Faculty News

• Kerri Cushman, Assistant Professor of Art, and Kelly Nelson, Assistant Professor of Art, had art work in the “Books, Broadsides, Et Alia” print exhibition held March 7-30 at Art6 Gallery in Richmond. Nelson’s works are Green, a small book made of lithographs, and an untitled lithograph print in which she collaborated with Dr. Robert Blackman, Elliott associate professor of history at Hampden-Sydney College, and Cushman’s piece is Venetian Restaurant, a letterpressed book. The invitational exhibition, curated by printmaker Mitzi Humphrey, was held in conjunction with the Southern Graphics Council Conference held March 26-29 in Richmond, devoted primarily to printmaking. Nelson, who attended the conference, also has work in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Studio School (Girl I, a lithograph, and Omnivore’s Dilemma, a lithograph and screen print) and the Eric Schindler Gallery (the screen prints Dawn and Dress, both made on handmade paper). Those two shows have works from One/Off, a regional Richmond-based printmaking group of which Nelson is a member. • Dissertation research by Dr. Naomi Johnson, Lecturer in Communication Studies, was cited in an article in the March 17 issue of Newsweek magazine. Dr. Johnson’s dissertation research on product placement in teen novels, part of her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina, was included in the article “Branding For Beginners” by Eve Conant (www.newsweek.com/id/120090).
• Virginia Kinman, Electronic Resources Librarian and Associate Professor, gave a presentation titled “Putting the Trees Back in the Forest: E-Resource Usage Statistics and Library Assessment” at the Electronic Resources & Libraries Annual Conference, held March 18-20 in Atlanta.
• Dr. Melanie Marks, Professor of Economics and Director of the Center for Economic Education, was a guest recently on the statewide National Public Radio program With Good Reason. In the segment “Chocolate Economics,” which aired March 1-7, Dr. Marks, who has written a textbook with that title for second- and third-graders, discussed the growing concern over financial literacy in the United States as well as innovative approaches to teaching this important material in the elementary school classroom.
• Dr. Christopher Swanson, Assistant Professor of Music, performed as major soloist with the Commonwealth Chorale in its performance of J. S. Bach’s Passion According to St. Matthew on March 16 at St. Theresa Catholic Church in Farmville. The Commonwealth Chorale, conducted by former Longwood faculty member Norma Williams, is a Farmville-based choral group that presents two concerts annually. Current or retired members of the Longwood community in the Chorale include Dr. Nancy Andrews, Dr. William and Martha Dorrill, Dr. Elizabeth Etheridge, Dr. Jackie Hall, Margaret Lindsay, Dr. Geoff Orth, Dr. Swanson, Dr. Bob Webber and Lucie Zehner.
• Dr. Walter Witschey, Professor of Anthropology and Science Education, led a guided tour March 8-19 of ancient Maya sites in Mexico, Guatemala and Belize. The trip, called The Maya World: Modern Discoveries and Ancient Ruins, included introductory lectures covering topics from site archaeology to hieroglyphs and calendrics that highlighted the ecology, modern socio-political realities, and Pre-Hispanic and Colonial history of the Maya World. Jennifer Sheeler, Lecturer in English, took part in the trip.

In Memoriam

Nancy V. Leitch, who taught art at Longwood from 1961 to 1977, died March 24 at a Farmville nursing home. She was 93.