T. K. Thorne to Deliver Keynote Address

T. K. Thorne has been passionate about storytelling and writing since she was a young girl, and that passion only deepened when she became a police officer. After completing a master’s in social work from The University of Alabama, Thorne served for more than two decades in the Birmingham police force, retiring as a precinct captain and then as the executive director of a downtown business improvement district focused on safety. Her books and essays include two award-winning historical novels (Noah’s Wife and Angels at the Gate); two nonfiction civil rights era works (Last Chance for Justice and Behind the Magic Curtain: Secrets, Spies, and Unsung White Allies of Birmingham’s Civil Rights Days); and a dally with murder, mystery, and magic in House of Rose, House of Stone, and House of Iron, the Magic City Stories trilogy. She enjoys traveling, gardening, martial arts, and painting and writes from her mountaintop home northeast of Birmingham, often with a dog and cat vying for her lap and horses hanging out in the yard.

T. K. Thorne will deliver the keynote address at the 2024 Alpha Chi National Convention in Birmingham, Alabama.

2024 Distinguished Alumnus Dr. Zac Imel

Alpha Chi has named Dr. Zac Imel, University of Utah Professor and Chief Science Officer of Lyssn.io, as its 2024 Distinguished Alumnus. Dr. Imel became a member of Alpha Chi during his undergraduate tenure at Westminster College (Fulton, MO). He went on to receive a master's degree in counseling psychology from the University of Missouri-Columbia in 2003, and a Ph.D. in counseling psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2009. Dr. Imel's research over the past decade has focused on the efficacy of mental health treatment, and his work of late entails examining the use of artificially intelligent software in improving mental health treatments. This work led him to found his own company, Lyssn.io, where the technology underlying the popular ChatGPT is used to help scale effective, evidence-based mental healthcare.

Dr. Imel will be honored during a special session at Alpha Chi's national convention in Birmingham, Alabama. He will deliver a keynote address and receive his award from Alpha Chi President Dr. Linda Cowan.