E. Clorisa Phillips

Virginia Intermont College, located in Bristol, Virginia, offers the warmth of a small town and the variety of a cosmopolitan area. Surrounded by a Tri-Cities area population of approximately 500,000, their campus of 585 gives students a comfortable atmosphere where close relationships form and flourish.Outdoor recreation opportunities abound with easy access to boating, hiking, rafting, biking and winter skiing. Bristol is the \"Birthplace of Country Music,\" and, as expected, has a lively music scene, including Rhythm and Roots - an annual music festival celebrating the region's musical heritage. Additionally, Bristol became a designated Virginia Main Street community in 2011.Their students are a diverse group with a wide range of interests and backgrounds. Students from 26 states and three countries fill VI's campus.A student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 ensures that everyone will know students name. They value uniqueness and individual worth and commit themselves to involving students in their spirit of community.Their students earn real world experience in a diverse array of degree programs from equine studies and photography and digital imaging to legal studies and theatre arts.They focus on intellectual freedom and foster a climate for an open exchange of ideas. Critical thinking, creativity, oral and written communication and cultural appreciation are central to the educational experience. VI strives to create an atmosphere conducive to intellectual, spiritual, aesthetic and professional development.

Appalachian College Association, Inc. ("the Association") was incorporated August 6, 1993, as a nonprofit organization primarily to serve people of the Appalachian region through higher education and related services. The Association is an organization of independent liberal arts institutions that provides expanded and enhanced learning opportunities to faculty, staff and students for the purpose of serving the educational and economic well-being of the people and communities of Central Appalachia. This educational consortium offers a variety of academic, research, scholarship, library and travel programs serving students, faculty and staff in Kentucky, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. The Association is an independent 501(c)(3) incorporated organization, governed by a board comprised of member institution presidents and an executive committee.