The West Virginia University Department of History will host the third annual meeting of the Society of Appalachian Historians on May 21-22.

The event will feature keynote address, “History’s Lessons for the Future of Appalachia,” by Ronald Eller, Ph.D., on Monday, May 21, at 7:30 p.m. in the Mountainlair Ballrooms.

Eller, distinguished professor of history at the University of Kentucky and a native of southern West Virginia, has spent more than 40 years writing and teaching about the Appalachian region. A former Rockefeller Foundation Scholar, he has directed the University of Kentucky’s Appalachian Center, conducting research and service programs on a wide range of Appalachian policy issues including education, health care, economic development, civic leadership and the environment.

His books include “Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers: The Industrialization of the Appalachian South” and the award winning “Uneven Ground: Appalachia Since 1945” (2008).

The Society of Appalachian Historians is an organization that seeks to provide a forum for the dissemination and discussion of innovative historical scholarship on any aspect of Appalachia.

The schedule of events:

Monday, May 21
8-8:30: Registration – Mountainlair
8:45-10:15: Session 1: Varieties of Appalachian Religion
10:30-12: Session 2: New Deal Era Appalachia
12-1:30: Lunch (on your own)
1:30-3: Session 3: 20th Century Politics and Class
3:15-4:45: Session 4: Civil War Appalachia
4:45-5:30: Free time for participants to go back to hotel
5:30-7: Banquet – Mountainlair
7:15-8:45: Public keynote, “History’s Lessons for the Future of Appalachia”

Tuesday, May 22
8:45-10:15: Session 5: Long Civil Rights History in Appalachia
10:30-12: Session 6: Post-WWII social transformations in Appalachia

This event is sponsored by the West Virginia Humanities Council and the WVU Eberly College of Arts & Sciences, with special thanks to the WVU Department of History, the East Tennessee State University College of Arts and Sciences and the East Tennessee State University Department of History.

For more information, contact Ken Fones-Wolf, professor of History, at (304) 293–2421 or Kenneth.Fones-Wolf@mail.wvu.edu.

-WVU-

cs/04/25/2012

CONTACT: Rebecca Herod, Marketing and Communications Coordinator
304-293-7405, ext. 5251, Rebecca.Herod@mail.wvu.edu

Follow @WVUToday on Twitter.