Dr. Tim Barry, President of Alderson Broaddus University and President of the Chamber of Commerce, left, presented Associate Professor of English Kayla McKinney recently with the Barbour Chamber of Commerce engraved crystal apple award recently in a private ceremony at the university.
Normally given during the chamber’s annual banquet which was cancelled this year, the award was delivered following the start of on-campus classes for the fall semester. The Faculty Member of the Year is nominated and elected by the Alderson Broaddus student body.
McKinney is a graduate of Bethany College and earned her Master of Arts and Ph. D. degrees from West Virginia University. She has had seven years of prior teaching experience before joining Alderson Broaddus in 2015. She received several fellowships and grants at WVU.
McKinney was the Assistant Editor of Victorian Poetry at West Virginia University, Assistant Coordinator of a Science Department faculty project there, and served as a Program Assistant in the WVU English Department. At Alderson Broaddus she is Co-Adviser of the Gay-Straight Alliance and Faculty Adviser to the Freshman Composition Women’s Aid in Crisis fund-raising project. She was a faculty representative to the university’s Board of Trustees for two years, and was a members of the Honors Advisory Committee and the Title IX Review Committee.
McKinney said, “I am so honored that our students would consider me for this prestigious award.” University President Barry stated, “we are honored to have Kayla on our faculty. She and her husband are doing a wonderful job assisting our students’ academic achievement.”