2022 RUX Cohort Announced!
The Kentucky Rural-Urban Exchange (RUX) is pleased to announce the selection of our 2022 leadership cohort. After our most competitive application process to date, RUX alumni have selected forty-one Kentuckians with varied experiences of leadership, career, geography, age, ability, expertise, gender, race, sexuality, culture, and class. These leaders in the arts, agriculture, community development, education, government, health, and business represent all regions of Kentucky, including Carter, Daviess, Estill, Fayette, Fleming, Franklin, Green, Jefferson, Kenton, Knott, Letcher, Madison, Marion, McCracken, Metcalfe, Muhlenberg, Rowan, Pike, Shelby, Taylor, and Whitley counties.
Meet our RUX 2022 Cohort:
Kathryn Adams-Cornett (Franklin) Attorney; Contea Allan (Jefferson) Jefferson County Public Schools and Tailor Made Pest Control; Michelle Amos (Jefferson) Executive Director of the Little Loom; Emma Anderson (Franklin) Kentucky Equal Justice Center; Emily Baldridge (Pike) Artist and Educator with Pike County Cooperative Extension Service; C. Todd Birdsong (McCracken) Artist and Director of the Clemens Fine Art Center; Shaelyn Bishop (Green) Biology Instructor Campbellsville University; Emma Bryan-Lok (Jefferson) Public Historian; Laura Calhoun (Daviess) Owensboro Health; Bernard Clay (Madison) Affrilachian Poet and Kentucky Heartwood; S. Brandon Coan (Jefferson) Lawyer; Chelsey Duncan (Jefferson) Louisville Seminary student; Cierra Evans (Jefferson) Artist, Founder and Co-director Folx Gallery; Rachel Evitts (Muhlenberg) Americorps Service Member and Muhlenberg’s Achieve Coordinator; Laura Farmer (Daviess) Owensboro Health; Isaac Fosl-van Wyke (Jefferson) Squallis Puppeteers; Joe Gallenstein (Kenton) Kentuckians for the Commonwealth; Mariel Gardner (Jefferson); C. Josh Givens (Muhlenberg) Journalist and Photographer; Annette Hines (Fleming) TRIO Coordinator Morehead State University and Appalachian GameChangers; Lauren Hunter-Smith (Fayette) Bluegrass Death Doula; Christa Iwu (Jefferson) Account Manager at KERTIS Creative and Portland Museum Board member; Amanda James (Jefferson) University of Louisville Alumni Relations, Robert Kahne (Jefferson) Data Scientist and Code for Kentuckiana; Emily Kicklighter (Jefferson) Jefferson County Public Schools; Dorothea Manley-Davis (McCracken) Executive Director Project Speak Life and cofounder of the Paducah Diversity Advocacy Board; LeeAnna Meadows (McCracken) Housing Manager LivWell Community Services; Christopher Morris (Shelby) Land Surveyor with The Kleinger’s Group; Tom Morton (Jefferson) retired Educator; Rachel Muwanga (Fayette) Project Manager and energy alchemist; Nikita Perumal (Fayette) Kentucky Civic Engagement Table; Ben Redfield (Muhlenberg) Financial Planner Baird; Beau Revlett (Rowan) Director of KY Tenants; Amy Richardson (Carter) Writer and Forgotten Foods Farm; Angela Howe (Rowan) Educational Program Coordinator Morehead State University and Appalachian GameChangers; Olivia Spradlin (Fayette) medical anthropologist Kentucky Coalition Against Domestic Violence; Josh Teague (Whitley) Musician and Writer and Whitley County Farmers’ Market Board of Directors; Robin Verson (Metcalfe) Hill and Hollow Farm and Founding Partner of Southern Appalachia Regional Fibershed; Taylor Wood (Marion) Marion County Public Library; Christine Xu (Jefferson) Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, People of Color Caucus Member, and Jefferson County Democracy Team.
With Thanks!
The 2022 program is planned in partnership with a statewide steering committee, local host committees, and in partnership with the the Kentucky Arts Council, Kentucky Folklife Program, Estill Development Alliance, the Muhlenberg Alliance for Progress, the Food Literacy Project, Hood to the Holler, Kentucky Performing Arts, Louisville Free Public Libraries, Louisville Metro Government, and the Envirome Institute at the University of Louisville.