Carolyn Ward, Ph.D., is the 2018 recipient of the National Association of Interpretation Fellow Award, the organization’s highest honor. It’s given to a member exemplifying career achievement in guiding the interpretive profession through instruction, mentoring, research, writing, frontline interpretation and management. Ward was presented the honor during NAI’s national workshop in New Orleans, held Nov. 30, 2018. 

“As much of an honor as it is to receive the Fellow Award, it is even more of an honor to be part of the profession of interpretation,” said Ward, a native of Wytheville, Virginia. “I am proud to be part of a profession dedicated to helping connect people to significant places, and for me that means linking people to the Blue Ridge Mountains, where I grew up.”

Ward’s career as has spanned three decades in numerous roles — she’s been a frontline interpreter, consultant, author, researcher, editor, professor and most recently CEO. She has served as editor of the Journal of Interpretive Research since 2003, and during her professorship at Humboldt State University in California, she was recognized as the university’s 2008 Outstanding Professor of the Year. Ward began working with the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation in 2008 and has served as CEO since 2011. Her leadership has also earned her the 2012 White House Champion of Change award.

The Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation is Parkway’s primary nonprofit fundraising partner. www.brpfoundation.org.