Janna Scarborough has been at ETSU since 2006 and is currently the chair of the Department of Human Services. This department that recently been ranked among the best 25 online human services programs in the country.
Prior to her time here, Scarborough was a counselor educator at Syracuse University for four years and she received her doctorate in Counselor education at the University of Virginia.
She grew up in Montana and has lived in seven different states. In high school she knew that she wanted to work with children in mental health. This led her to the School of Counseling at Western Carolina University where she received her masters. She then worked for four years as an elementary school counselor and a year as a middle school counselor.
After her experience in the school system Scarborough decided that she wanted to help educate other future counselors.
“I figured that if I got into the profession of teaching others how to be counselors then I would indirectly have more of an impact on the kids,” said Scarborough.
She has a dog and a cat that she adores. Her hobbies are golf, running, and hiking. She has recently taking up tai-chi.
Her philosophy on life is that it’s all about making a connection with others and thus has been involved in the black and white dialogue in Johnson City.
This is an organization that meets in downtown Johnson City to discuss how people in the community can better understand each other.
“Right now I’m focused on how to make things easier for girls, women, people of color and the LGBTQ community. I’m focused on how I can make a difference in terms of equality particularly for those groups,” Scarborough said.
Scarborough enjoys watching the downtown Johnson City and ETSU grow as a community.
“From the moment I got here in 2006 I have really appreciated the people. I can call so many and have very personal conversations with people. It feels like a community here.”
Scarbourgh believes that ETSU faculty and staff are striving to develop ways that ETSU can grow to serve its mission better.
