Podcast with Thenmozhi Soundararajan

Thenmozhi Soundararajan discusses her passion for storytelling and how her lived experiences as an Untouchable in India shaped her work. She also digs into why storytelling can be such a powerful driver of change.

Thenmozhi Soundararajan is a singer and Transmedia artist who, in 2003, was featured in Utne Reader as One of the Top Visionaries Under 30, and the same year was profiled in The Source as One of the Top Ten Political Forces in Hip Hop. Growing up as an Indian Untouchable, she was driven to tell the stories of marginalized communities, which led her to found the international media training organization, Third World Majority. She is currently directing her documentary, Touchable: The Journey from Untouchable to Dalit and its related Album Broken People.

Presented in partnership with the Virginia Tech Department of English, IPG, CAUS, Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, Department of Religion and Culture, Center for the Arts, SPIA, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Podcast with Pam McMichael

In this episode, Pam McMichael discusses the mission of the Highlander Research and Education Center and how it serves as a space to grow grassroots organizing. She discusses her experience with the center and explains their model for helping local communities through participatory research and popular education.

Pam McMichael is the Director of the Highlander Research and Education Center. She first became associated with Highlander as a long-time activist and organizer in Louisville, Kentucky. For decades now, Pam's organizing and cultural work have focused on connecting people and issues across difficult divides, with a particular focus on helping build a strong, racially just movement. She has co-founded local, state, and regional organizations with this core strategy, including Southerners on New Ground, where she served as co-director for eight years. She was a national fellow with a Rockefeller Foundation leadership project to address the growing crisis in U.S. democracy, and her extensive nonprofit management experience includes social change and social service organizations.

Presented in partnership with the Virginia Tech Department of English, IPG, CAUS, Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, Department of Religion and Culture, Center for the Arts, SPIA, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Presentation By Tal Stanley

In this episode, Dr. Tal Stanley discusses the concept of new citizenship through the presence of story and how to improve our own sense of community and public life. He reflects on his personal experiences and shares lessons he has learned through his time in practice.

Tal Stanley is a tenth-generation Southwest Virginian. He currently works at Emory & Henry College where he is the Director of the Appalachian Center for Community Service, Chair of the College Department of Public Policy and Community Service, and Director of the Bonner Scholars Program. He teaches a range of courses on public policy and community service.

Presented in partnership with the Virginia Tech Department of English, IPG, CAUS, Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, Department of Religion and Culture, Center for the Arts, SPIA, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Community Voices Presentation from Tal Stanley

Presentation from John Dreyzehner, MD, MPH

In this episode, Dr. John Dreyzehner discusses the present healthcare model and the need to spend more time on prevention instead of care. He helps the audience navigate the distinction between providing healthcare and supporting health.

Dr. John Dreyzehner is the commissioner of the Tennesee Department of Health. He is a physician, residency trained in occupational medicine, and board certified in 1999. Licensed to practice in Tennessee and Virginia, Dreyzehner is a Fellow of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. He comes to the state Department of Health after serving as director of Virginia's Cumberland Plateau Health District for more than nine years. He currently chairs the advisory committee for the Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine's Master of Public Health Degree Program.

Presented in partnership with the Virginia Tech Department of English, IPG, CAUS, Office of the Senior Vice President and Provost, Department of Religion and Culture, Center for the Arts, SPIA, and Virginia Cooperative Extension.

Presentation By Woody Crenshaw

In this episode, Woody Crenshaw speaks on sustainability and development efforts in Floyd County and on the Blue Ridge Plateau, particularly in agriculture and farming. He shares stories and living cases from a growing expression of local innovation and entrepreneurship for sustainable development.

Woody Crenshaw and his wife Jackie are craftspeople and designers who have served as advocates for a creative economy in Southwest Virginia and Floyd County. They are the owners of the Floyd Country Store, home of the famous Friday Night Jamboree and a vital community hub for commerce, education, and community development.

Presented in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia State University, Sustain Floyd, IPG, ASPECT, The New River Valley Community Foundation, Department of Religion and Culture, Outreach and International Affairs, SPIA, CSECP.

Presentation By Bob Summers

In this episode, Bob Summers discusses entrepreneurship through the concept of open source village and how we can take entrepreneurs from an idea to growing a company through a complex fabric of methods, ideas, and concepts. He analyzes how to use open collaboration locally, nationally, and globally and how to catalyze this process to share with others.

Bob Summers is an entrepreneur and founder of TechPad, a coworking space for software companies that helped 60+ startup companies, along with his team of 30-plus young entrepreneurs in the Blacksburg/Roanoke region. As a self-described "Entrepreneurial Evangelist," Mr. Summers serves on the boards of the Roanoke-Blacksburg Technology Council (RBTC) and the Virginia Tech Entrepreneur Club at Pamplin College. He has also built scalable software products, which have reached more than 3.5 million customers in 196 countries. Mr. Summers is a proud Hokie who graduated from Virginia Tech in 1998.

Presented in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension, Sustain Floyd, ASPECT, CSECP, The Floyd Country Store, The Community Foundation of The New River Valley, Outreach and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, Department of Religion and Culture at Virginia Tech, and VSU.

Presentation By Avila Kilmurray

In this episode, Avila Kilmurray discusses peacebuilding through partnerships drawn from her experiences with the Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. She also discloses her own broader experience of working in a sharply contested society during periods of open violence coupled with the search for how we can live among ourselves.

Avila Kilmurray serves as Peacebuilder & Director of The Community Foundation for Northern Ireland. She has had a distinguished international career in areas related to social justice work, global peacemaking, and the Northern Ireland peace process. Avila was active in establishing the Northern Ireland Women's Coalition. She was a member o the Coalition's negotiating team for the historic Belfast Agreement. She currently sits on the board of the Global Fund for Community Foundations, which supports community building throughout the developing world.

Presented in partnership with Virginia Tech Division of Student Affairs, Malcolm and Diane Rosenberg Program for Judaic Studies, Institute for Policy and Governance, Jewish Student Union, Center for Student Engagement and Community Partnerships, Center for Peace Studies and Violence Prevention, Outreach and International Affairs, and VT Hillel.

Podcast Interview with Craig Ramey

In this episode, Dr. Craig Ramey discusses how our conception of education needs to change to meet the needs of today's rapidly changing economy and world. He analyzes investing in early childhood education, the military's interest in early childhood, and advice for early educators and parents.

Craig T. Ramey is a distinguished research scholar of human development at the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, professor of psychology at Virginia Tech, and professor of pediatrics at the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine. He specializes in the study of factors affecting children's health and the development of intelligence, social competence, and academic achievement.

Interviewers: Lyusyena Kirakosyan, Ph.D. student; Kristi Snyder, Owner & Director of Rainbow Riders Childcare Center

Presented in partnership with Wells Fargo, New River Valley Smart Beginnings, VTIPG, NRVAEYC, VT SPIA, Appalachian Power, The Floyd Country Store, VT Grad School, CSECP, and The Community Foundation of The New River Valley.

Presentation by Brian Wheeler

In this episode, Brian Wheeler speaks about Charlottesville Tomorrow, and how it has contributed to a new age of journalism. He created the partnership with the Charlottesville Daily Progress, allowing for the integration of digital web and print journalism to serve the purpose of advancing community education and engagement.

Brian Wheeler has been the Executive Director of Charlottesville Tomorrow since 2005, a community news platform covering growing, development, and local politics. He has lived in the Charlottesville-Albamarle region since 1984 having graduated from the University of Virginia and serving as an elected member of the Albemarle County School Board.

Presented in partnership with Virginia Cooperative Extension, Virginia State University, Sustain Floyd, IPG, ASPECT, The New River Valley Community Foundation, Department of Religion and Culture, Outreach and International Affairs, SPIA, and CSECP.