Dr. Ken Ambrose earned a B.A. in Sociology from West Virginia Wesleyan in 1962, an M. Div. in Theology from Duke in 1963, an M.A. in Sociology from Marshall University in 1970, and a Ph.D. in Sociology from The Ohio State University in 1978. He joined the Marshall faculty in 1975 and served as Chair of the Department of Sociology/Anthropology from 1983 until his retirement as Professor Emeritus in 2010. He also served as Interim Dean of the Graduate College in 1984. A highly regarded member of the Marshall community, Dr. Ambrose is known for his outstanding teaching and interesting research, especially his descriptive study of the snake handling cults of Southern Appalachia. In 1999, he and his son and co-presenter, the late Dr. Paul W. Ambrose, gave a Drinko Symposium presentation entitled “Health Care Challenges in Rural America.”The presentation was a prophetic and masterful study of the coming health care issues facing Appalachians, especially those relating to the growing problem of obesity. To highlight the health challenges, Drs. Ken and Paul Ambrose enlisted the services of the former Surgeon General of the United States, Dr. C. Everett Koop, to speak on the seriousness of the crisis at the 1998 Elizabeth Gibson Drinko Honors Convocation. Ken and his wife Sharon continue to work on various projects including the PATH (Paul Ambrose Trail for Health) and the Paul Ambrose Scholarship and annual symposium in Washington, D.C., and continue to support Marshall medical students.