SynApse
Archives
TheSynApse
Vol. 12, No. 6
August
1, 2002
An
Abbreviated Edition
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.
Vol. 12, No. 5
May
31, 2002
The Spring
2002 Graduation
For the first time in its 116-year
history, Winthrop University held two separate ceremonies to honor graduate
and undergraduate students receiving their degrees this year.
The key reason was that the combined commencement ceremony had become
too big for the coliseum. The
Spring commencement is the largest indoor event in York County with more
than 6,500 people expected to be in attendance this year.
The separate ceremony also allows the university to give more
recognition to its more than 100 graduate students.
The Master of Liberal Arts program
graduated three students this spring.
From
left to right: Tom Moore, Dean
of the College of Arts & Sciences (former MLA director), graduates: Greg
Schauble, Ann Doss Helms, Bill McGinnis, and current MLA program director,
Dave Rankin
Summer Session has begun
Maymester
is almost over. It is not too
late to register for courses that begin later this summer.
Following are some of the courses
still available. Ginger
Williams is teaching U.S/Latin American Relations which begins July 8th
and runs through August 7th (D session).
Alice Burmeister is teaching Arts of Oceania also in D session
(7/8-8/7). Richard Morris is teaching Statistical Methods for Decisions
during B session (June 3 – Aug. 2). There
are several others. Call the
MLA office for details. (803/323-2368)
LAMAS Activities
We
would like to schedule another Sunday matinee at the Manor Theater some time
toward the end of July.
To those in the Charlotte area, watch for a special mailing with the
announcement of the film, date and time.
(The Manor Theater management does not know until two weeks prior to
the date what they will be showing.) There will be a wine, cheese and movie
discussion after the movie at the Rankin’s house.
Our first film matinee went very well but we would like to see more
of you attend.
The movie seen then was “No Man’s Land” and received raves from
all who attended.
The
annual Pig Pickin’ is scheduled for August 10th at Jen and Don
Sparacin’s home from 3:00 until the pig is picked.
More information and directions will be sent to you in July.
Last year’s Pig Pickin’ was great!
We had a good turnout and
everyone had a
wonderful time.
We will have an even better time if more of you come this year.
Recruitment
Activities
Our active students list has been
somewhat reduced over the past several years.
We need your support in recruiting new students.
You all know what a valuable experience going the program has been
for you. Please share your
experiences with friends and encourage them to sign up.
We want to thank those of you who have already given us contact
names. Dave will be calling
them in the next few weeks to discuss the program.
Bancroft
Makeover
Stop by and
see the changes in Bancroft and our offices.
We have new carpeting, freshly painted walls and have rearranged the
office layout. The hallways have lowered ceilings, new carpeting, new
lighting and fresh paint. All
the windows in Bancroft will be replaced in August before fall semester
begins. By fall all the
renovations will be made and Bancroft will be a much more pleasant and
comfortable place in which to work in, pass through, or have classes.
We
also have a new room number. All
the office numbers have been changed. The
annex offices no longer end in an “A.”
Thus the necessity of the renumbering.
We are now 150 Bancroft.
Stop
by and say hello. Remember our
hours are Monday – Thursday 8:30 – 2:30 with Friday and evening hours by
appointment only.
From the Director
Those of you who attended our spring MLA
picnic in historic Brattonsville were blessed with good weather, food,
company, and a truly gracious host—our own program alumnus Gardner
Chappell. The picnic, which
honored our three spring graduates, was especially successful because of
Gardner’s efforts. Not only
did he help with planning, setting up (table cloths and flowers), and food
(food pick-up and a delicious pasta salad of his own making), but he also
conducted a private tour of the grounds.
His articulate, informal, and witty explanation of the settlement’s
history—food, farming, clothing, tools, art, architecture, and
more—complemented in a unique and memorable way that which we do in the
MLA program. Many thanks,
Gardner.
The newly formed MLA Advisory Committee
consists of student member Lee Miller, alumnus Diane Simpson, faculty
members Houston Craighead (philosophy), Susan Ludvigson (English), Tim
Boylan (political science), Tom Moore (ex officio), (Jen Sparacin
(ex-officio), and me. We held
our first meeting March 26th and discussed recruiting strategies,
the adding of “tracks” in such areas as writing, developing a good
working relationship with the Interdisciplinary Program in Graduate Liberal
Studies at UNC Charlotte, developing guidelines for LART 604 projects, and
creating ways of evaluating/assessing our own program’s effectiveness.
The student and faculty members of the committee can all be reached
at their Winthrop email addresses
(lastnamefirstinitial@winthrop.edu
- for example, rankind@winthrop.edu);
the alumnus, Diane Simpson can be reached at diane.simpson@yorkcountygov.com
. Please send the committee
members your thoughts, concerns, or suggestions about our program.
Even if you have not read Steven
Pinker’s earlier books, The Language Instinct and How the Mind
Works, you need to give his newest book, Words and Rules, a chunk
of your time. You won’t be
disappointed. Pinker connects
language and grammar (don’t be put off by the
G
word)
to an incredible range of topics in the sciences (genetics, brain imaging,
neural networking, and computer simulation) and in the humanities (origin
and history of languages, Western philosophy, and human conceptualization,).
The book is one of the best on explaining how the mind works, and the
examples from language, because they are specific and easy-to-follow, make
the arguments compelling and convincing.
Vikki and I hope you will join us for
Sunday matinees at Charlotte’s Manor Theater followed by suitable
refreshments at our house. Dates
and film selections will be announced in separate mailings to all of you who
live in the area. Until we see
you again, stay healthy and happy.
Dave
 Vol. 12,
No.2
February
6, 2002
Another Semester, Another Year
2002 or ’02!
They both have a nice ring!
2002 has brought us three new students (Maria Massey,
Michelle Chase, and Beth Darby), and one
returning student, Christina Stiles.
Maria works in Dr. Tom’s office (and incidentally lives
literally next door to Tom and family).
Michelle is a recent Winthrop graduate.
Beth Darby works at York Tech.
Christina, who also works at York Tech, returns to us after a
hiatus of a couple of years. If you meet any of these folks on campus or in class,
please make them feel welcome to the MLA program.
LAMAS Activities
The LAMAS (Liberal Arts Masters
and Students) Steering Committee has decided on the two major events
for this semester.
The
first will be a movie matinee at 2:00 pm on February 17th
at the Manor Theatre in Charlotte.
The movie is “No Man’s Land,” winner of a Golden Globe
award for best foreign film of 2001 and Best Screenplay at Cannes.
ABOUT NO MAN’S LAND: “Bosnia
and Herzegovina during 1993 at the time of the heaviest fighting
between the two warring sides. The two Bosnian soldiers, Niki and
Chiki, wander into the no man's land and become the victims of
bombing.” “This is
a story that begs to be told--a good representation of what has been
a mysterious war halfway around the world--in Yugoslavia. It is an
immensely interesting film, dominated by the relationship between
the Serb and Bosnian, and even more, their two sides. The workings
of the UN peacekeepers were also well-represented and very
interesting,” says an Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)
contributor. After the
movie we will stop at Dave Rankin’s home in Charlotte for some
wine, finger food, and a great discussion of the movie.
It should be an extremely interesting event.
The
details of the event: The cost of the movie is $5.00.
Please call our office (803/323-2368) to let us know if you
will attend the movie and the gathering at Dave’s house no later
than Thursday, February 14th.
Directions to the Manor Theatre and to Dave’s house are
enclosed for the local folks.
The second major event will be the graduation celebration.
This will be held on April 27th from 1-4 pm and
will include a guided tour by Gardner Chappell, class of ’99 and
LAMAS steering committee member, and a French picnic lunch.
We are still fine-tuning the menu for the picnic but will let
you all know the details in a future mailing.
We are considering another
event on campus sometime late in March.
The details of this even will be forwarded to you in a future
mailing.
MLA Advisory Committee
The
Advisory Committee has been formed.
The members are: Dave
Rankin, Susan Ludvigson, Houston Craighead, Tim Boylan, Lee Miller
(the current student representative) and Diane Simpson (the alumni
representative). Their
first meeting will be in late February to set group goals, future
meeting dates, membership terms, and other details. If you want to have any input into this group please
send your comments/concerns to Jen Sparacin at sparacing@winthrop.edu
or Dave Rankin at rankind@winthrop.edu.
Future MLA Course Information
Just a reminder.
We will be offering LART 601: The Empirical Eye and LART 602:
The Rational Eye in the fall. LART
603: The Intuitive Eye will be offered in the spring of 2003.
Depending on enrollment, LART 601 will also be offered in
spring, 2003. Please
plan accordingly. We
will be mailing the summer and fall schedules out shortly after
spring break that is Monday, March 4th through Saturday,
March 9th.
Graduation, Spring 2002
There will be three graduates
this semester. Ann Doss
Helms, Bill McGinnis, and Greg Schauble are working furiously on
their LART 604 projects in hopes that they will be finished and
accepted. Best wishes
to all three of them.
Please come to the Spring
Graduation Celebration and help these three commemorate their
accomplishments!
F. Y. I.
Duke University’s Master of
Arts in Liberal Studies is offering “MALS in Oxford 2002.” The topics of these courses include English Literature
(twelve courses from Chaucer to Twentieth Century Women’s
Fiction), History, Politics and Society (seven courses covering
Europe during the Cold War, Britain in the Era of Total War,
1906-1945, Contemporary British Politics).
If you are interested, please contact the MLA office for more
details.
From
The Director
All of us who spend time in an academic
community must, at one time or another, think about the importance
of truthfulness. Are
students always honest with teachers? Do scholars report accurately and objectively the results of
their research? Should
teachers tell the truth when writing letters of recommendation? Are we ever justified in passing off the work of others as
our own? These
questions were tackled almost a quarter century ago by Sissela Bok
in her well-known book Lying: Moral Choice in Public and Private
Life. She argued
brilliantly and convincingly for being truthful in all that we say
and do and insisted that, when tempted to lie, we should always
examine carefully the truthful alternative.
Now, Jeremy Campbell, a scholar whom many of you may remember
as the author of Grammatical Man (Tom and I both used it as a
text in 601 in the early and mid-90s), has written a powerful book
in defense of lying—The Liar’s Tale.
Campbell sees lying as being a part of human nature, says we
expect to be lied to, argues that it is part of the inflationary
world that we live in, depicts lying as being more fun, creative,
and exciting than the truth, and gives countless examples of the
important and positive role that lying has played in our history.
I will never again write a letter of recommendation without
weighing carefully the arguments put forth by Bok and Campbell, and
I will never again look at the work of my students and my colleagues
in quite the same way that I used to. Give these books a try.
Start with Bok. I
look forward to hearing some of your truthful comments about the
merit of these two arguments. If
these two books spark enough interest, we could use them as the
basis for an informal MLA forum on academic integrity.
Please email any of your comments to Jen or me.
I
hope many of you can join us for the film at the Manor and for an
informal gathering at our house on the afternoon of Sunday, February
17. Vikki, Erin, and I
look forward to welcoming you, and we hope that this will be the
first of many occasions
when
MLA faculty, students, and alumni will be able to socialize in
Charlotte. (We are, of course, inviting the Moores, but since Tom
turned fifty last August he doesn’t seem to get around much any
more.)
Spring
graduation is not far off, and we will be conferring degrees on Ann
Doss-Helms, Bill McGinnis, and Greg Schauble.
Offer them your best.
Dave
Vol. 12, No.2
November
29, 2001
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 11th, 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 30th 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 6th.
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
 
Vol. 12, No.1
August
22, 2001
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 8th
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 15th 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
 
Vol. 11, No.5
June
25, 2001
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
Vol. 11, No.4
May
1, 2001
Graduating Class of May 2001
We are pleased to announce that three
students will be receiving their Master of Liberal Arts degrees on
May 5th. 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 4th at 6:30 pm in the Withers 4th
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 4th. Thanks,
Miller, for the great name.
Second
Movie Time
Our second Movie Time event was held on April 6th.
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.
Way to go, Lee!
Diane
Simpson, Class of '97, was recently promoted from assistant
public works director for York County to assistant county manager
for external services. She
is responsible for public works, zoning and planning, emergency
management, fire prevention and engineering departments, and
Ebenezer Park and the
York
County Summer Feeding Program.
This is quite a responsibility, and we know Diane will handle
it well. Way to go,
Diane!
Summer and Fall Registration
Remember that summer and
fall registration are 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.
Summer Office Hours
Our office hours will
be:
8:30 am – 2:30
pm, Monday – Thursday, Friday by appointment only
Call for Papers
The Association of Graduate Liberal
Studies Programs (AGLSP) is now accepting manuscripts for future
issues of the journal. The
deadline for submission of manuscripts is December 1 for the Spring
issue and May 1 for the Fall issue each year.
If you would like to contribute to this publication, contact
Jen in the MLA office for details.
This organization published the final project of Karen White,
Class of ’98.
From the Director
Holy Moly, the semester is over.
Where on earth did it go?
I kid you not at all when I tell you that the last three and
a half months are a blur as I try to reflect on what has happened
and what I’ve done. Many days I get home and wonder what I did all day and why
I’m so tired. After
four or five adult beverages, my thinking clears, and I’m able to
go to sleep to get ready to do it all over again the next day.
Certainly, my work has changed in many ways, and I have a new
appreciation for the MLA program and the students with whom I have
worked. In many ways, that work has prepared me to deal with the
diversity of people and issues that I face in this job.
While at times I enjoy the range of things that come my way,
I miss the time to sit down with MLA folks and discuss the progress
of their educations and the impacts on their lives.
I am grateful for the expressions of interest and concern
that have come my way over the semester.
I expect things to calm down a bit over the summer, and I
would love to hear from you.
We all owe Jenny an expression of thanks for the great job
she has done in the MLA office this spring.
She has kept the ship afloat and on course.
I know she has worked with many of you to solve problems and
work out difficulties. I
find it a bit discouraging to learn that the program runs fine
without me. I know you
join me when I say, “Thank you, Jenny!”
We have made plans for next year to keep things running
smoothly. Dave Rankin
will serve as Director of the MLA program for the 2001-2002 academic
year. Dave has been
involved in the program since its beginning; he taught the first MLA
course offered, LART 601, in the fall of 1989.
He has taught 601 many times over the life of the program,
and he has worked with students on various projects.
Many of you have taken other graduate courses from Dave.
Although Dave officially retired from Winthrop in December
2000, he continued through this spring part-time.
Dr. Rankin knows the program well, and he understands, indeed
embodies, the values of graduate liberal studies.
I look forward to his working with the program and to being
his boss next year. Welcome, Dave!
This semester we got the MLA organization off the ground, and
we even named the thing. The
creative Miller Tucker came up with LAMAS as a name for the group.
We welcome your membership, your participation, and your
ideas. We have had a
couple of interesting gatherings, and more are on the way.
The next MLA event is our graduation banquet on May 4. This semester three folks will
complete
the program, and six graduated in December.
Please join us for our annual celebration of the program and
the accomplishments of our newest graduates.
I remind you that the banquet will be on the fourth floor of
the Withers Building this year.
Please ask for directions if you need them.
As this blurry semester comes to an end, I find myself torn
between the activities of writing reports on the year that’s
ending and planning budgets and schedules for the next year.
The pressure to produce the reports on this year and make
decisions about priorities for next year leaves little time for
reflective analysis of what we did particularly well and how we
might do better. I’m
not sure whether the forest keeps us from seeing the trees or the
trees keep us from seeing the forest, but I know it is difficult to
balance the two perspectives and see and make appropriate
connections. As I go
through this process for the first time at the Dean’s level, I am
grateful for what you have taught me as I have worked with you in
the MLA program. When I
do stop and think, I find myself using abilities that I know have
come from my MLA experiences. As
I do that, I understand more fully the appreciation many of you have
expressed toward me and the program over the years.
Yes, the connections we learn to make in this program serve
us well in the daily experiences of life.
They enable us to bring order to chaotic situations and
processes. I’m
reminded that the theme of the program is, “The Search for
Order,” and I know that the search is an internal one rather than
an external one. Certainly,
I would be over-whelmed in this job if I had not had the good
fortune of working with the MLA program, and through that work, come
to understand myself in relation to the world more clearly.
I trust that you are maintaining appropriate balance between
order and chaos in your life. I
hope you look forward to the warmer months and that you have some
meaningful activities planned.
Watch for notice of LAMAS functions that might help you
maintain order. I hope
to see you at the banquet on May 4.
Work hard and have fun!
Tom
Vol. 11, No.3
February
5, 2001
Beginning of the New Millennium
The Master of Liberal Arts Program has
started the millennium with five new students:
Karen Brown, Lisa Dantzler, Shannon McCoy, Bill McGinnis and
Harold Roberts. Please
help us welcome these folks to the program.
Graduation Fall 2001
Above are the December 2000 MLA
graduates. They are, from
left to right: Frances
McConnell, Frank T. Polk, Jeff Venables, Jen Sparacin, Jeff Page,
Candy Houg, and our esteemed leader, Dr. Tom Moore.
Check out the MLA graduation web page at www.sparacin.com/mla2000graduation
for more pictures. Our
thanks go to Don Sparacin for taking the photographs of the occasion. (Of course, he didn’t have much choice since his wife, Jen,
was in the graduation group.)
A good mix of students, alumni, friends, and family gathered at
Susan Ludvigson and Scott Ely’s home for our celebration after the
commencement exercises. We
had great fun renewing old acquaintances and making new friends.
MLA Alumni/Student Association
The mission statement
for the organization is:
The Master of Liberal Arts
Alumni/Student Association will promote and sponsor enrichment and
social activities for students, alumni, faculty, and friends of the
Winthrop University MLA program.
Events will be true to the ideals and values of graduate
liberal studies, will promote community among participants, and will
spread our commitment to life-long learning by helping introduce new
persons to the program.
First
Event: Movie Time
The
first MLA Alumni/Student Association event will be on February 16th
at 7:00 pm in room 212 of Thurmond Hall.
We will gather to discuss the movie Chicken Run. Watch the movie ahead of time (available at any movie
rental store), and come prepared to discuss the major themes and
subtle issues therein. The
committee will provide movie snacks, wine, and soft drinks.
We ask those who can to please bring a simple snack or hors
d’oeuvre. The planners
would like to have some idea of how many to expect, so please give us
a call at 323-2368 and let us know that you are coming.
Join us for a stimulating evening.
Join
the Association!
Help support our social
and enrichment events by joining the new MLA Alumni/Student
Association. To become a
member send your name, address, phone number, email address and dues
($20 for alumni, $10 for current students) to:
Ed FitzGerald, Winthrop University,
Master of Liberal Arts Office, 136 Bancroft, Rock Hill, SC 29733
Or see Marty Hadaway at the Movie Time event on February 16th.
Your dues cover attendance for you and a guest at association
events.
News of Alumni
An article on the old
Rock Hill textile fast-pitch softball league by
Jamie Ferguson, class of ’00, will be
the lead story in the South Carolina Historical Society’s Carologue
magazine’s summer 2001 issue. Jamie
says that it’s ironic that his first published piece is non-fiction. Congratulations, Jamie!
Besides graduating in December,
Jeff Venables,
class of ’00, was among the 23 Rock Hill teachers who became
nationally certified. Congratulations,
Jeff!
New Office Hours
Beginning February 1,
our office hours will be:
8:30 am – 12:00 noon &
2:00 – 4:00 pm
Monday – Thursday
Friday by appointment only
Instead
of dropping by as in the past, it would be a good idea to call before
you come. We promise to
give you the same service we always have, but with one less person
staffing the office, you might be more likely to find an empty office
when you arrive.
From the Director
Warm greetings from cold Carolina.
We life-long southerners are having trouble adjusting to the
real winter we are having this year. For me the silver lining in the gray clouds is my heightened
anticipation of the sunny greens (and fairways) of May.
Those greens and fairways seem far away as I ponder what this
new semester holds. For
the first time in many years (at least fifteen), I have a limited
understanding of what the next few months will be like.
I have never done the job I will do this semester.
You probably are not surprised to learn that I have been a bit
nervous (perhaps more than a bit) as I have thought about being the
acting dean. Upon reflection, I realized that I am experiencing what many
MLA students experience as they (you) start this program. You are undertaking something that you have never done
before. Most of you have
never been to graduate school, and most of you have not been to school
of any kind in a long time. In
addition, you have full lives with work and/or family that keep you
busy day and night.
One response to this realization is even more respect and
admiration for you who have been willing to spend your hard-earned
money and valuable time to undertake the MLA program.
A second response is deep satisfaction from the fact that most
of you find the experience well worth the effort.
While I have seen in many of you great uncertainty and doubt as
you endured the first few meetings of LART 601, a few short years
later, many have expressed regret that you were at the end of the
program. Thank you for
having the courage to try, the determination to continue, and the
willingness to express your gratitude and appreciation.
Although I started this column before I assumed the duties of
acting dean, as I complete it, I have been in the job for two full
weeks. I got an early
start due to unforeseen circumstances that confronted the outgoing
dean, Betsy Brown. I must
admit that at times I have felt like many of you did in those first
few class meetings. Some
days I have left the office, as you left class, wondering why I chose
to be here and doubting that I belong.
Remembering my experiences with many of you gives me hope that,
before too long, I might begin to feel a bit more comfortable.
Many of you have expressed your support and best wishes, and
believe me, that helps. I’ll
let you know how it goes.
It seems like a long time ago that we watched our newest
graduates walk across the stage and gathered at Susan and Scott’s
home for a warm celebration. Thanks
to Susan and Scott for hosting us and to all who participated.
As always, it was great to see graduates from across the years,
current students, and friends of the program.
At the party, we discussed details of the new Alumni/Student
organization that is (finally) getting off the ground.
Thanks to Ed FitzGerald, Marty Hadaway, Gardner Chappell,
and Jenny
Sparacin for their leadership in getting
things started. This
Association will help us offer more and better opportunities for all
of us to gather and enjoy each other’s company and share ideas.
Please
try to come to “Movie Time” on February 16.
Whether you can come or not, I recommend that you watch
“Chicken Run.” If you
do watch it, I bet you will want to gather with a bunch of MLA folks
to talk about it. Part of the evening will be devoted to discussing ideas for
future events and other activities.
If you are undecided about joining, come on the 16th
and contribute your ideas to the discussion.
I hope to see you there.
The
schedule for the MLA office for this semester is elsewhere in the
newsletter. We will learn
as we go, so please be patient with us.
As you know, Jenny does a great job and can handle your needs.
One of my fears is that folks will discover that with me out of
the way, Jenny will take care of things with greater efficiency.
I can be reached in the dean’s office at 323-2160 and by
email at mooret@winthrop.edu.
Just because I’ve moved across the way, don’t stop letting
me hear from you.
Whatever you are doing
at this time, I hope the next few months go well for you.
As I undertake a new position, I identify with what I have
watched many of you do over the years.
Please join me as I Work Hard and Have Fun.
Tom
Vol. 10, No.2
April
21, 2000
Another Graduation Banquet
The
2000 MLA Graduation Banquet is set to go on May 5 at 6:30.
We will be honoring the following Spring graduates:
David Cole, Jamie Ferguson, Ed FitzGerald, Phyllis
Gaither-Montague, Valerie Holley, Dennis Kaplan, Larry King, Sue Ellen
Lee, Johnna Murray, and Fall 1999 graduates: Gail Bruny and Lucy
Warlick. Please come and
help them celebrate their achievement!
The banquet menu is:
Tossed
Salad with Vidalia Onion Dressing
Pistachio
Encrusted Chicken Breast
Filet
of Beef with Pesto Sauce
Bundled
Green Beans
Orzo
with Pesto Sauce
Chocolate
Pate/Berry Berry Tart
Vegetarian meals
are available but you must let us know by May 1st.
This year the bar will be serve
yourself. And, as last year, we will be billed for what is consumed so
please contribute to the donation bowl.
Summer & Fall Registration
Registration
is in full swing. We have
had quite a few folks already register for both summer and fall. Remember all you need to do is call our office (803/329-1650)
or email (sparacing@winthrop.edu
or
mooret@winthrop.edu)us
with the information (section number, course number) and you will be
registered. If you need to pay with a credit card (Visa or Mastercard),
again just call us with the number and we will take care of it.
We will also take care of getting your parking sticker for you.
Just call our office. It couldn’t be easier!
If
you have any administrative issues, please don’t hesitate to call
us. We will do our best
to iron them out. We know
the ins and outs of the Winthrop administrative domain and can usually
work problems out with minimum
strain on our MLA students.
News of MLA Alums
Karen White, class of ’98, informs us that The Journal of Graduate
Liberal Studies has accepted an essay and a poem from her final
project for publication in the Spring 2000 issue.
Carolyn
Ballard, class of ‘97 has been commissioned to write the history
of Founders Federal Credit Union as it celebrates its 50th
anniversary.
And You can Publish, Too
The Journal of Graduate Liberal
Studies is always seeking scholarly and creative works by students,
faculty and alumni of Graduate Liberal Studies programs like ours.
Contact the MLA office for the particulars.
MLA Committee Report
Thanks for the good response to our requests for volunteers to
serve on our advisory and activities committees.
We plan to get things set up over the summer.
Thanks for your patience.
From the Director
Springtime
greetings from the MLA program. Believe
it or not we have all made it to near the end of the semester.
And speaking only for me, the end cannot come too soon.
So far, it has been a busy and rewarding semester, and I hope
the first quarter of your Y2K has been meaningful.
As
I wrote in the last Synapse,
part of that busy for me has been teaching a chemistry course and a
laboratory. Currently, it
looks like everyone will survive both activities.
I have told several friends that I am glad I am not taking that
chemistry course because that stuff is getting hard, and I would hate
to be learning it for the first time.
This semester, I have
had the interesting experience of working with students who have had
to struggle a bit to get through that chemistry course while my son
Charlie struggles through a chemistry course at another college.
One of the things I told Charlie when he went to college not
quite two years ago was that I hoped over the next couple of years he
would come to understand me better.
He admitted in a telephone conversation a few weeks ago that
indeed his experiences in college have increased his understanding of
and appreciation for his dad. Little
did I know that I would come to understand myself better as well.
As I encourage students to “stick with it” and trust that
the effort they are putting forth will pay off in the end, and their
grades will reflect their understanding of the material, I must remind
myself that the same applies to Charlie.
I can’t panic when he does poorly; I must be patient and let
him learn from what he does not understand the first time through.
I must allow his professors to teach him the way I try to teach
my students. I must hear
the explanations that I have given students and parents over the years
and believe them myself.
I know that we have all
struggled with the uncertainty of whether or not we or one we love
will make it through a particularly tough course or activity.
In the academic world, those issues get resolved each term, and
shortly a new term presents another chance regardless of the outcome.
Our failures aren’t fatal, and they teach us our best
lessons. As a teacher, I
know this is true; as a parent, I wish it were otherwise.
Tom
Vol. 10, No.2
December 7, 1999
Congratulations Graduates
The December 1999
MLA graduating class is small but distinguished.
Our two graduates this semester are:
Gail Bruny, whose project is Early Intervention As A
Means of Preventing Youth Violence,
and
Lucy Warlick,
whose project is A Crack in the
Funhouse Mirror, a collection of
poems
with commentary.
Please join us in offering hearty
congratulations to these newest MLA graduates.
Last MLA Celebration in the
Century
We will gather to
celebrate the holidays and congratulate Gail and Lucy at the Moore’s
on December 11. You
should have received an invitation including a map.
Please note that the party is a week earlier than usual; we
usually celebrate after commencement which is December 18 this year.
So, don’t be confused by the date, bring a buddy, a snack,
and a holiday attitude, and show up at Tom’s and Marsha’s about
three o’clock on the eleventh.
Party On!
MLA
Advisory Committee(s)
Thanks to those who responded to our
request in the last Synapse
for volunteers to serve on the MLA Program Advisory Committee and on
the MLA Program Enrichment Committee.
The response was fair, but we still need some more folks.
Let us know if you are willing to contribute to the program by
serving on one of these committees.
Give us a call, or you can email Tom at
mooret@winthrop.edu
or Jenny at
sparacing@winthrop.edu.
We need your help; please let us hear from you.
MLA
Salon
One
of the enrichment activities that the Program Enrichment Committee
could develop is a MLA salon. We
got limited response to our request for expressions of interest in
such an idea, but we are not discouraged by initial rejection of a
good idea! After all, if the Winthrop leadership had been discouraged by
the response from the CHE to our notification of our intention to
develop an MLA program, the program would not exist.
Think about the idea; we’ll be in touch.
MLA
Alumni News
Marion Mannheim,
class
of ’99, will exhibit prints, that she made from glass negatives made
early this century by Mr. Gold of Blacksburg, at the Museum of York
County beginning January 15th. These
prints were the foundation of Marion’s final project, and some of
them have been exhibited at the Rock Hill City Hall.
For more information contact Marion or the MLA office.
Marion is to have hip replacement surgery at Piedmont Medical
Center of Dec. 7. Please send words of encouragement as
she recovers from this operation.
Congratulations, Marion, and best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Virginia
Satcher, class of ’92, has written a second play based on a
children’s book. This play,
Littlejim’s Gift, was presented by the Fort Mill Community
Playhouse at the Fort Mill High School Auditorium on December 2, 3, 4,
and 5. Virginia’s other
play, The Year of the Perfect
Christmas Tree, was written as her MLA final project.
The Children’s Theater of Charlotte performed that play as
their holiday production in 1995.
Congratulations, Virginia.
We hope to make this a regular feature of The
Synapse, so let us know of significant happenings in your life.
Summer Study at Oxford
Duke University’s Master of Arts in Liberal Studies program
is offering a number of courses at Oxford the summer of 2000.
The topics of these courses include English Literature (seven
courses from Chaucer to Twentieth Century Women’s Fiction), History,
Politics and Society (four courses covering Europe during the Cold
War, Britain in the Era of Total War, 1906-1945, Health, Education,
& Social Welfare, Contemporary British Politics).
If you are interested, please contact Jenny in the MLA office
for more details.
From the Director
Almost holiday greetings from the MLA program.
At this time in the semester, the end is in sight; the problem
is what stands between now and the end.
But we have all been through it before, and we know that we
will make it this time.
The semester will end, and as it does we will observe a MLA
tradition that I have come to cherish over the years.
The holiday/graduation party at my house is a highlight of the
year for me. I remember
several years ago when I was in the third year of directing the MLA
program, and I was still chair of the chemistry department.
I was on an expressway to burnout, and during the fall semester
I applied for several jobs at other schools.
At the party that December, I was struck by how much fun I was
having as folks of diverse ages, backgrounds and experiences came
together to celebrate the season and the MLA program.
I realized that I did not want to leave Winthrop; I just wanted
to be freed from the department chair and allowed to devote more
energy and effort to this program.
The following summer I was paroled from the chair.
That was five years ago, and I am still here, so I guess I was
right. Each time we host
the party, I remember that event and feel grateful.
Marsha and I hope you can join us on the eleventh.
Some of you know that this semester I have been involved in
Winthrop’s review of its general education program.
The process has been going on for a couple of years, but this
fall the discussions have grown more intense as we have gotten closer
to proposing changes. As
those conversations have taken place, I have been surprised by how
much they remind me of many discussions I have had with MLA students
and graduates over the last ten years.
As we faculty discuss general education, we are forced to
confront issues that most of us thought we settled years ago.
We are forced to face the fact that as times and students
change, the best ways to accomplish desirable outcomes also change.
We must define and articulate the reasons why every student
should have a course in a particular discipline, not just say one
cannot be educated without a course in that.
Over the years I have watched and listened as many of you have
struggled with having to question some of your deepest and longest
held beliefs. I have seen
your discomfort as you were forced to examine the assumptions that
underlie your world view. While
this process is confusing and at times disquieting, I think that most
of you have found it worth the effort as the benefits far outweigh the
costs. These are things
that are not fun to do but are good to have done.
One of the buzzwords in education these days is “life-long
learning.” Certainly,
graduate liberal studies in general and the Winthrop MLA program in
particular are dedicated to that idea.
Tom
Vol. 9,No.5
July 15, 1999
A
Great Time Was Had By All
The
MLA 10th Anniversary Banquet was a fine occasion
with students, faculty, alumni, and friends of the program attending.
The food was great, the conversation was lively, and the
celebration was appropriate for the first ten years of MLA at
Winthrop. We all look
forward to the next century of the program!
MLA
On The Internet
We have our own web site.
Check it out! You may see some folks you know there. Our address is www.winthrop.edu/mla.
The most recent SynApse will be posted there as well as other
information and MLA news.
Hornsby
MLA Lecture Series Announced
On June 29 Winthrop announced that Lynn
and Clarence Hornsby will donate $100,000 to the capital campaign to
endow a lecture series for the MLA Program.
Proceeds from the endowment will fund speakers who will come to
campus and lecture on topics of interest to a broad audience.
The Hornsbys have lived in Rock Hill for more than thirty
years. Both of them have
connections to Winthrop. Lynn
is a 1972 graduate of Winthrop, and Clarence has taught in the College
of Business Administration.
Please help us express our appreciation to the Hornsby’s for
this generous gift that will benefit our program, the University, and
the community of Rock Hill in coming years.
You can find much more information about
this gift on the web site.
Good
News for Out-of-State Students
The South Carolina Legislature has passed and the governor has
signed a proviso that allows graduate students from several North
Carolina counties to attend Winthrop for in-state tuition.
All current MLA students from North Carolina qualify for the
in-state rate. This
reduces the cost for North Carolina residents by 80%. The proviso is for one year; the legislature will consider
the issue again next year.
Schedules
As the fall semester approaches, be reminded that Susan
Ludvigson will be away from campus during the Spring 2000 semester.
Therefore, LART 603 will be available only in the fall
semester. LART 602 will
also be available only in the fall.
We will limit enrollment in these seminars to fifteen (15).
Plan your schedule to be able to take either or both of these seminars
as you need them in order to finish the program when you hope to.
Fall
Registration
Please call the office at (803) 323-2368 and let us know what
courses you want to take in the fall semester.
We can handle all the paper work for you including
registration, bill payment (you must provide the method of payment),
and vehicle registration (we need make and model of car, tag number,
and twenty dollars). The
office is staffed from 8:30 to noon most days and at other odd hours.
Let us know your preferences!
From
the Director
Warm mid-summer geetings from the MLA program.
Actually the last few days have been a welcome cool and wet
reprieve from the normal July heat.
So far, the summer has been a period of development and good
news for the MLA program.
The spring semester ended with a nice celebration of ten years
of the MLA program at Winthrop. The
gathering on May 7 brought together diverse individuals connected by
commitment to and experience of graduate education directed toward a
deeper and richer understanding of ourselves and our world.
Several people have asked about the banquet, and I have had to
tell them that they needed to ask someone else.
For much of the evening, I was at a microphone in front of a
room full of MLA folks. I can think of no place that I would rather be, so I had a
great time. Although I
can’t speak for anyone else, everyone seemed to enjoy the event.
In June we announced a gift of $100,000 from Lynn and Clarence
Hornsby to endow an MLA lecture series.
We will use income from this endowment to bring speakers to
campus who will address important issues and subjects from a broad
perspective. You will be
hearing more about this as we make plans for the first lecture in the
2000-2001 academic year. We
are thankful for the Hornsby’s confidence and belief in what the MLA
program is about, and we are grateful for their generous gift to
support our efforts. You
can find much more information about this on our new web site.
Yes, another development for the program is the new web site at
www.winthrop.edu/mla. Jenny did a great job in creating the web page and getting it
up and running. The site
contains all kinds of information about the program. Hopefully, it
will help those who are interested keep up with the program better and
help us recruit new students by enabling prospective students to get
information they need. We
welcome suggestions for things that you think should be available on
the web page; so check us out and send us your responses and ideas.
Seriously, let us know what you think.
A piece of particularly good news for the program was the
legislative action that will allow our students who live in North
Carolina to take courses at the in-state rate.
I know that the out-of-state tuition has been a burden for some
of you, and this change should benefit you individually and the
program as a whole. I
hope some of you will be more willing to tell friends who live north
of the border to get information on the program and consider applying.
The summer has been rewarding for me personally as well as
professionally. Some
things happened soon after school was out that made me reflect on my
work at Winthrop, particularly with the MLA program.
Through that reflection, I have had some new ideas and renewed
commitment to some old ideas that I have never followed through on.
The most important ideas are forming an MLA advisory committee
composed of faculty, students, and alumni and a student/alumni
association to plan social and cultural events. I will have more to
say on these in future columns, but if you have any ideas or want to
volunteer, please let me know.
The most meaningful event for me this summer (I know some of
you are going to hate this) was walking eighteen holes of golf with my
two sons, Charlie and Kirk. While we have played together in various combinations several
times, we had never
walked a full eighteen holes as a threesome. I had looked forward to this day for a long time, and it
lived up to my expectations although none of us played very well.
The fact that neither of them had any idea that I was having
one of the best experiences of my life made it all the more
meaningful.
I have my work with this program to thank for the fact that,
these days more than ever before, I find myself seeking and finding
joy in the ordinary experiences of life.
You have taught me to view things from multiple perspectives,
to withhold judgement and look for what I might be missing in a given
experience. Put simply,
you have taught me to be more aware.
I am fully aware that the MLA program at Winthrop University is
about to start its second decade.
I am grateful for all who have contributed to making its first
decade meaningful and memorable for many of us.
I look forward to the next decade with great anticipation and
expectation.
I hope your summer has been as good as mine so far, and that
the remainder is even better. Shortly,
we will all be back on a more structured routine.
My desire is that we approach that routine with renewed
commitment grounded in a conviction that what we are about is of
enduring value to others and to ourselves.
Work hard and have fun!
Tom
  Vol.
9, No. 4
April 28, 1999
MLA
CELEBRATES 10TH ANNIVERSARY
Don’t forget to call the office and make your reservation for
the MLA banquet on May 7. The
festivities begin at 6:30 PM with assorted beverages and great
conversation. Dinner will be served about 7:15. The menu is:
Tossed
Salad with Sundried Tomato Vinaigrette
Grilled
Chicken Breast in Lemon Pepper Marinade
Grilled
Filet in Rosemary Pesto Marinade
Garlic
Smashed Potatoes
Julienne
Mixed Vegetables
Lemon
Chiffon
Vegetarian
meals are available but you must let us know when you make your
reservations.
Previously we have had a cash bar, but due to changes in the food
services policies, that is no longer possible.
We will be billed for what is consumed.
A donation bowl will be available; please contribute.
CONGRATULATIONS
TO OUR MAY GRADS
Gardner Chappell, Marty Hadaway, Ken Harrison, Bart Lundy, and
Marion Mannheim will graduate on May 8. We want to extend our
congratulations to these folks who put in a lot of hard work to achieve
this goal. We wish them the
best in their future endeavors.
Gardner’s project: Practicing What I Teach
Marty’s project: Immigrant Women: An Alternate Angle of Vision
of Life and Work In America
Ken’s project: Embracing the Nothingness
Bart’s project: Motivation
Marion’s project: The Dawning of the 20th Century
through the Camera Lens of D. Audley Gold
SUMMER AND FALL REGISTRATION
Don’t forget to let us know which summer and fall classes you
wish to take. We will be
glad to register you. Our
office hours are: Mon.-Fri. 8:30 – 4:00. And our phone number is (803) 323-2368. You can register for a summer class through the first day of
class. Check the schedule
bulletin one more time and find that course you really need to take.
And don’t forget, we also take care of
obtaining your parking permit. Just
let us know your driver’s license number & state, the color, make,
and year of your car and it’s tag number & state.
The fee is $20 for the school year and you will be billed for it.
We will mail your parking sticker to you.
SUSAN TO GO SOUTH
Congratulations to Susan Ludvigson, who will be Poet in Residence
at the University of South Carolina in Columbia during the spring
semester of 2000. Those of
you planning your schedules should note that LART 603 will not be
offered that semester. So
the schedule for LART 603 will be fall 1999, fall 2000, spring 2001.
LART 601 will continue to be offered each semester, and LART 602
will continue to be offered only in fall semesters.
Please plan your schedules appropriately.
OUT-OF-STATE TUITION
Current students who live north of the
border are aware of the significant difference in tuition for South
Carolina residents and those who live outside the state.
Currently, the SC Senate is considering a proviso that would
allow North Carolina residents in the Carolinas Partnership region to
take graduate courses at Winthrop at in-state rates.
It has already passed the House, and all signs indicate that it
will pass the Senate, but there is no way to know when the Senate will
act. Until the Senate passes the bill and the Governor signs it,
the out-of-state rate is in effect.
We all hope the rate drops for summer sessions, but there is no
way to predict what will happen. We
will notify you as soon as we have word that the measure has passed the
Senate.
JAPANESE
ART, ANYONE
Graduate art history (ARTH 681) is being
offered in C session this summer. Dr.
Peg De Lamater will teach the course, and the subject will be Japanese
art and architecture. This
should be an interesting course for MLA folks.
SUMMER APPROACHES
School is almost out, and when it is,
the MLA office will shift to a more relaxed schedule.
Jenny will be in the office most mornings, and Tom will be here
some times. Tom will be out
of town for a couple of weeks in late May and early June, but he will be
around most of the rest of the summer.
Whenever you need us, give the office a call, and we will get
back to you shortly. Have a
wonderful summer!
FROM THE DIRECTOR
Greetings from the MLA program.
I have difficulty believing that another academic year is almost
gone, but we all know how the rate at which time passes increases with
advancing age. I know my
age is advancing if the MLA program is ten years old, and
that is indeed the case. In
my opinion that is cause for great celebration, and we plan to do just
that on May 7 in McBryde 101.
We are still working on some of the
details, but I think we have a nice evening planned.
We will gather about 6:30 and have assorted beverages for
refreshments. As indicated
in the opposite column, Aramark no longer uses a “cash bar” so we
cannot charge for each beverage. We
will be billed for what is consumed, so if you drink, please make a
contribution to help cover the cost.
Dinner will be great! The
menu to the left is correct; we will have two entrees.
So bring a festive attitude and a good appetite.
There will be a bit more program than we
have had at the first two banquets.
We will hear from this year’s graduates and recognize some
folks who have been instrumental in the program from the first thoughts
of developing a graduate liberal studies program to teaching the courses
this semester. This will be
the first time that we have gathered such a group to acknowledge and
celebrate good work done long ago and continuing today.
The single person most responsible for
there being a MLA program at Winthrop is Al Lyles, who, as Dean of the
College of Arts and Sciences, appointed a committee to investigate the
feasibility of such a program. Everyone
whose life has been enriched by this program is indebted to Dr. Lyles. Al moved on to other positions in the university and retired
a few years ago, but he and Lillian, his wife, will be with us at the
banquet. He will be able to
see some of the lives that his idea has touched, and we will be able to
thank him for his good work.
As always the most important folks to
acknowledge and thank are students and alumni.
You make this program work because you are willing to engage
yourselves in the “search for order.”
Indeed, it is your willingness to spend your money and your time
in pursuit of a deeper understanding of the human condition that gives
me a program to direct and interesting students and courses to teach.
I can’t help thinking back over the
years and remembering specific comments made by students. One I remember from LART 601 a few years ago is that the
interesting issues and questions discussed in class were not the content
of the readings but issues and questions raised by the readings.
No Duh! The idea
expressed by the student is the way we do things in this program, yet he
was surprised to find things working that way.
Remembering this comment occasionally reminds me that we are
somewhat unique in the way we approach teaching and learning.
Being somewhat unique makes sense when I
remember the discussions in the committee that created the curriculum
for the program. The first
thing we did was remove from consideration any professional skills or
expertise, and secondly, we decided that the core should
not
be based on academic disciplines. Folks,
if you remove professional skills and disciplinary expertise from most
graduate programs, there is nothing left.
I think I have learned that we have to overcome our preferences
for practical and professional interests in order to really get at our
humanity. When we put disciplinary prejudices aside, we can look at
issues from multiple perspectives and develop an understanding that is
not possible from narrower views.
Believe me, over the years students have
broadened my perspective on many issues more than I thought possible.
My life is richer and more meaningful because of that.
I have watched as some of you experienced the same thing.
Many of you left the program far different than you entered.
In Confessions of a Philosopher Bryan McGee speaks to the
value of education. “The greatest gift a formal education can bestow
is to develop in us a conception of the world that is not merely an
enlargement of our own views and attitudes and interests and
assumptions; and in the nature of the case we are not able to do this
without help from others who are free of our limitations.” It has been
ten of the best years of my life because I have been learning with and
from an amazing collection of people who are free of my own limitations.
I look forward to spending an evening celebrating those ten years
with those most responsible for making that happen.
If you get this newsletter, I hope you can be there, because you
have been a part of this experience in some way.
If you’re not able to come, we’ll miss you.
As the semester closes we should all
think about those of us who have to write papers and take exams and
those who have to give and grade papers and exams.
Each of us has been on one or the other side of that process at
some time. May the stress
associated with the end of the semester be minimal; may we all make and
give all A’s; may we all make it to the banquet; may we all have the
best summer ever; and may the MLA program only get better over the next
ten years.
Work hard and have fun!
Tom
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