Library Talks are presented via Zoom on most Thursdays from 12-1. An email will be sent to the UNC Asheville community during the week of the talk with information about logging into Zoom.
All Library Talks are free and open to UNC Asheville students, faculty, and staff. Library Talks can be open to the larger community and may require registration.
For questions or comments about Library Talks, please contact Ashley Whittle, Archivist in Special Collections, Ramsey Library at UNC Asheville. amwhittle@unca.edu or 828-251-6645.
Thursday, August 29
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Angela Du, University Fellow, English and Dylan Harbison
Neo-Victorian Presents? The Many Times of Now in LIT484
We will discuss the unusual structure and assignments of LIT484, a course in the English department titled "The Lives and Afterlives of the Victorian Novel: Jane Eyre" (Spring 2024). We will also discuss why this course matters now, in this period of ongoing crises and in this election year.
Thursday, September 12
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Brian Graves, First-Year Writing Coordinator & Robert Bell, University Writing Center Director
Writing and Information Literacy at UNCA: The Big Picture
Last year, the Writing and Information Literacy in the Disciplines Advisory Committee (WILDAC) met with a wide cross-section of department chairs and assessment liaisons to learn more about where writing and information literacy (W&IL) instruction manifests in our curricula. In this presentation, we will share our principal takeaways and recommendations from these conversations.
Thursday, September 19
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Merritt Moseley, Ph.D. Professor of English, retired
The Fullbright Specialist Option
Have you thought about the Fulbright program for lecturing and research abroad, but perhaps can’t commit to a semester or academic year? You might benefit from the Fulbright Specialist Program. Merritt Moseley, a retired English professor who has been a Specialist in Poland and in Romania, will talk about his experiences and share the advantages and some ideas about how to become involved.
Thursday, September 26
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Alvis E. Dunn, Ph.D. HUM 324 Coordinator; Associate Professor of History
'On This Day' and Me: How History Intersects with Our Daily Lives
The hashtag #OnThisDay reminds us what happened historically on a given date in the past. In short recollections told mainly in North Carolinaese historian Dr. Alvis Dunn takes the audience back to those specific days in search of connections with daily life in the rural Piedmont Chatham County.
Thursday, October 10
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Zack L. Hutchens, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research & Teaching Fellow, Department of Physics & Astronomy
Exploring Galaxies like the Milky Way: Clues to Cosmic Questions
If you have ever visited a research observatory or went camping in a dark location, you may have caught a glimpse of the Milky Way galaxy -- our collective cosmic home -- stretching its deep colors and beautiful patterns of stars across the night sky. To elucidate such a beautiful sight, this interactive talk will delve into the science of the Milky Way, including its colors, structure, and relationship to other galaxies in the present-day Universe. We will further discuss how observations of the larger galaxy population are essential to unlocking several key mysteries in modern science, e.g., the nature of dark matter and the accelerating expansion of our Universe.
Thursday, October 17
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Christian Kerpal, Assistant Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Quantum Biology in Action? - On the Physical Origin of Avian Magnetoreception
The talk will highlight behavioral evidence for migratory birds' ability to sense and utilize the Earth magnetic field during long distance migrations. It will then discuss the possible quantum mechanical origin of this remarkable sense and explain the research currently done by UNCA faculty and collaborators on this topic.
Thursday, October 24
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Giovanny D. Pleites-Hernandez, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science
U.S. Voting Rights in the 21st Century: The Continued Push for Representation in the Face of Democratic Backsliding
This talk will explore state voting laws, gerrymandering, and their impact on the political representation afforded to the American public in the present day.
Thursday, October 31
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Britt Lundgren, Philip G. Carson Distinguished Professor in the Sciences and Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy
Action at a Distance: Did physicist Thomas Young's 1807 Lecture inspire some of the earliest examples of abstract art?
The pioneering Swedish abstract artist Hilma af Klint is known to have been influenced by scientific developments at the turn of the 20th century. However, many of her paintings from 1914 to 1916 exhibit similarities to diagrams published much earlier in the English polymath Thomas Young’s 1807 Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts. Key elements and themes in af Klint’s The Dove, The Swan, Parsifal, and Altarpieces series suggest Young’s Lectures may have been a previously unknown, major source for her work. This talk will share recently discovered evidence supporting this idea and other parallels between the lives and legacies of the visionary scientist and abstract art pioneer.
Thursday, November 14
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Thursday, November 21
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Sonya DiPalma, Chair and Associate Professor of Mass Communication
Creating the Best Course Bundle: Open Education Resources & Artificial Intelligence
This discussion will focus on my first attempt creating a course bundle using Open Education Resources and artificial intelligence for peer-reviewed and mainstream content curation, enhanced student interactivity and affordable accessibility.