HPMEC hosts retreat for faculty

Faculty members from the ASU Heritage Studies program met at the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum Education Center Monday for their annual retreat. The program is directed by Dr. Clyde Milner (far right) and is now in its eighth year at Arkansas State University.
(Times photo/Tim Blair)

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"The faculty from our Heritage Studies PhD program meet at the beginning of each academic year to talk about the year ahead and do some planning. We also try to meet off campus and usually at one of ASU's Heritage Sites," Dr. Ruth Hawkins noted of the gathering. "Of course this year we have the new exhibit out in the barn studio and we very much wanted our faculty members to see that...plus we have some members that are a little bit newer and weren't here four or five years ago when we met here last."

Hawkins added that those involved in the retreat also would be reviewing the program and the courses scheduled for this year.

"We'll be looking at new program development and looking at who is where within the program and what dissertations we have in the works," she said. "It's a good opportunity for the Heritage Studies faculty to get together and make plans for the coming year."

The Heritage Studies PhD program first started in 2001, and the following year Dr. Clyde Milner was named director.

"We currently have 46 PhD students involved in the program, and one of the key partners is Ruth Hawkins and the Arkansas Heritage sites, of which Piggott and the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and Education Center is the premier example." Milner noted. "So this is a model for all of us, and what's happening in Piggott is an example of the sort of sustainable, community-based, cultural initiative that our program is not only interested in studying but supporting.

"One of our doctoral students wrote her dissertation on Paul Pfeiffer," Milner added. "In fact I directed that dissertation by Sherry Layman and it has become a fine book that I'm sure Piggott people know about. Now she is writing a biography of Senator John McClellan, so she's moved on to another important Arkansan that had quite an impact."

Milner, a native of North Carolina, also added that he had rented and watched "A Face in the Crowd" last weekend, although he had first watched the movie as a nine-year-old boy.

"My dad knew Andy Griffith, so he took me to see the movie. I rented and watched it at the urging of a friend of mine who teaches film study at Fordham University. He says it is one of the most important political films in American cinema history and just a superb film."

During their time in Piggott, the faculty members were given a special tour of the Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum and the barn studio, and Monday afternoon the Matilda and Karl Pfeiffer Museum opened its doors for a special tour as well.

This marks the second time the faculty members have gathered at the site in Piggott. Last year the retreat was held at the Southern Tenant Museum at Tyronza.