Dr. Darin Waters Doctoral Dissertation Revisited
Since 1893, the YMI has been an important and central institution in African American community life in Asheville and Western North Carolina. The most recent issue of The North Carolina Historical Review, which features a turn-of-the-century photograph of the YMI Band on the cover, includes the essay “Philanthropic Experimentation: George Vanderbilt, the YMI, and Racial Uplift Ideology in Asheville, North Carolina, 1892-1906.” The essay is drawn from Professor Waters’ doctoral dissertation, Life Beneath the Veneer: The Black Community in Asheville, North Carolina from 1793 to 1900, which explores the founding history of the YMI, linking it to late 19th century racial uplift ideology. Additionally, the essay draws from previously unexamined primary sources housed at the Biltmore Estate Archives in Asheville.
Dr. Alvis Dunn Presents Paper at the Tenth Annual ReViewing Black Mountain Conference
September 28-30, 2018
Dr. Alvis Dunn delivered a paper titled, “Robert Creeley in Guatemala,” at the Tenth Annual ReViewing Black Mountain Conference, September 28-30 in Asheville. Dr. Dunn also gave a talk to the members of Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church of Asheville on “Guatemalan History” on September 26.
Dr. Grant Hardy and Dr. Samer Traboulsi Organize Field Trip in Salem, NC
On Saturday, September 29, Drs. Samer Traboulsi and Grant Hardy organized a field trip with his History 178 class to witness the arrival of the Miraculous Panagia Vimatarissa Icon and the dedication service of the Panagia Chapel in Salem, SC. The Panagia Chapel is the largest stone-built Greek Orthodox Church in the USA. A specially-made replica of the original tenth-century Miraculous Panagia Vimatarissa Icon was presented to the church by the Greek Orthodox monks from the the Holy Monastery of Vatopedi in Mount Athos, Greece.
Dr. Samer Traboulsi Presents Paper at International Conference
October 7-11, 2018
Dr. Traboulsi presented a paper on “Charismatic authority in the Tayyibi Ismaili da’wa” at the conference “Islamic Studies at the University of Göttingen and the Holy Shrine of al-Abbasiyya in Kerbala, Iraq” in Göttingen, Germany, October 7-11, 2018. The conference was held at the Paulinerkirsche. The church was built by the Dominicans in 1304. It was turned into a library when Göttingen university was founded in 1734. The Gutenberg Bible is the crown of the university’s rare books collection. The three clerics in the picture wearing black turbans are Sayyids, a title given to descendants of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dr. Ellen Pearson Presents on COPLACDigital Courses at Association of Interdisciplinary Studies in Detroit, MI
Dr. Ellen Pearson presented about the COPLACDigital courses at the Association of Interdisciplinary Studies conference in Detroit, MI. She participated in a panel that included two of the COPLACDigital co-teachers: James Welch IV, a professor from the U. of Sciences and Arts of Oklahoma and Jessica Wallace, Assistant Professor of History at Georgia College and State University, an alumna of UNC Asheville, (History/English double major,) and Manly Wright Award winner for 2008.