News & Events

Dan Pierce Headlines Faculty Book Talk Series

January 19, 2011

NOTE: Katherine Zubko book talk now changed to 12:30 p.m., March 3, Whitman Room, UNC Asheville's Ramsey Library.

Dan Pierce, UNC Asheville history professor, will kick off the spring semester series of Brown Bag Book Talks with UNC Asheville Faculty Authors with a reading from his acclaimed book, "Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France." The reading will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 25, in the Special Collections Reading Room of Ramsey Library.

Pierce, chair of UNC Asheville's history department, received the 2010 Alumni Distinguished Faculty Award. "Real NASCAR: White Lightning, Red Clay, and Big Bill France," released last spring by UNC Press, was described by Library Journal as "an important work" that serves "an academic audience as well as general readers."

With faculty representing departments from Religious Studies to Management and Accountancy, the six-part Brown Bag Book Talk series offers a chance to learn about research and other academic projects at UNC Asheville, as well as hear readings from authors' books and articles. The one-hour lectures will be held at 12:30 p.m. in Ramsey Library. The events are free and open to the public.

--February 8: Laura Hope-Gill, Poet Laureate of the Blue Ridge Parkway and instructor in UNC Asheville's Great Smokies Writing Program, will present a poetry reading and slideshow from "The Soul Tree: Poems and Photographs of the Southern Appalachians," in the Whitman Room.

--NEW DATE: March 3: Katherine Zubko, assistant professor of Religious Studies, will discuss her work, "Inside the Indian Business Mind: A Tactical Guide for Managers," in the Special Collections Reading Room. Zubko has conducted research as a Fulbright scholar in India and has published articles on performance, ritual, and culture. NEW LOCATION: Whitman Room, Ramsey Library.

--March 24: Laurel Taylor, Classics lecturer, will present "The Project of 100 Roman Farms," in the Special Collections Reading Room. The article includes information on UNC Asheville's involvement in the excavation of a Roman farmhouse in Lucca, Italy.

--April 5: Holly Iglesias, recipient of a 2010 National Endowment for the Arts fellowship and UNC Asheville Master of Liberal Arts lecturer, will read from her poetry collection, "Angels of Approach," in the Special Collections Reading Room. Iglesias is the author of "Souvenirs of a Shrunken World," "Hands-on Saints," and "Boxing Inside the Box: Women’s Prose Poetry."

--April 19: Bryan Schaffer, associate professor of Management and Accountancy, offers a talk entitled "Does Social Identity Theory Underlie Relational Demography?" in the Special Collections Reading Room. Schaffer has published in peer reviewed journals and proceedings, and has presented his work at various national academic conferences. He is a member of the Academy of Management, the American Psychological Association and the Southern Management Association.

For more information about this series, call UNC Asheville’s Ramsey Library at 828.251.6645.