Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
The Coalfield Colleges: Just Transitions to a Sustainable Future
Session Abstract or Summary
The Coalfield Community and Technical Colleges—Southeast, Big Sandy, and Hazard Community and Technical Colleges—play a unique role in moving Appalachian Kentucky towards just transitions. All three colleges were founded in the sixties, and since then, we have served many students. Most years, fewer than 10% of our students transfer to four-year colleges, so for the majority of our students, community college IS their college experience. Furthermore, the colleges play an integral role in retraining workers displaced by the failing mining industry, and in training new workers to participate in a new, more global and sustainable economy.
These colleges are the first and often the last place where many of our students will routinely be introduced to new ideas and expected to explore them through civil discourse and academic study. We will play a pivotal role in shifting our economy away from a single extractive industry to a more sustainable and just economy. This panel will explore four innovative projects that are guiding students and communities to a brighter, more equitable future, and to the necessity of ongoing and expanding close regional collaboration between the Coalfield Colleges.
Presentation #1 Title
Climbing Walls, Dipping Water, Serving Communities
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Students and community members from all over Eastern Kentucky participated in The Big Dip Redux, a 9/11 National Day of Service Project on Saturday, Sept. 10. The event was part of a larger Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) Service Learning Initiative that seeks to use service learning to increase student success and build “soft skills” needed in the workforce. The Big Dip Redux was a collaborative project between Hazard and Southeast Community and Technical Colleges, Eastern Kentucky University, AmeriCorps, Pathfinders of Perry County, and Headwaters, Inc, of Letcher County. The original Big Dip took place in 20016-07, and tested 1,660 sites across Eastern Kentucky. The 2016 event involved 74 people and tested 79 sites. It was science by the people, for the people, giving students a chance to use the skills they learn in the classroom—writing, math, science—to think critically about a tangible issue in their community, one that affects everybody, and exposing them to ideas and career paths they might not have considered previously. Dr. Alice Jones of EKU uses the term “STEM Career Climbing Wall,” and organizers envision inspiring students from the region’s community and technical colleges to pursue science and engineering degrees at four-year schools by involving them in community-based science service-learning projects focused on local water quality.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Jenny Williams teaches English and Developmental Studies at Hazard Community and Technical College. She is Chair of Pathfinders of Perry County, a community action group that works to get communities and the people in them moving, healthy, and happy.
Presentation #2 Title
Reaching for Ever Higher Ground
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Robert Gipe and Alexia Ault: In 2002, students at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKCTC) led the community in a plan to use the arts to address the epidemic of drug abuse in the Appalachian coalfield county of Harlan. Those students’ work set off community-based art work that continues today. That work, coordinated by the SKCTC Appalachian Program, includes six original community musical dramas, which have explored contemporary issues like drug abuse, out migration, land use, community assets, the foggy future before us, and how we are going discuss these topics as a community. Other work includes a community photography project, five tile mosaic public art pieces integrating oral histories and examining the role of women, African American, and southern European immigrants in the community as well as mosaics celebrating local wildlife and the history of the Clover Fork community, the Crawdad student arts series, and Shew Buddy, a radio show and podcast that uses the Higher Ground model to tell stories about a specific topic. Each half hour episode includes monologues and dialogues from past plays, oral history interviews, poetry readings and music.
SKCTC provides infrastructure and opportunity for Higher Ground. The Project has given rise to thousands of opportunities for community members to create and in the process, talk about what they want for their region. Continuing to tell new stories is important, particularly in a place where so many feel the story is at its end. In continuing to create, we believe, we embody hope. We become the future.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Robert Gipe is a Professor and Director of the Appalachian Studies Program at Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College. He is the author of the widely-acclaimed novel Trampoline. Alexia Ault is the Higher Ground Co-Director and an AmeriCorps volunteer.
Presentation #3 Title
Tending Gardens, Tending Communities
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
Big Sandy Community and Technical College’s (BSCTC) Community Garden was established in 2012 by a small group of faculty and staff members of BSCTC. Volunteers, including students, faculty, staff, and community members, weed, plant, hoe and water the garden every season to supply produce to the Fishes and Loaves Food Pantry at St. James Episcopal Church. The Garden provides a rich service learning experience for students across the curriculum, giving them an opportunity to learn about the role of non-profit, faith-based and government organizations in alleviating food insecurity.
The garden was started in part by a grant from Grow Appalachia, a program of Berea College that seeks to solve pervasive food insecurity issues by restoring the relationship between the people and the land. Grow Appalachia provides seeds, plants, dirt and tools. Additionally, they provide organic fertilizer to use in the spring and lime to use in the fall.
During the growing season, the community garden produces beans, tomatoes, peppers, kale, spinach, squash, broccoli, peas, carrots, zucchini, onions, corn, kohlrabi, cucumbers, basil, spearmint, marjoram, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and sage. No pesticide or soil enhancers are used at the Community Garden. Last year, the garden produced 2,000 pounds of fresh produce.
In 2015, GSCTC built a greenhouse, thanks in part to a grant from Kitchen Gardeners International’s Sow It Forward Garden Grant Program. Carpentry Instructors Randal Haney and Adam McGinnis led students in building the greenhouse.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Tammy Ball is Coordinator of the Human Services Program at Big Sandy Community and Technical College. She is the Growing For Our Future Director at the St. Vincent Mission, a community of people in Appalachia dedicated to sharing the expression of Christian Values.
Presentation #4 Title
Leading Sustainable Energy: A Post Coal Vision
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College is dedicated to moving past coal and creating opportunities for sustainable energy jobs. In 2014, Matt Druen created a first-of-its-kind course in the Commonwealth called Astrobiology; an intensely integrative course in which students were challenged to understand and synthesize diverse concepts related to astrophysics, microbiology, cosmology, natural selection and evolution. Matt has also begun the installation of a wetland area on Cumberland campus to serve as a living lab for students and citizens alike. In addition, he has spearheaded a county-wide initiative to install a hydroelectric generator at the Portal 31 coal mine tour in Lynch, Kentucky. Matt is also the Lead Coordinator & Trainer for the Upper Cumberland River Watershed Watch in collaboration with Eastern Kentucky University, Hazard Community College, and Sommerset Community College. This project is dedicated to monitoring water quality in natural streams and rivers that are tributaries to the Cumberland River. Data from this effort are to be integrated into cross-curriculum exercises in order to better disseminate important information to communities and citizens. Finally, Dr. Druen is examining the potential for the creation of a biotechnology center in Southeast Kentucky based on the revolutionary discoveries related to the CRISPR-Cas9 tools for inexpensive & precise genetic editing. This venture is expected to create several high paying jobs, promote the region, and lead to novel ways to address various critical issues related to disease and the environment.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Dr. Matt Druen is Instructor of Biology at Southeast Community & Technical College. Matt earned his doctorate of environmental biology in 2010. Hired as full time faculty at Southeast in 2013, he has been extremely active both inside the classroom and serving the community.
Climbing Walls, Dipping Water, Serving Communities
Students and community members from all over Eastern Kentucky participated in The Big Dip Redux, a 9/11 National Day of Service Project on Saturday, Sept. 10. The event was part of a larger Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) Service Learning Initiative that seeks to use service learning to increase student success and build “soft skills” needed in the workforce. The Big Dip Redux was a collaborative project between Hazard and Southeast Community and Technical Colleges, Eastern Kentucky University, AmeriCorps, Pathfinders of Perry County, and Headwaters, Inc, of Letcher County. The original Big Dip took place in 20016-07, and tested 1,660 sites across Eastern Kentucky. The 2016 event involved 74 people and tested 79 sites. It was science by the people, for the people, giving students a chance to use the skills they learn in the classroom—writing, math, science—to think critically about a tangible issue in their community, one that affects everybody, and exposing them to ideas and career paths they might not have considered previously. Dr. Alice Jones of EKU uses the term “STEM Career Climbing Wall,” and organizers envision inspiring students from the region’s community and technical colleges to pursue science and engineering degrees at four-year schools by involving them in community-based science service-learning projects focused on local water quality.
