Author: Brynn Boyer

On Sunday, August 5, Gary Richards, assistant professor of English, presented a paper, “Statues, Stories, and Hominy Grits: The Light in the Piazza, Grey Gardens, and the Complicating of the United States South in the Contemporary American Musical,” at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference in Washington, D.C. The paper was part of a panel entitled “Broadway Musicals as Sites of American Identities and American Histories.”

Richards also was the University of Mary Washington’s chapter delegate to the Forty-Third Triennial Council of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, which met in Palm Beach, Fla., Thursday, August 2 through Saturday, August 4.

Professor of Philosophy and Religion Mehdi Aminrazavi’s article chapter “He Who Knows Himself, Knows His Lord: Reflections on Avicenna’s Suspended Man Argument” appears in “The Judeo-Christian-Islamic Heritage: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives.” The book, published by Marquette University Press in June 2012, is edited by Richard C. Taylor and Irfan A. Omar.

Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies, was co-author of a research paper entitled, “Scientific Assessments of Climate Change Information in News and Entertainment Media,” which was published in the August 2012 issue of Science Communication.

Election of officers was held Sunday, July 22, at the Board of Visitors retreat.  By unanimous vote, the following members were elected to serve on the Executive Committee of the Board of Visitors:

Rector:  Pamela J. White ‘74
Vice Rector:  Holly T. Cuellar ’89
Secretary:  Xavier R. Richardson

At Large Members:
Daniel K. Steen ‘84
Joseph R. Wilson

The Rector, Vice Rector and Secretary will serve two-year terms from 2012 to 2014. The at-large members will each serve one-year terms from 2012 to 2013.

By unanimous vote, President Hurley’s contract was extended through June 30, 2015.

On Friday, July 20, Will Mackintosh, assistant professor of history and American studies, presented a paper entitled “Mechanical Aesthetics: Picturesque Tourism and the Transportation Revolution ” at the Society for Historians of the Early American Republic Conference in Baltimore.  This paper was presented as part of a panel about rethinking 19th-century US transportation technology from a cultural and experiential perspective.