the hardest thing to fight is apathy. If you’re unhappy with things, don’t mourn: organize!”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/670-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2055-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.webp 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.webp 3x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/png" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.png 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.png 3x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.png" alt="Nicole Powell, E&H Class of 2016, in a photo taken during her zoo internship in St. Louis." width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.png 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,24,1139,1161/4101_Nicole.rev.1525361616.png 3x" data-max-w="1139" data-max-h="1137" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2055-"><p> Nicole Powell’s life is a like a zoo …and she loves it that way!</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Nicole Powell has a nose for career success; but when it comes to stinky barns, she can’t smell a thing.</p><p> Nicole is currently a “Swing Keeper” at the Memphis Zoo – which means she gets to move around from one area to another depending on where she’s needed. One day she might be bottle-feeding baby goats, and another day she’s helping  African Red River Hogs take a dip in the swimming pool. Nicole says they have young visitors who won’t go into some of the places where she works because they say it smells so bad; “but honestly, I smell nothing!”</p><p> Nicole was a Biology major (Chemistry minor), and she’s known for a long time this is the kind of work she wanted to do. At the end of her junior year at Emory & Henry she did an unpaid internship at the St. Louis Zoo in Missouri.  But zoo work doesn’t come easily.</p><p> She has sent out 130 job applications. After graduation, she completed additional unpaid internships in Columbus, Ohio, and New Orleans. Nicole says most descriptions for job openings ask for several years of paid experience but sometimes they’ll accept unpaid work because they expect up-and-comers to do that. “Three internships is average, but some do five.”</p><p> She’s happy to have this job in Memphis, even if it is only a part-time position. She understands that this is how it works: you get in the system and then you have the chance to move around to the best zoos and bigger jobs. When the chance arises, “I have to take the opportunity.”</p><p> Nicole admits to wishing she could get back a bit closer to her home state of North Carolina, but she is willing to do what she needs to do in order to get closer to a fulltime, fulfilling career in zoo work, especially if it’s a chance to work with giraffes. “I’d move anywhere for that job!”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/2055-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/155-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.jpg" alt="Dr. Ken Noe poses with one of his Auburn grad students, Peter Thomas (E&H, '08). In addition to the flag of his home state in the bac..." width="345" height="225" data-max-w="450" data-max-h="490" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/155-"><p> Dr. Ken Noe ’79 Writing Book on the Weather’s Impact on the American Civil War</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> When Dr. Ken Noe (’79) was growing up in Elliston he remembers that weather played a huge role in the work done on his grandfather’s farm. “If rain was coming, we dropped everything else to put up hay.” He thinks this experience planted a seed in the back of his mind about the impactful influence of weather. Later, his interest in weather grew when he took a geography course at Emory & Henry with Dr. Ed Bingham.</p><p> But even he could never have predicted that he would now be writing a two-volume book on weather’s impact on the American Civil War.</p><p> Ken is the Draughon Professor of Southern History at Auburn University. He is the author or editor of seven books, and he has published scads of articles, essays and chapters about the Civil War. He is a decorated history professor serving at West Georgia College before heading to Auburn. He was a Pulitzer Prize entrant and won the 2003 Kentucky Governor’s award, the 2002 Peter Seaborg Book Award for Civil War Non-fiction, and the 1997 Tennessee History Book Award. He has won several teaching awards, has served as president of the Alabama Historical Association, and is serving on the Advisory Board of the Society of Civil War Historians. He has even been a consultant for the NBC series <em>Who Do You Think You Are? </em></p><p> But in all his prolific writing and research and publishing even he is surprised that his biggest and most industrious work to-date will be about weather.  “Meteorologists are still trying to work out why the weather during the Civil War was so unusual. They dealt with incredibly snowy and rainy winters and droughts in the summer that affected Southern food supplies. There were dust storms, flooded rivers, and only two hurricanes. It had a profound effect on many campaigns.”</p><p> His research on weather has already taken several years, and he still has a few years left before he publishes. And even he was amazed to realize just how much information he had accumulated. “Very little has been written about Civil War environmental history. It is only now becoming part of the conversation about Civil War history.”  </p><p> Ken says that even in a field of study like Civil War history where so many things have been written, there is still new area for research and a lot of topics that haven’t been covered.  He has grad students asking new questions about the role of religion, the prison industries during the war, the role of friendship, and one young man, who is an E&H grad, is looking into camp life.</p><p> Even though we have just passed the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War, Ken points out that this conflict still has implications for current events; and he marvels that most conversations over the past 18 months have quickly moved from history to current topics like the Confederate flag, U.S. prisons, and race relations. He says his field has gotten so tangled with politics that there is a declining interest in Civil War history among the public. “But this event still has much to teach us. It was a great turning point in American History and opened up questions that are still being answered about equality of humankind, the status of women, states’ rights. I don’t know how we can answer all these questions unless we go back to the beginning.” He consistently stresses to his students the importance of going back to primary source information rather than depending on how the stories have been told and passed down.</p><p> Ken actually majored in education at Emory & Henry and still remembers panicking when he realized he didn’t want to be a junior high school teacher. “I had a lot of electives leftover and started taking history classes late in my college experience. I realized what I wanted to be was a historian and teach at a higher level.” A conversation with Patsi Trollinger (’72) reassured him that most alumni do not stick to work within their major. And a conversation with Dr. Gene Rasor in the history department led to a phone call which ended with Dr. Rasor telling Ken he had an interview with the history department at Virginia Tech.</p><p> The rest, as they say, is history.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/155-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2451-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1024,1365/5644_David_Bledsoe.rev.1541708682.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1024,1365/5644_David_Bledsoe.rev.1541708682.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1024,1365/5644_David_Bledsoe.rev.1541708682.jpg" alt="David Bledsoe, Emory & Henry Class of 2014." width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1024,1365/5644_David_Bledsoe.rev.1541708682.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1024" data-max-h="1365" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2451-"><p> David Bledsoe started making headlines before he ever graduated from law school.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> David Bledsoe is an associate attorney for Breeding Henry Baysan PC that dedicates his practice to a variety of legal fields including criminal defense, business litigation, personal injury, and general civil litigation.</p><p> Mr. Bledsoe is originally from Big Stone Gap Virginia and subsequently received his undergraduate degree from Emory & Henry College located in Emory, Virginia, where he majored in Business Management and subsequently graduated Magna Cum Laude.</p><p> After obtaining his undergraduate degree, Mr. Bledsoe attended law school at Lincoln Memorial University where he graduated 6^th in his class with the honorable distinction of Cum Laude. Mr. Bledsoe was awarded the Justice Gary R. Wade Award in his second year in law school, which is given every year to one law student who demonstrates outstanding academic performance and an unwavering dedication to the community. Mr. Bledsoe was also awarded the Lincoln Memorial University Lincoln Lawyer Award, a faculty-voted award given to three students annually who demonstrate strength in legal writing, oral argument, and leadership. Mr. Bledsoe was also a member of the Duncan School of Law Mock Trial Team, where he competed as both a witness and as an attorney in both civil and criminal cases. Mr. Bledsoe received a CALI award in his Federal Income Taxation class, an award given to the student with the highest overall grade in a class for that semester.</p><p> David has worked in a variety of areas and has achieved a variety of notable accomplishments since he began working in the legal field. One of which was clerking for his father, where he successfully assisted in writing an appellate brief to the Virginia Court of Appeals, which subsequently received a favorable reversal on an underlying felony conviction. He has interned for the Washington County Commonwealth Attorney’s office in Virginia, clerked for the Honorable Judge Tim Irwin of Knox County Juvenile Court, worked as a research assistant to various law professors in academic writing, and clerked for other esteemed criminal defense attorneys in Knoxville.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/2451-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/3-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/8_alumni-kates-taekuan.rev.1490105709.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/3-"><p> Taequan Kates (’16) Learns Legal Lessons While Interning With Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Summer breaks are meant to be exactly that: a break from the stress and hard work of the academic year. However, rising Emory & Henry College senior Taequan Kates has a tough time slowing down.</p><p> Kates who grew up in Dewitt, Va. spent much of the summer in Richmond completing an internship at the Office of Attorney General Mark Herring.</p><p> Kates was tasked with editing <em>Virginia Rules</em>, a book containing state laws to ensure it lined up with the current code statutes. His daily responsibilities found him working closely with attorneys in the office reviewing laws relevant to current cases.</p><h2> Work on Campus</h2><p> When not in the courtroom, Kates was making plans for his next big job – student body president. Kates along with fellow rising senior and student body vice-president Katie Beth Bordwine (who was also in Richmond, Va. for an internship) has been focused on a list of goals for the academic year.</p><p> Their first consideration: the feasibility of building an outdoor basketball court on campus.</p><p> “I’ve spoken with several colleges asking them about their program and trying to figure out a way to incorporate an outdoor court into our campus, and I hope this is something we can bring to Emory & Henry,” Kates said.</p><p> In his remaining free time, Kates spent time working as a counselor for at-risk children in his community. It’s a cause close to his heart, and he said he wants these children to become better citizens so they can grow up with the opportunities to chase their dreams.</p><p> “I’ve done a lot this summer, but I know all the hard work was worth it.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/3-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/701-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,411,441/351_22190fabaa5cf5891f3c9f97021a2c3b_f7834.rev.1500384865.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,411,441/351_22190fabaa5cf5891f3c9f97021a2c3b_f7834.rev.1500384865.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,411,441/351_22190fabaa5cf5891f3c9f97021a2c3b_f7834.rev.1500384865.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="411" data-max-h="441" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/701-"><p> Salad Days </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Will Wadlington (’08) recently shared a little tidbit:</p><p> “You may like to know I just accepted a new position as Lettuce Breeder, fyi.”</p><p> How could we not have follow up questions??</p><p> He recently defended his Ph. D. work in Plant Biology at the University of Illinois, and his current research is on spinach sex chromosomes. Working at Everglades Research & Education Center, Dr. Wadlington says they are doing research to determine how plants control whether they are male or female. “We don’t really know how plants do that, so I’m researching how spinach (my specialty) and also papaya use sex chromosomes to have male or female plants.  It’s basic research to figure out how botany works.”</p><p> Turns out there’s an advantage to being able to change the sex of spinach: “I developed a variety of spinach that makes YY spinach (not XX not XY but with two Y’s).  Breeders use those for seed production to make the most pollen.”</p><p> His next post-doc job will be working with lettuce. In particular, he’s looking at making lettuce more disease-resistant.  “Lettuce in the field gets pathogens sometimes and it can ruin a crop or make them ugly.  We are finding varieties that are resistant to common diseases so we can then breed naturally occurring resistance genes into major lines.”</p><p> The hope is for less food waste and higher quality produce – which is great for growers, but also for the environment. “Disease-resistant lettuce requires fewer chemical sprays when cultivated, so it’s cheaper to produce, better for the environment, and great for the people that work in the fields and eat salads.”</p><p> Let-us all hope for Will’s success.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/701-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/704-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/354_25f3d785419f0eb611f94ba17fd1703d_f1833.rev.1500386495.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/354_25f3d785419f0eb611f94ba17fd1703d_f1833.rev.1500386495.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,690,390/354_25f3d785419f0eb611f94ba17fd1703d_f1833.rev.1500386495.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="690" data-max-h="390" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/704-"><p> Rachel Dunne Finds Unlikely Path in Alaska </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> When Rachel Dunne (’04) was a student at E&H, she pretty much set the woods on fire. Lately, she’s been busy putting out fires. This is truly a young woman who knows how to fire up a Liberal Arts degree. </p><p> This is all a corny way of saying that Rachel has been fighting wildland fires in Alaska.</p><p> A double major in Public Policy & Community Service and Psychology, Rachel was a top notch student with a heart intent on making a difference. And it comes as no surprise that she is finding such a creative means of making her way in the world.  She wanted to pursue work in the area of disaster relief response after graduate school, but needed job experience.  She spent 10 months in the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps doing a lot of work in the Gulf region of the U.S. working on Katrina recovery efforts.  She also got sent to a very small town in Arizona where her team was assigned to assistance with brush clearing to prevent wildfires.  Her superiors suggested she come back after AmeriCorps for a job.</p><p> While she only intended to do the job for a year, she stayed for two and a half years honing her skills not only in firefighting and prevention but also in coordinating fire response, GIS, HAZMAT, EMT, and learned how to drive a water tender (please Google this to see how impressive this feat is).</p><p> After Arizona she found an opportunity to continue this good work and to see some of the country’s most beautiful land. She considered Big Sky country, but ended up in Alaska because of their unique challenges in fire logistics. She served as a fire logistics dispatcher for the Alaska Fire Service, which is part of the Bureau of Land Management. In this role, she helped get the people, supplies, and aircraft out to remote areas of Alaska for wildland fires.</p><p> As is wont to happen, while in Alaska, Rachel ran smack into another Emory & Henry person! Daniel Griggs (’07) was there doing similar work and putting his geography background to good use. Giving Dr. John Morgan all the credit for getting him the right start, Daniel says he finds working for the fire service very “real” in the sense that there is “immediate need for accurate geospatial information.”  He ended up in Alaska because he had always wanted to visit the state, so when he got a job offer in Anchorage he jumped at the chance.</p><p> Rachel says folks in her position work seasonally—putting in 6 months of work and then filling the other half of the year with school, other work, travel, or personal projects and hobbies.  While the job sounds pretty cushy, it turns out those six months are pretty demanding.  On a fire assignment, dispatchers and firefighters alike usually work 14 straight days of up to 16 hour shifts.  In many ways, it’s more of a lifestyle than a job.</p><p> So what happens during those long days? This season, Daniel got sent out to the field as a GIS specialist, providing custom real-time maps of fires for the incident decision-makers.  Rachel moved to another dispatch center as an aircraft dispatcher, where she finds the helicopters and planes that support both fires and scientists in interior Alaska and the lower 48.  “It’s not every day you get to say, ‘Yeah, I ordered a jumbo jet at work today’,” says Rachel.  “The best part of the job is the constant challenge—you never know who is going to call or what they are going to need, and it’s great to be able to say, ‘Sure, I can make that happen,’ even when it means getting people or supplies into parts of Alaska your average tourist will never even think about visiting.”</p><p> With these new job demands, Rachel is less “fire fighter” and more “travel agent” – booking flights into all corners of the state.  Whether they are VIPs touring Alaska before making recommendations on energy or land management policy, scientists researching animal habitats and archeological sites, or firefighters protecting Alaska’s assets, everybody knows they’ll have to fly to get to their Alaskan destination.  “I may miss the smell of smoke and getting to do things with my own hands, but what I can do with a phone and a radio allows those professionals to make the difference, and I’m proud to be part of their support network.”</p><p> While Daniel will stay on with Alaska Fire Service in Fairbanks for the near future, Rachel plans to move on after this season ends.  “What’s next? I don’t know, but if you’d told me I was going to be a firefighter or live in Alaska while I was at Emory, I’d have laughed.  I just keep believing in the hope that people can do amazing things when we are willing to take on a challenge, even if it means leaving our comfort zones behind.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/704-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/16-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/25_3352ba2f2869555aca164cdd562e5444_f47341.rev.1490710878.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/25_3352ba2f2869555aca164cdd562e5444_f47341.rev.1490710878.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/25_3352ba2f2869555aca164cdd562e5444_f47341.rev.1490710878.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/25_3352ba2f2869555aca164cdd562e5444_f47341.rev.1490710878.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/16-"><p> Hannah Taylor (’15) Exploring Gender Stereotypes</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Hannah Taylor, a member of the E&H Class of 2015 from Atkins, Va. majors in psychology. Using her pet rabbit in an animal therapy program she seeks to help mentally challenged individuals and residents of nursing homes.</p><p> “They love getting to see him (the rabbit), and it warms my heart to see their reactions and how much they enjoy visiting with him. This is one of my passions, because it amazes me how people can connect with animals, and he is always able to put a smile on their face, even if they are having a bad day.”</p><p> Hannah Taylor, a member of the E&H Class of 2015 from Atkins, Va. majors in psychology. Using her pet rabbit in an animal therapy program she seeks to help mentally challenged individuals and residents of nursing homes. “They love getting to see him (the rabbit), and it warms my heart to see their reactions and how much they enjoy visiting with him. This is one of my passions, because it amazes me how people can connect with animals, and he is always able to put a smile on their face, even if they are having a bad day.”</p><p> Taylor says about Emory & Henry: “Emory & Henry is known for its quality education, which is ranked nationally, and when you attend Emory, you know you are getting a great education that you will always take with you. The professors at Emory are also ranked nationally; they do not hand you anything, you really have to earn it. With that being said, even though the professors are tough, they are always there for you and to help you in anyway they can. When you graduate from Emory & Henry College, it is something you can be proud of because you know you have worked very hard for your degree and your achievements. “</p><p> As a student at Emory & Henry, Taylor is currently completing her second internship through Abingdon Health and Rehabilitation in occupational therapy. Her first internship was completed last fall with Highlands Community Services at the Stepping Stones location where she worked primarily with bipolar and schizophrenic individuals. Last spring, Taylor and fellow classmate, Amy Wilson, completed a research project involving gender stereotypes and careers. Although the research did not bear significant findings, Taylor plans to expand her sample group and explore a wider range of demographics.</p><blockquote> Emory & Henry inspired me to become a psychology major, and I am very thankful for that. I love it, and couldn’t imagine majoring in anything else. Emory & Henry also has helped me gain professional contacts through internships. Being able to go out and intern at a future place of work is amazing; you are able to gain valuable experience while getting class credit. It has been an amazing experience for me, and I will always be thankful for it.</blockquote></div><a href="/live/profiles/16-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/13-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/13-"><p> Sydney England (’14) Receives Prestigious Fellowship Opportunity </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> She received the Armbrister Memorial Scholarship for freshmen honors and the Outstanding Senior Award from the Sociology Department. She was on the dean’s list all eight semesters while a student at Emory & Henry, and she graduated summa cum laude with college honors. She also was inducted into several national honor societies.</p><p> Is it any wonder that Sydney England is one of only two students throughout the country selected to receive the Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellowship, providing a two-year period of work and study in philanthropy and charitable work?</p><p> England, a 2014 graduate of Emory & Henry College, was nominated by the college, which is among many liberal arts colleges and universities eligible for support from the Jessie DuPont Fund. England was selected from a large field of applicants.</p><blockquote> Dr. Joe Lane brought the fellowship opportunity to my attention. I don’t know if I ever fully set my sights on the fellowship because it always seemed like a long shot.Sydney EnglandClass of 2014</blockquote><p> The Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellowship program, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., is designed to provide practical experience for students interested in careers with nonprofit, faith-based, or philanthropic organizations. As a fellow, England is exposed to foundation governance, grant making, governmental oversight, and industry events.</p><p> “Responsibilities shift daily, but primarily it’s a lot of research and grant management. The fellows are really there to support senior staffers with some of their project management and report preparation,” explained England.</p><p> “This fellowship will afford me an acute insight into the full life-cycle of a grant, from initial proposal to grant management and re-evaluation. It’s very rare to have the opportunity to see this grant maturation within a wide array of nonprofit organizations at my age and experience level,” she said.</p><p> “I’m really just hoping to develop a strong grant writing and nonprofit management portfolio and to engage in meaningful personal research during my two years at the Fund.”</p><p> England is among the fifth class of fellows at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Some of their predecessors work with the Peace Corps, religious organizations, and community-based nonprofits.</p><p> Her accomplishments at Emory & Henry are equally impressive.</p><p> The alumna doubled majored in sociology and history with a minor in women’s studies. “When I entered Emory & Henry, I was the conventional high-performing student who was primarily concerned with grades. If nothing else, E&H taught me that if you aren’t imagining beyond your goals, you aren’t giving yourself enough latitude to grow.”</p><p> While a student at Emory & Henry, England was a research assistant, and she also gained experience working for Terry McAuliffe’s campaign for governor in Virginia.</p><p> Her honors thesis was entitled “Check Here: A Critique of Normative Discursive Categorization within Survey Construction.” The premise of her research was to address some of the General Social Survey’s methodological limitations.</p><p> “I found that nominal and mutually-exclusive language, as it pertains to the General Social Survey categorization of sex, creates a false sense of normativeness within American society and harshly limits the accuracy of data when causal inferences link these two categories to various other demographic features within the data set. Ultimately, I created an alternative survey proposal that I hope will be adopted more frequently on campus.”</p><p> England said her experiences at Emory & Henry have enabled her to be a successful person, employee, and citizen.</p><p> “I feel the impact of my liberal arts education daily and in several dimensions. First, I often find myself willing to engage in critical, solutions-oriented dialogue, and I think that’s a direct result of the type of Socratic courses that you regularly find at Emory.</p><p> “Second, I’m acutely aware of the impact that place has on people, and this is really imperative when you’re in a workspace. I’m really aware of workplace dynamics and organizational core values. Those are really important to understand when you’re trying to figure out how you, the individual, fit into the structure. At Emory, we were constantly reminded of how people and place are inextricably connected.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/13-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2028-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.webp 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.webp 3x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.jpg 3x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.jpg" alt="Stewart Whitmore Plein, E&H Class of 1983." width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,2133,3200/3894_34169_S_BFP_0136_XX.rev.1522863006.jpg 3x" data-max-w="2133" data-max-h="3200" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2028-"><p> Stewart Whitmore Plein (E&H ’82) is the Curator of Rare Books and Print Resources in the West Virginia & Regional History Center, the special collections unit of West Virginia University. </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Growing up, Emory & Henry was always an essential stop for Stewart Whitmore Plein and the Whitmore family, on the way to visit grandparents in Gate City, Virginia. Her father, Ernest, a 1956 E&H graduate in History, made the detour through campus, driving slowly and pointing out favorite places and telling stories of his time at E&H. From her first trip through campus, Stewart knew she wanted to attend Emory & Henry someday. That day arrived in 1978, when she enrolled as a freshman.</p><p><br/> Born in Abingdon, Stewart is a 1982 graduate of Emory & Henry, with a degree in History, just like her father. She met her husband, Christopher Plein (’84) on campus and they married in the Emory & Henry Chapel in 1983. Stewart’s first job after graduation was working in the E&H Admissions office.</p><p><br/> Stewart is the Curator of Rare Books and Print Resources in the West Virginia & Regional History Center, the special collections unit of West Virginia University. Stewart says, “I double majored in history and religion at E&H and I use my degree every day in my work. My love of history and my education at Emory & Henry have been essential to my success as a curator, teaching students, working with donors and collections, and assisting faculty.”</p><p><br/> Stewart is also the Managing Director for the West Virginia National Digital Newspaper Project (NDNP) National Endowment for the Humanities grant in partnership with the Library of Congress. She received her Masters of Library Science from the University of South Carolina, and a certificate in Rare Book Librarianship from the University of Virginia’s Rare Book School.</p><p><br/> Stewart’s research and publishing interests include book history, bookbinding design, and Appalachian Studies. She is currently working on a book focusing on the development of the Appalachian stereotype on the covers of local color literature. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Appalachian Studies, the West Virginia History Journal and the Smithfield Review, among others. Her forthcoming book chapter, “A Sense of Place: The Rhododendron as Regional Identification on the Covers of Appalachian Local Color Literature,” is forthcoming in the two volume ecocritical anthology, Appalachian Nature, Appalachian Environment, from West Virginia University Press.</p><p><br/> Stewart works extensively with donors, teaches book history and rare book pedagogy sessions in the WVU rare book room, guest lectures, and always looks forward to reading a good book!</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/2028-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/790-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.webp 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.webp 3x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.JPG 3x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.JPG" alt="Richard Groover's hand holding a dragonfly." width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,3200,2133/564_2887April2917_005.rev.1505402809.JPG 3x" data-max-w="3200" data-max-h="2133" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/790-"><p> Catching dragonflies for the National Park Service is only the latest of Richard Groover’s cool projects.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> It’s probably easier to ask Richard Groover what he HASN’T done. After being a scientist, a teacher, a field researcher, a government employee, a reserve deputy sheriff, hostage negotiator for 9 years, a documentary filmmaker, a National Park docent, a former member of the Governor’s Climate Change Commission for Virginia, a current member of the Board of Trustees for the Virginia Science Museum and now an author – you’d think there wouldn’t be much new territory left to explore.</p><p><a href="http://www.ehc.edu/live/image/gid/68/width/650/569_groover.jpg" class="lw_preview_image"><picture><img width="500" height="414" alt="Richard Groover poses with his wife, Patti Jackson." src="http://www.ehc.edu/live/image/gid/68/width/500/height/414/569_groover.jpg" class="lw_image lw_image569 lw_align_left lw_column_width_half" data-max-w="629" data-max-h="521" loading="lazy"/></picture></a>But he has plans.</p><p> “I figure I’ve got about 10 years left in me before my brain goes, so I’ve got a lot to do.”</p><p> Richard graduated from E&H in 1971, and at the age of 68 he just this year completed his Ph.D. in Environmental  Science and Public Policy at George Mason University. “Well, you know, the dog died, the children grew up, the skies parted – I realized I had time to do my Ph.D.”</p><p> He speaks excitedly about his graduate work: he focused on Ecology and Policy. He says he studied with the best and brightest in public policy (including Lee Talbott who authored the Endangered Species Act), but his real passion is education and research in the field. He is a Biology and Environmental Studies teacher at Reynolds Community College in Richmond, and he is currently doing a project for the National Park Service studying dragonflies on National Battlefields. (For the record, he has nothing against damselflies he just thinks they’re “wimpy.” We couldn’t reach a damselfly for comment.)</p><p> He is just about to publish an ambitious reference book: <em>Second Edition of the Environmental Almanac of Virginia</em>. Richard approached the author of first edition to encourage him to write a second part – but the author, Frits van der Leeden (real name) said Richard ought to write it. The book will be out in October of 2017.</p><p> Richard says he doesn’t mind staying busy. “I’m worried about being bored. If I die tomorrow, I’ve had a really fun life!”</p><p> You can reach Richard speak of many things, including his upcoming book: <a href="mailto:rgroover@reynolds.edu"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">rgroover@reynolds.edu</span></a></p></div><a href="/live/profiles/790-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/12-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.jpg" alt="" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/20_50e7f6e024ddf954897b5c198cf66106_f51611.rev.1490707161.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/12-"><p> Jason Jones (’12) Giving Hope to At-Risk Children</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> In a school district where the failure rate is very high and the pass rate is very low, Jason Jones is making a difference.</p><p> The 2012 Emory & Henry graduate is giving hope every day to at-risk children in San Antonio, Texas, hundreds of miles from his hometown in Greeneville, Tenn., where he teaches K-5 music during the day and, after school, directs the choir and orchestra, teaches music memory, and advises the yearbook staff.</p><p> And, he’s doing it one note at a time.</p><p> Two years ago, Jones introduced orchestra music to students at Highlands Hills Elementary School, the only one among 54 schools in the district that has an orchestra program.</p><p> The results have been astounding.</p><p> “I’ve seen students who were not motivated to be in school. I’ve seen students who were making low grades and poor choices,” said Jones.</p><p> “After a fifth-grade student joined the orchestra, she got involved in school. She became a school patrol; she went on to middle school where she continued to take music. She’s taken all honor classes—just because she was in the orchestra. It changed her life, and it’s changing the lives of other students.”</p><p> Following college graduation, Jones completed a two-year position with Teach for America at Highland Hills Elementary School. When his two-year position was completed, he was asked to stay.</p><p> Jones said he was among 54,000 applicants when he applied for the Teach for America position in 2012. The organization only accepted 5,000 teachers that year and only 100 of them were placed in San Antonio.</p><p> No doubt about it, he’s making his mark on education.</p><p> Jones witnessed more affluent schools in the district enjoying generous budgets while his school did not have the money for extra music programs.</p><p> “I didn’t think it was fair that students in the richer part of the city got to learn these instruments and my students on the south side of San Antonio in a poor neighborhood didn’t have those same opportunities,” Jones said. “Nearly 100 percent of the children eat free and reduced lunches. They can’t afford instruments or music lessons. Some of their parents work as many as four jobs.”</p><p> He couldn’t help but think back to the conversations that took place in Dr. Julia Wilson’s sociology classroom when he was a student. “Fighting for the less fortunate people who don’t know how to help themselves really stuck with me.”</p><p> So, instead of complaining, he and a middle school orchestra teacher applied for a grant to receive help. Their school was awarded a $10,000 grant from San Antonio Independent School District Foundation (SAISD), which paid for 20 instruments for the students in 2012. Two years later, the school received another $500 for upkeep costs to the instruments.</p><p> “I will be applying for another grant this coming school year because I should have 35 to 40 students in orchestra,” he said.</p><p> Before Jones received the grant money, he was paying for music supplies out of his own pocket. “There’s no extra pay or stipends for running the orchestra program. I just call it a love for teaching,” said Jones, who learned Spanish on his own so that he could teach six Spanish classes at the school.</p><p> When his co-worker became ill, Jones took over the program. “I’d never taken a strings course; I don’t play violin, cello or bass. “I concentrated in voice and piano at Emory & Henry, but, I was given the music education skills at Emory & Henry to be able to teach strings.”</p><p>  Jones also has organized a student choir at the school. “The first year I had 12 students in choir class, now I have 85 or more. I’m also adding a hand bells choir next year.”</p><p> Perhaps the most exciting news is that all of Jones’ orchestra students passed standardized tests this year, and 90 percent of his fifth-grade choir students passed the tests.</p><p> His work at the school seems never-ending.</p><p> Jones started after-school clubs at the school, one of which is a music memory academic club that meets once a week for third-through-fifth-grade students. “We study scores of classical pieces. They have to memorize and learn every piece, who wrote it, when they wrote it, and the names of large and small works,” he explained. His students entered a regional competition this year and nearly all of the students placed.</p><p> In addition, he received a grant to organize a year book club, allowing the school to publish its first year book in 30 years.</p><p> Jones is earning a second master’s degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio where he received the Presidential Scholarship from the College of Liberal and Fine Arts. He also received the Dashnell Endowment Scholarship for which he was the first elementary focus to receive.</p><p> He is being mentored by the nation’s leading expert on a Dalcroze Eurythmics at UTSA, a developmental approach to enhance musical expression and understanding for students of all ages.</p><p> He is an active member of the San Antonio Teachers’ Alliance (campus representative), the Texas State Teachers’ Association (regional and state delegate), the American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, and the Texas Music Educators’ Association.  For two years, he has been a 2012 corps member for the San Antonio Region of Teach for America. </p><p> One of his best pieces of advice to future teachers:</p><blockquote> I teach my students how to be thinkers. I learned at Emory & Henry to be a thinker, not a follower or just a doer, but instead a thinker and a leader. And that’s what I want my students to learn.</blockquote></div><a href="/live/profiles/12-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2082-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/138,51,766,679/4183_IMG_2845.rev.1527692777.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/138,51,766,679/4183_IMG_2845.rev.1527692777.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/138,51,766,679/4183_IMG_2845.rev.1527692777.jpg" alt="Nathan Grinstead, E&H Class of 2011." width="345" height="225" data-max-w="628" data-max-h="628" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2082-"><p> Nathan Grinstead (E&H ’11) is an inspector for the Department of Environmental Quality.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Nathan Grinstead is an inspector with the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). He conducts above ground and underground storage tank inspections to ensure compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. </p><p><br/> It is a job that requires more than a casual acceptance of a little dirt and tight spaces. He also has to have great people skills. He spends a great deal of his time interacting with other environmental agencies and cooperating with local government officials.</p><p><br/> He says his coursework at Emory & Henry gave him a solid foundation for upholding the laws and regulations of the DEQ, as well as an appreciation for the importance of his work regarding environmental impacts. “I gained a wealth of knowledge pertaining to water quality and the importance of biological diversity. My work experience at the DEQ has given me a full understanding of how important it is to have clear and concise regulations that protect our environment. My current position allows me to enforce those regulations to ensure facilities and stakeholders remain in compliance, helping to prevent future pollution incidents from occurring. I continue to expand my knowledge every day and strive to be a committed public servant to protect citizens of the Commonwealth and the environment.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/2082-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1840-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/535,58,1256,781/3315_Adam_Taylor.rev.1519072284.webp 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/535,58,1256,781/3315_Adam_Taylor.rev.1519072284.jpg 2x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/535,58,1256,781/3315_Adam_Taylor.rev.1519072284.jpg" alt="Adam Taylor" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/535,58,1256,781/3315_Adam_Taylor.rev.1519072284.jpg 2x" data-max-w="721" data-max-h="723" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1840-"><p> Adam Taylor is director of the Catawba Sustainability Center.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Adam Taylor is the manager of the <a href="http://vtrc.vt.edu/Catawba_Sustainability_Center0.html">Catawba Sustainability Center</a>, which is situated on a 377-acre property in the Catawba Valley and is devoted to environmental education activities.</p><p> The center is a collaboration between Outreach and International Affairs, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and Roanoke County.</p><p> Adam previously worked at the West Virginia Farmers Market Association, a statewide organization in West Virginia, where he worked to support and grow West Virginia’s local food economy through project development and management, stakeholder outreach, and policy change.</p><p> Adam also carried out a two-year assignment with the Peace Corps as a forestry Extension agent in Zambia and a yearlong internship on the 100-plus-acre organic farm owned by Dr. Stephen Hopp, Environmental Studies instructor at Emory & Henry, and author Barbara Kingsolver. The farm is highlighted in the book <strong><em>Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life.</em></strong></p><p> A native of Tazewell, Virginia, Taylor earned his bachelor’s degree in environmental studies from Emory & Henry College in 2008 and a master’s degree in agriculture from Oklahoma State in 2014.</p><p> One of the projects that Taylor oversees at the Catawba Sustainability Center is a wetlands restoration project, which received a $15,000 grant from the Dominion Foundation.</p><p> The center, in collaboration with Virginia Tech and <a href="http://www.wetlandrestorationandtraining.com/">Wetland Restoration and Training</a>, plans to do three things:</p><ul><li>restore at least three wetlands in an effort to enhance a biologically diverse habitat for sensitive and endangered plant and animal species </li><li>improve water quality of Catawba Creek </li><li>train professionals in wetland design and restoration using techniques that can be replicated to restore wetlands in diverse environments. </li></ul></div><a href="/live/profiles/1840-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2122-"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,316,316/4237_gg.rev.1529087746.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/jpeg" srcset="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,316,316/4237_gg.rev.1529087746.jpg 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,316,316/4237_gg.rev.1529087746.jpg" alt="Gabby Gregory is a 2018 E&H Graduate" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="316" data-max-h="316" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2122-"><p> Gabby Gregory’s great internship led to a great job offer.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div> Gabby Gregory is a 2018 E&H graduate who added some additional education to her degree by heading to New York University the summer after graduation. She entered their 6-weeks long Summer Publishing Institute right before heading to Stuart, Florida, for a job with Ocean Media Solutions. She’ll be writing for their Living Magazines. She also did her internship with Ocean Media.<br/></div><div id="m_1151371537258667902yahoo_quoted_8493402470" class="m_1151371537258667902yahoo_quoted"><div id="m_1151371537258667902yiv7151432304"><div dir="ltr"><div></div><div> Gabby was an English major at Emory & Henry, earning a degree in Pre-Professional Publishing. She was active in Pi Sigma Kappa social sorority, Blue Key Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu, Peer Educators, the Frostiana Poetry Society, Sigma Tau Delta, and Phi Eta Sigma. She was also an honors program scholar, student government senator, and writing tutor. She founded A Read of Our Own, which is a feminist activist book club on campus. </div><div><br/> She says her E&H experience gave her the confidence to trust her education and move to a new city and state to start her career. “I learned so much not only from the faculty and staff of the college, but also from my fellow students. I made both amazing professional connections and wonderful, lasting friendships during my time at E&H. Because of the community-minded culture of E&H, I was able to work one-on-one with my favorite professor, and gained incredible knowledge from her that directly led to my successes beyond my undergraduate career. I cannot imagine myself today without my experience at Emory & Henry College. I will always have a deep love and respect for those hills in Virginia, and hope to go to as many Homecomings as possible as an alumna! Emory & Henry will always be my home away from home.” </div><div></div><div><div></div><div>   </div><div></div></div><div></div></div></div></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/2122-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>