Author: mgridnev

The SHARP grant funded staff for assistance on weekends and has been instrumental in providing the support for us to establish a clear idea of what the organizations needs are to meet the needs of visitors in our newly opened family gallery.  It would have been very difficult to take this step without this support.

Humanities Tennessee is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH).

Honorary co-chairs for the event were Bill and Crissy Haslam. Randy Boyd is President of the University of Tennessee System and the founder of Radio Systems Corporation, Boyd Sports, and TnAchieves. Jenny Boyd owns Boyd’s Jig & Reel, is a member of the Old City Association, and serves on the boards of the Tennessee Arts Commission, Great Smoky Mountains Heritage Center, and the Museum of Appalachia. Together the Boyds have given more than $10 million to more than 100 charitable causes, from entrepreneurship and education, to child and animal welfare, to mental health and the arts.

The East Tennessee Historical Society Board of Directors established the award in 2011 to recognize and honor an East Tennessee history maker. Honorees must be an ambassador for our region and represent integrity, dignity, leadership, and the volunteer spirit. The award is given to East Tennesseans with either a recent accomplishment or a compilation of accomplishments in fields such as history, politics, entertainment, education, business, research, or humanitarian work that improves the lives of others. Previous award winners are Bill Haslam, Jack Hanna, Roy Kramer, Pete DeBusk, Natalie Haslam, Phillip Fulmer, and Lamar Alexander.

Retired Tennessee Supreme Court Justice Gary Wade will join Haslam for this special “Tennessee Conversation” event, to be held in the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church in downtown Knoxville.

The publisher, Thomas Nelson, notes that “Haslam has long been at the center of politics and policy on local, state, and federal levels, and he has consistently been guided by his faith, which influenced his actions on a wide range of issues. Yet the place of faith in public life has been hotly debated since our nation’s founding, and the relationship of church and state remains contentious to this day.”

He continues that “Faithful Presence: The Promise and the Peril of Faith in the Public Square calls for a different way. Drawing upon his years of public service, Haslam will discuss his remarkable vision for the redemptive role of faith in politics while examining some of the most complex issues of our time.”

Bill Haslam is the former two-term mayor of Knoxville and former two-term governor of Tennessee, reelected in 2014 with the largest victory margin of any gubernatorial election in Tennessee history. During his tenure, Tennessee became the fastest improving state in the country in K-12 education and the first state to provide free community college or technical school for all its citizens, in addition to adding 475,000 new jobs. Haslam serves on the boards of Teach for America and Young Life. In the fall of 2019, Haslam became a visiting professor of political science at Vanderbilt University. He and his wife of 38 years, Crissy, have three children and nine grandchildren.

Gary Wade worked as a private practice attorney in his hometown of Sevierville, Tennessee, where he was elected mayor in 1977 and served five successive terms. He then became a judge for the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals for 19 years and was its presiding judge for eight of those years. Former Governor Phil Bredesen appointed Wade to the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2006, where he also served as the court’s chief justice for two years. Wade retired from the Tennessee Supreme Court in 2015, then serving as vice president and dean of Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law until he retired in 2020. He now holds a position at Knoxville law firm London Amburn.

Books will be available for purchase and signing following the event. If you would like to buy books beforehand, hardback copies are available from the Museum of East Tennessee History’s gift shop. You may pre-order your copy prior to attending the event, and we will have it ready for pick up upon your arrival. We will also ship signed or unsigned books. To order, call 865-215-8830 or 865-215-8825.

Publisher: Thomas Nelson (May 25, 2021)
Hardback: 240 pages
Dimensions: 6.2 X 0.95 X 9.3 inches
Item Weight: 13.9 ozs.

Info needed for shipping: Name, preferred shipping address, billing address, and complete information on method of payment (Please note if you would like a signed or unsigned copy.)

Info needed for day-of sales: Name, billing address, and complete information on method of payment

Purchase price per book: $26.99
Sales Tax: $2.50
Total per book for pick up: $29.49
Shipping Cost: $5.00
Total per book shipped: $34.49
Shipping cost per additional book: $2.00

Members receive a 10% discount! Please let us know you are a valued ETHS member when calling.