Friends of the Old Dominion University Libraries

Past Events

2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 - 2002 - 2001 - 2000 - 1999 - 1998 - 1997 - 1996 - 1995

2008

• Alan Hoffman Lecture - October 17
• Joe Jackson Lecture - May 21
• Annual Author's Dinner - April 8
• Maryanne Wolf Lecture - February 19

2007

• Annual Author's Dinner - April 24
• You've Got Mail - March 23
• Sports Writing Panel - February 6

2006

• Friends Fall Forum - November 14
• North American Jules Verne Society Conference May 25-28
  Old Dominion University hosted the North American Jules Verne Society conference May 25-28. The event brought together international scholars and translators, including experts from the humanities as well as specialists from NASA, the Cousteau Society and the French Navy. The conference was sponsored by Vandeventer Black LLP, ODU's Frank Batten College of Engineering and Technology, Old Dominion University, Friends of the Old Dominion University Library, Broad Street Books, Norfolk Yacht and Country Club and Linda Hyatt Wilson.
• 12th Annual Author's Dinner March 29, 2006
• Human Rights Panel Discussion February 23, 2006

Baskets for Books - The Basketball Game that Benefits the Library

• The ODU Monarchs defeated the DePaul Blue Demons on December 17, 2005, by a score of 87 to 43.
• The half-time free throw competition between Bill Mann and Cal Bowdler resulted in a total of 21 baskets being made.

Annual Library Book Sale

The 31st Annual Library Book Sale was held in room 151 of the Perry Library from Wednesday, November 2 through Saturday, November 5.

Friends Fall Forum, "The History of War and other Histories." was held on Friday, October 28, 2005, at 1:00 p.m.

Peter Paret, Professor Emeritus of the School of Historical Studies, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, presented a lecture in memory of Craig M. Cameron, former Old Dominion University faculty member.

Professor Paret’s undergraduate studies at the University of California at Berkeley were interrupted by the Second World War, in which he served as a Staff Sergeant in the 1st Infantry Regiment in the New Guinea and Philippines campaigns. After the war, he completed his studies for the B.A. at Berkeley and continued with graduate study at King’s College, University of London, where he received the Ph.D. He has held academic appointments at Princeton University, the University of California at Davis, Stanford University – where he was the first Raymond A. Spruance Professor of International History – and as the Andrew W. Mellon Professor in the Humanities at the Institute for Advanced Study.

Professor Paret is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Leo Baeck Institute, a Member of the American Philosophical Society, which awarded him the Thomas Jefferson Medal, an Honorary Fellow of the London School of Economics, and an Honorary Member of the German Clausewitz Society. The German government awarded him the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit. Two of his essays won the Moncado Prize of the Society of Military History, from which he also received the Samuel Eliot Morison Award. He holds the honorary degrees Doctor of Literature, University of London, 1992; Doctor of Letters, University of South Carolina, 1995; and Doctor of Humanities, the College of Wooster, 1996.

Perspectives on Banned Books: A Panel Discussion

The panel discussion was held on Thursday, September 29, 2005, at 7:00 p.m. in room 101 of the Mills Godwin Building. A question and answer period followed the discussion. "Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read" was observed during the last week of September.

Panelists included:

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Cathy Lewis, host of “HearSay with Cathy Lewis,” on WHRV-FM (89.5). Cathy Lewis’s career in journalism brought her to WAVY-TV 10 in 1982. She moved to public broadcasting in 1996, and in October will celebrate 8 years of being the voice of “HearSay.” Today the show reaches more than 35,000 listeners Monday through Thursday.

Lisa Murray, Director, Corporate and Foundation Relations, Old Dominion University. Lisa Murray also does book reviews on WHRV-FM , one of Hampton Roads’ National Public Radio affiliate stations, and has done several reading-based episodes of “HearSay.”

Tom Robotham, managing editor of Port Folio Weekly, a news and opinion magazine serving southeastern Virginia. He is the author of five books, including a volume on the 19th century American landscape painter, Albert Bierstadt, and a book on early photographs of American Indians. In November 2004, Tom Robotham was awarded an ALLI award in the media category. ALLI awards are sponsored by the Cultural Alliance of Greater Hampton Roads.

The moderator was Tim Seibles, associate professor of creative writing at Old Dominion University. In addition to his latest book of poems, Buffalo Head Solos, Tim Seibles is the author of five other collections of poetry: Hammerlock, Body Moves, Hurdy-Gurdy, Kerosene, and Ten Miles an Hour. He has received a Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center fellowship, an NEA fellowship, and an Open Voice Award from the National Writers' Voice Project.. Tim Seibles also has lead workshops for Cave Canem – a retreat for African American writers – and for the Zora Neale Hurston-Richard Wright Foundation.

Preservation Workshop

Brian Baird, Director of Preservation Services, Heckman Bindery presented a workshop for Friends of the Old Dominion University Library on How to Preserve Your Personal Collections of Books, Photographs, Documents and Audio-visual Materials on Wednesday, July 20, 2005, 7 P.M., Perry Library, Room 151.

Brian J. Baird is regularly asked by civic groups and Friends of Libraries organizations to speak on "Preserving your Personal Collections". Brian discussed how people can preserve personal collections of books, photographs, documents, computer files, and audio/visual materials. This presentation involved lively discussion from the group who were encouraged to bring examples of items they wish to preserve. Participants received practical preservation strategies and vendor information on where preservation and storage supplies can be purchased. Better Homes and Gardens published an article written by Brian full of practical tips on to preserve your personal collections.

Background Information: Brian Baird joined Heckman Bindery as Director of Preservation Services in 2004. Before joining Heckman Bindery, Brian was a member of the faculty at the University of Kansas . He joined KU in 1994 as their first Preservation Librarian and was able to build a new, full service preservation department . Brian enjoyed opportunities in Kansas to work cooperatively with other educational institutions in the area, by providing conservation and consultation services on a cost recovery basis. He taught conservation and preservation courses in the KU Museum Studies Program and at the Emporia State University School of Library and Information Management . Prior to working at KU, Brian was at Princeton University where he strengthened the conservation program by leading the design and equipping of a new conservation laboratory, hired additional conservators and technicians, and improved the treatments and procedural operations of the laboratory. While earning his degrees, Brian worked Brigham Young University's , Harold B. Lee Library's Book Repair Unit and became interested in the conservation and preservation of library collections.

Eleventh Annual Author Dinner

Tuesday, April 12, 2005
Reception: 6:00 pm. Dinner: 6:30 pm.
Hampton/Newport News Rooms, Webb Center

Guest Speaker: John A. Adam, University Professor and Professor of Mathematics, spoke on: “Innumeracy: A Light-Hearted Look At A Serious Problem”

The Friends of the Library Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Karl H. Schoenbach, Eminent Scholar and Director of the Center for Bioelectrics

Volunteer Tea

The Friends of the Library hosted Tea with the University Librarian, held in honor of our library volunteers on Thursday, April 22, 2004.

Library Staff Reception

A reception honoring the library staff was held on Thursday, May 12, 2005.

Staff awards were announced during the reception: Stuart Frazer is Librarian of the Year and Tracey Bowry is Staff Member of the Year. Congratulations to them both.

Tenth Anniversary Lecture Series:

Speaker: Jim On~ate and Bonnie Van Lunen, College of Education
Topic: “Knee Injuries in Female Athletes: The Lower Extremity Assessment Program (LEAP)”
Date/Time: Sunday, January 16, 2005, 2 p.m.
Location: Conference Room, Athletic Administration Building

Speaker: Dr. Gail Grisetti, College of Health Sciences
Topic: “Steps to Internationalization: Physical Therapy Students in the Dominican Republic”
Date/Time: February 27, 2005, 2 p.m.
Location: Perry Library, Room 151

Speaker: David Metzger, Director ODU Institute of Jewish Studies and Interfaith Understanding
Topic: “Golems and the (Post) Modern Jewish Imagination”
Date/Time: Sunday, March 20, 2004, 2 p.m.
Location: Perry Library, Room 151

Baskets for Books

Come to the Ted Constant Convocation Center on February 25th for the Baskets for Books game! It's the Monarchs vs. the William and Mary Tribe - all tickets sold mean $$ for the Library!

Monday, April 12, 2004 — 6:00 p.m. in the Hampton/Newport News Rooms, Webb Center.

Gary Edgerton, Professor and Chair of the Communication and Theatre Arts Department spoke on “'Where the Past Comes Alive': Ken Burns and the Rise of History on Television.”

The Friends of the Library Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Cynthia Jones, Eminent Scholar and Professor of Oceanography and Biological Sciences Director, Center for Quantitative Fisheries Ecology

Library Staff Reception

May 11, 2004 -- The Friends of the Library held a reception to honor the Library staff. During the reception the winners of the staff awards were announced.

Tenth Anniversary Lecture Series:

Speaker: Annette Finley-Croswhite, Associate Professor, College of Arts and Letters
Topic: “Death on the Paris Metro: A Nonfiction Account of a 1937 Murder Mystery”
Date/Time: Sunday, September 26, 2 p.m.
Location: Perry Library, Room 151

Faculty Fall Forum
Speakers: Shaomin Li and Anil Nair, College of Business and Public Administration
Topic: “The Tortoise and the Hare: Economic Reforms in China and India”
Date/Time: November 7, 2004, 2 p.m.
Location: Perry Library, Room 151

2003

Annual Library Book Sale
The 29th Annual Library Book Sale was held in room 151 of the Perry Library from Wednesday, November 5 through Saturday, November 8.

Fall Forum
Sunday, November 9 at 2:00 p.m. in room 101 of the Mills Godwin Building
"The Wright Stuff": The Friends of the Library Fall Faculty Forum . It was an outstanding event, featuring Dr. Bob Ash, eminent professor of engineering, and Temple West, a writer and instructor in the English department.

Dr. Bob Ash discussed the pioneering accomplishments of Wilbur and Orville Wright in designing the world's first powered and controlled flying machine as documented through modern wind tunnel testing techniques. He will discuss how The Wright Experience is carefully reproducing the original Wright flying machines, propellers and associated hardware and how the wind tunnel testing program at Old Dominion University is beginning to document the extraordinary achievements of Wilbur and Orville Wright.

Temple West told the story of her observations and experience of Ken Hyde and his "Wright Flyer Project." Through this project, Hyde, a retired airline pilot, has set out to solve an historical mystery and, at the same time, embark on an engineering adventure. The 1903 Flyer design is acknowledged as unstable and potentially dangerous. The Wright brothers, notorious for their secrecy, kept much of the data in their heads, and as a result there is little formal documentation for their flyers other than what was required for patent applications. Ken Hyde has done meticulous research into the Wright's original correspondence and personal papers, looking for clues regarding the design and construction of the 1903 glider. His exploration is a compelling story of detective work and dedication.

9th Annual AuthorDinner
Monday, April 7, 2003

Sheri Reynolds, an associate professor of English and the Ruth and Perry Morgan Chair of Southern Literature in the Department of English, was the guest speaker. Sheri Reynolds has been a member of the university's faculty since 1997. Originally recruited to teach courses in creative writing, she quickly proved herself in the literature classroom as well. Today she consistently receives exemplary evaluation scores from students ranging from first-semester undergraduates to graduate students who have published books themselves; many students cite her as their "all-time favorite teacher." Most notable among her many scholarly accomplishments are her three critically acclaimed novels. Ms. Reynolds's first novel, Bitterroot Landing, was her publishers' nominee for the 1995 GRANTA Young American Author Award. Her second novel, The Rapture of Canaan, reached the top position on the bestseller lists of The New York Times and USA Today, and was an Oprah Book Club selection. Following publication of her third novel, A Gracious Plenty, a reviewer wrote that Ms. Reynolds had "broken the perhaps mythical barrier ... [of writing] a third novel after a book that was an enormous financial success. In this line of work, then, she has shown not only increasing mastery of her craft and of the undefined form of long prose fiction, but discipline and determination This year she was the recipient of one of Virginia's Outstanding Faculty Awards, the Commonwealth's highest honor for faculty at Virginia's colleges and universities.

The Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Professor Michele Darby, Dental Hygiene. She has been a full-time faculty member at Old Dominion University since 1974 where she served seven years as chairman and over 17 years as graduate program director. In May 1981, Michele was an official guest of the Chinese Ministry of Health and Education, sharing current dental hygiene concepts and techniques with Chinese dentists. She also has lectured in Korea, Yugoslavia, Moldova, Switzerland, the Netherlands and Italy. She was a 1993 recipient of the Virginia State Council on Higher Education Faculty Award. She is one of few faculty at Old Dominion University who has earned the titles of Eminent Scholar and University Professor.

President's Lecture in History
Thursday, March 20, 2003 at 8:00 p.m.
Room 102 of the Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building.

James M. McPherson: " When Will This Cruel War Be Over: The Problem of Peace in the Midst of War." Dr. McPherson has taught since 1962 at Princeton University, where he holds the chair of George Henry Davis '86 Professor of American History. He is president of the American Historical Association and was the 2000 Jefferson Lecturer in the Humanities, the highest recognition given by the National Endowment for the Humanities. His books include the Pulitzer-winning "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era" (1989), and he won the Lincoln Prize in 1998 for "For Cause and Comrades: Why Men Fought in the Civil War." His most recent book is "Crossroads of Freedom: Antietam" (2002).

Baskets for Books
Friday, January 24, 2003 7:00 p.m., Ted Constant Convocation Center
The Lady Monarchs vs the VCU Rams
Baskets for Books links the academic and athletic missions of the University and honors the classical tradition of sound mind and sound body. A portion of the proceeds from the box office benefitted the Library.

2002

8th Annual Author Dinner: Thursday, April 4th
Guest Speaker: Alex Marshall
"How Cities Work"

Alex Marshall, an independent journalist in New York City, is the author of the just-published book: How Cities Work: Suburbs, Sprawl and The Roads Not Taken. His articles and columns have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Boston Globe, Metropolis Magazine, The Washington Post, Salon Magazine, George magazine, Architecture, Newsday, The Wilson Quarterly, The San Francisco Chronicle and many other publications.

Friends of the Library Outstanding Achievement Award was presented to Dr. Jeffrey H. Richards, English Professor.

Friends Fall Forum
The Friends of the Library Annual Fall Forum took place on Sunday, November 10, 2002, at 2:00 p.m. in room 151 of the Perry Library. The program was a joint presentation by Dr. Martina Doblin (Research Assistant Professor, Dept. of Ocean, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences) and Dr. John Adam (Professor, Dept. of Mathematics and Statistics), speaking on the topics of:

Art in Science : Many people say that there is synergy when scientists and artists collaborate. Perhaps it is because they come from seemingly opposite ends of the spectrum of human understanding, that there is added energy when they unite. Together with a wider group at ODU (including another oceanographer, a writer, artists, science and art educators), Martina is using images of microscopic marine organisms to develop a K-12 curriculum which combines the disciplines of science and art. This seminar highlighted images created using several microscopic techniques, and demonstrate some of the ideas utilized in the Art in Science curriculum. Martina initiated the Art in Science project at ODU in September 2000 following an informal lunch with Lisa Drake (a fellow Research Assistant Professor in the Ocean, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences Department). She graduated with her Ph.D. in 1998 (Tasmania, Australia), and has since worked at ODU. Dr. Doblin is an oceanographic researcher investigating mechanisms underlying the development of harmful algal and ballast water introductions and their impacts on aquatic ecosystems. One result of her research is a collection of vibrant photomicrographs - photos of marine organisms taken through a microscope.

Math in Nature:What aspects of nature do you see when you go outside during the day? Whether we live in the country, suburbia or the city, it is highly likely we will be able to see trees, different types of clouds, birds and flowers; perhaps bodies of water (or at least puddles, sometimes!). Less common, but certainly not rare, are rainbows, Canada geese flying in "V" formation and "sundogs". Dr. John Adam will incorporate a 35-mm slide show of common and some not-so-common patterns in nature that can be seen if we really learn to look at the world around us. The word patterns implies an underlying mathematical and scientific basis for describing and explaining what we see, to some degree, at least, and passing (non-technical) reference will be made to this underlying structure. John Adam has a B. Sc. degree (first class honors) in Physics, and a Ph.D. in Theoretical Astrophysics, both from the University of London. His research has covered a variety of areas: astrophysical fluid dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics, and singular differential equations, but during the last 15 years he has been involved in mathematical biology, specifically developing mathematical models of tumor growth and metastasis, but most recently, mathematical models for wound healing in bone. John teaches courses at all levels, but his favorite classes to teach are in mathematical biology, mathematical fluid dynamics, and "Mathematics in Nature" - a class recently developed which forms the basis for his forthcoming book Mathematics in Nature: Modeling Patterns in the Natural World, to be published by Princeton University Press in 2003.

Library's Annual Used Book Sale
There was a sneak preview of the Annual Used Book Sale at the Library Friends members from5:30 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., on Tuesday, October 29th. This year the Book Sale had new, expanded hours: October 30th & 31st: 9 am - 6 pm; November 1: 9 am - 7 pm; November 2: 9 am - 12 noon.

Over sixty chamber music compositions were submitted by 40 different composers representing Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.  Instrumentation varies from solo flute to full chorus, and includes a wide range of styles and interests, as well as a wide range of individuals from independent musicians to university faculty to student composers. 

This was the first composers forum sponsored by Old Dominion University's Diehn Composers Room.  The event was part of a series of events funded by the Norfolk Foundation and organized to highlight the contemporary music collections of the F. Ludwig Diehn Composers Room

• Book Signing:  Jacqueline Jones, President's Distinguisihed History Lecturer,  signed her books at the University Bookstore in Webb Center from 5:00 - 5:30 p.m. on November 17.   The Bookstore will contribute a percentage of sales for the benefit of the Library
• President's Distinguished History Lecture:   Jacqueline Jones, the Harry S. Truman Professor of American Civilization at Brandeis University, presented "Self-Evident Truth at the Millennium:  Historical Perspective on the Problem of Equality in American Society" in the Auditorium of the Mills Godwin Jr. Life Sciences Building, at 8:00 p.m. on November 18.
•    The Friends Fall Forum:  Meiko Ishibashi, senior Lecturer and Director of the Japanese Studies Minor Program, gave a presentation, "Japanese Culture:  The Tale from Genji to Geisha," on November 14, at 2:00 p.m.   Her presentation included an explanation of a popular game played with cards, as well as a kimono demonstration by Mrs. Sawayama and a koto solo by Mrs. Setsue Putney.
• From Exposition to Development: The Legacy of Composers at Hampton University
  During the Fall 1999 semester, the Diehn Composers Room presented two major programs in partnership with the Hampton University Library and Music Department.  Exhibits and performances of the work of well-known composers associated with Hampton University were presented in Old Dominion University's Diehn Fine & Performing Arts Center and in the Harvey Library of Hampton University.  Featured composers were R. Nathaniel Dett, Clarence Cameron White, William Shannon Stoney, Joh Michael Spencer, and Harvey J. Stokes.  Materials in the exhibit were from Hampton University Harvey Library and Archives; Old Dominion University Library's F. Ludwig Diehn Composers Room; Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY; Schomberg Research Center, New York Public Library; and from the collections of individual composers.