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September 2011

  • 9/27/2011: Appalachian Knowledge Economy Listen Now
  • 9/20/2011: Appalachian Knowledge Economy Listen Now
  • 9/13/2011: Appalachian Knowledge Economy Listen Now
  • 9/6/2011: Knowledge centers, The New Zealand Project & knowledge economy institutes Listen Now

August 2011

Todd Christensen

Todd Christensen leads Southwest Virginia’s Heartwood project, which includes three objectives: attract high-tech business development and high-end entrepreneurs through good quality of life, promote Southwest Virginia as a place to live, and attract visitors. Opened in 2011 along I-81 in Abingdon, the Heartwood center is a physical gateway to the region and its website offers an online gateway. Heartwood has branded a 19-county region as a unified destination that's synonymous with music, traditional arts and a unique cultural heritage. "The things we're really focused on are quality of life, sense of place, community development," Christensen said. "Every town in Southwest Virginia is or will be going through a revitalization process to become a cultural center as opposed to a goods and services center. While citizens begin to grasp the cultural changes inevitable with wholesale economic transformation, the region can continue to build upon its cultural heritage and history.” View Guest page

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Ed Davis

Dr. Ed Davis has coauthored two books. The first book is The Virginia Creeper Trail Companion and the second book is An Oral History of Konnarock, Virginia. He speaks Spanish. He has traveled to several countries on field research, and supports sustainability projects in Virginia. His research interests include the origin and diffusion of collard greens as a cultural tradition in the U.S. South. Dr. Ed Davis was appointed by the Governor to the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for Virginias Natural Resources from 2007 to 2013. He also serves as the Treasurer for the Upper Tennessee River Roundtable, which works to restore the Clinch, the Powell, and the Holston Rivers. Dr. Ed Davis joined the faculty at Emory and Henry College in 1991, where he teaches geography and environmental studies. He and his students map environmental change. In 2009, Dr. Ed Davis won the Appalachian Center for Community Service Hope Award for community service engagement. View Guest page

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Michael D. Fallacaro

Led by Chairman Dr. Michael D. Fallacaro, Virginia Commonwealth University Department of Nurse Anesthesia has ranked as the No. 1 graduate nurse anesthesia program in the nation by U.S. News and World Report each year since 2003. In 2004, the Department began a program with the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon to increase the preparation and number of certified registered nurse anesthetists working in Appalachian communities, by using two way synchronous videoconferencing, desktop sharing, satellite downlinks, web based lessons, webcasting, online archiving, face to face instruction, a human patient simulator laboratory, and rural clinical sites. Every student from the first three graduating classes was recruited from a rural area, educated in that same area, passed the national certification examination, and accepted employment in rural Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, or North Carolina. In 2009, VCU replicated the Abingdon model with Carilion Clinic in Roanoke. View Guest page

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Nancy Garretson

Nancy Garretson helped to launch the Abingdon Arts Depot over 20 years ago and continues her studio there today. She became a professional artist/weaver in 1972 when she moved to Southwest Virginia after receiving her master's degree in crafts from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Her commissioned works include many public buildings. Signature Artist for the 2003 Virginia Highlands Festival, she has shown her pieces in numerous Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee galleries and museums. She explains, “Tapestry cloth can be folded, draped, stuffed, or sewn to become three dimensional, and textures that rise up off the surface can be woven in. All of this versatility and potential in a medium allows for expressive possibilities that I have only begun to explore. I find great satisfaction not only in learning and mastering traditional tapestry techniques but in improvising and even inventing techniques. I want to push the medium beyond its traditional form.” View Guest page

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Jack Goins

In his writings, Melungeon researcher Jack Goins has explained that because there were so many theories and ideas about the history of the Melungeons, he decided to try and find out the answers. He sought answers first, straight from the source. He discussed family history with the descendants of people whose parents or great grandparents or ancestors were considered Melungeon. He met with people who lived, or formerly lived in Kyles Ford, Blackwater, Newman Ridge, and Sneedville areas along the Virginia and Tennessee border. His has published two books. His research projects include multiple DNA projects and the Hawkins County archive project. His website explains that tracking down these old pioneer families from the Clinch to their migration starting points and walking on the land where they walked has been a fantastic journey. So come with Jack to the creeks, rivers, courthouses, towns and farms, and learn about the Melungeons, Newman Ridge and the Clinch River Valley. View Guest page

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Terry Lewis

Terry Lewis has been a dulcimer player for over 25 years and past President of the North Georgia Foothills Dulcimer Association. Upon moving to southwest Virginia, Terry and his wife Pam became two of the four Rose Hill Dulcimer Club founding members. The club launched in 2005 and soon became the Wilderness Road Dulcimer Club. Under the leadership of Terry and Pam Lewis, the club has grown and performed at many regional events, such as the Cumberland Mountain Fall Festival. Activities have expanded to include an annual Cumberland Gap Dulcimer Gathering in the Wilderness Road Campground in Gibson Station, Virginia, in the Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. The 5th annual gathering was held in 2011. Over 100 dulcimer players attend the event, mostly arriving in RVs. Some stay for one weekend and many stay for two weeks. Free workshops are offered throughout the event. Evenings are filled with concerts at the campground amphitheatre and late night campfire jam sessions. View Guest page

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Eugene McClellan

Eugene McClellan serves on the Southwest Virginia Recreational Authority’s Executive Board. He represents Scott County. The Virginia General Assembly passed legislation in 2008 to form the Southwest Virginia Recreational Authority for developing a multiuse public trail system to stretch across the seven county coalfields region. The initiative is called the Spearhead Trails system. Eugene McClellan also serves on the board of directors of the Scott County Regional Horse Association. The Scott County Regional Horse Association is a nonprofit organization promoting and encouraging the horse industry in Scott County and the surrounding region. The association offers community activities and educational youth programs. The Association was established in 2004 and has developed the popular Scott County Horse Park facility for horse shows and similar events. Eugene McClellan is a resident of Gate City, Virginia. View Guest page

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David Mefford

A Morristown, Tennessee native, Dr. David Mefford has 40 years of experience in Axiology, the science of value. He completed his Ph.D. degree at the University of Tennessee, where he began his career as a student assistant to Professor Robert S. Hartman, whose discovery of a logic-based frame of reference for qualities led to the science of value and the Hartman Value Profile. Dr. David Mefford has helped create a series of values-based personality instruments known as Values Usage Exercises and the Personal Talent Skills Inventory, a parallel form of the Hartman Value Profile used for selection and coaching in 50 countries of the world. He is co-founder of the Robert S. Hartman Institute for Formal and Applied Axiology at UT and co-chairman of AXCES-Solutions, providing axiological science applications for selection, coaching, and development, ranging from targeted sports profiles to specific business profiles, such as ethics. He is married to Vera Mefford. View Guest page

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Vera Mefford

Vera Mefford earned a Masters Degree from Schiller University in Heidelberg, Germany. She has served as a business consultant for over 25 years and has developed and marketed axiological products and services for human resources, advertising and corporate development. Clients have included Chase Manhattan, Oak Ridge National Lab, ALCOA Aluminum, State Farm, and Cellular One. She has trained business affiliates in advanced Axiology, conducted teleconferences for coaching networks, and developed values based assessments for sports, fitness, business, finance, sales, leadership and hospitality. Vera Mefford is a board member of the Robert S. Hartman Institute for Formal and Applied Axiology at the University of Tennessee. She is co-chairman of AXCES-Solutions, providing axiological science applications for selection, coaching, and development, ranging from targeted sports profiles, such as golf, to specific business profiles, such as sales. She is married to Dr. David Mefford. View Guest page

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Barbara Polly

Barbara Polly’s contribution to the Trail of the Lonesome Pine Outdoor Drama began during its first season in 1964, when she performed the role as leading actress. She has provided continual leadership, serving in various roles and positions over the years, including Artistic Director, General Manager, and Producer. The Trail of the Lonesome Pine is the longest continually running outdoor drama in the Commonwealth of Virginia. In 1994, it became the official Outdoor Drama of Virginia. This timeless drama offers exciting entertainment and an accurate accounting of the story made famous by author John Fox, Jr. Published in 1908, The Trail of the Lonesome Pine became a top ten best-selling novel. The drama depicts the effect that the discovery of coal in the Appalachian Mountains had on the people of this beautiful mountain region. Barbara Polly explains, “The outside world crashed in upon their secure simple lives in a dramatic way that changed them forever.” View Guest page

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Shaam Rodrigo

Shaam Rodrigo is an award-winning designer with over 15 years experience as an art and creative design director for numerous Fortune 500 companies. Shaam’s passion is esoteric research dating back to the cradle of civilization. Shaam is highly recognized as the founder of the New Zealand Project and as a global leader in the creation of sustainable city sized mega structures. Shaam identifies his sustainable community goals as a fit to the World Bank’s Institutional Regime that is required for a country to establish a knowledge economy. Shaam was a long time supporter and member of the Planetary Society and is currently a proponent of a sustainable world and a type one civilization progression. View Guest page

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Robert Short

Robert Short is a modern day scroll raider. Through his research, Robert has discovered a technology that was utilized thousands of years ago and could play a significant role in today’s knowledge economy and civilization progression. His research involves asymptotic analysis, hyper-dimensional tesseract, mathematical phenomenology, non-paradoxical continuum, quantum strings, incompleteness theory, and value theory assessment. Could his proposed Axiological system revision accommodate content dissemination for rapid deployment of Web 3.0 and Web 4.0 innovations? Could Robert’s innovation enable the rapid deployment of executive and administrative systems for good governance, education, healthcare, judicial, transportation, and free market commerce? View Guest page

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Lindy Turner

Lindy Turner is the Coordinator for Clinch Powell Resource Conservation and Development Council in Tennessee. She is an accomplished sustainable development sparkplug. River Place on the Clinch is a delightful Authentic Appalachian versatile vacation destination. Offering a market, a cafe, a cottage, rental cabins, camping, canoes, funyaks, rafts, tubing, and fishing, River Place on the Clinch focuses on preservation, restoration, and environmental protection in the remote community of Kyles Ford, Tennessee. In addition, The Clinch River Conservation Center and Retreat offers group accommodations and is located in a spacious, beautifully restored Kyles Ford home. The Appalachian Quilt Trail has grown to include over half of Tennessee and has even stretched up into Virginia now. Other council achievements include 3000 students engaged in service learning, 1200 sixth grade students participating in Conservation Camp, and the construction of several affordable homes. View Guest page

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Knowledge centers, The New Zealand Project & knowledge economy institutes

September 6, 2011
Hosted by Joan Minor

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Today, we will explore how successful Appalachian economic development models play an essential role in the creation of knowledge centers as part of the global transition to the knowledge economy. We will learn how Appalachia again leads the way of the modern day frontiersman in forging this new brave world with advancements in engineering, science, and medicine. Our guest today is Shaam Rodrigo who will discuss how his New Zealand Project can function as community sized hubs that have floors dedicated to computer and communication systems, research and academic areas, medical and science labs, and agricultural production models. In collaboration with Appalachian Innovator Robert Short and the Innovative System, they have prepared the New Zealand Project to become potential models serving as knowledge capitals for participating countries of the knowledge economy.

Appalachian Knowledge Economy

Tuesday at 6 AM Pacific Time on VoiceAmerica Business Channel

The Appalachian Knowledge Economy introduces successful models for furthering civic engagement, rural broadband deployment, and sustainable community development. The dialogue also explores national and global policies regarding rural broadband deployment and the emerging knowledge economy. Topics include the progression of civilization advancement through the intersection of the knowledge economy, national IT policies, World Bank policy, value theory, and an innovative system. Could rural Appalachians be leading the way?! Guests include sustainable community development and knowledge economy leaders, key axiology and value theory experts, prominent university catalysts, rural broadband deployment sparkplugs, and government representatives who have all helped define the path and walk it. Tune in to The Appalachian Knowledge Economy, broadcasting live every Tuesday at 6 AM Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Business Channel.

Joan Minor

Following the groundbreaking efforts of former U.S. congressman, Rick Boucher, and Virginia’s “Fighting Ninth” leaders, Joan Minor launched her rural Internet-based microenterprise over a decade ago. Today, she considers herself to be a part of the growing “green-collar” workforce of the emerging knowledge economy. Using fiber-to-the-home, she is a work-at-home professional, living in a small Appalachian mountain village. Joan works primarily as a grant writer. She also coordinates projects with small teams of fellow work-from-home service providers. Joan has secured many federal grants to obtain broadband Internet services for her fellow rural Appalachians. She has written grants to establish and expand higher education institutions in isolated coalfield towns. She has secured grants to facilitate distance learning and to “grow your own” health care professionals in rural areas which face dire shortages. Connecting local heritage and ecology with global communications, she has written grants to create community knowledge centers and implement other sustainable community models. Joan is a member of the Dr. Robert S. Hartman Institute of Formal and Applied Axiology. She shares the vision that the emerging knowledge economy offers a means of prosperity for rural communities and a pathway of progress toward a sustainable globe. Her role in rural broadband deployment has been featured by Science Progress Magazine, Co-operative Living Magazine, and The Washington Post.

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