One of UMW’s most distinctive programs is a combination academic course/public lecture series titled “Great Lives: Biographical Approaches to History and Culture.”
First introduced in 2004, it enjoys a uniqueness not only at UMW, but in the entire country, as it has grown to become a major cultural and educational attraction in the Fredericksburg region – and, increasingly, beyond.
Offered annually in the spring semester, Great Lives brings to campus between 15 and 20 major biographers who speak to audiences consisting of students enrolled in the course together with hundreds of area residents who attend the lectures free of charge. Cumulative attendance for the most recent series was more than 10,000.
The program was made possible initially by an endowment established by John Chappell of Philadelphia; its continuing growth is enabled by widespread private donations from area residents as well as ongoing support from the Chappell family. Such support enables the program to attract preeminent biographers from throughout the United States and abroad. Speakers have included numerous award-winning authors, among them an array of Pulitzer Prize recipients. Besides delivering lectures, speakers often make themselves available to meet informally with students and with various community groups.
Topics are chosen so as to provide diversity – not just in terms of race and gender, but in terms of chronology and, most importantly, fields of accomplishments. Accordingly, lectures are drawn from the fields of literature, politics, the military, entertainment, visual and performing arts, medicine, sports, philosophy, and business, among others. Indeed, the 250 topics covered to date range literally from A (for example, Alexander the Great, Aaron Burr, Abraham Lincoln) to Z (Zelda Fitzgerald, Mao Zedong). Some of the more popular topics have focused on non-human subjects, such as the great Virginia thoroughbred, Secretariat, and even a few fictional characters such as Sherlock Holmes, Rosie the Riveter, Harry Potter, and James Bond.
The upcoming 2018 season will begin in January and will continue the tradition of an eclectic lineup, including both major figures such as Napoleon, George Orwell, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Nixon, and Warren Buffett, as well as lesser-known subjects such as the women code-breakers of World War II.
Parents who are visiting campus are invited to attend lectures, which are held on Tuesday and Thursday evenings in Dodd Auditorium, January-April, and are free of charge. Additional information about Great Lives, including the complete 2018 schedule, can be found on the Great Lives webpage, which also provides access to the archives of previous records.