CleanAIRE NC has developed a statewide model for connecting universities, communities, and other partners through participatory air quality monitoring and advocacy. This workshop will share examples of these collaborations, discuss the value of co-created research, and explore how faculty and students can contribute to equitable environmental outcomes. Workshop speakers, both of whom are App State Sustainable Development Department alumni, will also touch on how mission-driven organizations are adapting to today’s funding challenges while maintaining impact and integrity.

Kathryn Kirkpatrick is the author of eight collections of poetry, including three recipients of the NC Poetry Society’s Brockman-Campbell award. “The Fisher Queen: New and Selected Poems” (Salmon, 2019) received the NC Literary and Historical Society’s Roanoke-Chowan Poetry Prize. She has lived in the Blue Ridge Mountains for many years, where she teaches environmental literature, animal studies, Irish studies, and creative writing as Professor of English at App State.

It’s hard to fathom that in one of the richest countries on earth, there are still pockets of America with no hospitals and virtually no qualified physicians. Yet that’s the reality poignantly captured in “The Only Doctor”, a profile from Reel South and PBS of Dr. Karen Kinsell, who operates the lone medical clinic in impoverished, rural Clay County, Georgia. For a portrait of America’s health care inequities so powerful it’s now taught in medical schools as inspiration to young doctors to work in underserved communities.

Join us for a day of grit, reinvention, and purpose-driven success stories that will challenge your thinking and energize your next move. This year’s lineup features Natalie Johnson, Paul Storm, and Gaurav “G” Patel, entrepreneurs and leaders who know firsthand what it means to face setbacks, rethink everything, and come back stronger. Their stories span industries and continents, but all center on the power of staying grounded, thinking boldly, and leading with clarity and conviction.