Fourth Great Lives Lecture Series Reaches Conclusion

The University’s popular “Chappell Lecture Series: Great Lives” culminated in April with a lecture on Princess Diana by Sally Bedell Smith. She is author of Diana In Search of Herself and has written numerous other biographies on public figures such as William S. Paley, Pamela Harriman, and John and Jacqueline Kennedy. Smith has worked at Time and The New York Times, and she currently is a contributing editor at Vanity Fair.

The 14-lecture program, sponsored by the Department of History and American Studies, examines the lives of intriguing figures throughout history.

The series conducted throughout the month of April also featured the following lectures:

·  “Emily Dickinson” by Claudia Emerson, UMW’s Arrington Distinguished Chair of Poetry and professor of English.  Emerson’s book of poetry, Late Wife, won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize.

·  “Walt Disney” by Steven Watts, professor of history at the University of Missouri-Columbia and author of The Magic Kingdom: Walt Disney and the American Way of Life.

·  “Charles deGaulle” by Jason Davidson, assistant professor of political science at UMW. Davidson is an expert on European politics, foreign relations of the United States and Europe, American foreign and security policy, and international affairs.

·  “Fidel Castro” by Robert Barr, UMW’s assistant professor of political science. Barr is an authority on Latin American politics and has had articles published in the American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, and Third World Quarterly.

·  “Secretariat” by Bill Nack, retired sports writer for Sports Illustrated and author of Secretariat: The Making of a Champion. Secretariat was a Triple Crown winner and equine native of Caroline County.