OHS Grad Receives Ph.D.

Shirley Louise Stewart Burns of Morgantown, formerly of Matheny, has successfully defended her dissertation at West Virginia University earning her the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy in History. A 1989 graduate of Oceana High School, she obtained her Bacheloršs in News-Editorial Journalism and her Master's in Gerontological Social Work, both from West Virginia University.

Dr. Stewart Burns is the daughter of the late Neely U. Stewart and Cora McKinney Stewart of Matheny. She is the granddaughter of the late Gillis Stewart and the late Minnie Walker Stewart who lived in Matheny and the late Dave McKinney and the late Maxine Lusk McKinney who resided in Stephenson. She is the sister of Rick Stewart of Matheny and Allen Stewart of Oceana.

As a Ph.D. student, she was the recipient of the Schneider-Loanglois Scholarship and the William D. Barns Award for Outstanding Scholarship in West Virginia and Regional History. Her dissertation, "Bringing Down the Mountains: The Impact of Mountaintop Removal Surface Coal Mining on Southern West Virginia Communities, 1970-2004," is the first historical treatment of the topic and was described as "a groundbreaking, significant contribution to the scholarship" by her dissertation committee members.

In addition to detailing the historical events that have led up to the prevalence of mountaintop removal in southern West Virginia, there also is information on some Wyoming County communities as well as communities in surrounding counties. The impacts of valley fills and slurry impoundments on communities are also discussed.

While a Ph.D. student at WVU, Dr. Stewart Burns was employed full-time with West Virginia University's International Center for Disability Information on two of their nationwide projects, Project RSVP and the Job Accommodation Network. She has a co-authored chapter published in the interdisciplinary text Appalachian Odyssey: Historical Perspectives on the Great Migration, encyclopedia entries in the forthcoming West Virginia Encyclopedia, as well as published journal articles. In addition, she serves as co-editor for the Family and Communities Section of the Encyclopedia of Appalachia, a collaborative effort by recognized scholars in various fields of Appalachian studies. The Encyclopedia will be published by the University of Tennessee Press in early 2006.

She and her husband Matthew Burns, a Wildlife Biologist, reside in Morgantown.