President's Convocation:
September 7, 11:50, All campuses

David Madden is the guest speaker at the President’s Convocation, this school year’s kickoff event. Afterward, attendees are invited to an ice cream social, with musical entertainment by Dan Gammon and Kathleen McGregor Williams.

Homefront Minstrels are all faculty at Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Va., will be 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.

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 Nov. 9 in the Goins Auditorium. Northen is a retired investment manager living in Birmingham, Ala. 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 Dec. 7 to discuss his book, a highly acclaimed, comprehensively researched narrative of the experience of East Tennessee Confederates during the Civil War era.

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

“ African-Americans in the Civil War”
Prince Brown, 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 leads 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 Feb. 18 at the Magnolia Avenue Campus and Feb. 20 at the Blount County Center. Showings are also scheduled for the Goins Auditorium Feb. 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.