Meet Our Team

Dr. Purcell has over 30 years of administrative experience in corporate, nonprofit, and higher education settings, and she has been teaching at the undergraduate and graduate higher education levels since 1990. As an educator and dedicated community volunteer, she is known for her use of community engagement, volunteer development, and grant writing skills to foster town and gown relationships and to leverage resources to enable community members to achieve shared goals. In her career, she has written or co-written funding proposals that have garnered over $60 million in external value. She and her husband were recognized as agricultural entrepreneurs by the Senate of the State of Alabama for their agri-education outreach, their development of a newly trademarked breed of cattle, and their successful product line of jar goods. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals and publications for general audiences. She is currently writing a book on nonprofit innovation in Alabama called Citizen Servants: A History of Success, Innovation, and Adaptation in Alabama’s Nonprofits.

Kim Colburn lives in Northport with her wife, Kristi. They have 3 teenage children and 4 dogs, 2 of the 4 are foster fails. Kim is a native of Tuscaloosa but has lived in many places. Her interests include camping, fishing, Alabama football, and dog rescue. Kim is a 2005 New College graduate with a depth study in Holocaust and Genocide Studies. She has a Master's degree in Library and Information Studies from The University of Alabama. She has a Ph.D. in the Interdisciplinary Studies Program at the University of Alabama. Kim’s dissertation focused on Antisemitism, the Holocaust, and perpetrator behavior. Her teaching interests include cooperation and conflict, social change, collective memory, and social issues.