The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation (MRBF) has appointed Chad Berry, academic vice president and dean of the faculty at Berea College, to its board of directors. He joined the board on January 1, 2014.
Outgoing President Kathy Mountcastle says this new addition to the Babcock board will help the foundation connect with the communities it serves in Appalachia. “Chad is an outstanding addition to our board. The perspective he brings will help ensure that we have a diversity of voices to help guide our work.”
Prior to coming to Berea in 2006, Berry was a member of the faculty at Maryville College. He is the author of “Southern Migrants, Northern Exiles,” (Illinois, 2000) which examines the migration of millions of white southerners to the Midwest during the twentieth century. The book was inspired by his paternal grandparents, who reluctantly left Tennessee in the 1940s to find the economic opportunity that had eluded them in the South. He is published widely in the area of Appalachian studies and international education. Berry earned his bachelor’s degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Notre Dame, a master’s degree from Western Kentucky University and his doctorate from Indiana University.
Berry came to the office of the academic vice president and dean of the faculty after serving five years as director of the Loyal Jones Appalachian Center and also serving one year as director of the Center for Excellence in Learning through Service.
The Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation is a philanthropic foundation established by Mary Reynolds Babcock, eldest daughter of R.J. Reynolds in 1953. The foundation, located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, assists people in the Southeastern United States to build just and caring communities that nurture people, spur enterprise, bridge differences and foster fairness. With an endowment of approximately $175 million, the Babcock Foundation supports organizations and networks that work across race, ethnic, economic and political differences.
