About Us
Baylen Campbell
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Baylen Campbell (he/him/his) is Invest Appalachia’s Director of Community Impact. Originally from and based in Hazard, Kentucky Baylen brings experience working as an economic development and social impact practitioner. In partnership with the Community Advisory Council Baylen leads IA’s Catalytic Capital development, deployment, and community accountability. Additionally, he manages IA’s impact measurement, policy research, and partnership development with a focus on capacity building. He is passionate about utilizing strategic communications and storytelling to shift outdated narratives of Appalachia. Baylen holds a BA in International Affairs from John Cabot University in Rome, Italy and an MSc in Development Practice from Trinity College Dublin/University College Dublin. He is a co-founder of the Lige Clarke Liberation Fund supporting LGBTQ+ infrastructure and advocacy in Eastern Kentucky. He currently serves on the Boards of the Appalachian Impact Fund, Commonwealth Alliance Donor Table, Appalachian Arts Alliance, and is a Fellow of the Appalachian Leadership Institute (2022-2023).
Jeff Fugate
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Jeff Fugate is an Associate Professor in the UK School of Architecture, where he co-leads the community-outreach projects, Studio Appalachia and Studio Louisville an
Fugate has a two-decade career in community development and affordable housing development prior to joining academia. His current outreach focuses on community-engaged design solutions for contemporary social, housing, and climate-related challenges. He is currently in the process of launching the Housing Solutions Lab in support of Cooperative Extension.
Fugate holds degrees in Geography and Urban Planning from the University of Kentucky and MIT.
Rebekah Radtke
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Rebekah Radtke is an Associate Professor in the School of Interiors at the University of Kentucky College of Design. She is a University Research Professor (2024) and a Chellgren Endowed Professor (2023-2026). She received her Bachelor of Arts in Interior Design at UK and Master of Architecture from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Radtke joined UK as an Instructor in 2011 and Assistant Professor in 2013.
Radtke’s research investigates design pathways exploring sustainable climatic futures in the post-mining territories of Appalachia. She uses community-centric co-design processes in support of climate-responsive communities in Southeastern Kentucky and communities worldwide. The impacts of her work are through international partnership development and research collaborations in post-extraction territories.
Radtke collaboratively founded Global x Appalachia and Studio Appalachia to lead these endeavors which have been grant funded from entities including the National Endowment for the Arts, chronicled in articles, book chapters, and presented locally and internationally. Her collaborative work more broadly includes pedagogical projects in China, design-build projects in Brazil, sustainability research in South Africa, community-activated interventions in Southeastern Kentucky and experiential learning design initiatives in Lexington, Ky. Her scholarship seeks to build transformative connections through impactful collaborations and bring interior design principles to a broader audience.
Brent Sturlaugson
Assistant Professor
Morgan State University
School of Architecture & Planning
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Brent Sturlaugson is a licensed architect and assistant professor in the School of Architecture and Planning at Morgan State University, where he teaches graduate design studios and is the faculty director of the Built Environment Applied Research Lab. His work examines the materiality of architecture through its supply chain of production, with an emphasis on sites impacted by extraction in its many forms. Sturlaugson received a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Oregon and a Master of Environmental Design from the Yale School of Architecture, and he has previously taught at the University of Kentucky.