Sewanee Event Highlights

Feb. 12, 5 p.m. 
Convocation Hall

New York-based artist Kate Teale will present Falls the Shadow. Representing doorways, tunnels, and windows, Teale manipulates architectural space, making walls disappear. She distills meaning in the representation and experience of thresholds, points of transition between shelter and destruction, between confinement and escape. Doorways “make visual the transition from darkness into light—or the reverse.” A doorway divides two worlds, and requires a choice.

Feb. 4, 3:30 p.m. 
Samuel Lloyd Forum, Hamilton Hall

Kwok Pui Lan, of Episcopal Divinity School, will deliver The Rev. Melissa L. Kean, T'19, Memorial Lecture. Her lecture analyzes the changing demographics and landscape of Anglicanism in a postcolonial world and discusses women’s leadership in mission, churches, theological education, and movements to confront gender-based violence. 

Feb. 3, 6 p.m.
Convocation Hall

The Friends of the Library and the Department of English invite you to attend an event featuring Robin R. Bates, professor emeritus of English from St. Mary’s College of Maryland. Bates will discuss the importance of card playing in Jane Austen’s novels and will instruct attendees on how to play Speculation, one of the card games played in Mansfield Park. High tea will be served during the card game and Jane Austen-themed prizes will be awarded to the winners. Attendees who would rather watch than play can do so. We request that you RSVP via email to pcowan@sewanee.edu for the event by Friday, Jan. 30, to help us determine the number of card tables needed.

Jan. 31, 4:30 p.m. 
Sam Lloyd Forum, Hamilton Hall

A recital with tenor William Ferguson and pianist Steven Philcox featuring Schubert's final romantic masterpiece. Sponsored by the Music Department, Voice Studio, and the Caldwell Fund for Viennese Classical Music.

Jan. 29, 7 p.m.
Convocation Hall

Join us for a public lecture with Dr. Tim Shaffer exploring how higher education can cultivate civil discourse and strengthen democratic life amidst polarization, offering both scholarly insights and practical tools for navigating tensions and staying in conversation.

Jan. 29, 4:45 p.m. 
Naylor Auditorium, Gailor Hall

The Department of English & Creative Writing presents a reading by a candidate for assistant professor in poetry. Choi’s debut collection, The Lengest Neoi, won the 2023 Iowa Poetry Prize. She was the 2023-24 poet-in-residence at the University of the South.

Jan. 21, Noon
Naylor Auditorium, Gailor Hall

This panel will feature political scientists across the various subfields in political science, including American politics, international relations, public policy, and comparative politics, as well as race and ethnicity in American politics. Panelists will engage in a scholarly conversation that unpacks the dimensions, contours, and challenges of democratic governance in the current political moment. They will examine the state of democracy today, the threats facing democratic systems, and the ways democratic governance has contributed to more equitable outcomes in societies, as well as the limits of democracy. The entire campus community is invited to join this important conversation. Food and refreshments will be served.

Jan. 26, 4:45 p.m. 
Naylor Auditorium, Gailor Hall

The Department of English & Creative Writing presents a reading by a candidate for assistant professor in poetry. Samyak Shertok’s debut collection, No Rhododendron, was selected by Kimiko Hahn for the 2024 AWP Donald Hall Prize for Poetry and longlisted for the 2026 PEN Open Book Award. 

Jan. 20, 4:45 p.m.
Naylor Auditorium, Gailor Hall 

The Department of English & Creative Writing presents a reading by a candidate for assistant professor in poetry. Brown is the author of the essay collection Places I’ve Taken My Body and the poetry collection The Virginia State Colony for Epileptics and Feebleminded. She is also the co-author of the poetry collection In the Field Between Us with Susannah Nevison. Brown lives and teaches in Laramie, Wyoming, where she is director of creative writing at the University of Wyoming and editor in chief of Image Journal.

Jan. 19, 9 - 11 a.m.; 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.;  1 - 3 p.m.
Sleep in Heavenly Peace build shop in Monteagle, Biehl Commons, and Blue Monarch

Volunteers will take part in one of three different project options. We will again work in partnership with Sleep in Heavenly Peace to build beds for children in our community who otherwise would not have a bed to sleep in. All of the beds we build together will stay in our local community. We are excited to offer card-making and blanket-making service projects at Biehl Commons for the third year for those who prefer not to build beds. And this year, we are thrilled to welcome one of our longstanding community partners, Blue Monarch, as a volunteer site. Volunteers can choose to register for bed building, blanket/card making, and/or working on a project at Blue Monarch. Deadline to register is Friday, Jan. 16. Register Here

Jan. 18, 7 p.m. 
Studio Theatre at the Tennessee Williams Center

A play that changes with each performance, based on the roll of the dice: The Castle of Eternal Sunset follows two teenage boys as they play their final session of Dungeons & Dragons on an autumn day in 2004. As the teenagers roll to see what happens next, their different possible futures slowly unfold, both in and outside the game. Free admission, no reservations required.

Jan. 16, 4:30 p.m. 
All Saints' Chapel

The University’s Easter Semester Convocation will include the induction of new members into the Order of the Gown. Dr. Jennifer J. Cooley will be installed as the dean of the College. The teaching and scholarship of the faculty will also be recognized and honored with a convocation address delivered by Professor and Chair of the Politics Department Mila Dragojević. More information here. A reception honoring Dr. Cooley and Dr. Dragojević will follow the service at Clement Chen Hall. RSVP here.

Jan. 15, 5 p.m.
Ayres Multicultural Center

Are you interested in joining a refreshing space where you can share, reflect, and connect with members of our community? Dan Hull (Ojibwe) and Christina Ulibarri (Dine) are Indigenous spiritual leaders and members of the Indigenous engagement committee at Sewanee. A Native American Talking Circle is a structured way for people to share without interruption, judgment, or hierarchy. People sit in a circle as equals and take turns speaking, using a “talking stick” that moves around so only the holder talks while everyone else listens.