The University of Virginia's College at Wise Magazine, Spring/Summer 2014

THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA’S COLLEGE AT WISE SPRING/SUMMER 2014

INAUGURATION

Minds on Opportunity. Hearts on Service.

FROM THE CHANCELLOR

Dear Alumni and Friends, It has been an exciting spring semester at UVa-Wise, and we’ve had much to celebrate.

I want to thank all who shared in our celebration, especially those who made the Inauguration a special day for my family and me. I pledged during my installation as your eighth chancellor to work hard to lead the College as it begins a new chapter under a new strategic plan that will better position UVaWise to meet future needs of its students, our region and our Commonwealth.

The Inauguration and related events strengthened our relationship with our surrounding communities and Southwest Virginia in general. It was gratifying to see our students working together with the local garden club on the Gateway Gardens and Big Glades projects during the annual Cavalier Care: A Day of Service. More than 200 students, staff and faculty spread out across Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry County and the city of Norton to lend a hand on many important community service projects. The volunteer work we do at UVa-Wise highlights our mission to serve our region and to make our communities better.

Our students continue to excel academically as evidenced by the comprehensive and challenging undergraduate research several undertake under the guidance of our faculty. Our students and their research are highlighted in this edition of the UVa-Wise Magazine. The strides our students make are often made possible by the generosity of our staunch supporters whose gifts foster student development and academic excellence. You can read about some of those generous supporters in this edition as well.

UVa-Wise students also excel on the playing fields during a time when we continue our transition to NCAA Division II competition. Our softball team, under the leadership of Coach Karen Bitter and a crop of seniors who lead both on and off the field, brought our College the first MEC championship trophy in May when the Cavs outlasted tough opponents in a series of spirited battles. Coach Bitter was named MEC Coach of the Year. You made us proud, ladies, and we look forward to the next season.

And finally, I want to congratulate the Class of 2014 as they leave UVa-Wise to pursue graduate studies or careers.

Each of you has a promising future ahead. Now that you’ve earned your degrees, you have a responsibility to be a true leader in your communities, and I know you will take that responsibility to heart. But remember that you will always have a home here at UVa-Wise.

Sincerely,

Donna P. Henry

CONTENTS

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14

34

Commencement 2014

The Inauguration of Donna Price Henry

Undergraduate Research

Amid a pageantry steeped in rich academic tradition, Donna Price Henry was formally installed on April 22 as the eighth chancellor of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise in a ceremony that drew nearly 700 faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends.

Undergraduate research is on the rise.

Find out what students are doing and how it is impacting their education and the region.

Virginia Poet Laureate Sofia M. Starnes urged the 313 graduates of the College to search for beauty, be sensitive to what is right and to remain faithful to their core values as they build their futures.

12 Shelf expressions 32 Scholarship luncheon

Please note the following corrections to the Honor Roll of Benefactors from the Fall 2013 edition of the UVa-Wise Magazine:

The UVa-Wise Magazine is produced by College Relations and Alumni Relations for alumni and friends of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

EDITOR Kathy Still ’84 ALUMNI EDITORS Pam Collie ’93 Cindi L. Smoot ’09 EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Susan Mullins PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY Tim Cox, Tim Cox Photo/Graphics CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Kathy Still ’84 Jessica Shartouny ’13 Brian McKnight ’97 Jordan Childress ’14 Darrell-Dingus Ely ’10 Lanna Monday Lumpkins SPORTS EDITOR Darrell-Dingus Ely ’10 MAGAZINE DESIGN Lanna Monday Lumpkins INTERN Megan Herndon ’14

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Headlines Features Athletics Class Notes

Tell us what you think about The UVa-Wise Magazine. Email your comments, story ideas and alumni submissions to magazine@uvawise.edu or contact us by mail at The UVa-Wise Magazine, 1 College Avenue, Wise, VA 24293 or by phone at 276-376-1027.

WASHINGTON SOCIETY ($5,000 to $9,999) Donald W. Caudill* First Bank & Trust Company CHANCELLOR’S SOCIETY ($1,000 to $4,999) Jack R. Arnold ’58 & Darlene Arnold** Foggyboot Enterprises, LLC* Charles H. Henderson III & Mary M. Henderson* Travis Kennedy, Jr. ’90 ** William C. Horne ’91 & Rebecca Horne ’91*** William C. Horne, Jr., D.D.S., P.C. Travis Kennedy, Jr. ’90** FOUNDER’S SOCIETY ($500 to $999) Aaron C. Hicks ’97 & Candi N. Austin-Hicks **

HEADLINES

Buchanan gift of $12 million shared with MECC and SWCC The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, Mountain Empire Community College and Southwest Virginia Community College announced the receipt of a generous gift that will boost thousands of college students in Southwest Virginia.

The estimated $12 million estate of Carol Phipps Buchanan will be shared among the three colleges to support higher education initiatives in Southwest Virginia. Each college will receive approximately $4 million. The gift was announced at a joint press conference on Monday, May 5.

“Mrs. Buchanan, although a very private person, was a strong believer in education,” noted William Sturgill, the estate executor.

“This was demonstrated in her work with the Columbus Phipps Foundation, an educational foundation which bears the name of her grandfather,” Sturgill said. “She committed her own wealth to her belief in education and left a lasting legacy which will benefit future generations.”

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise will use the gift to create an endowment in order to fund new initiatives outlined in its strategic plan.

“Mrs. Buchanan knew the value of education and how important access to higher education is for Southwest Virginia,” UVa-Wise Chancellor Donna Henry said. “We plan to honor her generosity and devotion to education by creating an endowment, and we will use the funds generated to support the new initiatives in Envisioning 2020, our strategic plan. We are so truly thankful to Mrs. Buchanan and the trustees of her Estate.”

Mountain Empire Community College plans to utilize the Buchanan gift to create an endowment that will support student success and completion initiatives at MECC. “Mountain Empire Community College is very grateful to the late Carol Buchanan for entrusting us with an unrestricted legacy gift of approximately $4 million,” said MECC President Scott Hamilton. “This is the largest private gift ever received by the college. I only wish that I had been able to personally express my appreciation for her generosity which will allow so many students from Southwest Virginia the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of going to college.

Southwest Virginia Community College, which is wrapping up the “No Limits” Major Gifts Campaign, will provide additional funding for three community-driven initiatives: Workforce Development, Academic Excellence, and Scholarships for Access and Success.

“This gift to SWCC will be used to support new initiatives that will benefit our students, staff, and the community-at-large,” said SWCC President J. Mark Estepp. “We are so grateful for Mrs. Buchanan’s desire to promote education for the people of this region.”

Carol Phipps Buchanan was a daughter of Dr. Rufus L. Phipps and the wife of Dr. John C. Buchanan. Her husband was a former Virginia state senator who sponsored the first state statute providing workers’ compensation for coal miners suffering from black lung disease. Her husband also worked as a physician in Wise, Va., from 1971 until his death in 1991.

Carol Phipps Buchanan and Dr. John C. Buchanan

Mrs. Buchanan served as a trustee on the Columbus Phipps Foundation until her death in 2011 at the age of 86. A community-minded, yet private person, she was a strong supporter of education and requested her estate be used to promote education in Southwest Virginia. Mrs. Buchanan established the John C. Buchanan Professorship in Biology at UVa-Wise in 2012.

In addition, she contributed her 40-acre estate to the Wise Industrial Development Authority for the establishment of an animal sanctuary and walking park. As a trustee of the Columbus Phipps Foundation, Mrs. Buchanan also supported numerous education initiatives in the Southwest Virginia region.

LEED certification awarded Murray pens book on Gettysburg Jennifer M. Murray, assistant professor of history at The University of for two buildings Virginia’s College at Wise, is the author The Hunter J. Smith Dining Commons and Commonwealth Hall, two buildings on The University of Virginia’s College at Wise campus, have received LEED certification for sustainable design by the US Green Building Council.

“UVa-Wise is committed to responsible design and construction when it comes to new or renovated buildings,” Chancellor Donna P. Henry said.

“It is vital that we plan and construct facilities that meet the needs of our campus and are environmentally friendly.”

Sim Ewing, vice chancellor for finance and administration said UVa-Wise has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability by working diligently to obtain LEED certification for its capital projects.

“The certification of the Smith Dining Commons and Commonwealth Hall, along with previous certifications of the David J. Prior Convocation Center and the Leonard Sandridge Science Center show the progressive attitude the College has toward building construction,” Ewing said.

The LEED program, an initiative of the USGBC, stands for leadership in energy and environmental design, and focuses on encouraging a sustainable approach to building design, construction and operation.

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of the recently published, “On A Great Battlefield: The Making, Management, and Memory of Gettysburg National Military Park, 1933-2013.”

Published by the University of Tennessee Press, the book explores the history of the nation’s most consecrated landscape and the Civil War’s most defining battlefield: Gettysburg.

Murray traces its history from the National Park Service’s acquisition in 1933 through the battle’s sesquicentennial in 2013. She contends that the history underscores the complexity of preserving and interpreting a historic landscape. Murray explores the multitude of external factors—including the Great Depression, the New Deal, World War II and the Civil War. She also highlights Americans’ deep, emotional connection to the landscape and the means in which Americans have remembered and interpreted the battlefield.

Clark among SCHEV 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award recipients Amy Clark ’92, an associate professor of English and director of the Appalachian Writing Project at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, is a recipient of the 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award by the State Council for Higher Education of Virginia.

The Outstanding Faculty Awards are the Commonwealth’s highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities.

These awards recognize superior accomplishments in teaching, Amy Clark ’92 research, and public service.

Clark was selected from a highly competitive pool of qualified candidates who were nominated by their peers at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities. At a celebration at the Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, Va. in February, 12 OFA recipients received a cash award and a commemorative engraved award.

“Many of us leave and return to Appalachia to live because our roots grow deep, and because growing up in these mountains means no matter where we go in the world, we are anchored spiritually to that place of voice, story and song,” Clark said. “I work to convince teachers to take into account the deep, abiding influence of place on rural students.”

Clark teaches in the Department of Communication Studies. Clark’s specialization is writing pedagogies, rural literacies, and Appalachian studies. She teaches courses in Appalachian language and literature, rhetoric, and applied linguistics.

“Amy’s development of the Appalachian Writing Project and her work with the public school teachers participating in it – whatever their disciplines – have transformed the lives and educations of both these teachers and their students,” said Amelia Harris, UVa-Wise academic dean.

“Through her work, Amy has brought new understanding to and acceptance of the diversity of Appalachian Englishes.”

Clark is the co-editor and author of Talking Appalachian: Voice, Identity and Community (University Press of Ky., 2013) to be released in paperback in the fall of 2014. The book explores Appalachian dialects from western Pennsylvania to northern Georgia, and draws from sociolinguistic articles, essays, novel excerpts, and poetry about what it means to be an Appalachian dialect speaker.

She is also the author of “Success in Hill Country,” a collection of interviews with successful people who grew up in or near the central Appalachian birthplace of Napoleon Hill, the global bestselling author of books like “Think and Grow Rich.” The interviews detail how Napoleon Hill’s philosophy influenced decisions that put these individuals on their paths to success.

Her work has appeared and is forthcoming in the New York Times, “With Good Reason” radio, Appalachian Journal, Pittsburgh PostGazette, Tampa Tribune and many other publications. In 2012, she was honored with the Jean Ritchie Fellowship in Appalachian Writing from Lincoln Memorial University.

Clark is a founding director of the Appalachian Writing Project, a non-profit organization that has supported rural teachers in their research, writing, and teaching about writing since 2000.

Students march to

Supporters marching from the Gilliam Sculpture Garden

Students and community members walked accross campus on March 19 to raise awareness and speak out against sexual assault and domestic violence.

The event, “Take Back The Night” began in the Gilliam Sculpture Garden with brief remarks by organizers and supporters.

“We are here to take back the power and control,” said speaker Joni Perry ’95, a sexual assault advocate in her address prior to the walk. “To stand together letting perpetrators of these horrendous crimes know that it will not be tolerated, and to let individuals who have experienced these crimes know that there is help, they do have options, and a voice.”

“As students of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, it is our responsibility to provide a safe, nurturing environment for students who experience relationship violence so they feel they have a voice,” said Nikki Lane ’14. “Take Back the Night focuses on giving victims of relationship violence their voice back on campus, and it promotes seeking an end to all types of sexual violence. As students it is our responsibility to shatter the silence, and stop the violence.”

Participants marched with a banner and signs to a sunset vigil by the lake, and the names of deceased violence victims in Virginia since 2010 were read. Jessica Shartouny ’13 played cello during the reading.

“Student Development Advisory Board’s main goal is awareness,” said Lane. “Take Back The Night was our way of addressing the issue of domestic violence and sexual assault to the campus community. As a UVa-Wise student I am proud of our student body for coming out and supporting this significant cause.”

The Student Development Advisory Board and the Center for Student Development decided in the spring of 2013 to focus more on what is and is not healthy in a relationship.

“We want our community to know that we are not afraid to stand up against topics that are difficult in order to have and maintain a safe environment,” said Tabitha Smith, a UVa-Wise counselor. “We hope that this is an event that we can continue to host and grow in the upcoming years.”

The program was sponsored by the Center for Student Development and the Student Development Board with additional support from Family Crisis Support Services.

Jessica Shartouny ’13 plays cello during vigil

Spring/Summer 2014 3

FEATURES

SCIENCE

A passion for

Professor Walter Smith holds a newt in one hand and a syringe of fluorescent liquid in the other, ignoring the muddy water dripping onto his pants while carefully showing the gaggle of students surrounding him how to tag the amphibian just under the skin.

The group crowds onto a wooden bridge stretching across the wetland stream, the Lila Smith Vicars House in the background, where students spent the last hour collecting several buckets of newts.

Smith, assistant professor of biology, has led countless students to the wetlands for experiential learning since he arrived at UVaWise in 2012, often teaching them to trawl for newts and find salamanders under rocks.

His passion for ecology and herpetology Wally Smith began when he was an undergraduate student at Piedmont College in Demorest, Ga., where Smith said he connected with a herpetologist while working at a local nature center. He then pursued his Ph.D. in biological sciences at the University of Alabama and worked on projects examining data on how reptiles and amphibians in the area responded to fire management and collecting information on stream networks.

UVa-Wise is a similar environment to where Smith obtained his Bachelor’s degree, he said, which was a motivating factor in his decision to leave a larger school environment to take a position at the College. Small class sizes and the ability to work closely with students in class and on research projects, as well as mountains rich with salamanders, make Wise a place to where Smith says that he and his wife, Katie, were excited to relocate.

Smith wasted no time taking advantage of the resources in the area to enhance the courses he teaches, including conservation biology, ecology, herpetology and biodiversity.

“We do a lot of hikes with the students as part of their curriculum in class to show them ecosystems and the habitats and the wildlife, which is something I think that’s unique at a school like UVa-Wise,” Smith said. “You really can’t, at a lot of schools, get out that easily and show students what they’re learning in the classroom.

But here it’s all around us. We’ve got the National Forest and the state lands and the Clinch River. You can go out and see all this stuff in an hour.”

Smith said that his favorite course to teach is conservation biology because it can be so closely related to the local area.

“It’s really nice in that course to see the students not only learn the content and get to do a project like you do in any other class,” Smith said, “but to also take that project and kind of apply it in the field where there’re some tangible results.”

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Story and photos by Jessica Shartouny ’13

One project the class completed was to research something naturally found in the area—salamanders, specific trees or bodies of water to name a few— and write the information they learned in a format that someone without a scientific background could understand. Five students who took the class last fall built on this project through an opportunity to extend their work beyond the semester. These students applied for and received a grant from the Appalachian Prosperity Project to collect this information about local topics and put them in a smartphone application that hikers can use to learn about the area.

Biology major and one of the project managers, Allyssa Zebrowski, ’14 said that the group’s main goal is to promote eco-tourism and spread awareness about problems affecting natural areas in Wise.

“Many of the local watersheds have been negatively impacted by pollution and a number of other things,” Zebrowski said. “So to have received this grant allows us to spend more money towards getting people to realize how polluted these rivers are.”

Zebrowski said that she is interested in conservation, a path for which the project stemming from Smith’s class is helping prepare her.

“My work now, especially with this scientific community outreach independent study, can be extremely helpful in my career,” Zebrowski said. “It gives me experience in working with new technology … and will help me to develop skills in educating the public on important scientific issues.”

Smith has facilitated extra-curricular research with several other students, as well, citing the attitude of those with whom he works as one of the best aspects of teaching at UVa-Wise over other institutions.

“The students here are a lot more dedicated, I think, and there are a lot of local students… and first generation college students, so they really value getting to come here and getting to do the research,” Smith said. “I feel like I can know the students a lot better and get to work with them a lot more intensively.”

Jennifer Fulton ’13 received funding through the Fellowship in the Natural Sciences to study animals in riparian buffer zones, which are wooded areas lining streams. Fulton and Smith’s work resulted in two articles, published in the Council of Liberal Arts and Sciences undergraduate journal “Metamorphosis” and in “Herpetological Review.” Fulton and Smith recorded information about salamander populations that was previously undocumented and supported the idea that amphibians can be used as indicators of a riparian buffer’s condition.

Students Caegan Lane, Amanda Lambert, Audrey Owens and Lacey Frye catch, tag and release salamanders

Melissa Blackburn ’14 and Jack Wayland ’13 also completed research on green salamanders, Smith’s favorite species and one that he said herpetologists are usually lucky to see but are abundant in this region. The two surveyed the area, trying to understand the distribution of populations and why the salamanders chose to inhabit specific places.

Another 2013 graduate, Jesse Miles, looked at frogs in abandoned mines on campus and is currently continuing ecology work in a master’s program at Purdue University while continuing to collaborate with Smith to publish their findings.

“Work with Professor Smith is something I now consider to be an interaction with one of the greatest impacts on my education and career pursuits,” Miles said. “His passion for the subject, care for the students and dedication to quality work made him not only a great mentor, but also a role model for anyone interested in pursuing ecology … I believe my position as a graduate student is due in great part to his guidance, and I continue to consider the values he upheld when making important decisions in my scientific duties today.”

Though most of the students with whom Smith works are interested in local ecology and conservation, several branch out into the community through the Healthy Appalachia program, examining environmental factors that may cause goiter or disease incidence in relation to outdoor recreation.

Each of the students he mentors has the chance to present their work in a number of forums, including the National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the Tennessee Herpetological Society and the Emory & Henry Undergraduate Research Symposium among others, where Smith said they are able to not only practice presenting to their peers and other professors, but can connect to others doing similar research.

Smith didn’t isolate his momentum to campus, either. In time not spent with students, Smith works with several environmentallyfocused organizations dedicated to the Appalachian region, including the Clinch River Valley Initiative, whose aim is to show how conservation and outdoor recreation can assist with economic development in the area. CRVI recently hosted the Environmental Education Symposium where Smith assisted in showing local teachers how to incorporate local ecosystems into their own classrooms. Smith was also awarded Most Outstanding Effort by an Educator in March by the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of rivers in Southwest Virginia.

As he just bought a house near the College and his wife has established a career as a journalist at the Coalfield Progress newspaper, Smith said that they are in Wise to stay.

He plans to continue his work with students and the community, he said, while developing some longer-term goals.

Smith said that he would like to see the UVa-Wise campus, which sports a wealth of reclaimed mines, forested areas and wetlands, become an outdoor classroom.

“We’ve got a really good chance to have a site where we can teach students about what ecological disturbance does and how it can be remediated and what some of the conservation concerns can be,” he said.

Already, the Campus’ Wetlands Committee, under the leadership of Smith, is enacting a plan to turn one of the former faculty houses near the wetlands into an on-site lab and classroom. Having this facility will allow students and other groups to use a meeting place when they work in the field and place them closer to their area of interest.

Smith said that he would eventually like to help develop UVa-Wise’s campus into a hub of environmental education and community outreach that will attract not only local groups, but also school trips and visiting researchers.

With the progress in research and outdoor learning he has fostered in just two years, Smith is poised to be at the forefront of the College’s continuing development.

Today, however, Smith has dedicated his attention to a single newt and a small group of students watching eagerly over his shoulder.

Above: A salamander from the wetlands is identified and measured; left: Nick Austin ’14 assesses a find

Spring/Summer 2014 5

FEATURES Floyd Beckford, in a hat and white coat, is an unmistakable fixture in the Leonard W. Sandridge Science Center, often seen shuttling flasks and vials between the lab and his office.

The Van W. Daniel III Endowed Chair of Chemistry began working at UVa-Wise in the fall of 2012 and has already established himself as a professor and an advocate of undergraduate research.

Beckford, an inorganic chemist and a native of Jamaica, was familiar with UVa-Wise before he applied for the research-focused position after teaching for 11 years at Lyon College, a private liberal arts institution in Arkansas. Besides a bachelor’s, doctorate, and teaching experience from The University of the West Indies, his CV also boasts a post-doc and lecturer position at Texas A&M University and a visiting professor position at The University of Toledo. Beckford felt that the next step in the progression of his career was to assume an endowed chair position.

Beckford helped Lyon develop its own undergraduate research program and since UVa-Wise is on a similar track, he is looking forward to doing that here, as well.

“The institution is already strong as far as a teaching philosophy and a teaching history is concerned,” he said. “This new direction of combining cutting-edge research or more undergrad research – to dovetail that with the teaching aspect to make the educational process be a little more complete, if you wish, for the undergrads and the students here, I think, fascinates me. This is a challenge.”

Maintaining a comprehensive research program, said Beckford, is almost a requirement for colleges so that the education students receive is more rounded and complete.

He started incorporating students into his research lab immediately, the first of whom were Kinsey Hall and Samantha Smith, both 2014 graduates now bound for medical school at VCU and UVA, respectively.

Kelsey Webb works with research samples

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MEET

FLOYD BECKFORD

Story and photos by Jessica Shartouny ’13

Floyd Beckford

Hall and Smith aligned their projects with Beckford’s interest in synthesizing organometallic compounds, particularly those including the metal ruthenium, as a means of killing cancerous cells and bacteria. Several of the complexes that the students prepared were sent to the National Cancer Institute to be tested and showed anti-cancer activity, though weren’t strong enough to progress further in trials.

Hall said that she values the techniques and concepts she learns in the lab, as they add a new dimension to her learning she can’t get from regular courses.

“I learn so much in the research lab that you can’t learn from just a lecture,” said Hall.

“He will go over in lecture form what we will do, what the results mean and why, etc. And then right afterward I get to work and get the hands-on experience of the lecture, in a sense.

It’s so much easier to understand science if you can see the implications yourself, like I do in my research with him, instead of just being told ‘this is what happens.’”

Hall and Smith traveled to New Orleans last spring to present their work at the American Chemical Society national conference and have also presented at a number of local symposia, experiences that Beckford sees as another invaluable aspect to education. The students have a chance to network, talk to graduate recruiters and build their sense of accomplishment for sharing their research in a formal setting, he said.

“Not only are you seeing different levels, in terms of what the professors are doing, what experts in their fields are doing, what graduate students are doing,” Beckford said, “but you also see the level you might be at by standing next to an undergrad from China—you see what he or she is doing and having that conversation. It may not be about chemistry, it may be ‘what is school like.’”

An additional benefit of attending conferences, Beckford said, is that students are exposed to various subjects and career paths that they may not have encountered previously, broadening their scope when choosing where to go after college.

“You may want to be a doctor, for example,” he said. “You go to one of these conferences and you see different aspects of medicine. You see people talking about what are … the new drugs being developed and so you realize you can affect medicine by not necessarily being a doctor … You’re seeing much more options – or different options – by looking at what other people are doing.”

Offering these opportunities to more students, Beckford has begun training two freshmen in lab techniques to prepare them to tackle their own projects. Kelsey Webb and Bailey Helbert, Class of 2017, began working with Beckford after they completed their first semester of chemistry courses. While Beckford says that many of the things they do now are designed to teach them how to do certain things necessary for research, they already have plans for a project examining the use of vanadium or zinc metal complexes as anti-diabetic agents or insulin mimickers.

Helbert said that she also sees the extracurricular research experience as a head start for more advanced chemistry classes she’ll begin taking next year.

“While we’re waiting for a solution to sit for an amount of time or something, I always ask questions and he’ll give me mini lectures on the subjects,” she said. “It’s an incredibly engaging experience for me. It’s like he’s challenging me to further push my mind and knowledge.”

Both students plan to continue their work through the summer and into next year. Once the team collects initial data on the insulin mimickers, there is a possibility that they could collaborate with a group at Virginia Tech, which is capable of using animal models.

“Immersing myself in an environment like that so early in my college career has only reinforced my passion for it,” said Helbert.

“It’s been a lot of hard work balancing it all, but it will all pay off.”

They also plan to apply for a grant from the National Institute of Health, as this type of research can get very expensive.

Instrumentation used in research and chemistry classes is also very expensive and is an area that Beckford is helping the Department of Natural Sciences improve.

He said that he’s working on maintaining existing machines while the department writes grants for funds to buy up-to-date analytical instruments like an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, which can sensitively detect and measure the concentration of many chemical elements and is useful when analyzing environmental samples. Beckford also said that they are looking to replace certain instruments that are too old to be updated.

“If we want to say we’re a first-class science program,” Beckford said, “then more modern instrumentation is required.

Chemistry is an expensive program and these things cost money, so we won’t necessarily be doing this on a rapid pace – and we understand that – but we are making significant efforts in terms of researching funds to upgrade our lab offerings.”

Well-equipped laboratories will be useful in research as well as give the department the ability to train students on instruments they may be using once they move to graduate school or begin working in their fields.

Instrumentation is also an aspect of obtaining American Chemical Society certification for the College. The ACS provides guidelines on how a school should operate a chemistry degree program and standards for core courses and labs offered and, although certification isn’t necessary for a well-rounded program, the ACS certification is an indicator that students were trained in a rigorous environment meeting certain standards.

Having a complete range of chemistry faculty in the core areas of inorganic, organic, physical, analytical, and biochemistry is another area required for certification. For a few years, the department has been adding new faculty. Once an analytical chemist begins working in place of retired Associate Professor of Chemistry Walter Crouse, Beckford says that aspect will be complete.

Beckford and Bailey Helbert review research

Other things that the ACS looks at for certification include lab courses covering certain topics and whether the library offers the right resources for chemistry students.

These aren’t a problem, said Beckford, since they are looking to make labs an integrated component of the inorganic chemistry course rather than an optional class and the library is well-equipped. Instrumentation, however, is the one aspect that will take the longest.

Beckford sees ACS certification as a “good solid challenge” while he also pursues his goals of enhancing the undergraduate research program at UVa-Wise.

“In the long run, I’m hoping to see … that it becomes an integral portion of the educational experience so everybody has the opportunity to participate in the development of a project,” said Beckford. “It doesn’t have to be in chemistry, it can be history, psychology, Spanish, economics … but the ability to, on their own, come up with an idea, approach a particular experiment and say ‘this is something I’m interested in, is it workable?’”

This integration will also help draw more students to the area, said Beckford. Publishing papers and taking students to conferences will publicize the school around the country and build a reputation that Wise is an institution that is capable of doing good research and offering strong academic training which will in turn appeal to more students across the country.

“We have a reputation for being relatively inexpensive, you know, we don’t have a lot of debt for students graduating, that’s all good, but that should not necessarily be why the students come here,” he said. “They should come here because after they leave they have grown and changed enough that they can be productive citizens. So in the end, what we want to do with undergraduate research is to enhance the idea that we are a value-added institution. You come in, and when you leave you’re a much better person.”

Though Beckford said that he isn’t completely enamored of the rapid weather variations in Wise, he is glad to be at the College.

“I’m enjoying it here,” he said. “I think the opportunities that I saw are still here …

I’m looking forward to the time when, again, the educational process is a well-integrated combination of classroom and research experiences.”

Spring/Summer 2014 7

FEATURES

Story by Brian McKnight ’97 Photos by Bryan Spain In Fall 2013, Amy Clark ’92, associate professor of communication studies, David Rouse, professor of philosophy, and Brian McKnight ’97, associate professor of history, went to work creating a Center for Appalachian Studies, and their hard work was rewarded this spring when alumni and friends attended the official opening of the center. With the help and support of Provost Sandy Huguenin, the trio drafted a mission statement and quickly received the support and encouragement of Chancellor Donna Henry. By November, word of the initiative was getting out and the New Year saw the creation of a Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Despite the recent founding of the center, the College has a long history of regional academic work. At one time, roots music legend John McCutcheon and renowned Appalachian sociologist Helen Lewis were members of the faculty with Lewis operating the forerunner of this new center. McCutcheon’s thriving music career took him away from the College before his influence could be fully felt, but Lewis was particularly influential in that much of her time at the College was spent encouraging her students to compile histories of their local communities and institutions. These community studies are housed in the John Cooke Wyllie Library and are among the most important local sources available.

Most notably, it was Lewis who created Appalachian Studies as an academic discipline and was one of the founders of the Appalachian Studies Association.

The CAS intends to carry forward these past contributions. After Lewis left the College, the regional work that was done fell to a variety of people. When Rouse arrived at the College in the early 1980s as a philosophy professor, he began focusing his academic work on ethics to the mountains and their people. In 2014, after more than 30 years on faculty, Rouse will retire having played an integral role in the development of the CAS. Clark and McKnight will carry on the center.

Circumstances brought about the center’s first opportunity to connect the College’s academic mission with its region. In early January 2014, chemicals leaked into Charlestown, W.Va. water supply.

After several weeks of support, the Federal Emergency Management Administration declared the crisis clear, but with the caveat that pregnant women should not use the water. With FEMA’s declaration, the drinking water that had flooded the area during the crisis began to dry up.

The Center for Appalachian Studies, in conjunction with a number of other local and regional groups, began collecting water and shuttling it to a staging area in Pikeville, Ky. Throughout January and February, many truckloads of water were delivered to Charlestown originating from the center’s efforts.

More recently, McKnight’s local/ Appalachian history class undertook a community study of St. Charles, Va., a once bustling coal town that once contained thousands of residents. Now, with only an estimated population of 123, St. Charles is fading like many similar coal towns. The class has organized oral history interviews within the community and has made contacts and collected photographs and maps that will help add to the knowledge of UVa-Wise students in both the present and future.

Front: Helen Lewis, Amy Clark ’92 and David Rouse; back: Ron Eller and Brian McKnight ’97

Some of the supplies gathered by the Center during the Charlestown water crisis

8 UVa-Wise Magazine

The Appalachian Writing Project received a grant from the National Writing Project to partner with Flatwoods Elementary School in Lee County, Va. for teacher inservice, parent literacy workshops, and a home-to-school literacy project led by students, who are collecting oral histories from the Flatwoods community. Launched with a series of workshops by acclaimed Appalachian author George Ella Lyon, the project, titled “Down Flatwoods Road: Looking Back,” will result in a published book. As a result of a generous award from the Slemp Foundation, AWP continues to offer writing institutes for teachers and young writers.

The creation of the Origin Project by Big Stone Gap native Adrianna Trigiani promises an expanded reach for the center.

This endeavor encourages high school students to collect family histories as a way to preserve their local and regional heritage.

With the help of David Baldacci, whose roots trace to Dickenson County, the Origin Project has the potential to make a longterm impact on how the region views its past. In an attempt to connect local authors to the program, Trigiani has involved Clark and McKnight in the hopes that their expertise can help students develop their individual projects.

In addition to these opportunities, Clark, McKnight and Rouse hope to strategically expand course offerings to include disciplines not currently represented within the curriculum. With more varied and frequent course offerings, the minor could recruit the students necessary to help transition the program into a college major making it only one of two such programs in existence, the other being at Appalachian State University.

Brian McKnight ’97 with musician Ron Short ’71

Amy Clark ’92 with documentary filmmaker director Elizabeth Barret of Appalshop

For natives of Appalachia, history has taught that local opportunities for economic and social growth are few and far between, that work must be a physical endeavor, and that they must leave to find their futures. In addition to the many UVa-Wise graduates who choose to remain in the region close to friends and family, students from outside the area also decide to make their homes here. Many of those who come to Wise from northern Virginia, the Tidewater region, or Richmond, find friends, families and careers here that they are unwilling to leave upon graduation.

The CAS believes that by instilling a core belief of regional value in its residents, the Appalachian region can transform in much the same way as the Black Belt of the pre-Civil Rights era became the Sun Belt of the 1970s and the Rust Belt is beginning to transition. Change comes without regard to the wishes of those it affects and by building an acceptance and appreciation of the region and its culture, Appalachia can chart its own course into the future rather than having it set for the region by those without a meaningful level of cultural competency.

Ron Eller and Corbin Hayslett

Although the Center for Appalachian Studies seeks to help develop the region in a variety of ways, its primary focus is the way in which the College’s academic mission can better serve students. Since its inception in 1954, UVa-Wise has been an institution primarily dedicated to serving the people of southwestern Virginia. Over the years, the student body has grown more regionally diverse and now has 40% of students from outside the region. With this in mind, the CAS will continue important existing programs like Clark’s Appalachian Writing Project and McKnight’s Appalachian Warfare Program while initiating new ventures like a study of St. Charles, a withering coal town in Lee County. By exposing UVa-Wise students to the region’s history and culture, the CAS can help local students appreciate the value of their home communities and expose students from afar to the region in which they are spending several of their formative years.

Amy Clark ’92 and Ron Carson, founder of the Appalachian African-American Cultural Center

Spring/Summer 2014 9

FEATURES

SGA leading by example A leisurely walk across campus is one of the quickest ways to see how UVa-Wise has evolved from its infancy in 1954 to a strong liberal arts college on the move, but there are other signs of change that are not so easy to see, even by those who know the campus well.

The growth of student organizations is just one of the nearly invisible signs that a relatively young college has reached a pivotal point. The evolution of the Student Government Association is a prime example.

Shannon Walker

The College has always had solid leadership on the SGA, and many have gone on to hold public office locally and statewide. Others have become civic and business leaders who work hard to make their communities a better place. The latest crop of SGA leaders is primed to continue the tradition, and they have plans to shake things up bit while they represent their fellow students.

Under the guidance of Jewell Worley, ’76 the dean of students, the SGA has gained a reputation steeped in professionalism and integrity. Those attending a routine SGA meeting often comment on the efficient and respectful way business is conducted.

“My goal is to provide students a leadership opportunity where the information and skills they are acquiring in the classroom can be applied through service to the College as members of the SGA,” Worley said. “But most importantly, I view participating in the SGA as an opportunity to develop skills necessary to become contributing members of society once students graduate and are ready to assume leadership roles in the communities they chose to live and work.”

10 UVa-Wise Magazine

When Worley began working with the SGA in 2004, it met in a small space with no formal seating and no place for anyone to watch a meeting. The group now meets in the Slemp Student Center, and parliamentary procedure is the norm.

The SGA listens to students, trains future leaders, participates in community service projects, approves the establishment of new organizations, manages funding and contributes greatly to the overall student life experience.

“The SGA has become one of the College’s premier leadership opportunities for students,” Worley said.

Shannon Walker, a junior, is the SGA president for the upcoming academic year.

She and the Executive Board have big plans. The word “I” is not often used in her vocabulary. She shares the credit with her fellow student leaders.

“We’ve been a very active SGA, and that will continue in the fall,” Walker said.

“We are all very proud of what we have accomplished, and we want to represent all the students.”

Walker encourages students to become involved with the SGA. She promotes involvement when she mentors freshmen as a student ambassador.

“We tell people that when you are involved, you fall in love with the College,” she said.

Jordan Viars, the SGA vice president, shares Walker’s vision.

“The SGA has really centered itself around advocating for students,” Viars said.

“We’ve hit the point where we have people coming to the meetings who are proactive about issues. They want the SGA to take a bigger stance on things.”

Both Walker and Viars could spend a large chunk of time outlining the many positive things the SGA has done on campus and in the community. The list is long, but certain items stand out.

Restructuring standing committees down from double digits to nine has streamlined things, they said. Adding four additional senate seats has proved beneficial as well.

Working closely with the town of Wise on projects is also a priority they want to continue. After the annual Day of Service, the SGA noticed a need for mulch at Gateway Gardens in the middle of town, so they purchased $500 worth for the project.

Town leaders expressed gratitude for the students’ generosity and insight.

Walker shows her deep concern for her fellow students when she talks about a $1,400 allocation the SGA made to purchase boots for the ROTC cadets and funding that made it possible for other students to pay registration fees to attend conferences and other events.

“I think the allocations we’ve made are very smart,” she said. “We’ve changed our mindset on how much to give and when to give, but we are still generous. “We’ve chartered organizations and helped fund NCLEX tests for nursing students, and they had a 100 percent pass rate.”

Viars predicts the 2014-2015 SGA will continue to work hard.

“There is a different breed of leaders at UVa-Wise than on some other colleges, large or small,” Viars said. “There is a focus on leadership here, especially with the SGA. We try to focus on ways to highlight everyone’s abilities and skills. Freshmen and sophomores step up and surprise us right when we really need them.”

“We tell people that when you are involved, you fall in love with the College.”

--Shannon Walker

Student gives gift of Destiny Baker, a UVa-Wise sophomore, performed an act of kindness that gave a Tennessee resident a second chance at life when she donated a kidney.

The Big Stone Gap resident has always had a generous spirit, but donating a kidney was not in her original plan when she decided to register as a potential bone marrow donor. Baker, the mother of two young children, has a rare blood type and thought signing up as a bone marrow donor would be a good way to help others. Instead, she got a call about donating a kidney.

“It never felt like a big deal,” the nursing major said. “I would do it again if I had to do it over again.”

Her journey as a kidney donor is unique in many ways. Baker has always wanted to get involved with missionary work since she learned of an organization called Mercy Ships, a group that does missionary work in Haiti and Africa. In fact, her desire to help those in need is what motivated her to go to college as a non-traditional student. She chose nursing because she knew the medical field would give her the skills to help others.

“I signed up on matchingdonors.com and that is how I got on the donor list,” she said.

The man she selected to receive her kidney was one of many who were a match. Baker chose the Elizabethton resident because he lived closer to her home. She knew she would only have to travel to Knoxville for the procedure, and that trip sounded reasonable. Baker is a planner, and she thought the entire process out to the last detail.

LIFE

“We scheduled the surgery the Friday before fall break,” she said. “I had to miss all classes on Friday, but I knew it would give me time to recover before going back to class.”

Baker informed her professors at the beginning of the semester that she would be taking a day off for surgery before the fall break.

Being modest about her generosity, Baker only shared the details with a few of them.

“They all said it was fine, and that gave me a week to rest and get over the soreness without having to do a lot,” she said.

“The day after I came back from break, I had to take my nursing entrance exam and I had an evening class.”

Baker had some initial struggles when she returned to campus.

She could not carry a regular backpack to class. She used a wheeled backpack for six weeks.

“I had to find some new ways to get to class, but it was never a problem,” she said. “I was fine. I’d just take some Benadryl and Tylenol and get right back at it.”

When asked about her first meeting with the Elizabethton man and his family, Baker said she was nervous at first.

“I thought it would be awkward, but it turned out to be very easy,” she said. “We would always laugh when we were together, and it has never felt strange. It is like we’ve all been friends forever.”

Baker shrugs off any talk about her bravery or generosity.

“It just made sense for me to do this to save someone’s life,” she said. “It seemed the right thing to do.”

Regret only entered her mind once, and that was when it seemed the transplant was not going to be successful.

Baker was relieved when she learned that the procedure was a total success.

“It never felt like a sacrifice to me,” she said.

Destiny Baker

Spring/Summer 2014 11

FEATURES

ssions

expre

Shelf

A new series that offers a glimpse of the treasures and trinkets found in faculty and staff offices

Whitaker’s herd

Brenda Whitaker has been with UVa-Wise since 1969, and she has amassed a lot of memories and a herd of elephants over the years.

Visitors to her office in the Leonard Sandridge Science Whitaker and her elephants Center have grown accustomed to her pachyderm collection, and Whitaker has a story to tell about each one. Elephants have remarkable memories, and so does Whitaker.

In addition to her fantastic memory, Whitaker, an administrative assistant, is an avid reader who has organized book clubs from time to time. She has many interests, and a chance reading of an article on elephants led to her collection of elephant figurines.

“It was not long after I started working here that I read an article in National Geographic about elephants,” she said. “I was amazed by their behavior and how intelligent they are. Everything about the elephants fascinated me.”

Whitaker enjoys talking to others about what she reads, and she readily shared the article with her fellow coworkers.

“I asked a lot of questions about elephants, too,” she said. “I wanted to know how they knew how to find ancient trails and waterholes.”

It was inevitable that her coworkers slowly bought elephants for Whitaker on special occasions. Students soon followed suit, and her elephant collection began to grow.

“They were scattered around in my old office, but in this office, I have a big window,” she said. “I decided my elephants were ready for safari.”

Visitors to the Sandridge Science Center often walk by Whitaker’s window and pause briefly to view the elephant collection. Whitaker is used to the attention her elephants receive, and she is happy to share stories about each one.

“I know who gave me everyone of them,” she said.

Elephants on safari

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An ugly mug

A chance visit to a corner of a small general store in Missouri put Whitney Wells ’02 on the path to collect strange or obscure souvenirs.

Wells, who works in academic support services, was on a trip with colleague Marshell Bradley ’10 when the two wandered into the seemingly ordinary store.

What they found was anything but ordinary.

“We decided to make a quick stop for a snack,” Wells ’02 rattlesnake mug draws attention Wells explained. “The store was pretty general, but I eventually wandered into a far corner.”

That’s when the shopping trip took an interesting turn.

“I spotted the most unique shelf I had ever seen,” she said.

“There was a shelf of rattlesnake items, and I saw a mug that I couldn’t resist.”

Wells said the mug has become a great conversation starter when new students drop by to see her.

However, she said some students avoid getting too close to the mug.

“I enjoy watching students for the first time when I bring it out and ask them to reach in to get a pen,” she said. “It sets a mood, and I hope it is one with a Wells ’02 shows off her mug smile.”

Bradley and Wells started a contest after their adventure in Missouri. The coworkers try to find obscure souvenirs from their work trips. The items must cost less than $20, and it has to be purchased from a non-traditional store. The competition is fierce, but Wells has since found that her mug is a favorite of a particular late night talk show host.

“After my return, I discovered that Craig Ferguson from The Late Late Show has the same mug on his desk,” Wells said. “That’s not a problem for me.”

Prints bring sweet memories Professor Frank Frey decorated his Smiddy Hall office with special prints that bring back treasured memories for him.

“I have two types of prints on my walls, and both mean a lot to me personally,” he said. “They put a smile on my face, even while I’m grading stacks of papers.”

The first is a series of photographic prints by Eliot Porter.

“They belonged to my parents, who have both passed on in recent years,” he explained. “When we moved into the renovated Smiddy Hall, I decided to hang the prints in my office.”

Frey said viewing the prints each day when he enters the office reminds him of his parents and how they made a difference in his life.

“It reminds me that I would not be here as a faculty member without the support of my parents as I toiled through college and graduate school,” he said.

The other print that means so much to Frey is one that resulted from a chance encounter with a photographer in Blacksburg, Va. “It is an art print of my deceased dog, Arlo,” Frey said. “This art print was created by an artist at Virginia Tech.”

Frey recalled the day that he and his wife were walking Arlo on campus when the artist asked if she could take Arlo’s photograph.

The couple agreed.

Frey with a print of his dog, Arlo

“Months later, while passing by an art gallery in downtown Blacksburg, we saw a series of prints of dogs arranged in a matrix Brady Bunch style in the front window of the gallery. One of them resembled Arlo.”

The couple went inside and bought the print, and the proceeds went to help rescue animals.

“Later on we bumped into the artist and asked if that was Arlo,” he said. “She confirmed that it was. Arlo has passed on too, and I keep that print in my office because he was always my best buddy for 10 years of my career here at the College.”

Musical roots

A meaningful gift Gaylean’s father shared nearly 40 years ago

A worn guitar case sits just inside the doorway of Richard Galyean’s office in the Gilliam Center for the Arts. The guitar that resides in the case was a gift from Galyean’s father, and it has belonged to the UVa-Wise director of bands for nearly 40 years.

The story of the guitar and its place in Galyean’s life is as delightful as the tunes he strums on its strings.

“Dad gave me this on my 19th birthday,” he said. “I was in my first year at New River Community College and I thought I’d get a business degree. But I decided in my second year to change my degree to music.”

He believes that the gift of the guitar was his father’s way of endorsing his choice. Galyean recalls that day well.

“My parents also gave me a digital watch,” he said. “It was 1976 and they had just come out with those watches. I was excited about the watch, and I was surprised when they brought out the guitar. It completely shocked me.”

His father also purchased four guitar lessons, and Galyean learned to play the classic Carter song “Wildwood Flower.” He was hooked. He taught himself to play after the lessons were finished.

“I just played for fun, but my wife Cathy had me play the guitar for our wedding.”

Even though he lived in Galax, known worldwide for its music conventions, Galyean didn’t think much about why he seemed to have an instinct for music, but that later changed when he found out his great grandfather Luther Galyean and his uncle Fred Cockerham were well known for their mountain music skills.

“Fred was sort of like Dock Boggs,” Galyean said of the banjo player. “And I found out that his banjo is in the Smithsonian.”

Galyean has since learned more about his ancestors as he works closely with the UVa-Wise Bluegrass Band.

“Now that I know about it, this guitar brings it all together,” he said.

Spring/Summer 2014 13

INAUGURATION

THE

INAUGURATION OF

DONNA PRICE HENRY as the Eighth Chancellor of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise Amid a pageantry steeped in rich academic tradition, Donna Price Henry was formally installed on April 22 as the eighth chancellor of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise in a ceremony that drew nearly 700 faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends.

The crowd rose to its feet as Grand Marshal Betty Humphreys led the processional of ROTC Color Guard and dozens of robe-clad representatives of faculty, student organizations, governing board members and delegates from other colleges and universities toward the stage in the David J. Prior Convocation Center.

Following a reading of poems from Appalachian poet Maurice Manning and addresses by others, Henry was installed as chancellor to rousing applause and a standing ovation.

“Thank you for your belief in our beloved College and your confidence in my ability to serve as your chancellor,” Henry said in an address that often referenced the inauguration theme of ‘Minds on Opportunity. Hearts on Service.’ “You have my pledge to lead, to contribute, to create and to join you in making a difference at UVa-Wise.”

14 UVa-Wise Magazine

Henry said she is often asked what surprised her the most about UVa-Wise and the region when she and her family arrived on campus a little over a year ago.

“There have been no surprises,” she said. “UVa-Wise is who it purports to be, authentic to its core and a true part of the community.”

The College has a deep commitment to fulfill its mission to engage minds and hearts in opportunity and service as a public liberal arts college, the chancellor told the crowd. As a result, the College will seek out new academic opportunities to meet the needs of the region’s economic and quality of life needs, she added. It will rely on its new Envisioning 2020 strategic plan to carry out those tasks, she told those gathered at the event.

“UVa-Wise will incorporate the best practices in technology in every discipline so students, whether they are majoring in the social sciences, history, communications or literature benefit as much from the strengths of technology as do students in the natural sciences,” Henry said. “The challenges our region faces over the next six plus years are considerable but our resolve is strong.”

The College will work with its partners in the region to reimagine Southwest Virginia’s future, build stronger alliances and work together toward renewal and prosperity, the chancellor pledged.

“Our College will do all of these things and thrive because we are fortunate to have remarkable employees, alumni, friends and a parent institution that give us the extraordinary capacity for innovation and growth,” Henry said.

University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan charged Henry with the task of providing a strong day-to-day leadership while shaping a superb future for UVa-Wise.

“The theme for this inauguration is ‘Minds on Opportunity Hearts on Service,’” Sullivan said. “How appropriate for this new chancellor because Donna Price Henry has both a good head and a good heart. She is committed to new academic opportunities for UVa-Wise students, and at the same time, she is dedicated to serving the citizens of this region and the entire Commonwealth.”

Sullivan said Henry is the ideal person to build on the momentum built by the College’s strong leaders who preceded her and to take UVa-Wise to an even higher level of achievement in the future.

The Henry Era begins

Chancellor Henry, daughter Jessie, husband Allen Henry and daughter Margaret

Ceremony at the David J. Prior Convocation Center

“I know that you are well-prepared for the task and eager to embrace the challenge, and I look forward to applauding your successes in the years ahead,” Sullivan said to Henry.

Henry leads the College as it embarks on its new strategic plan. Sullivan said the University and the College at Wise each have similar strategic plans and similar priorities, including efforts to build faculty excellence and to enhance the student experience through experiential learning, while promoting diversity and affordable access.

“U.Va. and the College at Wise share many of the same priorities because we share a sense of purpose and a vision,” Sullivan said. “Our purpose and vision are based on a set of commitments we make as public institutions of higher learning, commitments to our students, to our communities and to the Commonwealth of Virginia and its people.”

University of Virginia Rector George K. Martin administered the oath of office to Henry and presented her with the Chancellor’s Medallion. Joseph C. Smiddy, the College’s first chancellor, handed the medallion to Martin, and the Henry family, husband Allen and daughters Jessie and Margaret, were by Chancellor Henry’s side during the installation.

“I am here as your representative to present the woman who will carry on the leadership of the College, Donna Price Henry,” Martin said. “Chancellor Henry has the skills and dedication to lead the College to new levels of scholarship, excellence and achievement.”

Spring/Summer 2014 15

INAUGURATION

Roy E. McTarnaghan delivers keynote address

Roy E. McTarnaghan, founding president of Florida Gulf Coast University, delivered the keynote address.

McTarnaghan worked with Henry at FGCU for many years and said he watched her grow into an insightful and strong leader who leads by example. He told the crowd that Henry has immersed herself in the life of Southwest Virginia and the Commonwealth, and is involved with the organizations that will bring ideas, resources and recognition to UVa-Wise.

“Chancellor Henry understands how this institution has developed and is prepared to take it onward to the next level,” he said. “With vision and commitment, and your support within the university and in the region, UVa-Wise is well positioned to continue this successful road.”

Three former chancellors of the College-Chancellor Emeritus Joseph Smiddy, Jay Lemons and George Culbertson-attended the inauguration ceremony and a luncheon held prior to the event. The men listened as UVa-Wise Board Chair Marcia A. Gilliam spoke about the College’s past and its present. Gilliam chaired the search committee that led to Henry’s selection as chancellor.

“From our committee members’ first encounter with Donna, we knew that she was exceptional,” Gilliam said. “During these last months, the UVa-Wise Board members and I have gotten to know and work closely with Donna. Our members believe that she embodies the values, the intellect and the work ethic necessary to steer UVa-Wise forward on a bold, achievable course.”

Gilliam said Henry has responded to the call to serve the College, and she will embark on a shared adventure with the Board to write a new chapter in the UVaWise history.

“Today we are writing just the first paragraph, and we can’t wait for what comes next,” Gilliam added.

Rue Gembach and Chancellor Henry

Chancellor Henry, Roy E. McTarnaghan, Jessie Henry, Allen Henry, Margaret Henry, Chancellor Emeritus Joseph C. Smiddy and Rector George Keith Martin

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ABOUT DONNA PRICE HENRY Donna Price Henry was elected chancellor of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors on Dec. 7, 2012 and assumed office on Jan. 18, 2013.

As the college’s eighth chancellor, she is responsible for leading UVa-Wise and Chancellor Henry its constituents in fulfilling its mission of student success and service to Southwest Virginia and the Commonwealth.

Chancellor Henry is active in the community and the Commonwealth. She serves on the Wise County Chamber of Commerce, Southwest Virginia Public Education Consortium, Cove Ridge Foundation and Advisory Committee, Powell River Project, Southwest Virginia Health Authority and LEAD Virginia.

She provides leadership to the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Mountain East Conference for athletics.

A biologist with extensive experience in higher education, she spent 16 years in a variety of positions at Florida Gulf Coast University. She was a founding faculty member at FGCU, was faculty senate president and served as a member of the University Board of Trustees. Henry served as dean of the FGCU College of Arts and Sciences, an assignment that demanded meticulous strategic planning and leadership that allowed the College to grow rapidly while continuing to improve academic quality.

Chancellor Henry earned a Bachelor of Arts in Biological Basis of Behavior from the University of Pennsylvania, where she also minored in Spanish. She earned a Doctorate in Physiology from Thomas Jefferson University. Chancellor Henry is a professor of biology on the UVa-Wise faculty.

Henry is married to Allen Henry, a pilot for Federal Express. The Henrys have twin daughters, Jessie and Margaret.

‘The stars were in alignment’ “The Board of Visitors said they would deal with Clinch Valley at a later date, and that is the way it was for almost 20 years,” Culbertson said. “That changed with John Casteen became president.”

Casteen formed a task force to study the relationship between the College and the University, and Culbertson, William Sturgill ’56 and Kenneth Asbury served on that group. The task force recommended the relationship should remain and be enhanced.

Casteen sent Jay Lemons to serve as chancellor, and the College’s name change to UVa-Wise was a natural consequence of Casteen’s actions.

“Again the stars were in alignment,” Culbertson said.

The future is bright for UVa-Wise for three reasons, Culbertson told the crowd. One reason is the strong public and private support it receives and the subsequent growth that results. The Board of Visitors and the UVa-Wise Board works in concert to make it happen, he explained.

“The College has also benefited from two very successful capital campaigns, the second of which was led by Marcia Gilliam ’82 and Hunter Smith,” he said. “The endowment is now about $65 million, which is more than that of some older and larger universities in Virginia.”

University President Teresa Sullivan is the second reason for a bright future.

“President Sullivan has continued on the path set

by Mr. Casteen by providing strong institutional and personal support for the College,” Culbertson said.

“She found new avenues to make the relationship thrive.

President Sullivan and her team believe in the College and work diligently to help it be successful.”

Culbertson said Chancellor Donna Price Henry is the third reason a Chancellor Henry and Chancellor bright future is ahead.

Emeritus Joseph C. Smiddy “Chancellor Henry and her family have made this their home,” he said. “She is proving to be an able leader who strongly supports the mission of the College and the students it serves. We see the stars coming in alignment, and the best is yet to come.”

Photo by Earl Neikirk

The historic inauguration of the College’s first female chancellor this spring provided the perfect opportunity for George Culbertson ’57, a former chancellor, to tell the riveting tale of how UVa-Wise navigated rough waters during its six decades of existence.

“Chancellor Emeritus Joe Smiddy has often said that there have been times in our history when the stars were in alignment,” Culberston told more than 300 guests at the inauguration luncheon. “That was certainly true 60 years ago when Sam Crockett, a University of Virginia administrator, had a chance meeting with a number of local residents while he was snowed in at the Colonial Inn in Wise.”

Culbertson described how the three “Wise” men—Fred Greear, Bill Thompson and Kenneth Asbury—drove to Charlottesville to meet with University of Virginia President Colgate Darden, a former Virginia governor who was receptive to the idea of opening a college in Wise County. Darden advised the men to approach the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond for funding.

George Culbertson ’57 “The result was an appropriation of $10,000 for the biennium,” Culbertson said.

“Just a few months later, with the help of hundreds of the region’s citizens and the support of the University, Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia opened for classes at the old Wise County Poor Farm.”

Culbertson said another star aligned when Joseph Smiddy was hired as the College’s first biology teacher.

“Joe would be a bright star in the development of the College for years to come,” he said. “The founding of this College is a classic example of what can be accomplished when people work together for the common good.”

Culbertson moved his tale ahead by a decade and explained that the baby boomers were headed to college and education was changing. Virginia was building its community college structure and planned to envelop all two-year branch colleges into the new system. State lawmaker Orby Cantrell and local school superintendent Dick Richmond had another plan, Culbertson explained. The General Assembly was considering a bill to make George Mason a four-year school, so Cantrell attached an amendment to do the same with the only liberal arts college this side of Radford. Richmond used his influence to get all Virginia school superintendents to support the measure. The bill became a law and the College went from a two-year institution to a four-year college.

“The stars were in alignment,” Culbertson said.

Skip forward another 10 years when the University considered making Mary Washington, George Mason and Clinch Valley colleges independent of U.Va. Culbertson said one Board of Visitor member—Dr. Brownie Polly of Big Stone Gap—did not support the plan, and fellow Big Stone Gap native Linwood Holton, who happened to be governor of Virginia, called the University rector to intercede.

Spring/Summer 2014 17

INAUGURATION

Calls to service A newly installed college president or chancellor traditionally makes a pledge outlining what he or she will do to lead a school forward under their new leadership, but faculty, staff, students and alumni usually get to issue calls to service for the new leader as well.

Professor Christopher Scalia, chair of the Faculty Senate, had the honor to issue the call to service to Chancellor Donna Price Henry and to offer congratulations on behalf of his fellow teachers.

“As you may have realized by now, we take our history seriously around here, and we’re particularly proud of our connection to Thomas Jefferson, a man who may never have set foot in this part of the state, but whose fingerprints are all over campus,” Scalia said.

Scalia said Jefferson is remembered for many reasons, including the emphasis on the importance of government by the people, which is the foundation of America’s democracy. Jefferson applied the same approach when he built the University of Virginia, and he expected the eight original faculty member to instruct students and also help with the administration of the institution, Scalia told the crowd.

“The University has grown a bit, spawning our little college down here,” Scalia said. “But the significance of faculty self-governance endures.

Christopher Scalia

18 UVa-Wise Magazine

Scalia called on Henry to remember the faculty’s role not only is instructing students but in helping her by recommending policies and programs that will best promote the interests of UVa-Wise.

“I urge you to remember that you are not just the chief administrator here, but in fact a member of the faculty, and that we, your peers, are partners in your important task,” he said. “At the same time, I call the rest of the faculty to remember that the concept of self-governance does not just mean that we get to complain when some policy doesn’t suit our tastes. It is a call to participate in, not just react to, the governance of the College.”

Larry McReynolds, president of the UVa-Wise Alumni Association, delivered a call to service on behalf of more than 9,000 alumni who received degrees over the past six decades.

“Our call to service is for you to maintain a strong tie to our liberal arts heritage while expanding on the Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Health initiative and the other resources to recruit and retain excellent faculty, staff and students to make UVa-Wise a first choice institution,” McReynolds said to Henry.

In return, the Alumni Association will continue its efforts to make lifelong connections between students and alumni to UVa-Wise by increasing alumni participation in the life of the College, enhancing social and networking opportunities through regional clubs, and growing alumni travel and fundraising opportunities, McReynolds pledged.

Jessica Necessary, Teresa A. Sullivan and Chancellor Henry

Jessica Necessary, the Staff Council chair, gave the call of service on behalf of her colleagues. Necessary said she has often heard the chancellor offer words of wisdom and encouragement to students, faculty and staff.

“Over the past year, the chancellor has been faced with numerous challenges from the obscure to the serious,” Necessary said.

“With each situation, Chancellor Henry took charge and worked with the campus community and outside authorities to ensure the safety of the campus.”

Necessary said the climate of higher education today is to work hard to meet the changing needs of students. In order to fulfill the College’s mission, Necessary told Henry that the staff will support her and the College community, will use its skills and talents to further UVa-Wise and will be ready to act when the chancellor calls for staff support.

Dakota Hill

Student Government Association President Dakota Hill spoke on behalf of his fellow students. He fondly recalled the legacy of the late Chancellor David J. Prior, and he said Prior would be proud to see how UVa-Wise is doing today.

Hill said Prior encouraged students to find the light in dark situations and to dance in the rain.

“How proud David Prior would be that we have found our light and are dancing in the rain,” Hill said.

An original mix to a traditional ceremony Those who enjoyed hearing the UVa-Wise Trumpet Ensemble play the original rousing fanfare and the UVa-Wise Brass Quintet perform the upbeat processional at the Inauguration of Chancellor Donna Price Henry had no idea that Panera Bread and Facebook helped Professor Donald Sorah compose both pieces.

“I wrote it in Panera Bread in Kingsport,” Sorah said. “The coffee helped. I had the computer with me, and an idea in my head. I wrote the first trumpet part right there, and then the harmonies.”

Sorah pondered the tune for a while and then turned to social media for some advice. He posed a question on a Facebook status, and he got more than a dozen responses.

“I asked if I should add timpani,” he said. “Yes, was the response. I think that was the beginning of the processional. It all came out working on the fanfare.”

Sorah describes the fanfare as a fairly simple but functional piece that fit the mood of the occasion. Four trumpets and percussion are used in the fanfare.

“I intended it to serve a purpose,” he said. “It was not necessarily composed to stand on its own.”

When tasked with selecting the right music for the inauguration, Sorah searched online for existing music that would work, but what he found did not really fit.

“I thought we needed something more special,” he said. “I just decided to sit down and flesh something out. It’s bright and celebratory. When I think of the chancellor and how she is always willing to help out across campus, I thought it would be nice to do something special for her.”

As for the processional, Sorah also decided to keep it simple and pretty.

“The inspiration came that same morning at Panera Bread,” he said.

“I wrote the first eight measures. It just happened, and it came from the fanfare. It has an almost British March style. It’s slower and a more regal march.”

The original fanfare and processional added a new mix to an academic ceremony that is steeped in tradition.

“I hope the crowd left with the music stuck in their heads after the ceremony,” he said.

Donald Sorah

Performing at the inauguration

Spring/Summer 2014 19

INAUGURATION

FOUNDER’S DAY... with a twist Nathan McGlone does a fine Thomas Jefferson

Founder’s Day, the annual event that honors the birthday of University of Virginia founder Thomas Jefferson, has been around for many years, but busy days that come with spring semesters have caused attendance to fluctuate at times.

The committee tasked with planning and carrying out the event looked at the occasion with a critical eye to see if changing Robin Benke, Eric Hartnett, Dakota Hill and Tom Costa certain aspects would give Founder’s Day a new look and feel. The group determined that what Founder’s Day needed was more student involvement in the planning, especially as the event was an official part of the inauguration of the College’s eighth chancellor.

Student Government President Dakota Hill and Student Activities Board President Madison Savarese ’14 joined the committee and the group quickly decided that Founder’s Day simply needed to be more festive, and the B-Day for TJ Founder’s Day Party concept was born.

Many students expressed surprise and amusement when the Founder’s Day invitation, featuring Mr. Jefferson dressed in Cavalier red striped socks, a birthday hat and a sash proclaiming that it was his 271st birthday arrived in the mail. Meanwhile, the SGA and SAB worked with others on campus to develop a clue-themed treasure Chancellor Henry cuts T.J.’s birthday cake hunt several days before Founder’s Day to create some early buzz. The Founder’s Day Committee stayed busy planning the proper menu, a mix of foods that Mr. Jefferson favored and modern day birthday fare.

However, Mother Nature did not cooperate when the big day arrived, forcing the committee to move the party indoors at Cantrell Banquet Hall. The weather cut attendance, but did not decrease the fun. Chancellor Donna Henry gave the crowd a short history of the The invitation College’s founding and the party started.

Several faculty and staff, including Chancellor Henry, donned powdered wigs provided by the SGA, and representatives of several student organizations competed in the Thomas Jefferson Look-a-Like Contest. Nathan McGlone emerged the winner. Those attending enjoyed an interesting Fun Facts Trivia Contest featuring information about Mr. Jefferson.

20 UVa-Wise Magazine

Nathan McGlone and Megan Castell ’14

Noted scholar

Stephen Greenblatt visits campus

An ancient poem that was lost for about 1,000 years both survived and moved the world toward the modern era because of its beautiful words, even though its message is nearly as radical today as it was when recovered in a monastery in 1417.

Stephen Greenblatt, a Pulitzer Prize winning scholar and author, told a large audience in the David J. Prior Convocation Center in April that “On the Nature of Things,” a poem by Roman philosopher Titus Lucretius Carus that embraced the ideas of Greek philosopher Epicurus, contained radical ideas and was the subject of scorn during the Renaissance, challenged Christian beliefs in its message that death should not be feared and that pleasure was the ultimate reward in life.

The Cogan University Professor of the Humanities visited UVa-Wise to kickoff the first lecture made possible by the Glenn and Jere Noel Blackburn Endowment for the Humanities. The event was part of the Inauguration of Donna Price Henry as eighth chancellor of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

The title of Greenblatt’s talk was “Lucretius and the Toleration of Intolerable Ideas.” It dealt with why and how the utterly unacceptable ideas reintroduced by the recovery of the ancient poem managed to survive and be transmitted during preEnlightment centuries that had no concept of toleration.

Lucretius wrote of his belief that the universe was made of atoms or “seeds” that were elements of change. His poem maintained that there was no creator and no life after death, radical ideas that were written hundreds of years before Christ and Christianity. The poem was shocking for the 15th century and led many to be burned at the stake for embracing or defending Lucretius’ ideas.

“The question then was how close you could get to those ideas without being burned yourself,” he said.

But Greenblatt said the work also survived because readers used it as a teaching text for Latin and that it was “stunningly beautiful.” Artists helped it survive by including its radical ideas in paintings and other art. The poem’s depiction in paintings and other art went largely unnoticed because the world gave art a broad pass when it came to taming dangerous ideas and thoughts.

“How is it possible for ideas to percolate?” Greenblatt asked. “In this case it was because of an unexpected cooperation between the humanities and the sciences. It was a book of physics that was beautiful. The secret was to keep it in Latin.”

Above: Stephen Greenblatt; directly above: Glenn and Jere Noel Blackburn and Stephen Greenblatt

Spring/Summer 2014 21

INAUGURATION

Lending a hand at Central High

Professor Jacob Somervell ’99 is now an expert when it comes to identifying swanky clothing brands. He gained his new expertise simply because he spent hours sorting donated clothing and other items for The Red Barn, the Family Crisis Support Center’s thrift store.

Somervell was one of more than 200 members of the UVa-Wise family who donated time and labor as part of the fourth annual Cavaliers Care: A Day of Service on April 19. The popular event was held in honor of the inauguration of Donna Price Henry as the College’s eighth chancellor.

The computer science professor endured a steep learning curve when he began the sort, but his fellow volunteers were there to teach him which clothing brands would fetch more money for the non-profit agency and which belonged in the bargain bins. He quickly learned that Sag Harbor specializes in women’s clothing but Land’s End could go either way. He seemed a bit bemused by the excitement that ensued when his fellow volunteers discovered a Burberry polo shirt tucked away in a bag of clothing.

“I’ve learned a lot here today,” he said as he finished sorting a third bag. “I really had no idea which brands were high end.

I’d hold a blouse in one hand and one that looked almost identical in the other hand, and I found out what made one more valuable than the other.”

Somervell, who served as chair of the Inauguration Committee, was pleased with the number of volunteers and their willingness to help the local community through the Day of Service. So was Stephanie Shell ’92, the chair of the Day of Service Committee.

Gateway Gardens

Photos by Tim C. Cox

Making snacks for cancer patients

Students remove debris

22 UVa-Wise Magazine

Sprucing up Gateway Gardens

“The committee worked hard this year to offer a wide variety of projects, both on campus and throughout the community, in honor of Chancellor Henry’s inauguration,” Shell said. “Several new projects, including snacks for cancer center patients, landscaping in the town of Wise gardens, head start learning center revitalization and pet adoption blankets offered great opportunities for volunteers to work alongside folks they didn’t already know and to learn about local agencies and their programs.”

Shell called the Day of Service a winwin for the volunteers and the participating agencies.

“Club and organization members, Greeks, employees, alumni, community members and friends contributed to this special event,” she added. “Everyone enjoyed the camaraderie of working together and knowing their efforts made a difference.”

The long day began when Chancellor Donna Henry thanked the volunteers at the kickoff breakfast that the Kiwanis Club of Wise provided. The chancellor and her family participated in the Day of Service tasks as well.

“My family and I look forward to the Day of Service,” Henry said. “It is such a joy to work along with so many of our students, faculty and staff on projects that make a difference in our area. I am tremendously proud of all our volunteers, and I know the community appreciates all the hard work and dedication.”

Katie Scott ’14, a resident advisor who graduated in May, led the National Residence Hall Honorary Chapter to clean litter and debris from Darden Drive, the state roadway that runs adjacent to campus.

The group spent the day spiffing up the road from the Valero convenience store to Tacoma Mountain Road.

Helping keep Wise clean

“We wanted to adopt a highway because community service is one of the pillars of NRHH, and this gives us the opportunity to continue this project each year,” Scott said. “The Day of Service is one of the best ways for people to get involved with the community outside of campus. It allows us to make connections in the community.”

Raking leaves around Camp Bethel

Spring/Summer 2014 23

Student Research INAUGURATION

EIGHTH ANNUAL

SYMPOSIUM

Kinsey Hall ’14 presents her research in biochemistry

Chronic disease in rural South Africa, a piano rendition of Fantasia and the tale of how a student crafted his first graphic novel were a handful of the 33 presentations

by UVa-Wise and Emory & Henry College students during the eighth annual Undergraduate Research Symposium hosted by the College on April 25.

This year’s symposium held a few changes aside from experiential firsts.

“Two years ago, when we hosted the conference on our campus, presenting art students transported and displayed their original works,” said UVa-Wise Academic Dean Amelia Harris. “This year they submitted copies digitally so that they could put it up on the screen and everybody could see it. Everyone is presenting digitally which is a change.”

24 UVa-Wise Magazine

“Some of the participants have presented at national conferences,” she said.

“While there are a lot of students here that are veterans at presenting, it is not that big of a deal for them, but for others, this is the first time they have presented.”

More changes may be on the way for future symposiums. Harris said that the symposium could grow. Discussion is underway regarding the addition of another college to allow for more exchange between presenters and peers.

“It made sense that we would have our students do this with a larger audience than just us, so it made sense to ask another college, Emory & Henry, to be part of it,” said Harris. “In order to enlarge to symposium, there is discussion of adding another institution to come and be part of the symposium.”

Art major Dustin Fields has discussed with smaller groups his first graphic novel, “Level 1,” but notes that the symposium was a different caliber of Fields’ graphic novel, Level 1 experience.

“I’ve never given a presentation this large,” said Fields. “I’ve done the gallery exhibits and the presentations for that. I’ve talked about my paintings and things, but I’ve never given a formal presentation to a group of this nature.”

Dustin described his first graphic novel as a psychedelic experience mixed with a bit of surrealism and discussed his inspiration and production process.

“This is the first book I’ve ever had printed,” he said. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to do a graphic novel. I used to make little comic books on my own, comic strip kinds of things, but I had never really gotten serious about it. When I got in the art program, I started painting but I decided since this was a dream of mine, I’d do this. I wanted it to be a representation of how I see human existence and how things just sort of happen, how it is embraced and how we just kind of go along with it which is how my philosophy is—just kind of go with the flow.”

This was also science major Laura Stamper’s first year presenting at the symposium although she had done research on two previous occasions with Healthy Appalachia.

“I had presented on chronic disease in South Africa before however, it is different presenting here because it is UVa-Wise and you are more at home here,” said Stamper. I presented at a COPLAC conference earlier, but it was for a group of strangers.”

Stamper sat in on many other presentations and learned about the many new things her peers were researching from both colleges.

“I didn’t Laura Stamper ’14 know the nursing department here had a lot of great research going on as well,” she said. “There are so many other departments on campus doing a lot of research which is a great opportunity for students and I just didn’t know about it all. You just kind of end up staying with your own department. I knew science and was just really active with that research so it was great to see some of the other disciplines pulled together.”

“I’m excited to see the Emory & Henry presentations as well,” said Stamper. “You get ideas from other people and it is great to see how they approach their research, the problems they had and learn from each other. I think that is really helpful to also see the different presentation formats. I loved the Q&A. It makes it more interesting and involved to have questions from people and to know that they had an interest in it as well.”

Providing an opportunity to share research with the College community and other guests, the symposium represents part of a larger effort to enhance the student experience through undergraduate research.

Students like Stamper recognize the benefit of doing undergraduate research. They becoming engaged in the work and the long-term benefits are major.

“Research made a huge difference in my college career and in my life honestly,” she said. “I was torn between graduate and medical school and for me it helped me decide what I want to do in life and my research has played a big part in that. It is really helped me to go on and do more global health research and medicine. So without that research, I’m not sure that I would have had that interest. Research was a really powerful experience for me.”

Music major Tayler Bolling showcased a vocal performance she worked on for nearly two years. It is a piece that she says, lyric or coloratura sopranos can do called Bester Jungling from The Impersario.

Melissa Blackburn ’14 discusses her finds

Question and answer sessions engage peers

“This piece is good for agility purposes,” said Bolling. “It has been a really great technique piece for me. It is the first Mozart piece that I’ve done. My first professor here, Amber Burke, introduced this piece to me because she thought it could be a good learning experience for technique. I hadn’t heard the piece at the time, but when I did hear it, I really liked it and wanted to work it.”

Bolling, a senior who will be intern teaching in music education this fall, says the difference between performing at the symposium and in concert is very different.

“Here you have the support of colleagues, peers and the music. It is not as intimidating,” she said. “They want to see you succeed. Just having all the faculty and students here really makes a difference.

They have all worked so hard for this and it is a great honor to be chosen for this. I know that music majors have put in a lot of practice time for our day to get to where we want to be. They all did a fantastic job. I am very happy they chose me to do this. I have enjoyed it so much.”

Spring/Summer 2014 25

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

GALYEAN

TACKLES

TOURISM

A research project conducted by a student at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise reveals that Southwest Virginia localities have a better chance of cultivating a thriving tourism industry by working in tandem instead of each county venturing out on its own.

Todd Galyean, who completed his Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Government in December, spent several months looking at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) of developing tourism businesses in the region.

SWOT is a standard method used to evaluate the viability of a business venture or a variety of proposals. Galyean, a Big Stone Gap resident, applied SWOT to tourism ventures, specifically to identify any factors that would help or hinder that type of business in the region.

Galyean began his work based on the theme of the Blueprint for Entrepreneurial Growth, a plan developed by economic development officials and business leaders to promote growth and development in Southwest Virginia. He studied asset based initiatives and found that tourism has many beneficial factors in its favor.

“Tourism is a great way to diversify the economy,” Galyean said. “There are less barriers to enter those fields, and more people can get involved. It is a great way to build up an economy, especially with decreases in the coal industry.”

Galyean, who served as editor of the Highland Cavalier, brought the full scope of tourism possibilities into perspective. He focused on some tourism possibilities that had promise.

“There were good tourism movements on the ground level,” he said. “Programs like the Spearhead Trails, Clinch River Initiative, Artists and Trails of Southwest Virginia and others are good examples of viable initiatives.”

Tourism-based companies in Abingdon and the Tricities have already established solid infrastructure, Galyean found.

“They already have popular tourism draws, so I looked at the coalfield region to find ways that Southwest Virginia can complement the already established tourism in Washington County and other localities,” Galyean said. “One thing that could work is promoting tourism in the coalfield area as daytrip destinations.”

26 UVa-Wise Magazine

Galyean’s research showed that the coalfields’ location away from Interstate 81 is difficult to overcome.

However, identifying and developing niche tourism could work.

“The research showed that we could focus on a lot of non-traditional tourism such as rental cabins,” he said. “A trail of beds and breakfast where people could go spend a day or two at Todd Galye different ones in the area an ’13 could be a draw.”

Southwest Virginia could successfully market tourism if it is focused on outdoor recreation or the history of the coal industry, Galyean found.

“People really like recreational tourism, but the region has to work together if it is going to get things going,” Galyean said. “It needs to work together as a region, especially when it comes to planning events.”

The research left Galyean encouraged about the future of tourism.

“Everyone will see different opportunities when looking at tourism in the coalfields,” he said. “The culture of entrepreneurialism that is going on now is encouraging. We need to look at our assets in a different light and see that we do have opportunities to turn tourism into a business.”

Couchdisorder finds thyroid

‘hotspot’

Maddison Couch, a student at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, spent last summer researching thyroid disorders in Central Appalachia after both her grandmother and mother were diagnosed with thyroid-related syndromes.

What her research revealed was that the region is a “hotspot” for many thyroid disorders, and it appears a naturally occurring compound could be the cause.

Couch, under the guidance of Professor Wally Smith, has found that a compound naturally found in coal deposits could seep into water sources, especially private wells, and could trigger the thyroid disorders.

According to Couch, the region has a higher than average rate for hypo-and hyperthyroidism, thyroid cancer and goiter.

She said the high incidence of goiter in Appalachia is of particular interest since the region has a sufficient level of iodine and presently lacks any known environmental cause.

“My mother and grandmother had the same pathologist, and I asked her about it,” Couch said. “It turns out that no real research had been done in this area. I was very curious about what was causing it.”

Couch, encouraged and assisted by Professor Smith, studied a report that touched on the high level of thyroid disorders in the region, but it failed to mention any soil testing.

“Over the summer, I went to 45 sites in the region,” she said. “I checked 15 from disturbed land and 15 from undisturbed land, and I tested 15 sites from outside the coalfield region.”

Maddison Couch

Couch was specifically looking to determine the potential role of chemical compounds present in the environment as goitrogens, or compounds that can act to induce abnormalities in thyroid tissue that may lead to thyroid disorders. She said one class of compounds, phenols, has been shown to exhibit goitrogenic phenols containing a hydroxyl group bonded directly to an aromatic hydrocarbon group. Phenolic compounds may be widely substituted and vary in function in natural systems, yet a wide variety of goitrogenic phenols have been extracted from coal-bearing strata, such as those found in central Appalachia.

According to Couch, this information has led researchers to hypothesize that goitrogenic phenols may be present in Appalachian surface and groundwater and therefore serve as an environmental cause of Appalachia’s goiter hotspot, particularly for those residents who rely on private water supplies such as wells, cisterns or piped springs.

Couch’s testing revealed a high level of the compound in both disturbed and undisturbed land in the coalfield region. She found smaller amounts in the land outside of the region.

“It was what we expected to find,” she said.

In order to get more information for her research, Couch worked with the Outpatient Cytopathology Center in Johnson City on a survey of thyroid disorder patients who live in the region. She asked the participants about their water sources, family history of thyroid problems, and a variety of related questions.

“My next step is to research both well water and public water to find out if there is a pattern,” she said. “There is something that is keeping it in our area. Hopefully, we can find it.”

Couch, a Healthy Appalachia Fellow, recently presented her research on campus.

She is also planning to present her work at other conferences in the region. She hopes her research will lead to more intensive research into the status and/or role of phenolic compounds in private water supplies as a source of Appalachia’s thyroid disorder hotspot. She also credited Smith guidance as vital to her research.

The Wise resident has plans to attend medical school after she graduates from UVa-Wise.

Couch is continuing her research this summer. Residents of the Appalachia region may help by completing a survey that is designed to address potential links between drinking water access and thyroid health among central Appalachian residents.

Follow the link below to access the survey: http://tinyurl.com/p4rngzy Spring/Summer 2014 27

UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH

Jack Wayland ’13

WAYLAND

finds elusive

SALAMANDER

in region is ABUNDANT

28 UVa-Wise Magazine

Herpetologists may spend their entire careers studying amphibians and reptiles without encountering Aneides aeneus, an elusive lungless critter known informally as a green salamander.

Jack Wayland, a 2013 graduate of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise, completed extensive undergraduate research on the green salamander and its habitat in Southwest Virginia. His research could lead to developing ways to better protect the species so it can rebound and get off of several states’ endangered or rare lists.

“I was surprised at how abundant they were on High Knob and Flag Rock,” he said during a break from extra classes he is taking to prepare for dental school. “Based on the research, we believe that they like that area because of the rock outcrops and crevices. The species is declining around the nation, but not here. Many herpetologists have the green salamander on their bucket lists.”

The green salamander is known for the greenish markings found on the top of its body. An adult green salamander can reach up to five inches in total body length, and it is mainly found in forested rock outcrops and cliff faces, especially in sandstone and limestone. Its habitat extends from southwestern Pennsylvania along the Appalachian Mountains to northern Alabama and Mississippi.

Wayland, a biology major, first learned of the species while taking classes taught by Professor Wally Smith. He decided to participate in the Fellowship in Natural Science program, which meant finding a solid research project. The green salamander was intriguing.

The Springfield, Va. resident began his research by randomly marking and surveying 100 crevices weekly at Norton’s Flag Rock area. He used crevice height, depth and width, distance to trees, canopy cover levels and other factors to model crevice occupancy. He used weather factors and time of day to model probability of detecting the green salamander.

He found that there was an inverse relationship to rain. In other words, the more rain, the less likely it was to see the species. He also discovered that he was more likely to spot a green salamander in internal rock crevices rather than external rock crevices.

“I concluded that the presence and number of the green salamander is underestimated in this part of Southwest Virginia,” Wayland said. “This area could be considered a hot spot for the species, especially in areas of rock formations in places that were not heavily timbered.”

Wayland said the sites found in his research cause him to believe that that the area deserves an increased conservation focus and may drive patterns of dispersal and gene flow throughout the region.

RESEARCH Communicating through

Two members of the Class of 2014 were among many from colleges and universities across the south that presented research in April at the Southern States Communication Association conference in New Orleans.

Andi Kilgore and Layla Robinette, communication studies graduates, represented UVaWise at the conference. Kilgore presented research on “Negative Perceptions of Russian Accents: A Study of Cultural Prejudice.” Robinette presented research on “Developing Understanding and Awareness in the Correlation Between Pediatric Epilepsy and Communication Disorders.”

The SSCA is one of the oldest associations in the world that promotes the advancement of study and teaching in communication. Founded in 1930, the association touts its “rich tradition of engaged scholars” and its members represent a variety of colleges, universities, K-12 schools and other institutions of communication education.

“My research and paper dealt with the relevant information pertaining to prejudicial perceptions of those from different cultures,” Kilgore explained. “Specifically, it was research that examined linguistic prejudices toward those with Russian accents.”

In her work, Kilgore examined whether Russian accents have an effect on American perceptions in a more negative light than the nation has toward other foreign accents.

Kilgore looked at various students from different cultures who are non-standard English speaking students and students who speak standard American English.

“This information is important because in a culture where we are now able to communicate internationally, we need to be able to effectively communicate without prejudicial attitudes based on cultural stereotypes,” Kilgore said. “We also need to further research the topic in order to rectify an erroneous prejudgment of cultural groups.”

Robinette’s research took on a personal note.

“I decided to do my research on this because I have a nine year-old son who has communication disorders and received speech therapy for the past six years, but was diagnosed with a form of epilepsy in the past year,” she said.

Robinette is using her research to create pamphlets to distribute to local school systems as a way to spread awareness that other children may have similar disorders.

“It could help other children receive early intervention for the care they need to succeed,” she said.

In her research, Robinette found that communication disorders frequently appear as a first sign of a developmental delay or a preliminary sign of a neurological disorder.

“Parents of children with epilepsy need to be aware of this correlation to better help their child succeed, but many parents are not educated about these conditions and often do not seek help until the child is pre-school age,” she said. “Future research is needed to determine the awareness parents and school officials have of the impact of seizures on communication disorders and how to spread awareness effectively to better address their child’s academic and social needs.”

Layla Robinette ’14

Andi Kilgore ’14

Spring/Summer 2014 29

Simmons continuesfamily

DEVELOPMENT

As a youngster growing up in Big Stone Gap, Rabern Simmons ’04 always knew he would attend The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

It was a family tradition, one that his parents, Barry Simmons ’91 and the late Rae Simms ’76, established in the mid 1970s.

Simmons’ connection to campus would grow stronger over the years, but it began when the young boy would accompany his parents to various alumni events.

“There was never a question in my mind where I would go to get my undergraduate degree,” Simmons said.

Simmons excelled in the classroom and beyond while at UVa-Wise. He participated in the Fellowship in Natural Sciences (FINS) program and developed close working relationships with faculty and staff.

He was awarded a FINS research grant in 2004 and worked with Professor Kevin Jones on a study of slime molds.

Always interested in graduate study, Simmons was encouraged by Jones to pursue his interests. Simmons credits FINS and the stringent science programs at UVa-Wise for preparing him to earn both a master’s degree and doctorate degree in biology.

Although he kept busy building a career, Simmons, a United States Department of Agriculture AFRI NIFA postdoctoral fellow with the School of Biology and Ecology at the University of Maine, never forgot his time at UVa-Wise and how it shaped him.

He vowed to give something back to the college that meant so much to him and his family.

“Two years ago I gave a little money to the FINS program because it pretty much got me where I am today,” he said. “I decided that whenever I had the opportunity, I would contribute more.”

30 UVa-Wise Magazine

Photo by Amanda Clark of the UMaine BioNewMedia Lab

tradition

Rabern Simmons ’04

Simmons faced a heartbreaking loss when his mother passed away a few years ago. He decided to honor her and her family, Rev. Clyde and Louise Simms, formerly of Coeburn, by making another generous gift to UVa-Wise.

“Through the unfortunate losses of my mother and also her parents, I was in the awkward position of having money available, so I decided to establish the Simms Family Biology Scholarship,” he said.

“When I was at UVa-Wise, I received a lot of financial aid to continue my education, so I can appreciate the struggles of others.

If I am able to help a couple of students out each year, I’m proud to do so.”

Simmons has fond memories of campus, and he often thinks about his years at UVa-Wise. Working with faculty and having access to good labs and equipment at UVaWise helped him learn about a variety of experimental methods of research that he still uses today in his work.

“I always end up looking back at the College, and I keep in touch with a lot of people like Margie Tucker and Kevin Jones,” he said. “The faculty is on par with every other faculty at other large or small universities that I’ve been part of, and they are all high caliber people. I enjoyed my experiences there, and I feel more people in the area should take advantage of UVa-Wise and the experienced faculty.”

Simmons made a good impression on UVa-Wise faculty as well.

“Rabern was a student who was really engaged and participated in his own education,” Professor Margie Tucker said.

“I remember that he got very excited after taking a course on symbiosis with Kevin Jones and they talked about Wolbachia, a genus of bacteria which infects arthropod species. In any event, I had him in class the next semester and he took what I was teaching and applied it to a protein from the Wolbachia, and when his results did not conform to the results that had been published for that protein he emailed the author of the paper.”

Tucker said Simmons did not hear back from the author, but said the story indicates how interested and excited Simmons was about what he was learning.

“He took steps to extend what he was learning about in class into a different area, and he had the gumption to pursue his investigation with an expert in the field when he got unexpected results,” Tucker said. “Rabern exhibited all the habits of mind that we hope to see in students.”

Simmons has done more to honor the College and its faculty. A few years ago he paid tribute to Professor Kevin Jones by naming a fungus he discovered after his mentor. Fimicolochytrium jonesii is the proper name.

“I found that particular species inside horse manure from a farm in Maine,” Simmons explained. “Professor Jones was very proud of it at the time.”

Scholarship in memory of Michael Basham, a lifelong educator

The family of the late Michael G. Basham, a longtime educator and superintendent of various public school systems in the region, has established a scholarship fund in his memory to benefit students at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.

Basham, a native of Shawsville, Va., served as superintendent of schools in Scott and Wise counties in Virginia and in school systems in North Carolina and South Carolina. He was a pioneer of education and held a strong belief in the empowerment of learning.

The Michael G. Basham Memorial Scholarship was established by his family to fund scholarships for qualified student athletes at UVa-Wise who participate in football. Basham was a staunch fan of the Cavalier football team and watched his son, Dr. Christopher Basham, ’95 play for four seasons, including the inaugural gridiron team.

“The Michael G. Basham Memorial Scholarship is a great way to honor my father and his core beliefs, while helping student athletes achieve their dreams,” Dr. Basham said. “Through his own experiences, he learned the great value of education. He devoted his life to the advancement of students to their greatest potential.”

Michael Basham passed away on Jan. 11, 2014 after a lengthy battle with cancer. He is survived by his wife, Betty Jo Maddux Basham, son Christopher and wife Heather, daughter Michelle Basham and five grandchildren.

“My father was an ardent supporter of UVa-Wise football and believed in the need for student athletes to be ‘the total package’ of high achievement in academics, athletics, and citizenship,” Dr. Basham said. “I know that he would love this scholarship and the opportunities it provides.”

For those who would like to contribute to the fund, please mail checks to the UVa-Wise Development Office at 1 College Avenue, Wise, VA. 24293. Checks should be made payable to the UVa-Wise Foundation. For more information on the Michael G. Basham Memorial Scholarship Fund, please call 276-328-0129.

Whitehurst says entrepreneurship more important than ever Bruce Whitehurst, president of the Virginia Bankers Association, said entrepreneurship is a fundamental part of the United States and must be talked about, studied and supported as much as possible.

Whitehurst, a resident of Glen Allen, Va., shared his thoughts about the importance of entrepreneurship in a Nov. 18, 2013 address before dozens of UVaWise students and business and community leaders who gathered in the David J. Prior Convocation Center. The event was part of the Alfred and Shirley Wampler Caudill Lecture in Entrepreneurship Series.

The lecture focused on the variety of ways that visionaries have profited by taking a good idea and turned it into a successful business. Whitehurst highlighted the work by well-known entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, and success stories from Mark Zuckerberg and Phil Robertson of Duck Dynasty to show how persistence and hard work can turn unique ideas into a profitable business.

“There are so many ideas,” Whitehurst said. “Even the dumb and silly ones can turn out to be good.”

Whitehurst used local and regional companies such as Powell Valley National Bank, David Lawson from MountainRose Vineyards, and Big Stone Gap author Adriana Trigiani as examples of successful entrepreneurship.

Technology has changed entrepreneurship by creating more ways to do business electronically, Whitehurst told the crowd. Craigslist, EBay and social media have changed business in many ways, he said.

“Technology has really transformed entrepreneurship because we can work from anywhere,” Whitehurst said.

Many companies now share a single space for business in various centers created to allow companies to share equipment and other items. Social media makes it easy to get the word out, which means a business can go viral overnight, he said.

Whitehurst said it is never too early to teach youngsters about entrepreneurship.

Many programs now introduce the entrepreneurship concept in elementary, and then follow with more detailed lessons in middle and high school, he said.

Statistics show that 80 percent of new businesses fail because of financial management issues, Whitehurst explained.

Would-be business owners must understand how to manage a company and how to deal with operating costs, he added.

“I would encourage them to get to know a banker,” he said. “Bankers are not only a great resource, a source of credit and tend to be very well connected, and that makes them a good resource. We want to help you succeed.”

Whitehurst urged would-be entrepreneurs to remember that the more research they do, the better the chance of success.

“Be ambitious and optimistic, but also embrace the worst case scenario,” Whitehurst said. “Or free enterprise system was built on entrepreneurship. It is more important than ever to embrace entrepreneurship. We need these imaginative people who can see the things we cannot see.”

Spring/Summer 2014 31

SCHOLARSHIP LUNCHEON

Students receive TICE awards Five students at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise were honored with the Tice Total Achievement award during the annual Scholarship Appreciation Luncheon on March 22.

Destiny Baker, Lyndra Frimpong, Dakota Hill, Erin Lee and Elizabeth Sandoz were each presented with a certificate of recognition and a $1,000 award.

The Tice award is presented to current UVa-Wise students who honor and encourage family values and community service, cooperation, creativity and scholarship. Faculty and staff nominate students.

The award is made possible through a generous endowment by Dr. Frederick Gordon Tice in memory of his grandparents and their children.

Baker, a junior from Big Stone Gap, Erin Lee, Destiny Baker, Provost Sanders Huguenin, Dakota Hill, Chancellor Donna P. Henry and Lyndra Frimpong is a non-traditional student with two small children. She is studying nursing. When her mother passed away at the age of 50, Baker decided to perform 50 acts of kindness to honor her mother. Some acts were small in nature, but her decision to donate a kidney to a total stranger was anything but small. She also volunteers at a local food bank, helps with vacation bible school, is involved in many clubs and activities on campus and she often earns the highest grades in class assignments.

Frimpong, a freshman from Woodbridge, Va., has been involved in student life since her arrival on campus. In addition to being part of the Honor Court, she serves as public relations and community service coordinator for the Multicultural Alliance. She participates in projects and activities as part of the Baptist Collegiate Ministries and is a member of the Student Activities Board.

Hill, a junior from Mosely, Va., is heavily involved in student life activities and community service. He has worked with Habitat for Humanity, PUSH America and Special Olympics. In addition, Hill has volunteered with Chatel’s House of Hope, a non-profit agency dedicated to those suffering from cystic fibrosis. He is president of the Student Government Association and is president of Pi Kappa Phi fraternity. He also serves as archon for Epsilon Epsilon Chapter.

Terry Vencil ’74, Dennis Kern ’74 and Santana Lee, a sophomore from Fincastle, Va., is a member of the Cavalier volleyball team.

Bishop She often volunteers to assist others and does not seek recognition for her acts or accomplishments. She is involved in numerous service projects in her community, church and campus. She has participated in Operation Christmas Child, Water for West Virginia, and volunteers as a note taker for other students through the Office of Special Services. In addition, she volunteers at Lewis Gale Hospital in Roanoke and participated in the World Changes Program.

Sandoz, a sophomore from Roanoke, is involved in leadership activities and community services on campus and in her community. She is a member of the Key Club, Show Choir and the Environmental Club. She volunteers with her church to help at risk children, vacation bible school and mission trips. She has worked with elementary school fundraisers Dawn Gilbert ’82 and Andi Kilgore ’14 and with the Virginia Association of Science Teachers annual conferences.

Scholarship Luncheon 2014

32 UVa-Wise Magazine

Bill Jones, Beverly McGee, Nancy Jones and Jentry Mullins ’14

Sarah Hall, Shelia Turner and Doris Gibson

Allison Sturgill, Frank Gravely and Laura Anderson

New Scholarships in 2014 and those who helped make it possible: Ben E. & Dorothy A. Allen and James J. & Doris June Seay Scholarship Mary Beth Allen & Mike L. Allen ’81 Michael G. Basham Memorial Scholarship Betty Basham, Heather Basham & Christopher M. Basham, M.D. ’95 & Michelle Basham Pat Bevins Scholarship Frankie L. Holbrook ’77 John I. Burton Class of 1958 Scholarship Thomas R. Peake & William P. Kanto, Jr. M.D. Lauren Wallace Fields Scholarship in honor and memory of Lauren Bill and Lou A. Wallace, Georgeanna W. Morrison ’03 & Justin Wallace David Wayne Fuller Scholarship John W. Barton ’89, George S. Burgan ’89, Jay Cheong, David Hansel & Joey S. Higgins M & M Gilliam CAVS Scholarship Marcia E. Adams Gilliam ’82 & Marvin W. Gilliam, Jr. Hantzmon Wiebel LLP Scholarship Hantzmon, Wiebel & Co. Charles H. Henderson, III, M.D. and Mary M. Henderson Family Scholarship Charles H. Henderson III M.D. & Mary M. Henderson Industrial Development Authority of Dickenson County, Virginia Scholarship IDA of Dickenson County, Virginia

Shelby Roberts, Thelma Gilley and Kendra Hobbs

Georgia Eller Jones and Gusteva Wallen Scott Scholarship Fund Gena Jones Prince ’79 & William H. Prince William P. Kanto and Lila O. Kanto Scholarship Marguerite T. Kanto & William P. Kanto, Jr. M.D. O’D/Michael E. O’Donnell Scholarship Mike E. O’Donnell Bruce K. and Patsy Y. Robinette Scholarship Bruce K. Robinette Phil Shelton Scholarship in Environmental Science Walter Crouse, Phil Shelton, Bob VanGundy & Roy Wells, Jr. ’56 Simms Family Biology Scholarship D. Rabern Simmons, Ph.D. ’04 Southwest Virginia Angus Association Scholarship Southwest Virginia Angus Association Starnes-Thompson Scholarship Nancy R. Pulaski Jo Stewart Scholarship Frankie L. Holbrook ’77 Virgil E. Straughan Scholarship Virgil E. Straughan Laura Danielle Wampler Scholarship Fund Randy L. Wampler & Yvonne G. Wampler ’86 Stan Willis Scholarship in History Tom M. Costa & Preston W. Mitchell

Dick Davidson, Phyllis Davidson, Judy Shortt ’79 and Lyndon Powers ’81

Spring/Summer 2014 33

COMMENCEMENT

COMMENCEMENT 2014 THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA’S COLLEGE AT WISE MAY 10, 2014 26 34 UVa-Wise UVa-WiseMagazine Magazine 34 UVa-Wise Magazine

College awards 313 degrees at Commencement 2014

V

irginia Poet Laureate Sofia M. Starnes urged the 313 graduates of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise to search for beauty, be sensitive to what is right and to remain faithful to their core values as they build their futures.

Starnes, speaking before hundreds of family and friends who gathered in the David J. Prior Convocation Center for the May 10 Commencement exercise, recalled how she never experienced a graduation herself because of unique circumstances related to political unrest in her native Philippines and simply because Spain, the country where she received her college degree, had no tradition of commencement ceremonies. She had her degree and the promise of opportunities ahead of her, but she did not hear any inspiring words or get photographs for scrapbooks.

“I have never reconciled myself fully to the absence of some ceremony that would have marked that moment in my life,” she said.

“So today is doubly special for me, and with your permission, I will make this day also mine.”

Starnes, author of many poetry books, said she decided to offer words that she would have wanted to hear at her own commencement.

Andreas Mahro, Sebastian Mahro ’14 and Claudia Mahro

“I wish I had been told that my life, that our lives, every one of them, is a poem,” she said. “A magnificent, meaningful poem, gradually emerging. I wish I had been told that every day I lived was a verse in the making; that every thought I had was a word in a verse, and that every decision I made was the start of a new stanza.”

She reminded the Class of 2014 that they are a poem being written, and she offered four parts of a Robert Frost poem to prove her point.

“A poem begins as a lump in the throat, a sense of wrong, a homesickness, a lovesickness,” she quoted Frost. “So these are the things I wish for you on this momentous day. A catch in your throat that is the experience of intense goodness and beauty that will cause you to evaluate everything you do in its light. A sense of wrong that is the awareness of what is right, which will allow you to recognize the world’s ills and urge you to do something about them. A homesickness that is the ability to keep in touch with the person you are, your roots and your core values, no matter what you do or where you go, and finally, a lovesickness that is the need and desire to embrace others, to enlarge your heart and your mind through the hearts and minds of your fellow human beings.”

UVa-Wise Chancellor Donna P. Henry presented each graduate with a copy of “The Nearest Poem Anthology,” Starnes’ latest book. The book, purchased for the students by the Napoleon Hill Foundation, is a collection of favorite poems from people throughout Virginia.

“You have a promising future ahead,” Henry told the graduates.

“You have choices to make and much work to do. You have the opportunity and the responsibility to be a leader in your communities, this Commonwealth and our nation.”

Marvin Gilliam Jr., a member of the University’s Board of Visitors, delivered greetings to the Class of 2014 on behalf of University of Virginia President Teresa A. Sullivan. Marcia A. Gilliam, ’82 chair of the UVa-Wise College Board, also congratulated the Class of 2014.

Student Government Association President Dakota R. Hill urged his fellow classmates to remember how they feel on Commencement Day when they are faced with trying times.

“Remember the emotion and feeling of all of the support, compassion and will power that has led you to this moment,” Hill said.

“Carry this emotion close to you whereever your path may take you and you shall always rise above life’s obstacles.”

Sofia M. Starnes

Spring/Summer 2014 35

COMMENCEMENT

Hall chosen as Class of 2014 honorary speaker Coeburn native Brett Hall has been fascinated with government and politics for as long as he can remember. He grew up listening to the opinions and thoughts of customers in his family’s shop, and talk could turn quite interesting in a gun and pawnshop.

“When you grow up in that setting, whether the people there know what they are talking about or not, they are going to talk politics,” the government and political science major said. “It does not matter what field or career you choose, there will always be talk of politics.”

Hall gravitated to sports in high school, but he always made time to stay involved in politics, especially the local variety. He worked the polls for a local school board Brett Hall ’14 candidate and became friends with Democrat and Republican office holders along the way. In the process, Hall decided to pursue a career in law, particularly when he shadowed a prosecutor and a judge in the local court system. He readily admits that he would visit the courthouse for fun, something some of his friends and family find amusing.

“It sparked my interest in law,” he said. “I’m going to law school. I would love to prosecute and wear the white hat.”

Hall was accepted by six law schools and is still weighing his options, and his career goal is growing closer.

“I always flirted with the idea in high school, but now it is becoming more of a reality that I’m going to pull this off,” he said.

Looking back on his years as a student at UVa-Wise, Hall says he could not have made a better choice to pursue a college degree.

“I can’t imagine going anywhere else than here,” he said. “We are a family. We all work together, butt heads from time to time, but we all pull together to help one another. That is what I love about UVa-Wise.”

Hall is one of many commuter students, and he admits to feeling as if he was not always a part of campus life. He decided to become more involved on campus and was elected to the Student Government Association. He organized a program that highlighted commuter students and acknowledged the good work they were doing on campus. He also created Commuter Appreciation Week twice a year to give non-residential students incentive to participate in all campus activities.

“Everyone wanted to go away to college, but we’ve got the best college right here in our backyard,” he said. “It allowed me to be my own person and to spread my wings.”

A new journey begins

Josh Weaver ’14

Chelsey Booth ’14

Smiles showing the tassel can be worth the effort

36 UVa-Wise Magazine

Sharing a congratulatory handshake

Two graduates commissioned as Army officers at commencement Two members of the Class Bishop said the cadet corps at of 2014 were commissioned as UVa-Wise has grown in size over the second lieutenants in the United last few years.

States Army during the May 10 “This year was the first year that Commencement at The University the UVa-Wise ROTC guidon flew of Virginia’s College at Wise. proudly as our cadets competed at Lt. Isaac Andrew Minor, a Fort Benning at the U.S. Army Small resident of Fuquay-Varina, N.C., and Arms Marksmanship Championship, Lt. Keith Edward Linville, a resident at Xavier University at the Cadet of Hampton, Va., were sworn in Best Ranger Competition, in New as Army officers following their Mexico with the 6,200 participants at successful completion of the ROTC the Bataan Memorial March and in program as UVa-Wise. Lt. Col. the mountains of Tennessee at the Daniel Bishop from East Tennessee Taking the oath Mountain Man Memorial March,” State University conducted the Bishop said. ceremony. UVa-Wise ROTC is a Lt. Minor will follow his father and branch of ETSU’s ROTC program. older brother, both officers, on active “This day is the culmination of duty as an infantry officer. Lt. Linville four years of incredibly hard work will serve with the Virginia National by these young men,” Bishop said of Guard as an ordinance officer. the two new second lieutenants.

“I am confident that they will take Bishop explained that Thomas the lessons they have learned here at Jefferson, founder of the University Wise and serve as exceptional Army of Virginia, recognized the need officers,” Bishop said. for educated officers to defend the Family members attached the nation, which is why he established second lieutenant rank to the new the United States Military Academy Minor ’14 and Linville ’14 are pinned by family and friends officers uniforms, and the officers in 1802. He said ROTC programs received their first salute. The newly have now eclipsed West Point by supplying 80 percent of newly commissioned officers awarded a silver dollar, each representing commissioned officers for the Army. the significant contribution that others have made to their training “The students at Wise have a storied history of service in and development, to the individuals who rendered the first salute. the military,” Bishop said. “Of the 109 full-time students that first walked onto campus in 1954, two thirds were Korean War veterans. Cadets Minor and Linville will join the four other UVaWise graduates over the last few years to carry on this tradition of service.”

Spring/Summer 2014 37

ATHLETICS

Our first MEC Champs Centerfielder Christina Ziemba raced back, realized she had a play on the ball, Cavalier fans exhaled, the sophomore caught the ball and the celebration ensued.

The Cavaliers had just completed one of the more impressive seasons in the history of UVa-Wise Athletics with the 2014 Mountain East Conference Softball Tournament Championship. The victory was the 37th of the season for the Cavaliers, the second most in program history.

After dropping its first two games of the season, UVa-Wise would win 13 of its next 15 games. The extended winning streak was followed with a pair of losses in the team’s final two non-conference games of the year. The Cavaliers opened MEC play at home on March 22nd and rattled off six consecutive league victories en route to a 19-4 start to the season.

Despite splitting with West Virginia Wesleyan, UVa-Wise would come up short in its pursuit of the regular season title, finishing two games behind the regular season champion Bobcats. Undeterred, the Cavaliers entered the inaugural MEC as the number two seed and in prime position to win the tournament championship.

Coach Karen Bitter’s club would fall behind 1-0 in its tournament opener before a two-RBI single by Mindy Combs and clutch pitching by MEC Pitcher of the Year Taylor Brandts led UVa-Wise to a 3-2 win over West Virginia State.

Round two saw Rachel Fischer and Combs each have a two-run homer as the Cavaliers run-ruled Notre Dame College 9-0.

Game three would pit the top two teams from the regular season in the winner’s bracket championship game.

The match up would be one for the ages as UVa-Wise and West Virginia Welseyan locked up in a 12-inning marathon.

No hitter would record an extra base hit in the nearly three hour affair that finally concluded when the Cavaliers scored five runs in the top of the 12 inning, all with two outs, to move to the championship game. Christina Ziemba, Megan Dillion and Charity Lawson all had RBIs in the inning while a pair of errors by the Bobcats allowed the other two runs to score.

Brandts would turn in a perfect bottom half of the frame to earn the win and complete her masterpiece with 12 shutout innings.

A day later, the two schools would meet again with West Virginia Wesleyan needing to beat UVa-Wise twice to win the crown. After falling behind 1-0 after a half inning, Dillion put the Cavaliers ahead for good when the senior belted an opposite field three-run home run. Her homer followed a Kristina Romualdo RBI groundout to give the Cavs a 4-1 lead.

Photo by Donna Hale

Taylor Brandts

38 UVa-Wise Magazine

Fans waiting for the softball team’s return

by Darrell-Dingus Ely ’10

An error would give UVa-Wise a 5-1 lead in the fourth inning before West Virginia Wesleyan scored a single run in the fifth to cut the lead back to three at 5-2.

The senior trio of Romualdo, Dillion, and Lawson would manufacture the final run of the season for UVa-Wise in the sixth inning as Romualdo singled, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Dillion and later scored on a run-scoring single by Lawson.

Tournament MVP Brandts would post a scoreless inning in the seventh inning to give her school its first ever MEC title with the 6-2 win.

“I am very proud of this team and what they have been able to accomplish is amazing. Being the first team to win the Mountain East Conference Tournament will be something we will all remember forever,” said Bitter, who was named MEC Coach of the Year. “These seniors were sophomores when I arrived at Wise, and they have grown so much as ball players and as young women. I am very lucky to have coached them and gotten to know them on a personal level; they are a really special group.”

Photo by Donna Hale

In addition to Brandts, Ziemba and Fischer also earned all-tournament team accolades for their play in the tournament.

The final win of the season for Brandts gave her a single-season school record 22.

Ziemba hit .555 in the tournament scored four runs, knocked in four runs and lined eight hits in the tournament while Fischer hit .500 with a homer and four RBIs. Brandts’ MEC Pitcher of the Year honor highlighted a group of six UVa-Wise players who were honored by the conference following the regular season. The King George, Virginia product finished her inaugural season as a Cavalier 22-2 with a 2.27 ERA and 141 strikeouts.

Romualdo hit .362 with eight homers, 13 doubles, and 44 RBIs to earn First-Team All-MEC status. Romualdo’s 44 RBIs gave her 188 for her career to set a new careerrecord at the College.

Ziemba hit .413 with a UVa-Wise record 74 hits en route to her First-Team All-MEC award. To this point in her career she has posted a .393 batting average, which is the highest of any player in the history of the program.

Alexa Hernandez hit .328 with three home runs in a freshman season that finished with her becoming a Second-Team All-MEC member. All three of her homers came on one day, the last of which was a game-winning blast at home against the University of Charleston.

Sarah Wiltshire ’14 was a Second-Team All-MEC honoree as she finished her career with 178 runs scored to set a new school record. As a senior, she scored 48 runs and lined 64 hits while reaching base at a .447 clip.

Rachel Hawks ’14 won 11 games as she garnered Second-Team All-MEC honors as a pitcher. It was the second consecutive season the Suffolk, Virginia native had been an all-league award winner.

The MEC crown was the seventh conference title for the program since 2002 and the first championship for any program at the College since leaving the NAIA. While losing seven seniors is never easy, Coach Bitter is very happy to have Brandts for three more seasons.

“Taylor had a tremendous freshman year. She was a big part of our team success and I am glad we have three more years with her in the circle.”

Combs, Fischer, Hernandez and Ziemba will join Brandts as returning starters in 2015. With key contributors returning and a talented incoming freshman class, expectations will remain high for the softball program at UVa-Wise.

Spring/Summer 2014 39

ATHLETICS Deon Boyce

Boyce has stellar career

by Jordan Childress ’14

North Carolina is known for barbeque, tobacco, big time basketball and soon, Deon Boyce.

The UVa-Wise senior forward’s baby hook is sweet as Carolina barbeque. He is tough like dried tobacco and he is a big time rebounder.

Boyce came to UVa-Wise a season ago by the way of Davidson County Community College in North Carolina and played high school ball at Jacksonville High in Jacksonville, N.C. Unlike most NCAA student-athletes, Boyce didn’t get his start in basketball until he was in the tenth grade.

This was partly due to his family moving to Japan when he was in the sixth grade to follow his father, who was in the military. Boyce was a football player growing up, and started playing basketball when he moved back to the states for his tenth grade year.

“It was rough trying something new,” Boyce said. “I was always crying, because I wanted to do it right. We kept working and working.”

That tenth grade year Boyce found himself on the junior varsity squad as he was still learning the fundamentals. The following season he moved up to the varsity squad, where he found himself in the varsity rotation.

Boyce said he let the tough competition motivate him.

“I played against Reggie Bullock and P.J. Hairston in high school,” Boyce said. “Those guys helped me get better. I wanted to be where they were at and that’s why I worked so hard.”

Boyce’s senior season is when he really started to blossom, as he averaged over 17 points and 13 rebounds per game.

During his senior season, Boyce was attracting the attention of several NCAA Division II and NAIA schools but ultimately decided on Davidson County.

“I wanted to focus on my grades and the coach said he would get me places,” Boyce said.

It turned out to be the best decision for Boyce as he racked up accolades and broke records at DCCC. During his freshman season, Boyce averaged 16 points and 13 rebounds per game. He led his team to a 34-2 record and a trip to the NJCAA national tournament, where they finished fourth in the country. Boyce earned Tarheel Conference and Region X Player of the Year honors as well as NJCAA Division III second team All-American status. He also finished as the school’s all-time leader in rebounds.

Interim Head Coach Blake Mellinger was the first to start recruiting Boyce when he was at DCCC and was still improving. Boyce later received interest from NCAA Division I schools but chose UVa-Wise.

“Coach Mellinger was the first one there for me,” Boyce said. “He treated me like family and he was the guy I wanted to go to.”

Boyce sat out the first semester of the 2012-2013 season as a Cavalier due to transfer rules, but hit the ground running as he was named MidSouth Player of the Week his first week in Cavalier uniform. Mellinger has been pleased with Boyce over the past season and a half.

“He brings relentless energy in everything he does, whether it’s in a game or practice,” Mellinger said. “He is the ultimate competitor and I really think that’s what drives him.”

In 16 games of action last season, Boyce scored 196 points and grabbed 217 rebounds. He led the Cavs in rebounding. This season Boyce grabbed his 400th rebound in just his 29th game in a Cavalier uniform on Jan. 19 against Fairmont State University.

“I’ve never seen anybody that rebounds like him in this game,” Mellinger said. “I haven’t been coaching long, but I’ve been around the game a long time. He’s by far the best rebounder I have witnessed.”

40 UVa-Wise Magazine

To say that rebounding is Boyce’s forte is an understatement. He collected 11 straight double-doubles at one point this season and finished with 22 on the year. Boyce grabbed 24 rebounds in several games in his career falling short of the school record of 25 rebounds in a game.

Boyce was also gunning for the single-season rebound record of 360 in which Robert Spears set for the Cavs during the 1993-1994 season.

On Jan 25, Boyce broke Spears’ record with a 27 point and 24 rebound performance in a loss at West Virginia State.

“Rebounding to me is something I love. At halftime, I want to know how many I have and if it’s eight, that ain’t enough,” Boyce said. “I would rather have no points and 20 rebounds as long as I win that game. I feel like if I get 20 rebounds we will win that game.”

The often reserved Boyce is known for his easy smile and intensity on the court.

“My high school coach told me to be fiery and release your emotions on the court. Since then I’ve never looked back,” Boyce said. “I want to guard the best rebounder and post player on the floor. I want to outwork my opponent and I have fun doing it.”

After the game and postgame interviews, Boyce comes back out to talk to fans and shoot basketball with some kids on the court. He is a coach’s dream.

“We talk about how great of a basketball player he is all the time but he is more than that,” Mellinger said. “He’s a great guy to be around. He does all of the little things that a coach wants a player to do.”

Mellinger said Boyce’s game reminds him of National Basketball Hall of Fame Power Forward Charles Barkley.

“In some aspects he’s a little undersized and he works his butt off,” Mellinger said. “He’s successful because of that. He has really improved his game offensively since he has been here.”

He agreed with Mellinger on Barkley and added Hakeem Olajuwon as one of his favorite players. Boyce stated that he added some offensive moves to his game that Olajuwon used.

Boyce is a simple man. He lists God, family and basketball as the most important things in his life.

“Basketball is something I really love.” Boyce said. “When I step on the court, I block everything out.”

But basketball had to take a backseat in his love life as he married the love of his life, DeShay, on Dec. 23, 2013.

“She has always been a big supporter to me,” Boyce said. “It was the right time.”

He also owes it to his wife’s father and uncle on getting him interested in basketball. He credits them with where he is today.

The All-Mountain East Conference first teamer finished his senior campaign averaging 17.8 points and 14.8 rebounds per game. The 14.8 rebounds per game led all NCAA Divisions in rebounding this season and set the new school record of 399 rebounds in a season.

The final horn sounded in a 105-82 MEC Tournament first round loss to Wheeling Jesuit on March 4 and Boyce found his UVa-Wise basketball career over, but not his basketball career. Boyce hopes to continue his dream and play overseas.

“I think he really has a great opportunity to play overseas, and I know that’s a big goal for him,” Mellinger said. “I think he will get there.”

Stories by Darrell-Dingus Ely ’10s

Lowe: leader and athlete Clint Lowe ’14

Two weeks later, the Cavaliers hosted the MEC Southern at one of Lowe’s favorite golf courses, Cattails at Meadowview. Only 10 miles from his hometown, the senior entered the event familiar with the course and confident following his most recent performance.

When day one of the two-day event concluded, Lowe was one of only three individuals to shoot in the 60s. His score of 69 had him three strokes off the lead entering the final day of the competition while also aiding UVa-Wise to a third place standing after the opening round.

Day two saw his strong play continue as he entered the back nine, two strokes behind the leader. Unfortunately for Lowe, the individual title would slip through his hands as he would register a bogey on two of the final six holes to finish in second place, four strokes off the lead.

His efforts coupled with those of his teammates allowed the Cavaliers to finish third in the event.

As expected, Lowe was not satisfied with his second place finish and he aimed to win an individual crown in his final collegiate tournament when UVa-Wise visited Morgantown, W.Va. for the Fairmont State Falcon Classic in late April.

His string of strong early round play continued as he carded an opening round score of 75, two strokes behind the leader. With one round left in his collegiate career, Lowe finished round two with an identical score of 75. His 75 was the best round turned in by any golfer on day two of the tournament. The 150 two-day tally would be good enough to give Lowe the individual title that had previously eluded him as he held off Notre Dame College’s Brin Bir by one stroke.

“I enjoyed my time as a student-athlete here,” he said. “It has truly been the best four years of my life. I will forever remember the road trips with my teammates and Coach Kelly.”

Proud of Lowe’s achievements, Coach Kelly will miss the senior but, he believes Lowe has a left a lasting impact on the program.

“As a senior, he showed great leadership to encourage our younger golfers and I think Clint’s impact on our program will be felt after his graduation,” Kelly said.

Despite weather forcing the team to leave on the day of the game, the UVa-Wise women’s basketball team recorded the first ever Mountain East Conference tournament win by any team at the College with an 81-67 win over Notre Dame Reynesha Archer ’14 at College on March 4.

Charleston Civic Center Scheduled to leave for South Euclid, Ohio on March 3, Coach Kristin Kunzman and her team were unable to make the trip due to heavy snow along the route.

Thus, the Cavaliers made the 400 mile trip the day of the game and put forth one of the team’s strongest efforts of the season.

Reynesha Archer ’14 would cap an elongated scoring run by UVa-Wise to give her club a 68-48 lead with just under eight minutes to play. The Falcons would never again cut the lead to single digits as the Cavs advanced to the quarterfinal round of the tournament.

Sophomore Makenzie Cluesman scored a team-high 21 points and four other players finished in double-figure scoring for UVa-Wise.

Archer, Katie Jo Lester, and Kenzie Poindexter all added 12 points while freshman Taylor Sandidge had 11 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in her first collegiate tournament game.

Two days later, UVa-Wise played West Liberty in the quarterfinal round of the tournament at the Charleston Civic Center. The youthful Cavs gave a valiant effort in the contest but eventually fell 82-57.

Photo courtesy MEC

Gate City, Virginia native Clint Lowe ’14 came to UVa-Wise in the fall of 2010 after a stellar prep career at Gate City High School.

While playing for the Blue Devils, Lowe was a four-time all-district player, a three-time allregion player, and District and Region Player of the Year as a senior.

His impressive high school career caught the eye of UVa-Wise Head Coach Jim Kelly.

“Obviously, with Clint being a local kid, I was aware of his abilities,” Kelly said. “Once I learned about his dedication to the game of golf and his personal background, I knew he would be a perfect fit for not only the golf program but, the College as well.”

As with many incoming freshman, Lowe struggled early on in his collegiate career. Playing on longer courses that he was unfamiliar with, Lowe continued his dedication to the game playing solo on many occasions at nearby courses Scott County Park and Cattails at Meadowview.

Lowe’s hard work did not immediately pay dividends, as his sophomore campaign mirrored that of his freshman season.

Entering his junior season, Lowe was prepared to make his mark at the collegiate level but, yet again, adversity would stand in his way.

Prior to the start of the season, Lowe would be ruled ineligible, not due to his grade point average but due to lack of credit hours.

Not deterred, he committed himself athletically and in the classroom and the results were evident in the spring.

On the golf course, UVa-Wise won the Shawnee State Invitational in the spring of 2013, due in large part to Lowe’s third place finish in the event with a two-day score of 145. For his individual accomplishment, Lowe was named to the all-tournament team.

This spring, Lowe’s senior season, he turned into a team leader and one of the premier players in the Mountain East Conference.

In late March, UVa-Wise traveled to London, Ky. to play at Crooked Creek Golf Course in the Southeast Kentucky Intercollegiate. The event featured the harshest weather conditions of the season for the Cavaliers, as heavy snow threatened to cancel the event and forced one team to withdraw from the tournament. Lowe battled the elements to shoot a three-round score of 228; the number landed him in 10th place, which at the time was his highest finish of the season.

Cavaliers make the effort

Rowland claims win 250 UVa-Wise cruised to a 9-0 men’s tennis victory over West Virginia State on March 18 as Head Coach Danny Rowland ’84 claimed his 250th career collegiate win. Rowland recently completed his 22 season at the helm of the men’s tennis program at the College. He also spent the last 20 seasons directing the women’s program.

On four occasions, Rowland has been named Conference Coach of the Year. In 2006, his women’s team claimed the Appalachian Athletic Conference regular season title and hosted the NAIA Region XII Tournament. His 250 wins are the most by any tennis coach in school history.

Spring/Summer 2014 41

ATHLETICS

M & M Cavs Scholarship The UVa-Wise Athletics Program received a significant boost with the creation of an athletic scholarship fund provided by the Marvin and Marcia Gilliam Foundation. The M & M Gilliam CAVS Scholarship Fund is a leadership gift in response to the College’s fundraising efforts to secure the necessary financial support to meet the needs of the growing program and its transition to NCAA II Division.

“Marvin and I are really excited about the future of UVaWise Athletics and are pleased to be a part of this endeavor,” said Marcia Adams Gilliam. “We stand behind our College’s commitment to the whole person and to providing students with the resources necessary to be successful on and off the field. What we really hope is that this gift will inspire others to step forward and through their own gift, recognize the contributions that the College has made in their lives, the region and beyond. UVa-Wise provides a first-rate education at an affordable cost and this is a point of pride for us.”

Marcia Adams Gilliam is 1982 alumnae of the College and serves as Chair of the College Board. Marvin W. Gilliam, Jr. is a 1978 graduate of the University of Virginia and is currently a member of the University’s Board of Visitors.

Earnings from the M & M Gilliam CAVS Fund will provide scholarships for all of the Highland Cavalier Athletic teams. “The gift from the Marvin and Marcia Gilliam Foundation will promote the competitiveness of our teams within the new division and will bring greater recognition to our College in the process. We are extremely grateful for the Gilliams’ thoughtful attention to our needs,” said Chancellor Donna Henry.

“The generosity of Marvin and Marcia Gilliam will empower Highland Cavalier Athletics to continue the development of our programs and will be especially beneficial in our goals of being a successful member of the NCAA Division II and continuing to expand opportunities for female athletes,” said Danny Sterling, director of athletics. The College currently offers 12 intercollegiate team sports and will add Women’s Lacrosse in the fall.

Smith boosts athletics

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is pleased to announce that the Highland Cavaliers Athletics Program has received a challenge gift of $3 million, from long-time supporter, Hunter J. Smith of Charlottesville, Va. through the Hunter Smith Family Foundation.

Mrs. Smith’s gift, which will provide much-needed support for the College’s Envisioning 2020 campaign goal of increasing athletic endowment funding, was made with a challenge to other friends and fans to step forward and do the same. When the challenge is realized, the athletics program will have the benefit of a $6 million boost toward its 2020 goal of $10 million.

“Hunter Smith’s name has long been synonymous with transformative philanthropy and UVa-Wise is extremely grateful to Mrs. Smith for her gift and initiative to help us obtain additional resources for our student athletes and coaches through her challenge,” Chancellor Donna P. Henry said. “The Hunter Smith Scholarship Fund, created through this commitment, will be a permanent reminder of her dedication to the success of our students and the College.”

Smith, and her late husband, Carl, have been supporters of the College and its athletic programs for more than 25 years. In addition to providing funding for Carl Smith Stadium, they have generously assisted with many other areas of need. Hunter Smith’s recent benevolence includes the creation of the Marching Highland Cavaliers Band, renovations to the Lila Vicars Smith House, construction of Hunter J. Smith Dining Commons and gifts to fund student scholarships.

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“This remarkable gift will have a dramatic and enduring impact on UVa-Wise Athletics,” said Assistant Vice Chancellor for Athletic Development Carroll Dale.

As UVa-Wise continues its transition to NCAA Division II, the support of alumni, fans and friends is more important than ever. NCAA Division II membership means a well-coordinated intercollegiate athletics program based on sound educational principles and practices, and it is a proper part of the educational mission of UVa-Wise.

Among the ambitious goals in Envisioning 2020, the College’s new strategic plan, is a $10 million endowed athletic fundraising campaign to support its intercollegiate teams and student athletes. The endowed funds will provide scholarships for student athletes and on-going annual support for the Highland Cavalier athletics program.

To make a gift or receive additional information, please contact: Office of Athletic Development at 276-328-0259 / cwd7q@uvawise.edu or the Office of Development at (276) 328-0129 / wdw8m@uvawise.edu

CLASS NOTES

CLASS NOTES

Alumni philanthropy

Growing a business from college roots UVa-Wise brought more than textbooks, lessons and expanded horizons for Michael and Nicole Berry. It brought them together and gave them the foundations necessary to strike out on their own. The couple, both 2005 UVaWise graduates, met, married, started a landscaping business and built a family on values instilled by the College.

“I grew up in Big Stone Gap and met Michael in college,” said Nicole Berry.

“For us the College gave us more than just the ability to meet each other; it gave us the ability to grow personally and professionally in a small setting.”

Michael received his bachelor’s degree in business management and Nicole in accounting. The couple later moved to Michael’s hometown of Richmond in 2006 and married in 2009.

Michael founded Sunny Day Landscaping and Lawn Care, LLC, originally a one-man landscaping business in the Richmond area. The company has since grown to support 12-15 employees.

Nicole, who worked eight years for a car rental company, recently chose to join the business as director of operations.

“Our favorite professor, Bill Lee, taught us that investing is one of the most important things you can do at a young age,” said Berry. “We chose to follow his advice and own a few rental properties in the Richmond area.”

“We enjoyed UVa-Wise so much,” she said. “The College holds a high bar for other institutions. It has all the amenities of a larger university but also maintains that one-on-one contact. Michael, being from Richmond, appreciated the smaller size and the chance to build and establish relationships with other alumni and supporters.”

Berry family

“Since I was from Big Stone Gap, I appreciated the values and individualized support. We are a UVa-Wise family and want our daughters to continue our family legacy of attending UVa-Wise,” she said.

“Some people are Tech fans or die hard university fans. We are the same; we are adamant College supporters and hope to keep this collegiate legacy going in our family.”

She still has family that reside in the area and comes back to visit the College at least twice a year.

“It is so amazing to see how much it has grown from the time we left in 2005,” said Nicole. “We are both so proud of the achievements that the College has made over the past decade and look forward to our children attending one day.”

The Berrys live Powhatan, Va. with their daughters, Kaitlyn and Savannah.

Spring/Summer 2014 43

CLASS NOTES 1975

1995

2001

Jim Baird is employed with Durham Public Schools as a guitar instructor.

His wife, Paula Cramer-Baird ’76, is employed with N.C. Office of Information Technology as an assistant human resource manager. They have two children, Justin and Lindsay. They live in Durham, N.C.

Brian Hicks lives in Damascus, Va. with his daughters, Kloe’ and Lilly.

Muiread Faherty and Sean Pabalis were married on Aug. 9, 2013 in Woods Hole, Mass. Muiread is employed by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute as an administrator.

They live in Falmouth, Mass.

2003

Cheryl Short Combs is employed with Norton Community Hospital/Mountain States Health Alliance as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit. She and her husband, Dustin, have three children, Dylan, Shelby and Shayna, and live in Pound, Va.

1984 Lori Donley Petterson earned her Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Theatrical Writing in 2005 and a master in art management in 2011, both from George Mason University. Lori and her husband, Dennis, have two children. The Petterson family lives in Manassas Park, Va. Terry Lambert-Franchi is employed with BAE Systems as a senior software engineer. She lives in Centreville, Va.

1985 Kevin McKee has a master’s of business administration from the University of Miami in Florida. He is employed with Steamboat Ski and Resort Corporation in Steamboat Springs, Colo. as vice president of finance and accounting. Over the last 25 years in the hotel industry he has traveled all over the world, from the Caribbean to Sydney, Australia. He and his wife, Melisa, have two children, Chris and Mia. They live in Steamboat Springs, Colo.

1993 David Adkins and Kara Goins Adkins ’98 were married on March 21, 2013. David operates Bob’s Market in Big Stone Gap, Va. Kara is employed with New Peoples Bank. They live in Big Stone Gap, Va. with their daughter, Juliana Elise Adkins.

Brian Hicks and daughter, Lilly

1997

David Amos is the manager of fleet and surplus property at UVa-Wise. He and his wife, Stephanie, have three children, Owen, Eliza and Laycie. They live in Wise, Va.

Charles Hartgrove is employed with the town of Ashland as the town manager.

He and his wife, Marcy, live in Ashland, Va.

1999

Nichole Davidson Davis is employed as the property manager for Walk2Campus.

She and her husband, Chris Davis ’99, live in Wise, Va. with their son, Landon.

2000 Laura Ann Taylor-Baugh and Joshua Baugh were united in marriage on Jan. 17, 2014 in the Chapel at the Park, in Gatlinburg, Tenn. Taylor Jay Barfield, son of the bride, served as best man.

Laura earned her master’s of business administration in 2010 from King College. She is employed with the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy as an accountant. They live in Wise, Va.

Amos family

2004 Crystal Morgan earned her J.D. from the Nashville School of Law. She is a partner with Balthrop, Perry, Noe, Newcomb, and Morgan in Ashland City, Tenn. Crystal and her husband, Mike, welcomed daughter, Abigail Grace on April 17, 2013. They live in Ashland City, Tenn.

Adkins family Baugh family

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Crystal Morgan and Abigail Grace

2005

2007

2011

NaKeisha Talley and Myron “Mo” Haskins ’08 welcomed their daughter, SaMaiya Marie, on Feb. 22, 2014. She weighed seven pounds and four ounces. Mo works in the College’s physical plant. They reside in Wise, Va.

Michael McBride earned his Master of Science in counseling from Radford University in 2009 and his Doctor of Education in 2012 from Regent University. Michael is employed with Virginia Highlands Community College as a counselor and director of governor’s school. He lives in Abingdon, Va.

Robert M. Davis earned his Master of Public Administration from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in 2013.

He is employed with the City of Virginia Beach as a public safety analyst for the Department of Emergency Medical Services/ Regulations and Enforcement Division. Robert lives in Virginia Robert M. Davis ’11 Beach, Va.

Audra Fritz Light and Dustin Light welcomed their son, Easton Wilder Light, on Sept. 9, 2013. He weighed six pounds and eleven ounces. They live in Kingsport, Tenn.

2008

SaMaiya Marie Haskins

2006 Shana Chrisco Morris and Sgt. Jason Morris were united in marriage on Sept.

28, 2013 in Richmond, Va. The couple welcomed their daughter, Kimber Rae, on Dec. 23, 2013. She weighed five pounds and fifteen ounces. Shana earned her master’s in public administration from Central Michigan University in 2013. They live in San Diego, Calif.

Brittany Deans is employed with Medstar Washington Hospital Center as a medical technologist III. She earned a Bachelor of Science in medical technology from Norfolk State University in 2013.

Brittany lives in Alexandria,Va. Ashley Doyle and Kyle Doyle welcomed their daughter, Madelyn Grace, on Sept. 19, 2013. She weighed six pounds, thirteen ounces and was nineteen inches long. The family live in Fairfax, Va.

Sarah Bowen and Ray Hayes were united in marriage on Nov. 24, 2012 at Beech Grove United Methodist Church in Bristol, Va. Sarah is employed by Highlands Community Services and works at John Battle High School where she coaches volleyball and softball. They live in Bluff City, Tenn.

Madelyn Grace Doyle

2010

Morris family

Emily Samples and Jeremiah (Jay) Bush united in marriage on Dec. 22, 2007 in Abingdon, Va. Emily earned her Master of Science in Nursing in 2011 from Vanderbilt University. She is employed with Cleveland Clinic as a flight nurse practitioner for critical care transport services. They live in Cleveland, Ohio.

John Lackey and Meghan HallSchroeter Lackey ’11 were married on Aug. 10, 2012. John earned the Directors Award, which is presented to the overall top student in the police academy, on March 7, 2014. He is employed with the City of Martinsville as a police officer.

Meghan graduated in 2014 from Liberty University School of Law. They live in Martinsville, Va.

Vannessa Tomes is employed with the Sullivan County Sheriff ’s Department as a deputy. She lives in Kingsport, Tenn.

Bowen wedding

John Lackey ’11 receives Director’s Award

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CLASS NOTES Alumni philanthropy

Recognizing the value of education

Marla Wright-Evans ’92 and Barry Evans ’91

When Marla Wright-Evans became engaged to Barry Evans, she transferred from Milligan College to what was then Clinch Valley College. She knew a major change had been set in motion. What she didn’t realize were the ripple effects of that move.

The Coeburn native left Milligan to make wedding plans. She transferred to UVa-Wise in 1990 and fast tracked her English degree while Barry finished his bachelor’s in math. Both were first generation college students.

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“Some of our experiences at CVC, now UVa-Wise, have shaped us in ways we didn’t realize,” she said. “We were exposed to diverse thinking and willingness to embrace change. We were introduced to international travel through a trip to Spain, a passion we continue to cultivate.”

The couple moved to Raleigh where Barry got his Ph.D. in statistics at North Carolina State and Marla a master’s in rhetoric and composition.

“One of the big reasons that we give back to the College is that our undergraduate education directly led to our graduate school success,” she said.

“We were well prepared. I just really had such great experiences and was so challenged and ready to take it to the next level in graduate school. Jane Lewis was a fantastic writing instructor and she was brutally honest.

She taught me something that was so valuable; skills that I continue to use every day. Graduate school was a really positive experience for both of us and has allowed us to do things we want to do and enjoy doing.”

Still in the Carolinas, Wright-Evans has leveraged her education, teaching experience and work with GlaxoSmithKline to evolve into an independent writer and regulatory consultant for pharmaceutical companies.

Barry has held multiple positions with GSK beginning with an internship leading to positions in research and development, marketing and finance. He is currently doing what he studied to do as a forecasting director.

Marla and Barry have made a point to give something back to the institution that influenced their journey, plus some. The couple takes advantage of the company cash-match plan so that they may contribute a larger amount to give back.

“Once you get on your feet a little bit and you have a little extra money, it seemed like giving something back was a no brainer for us,” she said. “I think it is really important because we are not still in the area physically and cannot be at things like alumni weekend. It is an opportunity to stay connected to the College. On the other hand, someone fresh out of the college experience may not have as many financial resources, but they may have time, energy and enthusiasm to offer.

Giving back any way one can maintains and strengthens ties to the College so that as life changes and evolves the habit of giving will already be there.”

She thinks the physical changes of the campus are exciting because they drive home the vitality of campus. Since 1992, to the current state of the art buildings speak to the vitality of the campus and the willingness to change she says. It speaks to the core heart of what UVaWise stands for and what we are trying to achieve in a rural part of Southwest Virginia where people often overlook or see it as not having very much to give.”

“I look back on that time so fondly,” she says. “I had the means to go to school; I had the grades to go to schools; I got in other places; I attended other schools, but when I came back and was at CVC, and finished there, I never looked at it as anything but a fantastic experience.”

2011 cont’d Annette Scott and Nathan Jones were united in marriage at the Norton United Methodist Church in Norton, Va. on July 13, 2013. The bridesmaids were AnneMichele Maher ’12, Elena Register ’12, Paige Howard ’12, and Stefanie Wilson.

The groomsmen were Timothy Jones, Trevor Hartsock, Josh McGuire ’08 and Michael Wilson. Annette is attending Liberty University to pursue a master’s degree. Nathan is employed with Winder First United Methodist Church as an organist. They live in Demorest, Ga.

2012

Clifton Stanley Diaz is employed with New York City and Long Island Chapter as a police officer. He graduated from the Metropolitan Transit Authority and was accepted into the American Academy for Professional Law Enforcement. Clifton lives in Queens, N.Y.

James William Tiffany and Dr. Amanda Mae Tiffany ’10 were united in marriage on April 26, 2014 at the Corinthian Ballroom in Roanoke, Va. The maid of honor was Aceshia Wampler ’11. The bridesmaids were Kasi Hubbard Clifton ’11, Dr. Yizhou Ernst, Kate Tiffany, Abby Tiffany and Rachel Summers. The best man was William Tiffany. The groomsmen were David Carty ’13, Dakota Hill, Stas Jones ’12, Brad Graboyes and Sean Brodner.

Amanda will begin her pediatric residency with Carilion Clinic in July 2014. They live in Roanoke, Va.

Clifton Stanley Diaz and father

Mr. and Mrs. Jones

Kasi Hubbard and Zachary Clifton ’12 were united in marriage on June 29, 2013 at Crown Colony in Kingsport, Tenn. The maid of honor was Kari Hubbard Varner ’07 and the bridesmaids were Samantha Brummette ’11, Kayli Bates, Mary Katherine Phipps, and Brittany Alvarado.

The best man was Josh Mabe ’07 and the groomsmen were Garth Nicely, Michael Robinette, Devan Sproles and Justin Hubbard. Kasi is an administrative assistant for athletic development at UVa-Wise and Zachary is a deputy with the Wise County Sheriff ’s Office. They live in Big Stone Gap, Va.

Allie Blevins and Tracy Hurst were united in marriage on April 27, 2013 in Gatlinburg, Tenn. The matron of honor was Lindsey Blevins Pate ’09 and the mother of the bride is Christy Blevins ’00.

Allie is employed with Physicians Regional Medical Center as a cardiac care registered nurse. She will pursue a Master of Science in nurse anesthesia at Lincoln Memorial University in the fall. They live in Knoxville, Tenn.

Mr. and Mrs. Tiffany

2013 Jessilynn Strauss and Samuel Poole were united in marriage on March 8, 2014 on the campus of UVa-Wise. Both are attending the University of North Texas to pursue graduate degrees. They live in Denton, Tx.

Mr. and Mrs. Poole

Blevins / Hurst wedding party

Alice Pack is employed with Grayson County Public Schools as a teacher. She lives in Abingdon, Va. Emily Baxter is employed with Health South Rehabilitation Hospital as a case management assistant. She is also employed with Compassion International as a child advocate. Emily serves on the Alumni Association Board of Directors as the Class of 2013 representative. Emily lives in Warrenton, Va.

Hubbard / Clifton wedding party

Spring/Summer 2014 47

CLASS NOTES 2014 Andrew Vanover is employed with U.S. Geological Survey as a hydrologic technician in Montgomery, Ala. Melissa Nicole Blackburn will be attending South College School of Pharmacy in Knoxville, Tenn. to pursue her doctoral degree in pharmacy in the fall.

Keith Linville is in the Army National Guard as an officer in law enforcement.

Jentry Mullins is employed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Emma Spangler will be attending the University of Pikeville’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. She lives in Pikeville, Ky. Samantha Smith will be attending the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia. She lives in Charlottesville, Va. Justin Edwards is employed with CGI Federal Inc. as a business analyst.

Alexandra Streat is employed with St. Mary’s Hospital as a registered nurse in the intensive care unit.

Rebecca Tate is pursuing her graduate degree from the University of Kansas as a graduate teaching assistant.

Harold Murphy, Jr. is employed with CGI Federal Inc. as a software developer.

Casey Taylor will be pursuing her graduate studies at the Bill Gatton College of Pharmacy at East Tennessee State University.

Tiffany Carter is employed as a middle school math teacher with the Roanoke City Public Schools.

Abigail Mason plans to attend graduate school at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Samantha Robinson is employed with Camp Ramapo.

Megan Dillion plans to attend Liberty University for her graduate studies.

Naomi Hale and Austin Hale were united in marriage on Oct. 20, 2012 in Coeburn, Va. The couple welcomed their son, Connor Stephon, on April 25, 2013.

He weighed six pounds and nine ounces.

They live in Whitesburg, Ky.

Katie Beth Brooks will pursue her graduate studies in English at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Va. Jordan Childress is employed with the Greensboro Grasshoppers, a Class-A affiliate of the Miami Marlins, as a media relations and video production assistant.

Jordan Childress ’14

Photo by Kelly Gorham, MSU News Service

Runyon recognized for early research

Justin ’98 captures airborne compounds released by plants in the Rocky Mountain Research Station at Montana State University.

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Justin Runyon ’98 recently won the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor the federal government gives to science and engineering professionals who are in the early stages of their independent research centers.

Runyon, who received a master’s degree from Montana State University and a doctorate from Pennsylvania State University, is an entomologist who works on the MSU campus in the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

Runyon, along with another entomologist, discovered a new type of long-legged fly that makes its habitat in Arizona.

According to the MSU News Service, a lot of Runyon’s work deals with understanding the role that chemistry plays in interactions between insects and plants, then he applies those lessons to biological control. He also conducts research on bark beetles and fire as well as interactions between plants and pollinators.

In Memoriam Fay Bond Gillespie ’70 passed away on March 4, 2014.

She was a teacher in the Wise County Public Schools for 31 years and was a devoted member of the First Baptist Church in Coeburn, Va. Fay is preceded in death by her husband, Donald M. Gillespie Sr. She is survived by her son, Donald M. Gillespie Jr., and many family members.

Suzanne Daniels Hall ’71 passed away on March 11, 2014. She retired from Wise County Public Schools after beginning her career teaching English and Spanish in Lee County. Susie was an avid gardener and lifelong animal lover.

She was an active member of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Norton.

Mary Louise Burton ’72 passed away on Jan. 18, 2014.

She taught sixth grade math and science at JET Middle School in the Edgefield School District. She held positions in Buchanan County, including director of Buchanan General Hospital and was a guidance counselor in the school system.

Mary is survived by her husband, Major (Ret.) Wayne T. Burton Sr., four children and other family members.

Roger Mullins ’73 passed away on Jan. 22, 2014. He was a U.S. Army veteran having worked in communications during the Vietnam War. Roger is survived by his wife, Rosa Kennedy Mullins, two siblings and several nieces and nephews.

James H. Price Jr. ’74 passed away on Nov. 19, 2013.

He held various positions with the Flatwoods Job Corps throughout his career and enjoyed working with the youth.

James was a member of the Park Avenue Baptist Church of Norton. He enjoyed spending time with his family. He is survived by his wife, LaVonna, their children and many other family members.

M. Lynnette Barker ’74 passed away on Nov. 22, 2011.

She was the director of social services at Lonesome Pine Hospital in Big Stone Gap, Va. Lynnette is survived by her husband, Cecil Barker, son, Jesse Barker, and other loved ones.

Richard E. Troyer ’76 passed away on Oct. 5, 2013. He was an Airman First in the U.S. Air Force, where he retired as the director of mental health services in 1993. He enjoyed being active in his community and organized events in Dickenson County for years. Richard was known as the mascot “Willie the Wave.” Richard is survived by his wife, Lucy Troyer, daughters, Melissa and Sabrina, and many other loved ones.

Verlin K. Carty Sr. ’79 passed away on Oct. 17, 2013.

He owned and operated several funeral homes in Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky with over 40 years of experience. Verlin enjoyed spending time at the beach and on his land. He had many roles throughout the communities he served. He is survived by his wife, Dana, a daughter, Hannah Carty, two sons, Verlin Carty Jr. and David Carty ’13 and many other family members.

Thomas O. Gilliland ’84 passed away March 21, 2014.

He was a veteran of the United States Army, and owner and operator of Auto Center Sales and Transport. Thomas coached in the North Augusta Parks and Recreation Department and Arena football. He was inducted into the Virginia High School Athletic Hall of Fame. Thomas is survived by his significant other, Kelli Moore, his children, Katye and Shane, and other family members.

Richard S. Prior ’85 passed away Nov. 1, 2013. He was a veteran of the U.S. Air Force and the Vietnam War. Richard was very involved in this community and loved to travel and garden. He served as county planner for Pulaski County and grant coordinator and business manager for UVa-Wise. He is preceded in death by his son, Robert. Richard is survived by his wife, Elvia, sons, John, Andy, Matt and Steve, and many loved ones.

Mitchell Lee Davis ’87 passed away May 18, 2013. He is survived by his wife, Sonia, and sons, Jordan and Cody.

Robert P. Cassell Jr. ’91 passed away Jan. 24, 2014. He was a member at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church in St. Paul, Va. Robert is survived by his mother, June King Cassell, and many family and friends.

Travis Sturgill ’95 passed away on April 13, 2014. He earned the Virginia High School Player of the Year award in 1991, and later that year was drafted into Major League Baseball. Travis served as a pastor for many years. He is survived by his son, Nick Sturgill, two daughters, Morganne Sturgill and Eden Sturgill, and many loved ones.

Shonna R. Holbrook ’96 passed away Feb. 4, 2014. She was a homemaker and is survived by her husband, Dr. Larry C. Kiser.

Amy Lynn Bradwell ’97 passed away Jan. 12, 2014. She was a web designer for Office Max and attended Euclid Avenue Baptist Church. She is survived by her husband, John P. Bradwell and other family members.

Terry Monk ’99 passed away April 11, 2014. He coached football at several high schools throughout southwestern Virginia. He was a member of the Virginia Army National Guard and worked for the Commonwealth of Virginia as a probation parole officer. He volunteered for the Special Olympics and headed the fundraising committee for the prison system to help support the Special Olympics. He is survived by his wife, Melissa, son, Trevor, and many other loved ones.

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ALUMNI NEWS

PAST EVENTS

$elebration

The 28th annual Cavalier Alumni $elebration Gala was held on Saturday, May 17, 2014 at the Lonesome Pine Country Club. The evening was filled with dancing, great food and fellowship among alumni and friends. Proceeds from this event are earmarked for the operating budget of the Alumni Association.

Linda ’71 and Keith Dishner

Pacers trip

Over 50 alumni, friends, and students enjoyed a weekend filled with NBA and NFL fun. Everyone enjoyed the Indiana Pacers and Brooklyn Nets game, meeting players and shooting on the court after the game. The weekend ended with a tour of Lucas Oil Stadium where the Indianapolis Colts host their games. Memories were being made and shared among all those that attended.

Kim and Jody ’82 Evans

Spring Swing

There were more than 100 participants for the 19th annual Community Spring Swing, which was held on April 18, 2014 at the Lonesome Pine Country Club. They enjoyed a beautiful day of golf, lunch, prizes and fellowship. All proceeds from this event help fund scholarships for students at UVa-Wise.

Biltmore trip

The UVa-Wise Alumni Association organized a successful and fun adventure to The Biltmore Estate on Nov. 15-16. More than a dozen alumni and friends enjoyed a weekend exploring the wonderful estate and winery. As the holiday aroma was all around the estate, many memories were shared over an elegant dinner at The Stable Cafe.

Mike Clisso, Duane Miller ’94, Tyler Giles ’03 and Chris Mullins

Basketball Homecoming

Basketball Homecoming was held on Feb. 8, 2014 in the Prior Center where the Cavaliers took on top ranked West Liberty University in a great match up. Continuing the tradition, all former players and coaches are invited annually to this celebration. It is a time to meet new friends and reconnect with old ones.

Robin Olinger ’77, Kathy Bentley ’81 and Debbie Collins ’73

50 UVa-Wise Magazine

Rasyn Griffey, Major Griffey ’76, Donna Griffey, Shyanne Griffey, Sherry Steele and Wayne Steele ’73

Stephen ’99, Christy ’98, Madisyn, Brady and Jocie Kate Dalton

ALUMNI GATHERINGS

CLUBS

Richmond On Friday, March 28, 2014 the Richmond Area Alumni Club held a gathering at the Capital Ale House. More than 40 alumni and friends enjoyed an evening catching up on old times, learning about new programs at UVa-Wise, while making new friends across generations.

The Richmond Area Alumni Club was organized by the UVa-Wise Alumni Association as part of an ongoing effort to develop alumni clubs across the Commonwealth and surrounding states, where graduates and friends live and work. These gatherings encourage alumni and friends to network as a group forming strong regional bonds regardless of class year.

NOVA

On Saturday, March 29, 2014 the NOVA Area Alumni Club held a gathering at Brio-Tuscan Grille in Tysons Corner. Over 30 alumni and friends enjoyed an evening sharing stories about old times with fellow classmates and former faculty, and making new friends across generations.

Chancellor Henry gave a program spotlight on the many campus construction projects and growth at UVa-Wise.

Spring/Summer 2014 51

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

SAVE THE DATE: Aug. 19 Convocation Sept. 6 North Carolina area gathering Homecoming 2014: Oct. 3 - Silver Saber Spirit Contest, pep rally, student and community picnic and SuperHold concert Oct. 4 - Alumni picnic, family carnival, football game and alumni dance Oct. 6 Virginian Golf Tournament Nov. 15 Super Raffle and Senior Day Dec. 5 December Convocation

2014 Football Schedule

Date Sept. 6 Sept. 13 Sept. 20 Sept. 27 Oct. 4 Oct. 11 Oct. 18 Oct. 25 Nov. 1 Nov. 8

Time Opponent 12 pm 12 pm 2 pm 7 pm 1 pm 12 pm 1 pm 2 pm 2 pm 1 pm

Nov. 15 1 pm *Indicates MEC Game 52 UVa-Wise Magazine

Urbana University (Ohio)* West Virginia Wesleyan College* University of Charleston* Wofford College Notre Dame College (Ohio)* Shepherd University* Glenville State College* West Virginia State University* Concord University* West Liberty University* Fairmont State University*

Location

Urbana, Ohio Wise, Va. Charleston, W.Va. Spartanburg, S.C. Wise, Va. Shepherdstown, W.Va. Wise, Va. TBA Wise, Va. West Liberty, W.Va.

Wise, Va.

UPCOMING ALUMNI TRAVEL

Travel opportunities

Washington, D.C. / Cherry Blossom Festival / Washington Nationals Game - April 2015

Plans are underway for a three day trip to Washington, D.C. for the National Cherry Blossom Festival and a Washington Nationals game. Details coming soon!

Western Front European tour May 2015

The history department at The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is conducting a fourcountry trip to Europe to explore significant sites associated with World War II and the Western Front.

The 16-day trip, set for May 2015, will begin in London with visits to the Cabinet War Room, Grosvenor Square, the Imperial War Museum and the Churchill Museum. Following the Allied Campaign of 1944-1945, participants will then ferry across the English Channel, landing in Caen, France, to explore the beaches of Normandy, site of the Allied invasion in June 1944.

After several days in Paris, the tour will proceed to Bastogne, Belgium site of the famed Battle of the Bulge. The tour will conclude in Germany with visits to Berlin, Munich and Dachau, the Nazi concentration camp, Salzburg, and the Eagle’s Nest, Hitler’s meeting house.

The price will include airfare, lodging, land transportation while in Europe, several dinners, all daily breakfasts, and entrances into the designated sites. Registration for the trip is open now.

For additional information on this trip, please contact Jennifer Murray, assistant professor of history, at 276-376-4609 or via email at: jmm5yd@uvawise.edu

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