March 29, 2024

Great Lives Series Starts in January

UMW will present its 2012 Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series beginning in January and running through April. The popular program, which will examine the lives of a wide range of intriguing historical figures, is open to the public free of charge. The lectures will be held at 7:30 p.m. in George Washington Hall’s Dodd Auditorium on selected Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

The series begins Tuesday, January 24, with a lecture on Kurt Vonnegut by Charles J. Shields, associate director of the Great Lives Series. Shields is the author of the recently released “And So It Goes: Kurt Vonnegut, A Life,” the first full-length biography of Vonnegut. The book has been nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Shields also is the author of “Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee,” the bestselling biography of the author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

The 2012 series will continue with lectures on major figures such as Christopher Columbus, Marquis de Lafayette, Marie Curie and the Wright brothers. The recent biographers of Aaron Burr, Noah Webster, Clarence Darrow and Marie and Pierre Curie also will present lectures.

For more information or for a complete listing of lectures, contact the Office of Events and Conferencing at (540) 654-1065 or visit www.umw.edu/greatlives.

About Brynn Boyer

Brynn Boyer is assistant director of media and public relations and a 2010 graduate of UMW.