LBW Community College has its very own Roads Scholar.

Mollie Waters, an English, speech and theater instructor at LBW, has selected as a member of the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s Road Scholars Speakers Bureau.

The Road Scholars Speakers Bureau provides public presentations and lectures on a variety of humanities topics.

“We have enjoyed for several years a lecture series featuring Roads Scholars, and Mollie Waters has worked diligently with the program,” said Dr. Jim Krudop, director of the LBW’s Greenville campus. “It’s a wonderful program, and through her interaction with the program, her contacts and the speakers, Mollie got serious about become a Roads Scholar herself, and we couldn’t be more excited for her.”

Waters said coordinating the program for the Greenville campus was what sparked her interested into becoming a Roads Scholar.

“I got interested in becoming a Road Scholar speaker after we had several present at our campus as part of our Greenville Campus Lecture Series,” she said. “I enjoyed what they did, and I want to be able to share my interests with audiences.”

In order to become a member of the Alabama Humanities Foundation’s Road Scholars Speakers Bureau, Waters had to submit a proposal to the AHF review board. Once it was approved, she presented a short version of her program to a committee in November. In January, she found out she had been approved for membership.

Waters’ topic is titled “Disobedient Women: Angelina Grimke, Virginia Foster Durr, and the Pursuit of Equality.”

“Both Grimke and Durr were women ahead of their times who lived in highly charged environments,” Waters said. “Grimke was a Southern woman who became a leading Abolitionist during the 1800s. In the 1900s, Durr helped get women the right to vote by helping abolish the poll tax; she was also good friends with Rosa Parks. These two women were courageous individuals who put their lives on the line to stand up for their beliefs. I admire them for it, and I hope to share their stories and struggles with audiences throughout Alabama.”

While Waters role as a Roads Scholar will carry her away from Greenville’s campus from time to time, she hopes that her involvement in the program will still impact her students.

“At the community college level, we are not in the cutthroat environment of ‘publish or perish’ the way professors at major universities are, but that does not mean that we do not take our research seriously,” she said. “I know many of our LBWCC faculty have published in journals in their fields and are quite knowledgeable about their areas of expertise. For me, being a Roads Scholar allows me to utilize all of my teaching areas: speech, performance, and research. I enjoy teaching those subjects, but I also think it is important for my students to see me practicing what I teach.”

Waters expects to begin speaking in the spring.

Those interested in booking a Roads Scholar Speaker through the Alabama Humanities Foundation can visit www.alabamahumanities.org.