Author: Brynn Boyer

A rare 1537 book from Simpson Library’s Special Collections holdings is currently on loan to the University of Virginia Art Museum for its exhibit, “Variety, Archeology, and Ornament: Renaissance Architectural Prints from Column to Cornice.” Titled “Regole generali di architetture sopra le cinque maniere degli edifice,” the book is written by the renowned Italian architect Sebastiano Serlio.

The exhibit focuses on the crucial role of prints in the transition from manuscript to printed architectural treatises during the Renaissance. Along with the library’s loan and the museum’s own holdings, the curators selected pieces from various other repositories, such as The Art Institute of Chicago, Metropolitan Museum of Art and Yale Center for British Art, noting that “the exhibition affords a unique opportunity for the study of rare books and prints drawn from several national libraries.” The exhibition will be on view at the University of Virginia Art Museum through December 18, 2011.

For more information about the exhibit, visit http://www.virginia.edu/artmuseum/on_view/exhibitions/Variety_Archeology_Ornament.php

University of Mary Washington faculty member Mukesh Srivastava has been selected to receive a Fulbright Specialist grant for 2011-12. Srivastava, associate dean of the College of Business and associate professor of management information systems, will spend the month of October in Tunisia to develop a graduate program in management and information technology for the Tunis Business School at Tunis University. He is the first faculty member of the College of Business to receive a Fulbright award.

As a recipient of the Fulbright Specialist grant, Srivastava will work with Tunis Business School faculty to refine and implement a new master’s program in information technology. His work at Tunis University will strengthen connections between Tunisia and the United States, allowing for future collaborations including student exchanges, abroad programs and visiting faculty.

Read the full news release.

Topic of Discussion: What is Social Justice?

Purpose:  Engage students, faculty, and staff to discuss issues of social justice together in an informal setting

When: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 @ 12:00 noon

Where: Woodard Campus Center, Meeting Room 4

Please e-mail Matthew Johnson (mjohns22@umw.edu) to suggest a topic of discussion for future lunches and volunteer to lead a session.

Questions?

Please contact the James Farmer Multicultural Center

(540) 654-1044

Jim Groom, instructional technology specialist, presented the closing plenary at Elon University’s 8th Annual Teaching and Learning Conference on August 18, 2011. His presentation “Independent Domains – Thresholds to Teaching and Learning on the Open Web” featured the innovative work being done by faculty and students at UMW in regards to teaching and learning technologies. Following is an excerpt of the positive reception of the session from Elon University’s Teaching and Learning Center blog as well as the slides and audio from his presentation.

In the closing plenary, Jim Groom, in a lively display of humor and insight, posited that independent domains and open web tools provide students, faculty, and people outside the university from all walks of life and around the world opportunities to express, exhibit, and be discovered online with the encumbrance of institutional rules and regulations. He described how MWU [sic] applied simple blog technology (WordPress MU) to create a living nexus of business, information, and highly creative self-expression. The platform also enabled unprecedented participation in open courses by people from around the world.

Groom also published a piece on the problems of learning management systems in the crowdsourced book published by the University of Michigan Library titled Hacking the Academy.

This volume was assembled and edited by Dan Cohen and Tom Scheinfeldt of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University from the best of over 300 submissions received during a spirited week when the two editors actively solicited ideas for how the academy could be beneficially reformed using digital media and technology. For more on the unusual way this book was put together, please start with Cohen and Scheinfeldt’s preface.

http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs008/1102287104151/archive/1107120084930.html