Ferrum College - The Ferrum Newsstand

Released by: Diane Hailey

Mary Arden Collins will be featured musical guest for the 5th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference (WLC), to be held March 25-26. Collins will perform on March 25, at 8:00 p.m. in the College’s Panther’s Den, located in lower Franklin Hall. The event is free and the public is welcome to enjoy the performance and the conference.

Collins’ performance will be the musical kick-off to the WLC, whose 2002 theme is “Creative Women.” “We are very excited to have a musical artist of Ms. Collins' caliber playing for us during the Conference. Each year we’re growing in numbers and in the amount of talented women we host on campus,” says WLC Chair Dr. Delia Heck.

Collins’ self-titled debut CD, “Mary Arden Collins” & "Alone w/ the B-Sides", released on independent label, Feelin' Groovy Records, have received commercial radio, while earning critical acclaim from such national publications as "Radio & Records.” She is currently working with Cameron Stone (Poe, Tracy Chapman, Jewel) on her next CD project.

Collins has toured with blues great Keb' Mo', as well as Shawn Colvin. She has also performed with such national acts as David Crosby, Fastball, The Doobie Brothers and 10,000 Maniacs.

Named after Shakespeare's mother and the artisan town of Arden, Delaware, in which she was born, Mary Arden began writing songs soon after her college graduation. Her performing skills were honed on the theatrical and club stages of Wilmington and Philadelphia. In 1996, she created Arden Entertainment, allowing her to devote herself to music full-time.

Collins captures the earthen sounds of folk, the spirit of blues and the power of alternative rock. She is known for her clear voice and touching lyrics.

Released by: Diane Hailey

Best Selling Author Sharyn McCrumb to Visit Ferrum College
For immediate release:	Released by: Diane Hailey
March 1, 2002	(540) 365-4302/ dhailey@ferrum.edu
	Sharyn McCrumb, a New York Times best-selling author, will be featured speaker at Ferrum College’s 5^th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference. The conference will be held on the College campus on March 25-26. McCrumb will speak in Sale Theater on March 26 at 7:00 p.m. A dessert reception and book-signing will follow. The event is free and open to the community. McCrumb’s award-winning novels, celebrating the history and folklore of Appalachia, have received both scholarly and popular acclaim. McCrumb's great-grandfathers were circuit preachers in North Carolina's Smoky Mountains a hundred years ago, riding horseback over the ridges to preach in a different community each week. It is from them, she says, that she gets her regard for books, her gift of storytelling and public-speaking, and her love of the Appalachian Mountains.
"My books are like Appalachian quilts," says McCrumb. "I take brightly colored scraps of legends, ballads, fragments of rural life, and local tragedy, and I piece them together into a complex whole that tells not only a story but also a deeper truth about the culture of the mountain South." In 1997, McCrumb was honored for Outstanding Contribution to Appalachian Literature by the Appalachian Writers Association. She has won many writing awards, including the Sherwood Anderson Short Story contest, the Flora MacDonald Award, Morehead State University's Chaffin Award for Achievement in Southern Literature, and the Plattner Award from Berea College. Her work has twice received the Best Appalachian Novel Award. In 1999, she was named a Kentucky Colonel by Kentucky's Governor Paul E. Patton. McCrumb's novels, studied in universities throughout the world, are translated into German, Dutch, Japanese, French, Greek, Czech, Russian, Danish, Swedish, Spanish, and Italian, in addition to being national best sellers in the U.S. McCrumb is the author of fifteen novels, including the Ballad books. These include If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O and The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, and the New York Times best sellers She Walks These Hills and The Rosewood Casket, The Ballad of Frankie Silver, and The Songcatcher: A Ballad Novel, her latest novel. All of the Ballad novels were named New York Times and/or Los Angeles Times Notable Books.
McCrumb, a graduate of the University of North Carolina, holds an MA in English from Virginia Tech. She has lectured on her work at Oxford University, the Smithsonian Institution, the University of Bonn, and at universities and libraries throughout the country. She lives and writes in the Virginia Blue Ridge. Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. To learn more about the College, call 1-800-868-9797 or visit www.ferrum.edu. More Information on the Women's Leadership Conference 2002: www.ferrum.edu/wlc2002

Mary Arden Collins To Perform At Ferrum
For immediate release:	Released by: Diane Hailey
February 25, 2002	(540) 365-4302/ dhailey@ferrum.edu
Mary Arden Collins will be featured musical guest for the 5th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference (WLC), to be held March 25-26. Collins will perform on March 25, at 8:00 p.m. in the College’s Panther’s Den, located in lower Franklin Hall. The event is free and the public is welcome to enjoy the performance and the conference. Collins’ performance will be the musical kick-off to the WLC, whose 2002 theme is “Creative Women.” “We are very excited to have a musical artist of Ms. Collins' caliber playing for us during the Conference. Each year we’re growing in numbers and in the amount of talented women we host on campus,” says WLC Chair Dr. Delia Heck.
	Collins’ self-titled debut CD, “Mary Arden Collins” & "Alone w/ the B-Sides", released on independent label, Feelin' Groovy Records, have received commercial radio, while earning critical acclaim from such national publications as "Radio & Records.” She is currently working with Cameron Stone (Poe, Tracy Chapman, Jewel) on her next CD project. Collins has toured with blues great Keb' Mo', as well as Shawn Colvin. She has also performed with such national acts as David Crosby, Fastball, The Doobie Brothers and 10,000 Maniacs. Named after Shakespeare's mother and the artisan town of Arden, Delaware, in which she was born, Mary Arden began writing songs soon after her college graduation. Her performing skills were honed on the theatrical and club stages of Wilmington and Philadelphia. In 1996, she created Arden Entertainment, allowing her to devote herself to music full-time. Collins captures the earthen sounds of folk, the spirit of blues and the power of alternative rock. She is known for her clear voice and touching lyrics.
Download the MP3 of track "Alone" from the Mary Arden Collins album Alone With The B-Sides www.MaryArdenCollins.com For more music samples and information, visit the Mary Arden Collins website: MaryArdenCollins.com. Purchase her CD's at: cdbaby.com. For more information on the 2002 WLC, please call Delia Heck at (540) 365-4323, or visit www.ferrum.edu/wlc2002. Ferrum College is a four-year, private, co-educational, liberal arts college affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Ferrum offers a choice of nationally recognized bachelor’s degree programs at a cost well below the national average for private colleges. To learn more about the College, call 1-800-868-9797 or visit www.ferrum.edu. # # #

Ferrum Photography and Creative Writing Contests Look at Creative Women
For immediate release:	Released by: Diane Hailey
February 6, 2002	(540) 365-4302/ dhailey@ferrum.edu
Ferrum College, in conjunction with the 5th Annual Women’s Leadership Conference (WLC), will be hosting a community-wide photography and creative writing contest during the two-day WLC, starting March 25. Anyone can enter. Contest rules for the photography contest are as follows: The photo(s) must in some way reflect the Conference theme, “Creative Women.” Each contestant may enter up to three photos. Photos must be either 5 by 7 inches or 8 by 10 inches. Photos must be matted. The Creative Writing contest will have three categories: short fiction, nonfiction essays, and poetry. Written works must in some way reflect the theme, “Creative Women.” Submit entries in hard copy and on disk. Hard copies must have a cover sheet with the author’s name and contact information. All entries will be accepted at the circulation desk of Stanley Library, before March 15. The photography contest will be judged by Jane Stogner, associate professor of art, and Bev Thornton, associate professor of art. The creative writing contest will be judged by author and instructor of English Becky Mushko, Chrysalis advisor Dr. John Kitterman, and English professors Dr. Pete Crow, and Dr. Jody Brown. Entries will be on display at the opening session of the conference in Lower Franklin Hall at 6:00 p.m. on March 25th. Prizes will be awarded. For more information on the contest, the WLC, or Library hours, contact Diane Hailey at (540) 365-4302 or visit www.ferrum.edu/wlc2002. See also: Signs of Spring Photo Contest