AFE Scholars Program and Kentucky Chautauqua present ‘Alice Lloyd: Stay On, Stranger’

Morehead State University’s Appalachian Future Educator Scholars Program collaborates with Kentucky Chautauqua to present “Alice Lloyd: Stay On, Stranger.” The performance is at 4 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 24, in Room 325 in the Adron Doran University Center.  

The story focuses on the true life of Alice Spencer Geddes Lloyd, who packed up her printing equipment and left New England for the mountains of Kentucky in 1915. A few years earlier, she was publisher and editor of the first all-female newspaper staff in the United States. Her career in journalism exposed Lloyd to people suffering from a lack of education, proper housing and sufficient medical care, which drove her to pursue social reform.  

Mounting health problems forced Lloyd from her New England home, looking for a milder climate. The Presbyterian Church offered her an abandoned mission building in Ivis, Kentucky.  

Lloyd and co-founder Jane Buchanan established Caney Junior College, which focused on a liberal arts education and developed a program known as “The Purpose Road Philosophy.” Lloyd’s love for her students and her desire to give them a free education forced her to work diligently to find outside funding. Despite partial paralysis to her right side, Lloyd worked without salary and directed the college for nearly 40 years.  

Alice Lloyd is portrayed by Jacqueline Hamilton, an English professor at Eastern Kentucky University who has taught dramatic expression for the Governors Scholar Program. Hamilton also plays another Kentucky Chautauqua character, Sue Grafton.   

“Providing quality educational enrichment opportunities such as this presentation for our Appalachian Future Educator Students and other MSU education students is a hallmark of our commitment to student success and personalized attention,” said Dr. Christopher Beckham, the Shannon-Doran Endowed Professor of Educational Leadership and director of the AFE Program. “The AFE Scholars have several opportunities each semester to hear from informative and inspiring guest speakers who share their perspectives on what it means to be an educator in Appalachian Kentucky.”  

The AFE Scholars program encourages qualified students from MSU’s 22-county service region to enter the education profession through scholarship, support and mentorship. The program will enhance the pipeline of qualified educators and educational leaders by strengthening partnerships with school districts in identifying, recruiting and mentoring students to return and give back to their home communities as rural educational leaders.    

Kentucky Chautauqua is an exclusive presentation of Kentucky Humanities with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Christina Lee Brown, the Carson-Myre Charitable Foundation, and PNC. Kentucky Humanities is a nonprofit Kentucky corporation affiliated with the National Endowment for the Humanities.   

For more information on the Appalachian Future Educators Scholar program, visit www.moreheadstate.edu/afe or contact Beckham at 606-783-2538 or c.beckham@moreheadstate.edu.