John Stephenson and the Colleges of Appalachia: A Chronicle and a Tribute Alfred Perkins John Stephenson knew the private colleges ofAppalachia. He knew them firsthand, through innumerable conversations, through campus visits and consultations, through close acquaintance with presidents and faculty members and prominent graduates. He began his career at one such college, Lees-McRae, and ended it at another, Berea. In mid-career at the University ofKentucky, he created the Appalachian College Program, a continuing faculty-development project of inestimable value to the independent institutions of the Southern mountains. Looking beyond that program and die university, he envisioned a pattern ofexpanding collaboration among those colleges, and he labored long and effectively to achieve that end. This is an attempt to describe how, during the greater part oftwo decades, he used his powers ofintellect and persuasion to strengthen private higher education in Appalachia. Improving higher education, he saw clearly, was a fundamental way to benefit the region. In 1985, the first year ofhis presidency ofBerea College, Stephenson initiated conversations aimed at fostering cooperation among independent institutions. Selecting one college each from North Carolina,Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, he invited the presidents of those schools to meet with him at Abingdon, Va., for a weekend ofexploratory discussions. Three presidents were able to accept the invitation; the fourth, interested but unable to attend, sent his academic dean. Those conversations, while informative and cordial, were not immediately productive, and Stephenson later expressed disappointment at the lack of tangible results. Reflecting on this early effort, he concluded he probably had been overly optimistic. After all, he reasoned, the institutions had no history of significant interaction, the presidents undoubtedly had many other concerns, and no compelling case for joint ventures had been advanced. In fact the Abingdon meeting served an essential purpose, for it put the question of cooperation before a group of colleges for the first time. In the years ahead this initiative was to flow together with others Alfred Perkins has been Dean ofBerea Collegefor the last decade. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky. 19 Stephenson had undertaken earlier while director ofthe Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky. During his years at U.K. Stephenson had come to understand that faculty development is the key to improving higher education in the region . At the same time he recognized that few ofthe small, private institutions had the experience or the fiscal resources to accomplish alone all that was necessary to sustain the intellectual vitality of their faculties. A collective effort, on the other hand, coordinated by some agency interested in but independent of the individual colleges, could both increase access to external funding and facilitate the sharing of expertise. Acting on that insight , he persuaded other senior administrators that the University ofKentucky should sponsor a program offellowships and development opportunities for faculty of private colleges. This program, operating under the center Stephenson headed, was remarkable in a number ofways, not least because it involved a public university assisting private institutions. Moreover , most ofthose colleges were outside the university's service area. The singularity of this venture, bold but workable, undoubtedly appealed to foundations Stephenson approached for financial support. In 1979 the AndrewW. Mellon Foundation, convinced by Stephenson's vision and advocacy, granted the new Appalachian College Program $280,000 for fellowships for faculty in the humanities and social sciences. Somewhat later the Pew Charitable Trusts began to provide similar funding for faculty in the natural sciences and mathematics. These initial grants, renewed several times, have benefited hundreds offaculty members in the last fifteen years. Total funding for collaborative purposes from these two foundations alone now totals well over $7 million. In addition to their grants to the Appalachian College Program, both these foundations have made direct contributions to the region's private colleges. Here too the hand ofJohn Stephenson can be seen. In the mideighties Pew sought his advice on plans to distribute $1 million for scientific equipment among member institutions. Similarly Mellon, impressed by the importance ofthe Appalachian institutions and ready to help, made multi-year expendable grants to eight of the colleges, and then followed with challenge grants to establish endowments for faculty and curriculum development. From Mellon these institutions received over...