Don’t forget to work on your environmentally themed art project while on Spring Break, so you can submit to the library’s Environmental Art Show.
The art show exhibits all types of environmentally themed artwork from University of Scranton Students, Staff, and Faculty.
All submissions can be brought to either the circulation desk or the reference desk. Items will be returned at the close of the Art Show on April 24.
Please join us at 7:00 p.m. on Friday March 28, 2014 in Room 305 of the Weinberg Memorial Library for a free presentation of the Italian drama Shun Li and the Poet. Professor Allison Lai will lead a discussion following the film.
This award-winning film tells the story of two outsiders who become unlikely friends. Shun Li works in a textile factory near Rome, slowly paying off the broker that brought her from China to Italy, while saving money so she can bring her young son to join her. She is suddenly transferred to work as a bartender at a pub in a small fishing village along the Venetian Lagoon. The pub is the hangout of the local fishermen, including Bepi, a handsome old Slav immigrant nicknamed “The Poet.” A delicate friendship, based in part on their love of poetry, grows between Shun Li and Bepi, but the locals don’t approve, and gossip soon threatens their innocent relationship. Zhao Tao earned Best Actress honors at the 2012 David di Donatello Awards for her portrayal of Shun Li.
Directed by Andrea Segre, Shun Li and the Poet is in Italian and Mandarin with English subtitles.
This event is open to faculty, staff, students and the public. Please email sharon.finnerty@scranton.edu for reservations.
The Friends of the Weinberg Memorial Library are currently seeking applications from University of Scranton student, faculty, and staff Arts and Crafts vendors for the 2014 Annual Friends of the Library Book Sale. The annual Friends of the Library Book Sale will be held in the Library’s 5th floor Heritage Room Friday, April 25th (preview sale for members and students), 4pm-9pm; Saturday, April 26th, 9am-9pm, and Sunday, April 27th, noon-4pm.
Vendor applications are due by Friday, April, 4th. Vendors will be notified of acceptance by Friday, April 11th. Approval of applications is space permitting. The Friends of the Library accept only vendors who are selling items that they have created themselves and reserve the right to reject any applicant who does not meet these criteria.
The table space fee is $5.00 per day due prior to table set-up each day with a discounted fee of $10.00 for table space for all three days. The Friends of the Library are not responsible for the loss or damage to any items. The vendors are required to properly staff their tables and are responsible for the sale and security of their merchandise.
For more information or to fill out an application, please visit the Library’s Circulation Desk or contact Barb Evans at (570) 941-4078 or barbara.evans@scranton.edu.
Schemel Forum World Affairs Luncheon
Friday, March 14th, 12 pm – 1:30pm
Rose Room, Brennan Hall, 5th Floor
Nasser’s Egypt & the Origins of the Arab Spring
Jesse Ferris, Ph.D.
Vice President for Strategy at the Israel Democracy Institute in Jerusalem
The lecture will focus on the subject of Ferris’ book, Nasser’s Gamble: How Intervention in Yemen Caused the Six-Day War and the Decline of Egyptian Power, demonstrating how Nasser’s missteps set the stage for the decline of Arab nationalism and the rise of political Islam.Book signing will follow the lecture.
RSVP Here or email emily.brees@scranton.edu
Bill Strickland’s Schemel Forum talk from February 10th is now available for viewing on
The University of Scranton Youtube channel.
The University of Scranton has established The Jay Nathan, Ph.D. Visiting Scholar Lecture Series at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Memorial Library. The inaugural lecture in this series, titled “Kazakhstan & Central Asia: History, Culture, Politics & Economy,” occurred on Wednesday, April 2, at 5:30 p.m. The panel discussion, which was free of charge and open to the public, took place in the Scranton Heritage Room of the Weinberg Memorial Library.
The mission of the lecture series is to invite international scholars and professionals from economically challenged or politically suppressed nations to address issues that will enrich the intellectual life of the University community and the residents of our region.
The oil-rich nation of Kazakhstan, located in the heart of Asia, occupies more area than Western Europe. Since declaring its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, this ethnically and culturally diverse nation has pursued a balanced foreign policy and grown economically.
The inaugural lecture featured the series namesake, Jay Nathan, Ph.D., Professor of Management at St. John’s University, Queens, N.Y. Dr. Nathan was a Fulbright Scholar to Kazakhstan and a visiting professor and Ph.D. advisor to the Eurasian National University in Astana, the nation’s capital. He is an honorable professor of the Karaganda University of Economics, also in Kazakhstan. Previously, Dr. Nathan was a professor at the Kania School of Management at The University of Scranton. A lifetime member of the Fulbright Association, he serves on the board of the Philadelphia/Delaware Valley Chapter. Passionate about international business development in poor and emerging countries, Dr. Nathan is the author of “Kazakhstan’s New Economy: Post-Soviet, Central Asian Industries in a Global Era.”
Joining Dr. Nathan on the panel for “Kazakhstan & Central Asia: History, Culture, Politics & Economy” was Kairat Umarov, Kazakhstan’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the U.S.; William Courtney, senior principal for policy strategy at Computer Sciences Corporation; and Nancy Neill, facilitator of management discussions of vision, values and strategy and founder of the Atlanta Communications Group.
His Excellency Umarov graduated with honors from Almaty Pedagogical Institute of Foreign Languages with fluency in Kazakh, Russian, English and French. He has served as the deputy foreign minister of the Republic of Kazakhstan and as deputy director of the European States Department in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2009. He concurrently held positions as Kazakhstan’s Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to both India and Sri Lanka.
William Courtney, a retired Foreign Service officer with the U.S. Dept. of State, advised on the reorganization of foreign affairs agencies; served as special assistant to the President for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia; and was U.S. Ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan. He has served as U.S. Commissioner with rank of Ambassador in negotiations with Russia to implement the Threshold Test Ban Treaty, U.S. deputy negotiator in U.S.-Soviet Defense and Space talks in Geneva, deputy executive secretary of the National Security Council staff, and special assistant to the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs.
Nancy Neill has appeared as a guest lecturer in communication for Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and for Georgia State University. She has served several nonprofit organizations including CARE, the Carter Center and the New York Blood Center. An award-winning short story writer, Neill is the co-author of the book “Real Collaboration: What it Takes for Global Health to Succeed,” and the author of “More than Bricks and Mortar.” She currently serves on the board of the Fulbright Association and is past president of the Georgia Chapter.
For more information on “Kazakhstan & Central Asia: History, Culture, Politics & Economy,” call 570-941-7816 or email kym.fetsko@scranton.edu.
All of the Visegrad countries have had problems in the last few years with maintaining liberal democracy. In Hungary the Fidesz party has stifled some liberal freedoms while in Poland, the anti-liberal right is likely to stage a comeback in the next elections. In Slovakia the political scene is entirely dominated by a leftist populist movement while in the Czech Republic, the last elections marked a spectacular rise of anti-system parties and movements, some which reject traditional party politics.
12pm – 1:30pm – DeNaples Center, McIlhenny Ballroom, 4th Floor
RSVP Here or email emily.brees@scranton.edu
New sources and interpretations shed a brighter light on one of the most devastating conflicts in history as publications are released to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the First World War. Three of note that have hit the library’s shelves include; The Sleepwalkers by Christopher Clark (Circ. D511 .C54 2013), Catastrophe 1914 by Max Hastings (Circ. D511 .H37 2013), and July 1914 by Sean McMeekin (Circ. D511 .M33 2013).
There is the excellent introduction to the war by Barbara Tuchman in her Pulitzer Prize winning classic The Guns of August (Circ. D530 .T8). Her description of Edward VII’s funeral is this blogger’s favorite narrative. Many of the leaders who were related to Edward gathered on this ominous day. Another great chapter comes from Adam Hothschild’s To End All Wars (Circ. D546 .H63 2011). The author looks at the relationship between Field Marshall John French and his sister Charlotte Despard, a leading British suffragette and anti-war activist. Both lived in completely opposite worlds, yet maintained a relationship throughout the duration of the devastation. And last but not least is Niall Ferguson’s The Pity of War (Circ. D511 .F28 1999). Chapter one of this controversial work examines popular literature’s treatment of the tensions leading up to the firing of the first bullets. Dr. Sean Brennan, from the History department, claims that, “It is one of the best historical books written in the last twenty years.”
Dr. Brennan, along with David Wenzel, will be starting their Schemel Forum, World War I: The Watershed Event of the Twentieth Century, tonight at the Pearn Auditorium in Brennan Hall.
Due to circumstances beyond our control, we have had to postpone the Schemel Forum Luncheon seminar with Dr. Fredrik Logevall on Monday, March 3.
We are looking at rescheduling this luncheon and will get back to you as soon as possible on that matter. We apologize for the inconvenience.
The World War I Film Course will begin as scheduled at 5:30 on March 3.
It’s opening night for the University of Scranton Players’ production of the musical She Loves Me, with the Weinberg Memorial Library’s own David Hunisch performing the role of Ladislav Sipos and Ian O’Hara playing in the pit.
To the entire cast and crew, from your friends and fans at the Library: break a leg!
