Book Talk with David Carter

College of Liberal Arts professor Dr. David Carter will discuss his new book, The Music Has Gone Out of the Movement: Civil Rights and the Johnson Administration, 1965-1968, at 3:00 pm on Thursday Sept. 24, 2009, in the Special Collections and Archives Department of the Ralph Brown Draughon Library.

Carter, Associate Professor of History and History Department Graduate Program Officer, received his PhD from Duke University in 2001 and a BA with Highest Honors in History from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1992.

The Music Has Gone Out of the Movement is a study of the shifting relationships between the presidency of Lyndon Johnson and grassroots advocates of racial and economic equality. The book extends the traditional timeline of the civil rights movement beyond passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965.

This program is sponsored by the Auburn University Libraries, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Auburn University Bookstore. A reception will follow the program, and copies of the book will be available for purchase and signing. For more information on the program contact the Center at 334.844.4946 or cah@auburn.edu.

2009-2010 College of Liberal Arts Speakers Bureau

Each year the Auburn University College of Liberal Arts Speakers Bureau offers free talks on a wide variety of topics. The faculty selected to participate are seasoned speakers with something to say about a subject that interests you. The programs are offered free of charge on a first come, first served basis.

Click here to see the list of this year's speakers.

Programs by the CLA Speaker's Bureau can be booked by contacting the Center at (334) 844-4903 or claspeakers@auburn.edu.

2009 Cultural Summit Photos

Originally uploaded by Alabama Humanities Foundation

Click here to view photos from the 2009 Cultural Summit, courtesy of the Alabama Humanities Foundation. The summit, Advancing Our Cultural Imprint, held June 25, 2009 at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art in Auburn.

The summit was co-sponsored by the Alabama Museums Association, Alabama Humanities Foundation, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art at Auburn University.

2009 Cultural Summit Available Online

If you are unable to attend the 2009 Cultural Summit, Advancing Our Cultural Imprint, a live broadcast will be available online at connect.auburn.edu/cah.

Visit our website for troubleshooting tips.

Hosted by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University, the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, also at Auburn University, and the Alabama Museums Association.

Tasman String Quartet: A Shared Experience

The Tasman String Quartet was brought to Auburn in February and March of this year for a month long outreach residency under the auspices of the Breeden Eminent Scholar Chair, held by Dr. Howard Goldstein, professor in the Department of Music in the College of Liberal Arts. The residency was coordinated by Dr. Goldstein, the Department of Music, and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts.

From elementary schools to university class rooms, public concerts to master classes, the Tasman String Quartet delighted, engaged, taught, and performed for thousands of people during their residency. Click here (PDF) to view a final report.

As a testament to their time here, Christopher Childs, College of Liberal Arts, produced, directed and edited "A Shared Experience". The video features a collaboration between the quartet and a drawing class led by Professor Barb Bondy - an experience that brought them to the cutting edge of artistic experience.

For more information about the Breeden Eminent Scholar, supported by an endowment from Dr. Daniel F. Breeden, visit our website.



Tasman Quartet: A Shared Experience from Christopher S. Childs on Vimeo.

Advancing Our Cultural Imprint

On June 25, 2009, the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University, Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Alabama Museums Association and Alabama Humanities Foundation will sponsor a summit on the role of Alabama's cultural, arts and humanities organizations. Participants will discuss what the arts and humanities bring to civic life and the impact of current economic conditions on their viability and future.

Charles McCrary, president and CEO of Alabama Power Company and a member of the Auburn University Board of Trustees, will kick off the summit at 10 a.m. at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art with a keynote address.

The summit will convene directors, staff and boards of Alabama museums, historical sites, performing arts centers, libraries and other institutions devoted to public education, culture and the arts and humanities. The interested public is invited to register and attend.

For more information, or to register, click here.

Alabama Student National Winner in Letters About Literature Contest

The Alabama Center for the Book and the Alabama Humanities Foundation are pleased to announce that Cori Anne Mazer, a student at Highlands School in Birmingham, has been named a 2009 Letters About Literature national winner. Miss Mazer is the first national winner from Alabama.

Letters About Literature is a reading-writing contest in which student readers write a personal letter to an author, living or dead, from any genre-fiction or nonfiction, contemporary or classic-explaining how that author's work changed the student's way of thinking about the world or themselves. Letters are judged first at the state level.  First-place winners from state competitions across the country are then submitted to the national contest, where six winners will be chosen to receive $10,000 reading promotion grants for their school or community library.  Approximately 55,000 young readers from across the nation participated in this year's Letters About Literature initiative.

Mazer, a 6^th grade student, wrote to Lois Lowry after reading The Giver. She has designated her school library as the recipient of the grant. "I've spent countless hours in that library, so I'm happy to be able to give something back," said Mazer.

On the state level, the program is sponsored by the Alabama Center for the Book and the Alabama Humanities Foundation. State and national judges include published authors, editors, publishers, librarians and teachers.

The Alabama Center for the Book is a state affiliate of the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress. Housed at the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University, the Center sponsors programs around the state on books and reading. For more information, please visit www.alabamabookcenter.org.

Miss Mazer's winning letter, after the jump.

The Creek War and War of 1812 in the South: A Symposium

Join scholars from across the country to discuss the Creek War and War of 1812 in the South on Friday May 22 and Saturday May 23 at the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art. The symposium will continue Saturday afternoon at Horseshoe Bend National Military Park in Dadeville.

More information about the symposium, including a schedule of events, can be found on the symposium site. A registration form can be found here (PDF).

This symposium is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University and the Horsehoe Bend National Military Park, with funding from the National Park Service.

Don't miss the Alabama Book Festival!

Don't miss the fourth annual Alabama Book Festival! On Saturday, April 18, more than fifty novelists, poets, artists, illustrators, playwrights and children's writers will converge on the grounds of Old Alabama Town for the fourth annual state book festival. The festival is sponsored by the Alabama Center for the Book, an affiliate program of the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University.

Tasman String Quartet and Auburn Music Faculty Collaborative Concert

The Tasman String Quartet will perform with Auburn University Department of Music faculty in a collaborative concert on Monday, March 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Goodwin Music Building Recital Hall. The concert is free and open to the public.

The Tasman String Quartet is composed of two violinists, Anna van der Zee and Jennifer Banks, violist Christiaan van der Zee and cellist Miranda Wilson. For Monday's concert, they will be accompanied by three assistant professors in the CLA's Department of Music: Michael Koon, baritone; David Odom, clarinet; and Jeremy Samolesky, piano.

The  program includes Samuel Barber's "Dover Beach," Dimitri Shostakovich's "Piano Quintet, Op. 57" and Brahms' "Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Op. 115."

Dr. Amalia Amaki returns for New Perspectives Lecture Series

The New Perspectives Lecture series continues on Tuesday, March 10^th, with Dr. Amalia Amaki. "Hale Aspacio Woodruff, the Academy, and the Paul R. Jones Collection" focuses on the life and work of artist and educator Hale Aspacio Woodruff, who played a significant role in educating and advancing the work of generations of African American artists.  Amaki will discuss his far-reaching influence and will also consider the connections between Woodruff's oeuvre and legacy and the Paul R. Jones Collection. Dr. Amaki will speak at 3 p.m. in the JCSM auditorium. The program is sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts and the Alabama Humanities Foundation. The series is co-sponsored by the Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, the Access and Community Initiatives unit of the Office of Diversity of Multicultural Affairs, the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Auburn University, and the Department of Art in the College of Liberal Arts.

Liberal Arts Interdisciplinary Panel On Evolution

Members of the Faculty of the College of Liberal Arts will convene for an interdisciplinary look at evolution on Monday, March 2, at 3:00 in 112 Rouse Life Sciences Bldg as part of the Charles Darwin Commemorative Celebration.  Chris Qualls, Assistant Professor of Theater, Elizabeth Brestan Knight, Associate Professor of Psychology, Giovanna Summerfield, Associate Professor of Foreign Languages, and Brigitta Brunner, Margaret Fitch-Hauser, and Robert French, professors in the department of Communications and Journalism will offer varying interpretations of Darwin and evolution from perspectives within the arts and humanities.

Professor Qualls, who will present a dramatic reading from the transcripts of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial from 1925, will be followed by professor Knight who will offer a psychological theory of mate selection that is based on Darwin's theory of evolution.  Drs. Brunner, Fitch-Hauser, and French will next investigate the evolution of the public relations industry from Barnum to Bloggers.  The final presentation by professor Summerfield will explore Collodi's masterpiece, The Adventures of Pinocchio.  Written one year after Darwin's death, its main character carries on the revolution against an intervening deity, with an emphasis on competitive struggle for existence and self-betterment.

This interdisciplinary panel presented by College of Liberal Arts' faculty promises to offer an interesting and unusual collection of original investigations of Darwin's groundbreaking ideas.  All are invited to attend.

For more information please visit www.auburn.edu/cah or call 334-844-4946

Follow the Tasman String Quartet!

Already into their second week of residency, the Tasman String Quartet has kept busy with visits to Birmingham, Scottsboro, and Pisgah, Alabama. Want to follow them on their mission to bring music to students around the state? Visit http://tasman.tumblr.com/ for photos and videos, as well as a calendar of their outreach activities.

Brought to Auburn under the auspices of the Breeden Eminent Scholar, held by Dr. Howard Goldstein of the College of Liberal Art's Music Department, the group will offer unique opportunities in string education and performance for students and faculty as well as the general public. The residency is coordinated by Goldstein, the Auburn University Music Department and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities.

Questions about the quartet, the Breeden Scholar, or the center's outreach activities? Email us at cenarts@auburn.edu.

Tasman String Quartet Residency

Beginning February 15, the Auburn University College of Liberal Art's Department of Music will host the Tasman String Quartet in a month-long residency. The group will serve as guest faculty at Auburn, perform in concert and travel the state giving lessons and workshops.

Founded in Wellington, New Zealand, in 2006, the Tasman String Quartet includes violinists Anna van der Zee and Jennifer Banks, violist Christiaan van der Zee and cellist Miranda Wilson. The Quartet was mentored by the New Zealand String Quartet and quickly gained acclaim and was invited to perform in many cities. They were also invited to perform for Chamber Music New Zealand and Radio New Zealand.

While in residence at Auburn, the Tasman Quartet will be involved in several special events. A concert on Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. in the Music Department's Goodwin Hall will kick off the residency. The concert is free and open to everyone; a reception follows the show.

Online Introduction to Civic Reflection

On Friday, February 20 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m., the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities will host an online introduction to Valpraiso University's Project on Civic Reflection with project director Dr. Elizabeth Lynn.  The meeting will take place via conference call and online at connect.auburn.edu/cah and is free and open to anyone interested.

For over ten years, the Project on Civic Reflection has helped civic groups build capacity, commitment and community through discussion of short readings from a variety of genres-classic and modern-as a means of reflecting on basic questions at the heart of their giving, service and leadership. For more information on the project, visit civicreflection.org.  For more information and conference call instructions, please email mwilson@auburn.edu or call Mark Wilson at 334-844-4948 by February 18.

Join us for "The Business of Southern Energy"

We invite you to join us on Thursday, February 12, 2009, from noon to 2:00 p.m., for a Southern Growth Policies Board forum on "The Business of Southern Energy: Making Choices for Your Community." The forum will take place in the boardroom of the Alabama State Council on the Arts in Montgomery and will be moderated by Jennifer Jones and Christopher McCauley, graduate students in the department of political science at Auburn University.

Formed by the region's governors in 1971, Southern Growth Policies Board is a non-partisan public policy think tank based in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina and provides a network for collaboration among a diverse cross-section of the region's governors, legislators, business and academic leaders, and the economic and community development sectors. This annual forum, sponsored by the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts, the Alabama State Council on the Arts, and DesignAlabama, is one of several forums to be convened around the state by SGPB partners this spring.

To RSVP and receive a copy of the discussion guide and directions to the Alabama State Council on the Arts offices, please email mwilson@auburn.edu or call 844-4946 by Tuesday, February 10.

Cultural Crossroads

Join us for the eighth annual Cultural Crossroads, an Alabama history symposium, which will be held from 9 am to 4 pm on January 31, 2009 at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

Auburn professors Angela Lakwete and Patience Essah of History and Gary Mullen of Entomology will join Auburn University Montgomery English professor Nancy Anderson; author Jeffrey Benton and Alabama Historical Commission architectural historian Robert Gamble; and Dr. Betsy Sheldon and Paula Weiss.  Entitled "Settling In," the program will focus on the settlement and early development period of Alabama, 1820s-1840s.

Cultural Crossroads is sponsored by Landmarks Foundation of Montgomery, the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts and the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts at Auburn University. Major funding is provided by the Alabama Humanities Foundation, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Registration:  Members of Landmarks Foundation and the Montgomery Museum, $30; the general public, $35; and students and faculty members, $20. Registration fee includes refreshments and lunch.  For information and further details, please contact the Landmarks Foundation at 334-240-4518, 334-240-4500 or 1-888-240-1850 or the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts at 334-240-4333.

A registration form may be found here. (PDF)

View the Nordan Symposium Online - Live!

If you are not able to attend Lewis Nordan and the Heartbreaking Laughter of Transcendence and Hope: A Symposium in person -- you can attend virtually!

On January 23rd, visit www.connect.auburn.edu/cah to access live video of the symposium. Viewers will be able to chat with other participants and ask questions. If you are having trouble connecting, visit www.auburn.edu/img/connect for troubleshooting tips.

Would you like to see more events like this broadcast live? Or videos and podcasts available on our website? We would love to hear your comments and suggestions. Email us at cenarts@auburn.edu.

Winter 2009 Newsletter

The Winter 2009 Newsletter (PDF) is available on our website.

In this issue, you will find information about:

• Lewis Nordan and the Heartbreaking Laughter of Transcendence and Hope: A Symposium


• New Perspectives: Views from Alabama's Historically Black Colleges and Universities


• 2009 Draughon Seminars in State and Local History


• Daniel F. Breeden Eminent Scholar for the Humanities


• The Creek War and War of 1812 in the South: A Symposium


• and more!

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