02/12/2009

Ron Eller Discusses Poverty in Appalachia on ABC's "20/20"

Associate Professor Ron Eller, will discuss issues in Appalachia on ABC's "20/20" this Friday February 13, at 10:00pm. Eller was interviewed for Diane Sawyer's special that addresses children and poverty. For a preview of the program click here.  

Originally from southern West Virginia, Ron Eller has spent the last thirty years writing and teaching about the Appalachian region. A descendent of eight generations of families from Appalachia, Eller is the former director of the Appalachian Center and Associate Professor of History at the University of Kentucky where he coordinates research and service programs on a wide range of Appalachian policy issues including education, health care, economic development, civic leadership and the environment. He is in demand as a speaker on Appalachian issues at colleges, conferences, and community forums throughout the nation and he serves as a frequent consultant to civic organizations and the national media. A former Rockefeller Foundation Scholar, Eller holds the Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and is widely known as a scholar of Appalachian history and the study of rural economic development and social change. He has published more than sixty articles and reports but is most well known for his award-winning book Miners, Millhands and Mountaineers: The Industrialization of the Appalachian South.