UT Conference Center, downtown Knoxville

Debbie McConnon

Deborah McConnon comes from a long line of Appalachian educators and has spent over three decades in the humanities classroom teaching a variety of history and religion courses. Throughout her career she has been invited to participate in both local history seminars and three National Endowment for the Humanities summer institutes. After encountering a lack of understanding for the power of place among her students, she developed and offered a history elective dedicated solely to a study of Appalachia as both a region and a culture. She is excited to offer this course to her local community and looks forward to advancing a better understanding of both the people and the place that is Appalachia.