Shumona Dasgupta, assistant professor of English, presented the paper titled “Representing the Partition: Memory, Mourning and Trauma in Bengali Cinema” at the Mid-Atlantic Popular and American Culture Association’s annual conference held in Philadelphia Nov. 5-7, 2015.
Taylor-Schran Edits Melchers Book
Gari Melchers Home and Studio released a new pictorial book on the paintings of Gari Melchers. Edited by Susan Taylor-Schran ’75, Museum Shop and visitor services manager, Selected Works by Gari Melchers: From the Collection of the Gari Melchers Home and Studio, was released on December 1.
In response to numerous requests by visitors to the historic home and studio, Taylor-Schran edited and assembled the 100+ page full-color book, featuring more than 80 paintings in the Belmont Collection. With contributions from Joanna Catron, curator, and David Berreth, director, the book includes a biographical timeline of Melchers, as well as archival photographs.
Completed to accompany the 40th anniversary of Gari Melchers Home and Studio at Belmont opening to the public, the book is available only at the Museum Shop.
Farnsworth Presents Research on the Presidency
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently presented a research paper, “Studying the Presidency after 9/11: Re-considering Presidential Character in Domestic and International Contexts,” at the 9/11 and the Academy Conference at Emory & Henry College in Emory, Va.
Foss Presents Paper Celebrating the Work of Claudia Emerson
On Nov. 13, Professor of English Chris Foss presented a paper titled “‘The body’s own account’: Disease, Disability, Death and the Argument for Life in the Poetry of Claudia Emerson” at the South Atlantic Modern Language Association annual convention in Durham, N.C. The paper celebrates Claudia’s unflinching consideration of disease, disability and death in her most recently published book, Impossible Bottle, a work throughout which Claudia consistently refuses to airbrush the experience of pain and suffering while simultaneously refusing to succumb to despair.
Indeed, Impossible Bottle powerfully testifies to the meaningfulness and the value of all lives touched by disease, disability and death. Ultimately, Claudia discards any vision of some sort of final disconsolate decline in the face of a dogged disease like cancer, or some sort of defeatist surrender to a death without dignity, and instead gifts us all with a brilliant argument for life that not only envisions but also enacts a truly compelling embodiment of a heartening resilience that remains elastic, fresh and enlightening.
Scanlon Shares Paper on Great War Literature
Mara Scanlon, Professor of English, recently participated in the seminar “WW I: Reconsidering Rupture” at the 17th Annual Modernist Studies Association Conference. Her paper, “Mary Borden’s ‘Moonlight’: ‘A Crazy Hurting Dream,'” focused on the experimental war book The Forbidden Zone, written by Mary Borden, an American civilian who ran a hospital unit behind the front lines in World War I. The paper theorized the traumatic encounter with beauty, defined as an “abraded adjacency” in a revision of Elaine Scarry’s terminology from On Beauty and Being Just, which can shock the self from its protective mechanization in a time of violence. The Forbidden Zone is also included in Scanlon’s English class called Literature of the Great War.
Harris Presents Paper at Slavic Studies Conference in Philadelphia
Department of History and American Science Professor Steven E. Harris presented his paper, “The Soviet Martyrdom of an Aeroflot Stewardess in the Age of Détente,” at the 47th Annual Convention of the Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies in Philadelphia, Nov. 19-22, 2015. At this same conference, Harris was also a panelist on the roundtable titled “Motion & Urbanity: Visual Symbolism, Sites of Mobility & the Built Environment in the Tsarist and Soviet Empire,” where he discussed his current work on the history of Soviet airports.
Buster-Williams to Present at College Board Regional Forum
Kimberley Buster-Williams, associate provost for enrollment management, has been selected to present at College Board’s Southern Regional Forum in Orlando, Fla., on Feb. 17, 2016. Buster-Williams will be presenting with colleagues Dr. Katrina Myers-Caldwell and Diane Fuselier-Thompson. Dr. Katrina Myers-Caldwell is the Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Northern Illinois University. Dr. Caldwell has a track record of successful strategic planning and implementation of diversity programs at Chicago-area higher education institutions. Diane Fuselier-Thompson is a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her research focuses on the African American female narrative as it relates to persistence in engineering.
The conference session is titled, “We Check More Than One Racial Category. . . Are You Ready for Us?” and focuses on ways participants can become more knowledgeable about adjustment challenges that multiracial students face and ways to assists student affairs and admissions professionals with developing appropriate support services and outreach messages. Participants will also learn more about stories from Dartmouth College students featured in the book “Mixed-Multiracial College Students Tell Their Life Stories.”
The College Board connects students to college success and opportunity and was founded in 1900. Today, the membership association is made up of more than 6,000 of the world’s leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. The Southern Region serves students and educators in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.
Farnsworth Lectures on Gerrymandering in Virginia
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently gave a lecture entitled, “Virginia Politics 2015: Gerrymandering, Recent Elections and Public Opinion,” at the Annual Meeting of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government. The organization includes activists, politicians, government workers and journalists focused on strengthening public disclosure laws in the Old Dominion.
Bonds’ Research Spurs Interest in Iraq and Afghanistan War Pollution
Assistant Professor of Sociology Eric Bonds’ research has spurred public discussions of U.S. military pollution in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars in various media sources. Bonds was invited to discuss his research on the Nov. 15 radio show of “Middle East in Focus.” This research was also covered in separate articles run by Environmental Health News and Common Dreams Media.
Martinette Featured in Ultimate Subaru Spotlight
Each month, a UMW Athletics Faculty Liaison will be featured in the Ultimate Subaru Spotlight. The faculty liaison program partners a UMW faculty member with every UMW intercollegiate athletic team to strengthen support networks and increase resources for student-athlete success. Ultimate Subaru is committed to the growth and education of UMW Eagles, their hometown team and strives to foster the same values of community as the UMW Faculty Liaison program. Faculty Liaisons will serve as mentors and role models to student-athletes while being involved in team activities. For more information about the program contact Faculty Athletic Representative, Dr. Lynne Richardson.
Faculty Liaison’s Name: Louis Martinette
Sport: Men’s Basketball
Years at UMW: 11 years
Position/Title: Faculty—College of Business
What was your favorite sport growing up? Briefly describe your favorite memory playing or watching it. My favorite sport growing up was, and still is, basketball. I was privileged to play basketball in high school but my favorite memories came as a spectator and an observer of the sport in general. I have many favorite memories including my high school basketball team coming from 16 points down in the fourth quarter to win the state championship and my college (Old Dominion University) winning a Division II National Championship (1975). But each year when the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship begins I often get two or three new favorite moments on the first day but none as personal and special as the two mentioned above.
Where is your favorite place around town to get a bite to eat? My schedule does not permit me much time to enjoy the finer eateries in Fredericksburg but my restaurant of choice in Richmond is Deep Run Roadhouse.
If you could pick one super power to have, what would it be and why? I do not know if Marvel or DC have ever come up with this one but I would like to have the ability to read and retain information at lightning speed and to be able to organize and share that knowledge effectively and efficiently.
Other than the sport you partnered with, what is your next favorite sport and why? Football, because it requires both brute strength and an in depth knowledge of strategy in motion. And let’s not forget about tailgating!
If you were a Head Coach and could pick three words to motivate your team and hang in their locker room which words would you choose? To borrow from Bill Russell’s (former Boston Celtic great) description of Red Auerback as a coach: “His methods were thoughtful, innovative, and fluid, and always geared to the team over any one player. Yet he found ways to inspire trust and confidence in each of us separately. He could talk to a player two or three times and he would know how to talk to him from then on.”
Each coach must be their own person with their own style but the three words I would chose to motivate a team (from Russell’s description of Auerback) would be for them to be “thoughtful, innovative, and fluid” with the caveat that it was “always the team over any one player.” In my view, this applies to most successful organizational settings. Anyone purporting to be a leader who does not inspire teamwork is not a leader.
What does a great leader look like to you? Leaders come in all shapes and sizes and “greatness” is often determined by an individual’s reaction to circumstance. Greatness in a leader, in my view, goes back to the three words noted above: “thoughtful, innovative, and fluid” with the caveat that it was “always the team over any one player.” Most importantly, it is the team over the leader because successful leadership is more often than not selfless.
What is a must read for UMW Student-Athletes? I would recommend several books for student athletes (as well as all other students) to read:
a. “Red and Me: My Coach and Lifelong Friend” by Bill Russell;
b. “Second Wind” by Bill Russell and Taylor Branch
c. “My Losing Season” by Pat Conroy
d. “Let Me Tell You A Story” by John Feinstein and Red Auerbach
e. “When The Game Was Ours” by Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson with Jackie MacMullan
f. “The Innovators” by Walter Isaacson
What is the best advice you have ever heard given to a college graduate? Dr. Marcia Brand, Executive Director of NIIOH, said this in her 2015 commencement address at ODU: “Be kind to each other in the workplace. It is important to be a trusted, respectful, and supportive colleague. Listen, be kind, and model the behavior you want to see in your colleagues. The result is a more collaborative and productive workplace.”
Finally, if you were hanging out on Ball Circle picking the brains of four professional/famous athletes (living or deceased), who would they be? Bill Russell, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, and John Wooden (I’ll take the fifth and also name Vince Lombardi). From what I know of these individuals, they are very different in terms of their personalities. I would like to discover the common trait that made them all winners.
Ultimate Subaru, celebrating 10 years of service to the Fredericksburg community, is proud to be a supporter of UMW athletics. Call Ultimate Subaru today at (540) 898-6200 or come on in and visit us at 5160 Jefferson Davis Hwy, near Four Mile Fork. Find us online at www.driveultimatesubaru.com.
