The University of Mary Washington will host a panel of Freedom Riders for a Great Lives Lecture Series discussion on Thursday, March 31 as part of three days of events honoring the 1961 Freedom Rides that challenged segregated interstate bus travel in the Deep South.
The annual Topher Bill Scholarship Auction is open for bidding until Wednesday, March 30 at 10 p.m. Check out the website at http://auction.umwchandler.net.
Items available for auction range from yummy—a tray of baklava, a chocolate tart or a sherry cake—to relaxing—a two-night stay for two at the Mt. Washington (N.H.) Bed and Breakfast. What’s more, psychology professors have offered to open their homes to serve a home-cooked meal for up to five students.
Check out the array of things available for bidding at http://auction.umwchandler.net/items.
Bidding is open to all. The Department of Psychology hopes that by going online this year, participation in the auction will increase.
Donations can be made directly to the Topher Bill Memorial Scholarship Fund by sending a check payable to the UMW Foundation and noting that it is for the Psychology Topher Bill Scholarship.
J. Christopher “Topher” Bill joined Mary Washington as an assistant professor of psychology in 1972. Specializing in perception, sports, law and statistics, he was beloved by colleagues and students when he passed away suddenly in 2001. Faculty and students established the Topher Bill Scholarship to honor his dedication to academic excellence, to his department and his students.
For more information, contact Jean Bennett (jbennett@umw.edu, 654-1054) or Debra Cowart Steckler (dsteckle@umw.edu, 654-1559).
White House Photo Archivist Janet Philips ’77 will give the lecture “Documenting the White House from the Wings” on Monday, March 28 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. in Chandler Hall, Room 102. Her talk will include a slideshow presentation about personal experiences over the past 23 years at the White House. The talk is free and open to the public. For more information, call (540) 654-1341 or maminraz@umw.edu.
A religion major at Mary Washington, Philips worked as photo librarian at the Washington Post from 1978 to 1987 and later at U.S. News and World Report. She earned a Master of Science in library science from Catholic University in 1988. That year, she joined the White House staff as photo archivist and has worked there since.
Following her lecture, Philips will participate in a Career Afternoon event in the Department of Classics, Philosophy and Religion in Trinkle Hall. Other participants will be P.G. Katsourakis, ’07, analyst with GeoData Corp., and Patrick Shepherd, ’04, who works in the public sector in ethics, compliance and continuing education.
The Philips lecture and the Career Afternoon are sponsored by the Department of Classics, Philosophy and Religion.
“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” will open at Klein Theatre on Thursday, March 31 and will run through Sunday, April 17. Shows will be performed at 8 p.m. on March 31 through April 2, April 7 through April 9 and April 14 through April 16 and at 2 p.m. on April 3, 10 and 17. An AfterWords post-performance discussion will be held on April 3. Tickets cost $20 for general admission, $16 for students and senior citizens. For more information, call (540) 654-1111.
Read more at http://www.umw.edu/cas/theatre/current_season/spelling_bee1.php.
Emile Lester, assistant professor of political science and international affairs, wrote a March 21 guest blog post for the Washington Post about whether religion can be taught in public schools. He finds hope for improving civil discourse on religion through an innovative course offered in the Modesto, Calif., public school system. Check out Lester’s blog post at http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/political-bookworm/post/a-path-to-religion-in-the-classroom/2011/03/08/ABwNKy7_blog.html.
In addition, Lester has the forthcoming book “Teaching about Religions: A Democratic Approach for Public Schools,” which is due for release soon by the University of Michigan Press. Visit http://press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do;jsessionid=96706B2E5A1D7240FDFF52E73627E189?id=2180004 to learn more.
The publisher’s summary of Lester’s book says, “Frequent news stories about the debates waged between secularists and religious conservatives have convinced most Americans that public schools must choose between promoting respect for religious minorities and respecting the interests of conservative Christians. As a result, public schools fail to teach students about the meaning and value of protecting religious liberty and consequently perpetuate mistrust across the cultural divide, further empower extremists, and obscure the fact that most Americans of all religious backgrounds share a commitment to basic democratic principles.”
“In response, the public schools in the religiously diverse and divided community of Modesto, California, have introduced a widely acclaimed required world religions course. Drawing on groundbreaking research on the creation of and response to the Modesto course as well as on political philosophy, Emile Lester advocates a civic approach to teaching about religion in public schools that at once emphasizes respect for all views about religion and provides a special recognition of conservative Christian beliefs.”
Charles C. Haynes, the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center senior scholar, writes in an endorsement, “This provocative and timely book challenges Americans to rethink what it means to take democracy and religious freedom seriously in public education. Emile Lester takes the reader beyond culture war conflicts rooted in religious divisions and offers bold, new solutions for addressing our differences with fairness and robust toleration. Instead of battlegrounds, he argues, public schools can and should be places that include all voices in ways that prepare citizens to engage one another with civility and respect. “Teaching about Religions” is essential reading for all who care about the future of public schools—and the health of American democracy.”