Library Brown Bag Talks will be offered via Zoom during the Fall 2020 semester. An email will be sent to the UNC Asheville community during the week of the talk with information about logging into Zoom.
All Library Brown Bags are free and open to UNC Asheville students, faculty, and staff. Several select Brown Bags will be open to the larger community and will require registration.
For questions or comments about Library Brown Bag Talks, please contact Gene Hyde, Head of Special Collections and University Archivist, UNC Asheville. ghyde@unca.edu or 828-251-6645
Thursday, September 10
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
Susan Clark, Management
"Policy responses to a global pandemic: a cross-country comparison of governmental (in)action and the impact on women and gender inequality."
In this brown bag talk, I will share the highlights of research conducted this summer on the impact of COVID-19 and public policies and responses across the globe. Of particular concern and the focus of the discussion will be on the myriad ways women and girls have been aversely affected by the pandemic, lockdowns, and gender blind policy responses, and how these are predicted to widen the gender gap and exacerbate gender equity efforts and gains over the long term.
Thursday, September 17
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - please register at this link to attend this Brown Bag
Dan Pierce, History Department, and Ashley Whittle, Special Collections
"Historic Monuments and Telling the 'Full Story of American History:' The RAIL Memorial Project and the Case for Memorializing the Incarcerated Laborers who Brought the Railroad to Western North Carolina."
One of the most important, creative, and daunting infrastructure projects in American history brought the railroad up the Swannanoa Grade from Old Fort into Buncombe County in 1879. This project has been duly celebrated and the leaders of the project honored over the years. However, there is little remembrance and no monument or memorial to the over 3000 incarcerated laborers who did the actual physical labor to bring the railroad up the mountain. More than 90% of these laborers were African American men, most former slaves, who worked under horrific conditions--ill-clothed, ill-fed, crowded together at night in boxcars which were incubators for infectious disease, and forced to work six days a week in all weather and in extremely dangerous conditions. At least 139 workers died in laying only 9 miles of track and countless others suffered severe injuries or debilitating illnesses that significantly shortened their life and negatively affected their quality of life.
The RAIL Memorial Project (which involves UNC Asheville staff and faculty Eric Boyce, Darin Waters, Ashley Whittle, and Dan Pierce) seeks to construct a memorial to these workers who sacrificed so much and received so little in return at Andrews Geyser along the railroad. The Project has received permission from the Old Fort Board of Aldermen to build the monument and is in the process of publicizing the project and raising the necessary funds.
Ashley Whittle and Dan Pierce will discuss the history of the railroad and the Swannanoa Grade, the need for a memorial, and the story of how RAIL came to be.
Thursday, September 24
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - please register at this link to attend this Brown Bag
"Raising Archival Awareness in a Regional Studies Organization: The Appalachian Studies Case"
Gene Hyde, Special Collections and Liz Harper, NOAA Center for Environmental Information
This presentation describes how archivists led efforts to create a Special Collections Committee in the Appalachian Studies Association, as well as the Appalachian Curator, a newsletter highlighting the variety of archival collections in southern Appalachia. The Special Collections Committee was created to explore historical and current initiatives and programs and provide a forum for news and information about Appalachian archives. These efforts provide a model for increasing archival awareness in interdisciplinary or regional professional organizations. This presentation was originally accepted for the 2020 Society of North Carolina Archivists Conference last March at Elon University, which was cancelled due to COVID.
Thursday, October 8
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - please register at this link to attend this Brown Bag
Wiley Cash, Writer-in-Residence, UNC Asheville
"What Do You Call a Novel?"
In this talk, Wiley Cash will discuss two questions he always asks when writing a novel. First, "what is this?" Second, "what do I call it?" Wiley will discuss and read from his forthcoming novel, which will be released in 2021.
NOTE: Date Rescheduled to Wednesday, October 14
Wednesday, October 14
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
"Creative Truth-Telling in the Age of Covid-19."
Lori Horvitz and Jennifer McGaha, Department of English
Lori Horvitz and Jennifer McGaha, creative nonfiction writers, will speak about how the pandemic has affected their writing process and read short excerpts from their works in progress.
Thursday, October 22
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
"Driving to Net 0: Stories of Hope for a Carbon Free Future"
Dave Erb, Retired UNCA Mechatronics Engineering Faculty
Electric vehicles and solar energy offer significant potential to reduce harmful emissions, improve public health, ease geopolitical tensions, and lower the cost of energy for everyone. "Driving to Net 0: Stories of Hope for a Carbon-Free Future" is a collection of 15 first person accounts of families who combine driving on sunshine with other sustainability strategies. Dave Erb, who retired from the UNC Asheville Mechatronics Engineering Program in 2018, wrote Chapter 1, titled "An Unapologetic Car Junkie." After reading an excerpt from his chapter, Dave will lead a discussion of electric vehicles and renewable energy.
Thursday, October 29
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
"What is the McCullough Fellowship Program? How Can Faculty Get Involved?"
Alison Ormsby, Environmental Studies/Office of Sustainability
Interim Co-Director of Sustainability Alison Ormsby will explain the history and criteria for the McCullough Fellowship program. This collaborative, applied summer research opportunity is open to faculty from all disciplines. Students apply in the spring, after identifying a faculty advisor and community partner organization. Students, faculty, and the community partner all receive stipends for applied research projects focusing on one of the following themes: land use and conservation; urban planning; sustainable agriculture, and resilience and environmental sustainability.
Thursday, November 12
12 - 1 PM
Via Zoom - login information will be sent via email a few days before the talk
"Digital Futures in the Arts: A Ramsey Library Roundtable Discussion"
Convened and Moderated by Karin Peterson (Arts & Ideas, Sociology)
Panelists: