Busy schedule for Common Academic Experience

Ten different activities with a Civil War theme are planned for this year’s Common Academic Experience at Pellissippi State, and all are free and open to the community.

The College began the Common Academic Experience—which revolves around a common book read by most entering students—during the 2005-06 school year, after participating in the development of a national model for improving the freshman experience at two-year colleges.

One finding of the Foundations of Excellence project was that students would benefit from an experience that connects the various disciplines and encourages conversations among faculty, staff and students.

This year’s Common Book is “Sharpshooter” by David Madden. It’s the story of a fictional Civil War soldier, and accordingly, the Common Academic Experience events follow the same theme.

Event highlights include presentations by a number of authors who have written about the Civil War, a concert of Civil War songs and a Civil War-based movie. The Common Academic Experience is coordinated by the Common Book Committee, the English Department and Student Life and Recreation.

Madden was the guest speaker at the President’s Convocation, this school year’s kickoff event.

Homefront Minstrels performed in concert September 20 at the Magnolia Avenue Campus and September 21 at the Pellissippi Campus. The performers, all faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Virginia, were dressed in period costumes.

David Brown, assistant professor of Business and Computer Technology, will host an activity relating “Sharpshooter” to Second Life, the virtual, digital 3-D world.

Second Life is entirely built and owned by its “residents.” In its world, users can sign up for a free account and control representations of themselves. For a fee, users can own parcels or even whole islands.

Brown will showcase Pellissippi State’s island in Second Life, where he has built representations of some of the local sites in “Sharpshooter.” The virtual world opened to the public in 2003 and now has more than 8.5 million residents.

Brown’s presentation is October 4 in the Goins Auditorium on the Pellissippi Campus.

Author John D. Fowler will discuss his book “Mountaineers in Gray,” the story of the 19th Tennessee Volunteer Infantry Regiment, on October 12 in the Performing Arts Center. Fowler, an assistant professor of history at Kennesaw State University in Georgia, is the author of four books. His areas of scholarly and teaching expertise include the Civil War and Reconstruction.

Author Charles Swift Northen III will talk about his book, “All Right, Let Them Come: The Civil War Diary of an East Tennessee Confederate,” on November 9 in the Goins Auditorium. Northen is a retired investment manager living in Birmingham, Alabama. His book offers rare observations into the life of his great-grandfather, East Tennessee Confederate soldier John G. Earnest. Earnest’s diary is a plain-spoken account of the day-to-day life of a low-ranking officer.

Todd Groce, author of “Mountain Rebels,” will be on the Pellissippi Campus December 7 to discuss his book, a highly acclaimed, comprehensively researched narrative of the experience of East Tennessee Confederates during the Civil War era.

“One critic calls Groce’s ‘Mountain Rebels’ ‘a groundbreaking study intertwining strands of economic, political, military and social history,’” said Ed Francisco, Pellissippi State writer-in-residence.

John Fain will discuss his book, “Sanctified Trial: The Diary of Eliza Rhea Anderson Fain, a Confederate Woman in East Tennessee,” in the Goins Auditorium January 18. Fain is a direct descendant of Eliza Fain, whose husband and sons fought for the Confederacy. Fain used her diary to create the book.

On February 7, Prince Brown, a former Pellissippi State faculty member, will address the topic “African-Americans in the Civil War.” Brown is the co-author of “The Social Construction of Race and Ethnicity in the United States,” a collection of classic and cutting-edge sociological research.

The movie “Glory” will air at three Pellissippi State locations in February. “Glory” is the story of the 25-year-old son of Boston abolitionists who volunteered to command the all-black 54th Regiment of the Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.

Their training and battle experience led them to a final assault on Fort Wagner in South Carolina, where their bravery turned defeat into a symbolic victory that brought recognition to black soldiers and turned the tide of the war. The film is February 18 at the Magnolia Avenue Campus and February 20 at the Blount County Center. Showings are also scheduled for the Goins Auditorium February 21.

The third annual Book Fair, scheduled for April, is the final Common Academic Experience event of the year. Visiting authors will read from their works and answer students’ questions about the writing process.

For more information, contact Lois Reynolds at 694-6693.