Libraries Launch Graduate Student Speaker Series

The University Libraries will host a graduate student speaker series in collaboration with the Graduate School and International Education. Students will present research they have conducted using materials from the Libraries' Special Collections department. Arley Ward, Jama Grove and Sarah Riva are scheduled to speak, and a question and answer session will follow each presentation. Light refreshments will be served. This series is free and open to the public. 

Ward, a doctoral candidate in the History Department, will present "The Religious Right to Oppress? Gay Marriage, Slavery, Miscegenation and the History of Religious Exemptions" at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 11, in the Special Collections Reading Room, located on the first floor of Mullins Library. His work is based on the White Citizens' Council materials and the Billy James Hargis Papers, and the presentation will focus on "the historical trend of justifying discriminatory behavior and outright oppression — from the defenders of slavery and segregation, to those who sought to protect the white race from the specter of miscegenation — as something endorsed by Christianity and, therefore, protected by the First Amendment." 

Thursday, Nov. 15, at 4 p.m., Grove will present on the use of pesticides in Arkansas farming, with an emphasis on DDT, a chemical compound used as an insecticide. 

Riva will present her research on the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee in Arkansas, focusing on the civil rights struggle, at 4 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6.

"Recognizing the importance of providing graduate students with the opportunity to share their research with the university community, we're delighted to offer this speaker series," said Lori Birrell, head of Special Collections. 

Graduate students from all majors who are interested in presenting on the research they have done using Special Collections materials are encouraged to visit the speaker series webpage.