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The University of the South Visit Apply Contact Give Sewanee News Home Sewanee News In This Section Previous Sewanee News In This Section 2024 Dean’s Scholars Named at Commencement At commencement on May 12, Interim Dean of the College Betsy Sandlin announced the recipients of the Dean’s Scholar award. Created in 2023 to recognize the top academic achievers in the graduating class, the award was given to five graduates of the College. The 2024 Dean’s Scholars included: Rebecca Cole, Meridith Frazee, Máté Garai, Silas McClung, and Adri Silva. Read More College of Arts & Sciences Commencement The University of the South’s 2023-24 academic year came to a close on May 12 with a Convocation for the Conferring of Degrees to 415 undergraduates the College of Arts and Sciences. Read More BACCALAUREATE 2024 The University Baccalaureate service was held on Saturday, May 11, in All Saints’ Chapel. Theologian Christoph Keller III delivered the baccalaureate address. Rev. Keller and The Rt. Rev. Susan Bunton Haynes, the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia and the diocese’s first female diocesan bishop, both received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Read more School of Theology Graduation On Friday, May 10 the University of the South held a Convocation for the Conferring of Degrees from the School of Theology in All Saints’ Chapel. The seminary graduated 27 students with varying diplomas and degrees. The Rt. Rev. Frank Logue, the 11th bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia, delivered the sermon and received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree. Read More Bulletin Photos COMMENCEMENT WEEKEND 2024 The University of the South’s 2023-24 academic year comes to a close May 10, 11, and 12 with commencement exercises marking graduation weekend on the Mountain. The 167th Convocation for Conferring of Degrees for the School of Theology will be held Friday, May 10; the University Baccalaureate will take place on Saturday, May 11; and a Convocation for Conferring of Degrees for the College of Arts and Sciences will be held on Sunday, May 12. Each of these ceremonies will begin at 10 a.m. in All Saints’ Chapel and will be livestreamed for those who are unable to attend. Livestream Read More How Did Fan Culture Take Over? And Why Is It So Scary? Reboot , the new novel by Sewanee School of Letters Director Justin Taylor earned a rave review in the New York Times Book Review . A novelist chases reality. If our current one eludes easy capture, points are rewarded for remaining competitive with an alternate. Taylor earns lots of points. His book is, in part, a performance of culture, a mirror America complete with its own highly imagined myths. … It’s a performance full of wit and rigor.” Read the review PEARIGEN JOINS 60 OTHER COLLEGE PRESIDENTS TO ADVANCE CIVIC PREPAREDNESS AND UPHOLD FREE EXPRESSION ON U.S. CAMPUSES Recognizing this urgent moment for American higher education and our democracy, the University of the South’s Vice-Chancellor and President Rob Pearigen is joining 60 other college presidents of diverse institutions from across the country to advance higher education’s pivotal role in preparing students to be engaged citizens and to uphold free expression on campus. Full Story Assistant Professor Lily Thompson Receives NSF CAREER Award, Largest NSF Grant In University History Assistant Professor Lily Thompson has received the prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the foundation’s most distinguished honor for early-career faculty members. She will receive $619,867 over five years from NSF’s Division of Earth Sciences, making this the largest NSF grant to be awarded to the University of the South in its history. Read More Living Two Realities From navigating war-torn landscapes at home to pursuing an ambitious triple major at Sewanee, Kamilla Haidaienko, C’25, sets her sights on one goal: helping to shape the post-war reconstruction of her native Ukraine. Full Story Art, Art History, and Visual Studies Program Names Guarisco Merit Scholars The Art, Art History, and Visual Studies Program has announced the winners of the Peter V. Guarisco Merit Scholarship for the 2024-25 academic year. Kate Shackelford, C’25, was awarded the Guarisco Scholarship in Art History in recognition of excellence in coursework, writing, and engagement with questions of art history. Gabriel Williams, C’25, was awarded the Guarisco Scholarship in Art for excellence in coursework, creative production, and engagement with the visual arts. The scholarships provide both recipients with tuition for their senior year and funding for a postgraduate career preparation experience. Read More Assistant Professor Anne Duffee Earns Mathematical Association of America Distinguished Teaching Award The Southeastern Section of the Mathematical Association of America (MAA-SE) has announced the selection of Assistant Professor of Mathematics Anne Duffee for the organization’s Distinguished Teaching Award. The MAA-SE Section recognizes outstanding faculty members each year at their annual section meeting with awards for excellence in teaching and service, and the Distinguished Teaching Award is its top honor. Read More Professor Sherry Hamby Honored with 2024 Christine Blasey-Ford Woman of Courage Award Since 2019, the Association for Women in Psychology has presented the Christine Blasey-Ford Woman of Courage Award to recognize and celebrate feminist leaders who have demonstrated the quality of political courage in standing up and speaking truth to power, in order to take action against injustice, discrimination, or harm. Read More David Haskell receives American Academy of Arts and Letters award Sewanee Professor of Biology David Haskell, who has been selected by the American Academy of Arts and Letters to receive one of eight Arts and Letter Awards in literature for 2024. Haskell’s latest book, Sounds Wild and Broken, was also a finalist for the 2023 Pulitzer Prize in General Nonfiction and the 2023 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award. Read More Tennessee Comes Back to Sewanee A landmark staging of A Streetcar Named Desire—in Sewanee’s Tennessee Williams Center—honors the literary legacy of one of America’s greatest playwrights. Read More THE WIZARD OF SWEETENS COVE Wildly innovative, maverick golf course creator Rob Collins, C’97, leads a renaissance in course design by looking back to the history of the sport. And it all started with the world’s first social media golf course.” Read More A New Campus Living Room With the opening of Biehl Commons at the center of campus this semester, Sewanee students get a facility purpose-built for their enjoyment—a place to hang out, study, meet friends, and grab a bite. Join us for a look at what the new social commons has to offer. Read More Kilkenny named executive director of the New York Youth Symphony The New York Youth Symphony (NYYS) has named John Kilkenny as executive director, effective in late March. John has served as the director of the Sewanee Summer Music Festival (SSMF) since 2018, after several years on the SSMF faculty. He first came to Sewanee as an SSMF student in 1993. John will continue in his current role as director of SSMF through the 2024 season. Read More Laurel Graefe to Give Bryan Viewpoints Lecture on Feb. 22 Laurel Graefe, regional executive and senior officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, will visit Sewanee to discuss future trends in the Southeastern economy and monetary policy in the modern era. Graefe will give her remarks at 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, in the Torian Room at duPont Library . Read More Sewanee, Jessie Ball duPont Fund Build on Racial Healing Progress Universities and philanthropic organizations across the country face significant challenges, not least of which is the polarized climate that impedes higher education’s historic role as a marketplace for ideas. On Jan. 9, the University of the...