New Mexico State University’s Library will launch the new NMSU Faculty Lectures @ the Library series this fall, offering students, faculty, staff and the Las Cruces community a chance to engage with innovative ideas and new faculty research.
Designed to support an academic culture of inquiry and discussion, the series will feature NMSU faculty members from across disciplines sharing their recent projects and publications. All events are free and open to the public and will take place in the Branson Library lobby.
“This is an opportunity to give people on campus a platform to share the really interesting things they’re working on,” said Nathan Camp, emerging technologies technician at NMSU’s Reference and Research Services.
Journalism professors Mary Lamonica and Bruce Berman will kick off the series with a presentation on their new book, “Home Front: Alfred T. Palmer’s World War II Photography,” from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 15, in the Branson Library Lobby. Their work examines the photography of Palmer, whose color images of wartime factory work helped boost morale and normalize women’s roles in the workforce during World War II. Books will be available for purchase.
“I think the faculty lecture series by the NMSU Library system is a marvelous opportunity for members of the university community and the general public to learn about the research that faculty are producing,” Lamonica said. “The series also has a question-and-answer period that allows both the public and professors to learn from each other, which is such an important form of community engagement.”
Lamonica said she and Berman look forward to sharing the story and photography of Palmer, an innovator in color photography and lighting. “Two years before the famous ‘Rosie the Riveter’ poster was created, Palmer was tasked by the federal government to help get women into factories to replace the men who were heading off to war,” she said. “His stunning images appeared on war posters, billboards and in other forms of media. We’ll also discuss how his
work influenced the next generation of photographers.”
Brandon Hobson, professor at NMSU’s Creative Media Institute, will present his upcoming novel, “The Devil Is a Southpaw” (Ecco), from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 4, also at the Branson Library lobby. Hobson’s latest work explores the surreal and nightmarish experience of incarceration and the emotional extremes of pride and forgiveness through the darkly comic writing of the character Milton Muleborn and his friendship with Cherokee artist Matthew Echota. Books will be available for purchase.
“The book is a novel within a novel told from the perspective of a man writing about a Cherokee artist he once knew many years earlier in juvenile incarceration, with drawings and paintings included in the text,” Hobson said. “The book is an absurdist novel, at times humorous, at times dark, that addresses institutional and generational trauma, envy and obsession.”
“Several of us in the library read Brandon Hobson’s National Book Award-nominated ‘The Removed’ for a staff book club,” said Brita Sauer, online learning librarian at NMSU’s Reference and Research Services. “The book is rich with important themes and excellent writing, and the book club really enjoyed the experience of reading and discussing the book. We were excited to learn that Hobson teaches at NMSU, and with his new book coming out, it seemed like a natural fit to feature him in this first semester of the series.”
Library staff said they hope the new series will serve as a hub for creative and scholarly exchange across campus. Dennis Daily, department head of Archives and Special Collections, said the lectures aim to highlight the wide range of research and creative work happening across NMSU’s colleges.
“We’re hopeful that the NMSU Faculty Lectures will help bring together folks from across academic disciplines at NMSU to learn about the research projects and publications of our colleagues,” Daily said. “We think the library can, and should, be a central venue to disseminate this work and promote creative, interdisciplinary collaboration.”
The NMSU Faculty Lectures @ the Library series will continue each fall and spring semester.
For more information, visit https://nmsu.libguides.com/lectureseries.