Forum Series Covers Range of Topics
Mississippi University for Women's spring Forum Series hosted by the Gordy Honors College will feature talks on black women's suffrage in Mississippi, breast cancer research, Scottish theater and the photography of Eudora Welty. All presentations are free and open to the community and begin at 6 p.m. in Nissan Auditorium.
On Jan. 30, in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of passage of the 19th Amendment, Dr. Shennette Garrettscott will discuss the long fight by Black women in Mississippi to actively participate in the suffrage movement and then exercise their right to vote, from the end of the Civil War to passage of the Voting Rights Act. Garrett-scott is associate professor of history and African American studies at University of Mississippi. This program is financially assisted by the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Mississippi Humanities Council.
On Feb. 27, Dr. Benjamin Onyeagucha, assistant professor of biology at The W, will discuss his research on identifying and characterizing biomarkers and molecular drivers in cancer for the purpose of developing new therapeutic strategies for breast cancer patients.
On March 19, Scottish playwright Morna Young will discuss her work as a playwright, including her play “Lost at Sea,” an epic tale spanning 40 years of the fishing industry and a personal tribute to Scotland's coastal communities. The play won two Critics' Awards for Theatre in Scotland (CATS), and Young was named Scots Writer of the Year at the 2019 Scots Language Awards.
In the annual Nell Peel Wolfe Lecture on March 26, Dr. Harriet Pollack, president of the Eudora Welty Society, will discuss how Welty's photographs of black women extended the kinds of images established by photographers up to the 1930s, offering innovative ways to see. Pollack is also editor of the new book series “Critical Perspectives on Eudora Welty” (University Press of Mississippi).
The Series will also feature research presentations by senior honors students on April 16 and April 23.
For more information, please email honors@muw.edu, call (662) 241-6850 or visit http://web.muw.edu/honors/forum.