2014 – 2015 Personally Speaking Series

Four UNC Charlotte College of Liberal Arts & Sciences scholars explored an array of topics from the Apostle Paul to Abraham Lincoln to today’s middle-class economy and children’s literature during the 2014-15 Personally Speaking Series, presented in partnership with J. Murrey Atkins Library.

“We support the University’s mission to serve as a resource to the greater Charlotte area, and this signature series is an excellent way to share with the community the knowledge and expertise of our faculty,” says Nancy Gutierrez, dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences.

The series further connects the community with college faculty and their research. The authors consider contemporary issues addressed in their books. A reception provides a chance to continue the dialogue in an informal setting. The events in 2014-15 were provided complimentary to the community and began at 6:30 p.m. The talks were:

  • Scott Fitzgerald, Middle Class Meltdown in America: Causes, Consequences, and Remedies, September 18, 2014, UNC Charlotte Center City.
  • James Tabor, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity, November 11, 2014, UNC Charlotte Center City.
  • John David Smith, Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops, February 10, 2015, UNC Charlotte Center City.
  • Paula Connolly, Slavery in American Children’s Literature, 1790-2010, March 24, 2015, Atkins Library.

Scott Fitzgerald

America’s middle class is suffering an economic meltdown that threatens the sector of society long considered the nation’s bedrock. UNC Charlotte author and researcher Scott Fitzgerald explores these troubles and ways to regain prosperity.

Fitzgerald, a UNC Charlotte sociology associate professor, has researched and co-authored two books and numerous articles on the topic. His most recent book, Middle Class Meltdown in America: Causes, Consequences and Remedies, sheds additional light into the growing instability of the middle class. The book has won acclaim for its common-sense framing of the issue and possible solutions.

Fitzgerald’s research interests include economic inequality, social movements, religion and the nation state and encourage broad public discussions to address social problems. Middle Class Meltdown is co-authored with Kevin Leicht, professor, departmental chair and director of the Iowa Social Science Research Center at The University of Iowa.

James Tabor

The Apostle Paul is the single most influential figure in human history, suggests UNC Charlotte Religious Studies Professor James Tabor in his book, Paul and Jesus How the Apostle Transformed Christianity. Tabor argues that Paul has done more to shape all we think about almost everything than anyone else. In terms of influence, Paul trumps even the great “founders,” whether Jesus, Moses, the Buddha, or Mohammed.

Tabor, former chair of the department, is the author of seven books and more than 100 scholarly articles. His book The Jesus Dynasty: A New Historical Investigation of Jesus, His Royal Family, and the Birth of Christianity presented the results of his work on the historical Jesus over the course of his career to a general audience. It has been translated into 25 languages and has become an international bestseller.

Over the past two decades Tabor has combined his work on ancient texts with fieldwork in archaeology. He has worked at a number of sites in Israel and Jordan including Qumran, site of the Dead Sea Scrolls; Wadi el-Yabis in Jordan, Masada, and Sepphoris. In 2000 he teamed up with Dr. Shimon Gibson to excavate a newly discovered cave at Suba, west of Jerusalem, that dates back to the Iron Age but was used for ritual rites in the early Roman period. Tabor and Gibson were also the principals involved in the discovery of a 1st century Jewish burial shroud in a looted tomb at Akeldama. Their latest project is an ongoing excavation on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. His work has been featured in numerous TV documentaries.

John David Smith

President Abraham Lincoln’s January 1, 1863, Emancipation Proclamation set in motion the abolition of African American slavery and authorized the mobilization of African Americans to serve in the Federal armies to suppress the Confederates’ insurrection.

In Lincoln and the U.S. Colored Troops, author John David Smith tells the story both of Lincoln’s decision to use African Americans to keep the Union intact and of the yeoman service of the more than 180,000 black soldiers who donned Union blue.

Smith, the Charles H. Stone Distinguished Professor of American History at UNC Charlotte, has taught at several universities including North Carolina State University as Graduate Alumni Distinguished Professor of History, and at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München, as Fulbright Senior Professor of American Studies.

In addition to lecturing in 11 foreign countries, Smith has published more than 150 scholarly articles and book chapters as well as 25 books. His numerous honors include the Mayflower Society Award for Nonfiction, the Gustavus Myers Center Award for the Study of Human Rights in North America, the Richard H. Collins Award, Kentucky Historical Society, and the Thornton W. Mitchell Service Award, Society of North Carolina Archivists.

Paula Connolly

The first comprehensive study of slavery in children’s literature, Slavery in American Children’s Literature 1790-2010, shows how antebellum racial images have been re-created or revised for new generations. This study by Paula Connolly, associate professor in the Department of English at UNC Charlotte, offers a record of the racial mythmaking of the United States from the nation’s beginning to the present day.

In addition to teaching, Connolly is coordinator of Children’s Literature Programs in the UNC Charlotte English Department. Her areas of interest include images of slavery in American literature, multiculturalism in children’s literature, visual semiotics and children’s literature, and film and popular culture.