Richard Finkelstein, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and professor of English, presented “Jefferson and Shakespeare” at the annual meetings of the Shakespeare Association of America, held during late March in New Orleans. He was assisted in his research by Andrew Muchnick, a junior majoring in history.
Registrar’s Office Presents at AACRAO Annual Meeting
Rita Dunston and Kevin Caffrey, Registrar’s Office, presented at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) Annual Meeting. The presentation titled Social? We Can Be Social! discussed how to utilize social media to not only change the reputation of your office on campus but to also disseminate information to students in a “new” way. AACRAO’s mission is “to provide professional development, guidelines and voluntary standards to be used by higher education officials regarding best practices in records management, admissions, enrollment management, information technology and student services.”
Brewer Presents at Mid-America Theatre Conference
Cate Brewer, lecturer in the department of theatre and dance, presented a paper at the Mid-America Theatre Conference for the eighth consecutive year this March. The Mid-America Theatre Conference is an annual conference of theatre academics and practitioners, celebrating the craft and discipline of theatre in America.
Barrenechea Appointed IAU College Resident Fellow in Aix-en-Provence, France
Antonio Barrenechea, associate professor of English, has been appointed the Institute for American Universities College Resident Fellow, Aix-en-Provence, France, for the academic year 2016-17. His residency will coincide with a sabbatical project on how the South American underground cinema reinvents Hollywood and European “trash” and avant-garde film sources.
Richards Presents at Southern Literature Conference
Gary Richards, associate professor of English and chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, presented the paper “From Hairspray to Hamilton: Productions of Southernness in the Contemporary Broadway Musical” at the Society for the Study of Southern Literature Conference, themed “The South in the North,” that met in Boston on March 10-12.
Powers Publishes Book
Scott Powers’ book Confronting Evil: The Psychology of Secularization in Modern French Literature was published by Purdue University Press.
Barrenechea Surveys Career of Thomas Pynchon
Antonio Barrenechea, associate professor of English, recently published the retrospective review essay “Thomas Pynchon, Literary Giant.” It is the lead essay in an issue on “Big Novels” for American Book Review 37.2 (2016).
Mathur Presents on Shakespeare and Riot
Maya Mathur, associate professor and associate chair of the Department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, presented the paper “Riotous Genres” at the annual conference of the Shakespeare Association of America, which was held in New Orleans from March 24-26, 2016. Her paper was part of a seminar on “Shakespeare and Riot.”
Lorentzen Presents Talk at NMLA
Eric Lorentzen, associate professor of English, presented a talk at this year’s Northeastern Modern Language Association, held in Hartford, Conn., March 17-20, titled “Is Teaching Sherlock Holmes as an Undergraduate Literature Course Too ‘Elementary?'” In this talk, he was able to share, with Victorian and Modernist colleagues from across the country, the pedagogical philosophies and praxes that he has employed in his Sherlock Holmes course for UMW in the department of English, Linguistics, and Communication, as well as an argument about the necessary cultural studies approach that this topic requires.
Hydorn Elected Councilor for CUR
Debra Hydorn, professor of mathematics, was recently elected to a three-year term as Councilor for the Mathematics & Computer Science division of the Council on Undergraduate Research. Councilors are the governing body of CUR and set policy and develop programs for the organization.