MAKING OUR MARK
the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her work clearly
reflects her interests in both science and art.
Morris explained that Ginn manipulates light and fibers
such as wool to create organic tangles then presented as 3-D
drawings, photographs, or sculptures.
According to Scott Thorp, chair of the Department of Art and
Design, “winning the Ellsworth Kelly Award really shows the
ability of our Gallery Director, Shannon Morris, to create a long-
term vision that’s not only inspiration to students, but has a larger
regional impact. She’s consistently raised the bar on the level of
artists exhibiting and the level of professionalism of our operation.
She travels the region meeting all the artworld influencers. It’s very
evident she’s becoming known as an influential, go-to person in
the Southeast. We are so proud of her.”
When the award was announced, Morris said, “I was so
thrilled because I knew that the notoriety of the Foundation
and its board of directors, which includes American artist
Jasper Johns, born in Augusta, would bring attention to the
artist, Bojana Ginn, and to the Gallery.”
The exhibition will surround visitors in light, color, and
movement in the Byrd Gallery from Sept. 19 to Dec. 13, 2019.
Read more about Shannon Morris and the art work she
selected for the new cyber building at https://magazines.
augusta.edu/2018/06/13/keeping-it-under-wraps/.
Wendy Turner, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of History, Anthropology and Philosophy
Dr. Wendy Turner, of the Department of History,
Anthropology, and Philosophy, has been awarded a prestigious
grant from the Leverhulme Trust to participate in a Visiting
Professorship program at Swansea University in Wales,
starting in January 2019.
The Leverhulme Trust awards this grant to distinguished
academics to provide them with the opportunity to spend 3 to
12 months at a university within the United Kingdom. While
there, participating faculty will enhance the education of the
student body while also furthering their own scholarship.
Turner said that “programs like these give educators new
perspectives and ideas on how to approach particular topics, in
their own work and in the classroom. They also give us time to
reflect on new research and develop partnerships toward new
and innovative projects.”
Swansea University is ranked one of the top 300 universities
in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings.
During her visiting professorship, Turner will be working
with the university to build a program in historical disability
studies and another program in digital humanities. Turner will
also begin research for a new book on health in late-medieval
England.
She also hopes to gain insight on how other universities
integrate the disciplines, the most interesting to her being
intra-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary.
For more on Turner and her research, visit https://magazines.
augusta.edu/2017/01/24/mine-the-past-everything-old-is-
new/.
Spencer Wise, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of English and Foreign Languages
Congratulations to Dr. Spencer Wise for having his first
novel, The Emperor of Shoes, featured on the cover of the New
York Times Book Review.
The Emperor of Shoes tells the story of Alex Cohen, a Jewish
Bostonian living in China, where his family runs a shoe factory.
As Alex begins to take control of the company, he discovers
the mistreatment of the employees and the corruption of the
company. He meets a seamstress named Ivy who is planning a
revolution within the factory. Alex must decide between loyalty
to his family or helping start a revolution that could change
everything.
The review, written by Brian Haman, was published this past
July. The review also featured another novel by Lillian Li titled,
Number One Chinese Restaurant.
Wise was surprised that his book would be reviewed by the
New York Times, but also extremely thrilled and excited about
it.
Haman wrote “in our current climate of exclusionary politics
30 | #WeArePamplin · Fall 2018
based on privileged citizenships, how much more empathetic it
would be to acknowledge the shared ‘in between’ moments of
our existence... In this respect, both Li and Wise have written
novels of our times.”
While Wise believes reviews like these are important
to authors, what matters most is how the author views the
work.
“You have to be proud of your work and the accomplishment
of writing a novel whether it’s on the cover of the Times or
not.”
He wants to teach his students that the value of their work is
not determined by how many copies they sell because validation
needs to come from within. Wise is currently working on his
next novels and has three short stories, one which will be in The
Cincinnati Review, coming out this Fall and Winter.
Read the review online at www.nytimes.com/2018/07/26/
books/review/lillian-li-number-one-chinese-restaurant-
spencer-wise-emperor-of-shoes.html.