SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Women’s History Month events, guest lectures and gallery exhibitions highlight events at Wofford College in March.

All events are open to the public and are free of charge unless otherwise noted. Please check the online calendar at calendar.wofford.edu for frequent updates. For athletics events, please go to athletics.wofford.edu.

For more information, contact Laura Corbin at woffordnews@wofford.edu or 864-597-4180.


Tuesday, March 1
Exhibition: “The Beauty of the Natural World in Pictures and Words”
Artist Talk and Opening Reception
5:30 p.m., Great Oaks Hall, Roger Milliken Science Center
“The Beauty of the Natural World in Pictures and Words” is an exhibition of photographs by biologist Phil Wilkinson and poems of Libby Bernadine. They will share stories and answer questions about the photographs and poems at the artist talk and opening reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. March 1 in Great Oaks Hall in the Roger Milliken Science Center. Wilkinson, a retired biologist from the S.C. Department of Natural Resources, is a widely published author in scientific journals and has received awards for his conservation efforts, including the Daughters of the American Revolution National Conservation Award and the Order of the Silver Crescent from S.C. Gov. Nikki R. Haley. Bernadine is a retired poetry teacher who has published two chapbooks. She has contributed to various poetry journals and is a member of the Poetry Society of South Carolina, the North Carolina Poetry Society and is a lifetime member of the board of governors of the S.C. Academy of Authors. The works will be on exhibit through mid-March. Following the reception, Wilkinson will lead a panel discussion in Room 121 of the Milliken Science Center to discuss field work, his laboratory techniques and research on the reproductive biology of alligators and the population of “sentinel species.” He also will introduce opportunities for students to participate in similar research around the South Carolina coast.

Thursday, March 3
Phi Beta Kappa Lecture: “Picking a President in 2016”
Guest Speaker, Dr. Harold W. Stanley, Southern Methodist University
7 p.m., Leonard Auditorium, Main Building
Dr. Harold W. Stanley, the Geurin-Pettus Distinguished Chair in American Politics and Political Economy at Southern Methodist University, will be the featured 2016 Phi Beta Kappa speaker at Wofford College at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in Leonard Auditorium in Main Building. The Wofford PBK chapter is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Stanley will talk on “Picking a President in 2016: Lessons Learned (or not) from Previous Campaigns, Elections and Their Aftermaths.” Stanley, interim vice president for academic affairs and provost at SMU, is author of numerous books and articles, with his research focused on American government, particularly on Southern and Latino politics and presidential elections. As associate provost at SMU, he oversaw the International Center, SMU-in-Taos, the Altshuler Learning Enhancement Center, the Center for Academic Development of Student Athletes and the President’s Scholars. He co-edits “Vital Statistics in American Politics,” now in its 15th edition, and has testified often as an expert witness in federal court on voting rights and redistricting.

Thursday, March 3
Lecture: “Syria and the European Refugee Crisis: Fracking Europe”
Guest speaker, Dr. Leila Hudson, University of Arizona
7 p.m., Olin Teaching Theater, Franklin W. Olin Building
Dr. Leila Hudson, associate professor in the school of Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Arizona, will speak on “Syria and the European Refugee Crisis: Liquidating Syria, Fracking Europe.” Hudson also is director of the Southwestern Initiative for the Study of Middle East Conflicts. The discussion is based on her current research and will examine the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis and its impact on Europe. The program is sponsored by the Wofford Department of Government, the Middle East and North Africa program at Wofford, and the Cultural Affairs Committee.

Friday, March 4
SCATE Night: Kick-off for Women’s History Month and Sexual Violence Pledge
7 p.m., Campus Life Building
An evening of food, fun and artistic performances by students, faculty and staff on the subjects of gender and/or sexual identities. The program is part of Wofford’s Women’s History Month activities.

Wednesday, March 9
Exhibition: “Ephemeral Flights”
Artist Talk and Opening Reception
4 p.m., Martha Cloud Chapman Gallery, Campus Life Building
“Ephemeral Flights” juxtaposes the hyper-sexualized with the desexualized. The forms are paired with balloons, which function as a surrogate for life. The exhibit is intended to show that form does not matter and that socially integrated expectations can be damaging to the individual. Through “Ephemeral Flights,” visiting artist Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn shows that life is short and at times unfair, but it still offers opportunities to tell our story. The exhibit is designed in honor of the National Women’s History Month. An artist talk and reception will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. March 9 in the Martha Cloud Chapman Gallery, and an artist lecture will be held at 4 p.m. March 10 in the Olin Teaching Theater in the Franklin W. Olin Building. For more about Blinkhorn and her art, go to http://jessicaelaineblinkhorn.weebly.com.

Wednesday, March 9
Olin and Muffet Sansbury Lecture: “Syria’s Refugee Crisis, Islamophobia and the ISIS PR Machine”
Guest speaker, Dr. Amanda E. Rogers, Georgia State University
4 p.m., Olin Teaching Theater, Franklin W. Olin Building
Dr. Amanda E. Rogers, a postdoctoral research fellow at Georgia State University, will speak on “Syria’s Refugee Crisis, Islamophobia and the ISIS PR Machine.” Rogers says, “In the wake of ISIS’ horrific attacks against Paris on Nov. 13, a pervasive, and troubling, hysteria has dominated domestic political rhetoric in the United States. Despite the fact that no Syrian refugee was implicated in the coordinated terrorist operations, and the fact that the U.S. currently hosts fewer than 3,000 refugees, more than half of American governors quickly signed (unconstitutional) executive orders at the state level, aiming to curb or halt altogether refugee resettlement. Simultaneously, the GOP’s roster of presidential candidates appear to be embroiled in not only a contest for the nomination, but a competition out-do one another in inflaming domestic fears. Such a climate proved so unsettling that the non-partisan U.S. Holocaust Museum felt compelled to issue a statement urging caution concerning the anti-refugee rhetoric.” Rogers, who holds a Ph.D. from Emory University, also is an activist, political analyst, artist, and multi-media journalist. She serves on the editorial board of the Postcolonialist, staff writer for Muftah.org, and columnist at Aslan Media Initiatives.

Thursday, March 10
Lecture: “Competing Philosophical Methods and the Free Will Debate”
Guest speaker: Jeffrey Tlumak, Vanderbilt University
4 p.m., McMillan Theater, Campus Life Building
Professor Jeffrey Tlumak of Vanderbilt University, author of “Classical Modern Philosophy,” will speak on free will, with a special focus on how views of human freedom are shaped by ground-level commitments about how best to conduct philosophical inquiry.

Thursday, March 10
Exhibition: “Ephemeral Flights”
Artist Lecture
4 p.m., Olin Teaching Theater, Franklin W. Olin Building
(See details in March 9 event description)

Thursday, March 10
Dunlap Chamber Music Concert
7 p.m., Leonard Auditorium, Main Building
Dunlap Chamber Music Concert will present William Preucil, violinist and concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra; Alexandra Preucil, violinst and associate concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra; William Ransom, pianist and artistic director of the Highlands-Cashiers Festival; Eun-Sun Lee, viola and professor at Wofford College; and Charae Krueger, cellist. The performance will include Bach Trio Sonata in C Major for Two Violins, Cello and Keyboard; Beethoven Piano Trio in C minor, Op. 1 #3; and Dohnanyi Piano Quintet in C minor, Op. 1.

Tuesday, March 15
Lecture: “Tech Entrepreneurs and the Regulatory State”
Guest Speaker: Liya Palagashvili, SUNY-Purchase
5 p.m., Leonard Auditorium, Main Building
Dr. Liya Palagashvili, assistant professor of economics at SUNY-Purchase, Law and Economics Fellow at the Classical Liberal Institute, NYU School of Law, and one of Forbes 2016’s “30 under 30” for Law and Policy, will speak on “Tech Entrepreneurs and the Regulatory State.”

Wednesday, March 16
Panel Discussion: “Girl Rising”
6:30 p.m., McMillan Theater, Campus Life Building
Educating girls can break cycles of poverty in just one generation, yet millions of girls are not in school. “Girl Rising” uses storytelling to inspire action that gets girls into classrooms worldwide. After the screening of the documentary, the audience will be able to hear from a panel of Wofford students, faculty and staff on how education has broken cycles in their lives. The program is part of Women’s History Month activities at Wofford.

Tuesday, March 22
Faculty Talk Series: “Income Inequality and Intergenerational Income Mobility: Basic Facts”
Speaker: Dr. Wesley J. Pech, associate professor of economics
4 p.m., Gray-Jones Room, Burwell Building
Income inequality and income mobility seem to be at the center of many recent public policy discussions. In the current presidential race, for example, virtually all candidates from both parties frequently have discussed how to address these two issues. But what do we know about them? In this talk, Dr. Wesley J. Pech, associate professor of economics, will provide a brief introduction to the “economics of inequality” by describing some basic facts about the measurement of inequality and mobility, how and why they have changed over time, and the relationship between these two concepts and other social and economic variables. A critical discussion of the results will conclude the presentation.

Wednesday, March 23
Lecture: “The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West”
Guest speaker, author Todd Green, Luther College
7 p.m., Leonard Auditorium, Main Building
Dr. Todd Green, associate professor of religion at Luther College, is the author of “The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West.” He teaches courses in European and American religious history and in interfaith dialogue. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Religions and is editor of “Islam, Immigration and Identity,” a collection of scholarly essays that sheds light on how the growth and increasing visibility of Muslim minority communities in the West has led both Muslim and non-Muslim populations to reconsider their own cultural, religious and national identities in light of the “other.”

Thursday, March 24
Tyson Family Lecture on Restoring and Preserving Southern Ecosystems: “The Color of the Land – Sand County to Carolina Clay”
Guest speaker: Dr. J. Drew Lanham, Clemson University
7 p.m., McMillan Theater, Campus Life Building
Aldo Leopold wrote, “Conservation is a state of harmony between men [people] and land.” While Leopold, a white Midwesterner, came to ideas of the “land ethic” from travels in the America Southwest and in the idyll of restoring an old farm and a weekend cabin in Wisconsin, black Southerners were less than 100 years removed from the bonds of chattel slavery and mired in discrimination that ultimately has led to the loss of land/nature connection. With these losses has come a lack of participation by black Americans in conservation-related occupations and activities at extraordinarily low levels. What differential hearing of the “harmony” does the Southern black experience bear on conservation going forward? How do we better understand and remedy the disconnections? Personal story is the start. This lecture series will address ethnically hued land ethic issues by both Dr. J. Drew Lanham’s research and creative writing, providing a forum for discussion and exchange. Lanham holds an endowed chair as Alumni Distinguished Professor and is also an Alumni Master Teacher at Clemson University in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Science. He is a writer, poet, birder and hunter-conservationist who seeks to connect culture to conservation in evocative ways. He lives in Seneca, S.C.

Monday, March 28
Theatre Performance and Panel Discussion: “Just One Night,” with Safe Homes
7 p.m., McMillan Theater, Campus Life Building
A thought-provoking short play with a discussion afterward from Safe Homes, a Spartanburg-based rape crisis center, about sexual assault and date rape. This program is part of Wofford’s Women’s History Month activities.

Tuesday, March 29
Conference on Gender
4 p.m., Montgomery Room, Burwell Building
Wofford’s 14th annual Conference on Gender will feature students from a wide variety of disciplines who will share their research on gender studies issues. Pizza and cookies will be served following the presentations. The program is part of Wofford’s Women’s History month activities.

GALLERY EXHIBITIONS

March 7 through May 15
“The Dead Father Portfolio,” Wofford professor John Lane
Sandor Teszler Library Gallery, Sandor Teszler Library
Wofford’s Special Collections will exhibit its copy of “The Dead Father Portfolio,” one of 26 copies of a special edition of “The Dead Father Poems” (Holocene Publishing, 2000), a book written by Wofford professor John Lane and illustrated with etchings by Douglas White.


Through April 3
“Ephemeral Flights”: Works by Jessica Elaine Blinkhorn
Martha Cloud Chapman Gallery, Campus Life Building
(See details in March 9 event description)

Through March 18
“The Beauty of the Natural World in Pictures and Words”
Photographs by Phil Wilkinson and Poetry by Libby Bernadine
Great Oaks Hall, Roger Milliken Science Center
(See details in March 1 event description)

Through May 10
Teaching Exhibition: “Religion 362 Ritualized Space in the Middle East”
Slide Room Gallery, Daniel Building
Students enrolled in Religion 362: Ritualized Space in the Middle East selected works of ancient Near Eastern pottery from the Wofford College permanent fine arts collection to analyze and display in the Slide Room Gallery, Daniel Building. They have written descriptive text for gallery visitors. Items on display include terracotta figure, mold, oil lamps and other cultural objects.