Sociology Department

Meet Our Alumni

• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/673-pam-kestner"><picture class="lw_image"><source type="image/webp" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,547,408/265_Screen_Shot_2017-06-07_at_11.03.27_AM.rev.1496847961.webp 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><source type="image/png" srcset="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,547,408/265_Screen_Shot_2017-06-07_at_11.03.27_AM.rev.1496847961.png 1x" data-origin="responsive"/><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,547,408/265_Screen_Shot_2017-06-07_at_11.03.27_AM.rev.1496847961.png" alt="Receiving the Emory & Henry 2016 Distinguished Achievement Award. Pictured from left to right with Virginia Secretary of Health and H..." width="345" height="225" data-max-w="547" data-max-h="408" loading="lazy" data-optimized="true"/></picture></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/673-pam-kestner"><p> Pam Kestner (’83) Helps Virginia to Become First State to Functionally End Homelessness for Veterans </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> A recent headline made an amazing announcement: Virginia has become the first state in the nation to <a href="https://www.usich.gov/resources/uploads/asset_library/Achieving_the_Goal_Ending_Veteran_Homelessness_v3_10_01_15.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">functionally end homelessness for Veterans</a>.</p><p> This news is not only great news for homeless Virginia vets, but it indicates that there are solutions that work. And that offers genuine hope for wider success for the problem of homelessness.</p><p> This news is of particular interest for the Emory & Henry community, because in 2012, Gov. Bob McDonnell named an E&H alumna to be Virginia’s Homeless Outcomes Coordinator. Pam Kestner (E&H Class of ’83) continues to serve Virginia in the McAuliffe administration, now under the title of Special Advisor on Families, Children, and Poverty within the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Resources. Her work focuses on early childhood, nutrition, and issues related to poverty – particularly addressing homelessness in the Commonwealth.</p><p> Pam is careful to explain that the problem is “functionally” solved because the circumstances of life will always present situations that cause individuals to cycle in and out of homelessness. What Virginia has done is construct a system that will provide services and housing to solve a veteran’s homeless situation within a small window of time. (<a href="https://governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/newsarticle?articleId=13421" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Read the full press release here</a>.)</p><p> A plan to end homelessness could sound like the bluest of blue sky planning, when one considers the hurdles that exist and the changes that had to occur for them to declare success. But Pam contends the secret to this success was leadership. “Having the Governor behind the initiative meant that all the necessary agencies had to be on the same page and be pulling in the same direction.” Service providers also had to be on the page, funding had to be redirected, partnerships had to be established within the community, and new alliances had to be forged. The Governor’s Coordinating Council on Homelessness had worked the previous 4 years to create the foundation on which the “ending veteran homelessness” was built – and Pam was the person who coordinated the council. Pam explains that she and the council were not Houdini; she credits the many agencies and organizations at the state and local levels who worked collectively to achieve the desired outcome utilizing the Collective Impact Approach.</p><p> With this significant achievement, Pam isn’t saying, “Mission accomplished.” She is saying, “What’s next?” She explains that there are many factors that can lead a person to a homeless condition (everything from mental health to substance abuse to the economy to bad luck). But she has seen the data and the real life results and is quick to point out that people cannot succeed in turning around a bad situation without clean, safe, reliable housing. In the long run, she explains, it is more cost effective for a community to provide good housing to those in crisis than to continually supply temporary shelters – which usually go hand-in-hand with emergency medical assistance, police interaction, and additional crisis intervention. “Homelessness is a condition, and a symptom of a community, economy, and society in distress. Our challenge is to provide a solution for any individual who finds him- or herself in a housing crisis.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/673-pam-kestner" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/13-sydney-england"><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-sydney-england"><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-sydney-england" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>