Alumni & Friends

Meet Our Alumni

• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1295-sarah-agron" title="Sarah Agron" aria-label="Sarah Agron"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,857,1132/1875_me.rev.1515517710.png" alt="Sarah Agron" title="Sarah Agron" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,857,1132/1875_me.rev.1515517710.png 2x" data-max-w="857" data-max-h="1132"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1295-sarah-agron"><p> Sarah’s work with Migrant Health Network gives her a new perspective on the world.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div> Sarah Agron’s internship with the Migrant Health Network was likely the key to her being hired. And she credits her E&H professors with pushing her to try new challenges. “My professors helped to push me out of my comfort zone in many different ways, and encouraged me to push through my timidity when it came to speaking another language.”<br/><br/> Her job title is Outreach Worker. with Migrant Health Network. “What I do is reach out to the migrant farm worker population here in Washington and Smyth counties and offer my help with anything they might be needing regarding health care. I offer interpretation, transportation, and care navigation. I’m basically a bilingual case manager. Also, I try to help with filling out insurance applications and providing health education materials in Spanish.”<br/><br/> Sarah says the Migrant Health Network’s goal is to provide services/care to as many migrant workers as possible. “Our group has 4 workers each serving about 3 counties a piece here in Southwest Virginia. In 2017, we served 720 farm workers. We hope for that number to grow for 2018. Our organization is about providing care to those who would normally feel helpless to try to go about taking care of their health care needs.”<br/><br/> She says every day presents a new challenge, and because the culture is so different from hers and because she’s dealing with medical issues, she is always having to expand her vocabulary. “I can go in with a patient to a regular check-up, and the next thing I know, the doctor is talking about different kinds of deep sea fish the patient should be eating, or maybe some kind of neurological illness I’ve never heard of before.”<br/><br/> She says she appreciates not only the education she got at Emory & Henry…but also the empathy she gained. “By the time I graduated from E&H in 2015, I had learned to see what was going on in the world through other people’s eyes, which has helped me considerably in a job where I am almost constantly with those from another culture and background.”</div><div/><div/><div/></div><a href="/live/profiles/1295-sarah-agron" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/155-" title="Ken Noe" aria-label="Ken Noe"><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,450,490/27_abe1975e59116cf763b1821b22668003_f74661.rev.1491319536.jpg" alt="Ken Noe" title="Ken Noe" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="450" data-max-h="490"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/155-"><p> Dr. Ken Noe ’79 Writing Book on the Weather’s Impact on the American Civil War</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> When Dr. Ken Noe (’79) was growing up in Elliston he remembers that weather played a huge role in the work done on his grandfather’s farm. “If rain was coming, we dropped everything else to put up hay.” He thinks this experience planted a seed in the back of his mind about the impactful influence of weather. Later, his interest in weather grew when he took a geography course at Emory & Henry with Dr. Ed Bingham.</p><p> But even he could never have predicted that he would now be writing a two-volume book on weather’s impact on the American Civil War.</p><p> Ken is the Draughon Professor of Southern History at Auburn University. He is the author or editor of seven books, and he has published scads of articles, essays and chapters about the Civil War. He is a decorated history professor serving at West Georgia College before heading to Auburn. He was a Pulitzer Prize entrant and won the 2003 Kentucky Governor’s award, the 2002 Peter Seaborg Book Award for Civil War Non-fiction, and the 1997 Tennessee History Book Award. He has won several teaching awards, has served as president of the Alabama Historical Association, and is serving on the Advisory Board of the Society of Civil War Historians. He has even been a consultant for the NBC series <em>Who Do You Think You Are? </em></p><p> But in all his prolific writing and research and publishing even he is surprised that his biggest and most industrious work to-date will be about weather.  “Meteorologists are still trying to work out why the weather during the Civil War was so unusual. They dealt with incredibly snowy and rainy winters and droughts in the summer that affected Southern food supplies. There were dust storms, flooded rivers, and only two hurricanes. It had a profound effect on many campaigns.”</p><p> His research on weather has already taken several years, and he still has a few years left before he publishes. And even he was amazed to realize just how much information he had accumulated. “Very little has been written about Civil War environmental history. It is only now becoming part of the conversation about Civil War history.”  </p><p> Ken says that even in a field of study like Civil War history where so many things have been written, there is still new area for research and a lot of topics that haven’t been covered.  He has grad students asking new questions about the role of religion, the prison industries during the war, the role of friendship, and one young man, who is an E&H grad, is looking into camp life.</p><p> Even though we have just passed the 150^th anniversary of the American Civil War, Ken points out that this conflict still has implications for current events; and he marvels that most conversations over the past 18 months have quickly moved from history to current topics like the Confederate flag, U.S. prisons, and race relations. He says his field has gotten so tangled with politics that there is a declining interest in Civil War history among the public. “But this event still has much to teach us. It was a great turning point in American History and opened up questions that are still being answered about equality of humankind, the status of women, states’ rights. I don’t know how we can answer all these questions unless we go back to the beginning.” He consistently stresses to his students the importance of going back to primary source information rather than depending on how the stories have been told and passed down.</p><p> Ken actually majored in education at Emory & Henry and still remembers panicking when he realized he didn’t want to be a junior high school teacher. “I had a lot of electives leftover and started taking history classes late in my college experience. I realized what I wanted to be was a historian and teach at a higher level.” A conversation with Patsi Trollinger (’72) reassured him that most alumni do not stick to work within their major. And a conversation with Dr. Gene Rasor in the history department led to a phone call which ended with Dr. Rasor telling Ken he had an interview with the history department at Virginia Tech.</p><p> The rest, as they say, is history.</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/155-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1745-becky-edmondson-pretzel" title="Becky Pretzel" aria-label="Becky Pretzel"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/198,324,1490,1615/3152_edmondsonpretzel-1122.rev.1518207187.jpg" alt="Becky Edmondson Pretzel" title="Becky Edmondson Pretzel" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/198,324,1490,1615/3152_edmondsonpretzel-1122.rev.1518207187.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/198,324,1490,1615/3152_edmondsonpretzel-1122.rev.1518207187.jpg 3x" data-max-w="1500" data-max-h="2250"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1745-becky-edmondson-pretzel"><p> Rebecca Edmondson Pretzel (E&H ’82) is the Associate Director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD) at UNC Chapel Hill. </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Rebecca Edmondson Pretzel (E&H ’82) is the Associate Director of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (CIDD) at UNC Chapel Hill. </p><p> The CIDD is a comprehensive program for services, research, and training relevant to individuals with developmental disabilities and their families. The CIDD provides for clinical services that range from complex interdisciplinary evaluations on-site to more limited and selected clinical services. They also provide training in all 100 counties in North Carolina. (<a href="http://www.cidd.unc.edu/">CIDD website</a>)</p><p> According to a press release, Becky is a “psychologist and Associate Professor of Psychiatry at UNC. At the CIDD, she serves as the Associate Director of our federally-funded University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) program, Director of Clinical Services, and Psychology Section Head. In addition, she is an investigator on a variety of research and training grants and supervises numerous graduate students and junior faculty.</p><p> Through her longstanding experience working with many N.C. service agencies (e.g., the Department of Public Instruction, Early Intervention Branch and Division of MH/DD/SAS), Dr. Pretzel has played an important role in raising the level of care for individuals with developmental disabilities and their families in the state. Dr. Pretzel is currently serving as Act Early Ambassador in North Carolina, a program directed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designed to improve early identification of young children with or at risk for developmental delays.”</p><div id="social-sharing-links" class="right clearfix"><div class="muted"/></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/1745-becky-edmondson-pretzel" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2057-ed-moorer" title="Ed Moorer" aria-label="Ed Moorer"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/780,339,2681,2240/4139_030.rev.1525893965.JPG" alt="Ed Moorer" title="Ed Moorer" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/780,339,2681,2240/4139_030.rev.1525893965.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/780,339,2681,2240/4139_030.rev.1525893965.JPG 3x" data-max-w="3200" data-max-h="2400"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2057-ed-moorer"><p> Ed Moorer is having a second career because he’s not finished learning or teaching.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Ed Moorer (’71) knows how to use his sense of humor to engage people. Having been part of the now-famous “Avis Rent-A-Car” ad filmed on the E&H campus in 1969, he jokes that this television debut was the beginning of his fame: “I’ve also done a talk about bird migration on Christian radio, recorded a CD with my college buddies, co-authored a book, and was an extra in the movie ‘Leatherheads.’  I still have time to do something else…I’m just not sure what it is yet!”</p><p> Ed is the site coordinator for Sassafras Mountain Hawkwatch in Pickens, South Carolina, and was named the 2016 Employee of the Year for Table Rock State Park located there. He has worked there for 18 years.</p><p> This is especially notable because he is retired after teaching and coaching in high school for 30 years – physical education, driver education, and coaching football and basketball (“Thanks, Coach Hutton.”). He built a log cabin and found a new passion: the outdoors. He started working part-time at Table Rock State Park in the northern part of South Carolina. He enjoyed greeting and talking with hikers at the nature center who stopped in on their way up the mountain, and he found that his E&H history degree was coming in handy. “This area is rich in history as well as nature and I talk to visitors about the Native Americans and about the Civil War era – all things that E&H professors lectured on while I was a student. (Thanks, Mr. Neal).”</p><p> He is particularly passionate about raptor migration, and is involved with an annual count that documents up to 15 different species as they fly south over the Appalachian Mountains in the fall. Sassafras Mountain is the highest mountain in South Carolina, and the count runs from Labor Day through Thanksgiving. “I have a small group of fellow birders who assist. Information is then entered at hawkcount.org where it becomes part of a much larger database that tells us how well our birds, and environment, are doing on a national and worldwide basis.”</p><p> “I love to be outside and still feel like education is an ongoing process which should be shared with anyone, especially our younger generation.  Find something that you enjoy and make the most of it!  Emory & Henry started my learning and I hope that since then that I have made a difference in somebody’s life that I have encountered.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/2057-ed-moorer" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/13-" title="Sydney England" aria-label="Sydney England"><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg" alt="Sydney England" title="Sydney England" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/22_fbd04c901271156159e4e275a5bf845f_f50561.rev.1490707796.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/13-"><p> Sydney England (’14) Receives Prestigious Fellowship Opportunity </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> She received the Armbrister Memorial Scholarship for freshmen honors and the Outstanding Senior Award from the Sociology Department. She was on the dean’s list all eight semesters while a student at Emory & Henry, and she graduated summa cum laude with college honors. She also was inducted into several national honor societies.</p><p> Is it any wonder that Sydney England is one of only two students throughout the country selected to receive the Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellowship, providing a two-year period of work and study in philanthropy and charitable work?</p><p> England, a 2014 graduate of Emory & Henry College, was nominated by the college, which is among many liberal arts colleges and universities eligible for support from the Jessie DuPont Fund. England was selected from a large field of applicants.</p><blockquote> Dr. Joe Lane brought the fellowship opportunity to my attention. I don’t know if I ever fully set my sights on the fellowship because it always seemed like a long shot.Sydney EnglandClass of 2014</blockquote><p> The Jessie Ball duPont Fund Fellowship program, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., is designed to provide practical experience for students interested in careers with nonprofit, faith-based, or philanthropic organizations. As a fellow, England is exposed to foundation governance, grant making, governmental oversight, and industry events.</p><p> “Responsibilities shift daily, but primarily it’s a lot of research and grant management. The fellows are really there to support senior staffers with some of their project management and report preparation,” explained England.</p><p> “This fellowship will afford me an acute insight into the full life-cycle of a grant, from initial proposal to grant management and re-evaluation. It’s very rare to have the opportunity to see this grant maturation within a wide array of nonprofit organizations at my age and experience level,” she said.</p><p> “I’m really just hoping to develop a strong grant writing and nonprofit management portfolio and to engage in meaningful personal research during my two years at the Fund.”</p><p> England is among the fifth class of fellows at the Jessie Ball duPont Fund. Some of their predecessors work with the Peace Corps, religious organizations, and community-based nonprofits.</p><p> Her accomplishments at Emory & Henry are equally impressive.</p><p> The alumna doubled majored in sociology and history with a minor in women’s studies. “When I entered Emory & Henry, I was the conventional high-performing student who was primarily concerned with grades. If nothing else, E&H taught me that if you aren’t imagining beyond your goals, you aren’t giving yourself enough latitude to grow.”</p><p> While a student at Emory & Henry, England was a research assistant, and she also gained experience working for Terry McAuliffe’s campaign for governor in Virginia.</p><p> Her honors thesis was entitled “Check Here: A Critique of Normative Discursive Categorization within Survey Construction.” The premise of her research was to address some of the General Social Survey’s methodological limitations.</p><p> “I found that nominal and mutually-exclusive language, as it pertains to the General Social Survey categorization of sex, creates a false sense of normativeness within American society and harshly limits the accuracy of data when causal inferences link these two categories to various other demographic features within the data set. Ultimately, I created an alternative survey proposal that I hope will be adopted more frequently on campus.”</p><p> England said her experiences at Emory & Henry have enabled her to be a successful person, employee, and citizen.</p><p> “I feel the impact of my liberal arts education daily and in several dimensions. First, I often find myself willing to engage in critical, solutions-oriented dialogue, and I think that’s a direct result of the type of Socratic courses that you regularly find at Emory.</p><p> “Second, I’m acutely aware of the impact that place has on people, and this is really imperative when you’re in a workspace. I’m really aware of workplace dynamics and organizational core values. Those are really important to understand when you’re trying to figure out how you, the individual, fit into the structure. At Emory, we were constantly reminded of how people and place are inextricably connected.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/13-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2122-gabrielle-gregory" title="Gabrielle Gregory" aria-label="Gabrielle Gregory"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,316,316/4237_gg.rev.1529087746.jpg" alt="Gabrielle Gregory" title="Gabrielle Gregory" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="316" data-max-h="316"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2122-gabrielle-gregory"><p> Gabby Gregory’s great internship led to a great job offer.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div> Gabby Gregory is a 2018 E&H graduate who added some additional education to her degree by heading to New York University the summer after graduation. She entered their 6-weeks long Summer Publishing Institute right before heading to Stuart, Florida, for a job with Ocean Media Solutions. She’ll be writing for their Living Magazines. She also did her internship with Ocean Media.<br/></div><div id="m_1151371537258667902yahoo_quoted_8493402470" class="m_1151371537258667902yahoo_quoted"><div id="m_1151371537258667902yiv7151432304"><div dir="ltr"><div/><div> Gabby was an English major at Emory & Henry, earning a degree in Pre-Professional Publishing. She was active in Pi Sigma Kappa social sorority, Blue Key Honor Society, Pi Gamma Mu, Peer Educators, the Frostiana Poetry Society, Sigma Tau Delta, and Phi Eta Sigma. She was also an honors program scholar, student government senator, and writing tutor. She founded A Read of Our Own, which is a feminist activist book club on campus. </div><div><br/> She says her E&H experience gave her the confidence to trust her education and move to a new city and state to start her career. “I learned so much not only from the faculty and staff of the college, but also from my fellow students. I made both amazing professional connections and wonderful, lasting friendships during my time at E&H. Because of the community-minded culture of E&H, I was able to work one-on-one with my favorite professor, and gained incredible knowledge from her that directly led to my successes beyond my undergraduate career. I cannot imagine myself today without my experience at Emory & Henry College. I will always have a deep love and respect for those hills in Virginia, and hope to go to as many Homecomings as possible as an alumna! Emory & Henry will always be my home away from home.” </div><div/><div><div/><div>   </div><div/></div><div/></div></div></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/2122-gabrielle-gregory" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1748-brian-wolfe" title="Brian Wolfe" aria-label="Brian Wolfe"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,600,771/3168_brian_wolfe.rev.1518208834.jpg" alt="Brian Wolfe" title="Brian Wolfe" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="600" data-max-h="771"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1748-brian-wolfe"><p> “I wholeheartedly believe in approaching a patient’s care as a partnership.”</p><p> –Dr. Brian Wolfe, ’97</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div class="container"><div class="row"><div class="col-xs-8 col-sm-9"><div class="row"><div class="col-sm-5" id="clinicalLocinfo"><p> Brian Wolfe graduated from E&H in 1997. He received his medical degree from  Johns Hopkins University in 2001. He has been on the teaching faculty for Temple University Hospital and Vanderbilt University Medical Center. He is now affiliated with the University of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. He interned at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center Program, and was Chief Resident, Internal Medicine, in 2005. </p><p> Dr. Wolfe has received the AANP Advocate State Award for Excellence, awarded for promoting the role of the nurse practitioner. He has received the Excellence in Clinical Innovation from the University Colorado Hospital Medical Staff for development of a post-graduate training program for physician assistants and nurse practitioners in hospital-based medicine. He received the Temple University Junior Faculty Residency Teaching Award. And in 2007, he received the award for Best Patient Advocate to the Vanderbilt University Emergency Department.<br/><br/> Brian’s philosophy about medicine is a personal one: “I wholeheartedly believe in approaching a patient’s care as a partnership. When a person is admitted to the hospital, this can be a stressful and disorienting experience. My role in the physician-patient partnership is to 1) understand a patient’s concerns and who he is she is as a person, 2) bring state-of-the-art care to the bedside, 3) communicate with the patient, the family, and the patient’s other physicians in a high level and meaningful manner.”<br/></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><a href="/live/profiles/1748-brian-wolfe" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1228-auburn-barrett" title="Auburn Barrett" aria-label="Auburn Barrett"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,7,265,272/1709_auburn_barrett.rev.1513720110.jpg" alt="Auburn Barrett" title="Auburn Barrett" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="265" data-max-h="392"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1228-auburn-barrett"/></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div> Auburn was an Athletic Training student at Emory & Henry, and is currently serving as an athletic trainer hired by a hospital. She is also contracted out to work sporting events at a local middle school. She worked as a Physical Therapy Tech during the summer after she graduated from college.</div><div/><div/></div><a href="/live/profiles/1228-auburn-barrett" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1432-josh-myers" title="Josh Myers" aria-label="Josh Myers"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,427,427/1596_Josh_Myers.rev.1513028145.jpg" alt="Josh Myers" title="Josh Myers" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="427" data-max-h="427"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1432-josh-myers"><p> Myers is president of EMM Financial Services.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Josh Myers, is president of EMM Financial Services, Inc. in Greensboro, North Carolina.<br/></p><p> His post-college experience has varied widely.  He spent a bit of time in the nation’s capitol working for a large national lobby based in Northern Virginia. He attended the University of South Carolina for graduate studies in public administration. And he ran a statewide political campaign in South Carolina. He says that all his experiences and especially his education at Emory & Henry have given him the confidence, as well as the financial and analytical tools that prepared him for his leadership position with EMM.<br/></p><p> A management major at Emory & Henry, Josh says working collaboratively within groups and having real-world experiences through internships were the most helpful tools he acquired as an undergrad. He credits the compassionate community-based mantra of E&H as being an underlying guide to how he lives his life and serves his clients. He is reminded daily to always put people first and the rest will follow.<br/></p><p> He also says he has one very simple and helpful word of advice to anyone planning for the future: Save early and save often. No one ever got to the end of the road and said they wish they’d saved less.<br/></p><p> Josh is married to Catherine “Katie” Reynolds Myers (E&H ’08) who is a speech pathologist in the Guilford County, North Carolina, school system and the couple have two children, Carter and Emily. </p></div><a href="/live/profiles/1432-josh-myers" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1815-christina-druen" title="Christina Druen" aria-label="Christina Druen"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/233,0,1593,1361/3301_IMG_2692.rev.1518713658.JPG" alt="Christina Druen" title="Christina Druen" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/233,0,1593,1361/3301_IMG_2692.rev.1518713658.JPG 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/233,0,1593,1361/3301_IMG_2692.rev.1518713658.JPG 3x" data-max-w="2048" data-max-h="1361"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1815-christina-druen"><p> And on top of all this….she can really sing!</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><div> Christina Druen currently works as a graphic designer for K-VA-T Food Stores, Inc. In this role, she creates various print materials, social media graphics, videos and other materials for the Food City stores and events they sponsor including the Food City Family Race Night, Food City 500/300, and their Annual Golf Tournament. Before coming to K-VA-T, Christina worked as a Marketing & Design Coordinator for Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems (SVCHS) where she aided in the re-branding of the organization, designed print materials and helped manage their website and social media. Right before graduation, she landed a job working for a NASCAR K&N team, Martin-McClure Racing as their Public Relations Representative. In this role, she managed the team’s social media accounts, escorted drivers to all appearances and helped manage the “Racing for 90.7 and Emory & Henry” project. Simultaneously, she worked for Dogwood Marketing located in Abingdon, Virginia, as a graphic designer and sales representative before coming to SVCHS. </div><div><br/> In her spare time, Christina works as a Marketing & Design Consultant to help smaller local businesses and non-profits with their marketing needs. She has completed work for Family Promise of Bristol, Garic Stephens and Lavelle Manufacturing, Borderline Billiards, Apple Ridge Photography, First Bank & Trust, Emory & Henry College, Clinch Valley Printing, and more. </div><div><br/> Christina also serves as a board member for the American Advertising Federation of Southwest Virginia. As the Communications Team Leader, her responsibilities include getting information out about their events, managing and updating their website, creating graphics and content for their social media platforms, writing press releases, creating email campaigns and aiding in planning events. </div><div><br/> During her time at Emory & Henry, Christina worked as an Events and Operations Intern for the Academy of Country Music in Los Angeles, California, and a Volunteer Captain for the Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Los Vegas. She also interned for a popular local band, Annabelle’s Curse, as well as Family Promise of Bristol as their Communications Intern. On campus, she was the Director of EHC-TV, President of Alpha Psi Omega, President of the E&H Choral Department, Treasurer and Founding Member of the AAF Student Chapter, Business Manager of the Whitetopper, Manager of The Sphinx, House Manager and Volunteer Coordinator for the McGlothlin Center for the Arts, Graphic Design Intern for the Admissions Office, and Writer for The Odyssey Online. </div><div><br/> Christina resides in Abingdon, VA. When she’s not working, you can catch her at Borderline Billiards bar-tending and shooting pool. </div></div><a href="/live/profiles/1815-christina-druen" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/705-" title="John Honeycutt" aria-label="John Honeycutt"><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/355_cb05c7c2dda509f77c32d255409bb14f_f3246.rev.1500387149.jpg" alt="John Honeycutt" title="John Honeycutt" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,1000,666/355_cb05c7c2dda509f77c32d255409bb14f_f3246.rev.1500387149.jpg 2x" data-max-w="1000" data-max-h="666"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/705-"><p> John Honeycutt: Successful Attorney </p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> John Honeycutt said his experiences as a student at Emory & Henry reached far beyond the four walls and whiteboard, making a positive impact in his life a decade later.</p><p> As an attorney in Abingdon, Va., Honeycutt believes his college experience opened the door for his eventual profession.</p><p> “Becoming an attorney was not a driving force for me during college, but I enjoyed the legal classes I took through the political science department and eventually decided the study of law was more than a passing interest for me,” he said.</p><p> Honeycutt credits many members of the College community, including political science professor <a class="soft-link" title="View Dr. Joe Lane's profile page" href="http://www.ehc.edu/profile/view/822/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Joe Lane</a>, for building his confidence.</p><blockquote><a class="soft-link" title="View Dr. Joe Lane's profile page" href="http://www.ehc.edu/profile/view/822/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Lane</a> helped me become a big fish in a small pond, but at the same time, he made sure I knew there were lakes and oceans out there. When I got to the ‘lakes’ and ‘oceans,’ I wasn’t shocked by the fact that smart, capable people are everywhere. Instead, I knew I was one of them and found my own place.<a title="Learn more about this outstanding Emory and Henry College alum" href="http://www.pennstuart.com/attorneys/jhoneycutt.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">John Honeycutt</a><br/> Attorney</blockquote><h2> A Successful Struggle</h2><p> As is typical for many college students, Honeycutt struggled early on to find the right academic path. “I come from a family of ministers, and I initially took a lot of religion courses with <a class="soft-link" title="View Dr. Joseph Reiff's profile page" href="http://www.ehc.edu/profile/view/888/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Dr. Reiff</a> and Dr. Kellogg,” he said. “I was close to going down the path of religion for my major and profession, but I was never quite as comfortable and confident with religion as I am with the law.  It’s funny how things work out.  I really appreciate what Joe Reiff and Fred Kellogg taught me. What I learned from them was a vital part of my E&H experience.”</p><p> Following graduation from E&H, Honeycutt earned a Masters of Public Administration at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before attending the College of Law at University of Tennessee. For the past four years, he has practiced employment law at Penn, Stuart & Eskridge in Abingdon, primarily representing employers in workers’ compensation claims filed by their employees. He also represents employers in federal employment discrimination law suits.</p><p> “E&H challenged and grew my capacity to work hard,” said Honeycutt. “When I was in graduate school and law school, I drew on the experience of classes I took from Dr. Lane, Dr. Kathleen Chamberlain, and Dr. Joe Reiff to get me through. The papers, tests, and presentations for these classes made me realize I had to be better to be successful. Those challenges pushed my limits, and when I got to graduate school and law school, I was able to handle the difficulty when other students from less strenuous undergraduate institutions could not.”</p><p> Honeycutt said E&H helped him learn about work ethic and self-awareness. “Most any institution of higher education can teach students facts and figures, but E&H does better than most,” he said. “What sets E&H apart, however, is the unique environment in which it teaches students those facts and figures. To those students who engage the entire college community, E&H provides context better than any other institution of higher education I’ve seen.”</p><p> He added, “I also appreciate my experience at the College because it’s where I met some wonderful friends with whom I’m still close more than 10 years later. I also met my wife, Jenna, while we were students at E&H.  We have a precious little girl, Anna Claire.  We love her, and we’re so proud of her.”</p><div id="social-sharing-links" class="right clearfix"/></div><a href="/live/profiles/705-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/1431-jeremy-peters" title="Jeremy Peters" aria-label="Jeremy Peters"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/357,137,786,568/916_Jeremy_Peters_photo.rev.1508790892.jpg" alt="Jeremy Peters" title="Jeremy Peters" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/357,137,786,568/916_Jeremy_Peters_photo.rev.1508790892.jpg 2x, /live/image/scale/3x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/357,137,786,568/916_Jeremy_Peters_photo.rev.1508790892.jpg 3x" data-max-w="1718" data-max-h="1147"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/1431-jeremy-peters"/></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Jeremy Peters is the Chief Executive Officer of the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD).</p><p> NACD is a nonprofit organization representing America’s 3,000 conservation districts, their state and territory associations, and the 17,000 men and women who serve on their governing boards. These districts work with millions of cooperating landowners and operators to help them manage and protect land and water resources on private and public lands in the United States. NACD’s mission is to promote the wise and responsible use of natural resources for all lands by representing locally-led conservation districts and their associations through grassroots advocacy, education, and partnerships.</p><p> In 2017, the Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) presented Jeremy with their CBEAR Prize for Agri-Environmental Innovation. In presenting the Award, CBEAR Outreach Director Mark Masters commented, “Jeremy’s effective leadership of NACD is based, in large part, on his ability to bridge the gaps that often exist between research, policy, and application. The relationships established and opportunities facilitated through Jeremy’s hard work have greatly informed, and improved, CBEAR’s research and outreach efforts.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/1431-jeremy-peters" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/2053-mike-fintel" title="Mike Fintel" aria-label="Mike Fintel"><img src="/live/image/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,720,720/4097_image.rev.1525119131.png" alt="Mike Fintel" title="Mike Fintel" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/68/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,720,720/4097_image.rev.1525119131.png 2x" data-max-w="720" data-max-h="960"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/2053-mike-fintel"><p> Mike Fintel is making a difference in higher education.</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Mike Fintel wants to make a difference.</p><p> With a degree in Business Management it seemed pretty obvious what he would do after college. And when he landed a plum job with the Shelor Corporation in Montgomery County, Virginia, he was off and running.</p><p> His business background got paired with his soccer experiences as he was first given responsibilities with one of Shelor’s more athletic projects. Mike was General Manager and then Sales and Marketing Manager for the Pulaski Yankees, running historic Calfee ballpark in Pulaski and overseeing marketing for the new Jackson Park Inn hotel and Al’s on First restaurant. He increased sales revenues for the baseball park, and saw an uptick in group sales.</p><p> Soon after that, he was offered a promotion in the company with more responsibility and opportunity. Things were exactly on track!</p><p> And that’s when he walked away.</p><p> Mike said his inner voice was telling him to make a change. “It just didn’t feel like that was what I was supposed to be doing. I wanted to make a difference.”</p><p> In 2017, Mike was inspired by a fellow E&H Classmate <em>(Chris O’Connor)</em> to join Big Brothers, Big Sisters as a mentor with an elementary school in a rural town. It was through this mentorship that Mike decided to follow his heart to higher education.  </p><p> He is now an Admissions Counselor at Roanoke College and Mike says work doesn’t seem like work any more. “I am driven by the thought of waking up each morning, knowing that I can help students envision the achievable dream of attending college. Work no longer seems like a chore.”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/2053-mike-fintel" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/670-" title="Micah Morris" aria-label="Micah Morris"><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,750,751/259_FullSizeRender-13.rev.1496842398.jpg" alt="Micah Morris" title="Micah Morris" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" srcset="/live/image/scale/2x/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,750,751/259_FullSizeRender-13.rev.1496842398.jpg 2x" data-max-w="750" data-max-h="751"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/670-"><p> Micah Morris (’09) Fighting Apathy</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> A conversation with Micah Morris is energizing. She says one of the best lessons she has learned in life is that “Everyone can get together and make a difference – you don’t have to be an elected official.”</p><p> And that’s actually what Micah has been doing: making a difference.</p><p> She says at Emory & Henry she learned the value of social capital. “Everyone has the right AND the responsibility to make our communities better. You don’t have to be mayor; everyone can do this.” Her career started at the Bristol Crisis Center, where she quickly began to see that progress was dependent upon finding civic leaders and elected representatives who share your values for the community. So she reluctantly dipped her toe into the waters of politics by joining a phone bank for Creigh Deeds. She may not have imagined where this casual volunteer work would lead – but she has recently been part of Terry McAulliffe’s campaign for governor of Virginia and was instrumental in Kamala Harris’s campaign for U.S. Senator from California.</p><p> These days she’s an account executive for NPG VAN; a company that provides software for persons running for office. It basically organizes a donor base of Democratic constituents and assists with targeting information, organizing contacts, and successfully raising money.</p><p> Micah’s success as a sales executive, however, is anchored in a belief of a stronger world through good leadership. “When it comes to politics, so much is about how we see the world. I learned early on that it doesn’t work to try to tell people their point of view is wrong – or that other people needed to convert to my way of thinking. The best way to move forward is to talk about the kind of world we all wish to live in. Once we start talking about values, we’ll find common ground.”</p><p> Interestingly, one of Micah’s first glimpses of the power of a strong community came through the campus health center at Emory & Henry. “When I was growing up in Soddy Daisy, Tennessee, my family didn’t have consistent access to health care – and we used to joke, ‘Don’t get sick this month!’ At Emory & Henry I had the opportunity for preventative health care and that was a new experience. Once I saw that I could take control of my health, I understood that I could control other parts of my life, as well.” This became part of her motivation for helping get leaders elected who could shepherd good legislation and block laws that didn’t promote a strong community.</p><p> Micah was a first generation college student and says her family was thrilled to see her get a college education, but because it was all so new they “had no imagination for where I could go and what I could do.” And Micah has taken her opportunity for an education and created opportunities for others through stronger communities. It has kept her moving around to places like Washington DC, Alabama and California. But after so much traveling, she says she’s “ready to get rooted. After an election is over, we leave town; I’m ready to be in one place for awhile, build relationships, and strengthen my own community.”</p><p> Wherever Micah decides to put down roots, she is not likely to bloom into a wall flower. She likes to tell people that if they’re not happy with how things are in government to get busy. “I find that the hardest thing to fight is apathy. If you’re unhappy with things, don’t mourn: organize!”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/670-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>
• <span class="lw_item_thumb"><a href="/live/profiles/156-" title="Stewart Whitmore Plein" aria-label="Stewart Whitmore Plein"><img src="/live/image/gid/2/width/345/height/225/crop/1/src_region/0,0,400,300/29_1dee3c8e17be67fe60d501abf5d16fd1_f73851.rev.1491320868.jpg" alt="Stewart Whitmore Plein" title="Stewart Whitmore Plein" class="lw_image" width="345" height="225" data-max-w="400" data-max-h="300"/></a></span><div class="lw_widget_text"><h4 class="lw_profiles_headline"><a href="/live/profiles/156-"><p> Stewart Whitmore Plein (’82) Becomes Rare Books Specialist</p></a></h4><div class="lw_profiles_description"><p> Stewart Plein (E&H ’82), Assistant Curator for West Virginia Books & Printed Resources & Rare Book Librarian at West Virginia University, has received her certification in rare book librarianship from the University of Virginia’s renowned Rare Book School (RBS), the top professional development program for rare book and special collection librarians, rare book sellers and collectors.</p><p> “Rare book librarianship isn’t for the faint of heart,” said Tom Congalton, an RBS instructor. “There is an enormous barrier to acquiring the necessary knowledge and practical experience required to be an effective special collections librarian, and it isn’t always easy to know where to start. Stewart has the energy, the motivation and the tenacity to go out and acquire that knowledge in order to master a subject that isn’t always inclined to reveal itself easily.”</p><p> Jay Cole, senior advisor to the president at WVU, applauds Plein for her dedication to the Rare Book Room and work to enhance the academic environment at WVU. “The library is the heart of any university and information circulated by the library is a university’s lifeblood. Within our wonderful Libraries, WVU is very fortunate to have an outstanding Rare Books Collection, with items from William Shakespeare to Isaac Asimov,” Cole said. “We are equally fortunate to have a rare book librarian such as Stewart Plein, whose passion is matched only by her expertise.”</p><p> Stewart’s love of books took her from reader to researcher to bookseller to librarian. She says she had a career direction change after attending a seminar for antiquarian book dealers in 2003. She decided to volunteer at the West Virginia University Library in Morgantown, and ended up an assistant to the Special Collections Librarian.</p><p> At E&H Stewart had a double major in history and religion.  She then earned her degree in library science at the University of South Carolina before succeeding her mentor, Harold Forbes, as Rare Books Librarian and Assistant Curator of West Virginia Books and Printed Resources, and as Assistant University Librarian. She has duties in the Downtown Campus Library and the West Virginia & Regional History Center, both in Morgantown.</p><p> She is also extensively published. Her work covers a wide range of topics, including the impact of art and design on the marketplace and nineteenth century book manufacturing and technology; books as historical artifacts; the cultural impact of books; dissemination of ideas and rare book pedagogy as primary resources for undergraduate research; 19th- century publishers’ book binding design and manufacture; the history of Appalachian law books and newspapers; and the impact of book binding design and the development of stereotype in Appalachia.</p><p> Stewart said the most inspiring part of the RBS course came from a guest lecturer who raised the question about how to go forward with collecting rare material. “It gave me a new insight into the future of book collecting institutionally. It’s about looking ahead rather than back at things we already have.” As a result, she is focusing on materials that are now becoming rare. For example, there is a growing interest in items from the 1940s through the 1990s that already are becoming scarce despite being mass produced. For instance, WVU Libraries recently acquired a collection of magazines (or zines) that were published in San Francisco by West Virginia poet, Sutton Breiding, in the 1970s. “Zines have become quite collectable,” Plein said. “They were just things that were traded between friends, they didn’t really have a production run, they were printed off on mimeograph machines, but they documented important pop culture moments so they really need to be collected or we’ll lose them.”</p><p> She is also turning her attention to what has long been an under-represented area in the rare books collection, the works of African-American West Virginians from late 19^th to early 20^th century.</p><p> West Virginia was home to many of the nation’s most important African-American activists and leaders: Booker T. Washington, author and educator; Carter G. Woodson, author, historian and journalist; Anne Spencer, Harlem Renaissance poet; and J.R. Clifford, Civil War veteran, newspaper publisher, co-founder of the Niagra Movement with W.E. B. Dubois, and West Virginia’s first African-American attorney.</p><p> Stewart says introducing students to primary sources with rare books is the best part of her work day. “I never tire of seeing that moment when a student’s eyes light up when they handle a rare book for the first time!”</p></div><a href="/live/profiles/156-" class="link-with-arrow gold">Keep reading</a></div>