A Newsletter for UMW Faculty and Staff
It’s the ultimate combination of old and new.
Decked out in full body armor as a gladiator from the ancient Roman Empire, Senior Harry Rol clamps on his helmet and steps onto a 3-D printing scanner in the University of Mary Washington’s 21st century classroom known as the ThinkLab.
“You really look the part,” said Associate Professor of Classics Joe Romero, as Rol strikes a pose, knees bent with shield and sword at the ready.
Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history, recently published a chapter in an edited volume entitled “Hall Ishkal al-Afkar: An Ottoman Royal’s Shari’a Argument For Imperial Control Over Sea Ghazi Plunder.”
This segment of an edited volume originated as a chapter in Al-Tikriti’s dissertation, and was then expanded and refined for a presentation for the “La Frontiere Mediterraneenne du XVe au XVIIe Siecle: Echanges, Circulations, et Affrontements” conference in Tours in 2009. It appeared in print in 2013. It summarizes and analyzes in English an Arabic work by Sehzade Korkud (d. 1513), entitled “Hall Ishkal al-Afkar fi Hill Amwal al-Kuffar.” Also appearing in 2013 was a facsimile edition of Korkud’s entire text, along with a Turkish translation of the entire text, and a lengthy scholarly introduction of the text. This text (in the context of its 2013 publication and translation into Turkish) does appear to carry certain implications for contemporary developments in the region concerning concubinage, plunder, and “the imperial fifth.” Al-Tikriti’s chapter in this conference’s edited volume provides a brief synopsis and analysis of the text in English for those interested in understanding certain Ottoman positions in the early 16th century. The full citation of the Turkish edition is: [Sehzade Korkud, “Islam’da Ganimet ve Cariyelik: Osmanli Sistemine Iceriden Bir Elestiri,” Asim Cuneyd Koksal, ed., and Osman Guman, trans., Istanbul: ISAR, 2013].
History lurks just under the surface at the University of Mary Washington. Every brick, every tree, every bench on Campus Walk could tell a story from the university’s 106-year history.
Hajjar’s talk will focus on the military commission trial for Khaled Sheikh Muhammad and four other men accused of responsibility for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a case often referred to as “the trial of the century.” Hajjar’s first-hand perspective focuses on what it is like to go to Guantanamo, and will discuss the issues that this case raises. The government is striving to pursue accountability for 9/11, but justice is complicated by the fact that all five defendants were held for years in secret prisons and tortured by the CIA, and everything surrounding this case is shrouded in secrecy, which severely impedes the legal process. Hajjar will discuss how the military commission system is struggling to contend with these complicated issues in a multi-defendant death penalty case.
A professor of sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Hajjar went to Guantanamo three times in 2010 to report on the trial of Omar Khadr, the Canadian “child soldier,” who was transferred to Guantanamo when he was 16. In December 2013, she went to Guantanamo to observe the military commission trial of five 9/11 suspects.
The professor’s research and writing focus on law and legality, war and conflict, human rights, and torture. Hajjar is the author of “Courting Conflict: The Israeli Military Court System in the West Bank and Gaza” (University of California Press, 2005) and “Torture: A Sociology of Violence and Human Rights” (Routledge, 2012). She serves on the editorial committees of Middle East Report, Jadaliyya, and Journal of Palestine Studies. She is currently working on a book about U.S. torture and the role of lawyers. In 2014-2015, she will be the Edward Said Chair of American Studies at the American University of Beirut.University of Mary Washington Professor of History Jeffrey McClurken is the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV).
University of Mary Washington Professor of History Jeffrey McClurken is the recipient of a prestigious 2014 Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education of Virginia (SCHEV).
Jeffrey McClurken, professor and chair of history and American studies
The awards are the Commonwealth’s highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities, recognizing superior accomplishments in teaching, research and public service. This year, 12 faculty members were selected from a highly competitive pool of candidates. In February, the recipients will each receive a $5,000 cash award underwritten by Dominion Foundation.
McClurken, who joined the UMW faculty in 2001, has been instrumental to the university’s digital history efforts and has been on the forefront of incorporating technology in the classroom. He also serves as chairperson of the history and American studies department.
He has presented numerous lectures and presentations across the country on teaching with social media, digital history and 19th-century American social and cultural history. His 2009 book “Take Care of the Living: Reconstructing Confederate Veteran Families in Virginia” examines the long-term consequences of the Civil War for veterans and their families in Southside Virginia.
McClurken, named to the Princeton Review’s inaugural list of “300 Best Professors,” received the Mary Washington Young Alumnus Award in 2003 and the J. Christopher Bill Outstanding Faculty Service Award in 2012.
In addition to his work in the history department, McClurken has served as chair of numerous university committees, including the Campus Academic Resources Committee, the Race and Gender Curriculum Advisory Committee and the Provost’s Ad Hoc University Committee on Digital Initiatives. He also has been active in countless university-wide initiatives, including the Teaching and Learning Technologies Roundtable, the Monroe Hall Renovation Planning Committee and the College of Arts and Sciences Strategic Planning Committee.
Outside of UMW, McClurken frequently lends his time to local public school systems, as well as to the Central Rappahannock Regional Library.
A 1994 graduate of Mary Washington, McClurken received a master’s degree and doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.
The General Assembly and Governor created the Outstanding Faculty Award program in 1986. Since the first awards in 1987, more than 300 Virginia faculty members have received this high honor. For more information about the program, visit http://www.schev.edu/AdminFaculty/OFA/OFAprogramOverview.asp.
Georgia State Sen. Nan Orrock ’65 today received one of the University of Mary Washington’s most prestigious awards, the Monroe Medal. Orrock was honored by President Richard V. Hurley and the Board of Visitors during a dedication ceremony for the James Farmer Lecture Hall.
This distinction marks only the third time the medal has been presented at UMW.
Sen. Nan Orrock was recognized for a lifetime of activism.
The award recognizes individuals who in some extraordinary way have provided service to humanity and society that is lasting.
Orrock has served in the Georgia state legislature since 1987, including as House Majority Whip and committee chair. Her engagement with public policy dates back to her participation in the 1963 March on Washington while a student, an experience that has led to a lifetime of activism.
“My life was changed and touched by [civil rights leader James Farmer],” she said. “He was part of the groundbreaking leadership of those stood up when in some of areas of the country it meant taking your life into your hands to stand up.”
In 1966, only one year after graduating from Mary Washington with a degree in English, Orrock helped organize and lead a 600-mile walk from Whitesville, N.C., to Wilmington, N.C., for striking textile workers. She went on to work for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in Atlanta, Ga., and Mississippi, and led a community rights project in Virginia.
Orrock is a founder of both the Georgia Legislative Women’s Caucus and the Working Families Caucus, and is the president of the Women Legislators’ Lobby.
The Monroe Medal, established in 2001, recognizes those who keep with the tradition of service of President James Monroe, for whom the award is named. Carlisle M. Williams, Jr., received the award in 2003 and William H. Leighty ’77 received the award in 2004.
During the ceremony, Rector Holly Cuellar ’89 unveiled a plaque dedicating the space to James Farmer, who taught the history of the civil rights movement to Mary Washington students for about a dozen years before his retirement in 1998.
Professor Timothy O’Donnell recounted Farmer’s influence on hundreds of Mary Washington students who witnessed the civil rights leader’s firsthand accounts.
“On this day of dedication we pause yet again to honor a great American whose life in service to our nation is well documented, even if not widely celebrated,” O’Donnell said.
Several UMW entities bear Farmer’s name, including the James Farmer Multicultural Center and the James Farmer Scholars Program. In 2012, students in Professor Jeffrey McClurken’s digital history seminar created a publicly accessible digital archive of Farmer’s lectures.
McClurken, who is chair of the Department of History and American Studies, recalled his time as a student of Farmer 20 years ago.
“It is indeed right and appropriate that we designate, that we consecrate, this place where the civil rights movement came to life through the resonant voice, the wry humor, the deep intelligence and the raw emotion of a man who had lived through the movement, had changed the movement and had been changed by it,” McClurken said.