News Briefs

Biology Receives EPA Funding for Environmental Outreach

Sweet Briar College’s biology department has received a $15,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency to support an outreach program called “Schools for Pools.” Read More >

Ancient Japan’s Colorful ‘Tale of Genji’ Subject of Gallery Talk

Media Update

Casteen Named ‘Distinguished Judge’ for U.Va. Writing Contest

Bragaw’s Online Musings About Google Wave Help Spark Discussion

Biologist, Bestselling Author’s View of Planet Has Evolved Since Darwin

Evolutionary biologist Olivia Judson is working on her second book but she won’t be reprising the alter ego she created for her first, the bestselling “Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation.” Read More >

Bonnie’s Big Yam

Associate professor of physical education Bonnie Kestner holds a sweet potato she dug up from her plot at the Sweet Briar Community Garden. The big yam weighed 5 pounds, 8 ounces and was 10 inches long and 6 inches in diameter. Kestner said the football-sized spud started off as a shoot that alumnae director Louise Zingaro gave her in May.

Lucy Lou

Lucy Lou is a light honey golden retriever who belongs to adjunct instructor of government Larry Janow.

She sometimes accompanies Janow to work on the second floor of Gray Hall. According to Janow, the students love Lucy and she’s very friendly, easy going and curious. She is teething, too, and with all of her youthful energy she can be a “pain in the neck” to his older retriever, Hannah.

New Faces

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Bands Rockin’ for the Smile Nov. 6

Sweet Briar House Gets New Table, Rocking Chair

Berry’s Ride to Championship Recorded in Chronicle of the Horse

Buck Edwards: Sweet Briar’s Bird Man

In the sepia-tone photo, two grinning, barefoot boys sit in a rowboat, side by side. They’re wearing knickers and short-sleeved, collared shirts, and their feet appear blackened, perhaps from running around shoeless on a warm summer day.
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Writers Series Welcomes Hannah Tinti

Hannah Tinti’s novel, “The Good Thief,” started to come to life when she read two words: resurrection men. She had unearthed the phrase in “Forgotten English,” a Jeffrey Kacirk book about words that have nearly expired from the vernacular. Read More >

Cat Playpen

Parker Sworn in as SBC’s 10th President

It began like a slow faucet leak — rain dripping from a leaden sky — and finished like a busted water main. By 3 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 26, when the inauguration of Jo Ellen Johnson Parker as Sweet Briar College’s 10th president was set to begin, a soaking rain was falling. Read More >

Filson to Appear in ‘Rent’

Shelbie Filson, Sweet Briar’s box office manager and academic assistant in the dean’s office, will soon appear in the Renaissance Theatre production of “Rent.” Read More >

Fitness and Athletics Center Dedicated During Weekend Festivities

New Briefs

Community Members Run in Local Race

Calendar Dog Raises Money for Riding Center

Tucker French must like to dress up or he’s just a natural ham in front of a camera. Whatever motivates riding director Shelby French’s 3-year-old beagle-chow-greyhound-et. al. mix, he sat patiently through enough photos to fill an 18-month calendar that the riding center is selling as a fundraiser. Read More >

Sweet Briar Response to H1N1 Focuses on Prevention, Communication

New Faces

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Switched at Birth?

Switched at birth? Since Jay Barnes (right) arrived on campus this past summer with his wife, Cammie, who is new to the math faculty, he has frequently been mistaken for Chaplain Adam White (left).

Bananas

Bananas is a 13-month-old female Bernese mountain dog who lives with assistant professor of philosophy Bryce Walker and his girlfriend, Melissa McEwen. Walker and McEwen live on Elijah Road in the Music Box and are frequently seen around campus walking the tri-colored Bananas. Read More >

Faculty, Staff Kids Win Soccer Tourney

‘Pie-A-Senior’ is Oct. 15

VCCA Celebrates International Milestone with Public Event

‘Buck’ Edwards Celebrates 90th Birthday

Media Update

Health Fair is Oct. 22

Business Students to Publish Cookbook for Operation Smile Fundraiser

McDearmon Wins at Lynchburg Art Show

Lil’ Ike Fastest Gunslinger at Festival

Kerosene Heater

Apartment for Rent

Harp Instructor Honored for Album

A musical recording by Sweet Briar College harp instructor Virginia Schweninger has been recognized as one of the top solo instrumental CDs of the year by Just Plain Folks, a group that bills itself as “the world’s largest grassroots music organization.” Read More >

SBC Welcomes New Faculty

104th Convocation Ushers in Year of Transition

NITLE to Review Technological Assets

Library Cats

There are a couple of new editions — rather, additions — at Cochran Library. When students arrived in August, they found Darcy (pictured at right) and Bingley had taken up residence at the library. The cats are named for Mr. Darcy and Mr. Bingley, characters in Jane Austen’s “Pride and Prejudice.” Read More >

Departures: Anne Richards

Anne Richards retired Sept. 1 after 40 years of service to the College.

She first came to Sweet Briar in 1966 and raised three children on campus. She began working for the College as language lab coordinator in the 1980s and then began working with media services. Read More >

SBC Co-sponsors ‘Get!Downtown’

Asian-American Dance Company Returns to Sweet Briar Sept. 14

SBC to Participate in ‘Museum Day’

SBC Welcomes ‘talented, exciting, interesting and fun’ Class of 2013

2009 ROSE Awards Announced

Several Exhibits Open

Mahler Obama Photo

President Barack Obama speaks at an Aug. 3 press conference about the Post-9/11 GI Bill, also called the Yellow Ribbon GI Education Enhancement Program. SBC’s network administrator, Aaron Mahler, took this and other photos at the request of Virginia Senator Jim Webb. Sweet Briar is one of the colleges and universities participating in the Yellow Ribbon Program.

Media Update

Register Now for Homecoming, Inauguration

Riding’s Mr. Clean has New Weapon against Dirt

Historic Preservation, Sustainability on the Agenda at Conference

Math Professor Makes Pedagogical Case in Science Magazine

Sweet Briar’s ‘Miss Daisy’ Makes Challenging Research Subject

In the 1989 movie “Driving Miss Daisy,” Morgan Freeman’s character, Hoke, chauffeurs a prickly senior citizen around the American South. In Maggie Mae Nase’s research project, “Writing Miss Daisy,” the Sweet Briar rising senior is taking readers on a tour of the life of Daisy Williams, daughter of College founder Indiana Fletcher Williams.
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Budding Engineers Learn Ups and Downs of Inventing

“Go, little guy! Go, little guy!” Lexie Kiely, a rising high school senior from Lynchburg, Va., pleaded as her “artbot” — a robot that paints — quivered on its canvas of white paper. The stingray-shaped robot, made from a lime green cloth placemat purchased at local Goodwill store, wasn’t doing exactly what Kiely and her partner, Olivia Daniszewski, had planned. Read More >

Ashbrook Baby Arrives

SBC Recognized as Great Place to Work

News Briefs

Sweet Briar Poet’s Work Appears in Paris Review

Marcais Elected to Organization’s Board

SBC Riding Director Writes for Industry Publication

Spotted Fawn

Bonnie Kestner, associate professor of physical education, recently spotted this fawn in the yard of her home on Elijah Road. (Spotted fawn…get it?)

Odd Kitties

Blubber (at right), an aptly named kitty who lives on Elijah Road with Bonnie and Chuck Kestner, apparently enjoys watching and chasing rodents but has no interest in killing or eating them.

In other odd cat news, Edna — a 4-year-old tabby owned by Suzanne Ramsey and her husband, John — recently made her YouTube debut. In the video, John repeatedly throws Edna across the room and onto a bed, which she loves for some strange reason. To watch the video, click here.

Media Update

Wall Display Ensures Benefits Forms Always Available

Town of Amherst Unveils ArtMeters

Suny Monk handled master of ceremonies duties standing atop a tree stump in Amherst’s downtown Minipark.

As an ArtMeters Project volunteer and leader, she presided at the town’s unveiling of 22 parking meters-turned-street art. Read More >

Q&A with President Parker

For the spring/summer issue of Sweet Briar’s Alumnae Magazine, magazine editor Colleen Murray sat down for a little Q&A with Sweet Briar’s president, Jo Ellen Parker. To read the entire interview, click here.

Snow Skis

Broiler Chickens

Best Wishes, Betsy, See You Soon

The Sweet Briar community bids thanks and so long but not goodbye to Elisabeth “Betsy” Showalter Muhlenfeld, who retired in June after 13 years as the College’s ninth president. Read More >

Sweet Briar Donors’ Generosity Holding Up in Tough Times

Hattie Ramsey Remembered through Donations to Kellogg Library

The caring and generosity of the Sweet Briar community is brimming over once again. When admissions director Gretchen Tucker learned that a colleague in college relations had lost her newborn daughter, she felt she had to do something. Read More >

Construction Update from Finance and Administration

Welcome Mat is Out for Summer Band Camps

Hands-On History a Hit with Area Teachers

Welcome to the World, Xavier Fish

Blogger Recognizes SBC Librarian

Hello from President Parker

This newsletter gives me the opportunity to say to the whole staff how delighted I am to have arrived “for real” and to be joining you in the work of the College. My regular visits throughout the spring have shown me that one of Sweet Briar’s greatest assets is its committed and resourceful staff — that is, all of you — and I am proud and grateful to be joining your ranks. Read More >

‘Plato’s Ghost’ Emerges from Wild Ride through Spiritualist Movement

Sweet Briar associate professor of religion Cathy Gutierrez’s new book, “Plato’s Ghost: Spiritualism in the American Renaissance,” is a scholarly work on a gripping subject. If you don’t believe it, ask Mary Todd Lincoln or Arthur Conan Doyle. Read More >

Another Successful Kids In College Wraps Up

Dobby and Smudge Mahler

Elisabeth and Aaron Mahler are proud owners of two young cats, Dobby and Smudge. Read all about them by clicking the "more" link and, of course, click here to see Aaron’s photo gallery of the dynamic duo.
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Vacation Renters

Summer Engineering Course Offers College Credit for High School Women

Town Hosts Unveiling of Amherst’s ArtMeters Project

Butterfly on milkweed

A patch of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) growing along Woodland Road in late June teemed with feeding insects including ants, bees and great spangled fritillary butterflies (Speyeria cybele) like the one shown here.

Round Two of 2009 Theatre Festival Kicks Off

As the 2009 Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival wraps up an encore run of “The Bluest Water,” the talented, gung-ho cast and crew of the Endstation Theatre Co. are feverishly racing toward the second and main leg of the event hosted by Sweet Briar College. Read More >

SB Community Gardener Digs the Rain in Latest Blog for CHE

The Sweet, Brief Life of Hattie Arizona Ramsey

Parents to Participate in Homeschool Cooperative

RSS Feature Added to Sweet Briar Web Site

Street-wise Cat Amuses Neighbors

Hillbilly the cat isn’t an official member of the McManamay household, but he seems to want to be. Read More >

Sweet Briar Enlists in Yellow Ribbon Program

Rigg Donates Time, Talents to Seal Restoration

Class of 2009 Steady as She Goes in Turbulent Times, According to Career Services Report

‘100 Views of High Peak, Part 2’ Opens June 1

Daisy Williams a Star at Philadelphia Children’s Museum

2009 Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival Opens with Encore of ‘The Bluest Water’

The 2009 Blue Ridge Summer Theatre Festival, presented by Endstation Theatre and hosted by Sweet Briar College, where the company is in residence, opens Friday, June 12 with an encore run of “The Bluest Water: A Hurricane Camille Story.”
Read More >

New Fund Preserves Historic Resources, Legacy of a President

Following Sweet Briar President Elisabeth Muhlenfeld’s decision last spring to retire in June 2009, the College’s board of directors established a permanent fund in tribute to her legacy.

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