Dr. Ellen Kanervo has led the Clarksville Arts & Heritage Development Council as executive director since 2010.  As an Austin Peay State University professor emerita of mass communication, Kanervo has a distinguished record of teaching, research and service as a faculty member, representing Austin Peay State University in Leadership Clarksville, and serving on the planning committee for Tennessee Women in Higher Education annual convention, 1996-97. Kanervo also has an outstanding record of service to the community and was named a Volunteer of the Year in 2010 by Mayor Johnny Piper. She has served on many Clarksville nonprofit boards, including the Roxy Regional Theatre and the Urban Ministries. Since her retirement from APSU in 2007, she has edited or co-edited five books dealing with Clarksville’s history, includingThe Diary of Nannie Haskins Williams: A Southern Woman’s Story of Rebellion and Reconstruction, 1863-1890 and The Diary of Serepta Jordan: A Southern Woman’s Struggle with War and Family, 1857-1864.