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44TH ANNUAL APPALACHIAN STUDIES CONFERENCE

TOWARD ANTIRACISM IN APPALACHIAN STUDIES

MARCH 11 – 14, 2021, VIRTUAL CONFERENCE

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Click on the Session you would like to view to be directed to the YouTube recording. 

(Note a few sessions were not recorded).

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Concurrent 1

TITLE: Abolitionist Appalachia: Looking to Rural Appalachia for Examples of Abolition Work

Presenter: angie luvara, American University

TITLE: Rebuilding & Reclaiming one Black Appalachian School: Preserving the History of the Mars Hill Anderson Rosenwald School in Western North Carolina

Presenters: Maia Surdam, Partnership for Appalachian Girls’ Education (PAGE)

TITLE: Recovering Appalachian History Through the Historical Reconstruction and Remembering of the All-Black School

Presenter: Kristan L. McCullum, University of Virginia

TITLE: WE EXIST: Black LivesMatter in Wheeling, West Virginia's Modern History

Presenter: William Hal Gorby, West Virginia University

 

Concurrent 2

TITLE: #BlueWave: Liberal Paternalism in the 2020 Kentucky Senate Election

Presenter: Amanda Burroughs, Virginia Tech

TITLE: Broadcasting Region: Educational Television via Airplane and the Beginnings of an Appalachian Communications System

Presenter: Carson Benn, University of Kentucky

TITLE: Building Resilience thru Connecting with Ourselves and Others

Presenters: 

Tauna Gulley, University of Pikeville

Bernie Kenny, Health Wagon

TITLE: Using Culturally-Focused Storytelling to Empower Appalachian Kentucky Youth to Understand and Address Cancer Disparities in Their Communities

Presenter: Nathan L. Vanderford, University of Kentucky

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Panel 1

TITLE: “Enter to Learn, Depart to Serve”: The Work of the Historic Langston Centre in Bringing Communities Together

Convener/Panelist: Ron Roach, East Tennessee State University

Panelists:

Adam Dickson, Langston Center

Pauline Douglas, Langston Center

Nathnael Tadesse, East Tennessee State University


Panel 2

TITLE: Language Matters

Convener/Panelist: Michelle O'Malley, Ohio University

Panelists:

Kalynda Thayer, Ohio University

Rasmia Shraim, Ohio University

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Special Panel 1

TITLE: Mixed Mesophytic Nation: Pathways to Citizenship

Convener/Panelist: Kathryn Newfont, University of Kentucky

Panelists:

Michelle Baumflek

Tommy Cabe, Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians

Ruby Daniels, Sprouting Farms

Mary Hufford, Livelihoods Knowledge Exchange Network

Gary Bone

 

Concurrent 3

TITLE: A Sociological Analysis of Race and Teaching Anti-Racism in Appalachia

Presenter: Aysha Bodenhamer, Radford University

TITLE: The All Y'all Social Justice Collective:  Making the Case for No-Cost, Anti-Racist Professional Learning Experiences for Educators and Service Providers

Presenters:

Adam W. Jordan, College of Charleston

Rebekah Cordova, University of Florida

Kasey H. Jordan, Medical College of South Carolina

TITLE: Unheard Voices and Keynote Listeners: Lessons from a Flipped Symposium in SW Virginia

Presenters: 

Nathaniel D. Porter, Virginia Tech

H. Smith, Virginia Tech

TITLE: White Space

Presenter: Kelly A. Dorgan, East Tennessee State University

 

Panel 3

TITLE: Reclaiming the Edifice: Restorative Justice and the Archives

Convener: Stewart Plein, West Virginia University 

Panelists:

Gene Hyde, University of North Carolina at Asheville

Patrick Bahls, University of North Carolina at Asheville

Sharyn Mitchell, Berea College

Juan Pacheco, Virginia Tech

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Panel 4

TITLE: Building a Worker Cooperative Ecosystem in Central Appalachia

Convener/Panelist: J. Todd Nesbitt, Lock Haven University

Panelists:

Hannah Scott, The Ohio State University

Michael Peck, Mondragon Cooperative Corporation, 1Worker1Vote.org

 

Performance 1

TITLE: Diversifying the Stream: How WANA LIVE! Introduces Underrepresented Appalachian Voices to the World

Lead Presenter/Convener: Christina Fisanick, California University of Pennsylvania

Additional Presenter(s):

Damian Dressick, California University of Pennsylvania

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Concurrent 4

TITLE: Apple Stack Cake as Icon in the Construction of an Appalachian Cuisine

Presenter: Lucy M. Long, Center for Food and Culture

TITLE: Nursing in Rural Appalachia: The Voice of the Registered Nurse

Presenters:

Evelyn Brewer, Lees-McRae College

Florence Weierbach, East Tennessee State University

Rebecca Adkins Fletcher, East Tennessee State University

Katherine Hall, East Tennessee State University

Wendy Nehring, East Tennessee State University

TITLE: Resilient Experiences in Appalachian Housing: Architectural Experiments in Planned Housing

Presenter: Gregory Galford, Virginia Tech
TITLE: You Can Take Me Out of Appalachia, But You Can't Take Appalachia Out of Me

Presenter: Gary Vaughn, University of Cincinnati


Panel 5

TITLE: Understories from Black Western Carolina: Community Elder's Voices from Late 1980s Oral Histories

Convener/Panelist: Wilburn Hayden, York University (Toronto, Canada)

Panelists:

Marie Cochran, Affrilachian Artist Project, UNC-Chapel Hill

Elizabeth Skene Harper, City of Asheville

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Panel 6

TITLE: Expanding Opportunities for Children with Sensory Disabilities in Appalachian Ohio

Convener/Panelist: Doug Sturgeon, University of Rio Grande

Panelists:

Karen Koehler, Shawnee State University

Emily Maginn, South Central Ohio Services Center

Greg Williams, Portsmouth City Schools

 

Performance 2

TITLE: Lamentations: Black/Folk Song Suite

Lead Presenter/Convener: Sean Hawthorne, East Tennessee State University

 

Special Panel 2

TITLE: Global Climate Commons and the Appalachian Forest

Convener/Panelist: Betsy Taylor, LIKEN

Panelists:

Chris Bolgiano, James Madison University

Neil Pederson, Harvard Forest

Rex Mann, American Chestnut Foundation

Rosanne Healy, University of Florida

 

OPENING CEREMONY, PLENARY 1

TITLE: Appalachian Futures: Black, Native, and Queer Voices

Moderator: Carter Sickels, Eastern Kentucky University

Additional Presenter(s):

Davis Shoulders, Atlas Books

Crystal Wilkinson, University of Kentucky

Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle

 

Concurrent 5

TITLE: Emma Bell Miles and the Native Mountaineer

Presenter: Sara Boissonneau, Howard University

TITLE: On Common Ground: The Infrapolitics of John Henry

Presenter: Anne Mahady, Indiana University

TITLE: Using Metadata Describing Appalachian Materials as Data for Reparative Archival Redescription Projects

Presenter: Elizabeth James, Marshall University

 

Concurrent 6

TITLE: Pittsburgh's Forgotten Tragedy: The Dorothy Albert Case

Presenter: Richard P. Mulcahy, University of Pittsburgh at Titusville

TITLE: Dialogic Imagination in "Ray and Jack Go Hunting" (1969): An Appalachian Folktale beyond "Their Racial Heritage"

Presenter: Maako Shiratori, Appalachian State University

TITLE: Everything We Are: A Study of Food in Appalachian Literature

Presenter: Hallie M. Knipp, Marshall University

TITLE: The Otherness of Nature; The Criticism of Anthropocentrism in Specter Mountain

Presenter: Micah Daniel McCrotty, Johnson University


Panel 7

TITLE: About Face: Representing Indigenous, Asian American, and African American Characters on Appalachian Stages

Convener/Panelist: Gina L. Grandi

Panelists:

Renee´ Flemings

Cle´

M. J. Moneymaker

 

Panel 8

TITLE: Sharing Stories of Recovery in Appalachia: Creating the Community Website Movable: Narratives of Recovery and Place

Convener/Panelist: Amy Saunders, Marshall University

Panelists:

Jamie Menshouse-Lukhmanov, Marshall University 

Kristen Lilvis, Marshall University

Hilton Córdoba, Marshall University 

Stefan Schoeberlein, Marshall University 

 

Concurrent 7

TITLE: "This is My West Virginia": Silenced History in Appalachian Songs

Presenters: 

Sarah Morris, West Virginia University

Beth Nardella, West Virginia University

TITLE: Is White Fragility the New Hillbilly Elegy?: An Appalachian Bookseller Reflects on Anti-Racist Bestsellers

Presenter: Davis Shoulders, Atlas Books

TITLE: Portrayals of Appalachian Regionalism in American Art: Modernism and Environment

Presenter: Ali Printz, Temple University

TITLE: Squirrel Rebellion

Presenter: Cary Curlee, Appalachian State University  


Panel 9

TITLE: Lessons Learned: Online Teaching Strategies and Best-Practices

Convener/Panelist: Leah Vance-Berg, University of Kentucky

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Panel 10

TITLE: Gathering at the Table: Crystal Wilkinson and Ronni Lundy Discuss Culinary Representation, Shame, and Redemption

Convener/Panelist: Erica Abrams Locklear

Panelists:

Crystal Wilkinson

Ronni Lundy

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Panel 27

TITLE: Appalachian Historic Districts, Natural Gas Pipelines, Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

Convener/Panelist: Anita Puckett, Virginia Tech

Panelists:

Lakshmi Fjord, University of Virginia

David Brady, Virginia Tech

Ann Rogers, Blue Ridge Environmental Defense League

Simona Perry, Pipeline Safety Coalition

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Performance 3

TITLE: Anne Braden: Southern Patriot Film Screening

Convener: Mimi Pickering, Appalshop

Panelists:

Anne Lewis, Appalshop

 

Concurrent 8

TITLE: "Campus Conversations:" Addressing Race and Racism in 2020

Presenter: Kristi A. Barnes, Ohio University

TITLE: "I got a home in that rock, don't you see?": Unearthing Affrilachian Children's Stories

Presenter: E. Gale Greenlee, The Ohio State University

TITLE: Calfee Community & Cultural Center: Honoring the Past, While Planning for the Future

Presenter: Keiona Eaves, Caffee Community & Cultural Center

TITLE: Representing Race in Appalachia in C.E. Morgan's The Sport of Kings

Presenter: Erin M. Presley, Eastern Kentucky University

 

Panel 11

TITLE: Nuestrxs Apalaches: A Roundtable Discussion on the Latinx-Appalachian Experience

Convener/Panelist: Sophia Enriquez, The Ohio State University

Panelists:

Ricardo Nazario-Colón, Western Carolina University

Cassie Rosita Patterson, The Ohio State University

Estela Diaz Knott, The Lua Project 

Maria Pomales, West Virginia University

Flor de Maria, University of Kentucky 

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Panel 12

TITLE: Finding Learners’ Voices in School & Community Gardens

Convener/Panelist: Tim Thomas, James Madison University

Panelists:

Nichole Barrows, Project GROWS

Lexy Close, Appalachian RC&D Council 

Cody Miller, Department of Sustainable Development, Appalachian State University  

Skyler Amsden, Department of Sustainable Development, Appalachian State University 

Hannah Cullen, Department of Sustainable Development, Appalachian State University 
Sally Reeske, Seasons of Grace 

 

Panel 28 

TITLE: Still Here: Cultural Erasure in Appalachian Music

Convener/Panelist: Liza DiSavino, Berea College

Panelists:

Sam Gleaves, Berea College

Kathy Bullock, retired, Berea College 

Deborah Thompson, Berea College, Kentucky Historical Society 


Special Panel 4

TITLE: Forests of Hope: Mined Land Reforestation in Appalachia

Convener/Panelist: Kenton Sena, University of Kentucky

Panelists:

Jennifer Franklin, University of Tennessee

Rebecca Swab, Grange Insurance Audubon Center

Sara Klopf, Virginia Tech

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Concurrent 9

TITLE: Appalachian Phonetics in Southeastern Ohio

Presenter: Lynn Caldwell, Ohio University

TITLE: Variable Language Crescendos and Teenager Identity

Presenters: Kirk Hazen, West Virginia University

Samantha R. Barney, West Virginia University

TITLE: Life in the Valley of Pottery: Appalachian Trendsetters and the Consumer Revolution

Presenter: Zada Komara, University of Kentucky

TITLE: Code-Meshing Appalachian Understories in College Writing

Presenter: Subhi Hindi, University of Houston

 

Panel 13

TITLE: Appalachian Heritage Education:  Teaching with Place in Mind

Convener/Panelist: Michael C. Melton, Letcher Central High School

Panelists:

Robert Donnan

Alan Taylor

Sabrina Bennett

Kimberly Sergent

Jeff Hawkins

Dessie Bowling

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Panel 14

TITLE: Anti-racist Knowledge Production in Appalachia: Curricula and Critical Spaces

Convener/Panelist: Carol Mason, University of Kentucky

Panelists:

Shaila Mehra, Virginia Tech

David Nemer, University of Virginia

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Panel 26

TITLE: Queer Appalachian Literature

Convener/Panelist: Jessica Cory, Western Carolina University

Panelists:

Emily Brier, Western Carolina University

Sage Gerson, University of California, Santa Barbara

Eileen Waggoner, University of California, Riverside

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Performance 5

TITLE: Who Are You? The Evolution of Appalachian Student Identity

Lead Presenter/Convener: Ann Andaloro, Morehead State University

 

Concurrent 10

TITLE: Towards Restoration: Minority Empowerment in West Virginia's Incarceration System

Presenter: Jerry Dooley, Waynesburg University

TITLE: Claremont and Stone Cliff, WV: Exploring Hidden and Segregated Cemeteries in the New River Gorge

Presenter: Elisabeth "Lisa" Orr, West Virginia University

TITLE: Documenting African American Music Legacies in East Tennessee: The Knoxville Sessions, 1929-1930

Presenter: Ted Olson, East Tennessee State University

TITLE: The Whiteness Problem in America's Prison System

Presenter: Laura Leigh Morris, Furman University

 

Concurrent 11

TITLE: Education and Learning for a Just Transition in Appalachia

Presenter: Colleen Unroe, Pennsylvania State University

TITLE: A Hyperlocalized National Poetry Arts Designation Built an Inclusive and Diverse Community

Presenter: Eric Sloss (Asa Ana), Point Park University
TITLE: Sexy Sex-Ed

Presenter: Shaylan Clark, Berea College

 

Panel 15

TITLE: Dialog on the State of Race, Racism, and White Supremacy in Appalachia

Convener/Panelist: Cicero Fain, College of Southern Maryland

Panelists:

Darin Waters, UNC-Asheville

Wilburn Hayden, York University                   

William Turner, Kentucky State University

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Panel 16

TITLE: Ron Rash’s World Made Straight as a Round-About Route to Anti-Racist Reflection

Convener/Panelist: Martha Eads, Eastern Mennonite University

Panelists:

James Richardson, Eastern Mennonite University

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Special Panel 5 

TITLE: Steadfast in the Face of a Changing Climate: Reforestation on the Monongahela National Forest, a Case Study

Convener/Panelist/Presenter: Kenton Sena, University of Kentucky

Panelists:

Chris Barton, University of Kentucky

Michaela Lambert, University of Kentucky

James Leonard, West Virginia University

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Concurrent 12

TITLE: Fostering Tolerance and Promoting Diversity through Public Art in Berea, Kentucky

Presenter: Joy Gritton, Morehead State University

TITLE: My Father, J.D. Vance, and Me

Presenter: Pauletta Hansel, Urban Appalachian Community Coalition

TITLE: The Creation, Perpetuation, and Exploitation of Appalachian Stereotypes in Modern Media

Presenter: Ryan Sergent-Payne, Eastern Kentucky University

TITLE: Truth-Telling in Country Music: A Rhetorical Analysis of Ken Burns’  PBS Limited Series

Presenter: Lora E. Smith, Indiana University

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Panel 17

General Appalachian Studies: Place

TITLE: By Any Other Name: A Workshop Exploring the Language Used to Describe Geographic Relationships to Place Across Appalachia

Convener/Panelist: Amanda Page, Mount Carmel College of Nursing

Panelists:

Cassie Patterson, Center for Folklore Studies

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Panel 18

TITLE: Addressing Antiracism and Decentering Whiteness in Appalachian Studies Programs

Convener/Panelist: Meredith McCarroll, Bowdoin College

Panelists:

Theresa Burriss, Radford University    

Chris Green, Berea College

Julie Shepherd-Powell, Appalachian State University

 

Performance 6

TITLE: Commitment to a Lifestyle and Life of Social Justice

Lead Presenter/Convener: Jennifer Elam

Panelists:

Deborah Thompson

Ken Jacobsen

 

Concurrent 13

TITLE: Disability, Nearly Absent in Today's Appalachian Literature: A Look at Disability's Presence in Crystal Wilkinson's Birds of Opulence

Presenter: Elizabeth Glass, University of Louisville

TITLE: Engaging Beyond Project: Using Authentic Touch Points to Enhance Relationships and Build Community

Presenters: Rita Colistra, West Virginia University

Samantha Stocksdale, West Virginia University

TITLE: Enhancing Cancer Literacy in Kentucky Middle and High School Students through Cancer Education

Presenter: Lauren Hudson, University of Kentucky

 

Panel 19

TITLE: Folklore Transformed to History: Documenting African American Eptitude in Pre-Civil War Southern Ohio

Convener/Panelist: Omope Carter Daboiku 

Panelists:

Cicero Fain, College of Southern Maryland

Jessica Lucas

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Panel 20

TITLE: From Mountaineers to Mountain Queers: Western Carolina’s Evolving Campus Archives

Convener/Panelist: Travis Rountree, Western Carolina University (WCU)

Panelists:

Mae Miller Claxton, Western Carolina University

Jordan Upton, Western Carolina University

Sarah Syeiner, Western Carolina University

Sarah DeArmon, Western Carolina University

Erin Callahan, Western Carolina University

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Performance 7

TITLE: The Ballads of Katherine Jackson French: Kentucky's Forgotten Ballad Collector

Lead Presenter/Convener: Elizabeth DiSavino, Berea College

Additional Presenter:

A.J. Bodnar

 

Special Panel 6

TITLE: The Ginseng Commons: The Past, Present, and Future of Appalachian Root Digging and Herb Gathering

Convener/Panelist: Mary Hufford, LIKEN

Panelists:

Luke Manget, Dalton State

Betty Belanus, Smithsonian      

Susan Leopold, United Plant Savers

Kate Farley, Washington University 

 

AWARDS CEREMONY (2020 & 2021)

2:00-4:00 PM, Saturday

Moderators: Silas House and Crystal Wilkinson

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PUBLISHERS’ VIRTUAL GATHERING

5:00-6:30 PM, Saturday

(Access note each publisher has a separate link click on the hyperlink for the publisher you wish to attend).

Featuring:

 

Highlander Center

Medical Missionaries of Mary

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Y’ALL VIRTUAL GATHERING

Y’ALL Conversation with Gabrielle Chapman: In this talk, Chapman will discuss racial equity, Black organizing in Appalachia, and what an inclusive Appalachian future can look like.  

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Panel 21

TITLE: Addressing Disparities in Appalachian Ohio’s African American Community

Convener/Panelist: Lori Boegershausen, Foundation for Appalachian Ohio 

Panelists:

Ernest A. Bynum, African American Community Fund

 

Panel 22

TITLE: Black Education Matters: The Remarkable Achievements of Black Teachers and Students Before Integration in SWVA

Convener/Panelist: Jinny Turman, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Panelists:

Tom Costa, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Zoe Crihfeld, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Mitchell Holbrook, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Math Rowe, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Alexandria Deckard, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

Gina Kissell, University of Virginia’s College at Wise

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Performance 8

TITLE: A Reading from Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel (PMS&G) Volume 23: Appalachian Edge

Lead Presenter/Convener: Sherry Cook Stanforth, PMS&G

Presenters:

Chiquita Mullins Lee, Ohio Arts Council

Jim Minick, PMS&G 

Dana Wildsmith, PMS&G 

Jay Butler, Southern Appalachian Writers Cooperative (SAWC)

Pam Hirschler, SAWC 

Kari Gunter-Seymour, Ohio Poet Laureate

Bonnie Proudfoot, author

Hilda Downer, SAWC

John York, poet, retired teacher

Rhonda Pettit, University of Cincinnati--Blue Ash College

Ann Shurgin, SAWC

Kate Fox, writer, editor, Textual Healing

Jessica Cory, Western Carolina University

Omope Carter Daboiku, folk artist-wordsmith-storyteller, Homeside Cultural Programming

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Performance 9

TITLE: Appalachian Fiddler Albert Hash: The Last Leaf on the Tree

Lead Presenter/Convener: Malcolm Smith, Radford University

 

Panel 23

TITLE: Teaching from Writing Appalachia: An Anthology: Three Papers and a Q & A Session

Convener/Panelist: Theresa Lloyd, East Tennessee State University

Panelists:

Richard Parmer, University of Kentucky         

Rebecca Stephens, Liberty Bell Middle School

Katherine Ledford, Appalachian State University

 

Panel 25

TITLE: Health Systems in Appalachia

Convener/Panelist: Maggie Thomas, Cooper Carry

Panelists:

Lesly-Marie Buer, Choice Health Network

Bayla Ostrach, UNC Health Sciences at MAHEC

Jennifer Akerman, University of Tennessee

Emilee Wilson, Hastings Architecture

 

Performance 10

TITLE: What's My Name: The Evolution of a Revolution-Documentary

Lead Presenter/Convener: Vonnia Harris Davis

 

CLOSING CEREMONY, PLENARY 2

 

TITLE: Black in Appalachia The Podcast

Lead Presenter/Convener: William Isom II

Additional Presenter(s):

Enkeshi El-Amin

 

BUSINESS MEETING

OUR SPONSORS ↓

↓ SUBSCRIBE TO RECEIVE UPDATES FROM ASA! ↓

CONTACT ↓

Mary Thomas,

Executive Director, 

mthomas@marshall.edu

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Ann E. Bryant,

Office Manager, 

mullins88@marshall.edu

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Telephone: (304) 696-2904
Mailing Address:

Appalachian Studies Association

One John Marshall Drive

Huntington, WV 25755

ABOUT US ↓

The Appalachian Studies Association was formed in 1977 by a group of scholars, teachers, and regional activists who believed that shared community has been and will continue to be important to those writing, researching, and teaching about Appalachia. The ASA is headquartered at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia.

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Website designed by: Aaron Nelson, Ann E. Bryant, Caleb Pendygraft, Kayden Fox, Lumina Fioravante, and Raithlyn Godfrey

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