约翰B. 阿巴拉契亚的斯蒂芬森中心 and Comparative Highland Studies

美高梅博彩大学 has always had a deep connection to its location, from its beginnings as a school established for local children to its current position as a leader in place-based experiential learning. 本着这种精神，约翰. 阿巴拉契亚的斯蒂芬森中心 and Comparative Highland Studies is committed to promoting understanding and appreciation of the Southern Appalachian region through education, 外展, 奖学金, 艺术活动. 

For far too long, the cultural contributions of Appalachia have been undervalued and ignored. While they are often dismissed and stereotyped by those outside of the region, Appalachians have created and continue to produce diverse and complex forms of 音乐, 跳舞, 民间传说, 食物, 文学, 和艺术. The 斯蒂芬森中心 celebrates these achievements while correcting misconceptions about the region and its people. 

The 斯蒂芬森中心 engages the college and local community with a variety of events that explore Appalachian history, 文化, 生态, 工艺, 艺术, 写作, 音乐, 和更多的. The crowning event each year is 阿巴拉契亚遗产周, a five-day celebration of the people and traditions endemic to the Southern Appalachian region that takes place in April. Take a look below at the events held this year.

 4月15日星期一 

阿巴拉契亚工匠
华丽的公园
10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Demonstration, display, and sale of local fiber 艺术s, ceramics, and woodwork. Featuring 艺术ists Jess Bellemer, Michele Dearmin, Angela Wheeler, PJ Boyajian, and Lacy Snapp. 

 4月16日星期二 

传统的阿巴拉契亚晚餐
峰会餐厅
5 p.m.–7 p.m.

Enjoy a delicious all-you-care-to-eat buffet of traditional Appalachian dishes for $12 per person. 

An Appalachian Writer's Heritage: Keynote Lecture and Poetry Reading by Jane Hicks
米勒共享
7–8:30 p.m.

Hicks is a teacher, poet, and fiber 艺术ist. Winner of the Appalachian Writers Association 2006 Book of the Year Award in Poetry, she is the author of Blood and Bone Remember: Poems from Appalachia, 与死者同行:诗歌, 以及《美高梅博彩》. Signed books will be available for purchase at the event. 

 4月17日星期三 

Heirloom Seed Planting and Pot Painting
峰会餐厅外
10:30 a.m.–1 p.m.

Appalachian Movie Night and Discussion
埃文斯礼堂
6–9 p.m.

以冷山为背景, 北卡罗莱纳, the film follows a wounded American Civil War soldier after he deserts his post and decides to embark on a journey back to his 首页 and his true love. Stick around after the film for a discussion with Associate Professor and Program Coordinator of 历史 Scott Huffard.

 4月18日星期四 

Weaving an Ecology of Food and Medicine with Wild Plants of the Southern Appalachians
埃文斯礼堂
1–2 p.m.

A presentation by Liz Rose of Appalachian State University

校园自然径
从岩屋出发
4–6 p.m.

Wildlife Biology faculty Shinjini Goswami and Alex Glass will take guests on a guided tour along Hemlock Trail to identify the many plant species that make up the 生态 of Southern Appalachia. 

 4月19日星期五 

Appalachian Old Time and Bluegrass Music
泰特的草坪
10 a.m.–2 p.m.

Featuring performances from 约翰Bills and the 学者 and the college's own Susie Hepler. Food trucks: Rocky Top Fried Pies, He Provides 首页stead Cookie C艺术, and Old Roan Kettle Corn. 

约翰B. 斯蒂芬森 began his academic teaching career at 美高梅博彩大学 in 1961. In the small town of Banner Elk he honed his teaching skills and found the two great loves of his life, 简·艾伦·鲍康, 谁成为了他的妻子, 还有群山, 这成了他的生活. 他在一封信中写道:

"I love the mountains and their people. I have felt a completeness, a sense of fulfillment here that I haven't known in other places. . . . There is a sense of doing something that needs doing. It needs doing worse here than in the flatlands. And it needs to be done by people who want to change things without changing them, 如果你明白我的意思. P艺术 of a way of life needs to be preserved and not sacrificed on the altar of progress."

John left the college in 1964 to pursue his doctoral degree at UNC Chapel Hill. Then with his PhD in medical sociology in hand, John moved to Kentucky in 1966 to work at the University of Kentucky. He spent the rest of his too-short life in the Bluegrass State, 源于学者教师, 阿巴拉契亚中心主任, 迪安, and eventually president of Berea College.

Scholar, teacher, humanist, administrator and caretaker of Southern Appalachia, 约翰B. 斯蒂芬森 left an enduring legacy of devoted stewardship of the mountains. 

凯瑟琳·普里查德·柴尔德里斯，马萨诸塞州
Director of the 阿巴拉契亚的斯蒂芬森中心

Shinjini Goswami博士
Assistant Director of the 阿巴拉契亚的斯蒂芬森中心