Anne's Arts & Activities Blog

The Friends of Hanley Library at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will present its 22nd annual “Season’s Readings” on WESB’s LiveLine program next week. The show, which can be heard at 1490 AM, will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 16. Following up on his reading two years ago of the first half of Truman Capote’s short story, “A Christmas Memory,” Dr. Donald Ulin will read the conclusion of the story, in which the narrator, Buddy, is enrolled in military school. This poignant and evocative short story is based on Capote’s autobiographical recollection of his last Christmas spent with an elderly woman who was his distant cousin and best friend. The narrative, as told through the eyes of a 7-year-old boy, touches on friendship, family, loneliness and loss. The annual radio readings on WESB began with the late Dr. Robert C. Laing, Jr., professor emeritus at Pitt-Bradford. Since 2001, Dr. Donald Ulin, associate professor of English, has carried on this treasured B...

The Friends of Hanley Library received the University of Pittsburgh Library System “Friends of ULS” Award during an in-service day for all librarians in the Pitt system held earlier this month. The award recognizes individuals or groups who have made a contribution to a university library. The Friends of Hanley Library formed in 1990 and have actively supported the library on the Bradford campus since its inception through fundraising and programs. Over the years, the Friends have donated artwork, books, furnishings and equipment. Their donations have benefited students, faculty and staff by providing needed material to support the campus curriculum and refresh library spaces to create inviting, comfortable areas for research and study. Additionally, the Friends’ sponsored programs have brought community members to campus and contributed to positive engagement between the campus and Bradford community. Roger Peters, a me...

Susan Evans will give a presentation on her newly released book, “Don’t Write The Obituary Yet” at 7 p.m. Monday, May 19, at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The event, which is free and open to the public, will be held at 7 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room in the Frame-Westerberg Commons. It is being sponsored by the Friends of Hanley Library. In addition to the presentation, the evening will include a question-and-answer period with Evans, which will be moderated by John Schlimm, award-winning author of 15 books and nationally renowned artist, activist and inspirational speaker and television celebrity. Evans, who is in remission from ovarian cancer, wrote the book with her doctor, Dr. Thomas C. Krivak, a noted gynecologist/oncologist in Pittsburgh with the Allegheny Health Network. The work is an unusual account of Evans’ first day and all the days thereafter when she was told she had ovarian cancer and never had a...

Ed Bernik, photographer for the newly published coffee table picture book “The Great Kinzua Bridge” will speak at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford Oct. 15. Bernik will be joined by Linda Devlin, executive director of the Allegheny National Forest Visitors Bureau. The two will talk about the bridge from its construction in 1882 to its reinvention in 2011 as the Kinzua Sky Walk. The event, sponsored by the Friends of Hanley Library, will take place at 7 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room on campus. The event is free, but copies of the book, written by Jim Gates, will be available for purchase. The book uses 19th century photographs gleaned from regional and national archives and contemporary images captured by Bernik, an award-winning Pennsylvania photographer whose previous books include “Pennsylvania Wilds: Images of the Allegheny national Forest” and “Pennsylvania Crude: Boomtowns and Oil Barons.” Gates also tells the stor...

The Friends of Hanley Library will host “My Grama’s Garden: A Conversation with author Pat Drummond and illustrator Denise Drummond” at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 18, in the Mukaiyama University Room in the Frame-Westerberg Commons at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. During the event, which is free and open to the public, Pat and her daughter Denise will discuss how they came to collaborate on a six-year project, which culminated in the publication of their first children’s book, “My Grama’s Garden,” in 2011. The program will include an informal presentation and audience question-and-answer period. Copies of “My Grama’s Garden” will be available for purchase before and after the program. The inspiration for the book was the women's love of nature and the beauty of Pat Drummond’s Pennsylvania perennial gardens. The book, illustrated by Denise Drummond, contains exquisite, vibrant, full-page watercolor illustrations authentically depicting the many varieties of flowe...

The Friends of Hanley Library will host alumnus and author Chris Mackowski to speak about his new book “Chancellorsville: Crossroads of Fire” at 7 p.m. Jan. 11 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The talk will take place in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons and is co-sponsored by the McKean County Historical Society/Old Jail Museum. “Crossroads” recounts the events of the Battle of Chancellorsville, a major battle in the American Civil War frequently cited as Confederate commander Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory because the Southern army overcame odds of nearly three to one. The book also serves as a tour guide for the battlefield and is the latest book in a Civil War series that will be authored by Mackowski. Mackowski is an associate professor of journalism and mass communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, N.Y., and also works as a historian for the National Park Service at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, w...

For the 19th consecutive year, the Friends of Hanley Library at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will present its annual “Season’s Readings” on WESB’s Live Line program with its host Anne Holliday. The show, which can be heard at 1490 AM, will be broadcast at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, December 7. Dr. Don Ulin, associate professor of English, will read excerpts from David McKain’s book, “Spellbound: Growing up in God’s Country.” Published in 1988, McKain’s memoir looks back at his turbulent boyhood years growing up in Bradford. According to Pat Donahue, president of the Friends of Hanley Library, “The Friends are grateful to Dr. Ulin for bringing this wonderful holiday event to our region each December and for continuing the tradition begun by Dr. Robert Laing in the 1990s. We always look forward to hearing his selections. We also appreciate that WESB’s Live Line format allows the Friends to reach many listeners in their homes and places of work.” The Fr...

A performance by Dueling Pianos International and a block party will highlight the annual Alumni and Family Weekend on Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. Events are open to the public. The weekend begins with free “Classes Without Quizzes” offered during the day on Friday, Sept. 30. Dr. Warren Fass, associate professor of psychology, will teach “Human Learning” from 10 to 10:50 a.m. in 161 Swarts Hall. Dr. Helene Lawson, professor of sociology, will teach “Sociology of Gender” from 3 to 3:50 p.m. in 107 Swarts. At 4:30 p.m. Friday, a career networking reception will take place in the Mukaiyama University Room. Speakers will be Jeanine Vento ’10, agent broker for Patrick A. Reilly Insurance Co.; Dr. Tim O’Brien ’77-’78, ophthalmologist and managing partner for Seneca Eye Surgeons; Rachel Thayer ’10, events coordinator and executive assistant for Serena Group; and Chris Luke ’94, senior vice president and director of marketing for PNC investments. Reserv...

The Friends of the Hanley Library are sponsoring a multi-media presentation taken from the new book “Pennsylvania Crude: Boomtowns and Oil Barons,” by Paul Adomites with photos by Ed Bernik. Bernik and Linda Devlin of the Allegheny National Forest Visitors’ Bureau will be on hand to discuss the book and its companion DVD at 7 p.m. Feb. 15 in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. The event is free and open to the public. The 116-page coffee-table book takes readers on a pictorial tour of the oil industry in the Pennsylvania Field from discovery and boom eras through the resurgence occurring today. Several Bradford-area residents are among those shown in the 201 photographs in the book, including Pitt-Bradford’s Isabelle Champlin, assistant professor of anthropology, and Dr. Assad Panah, director of the petroleum technology program. The book includes stories of the oil industry in McKean County, including those of the legendary Lewis Emery, who fought John D. Roc...

Jeff Mahl, whose great-grandfather raced an automobile from New York to Paris in 1908, a feat no one else has matched, will share stories of the trek on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford. The free program, “The Great Auto Race of 1908: N.Y. to Paris,” will be presented at 7 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. Sponsors are Friends of Hanley Library, University of Pittsburgh at Bradford History/Political Science Club and Pat and H.L. “Woody” Woodruff of Bradford. With more than 250,000 onlookers cheering on the team, Mahl’s great-grandfather George Schuster Sr. of Buffalo, N.Y., a member of the American team of the Great Race, started the journey at Times Square in New York City on Feb. 12, 1908. The crew traversed in a 1907 Thomas Flyer through three continents and more than 22,000 miles in 169 days, often driving over terrain without roads and in the dead of winter. Many people also had ...