Alumni Loyalty Award
Born in Whitesburg, Ky., Charles Glenn Ihrig graduated from Whitesburg High School in 1959 and completed his bachelor’s degree at Berea College in 1963. The following year he taught high school in Monroe, Conn. In 1965, Dean Kenneth Thompson encouraged Ihrig to teach in southern Africa at Nyatsime College. When Ihrig returned to the U.S., he worked in three positions at the College: Alumni Building director, Edwards Residence Hall director and assistant finance director for the Council of the Southern Mountains, to which Loyal Jones—Appalachian scholar and namesake of Berea’s Loyal Jones Appalachian Center—recruited him. Later, Ihrig was drafted and served as a sergeant in the U.S. Army in 1968-69.
After his military service, Ihrig became the business manager at the Public Welfare Foundation. He was promoted to executive director, then president and CEO. During his 22-year career, Ihrig grew the organization from three employees making $1 million in grants to 17 employees making $17 million in grants annually.
Berea alumni pay forward their education in myriad ways, and Ihrig has generously given his talent, time and treasure. His prolific volunteer record from 1970 to this day includes volunteering at WAMU, his public radio station and at the Smithsonian as a docent at the Natural History Museum, the American Indian Museum, the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the National Folklife Festival. Ihrig also served on the WWII Memorial opening celebration. His other volunteer commitments focus on low-income housing programs, feeding programs for those experiencing food insecurity and programs supporting battered women and abused children.
At Berea, Ihrig has generously funded internships in Washington, D.C., and Kentucky, remembering his alma mater that helped him not only make a living, but also a life—one very well lived.
