In August 1988, the Jessie Ball duPont Religious, Charitable and Educational Fund awarded Emory & Henry College a grant to develop a model program for collaboration and cooperation between the college and public schools.

One goal of this grant was to develop an annual education forum to bring together individuals from Emory & Henry, surrounding schools, business, and industry to establish an on-going dialogue regarding educational needs and opportunities. The yearly forum is intended to initiate and to foster this dialogue, to address these needs, and to make plans for continued collaboration to bring about improved education in the region.

In 2006, the Forum was renamed in honor of Dr. Bob Gene Raines, a founder and participant since 1988. Dr. Raines is a lifelong resident of Southwest Virginia, served in the public schools as a teacher, principal, and administrator, and is retired from Emory & Henry College as Professor Emeritus in mathematics and education. While teaching at Emory & Henry, he served also as Director of the Wm. N. Neff Center for Teacher Preparation (Neff Education Center) (

The Forum web page dates from 2003 and was created by Sarah Williams, who has maintained it through the 2008 Forum. Previous splash pages are archived, and can be viewed using the links below. Please be aware that some links may not operate correctly on these archival pages due to changes of referenced pages. (/p)

• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009

Please visit our list of previous Forum speakers, including Dr. John Goodlad who came to speak to us in April 2002. This list provides several links to keep you updated on what our former speakers are doing currently.

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Send comments or questions about this page to Sarah Williams, swilliams@ehc.edu.