Steven E. Harris, associate professor in the Department of History and American Studies, co-chaired the conference, “Circulation, Translation, Transition,” which was held Oct. 10-12 at the Institute of Art History, Estonian Academy of Arts in Tallinn, Estonia. This was the second of three conferences of the Second World Urbanity project, for which Harris and Daria Bocharnikova (Harvard University) are the co-organizers. The conference in Tallinn examined the circulation of ideas and designs about urban architecture and planning throughout the Second World, as well as the fate of socialist cities after 1989/1991. Attendees also enjoyed a tour of Tallinn’s socialist past at the conclusion of the conference. In addition to co-organizing the conference, Harris presented his paper, “Soviet Airports and Second World Urbanity in the Jet Age,” which is based on his research for his current book project on the entangled histories of Aeroflot and Pan Am.
Aminrazavi Featured on the Cover of St. Joseph’s College Magazine
Medhi Aminrazavi, professor of classics, philosophy and religion on the cover of St. Joseph’s College Magazine
Mehdi Aminrazavi, professor of classics, philosophy and religion, was featured on the cover of St. Joseph’s College Magazine after serving as the Khatib Chair in Comparative Religious Studies at St. Joseph College for the past year. As part of this position, Aminrazavi gave a weekly lecture series on Shi’ism in Iran with two keynote presentations.
Jen Chiang Presents at ICM, Publishes Article
Yuan-Jen Chiang, Professor of Mathematics, presented a research paper “On Exponential Harmonic Maps” at the 2014 International Congress of Mathematicians (held every 4 years) in Seoul, South Korea. This paper has been accepted by Acta Mathematica Sinica.
She also published a joint research article “Remarks of Transversally f-Biharmonic Maps” (refereed) by the Society of Balkan Geometry in Europe.
Mackintosh Presents at History Workshop in Wales
Will Mackintosh, assistant professor of history, recently presented new work on the 19th century print culture of geographical knowledge at a small workshop entitled “Travel in the Marketplace” at the University of Bangor in Bangor, Wales.
Gupta Publishes Co-Authored Research Paper
Surupa Gupta, associate professor of Political Science and International Affairs, co-authored a research paper titled ” Indian foreign policy and coexistence: continuity and change in the post-cold war era.” This was recently published in de Coning, Mandrup and Odgaard (eds.), The BRICS and Coexistence: An Alternative Vision of World Order. Her co-author is Shibashis Chatterjee, Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India.
Foss Presents Paper at International Conference on Romanticism
Figure talking about Kasiprasad Ghosh
On Saturday, Sept. 27, Professor of English Chris Foss presented a paper at the annual meeting of the International Conference on Romanticism, held this year in Minneapolis, Minnesota. His talk was entitled “The (Western?) Mirror and(/or?) the (Eastern?) Lamp: Romantic Reflection, Rejection, and Revision in Kasiprasad Ghosh’s The Sháïr and Other Poems.” After begging forgiveness re: his embarrassing weakness for parentheses and question marks in titles, Foss argued that Ghosh’s Sháïr (1830), as the very first volume of English-language poems published by a Hindu writer, is an absolutely essential text to be accounted for within any full consideration of the international aspects of Romanticism in general and/or the question of Romantic reflections in particular. Along the way, he teased out some of the various possibilities whereby one may position Ghosh as uncritically reflecting back the British orientalist version of Indian poetry, carefully revising and subtly transforming orientalist poetics into a new hybrid expression, and/or ultimately rejecting orientalism in favor of a distinctly transgressive and properly Indian poetics of resistance. The theme of this year’s conference in the Land of Sky-Blue Waters (and, more particularly, in the Twin Cities) was, appropriately enough, “Romantic Reflections: Twins, Echoes, and Appropriations.”
UMW Staff Attend Annual MABUG Conference
2014 MABUG Conference
Several UMW staff attended the annual MABUG conference from Sunday, Sept. 27 to Tuesday, Sept. 30 in Richmond, Virginia. The Mid-Atlantic Banner Users Group (MABUG) is an association of colleges and universities in Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee and West Virginia that uses Banner as its student information system. The conference creates an engagement opportunity to discuss the latest Ellucian products, platforms, tools and offerings to support teaching, learning and business operations. It also provides an opportunity to meet with peers, discuss similar business challenges and glean best-practice advice. At this year’s conference, UMW presented a total of eight sessions, the most of any other college or university in attendance. The presentations represented an array of areas at the institution:
Managing Annual Phonathons using SmartCall and Banner Advancement – Gretchen Armentrout, Asst Director of Annual Giving
Birds of Feather Advancement – Jane Cariker, Director of Advancement IT Services
Birds of a Feather session for Banner Security – Cheryl Dunn, Director of Financial Systems
Is Your Institution on the Cutting Edge for Delivering TouchFree Transcripts – Rita Dunston, Registrar
Hobson’s Implementation – A Review of Lessons Learn – April Peterson, Applications Developer
Oracle Security On A Shoe String + New 12C Soles – Jim Rawlings, Database Administrator
Building a Data Mart to Support Flexible, Consister and Fast(er) Advancement Reports – Phil Szenas,Senior Programmer Analyst
Banner Security Life Cycle – John Symonds, Applications Database Administrator
Och Publishes Review of “Violence and Virtue”
Artemisia Gentileschi, “Judith Slaying Holofernes,” 1620 (Florence, Uffizi)
Marjorie Och’s review of the exhibition “Violence and Virtue: Artemisia Gentileschi’s Judith Slaying Holofernes” and the exhibition’s accompanying catalogue (Yale University Press, 2014) will appear in the fall/winter issue of The Woman’s Art Journal. The exhibit, at the Art Institute of Chicago (Oct. 17, 2013 to Jan. 9, 2014), focused on this one work of 1620 within the context of Gentileschi’s career. Gentileschi, one of the premier artists of the Italian Baroque, produced the painting while she was in Florence seeking the support of the ruling Medici family. The painting eventually enters the Medici collection, but was hidden from view for centuries, likely because of the realistic depiction of Judith, the heroine of her people, decapitating Holofernes, enemy of the Israelites. Unlike most depictions of this subject, which show Judith as a delicate woman incongruously murdering her enemy, Gentileschi represents Judith as a powerful figure acting on her own. The exhibit and catalogue demonstrate the importance of focusing on a single work; both encourage the viewer/reader to contemplate what is evident in the painting—Gentileschi’s technique and the narrative she depicts—as well as how the work might have been understood by her contemporaries.
Griffith Publishes Rare Plant Research in Natural Areas Journal
Alan Griffith
Alan Griffith, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, will publish his research article titled “Secondary Dispersal in Aeschynomene virginica: Do Floating Seeds Really Find a New Home?” His article will appear in the Natural Areas Journal in October 2014. Published by the Natural Areas Association, this journal disseminates cutting-edge research, best practices and the newest knowledge related to natural areas. Dr. Griffith’s article describes and explains the appearance of the rare plant Aeschynomene virginica on the site of a recently removed dam in New Kent County, Virginia. This information is part of his ongoing research to understand how to protect this rare plant of Virginia’s freshwater, tidal wetlands.
Richards Featured on With Good Reason
Gary Richards, associate professor of English, Linguistics and Communication, can be heard on With Good Reason from Oct. 4 to 10 as part of an encore presentation of the “Gospel Roots of Rock and Roll.”
Here’s the description from With Good Reason: “The Broadway musical has often taken up southern themes, from Show Boat and Porgy and Bess in the first half of the twentieth century to Memphis, which hit the Broadway stage in 2009. For all their popularity, Gary Richards (University of Mary Washington) argues that these musicals nevertheless tend to have a negative view of the South and don’t reflect its diversity today.”
http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2014/10/the-gospel-roots-of-rock-and-roll-2/