East Tennessee State University’s Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program named Dr. Dottie Greene and Melissa Shafer as 2024 recipients of the Notable Women of ETSU Award.
The university honored the two award recipients at a special event earlier this week.
Greene has a long history of providing addiction recovery services and safe spaces for all backgrounds. Among Greene’s highlights: Bringing the first recovery community center to Johnson City. Greene also developed the Clinical Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling Studies certification program in the Department of Social Work at ETSU
“Dr. Greene is indeed notable,” wrote one of her nominators. “A true community servant.”
Greene earned her master’s degree in social work from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 2004 and her doctoral degree in social work from the University of Utah in 2014.
Shafer earned her MFA in Theater Design and Production, a field typically dominated by men, from Southern Illinois University. Shafer has served on various executive roles of the Tennessee Theater Association, including as president.
She has a long career as a professor in technical, set and lighting design throughout various colleges and universities since 1985.
“There are many professionals in the field today who owe their start and career to Melissa Shafer,” wrote one of her former students.
For more information, contact Dr. Stacey Williams, director of the ETSU Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program, at (423) 439-4125 or williasl@etsu.edu.
