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Elizabeth's Background

Family background

[Market House, downtown Fayetteville.] I grew up in Fayetteville, North Carolina and have lived in Maryland for over 25 years. Almost all of my family is in North Carolina. From what I know, most of my immigrant ancestors came from Scotland and England, some from Wales, and maybe one or two from Ireland and Germany. They came to North Carolina and Virginia, and most had arrived by 1801. One of my ancestors built Greensboro's McNairy House.

[The Isle of Jura is shaped like a lazy script-J. ] The surname Buie is Scottish, from the Gaelic buidhe, meaning "yellow" or "golden" (no doubt you've heard of Drambuie, "the golden drink"), and comes from the Hebridean Isle of Jura, about 80 km west of Glasgow. Here on the west side of the Pond, we usually pronounce our name "BOO-ee." That's probably an Americanization; in the UK people tend to say "BYOO-ee." The name belongs to Clan Donald and is thought to be from MacIllibui, "son of the blond man," or from buidhe MacDonald, blond MacDonald. (I am nowhere near blonde, although my hair is getting lighter, what with all this gray. <grin>) Buies still live on Jura, but the records have been lost (I speculate it was to protect someone after the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745), so we have no idea what our specific ancestral connection might be.

(Note: I am not a genealogist, so please do not write to ask me about your ancestors. The only reason I know about mine is that someone else did the research.)

And just in case you were wondering — I do not consider myself Scottish, but American with a fair amount of Scottish ancestry. I feel a connection with Scotland, partly because of my ancestry and partly because I feel very comfortable there. If you're curious, you might take a look at an article I wrote about my first trip to Jura.

Educational background

I've got bachelor and master of science degrees in mathematics and a master of arts in human development, which is sort of like educational psychology (anyhow, it's in the College of Education). I spent my undergraduate time at North Carolina State University (where I also got my first master's), and that is where my heart is. Although the University of Maryland (where I got my second master's) is a very fine school, I attended part time and never lived on campus, and I never felt any real identification with the university. NCSU will always be my alma mater.

I also have two professional certificates: