WEST VIRGINIA WONDER WOMEN
MEGAN TARBETT The Librarian DJ
Megan Tarbett is the director of the Putnam County Library System and, as such, she spends every day bringing her community together through the library programming that Putnam County has to offer. She and her team provide activities for all age groups a few times a month. “We take pride in planning something for everyone,” Tarbett explains, and the staff is always thinking of ways to implement new ideas and activities. Tarbett not only brings her community together with books, but she also stands in service to her community through her participation in many organizations—like the West Virginia Humanities Council, where she serves as vice president. She is also the immediate past president of the West Virginia Library Association. She enjoys being a part of these boards. “It’s important to not only make my library system a success, but to work together with other library systems and library directors to make libraries throughout the state a success. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.” She is also a founder of the Mardi Bras annual event, and she works weekend shifts on Electric 102.7—a librarian DJ. MM
JENNIFER ROBERTSON-HONECKER Making the Best Better
MARIE REDD Cabell “Can-Do” After working as a senior account representative at IBM for almost 20 years, Marie Redd switched gears. She became a professor in the Criminal Justice Department at Marshall University and, in 1998, was presented with an unexpected opportunity—to run for the West Virginia Senate. Redd won, becoming the first
Jennifer Robertson-Honecker is a first-generation college student from Harrison County. After earning her Bachelor of Arts in secondary education from Fairmont State University, she taught science in the public school system. She went on to earn her doctorate in chemistry from West Virginia University and, in her previous role as a teaching assistant professor of chemistry, she empowered elementary education majors to implement STEM activities in their own classrooms. In her current position as an associate professor and STEM specialist for WVU Extension Service’s 4-H Youth Development Program, Robertson- Honecker’s outreach extends beyond the classroom and directly to youth. Each year, she takes accessible science programming to thousands of students in rural communities. When the pandemic cancelled youth events across the state, she and her colleagues ran virtual coding clubs for more than 300 third through eighth graders. She calls this work “sneaky science.” In 2018 and 2019, Robertson-Honecker’s work was nationally
recognized as part of the 4-H National Youth Science Day Challenge. Working directly with Google and National 4-H, she created the computer science projects Code Your World and Game Changes , which
Black woman elected to the West Virginia Senate and the first female senator from Cabell County. The Huntington native comes from a politically active family, and her “can-do” attitude allowed her to serve her Cabell County constituents. Today, she is the social security advocate at The Redd Law Firm, where she works with her husband, attorney William L. Redd. She is an active member of the Beta Tau Omega Chapter of the service- centered sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha as well as a member of the League of Women Voters, the Cabell County Democratic Women’s Association, and the Huntington Chapter of The Links, Incorporated. “My future is still community-oriented,” Redd says. “The community is just an extension of my family.” And it’s Redd’s family that she views as her greatest accomplishment. She is the proud mother of two grown children and grandmother to three teenage grandchildren. JC
reached 500,000 youth. She is also the director WVU
STEMCARE, oversees the University’s STEM Ambassador Program,
and coordinates signature STEM
events, such as the State Science Bowl, for WVU. JC
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