Meet the KTJ Contributors
Béverly B.
Contracts Specialist
Béverly grew up in France, the United States and Germany. She is a native speaker in both English and French, and has always had a passion for language. She had the privilege of proofreading novels, articles and law review pieces for attorney and author Jim Noles, while working as a legal secretary at Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham, Alabama. In 2009, Béverly founded WordBlossom (www.wordblossomonline.com) where she uses her hard-earned experience in a variety of cultural settings and educational philosophies as a writer, editor and translator. She also works as a full-time contracts specialist for an engineering firm in Claremont, California. Béverly received her B.S. in business management from Bryan College and her paralegal certification from the University of California Riverside.
Malík B.
AHF Board member
A playwright/poet/performer, Malík’s experience on stage, as well as behind the scenes, spans 40 years. His play, Real Black Men Don’t Sit Crosslegged on the Floor (A Collage in Blues) was produced in New York by New Federal Theatre to critical acclaim. He is the co-director and co-founder of StoryTree Company, a 16-year-old theater company that tours original works for children and adults. Malík has played principal roles in Castle Rock’s Whispers in the Dark and MGM’s The Super Cops. He has also held workshops for students in schools across Alabama, focusing on poetry writing, drama and performance. Malík is a technical advisor to the Governor’s Black Belt Action Commission. He has twice received playwriting fellowships from ASCA, the last in 2007 for lifetime achievement.
Thomas B.
AHF Programs Director and SUPER Manager
A native of Daphne, Thomas received a B.A. in political science from the University of Alabama and an M.A. in art history from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He has taught art appreciation at Jefferson State Community College and managed Bradshaw House Gallery in Birmingham for three years before joining the AHF staff in the spring of 2002. He oversees all of AHF’s programs and personally manages the statewide teacher program, SUPER (School and University Partners for Educational Renewal).
Jennifer D.
AHF Public Relations and Publications Manager
As public relations and publications manager, Jennifer is responsible for promoting the Alabama Humanities Foundation mission through contacting the news media and regularly updating and maintaining the foundation’s website, ahf.net. She also serves as editor of the Mosaic. Dome finished high school in Toms River, N.J., and attended Penn State University, where she obtained a B.A. in journalism. She earned an M.S. in journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism. During her undergraduate years she interned on Capitol Hill for Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and during graduate school she interned for a fashion publication in London, England.
Dominique L.
Grants Director
Linchet was born in Bastogne, Belgium, and grew up in La Roche, a picturesque town in the Ardennes forest. After earning her master’s degree in romance philology from the University of Brussels, she moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where she has family. She taught French and Spanish at Charlotte Country Day School for four years. She then pursued a doctorate degree at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and moved to Birmingham in 1993. She taught French as a lecturer at the University of Alabama Birmingham for a year. She joined the modern language faculty at Birmingham-Southern College in 1994. She was awarded tenure in 2000 and was promoted to full professor in 2007. In 1998, she was elected to the board of the Alabama Association of Foreign Language Teachers (AAFLT) and served as vice president and president of AAFLT for three years. In 2001, she was recognized by her peers and was awarded SCOLT’s (Southern Conference on Language Teaching) Outstanding Teaching Award, post-secondary. She has also provided translation and consulting services to the Birmingham Museum of Art, to the theatre and dance faculty at BSC and to Community Health Access International, a humanitarian relief organization with which she traveled to Haiti in October. More recently and since the end of her tenure at BSC, she has served as development and communication volunteer at ¡HICA! (Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama) and she helped this organization grow its individual donor base.
Paul L.
AHF Development and Public Relations Director
A Birmingham native, Paul graduated from the University of Alabama with a B.A. in marketing and communications. He has more than 25 years of fundraising experience, having served as vice president and director of development for the Baptist Health Foundation from 1985–2005. In 1993, he was named Alabama’s Fundraising Executive of the Year. He also served as president of the Alabama Chapter of the National Society of Fundraising Executives in 1996. He is a Certified Fundraising Executive. Lawson oversees donor relations, develops and maintains fundraising programs and directs major events.
Jim N.
AHF Board of Directors Chair
Jim Noles is a partner with Balch & Bingham LLP in Birmingham, where he is a member of the firm’s natural resources and environment law section. Noles earned his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law and his undergraduate degree from the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Prior to attending law school, he served as an officer in the U.S. Army, during which he flew a UH-1H helicopter and filled a variety of leadership and staff positions. Although the law is his vocation, writing is his avocation. His recently published books include A Pocketful of History: Four Hundred Years of America-One State Quarter at a Time and Twenty-Three Minutes to Eternity: The Final Voyage of the Escort Carrier USS Liscome Bay.
Bob S.
AHF Executive Director
Bob was appointed AHF executive director in 1987. A native of Tuscaloosa, he earned his B.A. in English at Amherst College and his M.A. in American Studies at Boston University. Stewart also earned an M.B.A. in marketing and finance from Emory University, where he was awarded the Johnston American Corporation Award. Prior to the AHF, he served for two years as deputy director of the Huntsville Museum of Art. He also held professional positions or internships at various museums and historical organizations, including Old Sturbridge Village , Birmingham Museum of Art, Historic St. Augustine Preservation Board and Smithsonian Institution. Stewart received the 1996 Virginia Hamilton Prize from the Alabama Historical Association and served as project director for a statewide project that received the 1995 Schwartz Prize from the Federation of State Humanities Councils. He was a member of the 2000 Class of Leadership Alabama.
Bob W.
AHF Board Member and Former Chair
Bob, of Birmingham, is a governor’s appointee to the board of directors. He received both his A.B. and M.Ed. from Birmingham Southern College and his Ph.D. from the University of Alabama. Whetstone attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison for his postdoctoral seminar in management and attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham for his postdoctoral internship at the Center for Aging. A former educator, Whetstone spent time working in Birmingham elementary schools and Banks High School. He spent 38 years teaching at Birmingham Southern College and was recently named one of 12 most outstanding educators by the college. He began his career at the college as an associate professor of education and also served as associate dean of the college, chairman of both the Departments of Education and Physical Education and the Division of Education, and project director and coordinator of research for the Alabama Education Study Commission. Whetstone serves as the vice president of the Shelby County Arts Council.
Visit his personal website here.
