I live in a small town in southern Appalachia with my wife Betsy and our son JD, and an ever-evolving menagerie of animals. We live on a small farm with sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, and honeybees, as well as three sweet dogs. This land has been in my family for generations, and we were fortunate enough to be able to buy this little slice of paradise just before JD was born. It's a farm with old fences and young fruit trees, and more love than most folks could imagine. 

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By training and profession, I'm an historian and college administrator. I serve as the Associate Vice President of Academic Affairs at a small liberal arts college, with a faculty appointment in Business and Organizational Leadership. My doctorate is in Higher Education Administration, and I have an MA in History. Over the years, I have taught courses in US and European history, Appalachian culture, and organizational leadership, and I currently teach research methodology to the students in my institution's graduate programs. 

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My research interests include Appalachian culture, economic history, transformational leadership, higher education access and student success, and assessment, and as you'll see in the essays on this site, I believe it is an obligation to use my expertise and experiences, both lived and learned, to advocate for a more just and equitable world. 

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This site is a new iteration of my old website, This Appalachia Life, reorganized in 2022 after I went three years without posting any new content on the old website. You might have already noticed that the domain for This Appalachia Life redirects here, and most of my more popular essays from the old site are now available here. Those that were not worth saving because they were no longer timely, relevant, or interesting, likely still exist somewhere in the ether, but are no longer available. Some of those that do not appear here can still be found in print in my book Writing Appalachia: One Year of Essays.

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I am often interested in collaborating on new projects, particularly those that involve social and economic justice in the Appalachian region. If you found this site because you were looking for my contact information and Googled my name, you can get in touch via the contact link above.