Advertise on podcast: This Is Centenary

This episode of This Is Centenary features a discussion on the war in Ukraine hosted by and Centenary president Dr. Christopher Holoman and assistant professor of political science Dr. Amanda Donahoe on March 17, 2022. As the conflict neared its one month mark, Dr. Holoman and Dr. Donahoe brought together their combined expertise in international politics and international relations to provide some context on the conflict for the Centenary community. 

This episode of This Is Centenary features retiring English professor Dr. Steve Shelburne’s address at the annual Founders’ Day Convocation, held in Centenary’s Brown Chapel on February 17, 2022. During more than thirty years of teaching and scholarship at Centenary, Shelburne has shared his expertise in Shakespearean and other early modern English literature but has also led students on explorations of mystery and detective fiction, literary theory, and interdisciplinary collaborations weaving together religion, visual arts, literature, film, and theater.  Shelburne taught Daily Bread: Sustainability in Paris as part of the Centenary in Paris program and led May Modules in the British Isles. His address at the Founders’ Day convocation was titled, appropriately, “What is ‘a Founder’?”

This episode of This Is Centenary addresses a crucial and timely issue: COVID-19 vaccines. On January 27, Centenary hosted a virtual Q&A with local medical and scientific experts to discuss COVID-19 vaccine myths and facts. The full Zoom webinar recording is also available on Centenary’s YouTube channel.

This episode of This Is Centenary features a recent virtual convocation presented by Elizabeth DiSavino, associate professor of music at Berea College in Kentucky. DiSavino joined the Centenary community via Zoom webinar on Tuesday, October 27, to discuss her new book about former Centenary professor and Shreveport civic leader Katherine Jackson French.

In this episode of This Is Centenary – the first Centenary podcast produced via Zoom! – artist Michelle Burdine discusses her interdisciplinary work and highlights her current exhibition, “And Time Passed.” Meadows Director Heather Wetzel moderated this conversation, the first in a series of virtual artist talks scheduled for fall 2020, on September 24. “And Time Passed” is an examination of the intersections of time loss, grief, and family, and is currently installed in the downstairs gallery at the Meadows Museum of Art. Although the Museum is closed to the public during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, a 3D tour is available on the Meadows website at themeadowsmuseum.com.

This bonus episode of This Is Centenary highlights one of the College’s most beloved traditions, the Easter Sunrise Service presented by the Centenary College Choir. This archival recording, made in Brown Chapel in 2014, includes the talents of: Director - David Hobson ‘98 Narrator – Travis Orr ‘09 Mary – Elena Hibbs ‘16 Soloist for “Christ Went Up Into the Hills” – Hayley Cooper ‘15 Accompanist – Kieley Simonsen ‘18

his month’s episode of This Is Centenary features a celebration of two Centenary alumni from different generations who will now be forever linked. In a ceremony that was alternately funny, moving, and inspirational, Centenary alumnus Jonathan Ferrell, of the class of 2005, received the inaugural Mary Celeste Reagan Trailblazer Award, named for Centenary’s first African-American graduate. Ms. Reagan, who graduated in 1969, was honored during the award ceremony held during the College’s 2020 Dream Week in January, and offered words of encouragement and hope that resonate in both ordinary and extraordinary times.

Retired educator Eileen Sanchez visited Centenary last month to discuss her new novel, Freedom Lessons. Freedom Lessons draws heavily on Sanchez’s own experiences as a young, white teacher in the Jim Crow South during desegregation. The story alternates between the viewpoints of three very different characters during the period known as “the crossover,” when white teachers were sent to work in predominantly black schools for the first time. In Louisiana, this process began in the 1969-1970 school year. Sanchez’s public lecture and discussion evening from February 13 is our feature for this episode of This is Centenary.

In this episode of This is Centenary, two accomplished Centenary graduates visit their alma mater to celebrate the culmination of a unique project that began more than ten years ago. Dr. Aleksandra Kasztalska (Kaz-tal-ska), a linguist, and Dr. Elinora Madrid, a primary care physician, discussed their edited French-language volume of Benjamin Franklin’s Les Bagatelles, during a special event at Centenary’s Meadows Museum of Art on Monday, January 13. Les Bagatelles was published by Les Éditions Tintamarre, Centenary’s French-language academic press.

This episode of This is Centenary features remarks from Shreveport civil rights pioneer Dr. C.O. Simpkins, who passed away in December 2019, at the age of 94. Simpkins, a founding member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., visited Centenary several times to share his experiences during the civil rights struggle in Shreveport and his perspectives as an Air Force veteran, dentist, state legislator, and community activist. Dream Week is the College’s annual celebration of the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Dream Week 2020 begins Sunday, January 19, with a Unity March on Jones-Rice Field. A full schedule of events is available at centenary.edu/dreamweek.

In this episode of This is Centenary, we drop in on the monthly Colloquium sponsored by the Department of English. In November 2019, the department invited Jim Warren, founding artistic director of the American Shakespeare Center and guest director for the Marjorie Lyons Playhouse production of The Tempest, to lead a conversation about the play.

This episode of This is Centenary features a conversation between Dr. Jefferson Hendricks and Dr. Emily Leithauser, from Centenary's English Department, and award-winning poet and Shreveport native Jericho Brown. In the second half of the episode, Brown reads some of his poetry during the Corrington Award ceremony held at Centenary on October 7.