Fraser Hall Library celebrated Geneseo faculty authors on Thursday, October 27 in the Hunt Room (MacVittie College Union) from 3:00 to 5:00 PM. The Authors Celebration is hosted annually by the Library and is an opportunity to celebrate the accomplishments of faculty authors and creators. President Denise Battles and Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Karleen West both spoke at the event, which drew an estimated 30 attendees.
The Celebrating Geneseo Authors event is meant to be both a celebration and a chance for faculty to socialize and learn about each other’s scholarship. With this year’s event, the Library aimed to revitalize an event that was, pre-COVID, a popular and esteemed event. To that end, the Library added new elements to the event, including a gift for faculty authors who submitted works to be acknowledged as part of the event and a new gallery exhibit to showcase non-traditional works. The exhibits, which run through November 3, include 3D printed models, many types of digital projects, paintings, embroidery, advice columns in the popular press, childrens’ books, open source code, and digital interviews, among others.
To learn more about the event and to see a complete list of works celebrated, please visit the Geneseo Authors page Library website. Karleen West’s complete remarks follow at the end of the blog post.
To see images from the event, please watch this short video slideshow.
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Panorama of many Geneseo Authors’ published works, 2022
Geneseo Authors Celebration 2022
Complete remarks by Karleen West, Interim Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, made at the event:
It is my great pleasure to be here today to celebrate Geneseo’s authors. The scholarship and creative works that we’re here to recognize are impressive and worthy of celebration for so many reasons. First, these works represent an intense amount of effort and dedication – a commitment to the spirits of inquiry and creativity that may have required weeks, months, years, or (if you’re a slow writer like I am) even decades, to result in a finished product. These works are even more impressive because many of them were at various stages of production when we were hit by a global pandemic. In the midst of shifting job responsibilities – complicated by a quarantine which erased the line between home and work, and limited the ability to come into the lab, head into the field, or access the studio – all of the authors and makers here were able to maintain the commitment to their research and their craft during a time of uncertainty and tremendous stress.
But the works here are also worthy of celebration because they truly reflect Geneseo’s values and what this institution is all about. As I browsed through the list of publications and exhibits on display here today, I saw work that deepened our knowledge of the local – like histories of Native Americans and an atlas of Letchworth Park – to the global – for example, illuminating activism in Ukraine, democracy in Brazil, and trade in Sub-Saharan Africa. I saw research that helps us understand the workings of the tiniest molecules and the deepest oceans; invisible waveforms and the brightest stars. I saw authors that use their own lived experiences – as allies, as step-mothers, as homesteaders, as queer women – as the inspiration for their work, and thought about how their self-reflection and vulnerability generates a sense of welcoming and belonging in our campus community. I saw path-breaking research on teaching and publications with students that illustrates the commitment of our faculty and staff to providing students with classroom and integrated learning experiences of the highest quality. So what really strikes me about this celebration is that, to me, it represents what makes Geneseo truly special – the incredible dedication and hard work of its people.
I want to thank the director, faculty and staff of the Fraser Library for hosting this important event every year, and for their resilience in maintaining exceptionally high quality service as we continue to renovate their future headquarters in Milne Library. I also want to thank the many offices on campus that work to support research and creative work, such as the Teaching and Learning Center, Sponsored Research, and of course, the library. Our faculty and staff benefit so much from your efforts. With that, it’s time to celebrate – I think we’re going to eat some cake!
