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Mary Ellen Pethel
Mary Ellen Pethel is an author, educator, and academic entrepreneur.

Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel obtained her undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. There she received her Bachelor’s of Arts. After her undergraduate studies, Dr. Pethel received a Master’s of Education at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. She then went on to Georgia State University to get her Ph.D. Dr. Pethel finished out her education with a post-graduate certificate from George Mason University in 2018. Currently, she is a professor at Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee where she has taught since 2012, and where she has been working full time since 2018. Dr. Pethel is also noted to be a Senior Data Fellow with the Belmont Data Collaborative.

Degree in Digital Humanities: Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel graduated from George Mason University in 2018 with a postgraduate certificate in Digital Humanities. This degree helped Pethel to launch the Nashville Sights project that has self-guided walking and driving tours in Nashville that are easily accessible through their website.

Belmont Data Collaborative (BDC): Pethel uses her degree in Digital Humanities to work alongside the Belmont Data Collaborative to incorporate data skills into the core of Belmont University’ s culture and curriculum. She began her appointed position as Senior Data Fellow with the Belmont Data Collaborative in 2023.

While at Belmont, Dr. Pethel spent time as a faculty class coordinator with the Honors Program and developed courses for Global Leadership Studies. Before Dr. Pethel became a professor, she spent years at Harpeth Hall, a local high school, where she was a teacher and a department chair. In 2019, she launched the website Nashville Sites which is a non-profit that serves as public access to local, Nashville tours that are diverse in topics. Nowadays, Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel is considered an author, historian, digital humanist, and academic entrepreneur.

Publications
Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel has published several essays and five books. Due to her passion for storytelling and her academic qualifications, she is recognized for her extensive contributions to Tennessean documentation. Dr. Pethel specializes in humanities and history, most notably in Women’s and Sports history. Her most known works include Athens of the New South; College Life and the Making of the New Nashville, released in 2017; Title IX, Pat Summitt, and Tennessee Trailblazers 50 years, 50 stories'' released in 2022. Her upcoming writing projects include the life of Ward-Belmont alumna and Grand Ole Opry star, Sarah Cannon, better known as Minnie Pearl. Pethel consulted on and is featured in the new NPT documentary, Facing the Laughter: The Story of Minnie Pearl.

Her works Include:

 * Berry College: A Century of Making Music (Campus History)
 * All-Girls Education from Ward Seminary to Harpeth Hall, 1865-2015
 * A Heartfelt Mission - The West End Home Foundation 1891-2016
 * Athens of the New South; College Life and the Making of the New Nashville
 * Title IX, Pat Summitt, and Tennessee Trailblazers; 50 years, 50 stories

Digital Humanities
Mary Ellen Pethel is the executive director and founder of Nashville Sites, a program that involves the historical sites of Nashville into academia. Launched in 2019 and sponsored by the Metro Historical Commission Foundation, its main purpose is to offer free, customizable tours to the public. From historical restaurants to locations that hosted political movements of the 19th century, Nashville Sites is a website that offers an array of touring options. Nashville Sites has many staff members with diverse specializations, some of which are graduates of Belmont University.

Dr. Mary Ellen Pethel did an internship with the Conflict Culture Research Network (CCRN) at the Smithsonian in 2016. The CCRN was a research project dedicated to studying and analyzing cultural destruction and protection. After working on this project, she developed the idea for Nashville Sites, a public digital humanities website about Nashville historical sites.