New speaker series starts Nov. 3 November 3, 2010

New speaker series starts Nov. 3
“Monumental Loss: 9-11 Memorials and the History of Commemoration in America”

Napa Valley College faculty members are participating in an exciting new speaker series which will offer something for everyone.
“Contemporary Conversations with Napa Valley College Faculty,” sponsored by the Napa Valley College Foundation, will be free and open to the public. Different faculty members will address a contemporary issue in their field of study.
“Monumental Loss: 9-11 Memorials and the History of Commemoration in America” will be the first topic at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 at the college’s Upper Valley Campus in St. Helena by Prof. Amanda Badgett.
Recent news has focused on the complicated business of making material a universal loss, namely an appropriate memorial of the 9-11 attacks in New York. What is less clear is America’s historical ambivalence and struggle with making memory visual, be it that of George Washington, the Civil War, or, more recently, the Vietnam War. This talk will address what is at stake. What is the language of loss? Whose memory is made visual? How do monuments such as this define a nation?
Prof. Amanda Badgett earned a B.A. in Art History from the College of William and Mary in Virginia, and pursued graduate study in Art History at Columbia University, with a focus on collective memory in nineteenth-century American architecture. While a graduate student, she received fellowships from the Henry Luce Foundation/American Council of Learned Societies and the Pew Charitable Trusts. As the art historian at Napa Valley College, she teaches courses in areas including Islamic Art, Contemporary Art, and the History of Graphic Design.
Napa Valley College wine and hors d’oeuvres will follow the lecture. Please R.S.V.P. to 707-253-3374 by November 1.
The Upper Valley Campus is located at 1088 College Ave., St. Helena.
Future topics
“Contemporary Conversations with Napa Valley College Faculty” will feature the following professors in March, April and May 2011: John Liscano, Ph.D., Political Science; Janet Stickmon, Humanities, and Maria L. Villagómez, Spanish Language and Hispanic Culture. Watch for future announcements on these spring presentations.