NEWS
AWARDS:
At the annual Appalachian Studies Association Conference, held in Cherokee, NC, March 26-28, 2004, Dr. Patricia D. Beaver received the ASA's highest honor, The Cratis D. Williams/James Brown Service Award, given to an individual who has made exemplary contributions to Appalachia. That the award itself is named for Cratis Williams makes it an especially high honor for Dr. Beaver and for ASU.
The Graduate Program in Appalachian Studies received the UNIVERSITY DEANS' AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN GRADUATE EDUCATION, APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY, 2001-2002
2008-2009 GRADUATE STUDENT AWARDS
Appalachian Studies Cratis D. Williams Scholarship -
Appalachian Studies Carl Ross Scholarship -
Appalachian Studies Do Unto Others Scholarship -
Appalachian Studies Anne and Alex Bernhardt Scholarship for Music -
EVENTS HELD:
APPALACHIAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION 30TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
March 23-25, 2007
Maryville College
Maryville, TN
The Center for Appalachian Studies and ASU faculty, alumni, and students presented the following at the ASA Conference:
Invited / Appalachian Studies: A Discussion about Appalachia, the Study of Appalachia, and the Appalachian Studies Association, Dwight Billings, UK, facilitator
Panelists: Grace Toney Edwards, Melinda Bollar Wagner, Pat Beaver, Tom Plaut, Marie Cirillo, Tal Stanley, Dennis Peck
Panel / Music of Coal: Where Coal is King, 1908-2006, Jack Wright, OU, facilitator
Panelists: Rich Kirby, WMMT community radio; Paul Kuzsco, Lonesome Pine Office on Youth; Suzanne Savell, Appalshop; Gurney M. Norman, UK
Community Activism, Barry Whittemore, James Sprunt Community College, facilitator.
Presenters: Tammy Clemmons, Berea College; Keith Hébert, State University of West GA; Carl Jenkins, ASU; Amanda Kelly, VA Tech
Panel / Mountain Music Session, Cece Conway, ASU, facilitator
Presenters: Eddie Huffman, UNC-CH; Susan Pepper, Cece Conway, ASU; Steve Kruger, Avery County Arts Council
Panel / The Battle of Blair Mountain Preservation Effort, Harvard Ayers, ASU, facilitator
Panelists: Michael Workman, Kenny King, WVU; Oscar Rothrock, ASU
Panel / Revisiting the Appalachian Land Ownership Study: What Happened and Where Do We Go From Here? Shaunna Scott, UK, facilitator
Panelists: Joe Childers, former counsel for KFTC; David Liden, retired consultant, community organizer; Pat Beaver, ASU; Steve Fisher, retired Emory & Henry College
Panel / Piecing Together Musical Community: Creating a Network for Community-Based Music Education Programs, Suzanne Savell, Appalshop, facilitator
Panelists: Ronald Pen, UK; Julie Shepherd, Cowan Community Center; Nell Fields, Cowan Creek Mountain Music School; Alice Sampson, Georgia Pick & Bow Traditional Music School; Aaron Davis, Ralph Stanley Museum; Mark Freed, Watauga County JAM program
Papers / Tourism and Economic Development, Allen Coggins, facilitator
Presenters: Mary Fanslow; Richard Greenlee, OU; Jinny Turman-Deal, folklorist
Poster Presentations
Presenters: Whitney Coe, Jennifer Cohen-Jordan, Caroline Poteat, ASU
Papers / Civic Engagement, Genia McKee, UK, facilitator
Presenters: Pat Beaver, ASU; Tim Ezzell, UT Community Partnership Center; Karl Rohr, Newberry College
Panel / Piecing the Radford Experience at Home and Beyond: RU Alumni Speak Out, Grace Toney Edwards, Radford University, facilitator
Panelists: Aaron Davis, Ralph StanleyMuseum; Hilary Hunt Newby, Rural Retreat High School; Carey Addison, University of Delaware; Kimberly Burnett-Dean, Explore Park; Mary Anne Holbrook, Virginia Intermont College; Valerie Bennett, National Labor Relations Board
Papers / Environment and Activism, Charles Moore, ETSU, facilitator
Presenters: Jennifer Cohen-Jordan, ASU; Scott Goebel, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel; Ryan Wishart, Robert Emmet Jones, UT
Panel / The Watauga County Farmers' Market: An Examination of One of the Largest and Best of Such Markets in Appalachia, Boone, NC, Howard Dorgan, ASU, facilitator
Panelists: Karen Bauman, Farmers' Market Manager; Richard Boylan, Ashe & Watauga Counties; Carol Miller, Sheila Eldredth, Watauga County Farmers’ Market; Liza Plaster "The Goat Cheese Lady," Ripshin Goat Diary.
HEADWATERS COMMUNITY DAY - ELK KNOB HOMECOMING
SEPTEMBER 24, 2005
   
The focus of the celebration was on the Elk Knob State Natural Area, the neighboring communities of Pottertown and Meat Camp, and the special ecology of Snake Mountain, Elk Knob, and the north fork of the New River Headwater's region.
Headwaters Community Day was sponsored by the residents of Meat Camp and Pottertown, North Carolina State Park Service, Appalachian State University's Sustainable Development Program and Outreach, the Center for Appalachian Studies, The Mast General Store and Coca Cola.
Dr. Patricia Beaver, along with students from ASU's Appalachian Studies program were present to record stories and scan pictures to document artifacts and the history of this area. North Carolina Park Service Rangers were available throughout the festival to lead hikes up Elk Knob. There were various children's programs taking place provided by the Park Service and Lisa Baldwin. And a covered dish dinner was held. Musical entertainment included Jay Brown, the Forget Me Knots, the Lost Ridge Band, Bob White & Friends, Boone Trail, and Dave Haney & Lisa Baldwin. Cloggers also performed.
For further information about Elk Knob State Natural Area contact: Larry Trivette or Andy Sicard at (828) 297-7261. For further information about ASU's Sustainable Development Program contact: Tommy Walsh (828) 297-4799, Chuck Smith (828) 262-2241, or Dr. Patricia Beaver (828) 262-4089.
25TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE APPLACHIAN STUDIES PROGRAM
Celebrations were held at the Appalachian Studies Association Conference in Radford, Virginia on March 19, 2005 and at the Living Learning Center at Appalachian State University during the Chancellor's Inauguration Week on April 21, 2005. We would like to thank all of our supporters, faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends for attending these events.
Pat Beaver and Chancellor Peacock at the Center's 25th Anniversary Celebration at ASU.
The Appalachian Studies program is integrated into the university's mission, and seeks deep connection to the local communities. The M.A. in Appalachian Studies is the only degree of its kind in the United States. It prepares students for careers in academia, law, public administration, ministry, and cultural preservation and community development, among many other careers.
Because of the uniqueness and flexibility of the graduate program, our graduate students' programs of study are tailored to meet each student's learning goals, and because commitment to the well-being of the region is at the core of the program, students are mentored carefully to maximize their academic experiences. There are now about 20 graduate students enrolled in the M.A. program in any given academic year.
The Appalachian Studies faculty is made up of a large group of skilled and productive scholars-teachers working across a range of disciplines to promote knowledge of the region and develop creative solutions to the problems that confront its inhabitants. More than an academic program, the center has remained committed to making connections to local communities since its inception. The center seeks to build community partnerships and bring national recognition to the region by highlighting and invigorating community-based responses to social and economic change and development.
Recent research projects in the north fork of the New River (Watauga and Ashe Counties ), for example, have produced collaborations between students and community organizations collectively seeking to document change and continuity within the watershed.
The center also oversees the activities of important scholarly resources for the region. The Appalachian Journal was edited by Jerry Williamson for many years as a sounding board for creative ideas and perspectives on Appalachia and is now edited by Sandy Ballard. The W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection, directed by Fred Hay, is one of the largest and most distinguished of its kind throughout Appalachia . The Appalachian Cultural Museum, directed by Charles Watkins, offers visitors a unique look at the material and visual history of the region. The Center for Appalachian Studies is also linked to a range of professional organizations as well as government agencies such as the Appalachian Regional Commission.
The yearlong celebration of the center and M.A. program began in September 2004 with the annual Edward Cabbell Concert featuring musicians associated with Appalachian Studies for many years. The center also highlighted its accomplishments during the recent Appalachian Studies Association meeting, March 18-20 in Radford, VA. Program alums and current students presented papers during two special conference sessions on a variety of topics. Presenters reflected on the importance of the program to their development as scholars, community organizers and activists, and practitioners of the traditional art forms of the region.
The center and graduate program in Appalachian Studies developed through the leadership and support of numerous individuals over the last 25 years: Amos Abrams, Cratis Williams, Rich Humphrey, Carl Ross, David Sutton, John A. Williams, Patricia Beaver, and others who have contributed as directors, educators and advocates for Appalachian Studies and the region in general.
The center is now located in one of Appalachian's newest educational facilities, the Living Learning Center , which brings together educators and students representing a wide spectrum of scholarship and teaching on campus. The mission of the Center for Appalachian Studies has changed and expanded along with its surroundings.
Today, students of the program are involved in researching understudied aspects of the Appalachian experience, such as the role of African-Americans in the development of the region, as well as Appalachia's links to other regions, such as Wales, where the center takes students to learn about community development issues on a bi-annual basis. Moreover, the center has integrated the concerns of regional economic development, social well being, and environmental protection since 1997 through its graduate concentration in Sustainable Development.
The Center for Appalachian Studies (in collaboration with the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection and the Appalachian Cultural Museum) recently won funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities for a Challenge Grant that has the potential to generate an annual income of up to $30,000, which could fundamentally expand the center's capacities for research, engagement with communities and student learning.
(This excerpt was taken from the ASU Press release draft dated 4/13/05.)
MOUNTAIN BANJOS, AFRICAN ROOTS & INFLUENCES EXHIBIT
AND FIRST EVER BLACK BANJO GATHERING
WAS HELD AT
APPALACHIAN STATE UNIVERSITY
APRIL 7-10, 2005
For more information go to www.blackbanjo.com
Joan Dickerson playing classic banjo at the Gathering.
African American banjo players, scholars, lovers of the banjo and of traditional and contemporary African American music and culture came together from all over the U.S. and beyond at the first Black Banjo Then and Now Gathering. It featured lectures, jams, workshops, down home frolics, and performances.
The gathering was sponsored by Black Banjo: Then and Now (BBT&N) at http://groups.yahoo.com/BlackBanjo, an online group founded in March 2004. BBT&N strives to create awareness that banjo playing comes out of the African Experience, to support contemporary Black banjo players, to celebrate the banjo's place in Black music and culture, and to highlight the banjo's role in cultural exchange.
Presenters at this historic event included Swedish musical instrument collector Ulf Jägfors on West African relatives of the banjo, instrument maker Pete Ross on Minstrel banjo and folk styles, musician and educator Sule Greg Wilson on rhythm and banjo playing, and ASU Professor Cecelia Conway on her research on African American banjo players.
North Carolina Fiddler Joe Thompson, accompanied by banjoist Bob Carlin, performed at the Gathering. Other African American elder musicians and players, and many other players, collectors, preservers, and teachers of the banjo, fiddle, guitar, old time music, and blues attended. The Ebony Hillbillies, Mike Seeger, Clark Buehling and the Skirtlifters, Tony Thomas, Kerry Blech, Allen Hart, George Gibson, and Dr. Joan Dickerson performed and we developed funding to add North Carolina Folk Heritage Fellow, Etta Baker, as well as Otis Taylor and others.
Africans brought the funky, plunky instrument to the Americas. Only in the mid-19 th century did the banjo become popular among European Americans. African American banjo playing has continued to this day in traditional, classic, jazz, blues, and folk styles.
This Gathering played an important role in asserting the African American presence in the world of the banjo and the banjo's central place in Black musical culture.
Black Banjo: Then and Now is grateful for Appalachian State University's generous support for this event.
Special thanks to Appalachian Studies graduate student, Mark Freed (and his student volunteer crew) and Dr. Cece Conway for their hard work in contrubuting to the success of this important event.
NEWS:
Gift in Honor of Tommy Walsh Will Support Appalachian's Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program
A lifelong friendship and a desire to improve the lives of others has resulted in a gift of property worth more than $600,000 to the Appalachian State University Foundation for the benefit of Appalachian's Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program.
Watauga County businessman Paul Brown made the commitment in honor of Tommy Walsh, assistant director of outreach in Appalachian's sustainable development program.
"Paul has been a real supporter of sustainable development," Walsh said. "It is an honor to have this gift named for me. It will greatly benefit the university's sustainable development program."
Brown and Walsh have been friends for more than 40 years. They first partnered on economic development initiatives in Johnson County, Tenn., when a textile mill and the community hospital closed.
Brown donated property to establish a welcome center in Mountain City, Tenn., and he and Walsh worked with others to reopen the community hospital in Johnston County in 1991. They helped secure a grant from the Kellogg Foundation to create the ETSU Rural School of Medicine, and worked to locate the Northeast Correctional Complex in Johnson County. They also helped establish the Trade Days festival held in Trade, Tenn.
"He also has been generous to Watauga County with so many projects," Walsh said of Brown's work, which has included donating construction grading to several organizations when he owned Brown Brothers Construction.
"It means a great deal to have community support like this for our program," said Chuck Smith, director of the Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program. "This gift will help the sustainable development program educate our students about the practice of sustainable development and enhance our outreach to the local community."
Appalachian's sustainable development outreach helps communities develop plans for watershed and farmland protection and sustainable micro-enterprise development. The program also assists initiatives in sustainable agriculture, and promotes Appalachian traditions and culture.
The sustainable development program operates a teaching and research farm and agroecology lab in Valle Crucis, where students and faculty experiments with sustainable agricultural practices and organic/alternative farming for the region.
For more information about the Goodnight Family Sustainable Development Program, visit http://www.susdev.appstate.edu/.
ASU & LOCAL NEWS LINKS
THE APPALACHIAN
ASU NEWS
THE SCENE
ALUMNI NEWS
WATAUGA DEMOCRAT
MOUNTAIN TIMES
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