Dear Faculty and Staff colleagues,
I will be delivering a State of the College presentation this Friday, February 12th, at 1:00 p.m., during which I will share highlights of the past year and outline the bright future that we see for Oxford College. I will use this first annual state of the college address to evaluate how Oxford is doing and where we are headed. Following my presentation, we will have time for a discussion and sharing of any questions that you might have.
Thank you for taking the time out of your schedules on Friday and I look forward to "seeing" you there!
Best,
Doug
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Notes from ChapLyn - Ash Wednesday |
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In her poem, “Rend Your Heart: A Blessing for Ash Wednesday,” Jan Richardson opens with “To receive this blessing, all you have to do is let your heart break.” Those are tough words as I reflect back to a year ago when we celebrated Ash Wednesday in person and had hardly any deaths in the United States from COVID-19. Ash Wednesday is not a greeting card kind of holiday in the Christian tradition. It is the one day during the year Christians intentionally reflect on our mortality by smudging ashes on our foreheads. “From dust you came, and to dust you shall return.”
Join us on February 17 at noon as we gather via Zoom for a brief contemplative worship service with music, prayers, readings, and a reflection. Stop by Take a Break Tuesday on February 16 at 1:30
p.m. outside the Oxford Student Center to pick up a devotional guide for Lent or email me your address, and I will mail it to you.
Art by Jan Richardson
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Sarah Higinbotham honored with Emory MLK Service Award |
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Sarah Higinbotham, assistant professor of English, was awarded a 2021 Emory MLK Service Award at the annual awards celebration on January 22. Held virtually this year, the celebration was centered on Martin Luther King Jr.’s quote — “Only in the Darkness, Can You See the Stars." John Lysaker, William R. Kenan Professor of Philosophy on the Atlanta campus, nominated Higinbotham for work at the intersection of COVID and racial equity for a summer project. He wrote the following in her nomination: "Sarah also worked with the Department of Corrections to continue accrediting college programming at four prisons throughout 2020, allowing people in the extreme, COVID-mandated prison isolation to be in weekly touch with their professors. Hundreds of men and women, mostly people of color, continue their college educations inside prison because of this creative strategy. Sarah also mobilized her Oxford undergraduate students to send over 600 letters, poetry, and articles to incarcerated Georgians. Racism and COVID-19 intersect inside our prisons. Sarah’s inexhaustible commitment to those in prison and the wider suffering of COVID-19 continues to make a substantive difference."
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Emory Feast of Words features Oxford faculty authors |
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Four Oxford College faculty members are represented in Emory University's Center for Faculty Development and Excellence (CFDE) 2021 Feast of Words. This annual recognition honors the Emory University faculty authors and editors with books published in the prior year. This year's recognition of faculty authors includes books published between January 1 and August 31, 2020. The program celebrates with pre-recorded remarks by Emory University President Gregory L. Fenves, interviews with selected authors about their works (Oxford's Pablo Palomino appears), featured book covers, and the comprehensive list of 2021 faculty authors. Watch the video and read more about this year's honorees online.
2021 Feast of Words: Oxford College Faculty
Goss, Devon (Sociology, Oxford) and B. Gonzalez-Sobrino, eds. The Mechanisms of Racialization Beyond the Black/White Binary. Routledge.
Gowler, David (Religion, Oxford). James Through the Centuries. Wiley-Blackwell.
Gowler, David (Religion, Oxford), Vernon Robbins (Religion, Emeritus), eds., Paul and the Resurrected Body: Social Identity and Ethical Practice. SBL Press.
Palomino, Pablo (Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Oxford). The Invention of Latin American Music: A Transnational History. Oxford UP.
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Welcome new Bon Appétit staff |
Robert Edmond joins Bon Appétit Management Company as assistant general manager/director of catering at Oxford College. Edmond is a native of Detroit, Mich. and his experience in the food industry spans working for a catering company, as an executive chef in upscale dining, owning and operating his own small restaurant, food and beverage management at an upscale senior living facility, and most recently as director of catering with Compass Group at American International College in Springfield, Mass. He is excited to be in the Atlanta area and near family. In his role at Oxford, Edmond will develop menus and catering plans for future events in the dining hall and special events on-campus as well as work with faculty, staff, and the Oxford College Events and Conferences office on projects and events for the Oxford community. He can contacted at 770-784-8385 or [email protected].
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Oxford College website redesign garners CASE District III Institutional Award |
The Oxford College website redesign, launched in spring 2020, was recognized with a 2021 Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District III Institutional Award. The college website received the bronze award in the Digital Communications: Institutional Website category. Winners were announced during the live awards presentation on January 28. You can view the presentation recording online. Congratulations to the Oxford staff coordinators of the redesign Billy Fan, Kristine Gonsalez, Lisa Jones, Seth Tepfer, Stacey Towler, and Cathy Wooten.
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Five Fridays with James Baldwin Film Series kicks off February 12 |
This social justice spring, Eric Solomon, visiting assistant professor of American studies and English, and members of English 389R (James Baldwin's "America") invites the Oxford community to a virtual film series five Fridays this semester. Join the class as they build community and explore Baldwin on film. There will be post streaming Q&A moderated by Solomon. The first film, Talking Black in America, streams this Friday, February 12, and all films stream at 7:00 p.m. EST. Please email Eric Solomon to RSVP and receive event links.
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State of the College Address: A Year in Review and Our Bright Future
presented by Dean Douglas Hicks with Questions and Discussion to follow
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Concert: Kristi Heflin and Pamela Martin, Piano Four Hands
presented by OxStudies
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Take a Break Tuesday hosted by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
Celebrate Mardi Gras with king cake provided by Bon Appétit and coffee from Bread Oxford. Drop by and see us in your Mardi Gras colors and masks!
Oxford Student Center front plaza | 1:30-2:45 p.m.
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Vijay Prashad, international studies at Trinity College and director at Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research “Building Knowledge from the Praxis of Movements”
2021 Lyceum Lecture Series: Toward a Social Justice Spring
co-sponsored by Oxford’s WGSS program & Emory’s Studies in Sexualities
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Ash Wednesday, Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
brief contemplative worship service with music, prayers, readings, and a reflection.
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Student rest day — no class
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Take a Break Tuesday hosted by the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life
Oxford Student Center front plaza | 1:30-2:45 p.m.
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We Mend and Remember: ROXANE GAY in Conversation with Tameka Cage Conley
sponsored by Oxford's Creative Writing Program, Pierce Program in Religion, Human Resources, Oxford Center for Teaching & Scholarship, Oxford College Library, and Oxford's WGSS Program
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Karma Chavez, University of Texas at Austin, Mexican American & Latina/o Studies)
“Alienizing Nation: From AIDS to COVID-19”
2021 Lyceum Lecture Series: Toward a Social Justice Spring
co-sponsored by Oxford’s WGSS program & Emory’s Studies in Sexualities
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To submit a news item for the next Campus Update, please email Ansley Holder.
The newsletter is distributed weekly on Wednesday.
Please send any submissions by Monday afternoon. Thanks for reading!
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