MLA Movies at the Manor

            Late Marriage was a very interesting look at Israeli culture with a focus on traditional versus less conservative family lifestyles.  All MLA folks who attended had some interesting comments about the movie and enjoyed the camaraderie of the gathering at Dave and Vikki’s after the movie.  Watch for future opportunities to attend MLA Movies at the Manor and wine and cheese at the Rankins’.  It is a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon. 

Other LAMAS Activities

            Don’t forget the second annual Pig Pickin’ is scheduled for August 10th at Jen and Don Sparacin’s home from 4:00 until the pig is picked.  Besides the pulled pork, baked beans, and cole slaw provided by Dan Huntley, we think we can talk Tom Moore into bringing some of his world-famous cheerwine ice cream and Dave into bringing some of his equally famous cheesecake.  Beer and soft drinks will also be available.  Please dress casually as we have a young little dog who hasn’t quite learned not to jump up on people yet.  If you feel like taking a dip in their pool, make sure to bring your bathing suit.  (Skinny dipping before dark is strongly discouraged.)  Last year’s Pig Pickin’ was great!  We had a good turnout and hope to see more of y’all this year.

            Please call or email as soon as possible and let Jen know if you and a guest will be attending.  It is not too late.  The more the merrier! 

Recruitment Activities

            Our numbers are beginning to pick up but we still need your support in recruiting new students.  As of this date we have three definite new students and six or seven other possibles very interested for the fall semester.

            Please continue to send any interested friends in our way.  

Fall Registration

            Just a reminder!  We are currently registering folks for the fall semester.  Please call the office and tell Jen Sparacin what courses you wish to be registered for and she will take care of everything.  There are lots of interesting courses available.  One course that might be of interest to you Art History buffs is ARTH680, Graduate Art History being taught by Peg DeLamater.  This course is called “Paul Klee, His Work and His World.”  Peg says they will look at Klee’s artwork as well as his writings.

            Also if you are planning on registering for any classes on Wingspan, you need to call the office to get the advising flag removed from your file.  

Bancroft Makeover(Continued)

In the last issue of The SynApse, we mentioned the renovations being done in Bancroft: the new carpeting, fresh paint, etc.  Rumor has it that we (the MLA office) will be receiving a new couch and the chairs in Dave’s office will be recovered.  We can’t wait.

New lighting has also been installed in the public areas of Bancroft.  The new chandlers in the stairwells and the sconces in the seating areas are gorgeous.

Stop by, see how nice everything looks and say hello.  Remember our hours are Monday – Thursday 8:30 – 2:30 with Friday and evening hours by appointment only.  Also remember that, although we haven’t moved, we have a new room number.  We are now 150 Bancroft instead of 136. 

Looking for Contact Information

            We have added a new page to our website.  The address is: http://www.winthrop.edu/mla/changeofcontactinformation.htm .  This page will hopefully make it easier to give us any changes in your contact information.  Please go to that page and let us know of any changes, particularly your email address.   

            We are working on another addition to our website.  This will be an archives page with past SynApses posted there.  Among other things, this should help those of you who say,  “Now what was the name of that book that Dave or Tom mentioned in the SynApse a couple of months ago?”    The web address will be listed in the next Synapse. 

From the Director (sort of)

            Dave found a great new book, A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram.  According to his publishers, “Wolfram uses his approach to tackle a remarkable array of fundamental problems in science, from the origins of apparent randomness in physical systems, to the development of complexity in biology, the ultimate scope and limitations of mathematics, the possibility of a truly fundamental theory of physics, the interplay between free will and determinism, and the character of intelligence in the universe.”   Neither Dave nor Jen have read the book but are anxiously awaiting its arrival via interlibrary loan.  Watch for Dave’s “review” of A New Kind of Science hopefully in the next Synapse.

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Vol. 12, No. 5                                                                   May 31, 2002                    

Vol. 12, No.2                                                             February 6, 2002                    

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The Pig Pickin’

We had a great turnout for the First MLA Annual Back-to-School shindig.  33 students, alumni, faculty, and friends came, ate and had a great time.  (I still can’t understand why nobody went swimming?)  The pig and its trimmings provided by Dan Huntley was marvelous and was completely consumed before the end of the day.  The weather cooperated beautifully and a great time was had by all.  We are all looking forward to doing it again next year.  Hopefully more of you great folks will be attending.

 A Moment to Reflect

           After the events of September 11^th, quite a few of us have felt the need to stop and rethink the priorities we have placed in our lives.  Even though the devastation took place hundreds of miles from us, it, without a doubt, affected everyone.  Some more than others.  One of our students lost a dear cousin and the cousin’s spouse in the collapse of the towers.  Our prayers go out to this family. 

 Future LAMAS Activities

            The Steering Committee met on October 30^th to plan the events for the coming year.  Since only one student, Sandra Reinhardt, will be finishing LART604, the Capstone Colloquium, and she will not be attending the graduation ceremonies, it has been decided that we will not be holding our usual Christmas/December graduation party this year.  We urge Sandra to attend the Spring graduation activity when we will help her celebrate her accomplishment along with the other graduating students in the Spring semester.

            It was thought that two major activities could be held during Spring semester.  We would like to schedule an activity in Charlotte, possibly attending a symphony concert, a Broadway play, a dance event, or a production by Opera Carolina.  The other activity could be an afternoon guided tour by a Winthrop botany professor to Stowe Botanical Gardens or a tour guided by an MLA alum who works at Historic Brattonsville followed by a late afternoon picnic.  Final decisions on these activities will be communicated to you all shortly.

 Spring Registration

            Don’t forget registration for Spring semester is in full swing right now.  Call the MLA office (803/323-2368) and get registered now! 

We can also get your parking sticker for you.  Just let us know the year, color, plate number and make of your car.  We will fill out the form and take it over to the campus police department for you.  However, the policy getting the sticker has changed.  You have to show an ID to get it.  But it is easier now.  You pick it up at the dispatcher’s office and that office is open after 5 pm.  The dispatcher’s office is in Crawford, the building that sits behind Margaret Nance dormitories. 

News of Our Students and Alumni

            Bill and Susan Logan recently opened The Blue Ridge School of Photography located in Flat Rock, North Carolina.  They are offering various workshops in black and white photography, custom portraits in black and white, and custom black and white printing.  Visit their website (www.loganphotographics.com) for further information. 

            Avery Staley, class of ’97, recently informed us that he has become a father.  Sage Alexandra Staley was born on October 6^th.  Congratulations to Avery and Erika!

            If any of you have achieved something significant or would like to share some good news with the rest of the MLA community, please do not hesitate to give Jen Sparacin the details and we will include the information in the next SynApse.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

            Soon I will be suggesting to Dean Moore the establishment of an MLA “Oversight” Committee, a group that I hope will allow students, alumni, and faculty to have more of a voice in decisions affecting the program.  The committee could, for example, offer suggestions and advice to the Director on such matters as curriculum changes, recruiting strategies, coordinating program activities with other programs in our region (such as the Liberal Studies program at UNCC), the awarding of scholarships, and other matters of concern to students or faculty.  Tentatively, I am proposing that the committee consist of a current MLA student (possibly a member of LAMAS), faculty who teach the LART courses, a faculty member from outside the program, and myself in an ex-officio capacity.  If you have any suggestions about the role, usefulness, and make-up of this committee, please let me hear from you.  More on this in the next issue of The Synapse.

A change of pace in my book recommendations—four works of fiction that all get to the very heart of what we do in the program.  If you are interested in the conflict between evolution and religious faith, try Roger McDonald’s Mr. Darwin’s Shooter.  For a close look at philosophy and the human experience, Rebecca Goldstein’s The Mind-Body Problem will certainly make you shift gears intellectually.  Science and love?  Goldstein’s newest book, Properties of Light, explores the passionate similarities of intellectual and erotic endeavors.  The fate of the individual in the techno-info age is the subject of Alan Lightman’s The Diagnosis.  You will have to remind yourself that these are fiction.  They are all available in paperback, great Christmas gifts.

And as we prepare for the holiday season, this time with a little less order and certainty in the world than we have been accustomed to, we might do well to simply be thankful for two gifts we have already received—the gifts of mind and heart.  We have been blessed with minds that let us contemplate (sometimes even understand) the value of friends and family, life and health, knowledge and freedom. For us, these are much of what being alive is all about, but we now know better than ever that for many in our world this is simply not so.  And for those less fortunate than we, our gift of heart instills in us pity and compassion.  It is this ability to balance matters of mind with matters of heart that makes us human.  It is a gift that, this Christmas in particular, we should appreciate more than any other.  May your holidays be safe and joyous.

      Dave

And the Fall Semester Begins

            This summer has passed all too quickly.  It is hard to believe that the fall 2001 semester has begun already.  We want to welcome all our MLA students back to school, especially the six new MLA students.  They are:  Catherine Anderson, Stan Hulon, Herb McSwiney, Karen Talewsky, Rachel Tollett, and Matt Turner.  If you have them in any of your classes make them feel welcome.

 LAMAS Activities

            As you all should know by now, the LAMAS (Liberal Arts Masters And Students) Association is our MLA alumni/student organization.  Our first activity for the 2001-2002 season is a Pig Pickin’ at Jen & Don Sparacin’s house on September 8^th from 3:00 til the Pig is Picked.  You should have already received the flyer  (if you did not, call the MLA office 323-2368 and ask us to mail a copy to you).  It is not too late to sign up to attend.

            This event is to welcome students back for the fall semester, to renew old acquaintances, and to kick off the coming year’s LAMAS activities.

Dan Huntley will be providing the food (the pig, the barbecue, baked beans, and coleslaw).  The LAMAS Steering Committee will be providing the dessert.  Beverages (sweet tea, soft drinks, and beer) will also be provided.  Bring anything else you would like to drink. 

The Sparacins have a pool.  You are welcome to take a dip.  Be sure to bring a suit and towel.  Skinny-dipping is discouraged until after dark (way after dark!).  There will also be a few lawn games (horse shoes and croquet) in which to participate. 

Get your RSVP  (with a check) to the MLA office by August 31.  The cost of the Pig Pickin’ is $12 per person for LAMAS members and a guest and $15 per person for non-LAMAS members and their guests. 

We look forward to seeing y’all at our pig pickin’ and hope to make it an annual affair.

Watch for mailings announcing upcoming LAMAS activities.  The Steering Committee will be meeting in the next few weeks to begin planning activities for the fall.

Alumni News

                Catherine Cousar, class of ’93, was a winner in the S.C. Arts Commission’s 2001 South Carolina Fiction Project.  You can read her story, “Bad Words” at www.charleston.net/fiction.html. Way to go, Catherine!

            As reported in the August 15^th edition of the Rock Hill Herald, Miller Tucker, class of ’96, recently shared his memories of life in the ‘20s with a class of fifth-graders at Independence Elementary School in Rock Hill.  Keep up the good work, Miller!

Campus Activities

            Dinkins Student Union’s Lecture and Performing Arts Series for the 2001-2002 year have some very interesting offerings:

Andes Manta performs music of the Andes that is one of the few authentic prehistoric cultural forms to survive the 500 years of European occupation of South America.  This concert will

take place on September 21 in the Barnes Recital Hall at 8 p.m. 

            Kim and Reggie Harris present “Music and the Underground Railroad” in Plowden Auditorium on October 20 at 8 p.m.  This program, a concert of songs, stories, and narratives about slavery and the quest for freedom, reveals the hope, the power, and eventually the triumph shared by people of many races.

            Bill Miller, a critically acclaimed singer/songwriter, is one of the best known Native American artists.  Miller’s program will be presented on November 2 in Dinkins ATS Café at 8 p.m.   Called an “American treasure,” by Billboard magazine, Miller is a captivating storyteller and musician you don’t want to miss.

            And  in Plowden Auditorium on November 17 at 8 p.m., Debrar Chapman, a singer, actress, and motivational speaker, presents “I Get the Blues,” an artful and educational look at the history and complexity of the black woman.

From the Director 

In the 1989-90 school year Tom Moore and I co-taught LART 601, "The Empirical Eye," in both the fall and spring semesters.  We collaborated on the development of the course, worked long and hard at trying to understand the roles of language and science in Western Civilization, and truly enjoyed the intellectual exchanges with the very first MLA students at what was then Winthrop College.  Tom introduced us all to Thomas Kuhn, Ian Hacking, Gary Zukav, and David Bohm.  To that lineup I added Jeremy Campbell, Michael Polanyi, Noam Chomsky, and Ivar Ekeland.  The breadth and depth of ideas we explored that year complemented nicely the considerable diversity of that first MLA "class."  What resulted for all of us was an enhanced awareness of the connections among human language, scientific method, and the acquisition of knowledge.  My teaching and my understanding of empiricism have never been the same.

I came away from those two classes knowing something I had long suspected--teaching is much more than merely imparting knowledge; it is learning to see and make connections, learning to step across formal discipline boundaries, and, most importantly, learning to encourage and respect students' efforts to do the same.  Teaching is learning.  I will do my best to bring that same attitude to LART 601 this fall.  The names have changed a little:  we will now be complementing Kuhn, Bohm, Chomsky, and Ekeland with Descartes, Alfred Crosby, David Boyle (see below), Matt Ridley, Roger Shattuck, and Edward Wilson.  And we will look at how the acquisition of knowledge is affected by language, number, and sensory experience.

             For those of you who will not be joining us in 601 (you all are welcome to visit class any Tuesday evening at 6:30 in Kinard 105), I highly recommend David Boyle's The Sum of Our Discontent: How Numbers Make us Irrational.  It will change forever the way that you think about numbers and our world.

Hope to see you at the Pig Pickin'.  Stop by the MLA Office and let Jen and me know how you are doing.

Dave

 

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Program Announcements 

            We are very pleased to announce that it is official.  Dr. Thomas Moore, our esteemed leader and grand puba, is now officially the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.  We can all say we knew him when.  We are all extremely proud of Dr. Tom’s accomplishments here at Winthrop and are happy to call him a friend of the program.  He will maintain his connection to the MLA program as a member of the committee that reviews applicants for the program.

 News of Our Alumni

            It saddens us greatly to announce the passing of one of our own.  Gene Able, Class of ’92, passed away on May 28, 2001 after an extended illness.  We will miss Gene.

            Gene’s comment published in the Master of Liberal Arts brochure is particularly moving now:  “The MLA program has led me on a journey of discovery in the autumn of my life, imbuing me with a sense of seeing how science, art and philosophy can come together to bring a synthesis of meaning to living and learning and helping me to appreciate more fully where I’ve been and where I might be going.” 

 Fall Registration

                Remember that fall registration is taking place right now.  Be sure to sign up now to make sure you get into the class(es) of your choice.  Just call Jen Sparacin at 803/323-2368 or email her at sparacing@winthrop.edu to ensure your spot.

 LAMAS Activities

            Don’t forget the Welcome Back To School activity for the Liberal Arts Masters and Students organization will take place on Saturday, September 8.  Watch for further details to be sent to you later this summer.

 From the New Director

            When Tom asked me to become director of the program, it didn’t take me long to accept.  After all, my experience with the program and its students over the last eleven years had shown me the value of a “personalized” graduate curriculum.  I had spent years hearing MLA students (and Tom) talk about the many exciting and challenging courses available to them, and I had heard dozens of students (and Tom) talk about their fascinating capstone projects.  I was having fun, but clearly Tom was having more fun, and (as he told us at the banquet celebrating the program’s tenth birthday) he couldn’t believe he was getting paid for it.  So, how could I refuse?  The only possible drawback is that tom is my boss.

As I retire from full-time teaching in the English Department, directing the MLA program is a kind of academic privilege that I never expected.  I am honored and flattered by the confidence tom has in me, and I sincerely hope I can do the position justice.  My biggest fear is that I might simply succumb to doing what I love most—hopping across discipline boundaries, making connections, and looking for consilience (Edward Wilson’s book Consilience: the unity of knowledge is a brilliant defense of exactly what the MLA program does—a must read).  And what’s really appealing now is the thought that I won’t be doing these things alone.  I look forward to meeting all of you whom I don’t know, and I look forward to our joint efforts as we search for order in the arts and sciences.

Jen is proving invaluable in helping me “move in” to 136 Bancroft and become familiar with the more mundane aspects of program administration.  She is also the person for you to contact until I am officially in the office in August.  Until then, you can still reach me directly in the English Department, 803-323-4572 or rankind@winthrop.edu.

               Dave

From the Old Director

            As I sit at my desk and try to begin the last Synapse column that I will write for a while, I can’t help but reflect on my association with the MLA program over the last fifteen years.  Thinking about my time at Winthrop in terms of this program’s role in my work reveals an interesting path that helps me understand some of the changes in my thinking and priorities. 

            When I came to Winthrop in August of 1986, my major responsibilities were in the Department of Chemistry and Physics.  Dean Al Lyles appointed me to a committee that was exploring beginning a graduate liberal studies program.  Work on that committee was interesting, but constituted a minor portion of my responsibilities.  The program started in August of 1989, and my involvement became teaching LART 601, first with David Rankin, and then on my own.  At that time the program was an engaging distraction from my main duties in chemistry.  I loved teaching 601 and getting to know the MLA students.  In 1991 Dean Robin Bowers approached me about becoming director of the program.  Here’s how stupid I was.  I added directing the MLA program to my duties, and a faculty member in chemistry got a course off each semester and half of my summer stipend to assist me as chair of that department. 

            That arrangement lasted three years, three difficult years.  Doing two jobs with very different outlooks on the world, and therefore different priorities and values, was draining.  I found the two jobs competing for my energy and my creativity, but the MLA program got most of both.  Obviously, that made for some unhappy campers in the chemistry department.  In the fall of 1993 I started applying for jobs at other institutions.  Those applications got nowhere, and as Christmas approached, I thought about what I was doing.  At the party at my house after graduation that December, I realized that in the MLA program I was doing something I really loved, and I just needed to rid myself of some responsibility in the chemistry department.  In the summer of 1994 I got paroled from the chemistry chair and was able to devote myself to the MLA program.  I have had a great time ever since. 

            Life got a bit more complicated when I became faculty representative to the board of trustees in 1997.  Over the next few years I acquired a broader perspective on Winthrop issues and the landscape for higher education in the state and region.  The MLA program served as a particular example, and at times a case study, for various issues.  I was able to note the impact of a particular decision on this program and to consider how this program represented (or didn’t) the perspective and values I encountered.  The uniqueness of the program became clearer as I heard education discussed in terms that often excluded non-professional and interdisciplinary programs.  Knowing the value and impact of this program on many lives including mine made it difficult to understand a view of education that included only professional training.  But believe me; that view is out there. 

            Since mid-January I have gotten another view of Winthrop and the MLA program.  From the Dean’s office, the program appears among fourteen departments with multiple programs serving diverse populations.  For years I have said that the MLA program is a happy afterthought for the Dean of Arts and Sciences; we need few resources and create fewer complaints.  I didn’t know the wisdom of that statement.  Indeed, the MLA program looks like a jewel to admire rather than a problem to fix.

            So the MLA program has returned to a status of one item among many for which I have some responsibility.  The process by which it got there has changed who I am and how I view the world.  Although the program demands less of my attention on a daily basis, it influences essentially everything I think and do.  My involvement with the MLA program, more than anything else since graduate school, has prepared me for my current work.  Much of that preparation is in terms of enabling me to appreciate the beauty, the mystery, and the wonder that the human condition is; “how we bring order to a chaotic world, and vice versa.” 

            I trust that some of you identify with my experiences.  For many of you, association with the MLA program began as a few thoughts.  Then you enrolled in the program, and it became a larger and larger part of your life.  Completion of the program returned it to a few thoughts, but the experience had changed who you are and how you think.

            I look forward to my new relationship with the program.  The program couldn’t be in better hands than those of Dave Rankin, especially with Jen there to keep him straight.  I will continue to work with some students on final projects, and you can bet that I will be at the parties.  You haven’t seen the last of me.  It’s been a great ride; thanks for letting me come along.  Don’t forget to…

WORK HARD AND HAVE FUN!

            Tom  

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Graduating Class of May 2001 

            We are pleased to announce that three students will be receiving their Master of Liberal Arts degrees on May 5^th.  They are Lynne Fantry, Shirley King, and Andrew Skerritt.  We congratulate them on achieving this goal.

L-R Andrew Skerritt, Shirley King, Tom Moore, Lynne Fantry

 MLA Graduation Banquet

            This year’s annual Graduation Banquet will be held on Friday, May 4^{th at 6:30 pm} in the Withers 4^th Floor Conference Room.  The usual great food will be served. 

MLA Alumni/Student Association

The LAMAS (Liberal Arts Masters And Students) association is alive and well.  We have 15 alumni members and six student members.  It is never too late to join.  Just send your name, address, phone number, and email address (if you have one) along with a check made out to MLA Alumni in the amount of $20 if you are an alumni or $10 if you are current student to Ed FitzGerald, Master of Liberal Arts Office, Winthrop University, 136 Bancroft, Rock Hill, SC 29733.  Then join in on all the upcoming activities.  Remember your membership allows you to bring a guest to all our events.

            LAMAS?  You might ask where that came from.  Miller Tucker, class of ’96, won the “Name Our Organization” contest held several months ago at one of our meetings.  The prize is a ticket to the annual MLA banquet being held on May 4^th.  Thanks, Miller, for the great name.

Second Movie Time

            Our second Movie Time event was held on April 6^th.  The movie discussed that evening was “The Green Mile.”  The group had a discussion of the pros and cons of capital punishment, the differing personalities of the prison guards and executioners, and the mercy shown the prisoners by those guards/executioners.  Another issue discussed was whether there were any religious correlations between this movie and Christianity.  It was a very interesting evening. 

News of Our Alumni

            Khelle M. Skerritt was born on Sunday, April 8.  She weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces.  She is the daughter of Andrew Skerritt, class of May 2001 graduate and his wife.  Andrew says all are doing well including older brother Khalil.  Congratulations to the Skerritts!

Lee Miller, current MLA student, has recently had two articles published:  Notions of Justice among Older People: An Historical Analysis of Wills1700 – 1993 (an ongoing research project with Sociology professors Jennifer Solomon and Jonathan Marx).  This was presented by Lee at the Midwest Sociological Society meeting, April 5-8, 2001 in St. Louis, MO.  The second is “I Want You to Be My Mother – Not Her: Conflicts of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren” to appear in a special grandparenting May 2001 issue of Reflections Magazine, a social work journal.  Lee was the lead author of both papers.