Humanities at WHRO Advisory Board
Dr. Katherine Barko-Alva
Associate Professor of ESL/Bilingual Education and Co-Director W&M Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE)
Dr. Katherine Barko-Alva is an Associate Professor and Director of the ESL/Bilingual Education program at the William & Mary School of Education. A former McKnight Doctoral fellow at the University of Florida, she holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction in the area of ESL/Bilingual Education. As a bilingual scholar, her research agenda is rooted in classroom practices and explores how Dual Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) /English as a Second Language (ESL) educators make sense of language in culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) K12 contexts, how to promote equitable and inclusive practices in order to serve CLD students and their families, and how to create sustainable practices to prepare DLBE/ESL in-service and pre-service teachers. With more than fourteen years of professional experience teaching as well as designing and implementing job-embedded professional development practices at the national and international level, her lived experiences as an English learner/Emergent Bilingual in U.S. schools guide the nature of her work and commitment to families, teachers, and students.
Dr. Barko-Alva was awarded the Virginia Latino Advisory Board Latinx Leadership Award in Education and the Janet Brown Strafer Award (William & Mary School of Education) recognizing her efforts for promoting equitable and inclusive learning spaces in our classrooms and community. In 2021, she received the Jefferson Teaching Award at William & Mary. At the national level, she has been selected as a member of the iCivics ESL National Advisory Council to support making civics education accessible for English learners/Emergent Bilinguals using video game platforms. She is currently a Co-Director for W&M Scholars Undergraduate Research Experience (WMSURE/2020-2026) and served as a fellow for the Center for the Liberal Arts (CLA) at William & Mary in 2019-2021. She is currently a Reveley Interdisciplinary Faculty Fellow 2024-2027. Her latest book published by Teachers College Press Columbia University (Equity in school-parent partnerships: Cultivating community and family trust in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms) examines fossilized practices within today’s educational system that marginalize and devalue the contributions and cultural biographies of families, particularly CLD families. This book creates opportunities for reflection and provides suggestions for school communities seeking to re-envision the meaning of family engagement.
Brenda H. Andrews
Publisher
New Journal and Guide
Newspaper publisher Brenda H. Andrews is a native of Lynchburg, Va. where in 1962 she and three other African American students desegregated Lynchburg’s E.C. Glass High School under federal court order. After graduating from E.C Glass in 1965, she briefly attended Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, before marrying and moving to California. There she attended California State University, Sacramento, graduating with her B.A. degree in English and psychology in 1970 and her teacher’s credential in 1971. From 1971 to 1973, Andrews worked as a teacher in Rancho Cordova, California. In 1977, she joined the U.S. Army, where she edited a military community paper in Nuremberg, West Germany, and worked as an associate editor of the Army’s Newswire Service at the Pentagon. She transitioned honorably from the Army in 1982, and began working as Assistant to the Publisher at Journal and Guide, a prominent Black newspaper in Norfolk, Va. In 1987, she became the newspaper’s publisher, and in 1991, its president and owner, at a critical time in the paper’s existence, changing its name to New Journal and Guide. Under Andrews’ leadership, the Guide celebrated its one hundred twenty-four year anniversary in 2024, as one of the nation’s oldest members of the Black Press. She established a website and other digital and social media to meet the changing news industry, while continuing the legacy print edition. In 2014, she incorporated the Guide Historical Society as a 501-c-3 nonprofit arm of the business to preserve the paper’s historic archives and award journalism internships. Andrews has been the recipient of many diverse honors including the 2013 MLK Memorial Award from Old Dominion University and the Tidewater Humanitarian Award from the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities in 2016. In 2015, Andrews was named one of the 25 Women in Arts by the Southeastern Virginia Arts Association and one of the top 25 businesswomen in Inside Business, The Hampton Roads Business Journal. In 2017, Andrews was a Journey for Success “Legendary Pearl” honoree. In January 2025, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra selected her for its annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Dreamer’s Award. She is a board member of the National Newspaper Publishers Association, and was its 2019 Publisher of the Year. Her community volunteer work has included serving on the Norfolk State University Foundation Board and the Shiloh Legacy Foundation Board.
Kellee Green Blake
Director (retired)
National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region
Kellee Green Blake is the retired Director of the National Archives-Mid Atlantic Region and a Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude graduate of Mary Washington College with a graduate degree in American History from Villanova University. She has worked from coast to coast with the National Archives, processing and administering records from the Founding Fathers to the Robert F. Kennedy Assassination. Kellee has been a regular speaker at national historical and genealogical conferences and is the author of two historical plays and multiple articles on the Federal Census and divided loyalties in wartime. She served as Grants Chair for the Virginia Humanities Board, is currently serving multiple America 250 commissions, and is writing a long overdue book about the Civil War on Virginia’s Eastern Shore.
The Rev. Jan Brown
Founding/Executive Director
SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul
The Rev. Jan Brown is the Founder and Executive Director of SpiritWorks Foundation Center for the Soul. An ordained Deacon in the Episcopal Church, she currently serves as the Archdeacon of the Diocese of Southern Virginia and at Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg, VA.
Jan is a graduate of the College of William and Mary with a BA in Psychology. She is certified as a Peer Recovery Support Specialist, a Recovery Coach Professional, and holds a Master of Science Degree in Addiction Studies from the International Programme on Addiction Studies, a joint program of King’s College London, the University of Adelaide, and Virginia Commonwealth University.
As a woman in long-term recovery from addiction, Jan has extensive experience and expertise in the field. She is a former Chair of the Board of Directors of Faces and Voices of Recovery, a SPARK National Faculty and Steering Committee member, and an Opioid Response Network (ORN) Consultant. Jan also co-chairs the Addictions and Recovery Commission for the Diocese of Southern Virginia.
Jan currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Center for Motivation and Change Foundation for Change and the Williamsburg Community Foundation. She is an Advisor to Sesame Workshop and a Faculty and Advisory Committee Member for the SAMHSA Program to Advance Recovery Knowledge.
In 2014, Jan was appointed by the Governor of Virginia to serve on the Governor's Task Force on Prescription Drug and Heroin Abuse. The following year, she was appointed by the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church to serve on the Commission on Impairment and Leadership. She continues to hold appointed positions within The Episcopal Church, as well as the international addiction and recovery community. In 2022, Jan was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Museum of African American Addictions, Treatment and Recovery, in recognition of her outstanding contributions and leadership in the field.
Leslie Clements
Educator, Equity, Community, & Learning
Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center
Leslie A. Clements works as an educator in Equity, Community, & Learning at the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center where she ensures people have fun and learn something since 2005. Her recent projects include coordinating programs for building racial equity in marine science and research for autism-inclusive science facilities. Her favorite animal is the crow due to their high general and social intelligence and their everyday spooky vibe.
Felicia Mebane, Ph.D., M.S.P.H.
Executive Director
Center for Public Health Initiatives at NSU
Associate Dean for Community Engagement and Outreach
Joint School of Public Health Initiative, NSU & ODU
Dr. Felicia Mebane is the Executive Director of the Center for Public Health Initiatives at NSU and the Associate Dean for Community Engagement and Outreach for the Joint School of Public Health Initiative. From these leadership positions, Dr. Mebane collaborates with faculty, staff and students to enhance NSU’s role as a community-inspired academic and economic engine in Hampton Roads. Dr. Mebane also facilitates development of public health programs with a focus on education, research, community engagement, communications and more. Dr. Mebane earned a Ph.D. in Health Policy from Harvard University and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Master of Science in Public Health degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her expertise centers around health policy analysis and communications. She is also the host of the radio program Health, Healing and Hampton Roads produced in partnership with WNSB.