Alice Lloyd College’s Humanities Division houses the academic disciplines of English, Art, Drama, Speech, and Music and offers additional coursework in Philosophy, Religion, and Spanish. By serving as the foundation for ALC’s Liberal Arts education, the Humanities promotes the theoretical investigation of the human condition by fostering critical thinking, personal expression, and academic inquiry in its students through the acts of writing, reading, performance, and research. Because of their philosophical orientation, Humanities courses most often analyze aesthetic traditions and cultural values within a socio-historical context by a faculty dedicated to providing a student-centered education in the classroom.
Besides regular coursework, the Humanities Division also provides many extra-curricular opportunities on ALC’s campus. Students may compete in the Billie and Curtis Owens Writing Contest and the James V. Mongiardo Speech Competition, sing as members of The Voices of Appalachia choir, act in campus-sponsored plays, or learn the craft of spinning clay for pottery. Such opportunities allow students to explore a variety of disciplines in the humanities, which add to their understanding of themselves, their culture, and their place in the world.
Majors / Minors Offered
Bachelor of Arts in English
Bachelor of Arts in English Education 8-12
Minor in English
Meet Our Faculty
Mrs. Charlene Bentley
Charlene Bentley, a native of Pippa Passes, is Assistant Professor of Psychology and English, as well as the College’s Retention Counselor. She received her A.A. from Alice Lloyd College, B.A. from the University of Kentucky, M.A. from Morehead State University, and has since done additional graduate work at Morehead. Since joining the ALC faculty in 1987, she has taught courses in freshman composition, public speaking, American literature, linguistics, and introductory psychology as well as adolescent and abnormal psychology. Her hobbies include knitting, crocheting, sewing, reading, and hiking. She is a juried artisan in textiles at the Appalachian Artisan Center and the Marie Stewart Craft Shop in Hindman and in recent years has enjoyed sharing the needle arts with the ALC community by teaching free classes in knitting and crochet.
Ms. Megan Burnett
Megan Burnett is Assistant Professor of Speech and Theatre at Alice Lloyd College. She has extensive vocal training from Shakespeare & Co., Dru Pilmer, and years as a teacher of acting and voice. Megan received her MFA in Theatre at the University of Louisville in 1991. She has been acting, teaching, directing and producing theatre since her high-school days in Oklahoma.
At Alice Lloyd College, Megan has directed The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, Antigone, Through the Looking Glass & What Alice Found There, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Smoke on the Mountain, Much Ado About Nothing, Waiting for Lefty, Museum and Liza and the Riddlin’ Cave. She created and directs The ALC Alfred and Shirley Wampler Caudill Players, a theatre touring troupe which performs for area schools, community centers and nursing homes. In the community Megan is a board member for Jenny Wiley Theatre and serves as an Advisory Council member to the Cumberland Mountain Arts & Craft Council for the Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come production.
Megan serves as vocal coach for professional theatre companies in Kentucky. She has done this work for The Tempest and Macbeth, both presented at the Josephine Sculpture Park in Frankfort, KY. Megan co-founded StageLab, a school for ongoing training for theatre artists with Kathi E. B. Ellis, Lee Look, and Dru Pilmer.
Megan also continues to act professionally. She performed the role of Amanda in 2010’s critically acclaimed Shoe String production of The Glass Menagerie and co-directed plays with Sue Lawless for the Juneteenth Jamboree of New African-American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville. Ms. Burnett has a one-woman touring production, Shame the Devil! An Audience with Fanny Kemble, which will be seen this summer (2012) at Locust Grove as part of the Jane Austen Society of North America conference. She has performed this production twice at ALC as part of the Convocation series. Megan is also a speaker with the Kentucky Humanities Council Speaker’s Bureau.
Dr. Claude “Lafie” Crum
Claude “Lafie” Crum, in addition to being ALC’s Vice President for Academic Affairs / Academic Dean, serves as an adjunct member of the English Department.
He has published fiction in Appalachian Heritage, The Chaffin Journal, Appalachian Journal, and Modern Mountain Magazine. He’s also published three books, a critical study of Kentucky writer James Still entitled River of Words: James Still’s Literary Legacy (2007, Wind Publications), a writing textbook entitled With Pen in Hand: Becoming a Better Writer (2005, Parkway Publications), and a novel titled Only Son (2008, Livingston Press). Only Son has received positive reviews in the Alabama Writer’s Forum and in Foreword magazine.
Dr. Crum teaches various courses in the English Department: freshman composition, literary criticism, survey of American literature I and II, nineteenth century American literature, creative writing, and advanced composition.
In his free time, he enjoys fishing and playing his banjo.
Dr. Rodger Cunningham
Rodger Cunningham, a native of Kenova, WV, is a graduate of Marshall University (BA, English) and Indiana University (PhD, Comparative Literature). His book Apples on the Flood: Minority Discourse and Appalachia won the prestigious Weatherford Award for the best nonfiction book on Appalachia for 1987. He is also the author of twenty-five published essays in the field and is on the editorial board of the Journal of Appalachian Studies. He has taught at ALC since 2001. He has a wife, Deborah, who also teaches English, and a daughter, Jessica, a self-employed writer. His interests include reading and walking.
Dr. Cindy Salmons
Dr. Cindy Salmons is an instructor of English and co-chair of the English Department. She joined the faculty at ALC in 2008. Her areas of study are 20th Century American Literature, Women’s Literature and Gender Studies, and Appalachian Literature. Her doctoral dissertation, ‘Strength To Do What We Can’: Sacrifice and Empowerment in Appalachian Women’s Literature, combines these interests, and was completed at the University of Kentucky in Spring 2012. Dr. Salmons also teaches Freshman Composition I and Developmental English. She earned a Master’s Degree from Marshall University in 2000, and is a member of the ALC class of 1998.
Ms. Keri Stevenson
Keri Stevenson took her B.A. in English from Transylvania University in 2001 and her M.A. in English from the University of Kentucky in 2003. She is currently at work on her doctoral dissertation for her Ph.D. Her research interests include Victorian poetry, feminist theory, and George Eliot’s novels. She has taught freshman composition, the English Literature survey, and upper-level classes in British literature, literary criticism, and science fiction and fantasy.
Mr. Michael Ware
Michael Ware was born and raised in Sunbury, Pennsylvania, and attended school in nearby Lancaster. He received his Bachelor of Science in Art Education from Millersville State University, and then moved to Kentucky to attend Morehead State University. After receiving his Masters in Studio Arts in 1974, he accepted a teaching position at the Hindman Settlement School. In addition, Michael taught art to levels K-12 in both Knott and Letcher counties from 1975-1991. After a year off from public school teaching, he joined the faculty at Alice Lloyd College in 1992, where he now teaches art for the school’s education majors, as well as classes in the humanities. Michael has been instrumental in implementing Alice Lloyd College’s Quality Enhancement Program (QEP) and currently serves as Chair of the Humanities Division. He is also on the Advisory Board of the Appalachian Artisan Center and is very involved in the workshops and planning for Center.
Michael creates his pottery on a potter’s wheel from stoneware clays. He often decorates his forms with images such as dogwood flowers, influenced by the woods near his home. Michael’s pottery can regularly be found at the Appalachian Artisan Center, Marie Stewart Craft Shop, and Alice Lloyd College bookstore.
