Department of Sociology, & Center for Social and Cultural Research

Professor, Department of Sociology
Center for Social & Cultural Research
Office: 3105 CHBS Building

Box 6948, Radford University, Radford, Virginia 24142

Contact: E-mail mlalone@radford.edu   

CURRENT RESEARCH ACTIVITIES:

- MUSEUM PLANNING CONSULTANT FOR THE WILDERNESS ROAD REGIONAL MUSEUM IN NEWBERN, VA; - COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH CONSULTING, and

 - COMMUNITY RESILIENCE TO ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER RESEARCHWilderness_Road_Regional_Museum_Project.htmlhttp://www.wildernessroadregionalmuseum.comhttp://www.wildernessroadregionalmuseum.comCommunity_Resilience_to_Environmental_Disasters.htmlCommunity_Resilience_to_Environmental_Disasters.htmlshapeimage_2_link_0shapeimage_2_link_1shapeimage_2_link_2shapeimage_2_link_3shapeimage_2_link_4

Research/Teaching Projects

  1. -Research Projects - Overview

  2. -Publications & Presentations

Current Work:  

  1. -Wilderness Road Regional
           Museum Project


Project Archives:
Applied Community-Based Planning Projects 

  1. -Merrimac Coal Mining Heritage Park Project

  2. -The Farm at Selu, Appalachian Education Center Planning Project

  3. -Coal Mining Museum & Video Projects

  4. -Mountain View Cemetery Revitalization Project

  5. -Farm Heritage Park Project

  6. -Appalachia Heritage Tourism Project

Oral History/Ethnographic Projects

  1. -Coal Mining Heritage Oral History Project

  2. -Appalachian Farming Heritage Project

  3. -Radford Arsenal Oral History Project

  4. -Farmers Market Project

  5. -Flea Market Project


Classes

  1. -Community-Based Research

  2. -Culture Change & Globalization

  3. -Environmental Sociology

  4. -SOCY 121 Understanding Cultures

- Museum Internships

Stonewood Garden


Specializations:  I’m an educator with 25 years’ experience bringing students and community together in community-based participatory research (CBPR) projects.  My specializations focus on both historical and applied research.  On the applied side, I assist community groups with planning projects using a community-based participatory style of development (see a sample of projects in the box to the right).  My other research interests are in cultural history preservation, museum studies, cultural ecology and socio-economic issues, and developing experiential service-learning projects linking students with the community.

Background: I received my Ph.D. from UCLA in 1985, focusing on Latin America/Inca research, and did training in museum studies and library science along the way.  When I came to Radford University, I refocused my research on the Appalachian cultural region and developed an integrated research and experiential teaching model that I've used since the 1990's to carry out heritage preservation projects in Appalachian Virginia with my students.  These include projects involving oral history documentation, museum & park planning, and heritage tourism.  My research projects have focused on Appalachian coal mining and family farming cultures and other Appalachian regional culture topics.

Teaching:  In addition to the introductory course in Understanding Cultures (SOCY 121), I teach classes in Applied Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), Ecological/Environmental issues, Culture Change and Globalization, and supervise Internships (many in Museum Studies).

Personal: I'm married to Dr. Kimbell Knight, geologist and avid landscape horticulturalist.  We have 1 cat, 2 dogs, and chickens, and tend our two-acre botanical garden, Stonewood Garden.  My special horticultural interest is raising tropical plants and orchids.