William B. Crawley, Jr., professor of history emeritus and director of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series, will appear on WFVA’s talk show “Community Link” on Sunday, Jan. 20. The interview will air at 8 a.m. on 1230 AM or online at http://www.wfvaradio.com/Community-Link/11021682.
In the interview, Crawley discusses the upcoming season of the Chappell Great Lives Lecture Series and explains how the series has evolved over its 10-year history.
The Creative Writing Concentration of the Department of English, Linguistics & Communication invites you to our first reading of the spring 2013 semester:
Lee Zacharias, professor emerita at UNC Greensboro, will be reading from her new novel, “At Random” (Fugitive Poets Press) on Thursday, Jan. 31 at 5 p.m. in Combs Hall, Room 139. A book signing and reception will follow the reading.
Zacharias is the author of “Lessons,” a novel, and a short story collection, “Helping Muriel Make It through the Night.” She has published numerous essays, short stories and photographs, and is the recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the North Carolina Arts Council.
On a rainy November night in 1991, Guy Ferrin and his wife, Eva Summer, are on their way home from an opera when a nine-year-old Montagnard boy runs in front of their car. Although his blood alcohol measures well below the legal limit, Guy is charged with felony death by motor vehicle. In luminous prose “At Random” reveals the complex mix of old vulnerabilities and new resilience in both characters, who badly want to do the right thing even as Guy’s case is sensationalized in the media and bungled through the judicial system, his guilt and sorrow turn to anger, and her relationship with their own son becomes erratic, alternately over-protective and resentful of the middle-class privilege he doesn’t appreciate. When the victim’s brother comes to them seeking ‘American insurance’ to help his sister escape an abusive marriage, Eva is drawn into the local community of Montagnard refugees. Compellingly real and beautifully told, “At Random” is at once the story of a middle-aged couple struggling to maintain their values, their marriage, and an increasingly tenuous hold on the middle class and the tale of a refugee family caught between a younger generation’s desire to assimilate and the older generation’s drive to preserve their own culture.
“Though the central dramatic incident that drives this novel is about as tragic as you can imagine, ‘At Random’ is filled with moments of tenderness and grace. It’s also a page turner in the very best sense: we want to know not only what happened, but how it will effect these characters, who are as complicated and flawed as the world they inhabit. ‘At Random’ is so satisfying because it refuses to sugarcoat the various ways in which our existence is precarious, our time limited, and our need to compromise–in life and in love–vital to our survival.”
— Michael Parker, author of “The Watery Part of the World,” “If You Want Me to Stay,” and “Virginia Lovers.” Parker is the recipient of the Hobson Award for Arts and Letters, and the North Carolina Award for Literature, among other honors.
This reading is sponsored by the Department of English, Linguistics & Communication and The Writing Center/WI Program and the Arrington Professor of Poetry.
For other readings this semester, please see the attached calendar.
The University of Mary Washington is currently updating its 2008 Hazard Mitigation Plan in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). By being a disaster resistant university and completing a mitigation plan update, the university will be eligible for post-disaster reimbursement through FEMA’s Public Assistance Program.
The 2013 draft Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment chapter, as well as the University Profile, and Capability Assessment chapters are available for your review in the Emergency Management and Safety Office located in Brent Hall. Please send any and all comments to Ruth Lovelace, Director of Emergency Management and Safety, by Friday, Feb. 1 at rlovelac@umw.edu.
Per FEMA requirements governing mitigation plan development, the Emergency Management and Safety Office will be hosting a Mitigation Actions Development public outreach meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 6 from 11 a.m. to noon in the conference room located in Brent Hall. The actions developed at this meeting will be based on the information presented in these draft sections. Please join us as we develop new mitigation actions for the 2013 University of Mary Washington Hazard Mitigation Plan Update.
The UMW College of Business will present “What (Not) to Wear” on Thursday, Jan. 31 from 7 to 9 p.m. in Monroe Hall, Room 116. The session, open to all UMW students, will explore proper attire for various situations, including job interviews, networking activities and career fairs.
For more information, contact Nichole Phillips, professor in the College of Business, at tphilli3@umw.edu.
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the university’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, is co-author of a book chapter, “Mass Media and Policymaking,” published in the Routledge Handbook of Public Policy. The chapter grew out of a research project that originated during Farnsworth’s time as a Canada-US Fulbright Scholar at McGill University in Montreal.
