Faculty and Staff

Mr. Tim Thornton, AASIS Coordinator

Office: Cook Hall 225

Phone: 540-831-6153

Email: twthornto@radford.edu

Tim Thornton teaches Appalachian Studies and coordinates Appalachian Arts and Studies in the Schools, an RU mentoring program that works with six Southwest Virginia high schools. Director of Montgomery JAM, an affiliate of Junior Appalachian Musicians, a nonprofit working to preserve traditional Appalachian music and dance, he’s also a member of the string band Eight Point Star. He holds a graduate certificate in Appalachian Studies from Radford University, a master of arts in liberal studies from Hollins University and a bachelor of arts in English and history, with a concentration in journalism/communications from Averett University. Before he began teaching, Thornton had a long career in journalism, winning national awards for column writing and environmental reporting, the Phillip D. Reed Memorial Award for Outstanding Writing on the Southern Environment for his reporting on mountaintop removal coal mining in Southwest Virginia, and more than a score of state press association awards including the Virginia Press Association’s D. Lathan Mims Award for “editorial leadership and service to the community.” His non-journalistic writing has been published in Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel and the collections Reflections on the New River and Writers by the River: Reflections on 40+ Years of the Highland Summer Conference.

Ms. April Asbury

Office: Hemphill Hall 4112

Email: aasbury@radford.edu

April J. Asbury teaches writing and literature at Radford University. She earned her M.F.A. from Spalding University and M.A. from Hollins. Her poetry and short stories appear in Artemis Journal, Still: The Journal, Gyroscope Review, Pine Mountain Sand & Gravel, The Anthology of Appalachian Writers, and other publications. Her poetry collection, Woman with Crows, is available on apriljasbury.com.