Charge
The Advisory Committee on the Future of the Historic Landscape at the University of Virginia shall formulate principles and make recommendations about the display of visible historic symbols on Grounds. These principles and recommendations should provide a pathway to remember and recognize the University’s history, foster our contemporary values and future aspirations, and celebrate our highest ideals. The Committee should review reports about similar discussions over historic symbols, especially those that have taken place in institutions of higher learning. At the same time, the Committee should be cognizant of the particular history of this University, both its imperfections and achievements, and its contemporary commitments to both diversity and free expression. The Committee should report to the Deans Working Group by February 15, 2018.
Members
John Casteen, Co-Chair
John T. Casteen III served as president of the University of Virginia from 1990 to 2010. During this time, the University was recognized for the quality of its undergraduate teaching, for its leadership in educating minority students, for its success in growing the endowment and other non-state funds in the wake of historic reductions in state tax support, for its expansion of international programs for research and learning, for its commitment to better serving more students with need, and for significantly advancing the institution’s reputation and reach. Mr. Casteen became President Emeritus of the University of Virginia in August 2010 and continues to serve as both University Professor and Professor of English. As a University Professor, his current teaching interests include intellectual history courses on Venice, a multi-year series of graduate seminars on governance of colleges and universities, and introductory courses in Old English and Old Icelandic literature. Prior to his time as president, Mr. Casteen served as Secretary of Education for the Commonwealth of Virginia from 1982 to 1985 and President of the University of Connecticut from 1985 to 1990. He holds three degrees in English from the University of Virginia (B.A., high honors, 1965; M.A., 1966; Ph.D., 1970).
Claudrena Harold, Co-Chair
Claudrena N. Harold is a professor of African American and African Studies and History. In 2007, she published her first book, The Rise and Fall of the Garvey Movement in the Urban South, 1918-1942. In 2013, the University of Virginia Press published The Punitive Turn: New Approaches to Race and Incarceration, a volume Harold co-edited with Deborah E. McDowell and Juan Battle. Her latest book is New Negro Politics in the Jim Crow South, which was published by the University of Georgia Press. As a part of her ongoing work on the history of black student activism at UVA, she wrote, produced, and co-directed with Kevin Everson six short films: Sugarcoated Arsenic, Fastest Man in the State, 70 kg, U. Of Virginia, 1976, How Can We Ever Be Late, and We Demand. These films have screened at the National Gallery of Art, the Whitney Museum, Berlin International Film Festival, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Vienna International Film Festival, the New York Film Festival, Festival du Nouveau Cinema, the Media City Film Festival, and Porto Post Doc Film and Media Festival.
Gary Gallagher
Gary W. Gallagher is the John L. Nau III Professor in the History of the American Civil War and Director of the John L. Nau II Center for Civil War History at the University of Virginia. Prior to teaching at UVA, he was Professor of History at The Pennsylvania State University. Professor Gallagher is one of the leading historians of the Civil War. His books include The Confederate War, Lee and His Generals in War and Memory, and Stephen Dodson Ramseur: Lee's Gallant General. He has co-authored and edited several works on individual battles and campaigns and has published over 100 articles in scholarly journals and popular historical magazines. Professor Gallagher has received many awards for his research and writing, including the Laney Prize for the best book on the Civil War, the William Woods Hassler Award for contributions to Civil War studies, the Lincoln Prize, and the Fletcher Pratt Award for the best nonfiction book on the Civil War. Professor Gallagher was founder and first president of the Association for the Preservation of Civil War Sites and has served on the Board of Directors of the Civil War Trust. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in History from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. from Adams State College.
Attiya Latif
Attiya Latif is a fourth-year undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences majoring in Political & Social Thought. A Marshall Scholar, Jefferson Scholar, Echols Scholar, and Harry S. Truman Foundation Scholar, Latif received the 2017 John T. Casteen III Diversity-Equity-Inclusion Leadership Award, organized UVA’s “Eliminate the Hate” campaign, and spearheaded events such as a teach-in to educate faculty members on the experiences of minority student populations. She is the immediate past chair of the Minority Rights Coalition and the current Student Director of the Multicultural Student Center.
George Keith Martin
George Keith Martin is managing partner at McGuireWoods LLP’s Richmond office, where he practices construction, commercial real estate and local government law. He has represented public and private entities on numerous real estate projects, including construction, acquisition and disposition of real property, and redevelopment and adaptive re-use. From 2013 to 2015, he served as Rector of the University’s Board of Visitors, the first African-American to hold the position. He is a 1975 graduate of the University’s College of Arts & Sciences and holds a law degree from the Howard University School of Law.
Elizabeth Meyer
Elizabeth Meyer, a landscape architect, theorist and critic, joined the UVA faculty in 1993, and has served as Landscape Architecture Department Chair and Director of the Graduate Landscape Architecture Program, and most recently as Dean of the School of Architecture. Previously, Meyer taught at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and Cornell University. DesignIntelligence has recognized Meyer three times as one of the most admired design educators in the United States. Her teaching and scholarship have garnered honors, grants, and awards from the Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture, the American Society of Landscape Architects, the Graham Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the University of Virginia. She holds both a B.S. and Master of Landscape Architecture from the University of Virginia and an M.A. in Historic Preservation from Cornell University.
Brendan Nigro
Brendan Nigro is a third-year undergraduate student in the College of Arts & Sciences pursuing a Distinguished Major in History with a special emphasis on public history. Nigro works as a guide at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello and serves as the current chair of the University Guide Service, a student organization responsible for presenting the University’s history to prospective students and visitors. During his time in the Guide Service, Nigro has worked to revise a 300-page training manual for incoming University Guides, including ensuring that every tour guide feels comfortable discussing the complexities surrounding Thomas Jefferson.
Victoria Tucker
Tori Tucker is a Ph.D. student in the School of Nursing pursuing dissertation research on the history of black nurses in the South. Tucker earned a Bachelor of Science from the School of Nursing in 2012. In addition to her research, Tucker serves as a Student Ambassador for the School of Nursing’s Compassionate Care Initiative, which strives to cultivate a resilient and compassionate healthcare workforce—locally, regionally, and nationally— through innovative educational and experiential programs. She also serves as a representative to the UVA Alumni Association’s Young Alumni Council and is a member of the Council’s Diversity and Inclusion initiative.
Sheri Winston
Sheri Winston has served the University of Virginia in a range of capacities for over three decades. In her most recent role as Interim Rotunda Manager, Winston shepherded the University through the re-opening of the Rotunda following a comprehensive renovation, welcoming thousands of visitors to the building, establishing policies and practices to govern the newly reconfigured space, and training and managing a team of student ambassadors to assist in overseeing the building’s daily operations. Prior to her role in the Rotunda, Winston served as Director of Strategic Communications in the University’s Office of Development and Public Affairs, where she oversaw outreach to electronic media outlets and planned and implemented the audiovisual components of major University events, including Final Exercises.
Upcoming Event
Public Input Session
Friday, January 26, 2018
10 a.m.-12 p.m.
Commonwealth Room, Newcomb Hall