Speakers | INANE in MAINE 2014

For INANE 2014, the Planning Committee has worked hard to be ahead of the curve for every aspect of this conference. Our latest accomplishment? The conference program has been finalized and published–one month ahead of our initial projected date (which was March 1st). Part of the reason this task was completed early was that we had an excellent pool of abstract submissions to select from, so putting the program together was a relatively easy–and very enjoyable–endeavor.

We are excited about the program and hope that attendees will be, too. We wanted a variety of presentations and topics with a blend of “seasoned” INANE presenters as well as new faces. We also sought to have international representation and have met that goal, with presenters from Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Australia (by way of Yale in Connecticut!). In all, there will be a total of nine breakout sessions and thirteen poster presentations.

In addition to the breakouts and poster sessions, the conference is anchored by an exciting group of excellent and diverse keynote speakers: Jessica Nicoll will be speaking on Maine art and artists; Jeffrey Beall and Carolyn Yucha on the controversial subject of Open Access; Diana Mason and Charles Graeber on responsible reporting in healthcare, told in the context of a chilling serial killer on the loose in hospitals for almost 16 years; and a truly memorable closing presentation by poet Richard Blanco. The Planning Committee believes that this year’s INANE really has something for everyone!

If you have been waiting for the full conference program to register, wait no more! Registration is open now–our online credit processing system is safe and secure. If you have problems with registration or need more information, send me a message using our Feedback Form and I’ll get back to you right away.

What’s next? All the presenters are interested in what attendees want to know and we are soliciting feedback in advance of the conference. Every session page has a box for comments and questions. Take advantage of this feature so that presenters can incorporate your questions into their presentations. In addition, Geri Pearson and Charon Pierson will be soliciting cases for their COPE Forum. Likewise, Jeffrey Beall and Carolyn Yucha will be seeking attendee input on Open Access issues for their interactive forum. The means to share this information will be posted on the website and details will be posted here–stayed tuned! We hope to have forms for both sessions posted in the next few weeks.

As I said, the Planning Committee is very excited about this program–and I hope you agree. I look forward to welcoming my colleagues to Maine in August for what I am sure will be a dynamic, innovative, and groundbreaking INANE!

Leslie
For the Planning Committee: Peggy Chinn, Margaret Comerford Freda, Shawn Kennedy, Lisa Marshall and Jean Proehl

Our opening speaker at INANE 2014 is going to be Jessica Nicoll, Director of the Smith College Museum of Art. There’s a fun article in yesterday’s Boston Globe on “Museum Directors Play Favorites,” and includes a selection from Jessica:

Pennsylvania Excavation, 1907, George Wesley Bellows

What one work in our collection do I return to repeatedly? You will often find me — alone or with guests — in our third floor galleries studying this early 20th-century American masterwork.

This is an image of profound change, rich in detail and in ambiguity. It depicts a canyon created in the middle of Manhattan by the excavation for Pennsylvania Station, a project that transformed New York City by connecting it to a national transportation network.

The painting was as revolutionary as the event it portrays, helping to establish Bellows’s reputation as a brash young artist advancing a gritty new kind of realism. When it was first exhibited, it was described in the press as a “great gaping wound in the dirty earth.” Bellows’s representation of the city, with its central void and implication of lives displaced, invites reflection on the costs of progress.

If I remember correctly, Smith acquired this painting under Jessica’s leadership. It belonged to a Smith alum and hung in the dining room of her New York City apartment for many, many years. It now has, as Jessica notes, a place of pride in the Smith collection.

To read the whole article, click here.