Elisabeth Showalter Muhlenfeld
President’s Office
Box C
Sweet Briar, Virginia 24595
muhlenfeld@sbc.edu
EDUCATION:
Ph.D. in English, University of South Carolina, 1978
Field: American Literature, concentrating on Southern Literature
M.A. in English, University of Texas at Arlington, 1973
B.A. in Philosophy, Goucher College, 1966
EMPLOYMENT:
Sweet Briar College
1996 - Present: President
Responsible for full administration of the College under the authority of the Board of Directors including all academic programs; co-curricular programs and student life; institutional advancement; alumnae affairs; admissions; retention of qualified faculty; and financial operations of the institution. Sweet Briar College is a 4-year, independent, liberal arts college for women, located in central Virginia on a 3,300 acre campus just east of the Blue Ridge. Student enrollment at the home campus and in longstanding study abroad programs in France and Spain is 752, with 78 faculty FTE. The student/faculty ratio is currently 7:1. Degrees offered: Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Arts in Teaching, Master of Education.1996 - Present: Professor, English
Florida State University
1996 – Present: Dean Emeritus (first to be so honored)
1984 - 1996: Dean, Undergraduate Studies
Responsible for all university-wide academic requirements, including Liberal Studies Program, academic progress of 8,000 lower division students, academic advising, the University Honors Program, Minority Academic Programs, Academic Support Services for Student Athletes, Center for Retention and Academic Support, Office of Admissions, Office of the Registrar, Office of Financial Aid1987 - 1996: Professor of English
Taught one or more courses per year on American literature and Southern literature; directed honors and masters theses and doctoral dissertations; served on graduate committees.1983 - 1984: Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Studies and Associate
Chairman, Department of English1982 - 1987: Associate Professor of English
1978 - 1982: Assistant Professor of English
University of South Carolina
1975 - 1978: Research Assistant, Administrative Assistant, Southern Studies Program
Midlands Technical College, Columbia, S.C.
1977 - 1978 Instructor
PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES:
NATIONAL, REGIONAL, AND STATE ACTIVITIES, selected
American Bar Association, Commission on College and University Legal Studies, 1991 - 1994
American Council on Education/Leadership Network on International Education, 2000 – present
American Council of Education/Office of Women in Higher Education National Forum, Participant, 1992;
Consultant, 1997
Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV): Vice Chair 1999, Chair 2000 – 2001
Goucher College Board of Visitors 1999 – 2003
Harvard Seminar for New Presidents, Harvard Institutes for Higher Education, Graduate School of Education,
July 19-24, 1996
National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) panelist:
Fellowships for College Teachers, August 1991
Fellowships for University Teachers, August 1992
Division of Research Materials, January 1994
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) Commission on Colleges
Nominating Committee, 1996
Nominating Committee Chair, 1997
Accreditation Review Project Steering Committee, 1999-2002
Leadership Workshop for Chairs
Commissioner, 2000-present
Executive Committee, 2003- present; Vice Chair, 2005
Member, Visiting Committees, SACS Commission on Colleges:
University of Tennessee, Knoxville, April 1992
University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, February 1994
North Carolina State University, March 1994
Tennessee Technical University, January 1995
Chair, Visiting Committees, SACS Commission on Colleges:
Kentucky Christian College, March 1999
Spelman College, Georgia, March 2000
Brevard College, South Carolina, April 2001
Morris College, 2002
Agnes Scott College, 2003
Art Institute of Houston, 2004
State Council of Higher Education in Virginia (SCHEV) Advisory Committee for Strategic Planning, 1998 – 1999, 2002-2003
Student Poll National Advisory Board 1996 – 2000
Virginia Bar Association’s Committee on Special Issues of National and State Importance, 2001 – 2003
Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC) Board of Trustees; Executive Committee 2000 - present; Vice Chair elect
Women’s College Coalition, Board of Directors, 2005 – present; Chair, Governance Committee.
Wye Faculty Governing Council 1998 – 2003In Florida:
Member: Statewide Task Forces:
Florida Board of Regents, on Undergraduate Education
Florida Board of Regents, on Academic Advising
Florida Dept. of Education, on Financial Aid
Florida Dept. of Education, on Entry Level Placement Testing
Florida Dept. of Education: Steering Committee, Commissioner’s Roundtable for Women in
Educational Leadership in Florida
Florida Postsecondary Education Planning Commission (PEPC), Steering Committee, Improving
Access Through Technology
Melveen Hardee Center for Women in Education, Board of Governors: 1986-1996Disciplinary Memberships:
Modern Language Association
South Atlantic Modern Language Association: Chair, Textual and Bibliographical Studies Section, 1980-81,
Committee on Nominations, 1987 – 1989
South Caroliniana Society
Southern Association of Woman Historians
Society for the Study of Southern Literature: Executive Committee, 1981 – 1984; 1987 – 1990
Charter Fellow: St. George Tucker Society; Chair, Dissertation Prize Committee, 1994 – 1998
Charter Member: William Faulkner Society; Secretary/Treasurer, 1991 – 1994Disciplinary Activities:
Faulkner Scholarship Survey Committee, Mississippi Quarterly, 1978 – 1980
Examiner: Center for Scholarly Editions, 1985 - 1987
Reader: Mississippi Quarterly, Studies in American Humor, American Historical Review, Journal of Southern
History, National Endowment for the Humanities, various university pressesInstitutional Representative:
The College Board; American Association for Higher Education (AAHE); American Council on Education (ACE); American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS); The Annapolis Group; Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU); Association of Governing Boards (AGB); Council of Independent Colleges (CIC); Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV); Virginia Foundation for Independent Colleges (VFIC); National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA)
Honor Societies:
Phi Kappa Phi, FSU Chapter: president, 1992-93
Golden Key National Honor Society, honorary member
Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, honorary member
Phi Kappa Phi National Honor Society, honorary member
Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society, honorary member
Omicron Delta Kappa National Honor Society, honorary memberCultural and Civic Organizations
Advisory Council, U.S. Committee for UNIFEM, 2002 – present
American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar Foundation Board: 2003 - present; Chair, Program Committee
2004 - present
Employee Assistance of Central Virginia (EACV); Board of Directors, 1996 – present;
Vice Chair, 2002 – present
Sister City of Lynchburg Plus Advisory Committee, 1996 – present
SPHEX Club, Lynchburg, Virginia
TransDominion Express Steering Committee, 1999 – 2003
United Way of Central Virginia; Board of Directors, 1997 – 2004; Executive Committee 1998 – 2000, 2003 –
2004; Chair, 2003 – 2004
Virginia’s Region 2000 Strategic Planning Task Force, 1996 - 1998
Virginia’s Region 2000 Regional Competitiveness Board, 1997 – present
Honorary Member: Lynchburg Literacy Council 1998 – present
Honorary Member: Citizens for Adult Literacy and Learning (CALL) 1998 – present
Capital Women’s Network, Tallahassee Network 1989-1996
Tallahassee Democrat High School Brain Bowl, moderator, 1986-1996
SELECTED COLLEGE COMMITTEES, SWEET BRIAR COLLEGE
Board of Directors: voting member of Executive Committee and all other Board committees
Centennial Commission
Chair, Master Plan Steering Committee
Chair, Planning Committee
Shape of the Future Committee
Chair, Strategic Planning Committee
Chair, Visiting Committee on Diversity
SELECTED UNIVERSITY COMMITTEES, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY
Undergraduate Policy Committee, 1981-1996; Secretary 1982-83; Chairman, 1983-84; ex officio 1984-1996.
Faculty Senate (elected, 1983-84; ex officio, 84-1996)
Council of Deans, 1984-1996
Chair, Council of Dean’s Budget and Planning Committee, 1994-1996
Dean’s Task Force on the University and the Colleges, 1988-1991
Dean’s Task Force on Assessment, 1991-1993
Dean’s Task Force on the Foundation, 1994:
Admissions Committee, 1984-1996
Athletic Board, 1984-1996:
Calendar Committee, 1984 -1996
Committee on Academic Degree Programs, 1984-1996
Ad Hoc Committee on Excellence, chair, 1986
Ad Hoc Committee on Graduate Students’ Financial Aid, 1993-1996
Committee for Self Study of Intercollegiate Athletics, 1986-1991
Council for Instruction, 1984-1996
Distance Learning Council, 1995-1996:
EEO Advisory Committee, 1984-1996
Financial Aid and Undergraduate Scholarship Committee, 1986-1996
Honors Program Committee, 1984-1996
President’s Commission on the Status of Women, 1992-1996
Presidential Search Advisory Committee, 1993
University Budget Advisory Committee, 1994-1996
University Council, 1984-1996
University Orientation Committee, 1984-1996SELECTED DEPARTMENTAL ACTIVITIES
Evaluation Committee (elected), 1979-81, 1983-84
Executive Committee, 1979-81, 1981-82
Freshman English Committee, 1979-1984
Graduate Admissions Committee, Chair, 1983-1984
Graduate Committee, Chair, 1983-1984
Undergraduate Committee, Chair, 1983-1984
Member: Ad Hoc Committee to review departmental evaluation procedures, T.A. Selection Committee, Teaching Fellowship Committee, University Fellowship CommitteeGRANTS
1979: Summer grant, Committee on Faculty Research Support, FSU
1983-1984: NEH Director’s Grant for work on The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries.PUBLICATIONS:
I. BOOKS
Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth S. Mary Boykin Chesnut: A Biography. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1981. 286 pp. Reprinted in paperback Fall 1992, and has remained in print.
Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth S. William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!: A Critical Casebook. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984. 286 pp.
Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth S., and C. Vann Woodward, eds. The Private Mary Chesnut: The Unpublished Civil War Diaries. New York: Oxford University Press, 1984. 321 pp. Issued in hard cover and paperback.
Muhlenfeld, Elisabeth S., ed. Two Novels by Mary Chesnut. Southern Text Society Series. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2002.
II. ARTICLES AND ESSAYS
1972: “Shadows with Substance and Ghosts Exhumed: The Women in Absalom, Absalom!” Mississippi
Quarterly 25 (Summer 1972): 289-304.
Reprinted in Cox, Lee, ed. William Faulkner: A Critical Collection. Detroit: Gale Research, 1982.1975: “Charles Waddell Chesnut,” in “Guide to Dissertations on American Literary Figures, 1870-1910.” American Literary Realism 8 (Summer 1975): 220-222.
“Kate Chopin,” in “Guide to Dissertations on American Literary Figures, 1870-1910.” American Literary Realism 8 (Summer 1975): 222-224.
“Grace King,” in “Guide to Dissertations on American Literary Figures, 1870-1910.” American Literary Realism 8 (Autumn 1975): 295-296.
1976: Explanatory Notes. Katharine Walton. By William Gilmore Simms. 1851. Reprinted with Introduction and Explanatory Notes. Vol. 4. Spartanburg, S.C.: The Reprint Company, 1976. 8 vols.
1977: Editor. Mary Boykin Chesnut’s South: Contemporary Perspectives (Columbia: Southern Studies
Program, University of South Carolina, 1977).“Diary from Dixie.” Charleston Magazine. Aug. 1977: 21-22.
1978: “We have waited long enough: Judith Sutpen and Charles Bon.” The Southern Review 14
(January 1978): 66-80. Reprinted in William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom!: A Critical
Casebook. By Elisabeth Muhlenfeld. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc., 1984. Also in Critical Essays on William Faulkner: The Sutpen Family. Ed. Arthur F. Kinney. Critical Essays on American Literature Series. Boston: G.K. Hall, 1996.
Contributor. “Faulkner 1977: A Survey of Research and Criticism.” By Thomas L. McHaney, et al. Mississippi Quarterly 31 (Summer 1978): 429-464.1979: “Literary Elements in Mary Chesnut’s Journal.” South Carolina Women Writers. Ed. James B.
Meriwether. Southern Studies Program. Spartanburg, S.C.: The Reprint Company, 1979. 245-261.Contributor. “Faulkner 1978: A Survey of Research and Criticism.” By Thomas L. McHaney, et al. Mississippi Quarterly 32 (Summer 1979): 497-518.
1980: “Janet Burroway.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: American Novelists Since World
War II. 2nd Series. Vol. 6. Ed. James E. Kibler, Jr. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980.1981: “Coping with Change: How Our Cities Keep the South Alive.” Southern World 3
(March-April 1981): 18-22.Editor. “The Civil War Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: A Transcript Transcription of the Extant
Portions of Chesnut’s Original Diary in the South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina.” On
deposit at the Library of Congress, Yale University Library, South Caroliniana Library.1983: “C. Vann Woodward.” Dictionary of Literary Biography: Twentieth-Century American
Historians. Vol. 17. Ed. Clyde Wilson. Detroit: Gale Research, 1983.1984: “Of Paradigm and Paradox: The Case of Mary Boykin Chesnut.” Feminist Visions: Toward a
Transformation of the Liberal Arts Curriculum. Eds. Diane L. Fowlkes and Charlotte S. McClure.
Tuscaloosa, AL.: University of Alabama Press, 1984. 130-138, 205-207.1985: “The Civil War and Authorship.” A History of Southern Literature. Ed. Louis D. Rubin,
Jr. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. 178-187. Reprinted in
Nineteenth Century Literary Criticism Annual, Detroit: Gale Research.1986: “Bewildered Witness: Temple’s Perjury in Sanctuary,” The Faulkner Journal, Vol. I, No. 2,
Spring, 1986, pp. 43-55. Reprinted, André Bleikasten and Nicole Moulinous, eds., Douze
Lectures de Sanctuaire, Association pour la Fondation William Faulkner, Université Rennes II,
France, 1996.“Forget the Log: Put Mark Hopkins in Memorial Stadium.” The Goucher Quarterly 64 (Summer 1986): 16-17.
1987: “Mary Boykin Chesnut (1823-1886).” Fifty Southern Writers Before 1900: A Bio-Bibliographical
Sourcebook. Ed. Robert Bain and Joseph M. Flora. Westport, C.T.: Greenwood Press, 1987. 96-106.1989: “Mary Boykin Chesnut.” Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Ed. William Ferris and Charles
Reagan Wilson. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.
1990: “The Distaff Side: The Women in Go Down, Moses.” Critical Essays on William Faulkner: The
McCaslin Family. Ed. Arthur Kinney. Critical Essays on American Literature Series. Boston:
G.K. Hall, 1996.198-212.1992: “Linking Student Affairs and Academic Affairs in Promoting Values Education Activities: Part I:
The Perspective from Academic Affairs.” Proceedings of Institute on College Student Values 1992.
Tallahassee: Florida State University. 33-37.1998: “Writing History and Other Arts.” Sweet Briar College Library Gazette. 32 (1998): 1- 3, 8.
2000: “Presidents’ Public Diaries.” Journal of College and Character. Twelve columns, Oct. 30 – Nov. 10, 2000. Center for The Study of Values in College Student Development.
<http://collegevalues.org/diaries.cfm?a=1&id=85>.2001: “Mary Chesnut.” The History of Southern Women’s Literature. Eds. Carolyn Perry and Mary Louise Weaks. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 2001, 119-122.
“Those Dreaded SATs: Sweet Briar Will Keep Tests.” Lynchburg News and Advance. May 5, 2001.
“Informed Questions Lead to Better College Choices.” Richmond Times-Dispatch. June 1, 2001.
“Don’t be misled by rankings of colleges.” Roanoke Times. September 9, 2001. Picked up by several dailies.2002: “Women’s college grads lead the way in breaking the glass ceiling.” Fredericksburg, Va. Free Lance-Star. February 7, 2002. Picked up in several dailies.
“For women, choices remain tough between careers, family.” Lynchburg News and Advance. May 5, 2002.
Picked up by several dailies.“Women’s Colleges: Experiencing is Believing.” Frederick News-Post. October 27, 2002.
2003: “TAGs are Smart Money.” Richmond Times Dispatch. January 27, 2003. Picked up by several dailies.
2004: “Restraining Ophelia: Social Regulation in Women’s Colleges.” SPHEX Club, September 23, 2004.
2005: “Private Colleges Challenge, Reward Students Affordably.” Lynchburg News and Advance.
July 31, 2005.“Private Colleges – for the Public Good.” Black Enterprise. August 2, 2005.
III. REVIEWS AND REVIEW ESSAYS
Rev. of Faulkner’s Women: Characterization and Meaning, by Sally R. Page. Mississippi Quarterly 26 Summer 1973: 435-450.
Rev. of Old Tales and Talking, by Estella Schoenburg. Mississippi Quarterly 30 Summer 1977: 479-481.
Rev. of A Loving Gentleman: The Love Story of William Faulkner and Meta Carpenter, by Meta Carpenter Wilde and Orin Borsten. Mississippi Quarterly 31 Summer 1978: 476-477.
Rev. of William Faulkner: Toward Yoknapatawpha and Beyond, by Cleanth Brooks. Faulkner Studies 1 1980: 153-157.
Rev. of Faulkner’s Narrative Poetics: Style as Vision, by Arthur F. Kinney. Notes on Mississippi Writers 21 Winter 1980: 94-96.
Rev. of To Raise Myself a Little: The Diaries and Letters of Jennie, A Georgia Teacher: 1851-1886, by Amelia Akehurst Lines. Ed. Thomas Dryer. Journal of Southern History 48 November 1982: 578-579.
Rev. of Southern Literature in Transition, eds. Philip Castille and William Osborne. Humanities in the South Spring 1984: 12.
Rev. of Secret and Sacred: The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, A Southern Slaveholder, ed. Carol Blesser. Journal of Southern History 56 Feb. 1990: 113-114.
LECTURES, PAPERS, AND PANEL PRESENTATIONS:
INTERNATIONAL
“Honor and Conduct in William Faulkner’s The Reivers,” invited paper on Faulkner’s post-Nobel career, International Symposium, Tokyo, Japan, April 1985.
“The First Year Experience: A View from Florida,” The First Year Experience Fourth International Conference, St. Andrews, Scotland, July 1989.
NATIONAL
“Mary Boykin Chesnut: Nineteenth Century Literary Modes,” National College English Association
Meeting, Houston, April 1982.“The Developing Structure of Absalom, Absalom!” paper, Modern Language Association, December 1982,
Los Angeles.“Teaching Faulkner Today,” Modern Language Association, New York, December 1983.
“The Dewey Decimal System and Atticus Finch’s Lap: Teaching and Learning in To Kill a Mockingbird,”
College English Association meeting, New Orleans, April 1988.“Developing a Multicultural Understanding Requirement,” mentor presentation to American Council on
Education ACE Fellows workshop, Tampa, FL, September 1991.“The Role of Academic Affairs in Values Education,” Institute on College Student Values, Wakulla
Springs, Fl., February 1992.“A Model for Linking Academic and Student Affairs in Promoting Values Outcomes,” with Jon Dalton,
National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA), 1992 Annual Meeting, Cincinnati,
March 1992.“Lost Women in Faulkner’s The Unvanquished,” Annual Meeting, Society for the Study of Southern
Literature, Clemson University, April 1992.“Trials and the Courtroom in American Literature,” panel at 9th annual Higher Education Conference on
“Literature, History, Culture and the Courtroom,” American Bar Association, Ft. Worth, Texas,
February1993.“Mary Chesnut as Modernist” Annual Meeting, Southern Intellectual History Circle, Myrtle Beach, SC,
February 1994.“Writing Out the War: Southern Women Confront the Realities of Sectional Conflict,” Commentator,
Southern Conference on Women’s History, Houston, June 1994.“Cassandra’s Spiders: Mary Boykin Chesnut Writes Behind the Lines,” featured speaker, “Within the
Lines:” Women of the South During the Civil War, Symposium, Goucher College, October 1995.Panelist: The Diane Rehm Show, “On the Job: Women who are College Presidents”, February, 2001
C-SPAN’s American Writer’s Series, Discussion of Mary Boykin Chesnut, Broadcast from Camden, South Carolina, June 2001.
Participating faculty: Harvard Graduate School of Education seminar on presidential leadership, January 12-13, 2003.
REGIONAL
“William Faulkner’s Pennsylvania Station,” paper, conference on the Short Fiction of William Faulkner,
University of South Carolina, April 1975.“Literary Elements in Mary Chesnut’s Journal,” paper, conference on South Carolina Women Writers,
University of South Carolina, October 1975.“Francis Marion in the Writings of William Gilmore Simms,” paper, conference on William Gilmore
Simms and the American Revolution, The College of Charleston, May 1976.“Jefferson Davis in The Civil War: A Narrative,” panel presentation, conference on Shelby Foote’s The
Civil War: A Narrative, University of South Carolina, May 1978.Participant, “The South to America,” a conference on the contemporary South, University of South
Carolina, August 1979.Chair, Textual and Bibliographical Studies Section: Editing from Manuscript, South Atlantic Modern
Language Association, Atlanta, November 1980.“Of Paradigm and Paradox: The Case of Mary Boykin Chesnut,” paper, conference, “A Fabric of Our Own
Making”: Southern Scholars on Women, Georgia State University, Atlanta, March 1981.“Mary Boykin Chesnut: Southern Writer,” paper, Georgia/South Carolina College English Association,
Statesboro, Georgia, March 1981.Speaker, ceremonies honoring the publication of Mary Chesnut’s Civil War, C. Vann Woodard, ed.,
Columbia and Camden, S.C., April 1981, under auspices of State of South Carolina and Kershaw County
Historical Society.Guest Lecturer, Department of History, University of Southern Mississippi, July 1981, on historical and
literary principles of editing.Speaker, Queens College Friends of the Library Eleventh Annual Book and Author Luncheon,
January1982, Charlotte, N.C.“Mary Boykin Chesnut and Women’s History,” Pee Dee Region Women’s History Week, Coker College,
Florence, S.C., March 1982.“Pink Cadillacs and Minks: or, How Superwomen Can Do it All (normative and atypical career patterns),
“Women’s Caucus, South Atlantic Modern Language Association, Atlanta, October 1983.“Mary Chesnut’s Portrait of Richmond,” Richmond Academy of Medicine for the Museum of the
Confederacy, Richmond, March 1984.“Effective Academic Advising as a Key to Improving Undergraduate Education,” Keynote Address,
Southeastern Conference of the National Association of Academic Affair Administrators, Gainesville,
Florida, October 4, 1985.“Mary Chesnut’s South,” public lecture as visiting research scholar, Appalachian State University, Boone,
North Carolina, February 1993.“NCAA Certification/SACS Accreditation,” panelist at annual meeting of the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools, Atlanta, December 1993.Administrator in residence, Florida State University Colege of Education, October 11-12, 2001.
“The Power of Women’s Colleges in Developing Leadership.” Keynote speaker, Annual Leadership Forum,
Melveen Hardee Center for Women in Higher Education, Florida State University, October 11, 2001.STATE AND/OR LOCAL (Selected)
Principal speaker on the importance and value of the humanities to the public sector at ten public hearings
throughout South Carolina sponsored by South Carolina Committee for the Humanities, Spring 1978.“Sex, Sin, and the Nature of Sacrifice: Moral Codes in the Fiction of Fitzgerald, Hemingway and
Faulkner,” Between the Wars Series, Center for the Humanities and the Arts at Florida State University, March 1982. This lecture, in revised form, was presented at Georgia Southern College, May 1982.“Academic Advising,” 1984 Greek Council Leadership Conference, Florida State University, February 1984.
“The Human Factor in Advising,” Keynote Address, Florida Academic Advising Conference, Tampa,
Florida, March 5-6, 1985.“What’s Happening in Undergraduate Education,” Luncheon Lecture Series, Presbyterian University
Center, Tallahassee, September 10, 1985.“Graduate Culture,” first Annual Meeting of McKnight Fellows, Orlando, Florida, October 1-3, 1985.
“Capitalize on Your Future in Education,” Seminar at Florida National Honor Society State Convention,
April 24, 1986.“What FSU Ought to Be,” Luncheon Lecture Series, Presbyterian University Center, Tallahassee, Feb. 1987.
“Stark Terror and the Intellectual Life,” Keynote Address: Phi Beta Kappa Annual Initiation Banquet,
April 9, 1989.“Quagmires, Qualms and Quarks: Ethics in the University,” Keynote Address: Phi Kappa Phi Annual
Initiation Banquet, April 10, 1990.“Preparing for Leadership,” Women in Leadership Conference, Florida State University, February 1991.
“Multicultural Education at Florida State University,” Keynote Address: Phi Eta Sigma Initiation Banquet,
April 10, 1991.“Novel Teaching: Letting Novels Teach Themselves,” Keynote Address, Leon County Teachers of
English, March 1992.“Perspectives on Leadership in Higher Education,” Keynote Address, Hardee Center for Women in Higher
Education, October 1992.“Indiana Jones and the Tower of Intellect,” Keynote Address, Phi Eta Sigma Initiation Ceremony,
April 1994.“Educating Daisy: Some Observations on Women’s Education in the Nineteenth Century South,” Keynote
Address, Sweet Briar College Founders’ Day Ceremony, October 3, 1996.“Cassandra’s Spiders: Mary Chesnut on Love and War,” Lecture presented to the Center for the Arts, Vero Beach, Florida, March 6, 1997.
“Policy Institute on the Future of Education in Virginia,” panelist at program, University of Virginia,
Curry School of Education, Charlottesville, Virginia, July 1997.“In Celebration of the Women’s College,” keynote address at 1998 Founders’ Day, Averett College,
Danville, Virginia, January 1998.“Writing History and Other Arts.” Gerhard Masur Memorial Lecture, Friends of the Library, Sweet Briar College, April 17, 1998.
“Higher Education for Women: a Dramatic History Lesson.” Convocation Speaker, Chatham Hall, Chatham, Virginia, October 1999.
Panelist, “Trends in Liberal Education.” Association for General and Liberal Studies Conference, Richmond, Virginia, October, 1999
“The Life of Mary Boykin Chesnut,” Liberty University’s 5th Annual Civil War Seminar, Lynchburg, Virginia, March 2001.
“A Proposal to Save Historic Tusculum,” Rotary Club, Amherst, Virginia, July 28, 2005.
Numerous talks on Southern literature, American literature and Southern history for local book clubs, historical societies, Civil War Roundtables and other civic organizations, as well as frequent talks on various aspects of undergraduate education to faculty and student groups, community groups and guest lectures to classroom groups at Florida State University, local high schools in the Tallahassee, Florida area, Sweet Briar College, and the Amherst, Lynchburg, Richmond, Roanoke and Charlottesville communities.