While I am not an official employee of Fairmont State University, it is my esteemed honor to support and amplify accomplishments of the university's students, staff, faculty, alumni, and friends as well as to advance interests of the greater Fairmont community.

My work is primarily conducted in six areas: admissions recruiting, student programming, alumni engagement, teaching & mentoring, research & scholarship, and ePortfolio pedagogy. Admission recruitment activities include: hosting admissions Open Houses and CHOICES events for admitted students; planning signature experiences for prospective students including the Summer Honors Institute; and designing and implementing on-boarding activities for new students.Implementing innovative student programming initiatives involves cultivating strong relationships with campus partners. This is important for programming both in Hillcrest House and in Shenandoah Hall - the Honors Residential Learning Community - and for developing co-curricular opportunities for Honors students across campus. I support first-year students and Teaching Fellows through the first-year experience courses. I offer students guidance in the implementation and use of ePortfolios for the Honors ePortfolio Initiative, and I direct the Senior Portfolio Project capstone pathway. I am an advisor to multiple student groups, including Madison Honors Leadership Council, Honors Ambassadors, Shenandoah Peer Mentors, Honors Program Board, and GIVE Volunteers.I manage communication with Honors program and Honors College alumni, and coordinate the Hillcrest Club young alumni initiative and the Honors College Alumni Network affiliate chapter. I additionally teach Honors courses in the area of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies, as well as pursue my own research and scholarship interests in gender and poverty policy, ePortfolio pedagogy, debate across the curriculum pedagogy, and volunteer management.Courses Taught:Honors First Year SeminarFundamentals of Volunteer EngagementFirst Year Seminar Teaching Fellows SeminarPoor Mothers - Welfare, Love, Labor, and InequalityGender Issues in ScienceSenior Portfolio Project capstone course sequence

As Assistant Director for Chapter Programs, I worked with other members of the JMU Alumni Relations team and the JMU Alumni Association Board of Directors to promote and support James Madison University. My efforts fostered lifelong global engagement with alumni through the development and management of more than 50 regional chapters, regional ambassadors, and non-regional alumni networks. I worked with alumni volunteers to cultivate their alumni leadership skills, and to develop meaningful alumni programming.

Courses Taught:Human Sexuality Introduction to Women’s StudiesGender Issues in Science (Co-taught with Integrated Science and Technology faculty member and College of Health and Behavioral Studies faculty member)

As Coalition Coordinator, I led strategic programming efforts across seven cities and counties in the Shenandoah Valley Region region. Smart Beginnings Shenandoah Valley is one of 17 early childhood systems building initiatives across the state that are anchored by the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF). The Virginia Early Childhood Foundation was founded in 2005 as a public-private partnership for the state’s early childhood efforts and is the non-partisan steward and capacity-builder for advancing school readiness in the Commonwealth.Primary duties included facilitating collective impact in the realm of early childhood systems building; vibrant public speaking and media appearances; project management including program development and evaluation; fiscal management, fund development, and grant writing; public relations including event planning, content creation for various communications materials, and leadership of multiple public awareness activities. I led the development and deployment of strategic programs and community engagement to build the capacity of the early childhood system in the Shenandoah Vally, including fostering cross-sector collaboration, cultivating best practices and data-driven decision making, and maximizing communication between state, regional and local stakeholders so that every child is prepared for school, laying the foundation for workforce and life success.

Courses Taught:Introduction to Sociology Social Welfare Sociology of the Family

I worked on an NSF-funded collaborative project to create two inter-related databases on identity and representation in U.S. state legislatures [National Science Foundation (SES-0618368). "Collaborative Research: Representation and the Intersections of Gender, Race, and Ethnicity." Kathleen A. Bratton, Kerry L. Haynie, and Beth Reingold, Principal Investigators. ($106,993)] Working with other research assistants and the principal investigators, we identified the gender, racial, and ethnic identity of all individual state legislators in our sample of state-years. I worked to code the primary sponsors, committee referrals, final disposition, and issue content of all bills introduced during the regular session of each state-year lower chamber. This information enabled the principal investigators to measure intersecting gender and racial/ethnic identities of state legislators as they relate to the number of women’s interest bills – variously defined – introduced by each legislator as primary sponsor. The datasets enable researchers to critically evaluate the more reductive "identity politics" assumptions and expectations that often surround the politics and political science of descriptive representation and group interests. The culmination of this project was the publication of an Oxford University Press book in 2020: "Race, Gender, and Political Representation: Toward a More Intersectional Approach" by Beth Reingold, Kerry L. Haynie, and Kirsten Widner

Courses Taught: Introduction to Women’s StudiesSociology of Sex and Gender Women’s Activism in the U.S. Welfare Rights Movement

Worked to provide systematic review of measurements of infant and maternal health provided by ten northeast Georgia public health departments. Evaluated published evidence on interventions to reduce infant mortality in underserved populations. Administered the Babies Born Healthy program which provided free prenatal care to at-risk, low-income pregnant women. Worked on a variety of local and regional initiatives addressing the areas of perinatal health, provision of comprehensive care to underserved pregnant women, and assessment of women’s health status with a focus on reducing poor birth outcomes in economically disadvantaged communities.

I coordinated the administration of the Behavior and Risk for Teens survey (a localized version of the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) for both middle and high schools in a ten-county area in northeastern Georgia. I developed follow-up training and messaging for students and parents, and delivered in-person health education training programs. Topics included: tobacco, alcohol & substance use prevention, physical activity, general personal safety, nutrition, pregnancy prevention, mental health, and bullying.

I helped to coach the largest intercollegiate policy debate team in the country. I was recognized as the "Top Coach" by Towson University at the Novice National Debate Tournament, in 2000. In the same year, the University of Rochester also established the “Alysia Cockrell Women in Debate Award” for the student whose leadership most advances women’s achievement in intercollegiate debate. The award is still given today.

I worked as a consultant on a variety of projects which resulted in the following working papers:“Analysis of Current Tattooing and Body Piercing Regulations in Monroe County” with Eric Yu, Daniel Valcourt, and Sarah Fauth, for Monroe County Department of Health, Rochester, New York, 1999“Alcohol and Substance Use Prevention and Intervention in Rochester-Area Colleges and Universities” for Prevention Initiative, Monroe County Office of Mental Health, Rochester, New York, 1999“Environmental Policy Approaches to Alcohol and Substance Use” for Prevention Initiative, Monroe County Office of Mental Health, Rochester, New York, 1999