Presenters

Old chair on the front porch
16th Annual Ozarks Studies Symposium

September 21-23, 2023

Theme: Legacies of the Ozarks

Entrance to the symposium is free and pre-registration is not required. Those who attend will be invited to register on site when they arrive.

All presenters are found in the Full Conference Program.

2023 Missouri State University-West Plains Keynote Speaker

Dr. Dawn Larsen, Professor of Theatre, Francis Marion University
Granny's Fixit: An Ozarks Guide to Healing the Body and Soul

 

Dr. Craig Albin
Professor of English, Missouri State University-West Plains
Presentation: “Silhouettes of Ruin”: Shrouded Truths in The Maid's Version
 
Craig R. Amason
Associate Director, Ozarks Folklife Festival, Missouri State University Libraries
Presentation: The Impact of Immigration in McDonald County in the 21st Century
 
Vincent S. Anderson
Baxter County Library, Mountain Home, Arkansas
Presentation: Neck Discoid Gravestones: Migration Patterns in the Ozarks
 
Jo Van Arkel
Professor of English, Drury University
Presentation: Legacies: Women, Folktales, and Ozark Magic
 
Paulette Bane
Harding University
Presentation: Poems
 
Cassie E. Brown, MSW, LCSW
Author, Social Worker, and Advocate
Presentation: Meth and Magic: Writing the Modern Ozarks Through a Folkloric Lens
 
Alesha Cerny (Hauser)
Architectural Historian, National Park Service
Presentation: Proud Echoes: The Federal Building Program and Stone Architecture of Vilonia, Arkansas
 
Dr. Mara W. Cohen Ioannides
Ozarks Studies Association
Presentation: The Legend of the Man who always Paid in Gold
 
Kevin M. Cupka Head
Director, Center for Archaeological Research, Missouri State University
Presentation: Restoring Sadie Brown Cemetery - Its Cultural Significance and Lasting Impact on a Community
 
Dean Curtis
Curtis Photography LLC, Springfield, Missouri
Presentation: The Wild Horses of Shannon County
 
Chuck Davis
Visual Artist and Independent Curator
Presentation: Avoidance of Othering: Ozark Giraffe Houses
 
Dr. James Fowler
Professor of English emeritus, University of Central Arkansas
Presentation: “Downstream”
 
Dr. Vanessa Garry
Associate Professor, College of Education, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Missouri Speakers Bureau of the State Historical Society of Missouri
Presentation: President Ruth M. Harris: Educating Missouri's Black Teachers During the Progressive Era
 
Charity Gibson
Associate Professor of English, College of the Ozarks
Presentation: The Role of the YMCA in the Ozarks
 
Dr. John J. Han
Professor of English and Creative Writing, Missouri Baptist University
Presentation: Harold Bell Wright's Civil Religion: God and the Groceryman
 
Susan Croce Kelly
OzarksWatch Magazine
Presentation: The Story of Betty and Lucile, the Ozarks' Fearless Female Journalists
 
Dr. Tom Kersen
Associate Professor of Sociology, Jackson State University
Presentation: A Tale of Three Hippy Homesteader Families: Understanding the Ozark Back-to-the-Land Movement
 
Dr. Carla Kirchner
Associate Professor of Language and Literature, Southwest Baptist University
Presentation: Folk and Fiction: Anatomy of a Contemporary Folkloric Narrative
 
Dr. Kitty Ledbetter
Professor Emerita, Texas State University
Presentation: Si Siman's Legacy to the Ozarks: A Life in Entertainment
 
Dave Malone
Multi-Hyphenate Creative, West Plains, Missouri
Presentation: For Love of the Game: Celebrating the Legacy of Sport in the Ozarks through Poetry
 
Joyce McMurtrey
Researcher and Photographer, Mountain Grove, Missouri
Presentation: King of the Ozarks
 
Crockett Oaks III
Vice Chancellor of Business Support Services, Missouri State University-West Plains
Presentation: Restoring Sadie Brown Cemetery - Its Cultural Significance and Lasting Impact on a Community
 
Alison Overcash
Content Marketing Specialist
Presentation: Ha Ha Tonka: One Man's Dream, One Hundred Years Later
 
Alex T. Primm
Community and Oral Historian, Springfield, Missouri
Presentation: We Can Make It Here: Survival Strategies by Traditional Ozarkers
 
Leslie Reed
Instructor of English, Arkansas State University
Presentation: Rhetorics of Extinction: Conversations Surrounding the Changing Landscape of the Ozarks
 
Dr. Kristen Ruccio
Assistant Professor of English, Arkansas State University
Presentation: Rhetorics of Extinction: Conversations Surrounding the Changing Landscape of the Ozarks
 
Dr. Douglas S. Shipley
Board Member and Historian and Genealogist, Opportunity 1888 Foundation
Presentation: Harrison School: Tipton's "Colored" School
 
Steve Wiegenstein
Author, Columbia, Missouri
Presentation: Legacy of Intolerance: Initial Observations on the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s Missouri Ozarks