Gardner-Webb University’s Life of the Scholar program presents Rob Christensen in the first Spring session of the Joyce Compton Brown Lecture Series to be held on February 24, 2010 at 7:00p.m.in Hamrick Hall’s Blanton Auditorium. Christensen, a veteran political reporter with the Raleigh News and Observer is the author The Paradox of Tar Heel Politics: The Personalities, Elections, and Events that Shaped Modern North Carolina wherein he describes North Carolina’s preeminence in research, education and banking during the 20th century that resulted from a political climate of competition and challenge. During the lecture, Christensen will highlight “The Shelby Dynasty” and share rare facts about O. Max Gardner, our school’s namesake and Democratic governor of North Carolina from 1929 to 1933. This event is free of charge and opened to the community. A reception will immediately follow the program.
The Joyce Compton Brown Lecture Series is named for Joyce Compton Brown, one of Gardner-Webb University's longest tenured professors, who taught for 39 years in the Department of English. In the 1990s, Brown founded a lecture series as part of the Life of the Scholar (L.O.T.S.) program led by her husband and fellow Gardner-Webb professor, Les Brown. Upon her retirement in 2005, Gardner-Webb President Dr. Frank Bonner announced the University’s decision to name this program the Joyce Compton Brown Lecture Series in her honor. Her family, friends, and colleagues established a fund to provide continued support for the lecture series.
