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48th Annual Conference
Photo of Tennessee Tech courtesy of the University
Rural Reimagined: A Grand Challenge for Appalachia
March 20-22, 2025
Tennessee Tech University
Cookeville, Tennessee
Cookeville, TN is Central Time (CST).
Logo by Otis Smyth
Learn more here.
Notice for Conference Attendees!
All minors under the age of 18 must be accompanied by an adult.
Tennessee Tech cares deeply about the safety and welfare of children while on its campus. As the parent, teacher, or other responsible adult of a minor participating in this event, you are solely responsible for the supervision, oversight, and protection while on Tennessee Tech property.​
Background Photograph by Sabrina L. Greene
Conference Information
Conference Sponsors
This conference is funded in part by a grant from  South Arts’ In These Mountains, Central Appalachian Folk Arts and Culture initiative.
This conference is sponsored by
Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies.
University Press of Kentucky is sponsoring the Publishers’ Book Signing Reception.
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This conference is sponsored by
Tennessee Tech Women's Center.
This conference is sponsored by
Center Stage.
This conference is sponsored by Tennessee Tech Appalachian Center for Craft.
This conference is sponsored by
Cookeville Arts Council.
This conference is sponsored by
East Tennessee State University Dept. of Appalachian Studies.
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This conference is sponsored by Under the Sun.
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This conference is sponsored by UK College of Arts and Sciences Appalachian Center and Appalachian Studies Program.
This conference is sponsored by
Tennessee Tech Gen R.
This conference is sponsored by Berea College..
This conference is sponsored by
Washington State College.
Conference registration (includes ASA membership) is handled by The University of Illinois Press.You will be redirected to their website to register.​
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•Regular: $175
•Student: $115
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Late Registration (after March 6, 2025)
•Regular: $215
•Student: $155
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*Refund Policy:
The membership portion is non-refundable.
Only the portion for the conference registration will be refunded if requested by March 6, 2025.
Tennessee Tech University
Photos courtesy of Tennessee Tech University
and Ann E. Bryant
Program Chair
Erin Hoover is an Assistant Professor of English at Tennessee Tech University, where she teaches creative writing and courses in editing and publishing. She is the author of two poetry collections: Barnburner (Elixir, 2018), which won the Antivenom Poetry Award and a Florida Book Award, and No Spare People (Black Lawrence, 2023). Hoover curates and hosts a monthly reading series, Sawmill Poetry, and she produces “Not Abandon, but Abide,” an interview series of women and genderqueer poets for the Southern Review of Books. Currently, Hoover is a board member of the Southern Literary Festival, which each year hosts a conference for undergraduate writers at a member school. In the past, she has served on the executive committee of the C.D. Wright Women Writers Conference, helping to plan the annual conference held in Arkansas.
Conference Chair
Born and raised in Georgia, Monic Ductan is now a Tennessean and an Associate Professor of English at Tennessee Tech University. She has degrees from Georgia State University, Georgia College, and the University of Southern Mississippi. Monic’s book, a loosely linked collection of stories called Daughters of Muscadine, focuses on working-class Black women, estrangement, and family life in rural Georgia. Monic won the 2023 Weatherford Award for Daughters of Muscadine, and the Georgia Center for the Book included Muscadine on its list, “Books All Georgians Should Read” in 2024. She is also the recipient of a Tennessee Arts Commission grant in fiction. Monic’s work has appeared in numerous literary journals, including Kweli, Shenandoah, Oxford American, Still, and Appalachian Review. She is at work on her first novel, a book about a woman uncovering police corruption in a small, Southern town.
Campus Arrangements Chair
Colleen L. Mestayer (Ph.D., University of Southern Mississippi, 2016) is currently a senior lecturer of communication at Tennessee Technological University. Her areas of interest include community engagement, message strategies and their impact on interpersonal relationships in nonprofit and for-profit organizations and in educational entities. She has published works on teamwork and instructional technology for college classrooms, as well as religious communication in organizational settings. She currently serves her state and regional communication association’s annual conferences and is involved with a downtown engagement project for Cookeville’s historic downtown area. Prior to academia, Dr. Mestayer had an accomplished marketing career which gave her great insight into the role of communication in the business world.