Department of Health Behavior Faculty

Evelyn Knight, PhD
Associate Professor
859-218-2031
eknight@uky.edu

Curriculum Vitae

Evelyn A. Knight, Ph.D, associate professor of health behavior, is director of the Appalachian Center at the University of Kentucky.  In this role she leads a small multi-disciplinary research center which seeks to bring the resources of the University to bear on issues of importance to Appalachian communities.  The Center’s programs focus on the use of facilitated dialogue in the development of smart, sustainable solutions for Appalachian communities; creation of community sustainability indicators useful to decision-makers and community members; and fostering of dynamic community networks and university-community partnerships www.appalachiancenter.org . She has a deep history in Appalachian issues, particularly community health and education, with particular emphasis on participatory and collaborative approaches to program planning, implementation, and evaluation.  From 1996 to 1999, Knight served as a director for health promotion/disease prevention at the UK Center for Rural Health in Hazard, Ky.  She has been involved in or led funded research projects for the Central Highlands Appalachian Leadership Initiative on Cancer and other programs addressing health needs of rural populations.

Since arriving at the University of Kentucky in 2002, Dr. Knight has been actively involved in the study of public health performance assessment and improvement She currently serves as evaluator for several state-wide disease prevention and control programs.  She previously prepared public health professionals at the College of Public and Allied Health at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn. She also has taught at East Carolina University and the University of Virginia.

Research Interests

Appalachian community issues in public health programs implementation, assessment and evaluation