Nationally known entertainers and political commentators will join homegrown talent in the scenic mountains of Pocahontas County July 31-Aug. 3 for the 2003 Snowshoe Institute. This is the second year for the event, which organizers have labeled a”cultural kaleidoscope of educational entertainment.”
The institute at Snowshoe Mountain will feature scholarly lectures, creative workshops, a variety of entertainment and numerous recreational activities. West Virginia and Marshall universities, the West Virginia Humanities Council and Snowshoe Mountain are coordinating the event.
“The whole idea is a celebration of the arts and sciences,”said M. Duane Nellis, dean of WVU ’s Eberly College of Arts and Sciences and chairman of the institute’s program committee.”Its aim is to enrich our understanding of the arts, culture, history and some of the latest developments in science.”
The institute is modeled after the Chautauqua Institution, a 750-acre educational center founded in 1874 on Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York state. Artists, writers, scientists, clergymen, philosophers and political leaders visit the famed institution to draw inspiration from its rustic surroundings, hone their crafts or deliver landmark speeches.
Sally Love, a free-lance writer in Charleston and an alumna of both WVU and Marshall, came up with the idea of a local version of Chautauqua after visiting the institution a few years ago.
“I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to showcase the expertise and talent of professors at both universities,”said Love, who serves as president of Snowshoe Institute’s board of directors.”Our logo is’A Kaleidoscope of Educational Entertainment.’That’s what we have tried to create, and I think we have been successful in celebrating the best of human endeavors.”
The programming at Snowshoe Institute is on a smaller scale than that at Chautauqua, but it is just as eclectic. Lecture topics will be as timely as the war in Iraq and the stock market and as timeless as art, history and world religions. Entertainment will range from a jazz session by Morgantown’s Jim Miltenberger Jazz Quartet to a classical concert by the West Virginia Symphony Orchestra. There will even be puppet and magic shows for children.
“It’s truly a bring-your-family, enjoy-the-resort and learn-some-new-things event,”Dr. Nellis said.
Like Chautauqua, the Snowshoe Institute will feature a few presenters of national note. They include actor-vocalist and Marshall alumnus Mark McVey, whose credits include playing Jean Valjean in the Broadway production of”Les Miserables”and performing with symphonies under the direction of Marvin Hamlisch; political analyst Eleanor Clift, a contributing editor for Newsweek Magazine and regular panelist on the nationally syndicated show”The McLaughlin Group;”and Charleston native and Detroit News political cartoonist Henry Payne, whose cartoons appear in more than 60 newspapers worldwide.
The lion’s share of the program, though, relies on the commitment of faculty from WVU and Marshall, Nellis said.
The commitment from WVU has increased dramatically from last year, he noted.
From Eberly College, political science professor Joe Hagan will lecture on postwar Iraq, physics professor and department chairman Earl Scime will explain space weather, and English faculty members James Harms and Kevin Oderman will lead a writers’workshop. Other participating Eberly faculty include Ronald Lewis, Robbins Distinguished Chair of History; Trevor Harris, Eberly Distinguished Professor of Geography; Tracy Morris, psychology professor; Keith Garbutt, Distinguished Professor of Biology; Patrick Conner, Centennial Distinguished Professor of English; and Aaron Gale, assistant professor of religious studies.
The College of Creative Arts is also fielding several participants. Dean Bernie Schultz, who is a member of the program committee, will give a presentation on artist Blanche Lazelle with his wife, Cookie, a philosophy and humanities lecturer in the Eberly College.
Other presenters from the College of Creative Arts include Sergio Soave, chairman of the Division of Art; Joann Siegrist, theatre professor; Kristina Olson, research assistant professor of art history; Kate Udall, assistant professor of theatre; Jerry McGonigle, associate professor of theatre; Linda Milian, associate professor of theatre; and Sharon Goeres, theatre. Other college faculty will stage puppet shows and give steel drum demonstrations.
Faculty from the Robert C. Byrd Health Sciences Center will present a series of mind and body lectures. Lecturers will include Dr. Dan Alkon, scientific director of the Blanchette Rockefeller Neurosciences Institute; Dr. Mitch Finkel, professor of cardiology; Dr. Bill Pettit, assistant professor of behavioral medicine and psychiatry; and Dr. Aina Puce, professor of radiology.
WVU alumni scheduled to participate include retired investment executive Stuart Robbins, who will talk about Wall Street; retired Adm. Joseph Lopez, whose lecture will be on national security; and Vivien Woofter, director of interior design and furnishings for the U.S. Department of State.
Other speakers will include author Denise Giardina and biographer, historian and Marshall University’s John Marshall Professor of Political Science Jean Edward Smith. Other Marshall participants include chemistry professor Gary Anderson, who will perform a chemistry magic show; the Flat Baroque”Mostly”Marimba Quartet; and the Marshall University Children’s Theatre.
Visit the Snowshoe Institute Web site athttp://www.snowshoeinstitute.org/for more information about this year’s activities.