Campus Events

This exhibition showcases a large array of artwork that spans the career of artist and VWU Faculty Emeritus Sharon Swift who retired from teaching at VWU in Spring 2024.

September 17 is designated as Constitution & Citizenship Day to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution on September 17, 1787. Each September, educational institutions throughout the U.S. hold programs that draw attention to our commitment to the rights and obligations of citizens. Join the Robert Nusbaum Center in Clarke Hall on this day for a quirky take on American history and an opportunity to learn more about the Constitution in ways that your mouth won’t forget. Come by to enjoy stew, nachos, and snacks and gain deeper insights into – and think differently about – four of the amendments.

This is a virtual session presented by the Assistant Director of Scholarship Administration and Recruitment at the University of Wisconsin Law School This session will cover application basics, followed up with some time for Q&A. If you are considering Law School, Medical School, or just want to start gathering your information, this is a great opportunity. Don't miss it! This event is open to all students and alumni. For more information, Please contact Allice Jones at 757-455-3107 or ajones@vwu.edu. 

Two-thirds of voters think the United States is on the “wrong track” (RealClear Polling). Only 28 percent think our democracy is working well (Gallup). Clear majorities of both Democrats and Republicans see the other party as a threat to America (Ipsos). A failed assassination led to calls to “lower the temperature of our politics,” but our divisions are more than rhetorical. Only one-fourth of voters have a great deal of trust in the federal government, down from three-fourths in 1958 (Pew Research). Over the past 25 years, the percentage of voters valuing patriotism, religion, hard work, voluntarism, and having children has sharply declined (Wall Street Journal). How can we bring Americans together and repair our fraying civic culture? Timothy G. O’Rourke (Ph.D., Duke, Political Science) served as Vice President and Provost at VWU from 2007 to 2019. He has published widely on state and local government and apportionment and has testified on voting rights before both U.S. House and Senate committees.

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

These events will explore cultural factors that often prevent open discussions about mental health and provide strategies for creating supportive environments.

Marlins can cheer on the Norfolk Tides at Harbor Park as they take on the Nashville Sounds for Copa de la Diversion. Student tickets will be available on a first come, first serve basis beginning on September 18 at noon in the Office of Student Engagement.

The Office of Student Engagement opens Hispanic Heritage Month with “Bachata Night” in the CMAC. Join Off the Hook and the Latino Student Alliance for a night of learning various dance styles including Bachata. We will have instructors available from Bachata Vida Dance Company and participants will be entered to win a prize. 

The Virginia Wesleyan University Graduate & Professional School Fair is a 1-day event giving students, alumni and graduate school program representatives an opportunity to connect and share information. Virginia Wesleyan University (VWU) students and alumni from a variety of majors who are actively applying to graduate programs, exploring the idea of attending in the future, and those who are working now to become competitive candidates when they do apply, are welcome to attend this event.

Graduate Program Representatives should register in Handshake or contact Alice Jones (ajones@vwu.edu) for more information. https://vwu.joinhandshake.com/career_fairs/50086/student_preview?token=jLFp2QZZ-PLGUxhza1lFU6unK2xPz5DLLzzRcbNWRtKDRnIEZ-nSnw

What might initially seem like a derisive, stilted nickname, “Laffin’ Kamala” reflects how the laughter of Black Americans has long been associated with intense white anxiety, police intervention, and democratic resistance. Ralph Ellison’s 1985 essay “An Extravagance of Laughter” explores how the distinctive sounds, styles, and tonalities of Black laughter are products of a history of racial oppression and how white supremacy sustains itself by treating these differences in laughter as evidence of essential racial difference. Patrick Giamario discusses what Ellison’s work can tell us about this timely cultural and political phenomenon. Patrick Giamario, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro. His first book, Laughter as Politics: Critical Theory in an Age of Hilarity, was published by Edinburgh University Press in 2022.

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

Thinking about graduate school? Looking for opportunities to expand your education and experience? Consider Northeastern University, Arlington. Northeastern aligns education and research with global and regional needs, and customizes research collaborations, co-creating project plans to advance shared goals. Join us on September 24th from 5:30 PM - 6:30 PM in the Lighthouse Common Area to learn more about the institution and its Masters and Certificate programs. This event is open to all VVWU faculty/staff/students and alumni. Students can register using Handshake: https://vwu.joinhandshake.com/events/1574929/share_preview.

The Latino Student Alliance is highlighting “Café con leche” during Worldly Wednesday in Boyd Dining Center.

These events will explore cultural factors that often prevent open discussions about mental health and provide strategies for creating supportive environments.

Off the Hook and the Latino Student Alliance will sponsor “Latin Night” at the Harbor Grill for a night of interactive games, music, and food to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month.

Wesleyan Engaged will sponsor “Hispanic Heritage Month Lighthouse Showcase.” Stop by the Lighthouse for the movie showcase of “Coco.” The film is about musician Miguel, who is confronted with his family's ancestral ban on music, and then enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.

Productions: October 3-5 at 8 p.m. and October 6 at 2 p.m.

CHICAGO

Book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse; Music by John Kander; Lyrics by Fred Ebb

Based on the play by Maurine Dallas Watkins; Script adaptation by David Thompson

The classic Broadway masterpiece of murder, greed, corruption, violence, exploitation, adultery, and treachery - hits the VWU stage. Fosse’s sharp satire of fame, fortune, and the legal system as told through the lives of two merry murderess’ vying for the spotlight - all set to the timeless music and lyrics of Kander and Ebb - is sure to entertain, delight, and leave you wanting more.

CHICAGO is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals. www.concordtheatricals.com

$20 Adult, $10 Senior/Student/Military/Teacher/First Responder, Free to VWU student/faculty/staff.

How do Americans see themselves? How has that changed over the years? How does that affect how they get and receive political information? And how does this affect the quality of our democracy? Join us for an important conversation about issues of identity in America and why those issues matter so much today. Leslie Caughell, Ph.D., is Associate Professor Political Science at VWU. Having studied public opinion and political communication at the University of Illinois, she is the author of The Political Battle of the Sexes: Exploring the Gender Gaps in Policy Preferences (2016).

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

Learn more

Stephanie Hutchison | Diplomat in Residence – Mid-Atlantic (NC, VA) will be hosting an information session on October 8th from 9:30AM - 10:30AM. Come and learn about career pathways and discover opportunities that allow you to contribute your experiences, knowledge, and expertise to work on foreign policies, technology, security systems, buildings, and more, around the world. The event will be held in the Lighthouse Common Area and is open to VWU faculty, staff students & alumni interested in learning more about opportunities and how to apply. - Meet & Greet: 9:00 AM - 9:30 AM - Information Session: 9:30 AM - 10:30 AM. Students can register to attend using their Handshake Account: https://vwu.joinhandshake.com/events/1573256/share_preview. 

These events will explore cultural factors that often prevent open discussions about mental health and provide strategies for creating supportive environments.

What did newly freed slaves have to do with the VWU campus? What is the intentionally secret message at the statue of John Wesley? Why did a grove of trees cause deep controversy on campus? Why is a peace pole at the center of campus? Why was AIDS seen as particularly important here? These and other questions will be addressed on a walking tour of VWU’s sacred spaces.

A sacred space is more than just a physical location; it is a place imbued with significance, memory, and a sense of reverence. While some such spaces are obvious (e.g. Yosemite National Park, the Lincoln Memorial, and the National Cathedral), VWU’s sacred spaces may not be as immediately recognizable. Join us as we visit and learn about sites that serve as touchstones for reflection, remembrance, and inspiration. First tour begins at 12:00 p.m., followed by a second at 1:30 p.m.

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

The Hampton Road Chamber will host the Second Congressional Debate between Congresswoman Jen Kiggans and Missy Cotter Smasal at Virginia Wesleyan University on Friday, October 11 at 10:00 a.m. in the Susan S. Goode Fine and Performing Arts Center. This debate is being covered by local and statewide media. It offers the opportunity to hear directly from the candidates on a variety of issues. The event is open to the public, including the campus community. Interested participants should register to attend.

How did American public education begin? How has it been used or denied? Why does any of this matter in a democracy? This presentation highlights how public education was started and how it has changed in the United States, why some motives and strategies undermine public education, and why teachers today face challenges unlike anything they have experienced before. Desegregation, anti-intellectualism, unique religious forces, the Red Scare, and gun culture all have created challenges in public schools. A 1983 alumna of VWU, Clair Berube, Ph.D., earned her master’s and doctorate degrees in urban studies and education at Old Dominion University before returning to VWU as a faculty member in 2020. She is co-author of The End of School Reform (2006), The Moral University (2010), and the recently published The Investments: An American Conspiracy (2020).

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

Many Americans have expressed concerns about the U.S. election system, albeit for different reasons. Is the process of voting too hard? Is the system too easy to manipulate? Do our rules make voting fair and accessible to all? Are we doing enough to ensure accuracy and credibility? In this moderated deliberation, participants explore options for addressing voting concerns, consider diverse viewpoints, and weigh the advantages, drawbacks, and trade-offs of different approaches. Public deliberation has been shown to improve mutual understanding of differing viewpoints and offers a constructive alternative to shouting past one another across political divides. Participation is limited. REGISTER now.

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

In the course of their education, early Virginians like Thomas Jefferson encountered Greek and Latin texts, monuments, and constitutional ideas. So, it’s no surprise that those texts and ideas would end up shaping and influencing the cultural history of Virginia’s Tidewater region. Haller’s most recent book looks at how Jefferson’s readings in Greek and Roman texts led him to articulate ideals of religious freedom and a conviction that all human beings are created equal.  Learn how the rediscovery of a lost palimpsest may have inspired a plan for a planetarium—never completed—in the Rotunda at UVA, how a paint chip prised from a metope at UVA sheds light on Jefferson's engagement in the question of whether the Greeks painted their statues, and how a tiny inaccuracy in John Trumbull's famous painting of Independence Hall sheds  light on Jefferson's ideas about Greek democracy. Benjamin Haller, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Classics at VWU.

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

Virginia Wesleyan’s Career Development Program will host this Education Networking Event. This is a smaller event, focused on introducing opportunities in the field of education. Even if you don’t plan to teach in a traditional classroom setting, a career in education might be the right opportunity for you.

Careers in education can include education administration, school counseling, or even social work, and recreation Join us to learn more about full-time, and part-time opportunities in the field of education. This fair is open to all students, alumni, faculty, and staff. Employers interested in participating must register through Handshake. Contact Alice Jones, Director of Career Development for more information (ajones@vwu.edu)

Website:
https://vwu.joinhandshake.com/career_fairs/50087/student_preview?token=L32MuZecu3pZ2ZmxelcURnuEM6chq9Cl0E6i9hYZ8porba7rzG1HOw

In the nearly 250 years of America's existence, only 45 men have held its highest office, a strange assortment of politicians, citizens, generals, businessmen, schemers, dreamers, heroes, and failures. Convinced he might find something new to say about the Chief Executives, essayist Colin Rafferty wrote short creative works that took on each president. In his book Execute the Office, George Washington's teeth dance the Virginia Reel while Ronald Reagan meets John Wayne in a film script. Franklin Pierce gets diagnosed, Rutherford B. Hayes sends postcards from home, George W. Bush watches the hurricane index rise, and we consider what the notion that anyone can become president really means to us. Colin Rafferty received an MFA from the University of Alabama and teaches nonfiction writing at the University of Mary Washington. He writes about monuments and memorials (Hallow This Ground, Break Away Books, published in 2016), presidents (Execute the Office, Baobab Press, published in 2021), and Vietnam (book in-process).

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

Virginia Wesleyan’s Career Development Program will host this Careers in Arts, Humanities & Social Science Expo & Networking Event. This is a smaller event focused on introducing career, internship and volunteer opportunities to students in the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Join us to learn more about full-time and part-time opportunities with employers who have a need for students who are creative, interested in public service, or helping others. This fair is open to all students, alumni, faculty, and staff Employers interested in participating must register through Handshake. Contact Alice Jones, Director of Career Development for more information (ajones@vwu.edu)

Website:
https://vwu.joinhandshake.com/career_fairs/50092/student_preview?token=iWmUsjQgSvJh3zLfQonYLfGeyxZgQg2CVKxS9rzfcZ7S4oe-wO7lVw

Buttons supporting William Jennings Bryan endorsed him—in Yiddish. Fans of Herbert Hoover, a Quaker, demanded “A Christian in the White House,” even though he was running against a Catholic. Bahais proudly declared their support for Barack Obama on their lapels, as did Buddhists, Catholics, Confucians, Druze, and many others. As former New York Mayor Ed Koch declared, “Buttons, stickers, and songs . . . are the sparkle and glitter of which our campaigns are made.”  This exploration of presidential campaign buttons examines the diversity of religious terms, images, and symbols and how they have been used to communicate both positive and negative messages to potential voters. Eric M. Mazur, Ph.D., is the Gloria and David Furman Professor of Judaic Studies at VWU and serves as the Fellow for Religion, Law, and Politics for the Robert Nusbaum Center.

For more information, contact the Robert Nusbaum Center at 757.455.3129 or NusbaumCenter@vwu.edu.

Virginia Wesleyan’s Career Development Program will host this STEM and Health Careers Expo and Networking Event. This is a smaller event, focused on introducing career, internship and volunteer opportunities to students and alumni interested in STEM and Health Careers.

Join us to learn more about full-time and part-time opportunities with employers who have a need for students who are creative, interested in Computers, Information Technology, Mathematics, Environmental and Medical Sciences, and Healthcare. This fair is open to all students, alumni, faculty and staff. Employers interested in participating must register through Handshake. Contact Alice Jones, Director of Career Development for more information (ajones@vwu.edu)

Website:
https://vwu.joinhandshake.com/career_fairs/50094/student_preview?token=FiAx_i7zYJ84brad67drcBo68tnIEW59_GIVIuBYRMs-mPd_aRI1Zg

Join The Virginia Wesleyan Orchestra for their first concert under new musical director Alexander Chen, of the VSO. The Orchestra will perform a variety of classic and new works.   

Under the direction of Cory Franklin, the VWU Jazz ensemble will perform well known jazz standards, Funk, and Latin Jazz favorites.

Students from the directing course lead this festival presentation featuring one-acts spanning genres and topics. The wildly popular festival features casts of performers from across campus. Admission is free to all, but seating is limited to first-come, first-served.

Join Virginia Wesleyan Bravura, Camerata and Vox Vera for a concert of traditional and contemporary songs for the holidays.

Friday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m. & Saturday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m.

Join Virginia Wesleyan Bravura, Camerata and Vox Vera for a concert of traditional and contemporary songs for the holidays.

Friday, December 6 at 7:30 p.m. & Saturday, December 7 at 4:00 p.m.

This unique retelling of Shakespeare's classic is a collaboration between the VWU Theatre and Music programs. The fairies groove a cappella and the visual vibe can only be described as "far out, man." Join us for a spring production full of Peace, Love, and (Mis)Understanding.

This unique retelling of Shakespeare's classic is a collaboration between the VWU Theatre and Music programs. The fairies groove a cappella and the visual vibe can only be described as "far out, man." Join us for a spring production full of Peace, Love, and (Mis)Understanding.

Virginia Wesleyan Camerata, under the direction of Bryson Mortensen, presents their annual spring concert.

Join Vox Vera for a fun evening of contemporary acapella music, from the Beatles to Stevie Nicks and more!

The Virginia Wesleyan Orchestra, will complete its first year under new musical director, Alexander Chen, with a Spring concert full of traditional classics and new modern works.

Under the direction of Cory Franklin, the VWU Jazz ensemble will perform well known jazz standards, Funk, and Latin Jazz favorites.