Circle of Excellence
Nomination Form
Every year, Leadership Asheville Forum recognizes a genuinely outstanding leader in the Asheville/Buncombe County community, including but not limited to graduates of Leadership Asheville or Leadership Asheville Seniors community leadership programs.
The Circle of Excellence Committee is comprised of members of the LAF board, who are not eligible to submit or receive Circle of Excellence nominations and are expected to excuse themselves if there is a conflict of interest involving a Circle of Excellence Award nominee.
Selection Criteria:
Accomplishments for which the nominee is being recognized have occurred at least within the last five years and within Buncombe County;
Nominee demonstrated leadership ability that addresses critical needs of our diverse community, while fostering the abilities of others;
Nominee has contributed to new or existing program(s) which have had, or are having a demonstrable impact on our community;
Nominee’s contribution to the community is clearly beyond the scope of her/his employment responsibilities.
The recipient will receive an individual Circle of Excellence Award and a donation of $500 will be contributed to the charitable organization of the recipient’s choice in their honor.
Our 2023 Circle of Excellence Award winner is Dr. Elizabeth Colton
Thomas Wolfe wrote that “you can’t go home again.” That was no doubt accurate in his case, due to his decidedly undiplomatic manner of referring to the folks here in his hometown.
This year’s recipient of the Circle of Excellence Award has encountered no such problem. Indeed, with award-winning careers in diplomacy, journalism, and education, she has returned home to Asheville and included us in her discourse and diplomacy to bring our community and our world to be more understanding and able to address the searing challenges of our times.
With gratitude for what she has accomplished and is accomplishing, Leadership Asheville Forum presents its Circle of Excellence Award to Dr. Elizabeth Colton.
In growing up in Asheville and thereafter completing her education, Dr. Colton put us on notice of what she might accomplish. In the fourth grade, she was editor-in-chief of a class newsletter at Grace School, now Ira B. Jones Elementary, and a teenage columnist for the Asheville Citizen-Times. In high school she was a member of ASCORE, the Asheville Student Committee on Racial Equality in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Randolph Macon Women’s College, two masters from Vanderbilt University, and a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology from the London School of Economics. She was honored as a Fulbright Scholar and a MacArthur Fellow in Globalization Studies, and served as a volunteer for the Peace Corps.
We honor her today for utilizing her gifts and talents worldwide and now in Asheville in the overlapping spheres of Journalism, Education, and Diplomacy.
In Journalism
Previously, Dr. Colton was the Executive Editor for ten weekly newspapers in northern Virginia. Later, as a journalist, she was a producer for NBC News in London, a Diplomatic Correspondent for NPR, and an Emmy Award winning reporter for ABC News.
Now, in Asheville, she has become a frequent guest columnist for the Asheville Citizen-Times, calling for equal rights for women and “glocal” diplomacy, being in both the global and local arenas. Extending her outreach to journalism worldwide, she now is now the board chair of Reporters Without Borders for the USA and North America. As the author of two published books, she is in the process of writing two more.
In Education
Previously, Dr. Colton was a Professor of Mass Communications, Politics, and Journalism at Shenandoah University in Virginia. Now, in Asheville, she is a Diplomat and Journalist in Residence at Warren Wilson College, where she teaches a class and recently offered the Commencement Address to graduating students.
In Diplomacy
Previously, Dr. Colton spent eleven years in the U.S Foreign Service, stationed or serving in over one hundred foreign countries, primarily in the Middle East. She was nominated by the U.S. Embassy in Cairo for the State Department’s prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for Public Diplomacy. Amazingly, she coached many leaders on the global stage on their presentations – Pope John Paul II, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, and Senators and later U.S. Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, the latter of whom she has noted has not always followed her advice.
Now, here in Asheville, she has worked with Fletcher Mayor Preston Blakely in his delivery of the commencement address at Mars Hill University, on the occasion of his grandmother Dr. Oralene Simmons’ being awarded a second honorary doctorate for being the first African American to integrate that university. Dr. Simmons is with us today, as would be Mayor Blakely but for an emergency that arose in his schedule.
Currently, Dr. Colton is a Professor of Diplomacy for the United Nations Institute for Training and Research based in Geneva. In that capacity she teaches classes online for diplomats worldwide to hone their skills to become effective speakers on behalf of their own countries. This involves lectures and one-on-one consultations at all hours of the day and night.
Beyond diplomacy, Dr. Colton has been a strong advocate locally for equity and inclusion. She has been and is a stalwart member of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Association of Asheville and Buncombe County under the leadership of its founder and long-time president Dr. Simmons, who has previously received the Circle of Excellence Award from Leadership Asheville Forum. In January 2019, Dr. Colton spoke at the Women’s March for the Equal Rights Amendment on a day of sub-freezing Arctic temperatures approaching near zero.
Among others, her other volunteer efforts have included serving on the national Public Diplomacy Council, the Vestry of Trinity Episcopal Church, the Executive Committee of the Pen and Plate Club, and even the board of Leadership Asheville Forum.
Overall, the Circle to which Dr. Colton has dedicated her life with high excellence would be the concentric circles of Western North Carolina, the United States, and the entire world. Dr. Colton, we are privileged to honor you today with this Award.
The Circle of Excellence Award comes with a $500 gift from LAF made to the recipient’s chosen charity. Dr. Colton has selected The Martin Luther King, Jr., Association of Asheville and Buncombe County as her non-profit.
Past Recipients
Dr. Elizabeth Colton
David Feingold
DeWayne Barton
John Ellis
Dr. Oralene Simmons
Deborah Miles
Dr. Gordon Grant
Susan Roderick
Dr. David G. Brown
Laurey Masterton
Sean O’Connell
Denise Snodgrass
David Bennert
Cissie Stevens