Professor of History Jeffrey McClurken’s interview with radio program “With Good Reason” will be featured a second time from Saturday, Sept. 12 to Friday, Sept. 18. The interview, called “Gone With the Wind, The Patriot, Born on the Fourth of July,” discusses what viewers can learn about history through how popular historical films are produced, even when the films themselves are often historically inaccurate. The interview first aired Dec. 13-19. Broadcast times can be found here.
McClurken to Co-Chair AHA Digital History Working Group
Jeffrey McClurken, professor of history and American studies and special assistant to the provost, has been named as Co-Chair of the American Historical Association’s newly created Digital History Working Group. The group, created to help history departments and faculty navigate the tenure and promotion process with regard to digital scholarship, “will be available to advise departments considering these issues, help them define their own guidelines, and recommend external reviewers.” In addition, the group “will also develop materials to provide further guidance for departments, such as…a curated gallery of ongoing digital scholarship so that historians can learn directly from one another as they conceive, build, and interpret new forms of scholarship.” For more detail, including the rest of the Working Group and the AHA’s new guidelines on Evaluating Digital Projects, see here.
Aminrazavi Publishes Article on Religious Tolerance
Mehdi Aminrazavi, professor of philosophy and religion, published the article “Religious Tolerance” in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Philosophy of Religion (279-287), edited by Graham Oppy and released April 2015.
Rafferty Publishes Essay in Anthology Devoted to Video Game
Colin Rafferty, associate professor of English, recently published the essay “Washington Bullets” in Enter Your Initials for Record Keeping, an anthology of essays about the video game “NBA Jam.” The collection was issued by Cobalt Books. Rafferty also read the essay at a book release event in Baltimore in July.
Cox 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: Leah Cox
Faculty Liaison for: Field Hockey
Years at UMW: 14
Position/Title: Special Assistant to the President for Diversity and Inclusion
What was your favorite sport growing up? Briefly describe your favorite memory playing or watching it. I played volleyball in high school and for a short time in college. As someone who had not played until high school, I remember learning the true technique of playing the sport and realizing how difficult it was and how much physical conditioning and strength was needed to play well. The sport looked so easy, until you actually learned how to play. I realized nothing is ever as easy as it seems.
Where is your favorite place around town to get a bite to eat? I am a true ice cream lover… so any place that serves a good chocolate milkshake is where you will find me.
If you could pick one super power to have, what would it be and why? The ability to freeze or manipulate time. I could either prevent some things from happening, or create more time in the day to get more done.
Other than the sport you partnered with, what is your next favorite sport and why? I am a big baseball fanatic. Growing up, I lived just a few blocks from Memorial stadium, the first home of the Baltimore Orioles. As a young adult, I lived just a few blocks from Camden Yards where I could hear the roar of the crowd on any given evening. My father use to share stories of past baseball heroes and my godfather was a player in the Negro Leagues. It became even more fun as my son also played baseball from the time he was 5 until now.
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? Persevere, Teamwork and Respect.
What does a great leader look like to you? Great leaders are humble. They are strong and confident, and they know they don’t always have to be the one in front; they don’t have to prove that they are smart and talented. They know they will learn more and be able to lead better when they listen to others, exhibit patience, and wait for others to finish before speaking. These are individuals who not only exhibit humility, but they believe it. They don’t have to talk about the great things they have done, we see it. They don’t have to blame others for their mistakes, they accept them and they learn from their mistakes. A great leader will be the person whose confidence and strength will help others achieve their goals and lead their team to become successful.
What is a must read for UMW Student-Athletes? Ender’s Game.
What is the best advice you have ever heard given to a college graduate? Find what you love the most and then pursue it with all your heart.
Finally, if you were hanging out on Ball Circle picking the brains of four professional/famous athletes (living or deceased), who would they be? Jackie Robinson, Serena Williams, Cal Ripken and Gabby Douglas.
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.
Mathur Publishes Article on Late-Sixteenth-Century Play
Maya Mathur, associate professor of English, recently published an article entitled “Rebellion from Below: Commonwealth and Community in The Life and Death of Jack Straw.” The article appeared in Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 45.2 (May 2015): 343-365.
Cooperman Featured in U.S. News & World Report’s Debate Club
Rosalyn Cooperman, associate professor of political science, authored an analysis of the Aug. 6 Republican presidential nominees’ debate for U.S. News and World Report’s Debate Club. Professor Cooperman’s piece may be accessed here: http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/who-did-the-best-at-the-gops-first-debate.
Foss Publishes Article on Indian English-Language Poetry and the Irish Question
This summer, Professor of English Chris Foss published an article entitled “Fin-de-Siècle Indian English-Language Poetry: British Imperialism, India, and the Irish Question” in English Literature in Transition, 1880-1920. Now in its 58th year, ELT is one of the most established venues for scholarly work on literature from the late Victorian, Edwardian, and early Modernist periods.
In this article, Foss details how three Indian English-language poets living and publishing in India during the 1890s—Avadh Behari Lall, Aurobindo Ghose, and Romesh Chunder Dutt—wrote in support of Irish Home Rule, and how their work meaningfully counters the orientalist assumption/insistence that Indian English-language poetry limit itself to exclusively Indian contexts/foci. Such an international scope, while complementary to the more properly local focus of most Indian anti-imperialist agendas, significantly reveals the extent to which their poetry contained a cosmopolitan component that ultimately cannot be reduced to some sort of partial engagement with Irish nationalism merely as a means of covertly commenting on India. Their work suggests the global reach of Indian English-language poetry, displaying a broad range of responses to the Irish Question while offering truly penetrating individual insights into the nature of imperial rule and the politics of British imperialism beyond the “borders” of the Indian subcontinent.
Farnsworth Speaks to International Media Group
Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the University’s Center for Leadership and Media Studies, recently gave a lecture entitled, “Evaluating Public Opinion Polls: A Brief Introduction to Survey Research,” in Washington for the Macedonia Media Leaders Program (MMLP), an international journalism initiative sponsored by the International Research & Exchanges Board.
Pineda’s Recent Poems Featured Over Summer
Jon Pineda, assistant professor of English and acting coordinator of the concentration in creative writing, has had four poems recently featured in high-profile venues of publication. “Translation” was one of the featured “Father’s Day” poems on The Poetry Foundation’s “Poetry Off The Shelf” podcast: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/5250. “Cinque Terre” and “The Muse, or Stars Out on Interstate 81 South” were featured on The Poetry Foundation’s “Poem of the Day” for August 11, 2015: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/5330 and http://www.poetryfoundation.org/features/audioitem/5332.
Finally, “Daughter” was featured as part of the Academy of American Poets’ “Poem-A-Day” program on August 21: http://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/jon-pineda.