Location: Auditorium, Downtown Huntsville Library (915 Monroe Street)
Time: 2:00-3:30 p.m.
For the Winter Meeting on December 14, we’re looking at the past and future of farming and agriculture in Alabama.
Meet the Presenters
Dr. Dana M. Caldemeyer, Alabama A&M University
Dr. Dana M. Caldemeyer
Dana M. Caldemeyer is Assistant Professor of History at Alabama A&M University. Her research interests include rural industrialization, labor, and capitalism in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. She is the author of Union Renegades: Miners, Capitalism, and Organizing in the Gilded Age.
Jay Borden, Alabama Education Administrator for Agriculture Education and Alabama FFA Advisor
Jay Borden
Jay Borden serves as Alabama’s Education Administrator for Agricultural Education and Alabama FFA Advisor, overseeing statewide programs that support agricultural learning, student leadership, and career readiness. Originally from northwest Illinois, he first became involved in agriculture through school-based learning experiences that included raising livestock and participating in agricultural skill competitions and music performance.
Jay earned a Bachelor of Science, Master of Education, and Education Specialist degree in Agricultural Education from Auburn University, along with a minor in Animal Science (Pre-Veterinary Medicine) and a certification in Elementary Agricultural Education from Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College.
With more than 20 years of experience teaching agriculture in Alabama and Georgia, Jay has taught subjects ranging from agricultural construction and business to veterinary science and floral design in both rural and urban communities. He has coached students in numerous agriculture-related competitions, supported statewide student leaders, and has been recognized for his service to students, schools, and the agricultural education profession.
Panel Host, Heather M. Adkins
Meet the Panel Host
Heather M. Adkins
Curator-Archivist,
Alabama State Black Archives, Research Center, and Museum
Heather Adkins is a Certified Archivist and has an M.A. in Public History with a concentration in archives management from Middle Tennessee State University. She has worked in the archives field for 15 years in various academic, non-profit, and government institutions, including the Tennessee State Library & Archives. She moved to Alabama in 2018 to become the Manager of Special Collections for the Huntsville-Madison County Public Library system. She is now the Curator-Archivist of the Alabama State Black Archives, Research Center, and Museum.