Fall 2004 -  Volume 10 -  Number 2

Friends of the UTA Libraries Begin New Season

Don Newbury bills himself as “The Popcorn President,” and didn’t disappoint, bringing several freshly-popped bags to distribute at his Friends of the Libraries talk.

The Friends hosted their first meeting of the 2004-2005 year on September 24 with special guest speaker Don Newbury. Newbury is a philosopher, humorist, teacher, author, and former university president. His witty and folksy presentation focused on vignettes from his life as an educator and his observations about everything from college students, to marriage, to the mood of the country. He is the author of editorials, several books and audio publications, including When the Porch Light’s On, Life by the Seat of the Pants, and A Few Geese Short of a Gaggle. There was an autograph party and book sale following his presentation and a reception in his honor.

Sally Spaniolo had her book signed and visited with fellow-historian-and -Virginian Randolph Campbell after his talk to the Friends on Texas History.

Texas historian and prolific author Randolph Campbell was the speaker at the October 22 meeting. Campbell, the author of the new single volume history of Texas titled Gone to Texas, spoke about “The Search for a Usable Past” in the writing of Texas history, a history steeped in myth, folklore, braggadocio, and exaggeration. Campbell asserted that Texas is more a southern state than a western one, a fact that has done more to shape the Texas past than anything else. Campbell is Regents Professor of History at the University of North Texas. The Friends hosted a reception in his honor after his presentation.

Jing Ling-Tam.

As this newsletter went to press, the Friends have scheduled their special holiday program for December 3 at 7:30pm on the 6th floor of the Central Library. The program will feature the UTA A Cappella Choir under the direction of Jing Ling-Tam. For more information about the holiday program or the Friends, please contact Betty Wood at 817-272-7421 or bwood@uta.edu

The Friends of the UTA Libraries started the 2004-2005 on September 1, with several new officers. They include Dorothy Rencurrel, president; Mary Ellen Emery, first vice-president; Bill Stallings, second vice-president; Lisann Peters, secretary; Brent Nicholson, treasurer; and Richard Francaviglia, parliamentarian. Don Kyle, Judy Reinhartz, and Tommie Wingfield were elected to the Friends Advisory Council.

The Friends Advisory Council met on September 28 to discuss plans for the year. Perhaps the most important item on the agenda was a proposal for the Friends to sponsor a McNair Award. The Council approved the creation of the Friends of the UTA Libraries McNair Award. There would be two awards given annually by the Friends to McNair students at UTA. The McNair program works with eligible undergraduates to help inform and prepare them for future graduate study. The program is for first-generation/low-income and/or underrepresented students. The work that students do in researching their McNair research projects will form the basis of the awards with special emphasis on how students used library resources in their work.

Of the two awards, one will be based on the student’s research paper and another on his/her presentation at the McNair research presentations in August of each year. Each award will be $500, and the awardees will be asked to present their findings at a Friends meeting in the fall. An awards committee will be comprised of two Friends’ members and two faculty members who have served as McNair mentors in the past but who are not serving at the time they are on the committee. The first McNair award will be given in the fall of 2005.