It might just be enough to rouse Jane Austen from the dead.

But maybe the introduction of zombies into her classic novel would not seem incongruous to the classic’s author, says Allen Grove, professor of English at Alfred University.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Graham-Smith, published by Quirk Classics, interjects an element of the supernatural into Austen’s Victorian-era tale.

“Such is the accomplishment of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies that after reveling in its timeless intrigue, it’s difficult to remember how Austen’s novel got along without the undead. What begins as a gimmick ends with renewed appreciation of the indomitable appeal of Austen’s language, characters, and situations,” according to a review by The Onion A.V. Club, posted on amazon.com

Incorporating the supernatural into the novel works, says Grove, who wrote the afterword to the “deluxe” edition of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. He teaches “Tales of Terror,” a survey of 200 years of Gothic fiction. The course is one of the most popular offered by AU’s English Division.

“In many ways, the central gimmick (zombies) is true to the horror novels of Austen’s day,” Grove says in the afterword. “…although zombies have been popular only in recent decades, their presence in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies makes explicit what Austen constantly implies: Elizabeth Bennet’s world of aristocratic gentility was under attack not just by fortune hunters like Wickham and fortune abusers like Lady Catherine de Bourgh, but also by larger and sometimes more violent and terrifying social and political forces. So we can’t help but cheer when a reinvented – yet surprisingly familiar – Elizabeth Bennet wields steel and the secrets of Shaolin to preserve her threatened way of life.”

Just as Gothic authors introduced the supernatural as a metaphor for events beyond the control of ordinary people in earlier times, zombies represent the same sort of fear of the uncontrollable today, Grove speculates.

“Our fear of and fascination with destructive diseases (AIDS, swine flu or those caused by biologic weapons, etc.) is made explicit with zombies,” Grove says. Using the presence of the “undead” in fiction also “plays into our fantasies of violence. We need feel no guilt when we behead, crush and blow up zombies. There is perhaps comfort in having an unambiguous and irredeemable enemy. And, of course, on a metaphorical level, we are all zombies going mindlessly through the day-to-day grind.”

The current popularity of vampires arises from a different cultural need, Grove theorizes. Vampires – made popular through the Sookie Stackhouse (by author Charlaine Harris) and Twilight (by Stephanie Meyer) novels; TV series like TrueBlood (HBO) and the Twilight movies – “strike me as fantasies of power, of ordinary girls having extraordinary boyfriends, of flirting with danger, of the possibility of immortality,” says Grove.

Grove’s interest in tales of terror, whether contemporary or the gothic novels popular during the 18^th and 19^th century, goes back to a childhood love of scary movies he says. It became a scholarly interest when he was a senior at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working as a research assistant to Dr. Ruth Perry, whom he calls “a smart and inspiring scholar of gender and 18^th-century literature.” She introduced him to some of the earliest tales of terror, including Horace Walpole’s The Castle of Otranto, published in 1765, and Clara Reeve’s The Old English Baron, published in 1777.

(Grove holds B.S. degrees in both materials science and English from MIT.)

His graduate school dissertation at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned a Ph.D. in English, was Coming Out of the Castle: Renegotiating Gender and Sexuality in Eighteenth-Century Gothic Fiction, an exploration of the ways tales of terror from Jane Austen’s time period challenged sexual norms.

One of his thesis advisors, Michael Gamer, suggested Grove when Quirk Books was looking for someone to write the afterword for the new release of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Grove was teaching Tales of Terror and an upper-level Jane Austen seminar at the time, so he jumped at the opportunity.

Through anecdotes and slides, Laurie McFadden – Alfred University alumna, librarian and archivist – traced the genesis of the “Alfred spirit” shared by alumni and members of the community alike.

Speaking at the opening convocation Thursday for Alfred University’s 174^th year, McFadden told the students Alfred is “more than just a place to live and work. It’s a small town with a big heart and a fascinating history.”

Although Alfred University has been “independent, non-sectarian and co-educational” from the beginning, influenced in large measure by the beliefs and values of its founders, who were members of the Seventh Day Baptist Church, McFadden said.

Alfred University is the oldest co-educational institution of higher education in New York State and the second oldest in the nation because the founders believed “women should receive an education equal to men,” McFadden said, noting that women “were not an afterthought. There were more women than men” in the first class. Women were also allowed to be on the faculty at AU, something unheard of in 19^th century America. Even Oberlin, although co-educational, didn’t have women on the faculty until the 1880s, long after women professors were teaching at Alfred.

That spirit continued throughout the 19^th century, McFadden said, as Alfred became one of the first universities to admit African-American students; the community itself provided safe haven for runaway slaves as they made their way north on the Underground Railroad.

The residents of Alfred, she said, “truly care” about the students who share their community for three-quarters of each year.

McFadden noted Alfred, as a university and as a community, comprises distinct groups, all “living, learning, working, supporting and sharing.”

“Consider that community one to discover and get involved with,” McFadden urged the students.

Amos Mainville, a mechanical engineering major from Fort Covington, NY, and president of the Student Senate, had similar advice for the newly minted class of 2013: “Get involved. Do what you love. Be inspired.”

As he welcomed the students, Alfred University President Charles M. Edmondson noted the opening convocation marks the annual rebirth of the University community. “It is an occasion for happiness and excitement, not solemnity,” he said.

Alfred University is ranked third in the North – and tops in New York — as a “great school (at a) great price among master’s-degree-granting institutions by U.S. News and World Report in its 2010 edition of “America’s Best Colleges.”

Alfred University is the highest-ranked among New York state colleges on the “best buy” list, which looks at total price, percentage of students receiving financial aid, and the net cost of attendance, but also looks at quality indicators as well.

“We’re delighted at this affirmation of value for the price,” said Alfred University President Charles M. Edmondson. “This ranking, coupled with the Fiske Guide to Colleges, which ranked us among the top 1 percent of the more than 4,2000 colleges and universities in the nation as a ‘best buy,’ indicates we do what we say we do: provide a great education at a great price.”

According to U.S. News, “The formula used to determine which colleges and universities offer the best value relates a school’s academic quality, as indicated by its 2010 U.S. News ranking, to the 2008–2009 academic year net cost of attendance for a student who receives the average level of need-based financial aid. The higher the quality of the program and the lower the cost, the better the deal. Only schools ranked in or near the top half of their categories are included because we work on the premise that the most significant values are among colleges that are above average academically.”

Alfred University is ranked 20^th in the North among master’s-degree-granting institutions, down from 17 in 2009. “We’re a bit puzzled, but not concerned,” said Edmondson. “The indices that we care most about, and that indicate the quality of our teaching remain strong. We also have other sources, like Princeton Review and the Fiske Guide, which place us in the top 10 percent among colleges and universities nationwide.”

For more about the ranking >>

For more on the controversy over the rankings >>

“We became involved with the Children’s Craniofacial Associaiton six years ago,” said Kristine. “Our son Jeremy was born with a craniofacial abnormality (Goldenhar Syndrome) in 1999. We received a lot of support from this organization and wanted do what we could to contribute to the cause.”

Since the tournament began in 2005, the Dales’ efforts have raised $79,000.

To meet this year’s ambitious goal, the Dales are seeking golfers and sponsors for the event. More information about the tournament and the remarkable story of Jeremy  is available at the Friends of Jeremy web site.

George and Kristine both received degrees in ceramic engineering and both now work at Corning, Incorporated. They live in Horseheads with their three sons: Jeremy, 9; Tommy, 7; and Cody, 3.

Smidgrod is also featured in the Sunday, June 28 2009 Washington Post Magazine.

In Neighborhood Watch, which runs through Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, Smigrod revisits the subjects she photographed for her 1989 exhibition, Portraits of Innocence. Through a resurvey of the original participants in black and white photography Smigrod records the evolution of twenty individuals as she captures them within their native environments in Alexandria, VA.

A photographer since the late 1960’s, Smigrod moved to the Rosemont neighborhood of Alexandria in 1982. During the years 1987–1988 Smigrod began photographing the local children in their natural habitat. Rosemont, “a neighborhood comprised of tree-lined streets, front porches, and ample greenery” as described by Smigrod, provided a stage-like setting for the “purity of childhood” and the background in which she would document her subjects both from 1987–1989 and again in 2007 and 2008.

It was within this environment that “children were seemingly free of the boundaries, concerns and constraints of the adult world” and in which Smigrod, in the late 1980s, captured moments of childhood.

“My world became a series of still images played out on the sidewalk beyond my front door,” says Smigrod. In the summer of 2007, Smigrod realized that 20 years had passed since she began her project and once again photographed her original subjects as they returned to Alexandria during that summer and the following one.

These adults, now ranging in age from 23 to 32, represent a random sampling of middle class American society.

Within the exhibition Neighborhood Watch, Smigrod’s photographs focus on viewing and reviewing a selection of her 20 original subjects, paying particular attention to their evolution as well as the importance and deliberate nature of photographing the subjects in their original environment. While the subjects have grown and matured with time, Smigrod pays close attention to the common threads that link the group.

Rather than simply displaying a series of portraits evidencing the passage of time, Smigrod is dedicated to acknowledging each participant’s voice. Each subject was asked to express in writing his/her reflections on their “thoughts, hopes and dreams” of both 20 years ago and today.

Additional selections of image and text pairings from this series will appear in The Washington Post Magazine, June 28, 2009.

The exhibition continues, focusing on the celebrations of traditional American rituals, i.e., Fourth of July, Halloween, back porch birthdays, etc. Recorded throughout time as they are played and replayed, these moments commemorate the iconic rites of childhood.

The exhibition concludes with vintage prints from Portraits of Innocence, along with images that underscore the importance of place. Front and back porches, back yards and other theaters of childhood combine to create the environment in which the roots of identity are established.

As current professor of photography at the Corcoran College of Art + Design, Smigrod received her M.F.A. from the George Washington University and her B.F.A. in Photography, graduating with honors, from the School of Art & Design at Alfred University. Smigrod has received numerous awards including the Virginia Prize for the Visual Arts in Photography, Virginia Commission for the Arts in 1989 and the Virginia Champion Award, Marriott Corporation in 1989.

She has served as Chair for the Corcoran Photography Department from 1990 – 2000 and has also been a visiting professor at Swarthmore College and The University of Georgia’s Studies Abroad Program in Cortona, Italy.

Her work is also featured in public and private collections such as The Polaroid Collection and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Smigrod is represented by The Kathleen Ewing Gallery in Washington, D.C. Additional information about the artist can be found on her Web site.  

VISITOR INFORMATION

The Corcoran’s hours of operation are as follows: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Monday and Tuesday. Admission to The Corcoran costs $10 for adults, $8 for students/seniors/military, and members and children under six enter for free. To purchase tickets > 

ABOUT THE CORCORAN

The Corcoran Gallery of Art, a privately funded institution, was founded in 1869 as Washington’s first and largest non-federal museum of art. It is known internationally for its distinguished collection of historical and modern American art as well as contemporary art, photography, European painting, sculpture and the decorative arts. Founded in 1890, the Corcoran College of Art + Design is Washington’s only four-year college of art and design offering BFA degrees in Digital Media Design, Fine Art, Graphic Design and Photography; a five-year Bachelor of Fine Arts/ Master of Arts in Teaching (BFA/MAT); and a two-year Master of Arts (MA) in Interior Design or History of Decorative Arts. The College’s Continuing Education program offers part-time credit and non-credit classes for children and adults and draws more than 2,500 participants each year.

Clare, a professor of glass science in the Inamori School of Engineering, and husband Blake Mayo were on an Alaskan cruise earlier in June, joining about 2,000 other people from all over the world on the ship. “One day someone saw Blake’s Alfred Station Fire Department shirt, and said ‘Alfred Station?’”

It was AU alumna and former Alumni Council member Cynthia “Punkie” (Butts) Sinesiou. She and Craig, also a 1968 alum, now make their home near Cuba, NY, and both taught in the Olean, NY, city schools. Their daughter Megan is an AU alumna, too, class of ‘97.

And just to add to it: Punkie is the sister of one of Alix’s faculty colleagues: Dr. Becky Prophet ‘70, who lives in Alfred with husband Craig ‘68. Alix also knows a brother, Dennis Butts ‘72, who lives in Corning.

But the Alfred coincidences didn’t end there. Alix and Blake were in Ketchikan, AK, a community “not much bigger than Alfred,” Alix recounted. “A lady shopkeeper saw my Alfred University sweatshirt and told me her husband was a graduate of AU!

 (Editor’s note: We’re still trying to figure out who the alumnus might be.  If it’s you, or you know who it is, let us know!)

“You might go halfway across the world, but Alfred follows you,” Alix concluded.

There are 4,200 institutions of higher education in the country, so inclusion in the Fiske Guide as a “best buy” places Alfred University in the top one percent in value for price.

“We are very pleased to be included in this well-respected guide as ‘best buy,’” said Alfred University President Charles M. Edmondson. “It is further affirmation of the value of an Alfred University education for the price.”

U.S. News and World Report ranks Alfred University number two “best value” in the North among master’s degree-granting institutions, calling it a “great school at a great price.”

To have two nationally recognized, independent college-ranking services recognize Alfred University for its quality and value “attests to the excellent job our faculty and staff do with our students,” said Edmondson.

“In the face of today’s skyrocketing tuition rates, students and families in all economic circumstances are looking for ways to get the best value for their education,” according to a release from the publishers of the Fiske Guide to Colleges.

Author Edward B. Fiske explains, “One of the lesser-known facts of life about higher education in the U.S. is that price and quality do not always go hand-in-hand.”

Tuition and fees alone now run at least $6,000 at a typical public university and close at $30,000 at a typical private college, and the overall tab at the most selective and expensive schools tops $50,000, the release states. “A major investment like that should be approached with as much information as possible.”

The revised and updated 2010 edition of Fiske Guide to Colleges features 44 of the Best Buy Schools. These institutions are based on the quality of academic offerings in relation to the cost of attendance. To determine the list, Fiske researchers combined the cost data with academic and other life-style information about each college and university to determine what institutions offer really remarkable educational opportunities at a relatively modest cost.

For more information about Alfred University >

The Yellow Ribbon Program, a provision in the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008, will allow veterans with at least 36 months of service after Sept. 11, 2001, to attend in-state public institutions tuition free, or apply the money toward the cost of attending a private institution. Colleges and universities in the United States can voluntarily enter into an agreement with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to fund tuition expenses that exceed the highest public in-state undergraduate tuition rate. Volunteer institutions can contribute up to half of those expenses and the VA will provide a matching amount.

According to Earl Pierce, director of financial aid at Alfred University, veterans will be able to attend AU at very little cost. For example, a student living on campus will have his or her tuition fees and room and board fully covered, between the GI bill benefits and Alfred University funding.

“Any veteran enrolling in any academic program at AU will not incur any tuition expenses or academic fees,” Pierce commented.

The new GI Bill will provide veterans with a Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) of $1,018 per month. While that amount wouldn’t cover the cost of on-campus room and board at AU, Pierce said the University will provide a grant for the difference. The BAH is sufficient to meet housing expenses for off-campus students.

The VA also provides $1,000 per year to help cover the cost of books and supplies. It’s likely that a veteran who uses the Yellow Ribbon Program would have to pay out-of-pocket only for incidental and miscellaneous expenses.

The Yellow Ribbon Program is for veterans seeking undergraduate and/or graduate degrees. Institutions enrolled in the program have to commit annually to participate and Pierce said AU plans to re-commit in February.

June 15, was the deadline for colleges and universities across the country to volunteer to take part in the Yellow Ribbon Program, with the final list of institutions to be announced after June 24. As of June 12, there were 573 colleges and universities nationwide, and approximately 70 in New York State, enrolled in the program. The majority of those institutions (just over 400) were private schools.

Pierce said any qualifying veteran interested in attending Alfred University through the Yellow Ribbon Program will apply for admission, just as any prospective student would. “The University would consider heavily their post-high school experience, for example, their military training and experience, when considering them for admission,” he said.

Pierce said several veterans from the Alfred area have inquired about possibly attending under the new GI Bill. There are no residency requirements for applying to AU under the Yellow Ribbon Program, meaning a veteran from any state could apply to attend. Many of the participating schools are allowing veterans to attend on a first-come first-served basis; AU will accept an unlimited number of qualifying veterans.

“Alfred University is proud to have this opportunity to partner with the VA to acknowledge the service and sacrifices made by our veterans,” Pierce said.

Sixty of this year’s graduates received Master of Science degrees in counseling, and 58 received master’s in literacy education. Alfred University began offering master’s degrees at downstate locations, working through the Center for Integrated Teacher Education in 2006, and graduated its first students in September 2008.

“The most difficult obstacle to overcome is doubt in yourself,” Stephens, who earned his master’s degree in counseling from Alfred University in 1971 and now serves on the Alfred University Board of Trustees, told the graduates and their families.

“I didn’t start believing in myself until I was 30,” Stephens admitted. His dream, which he didn’t tell anyone, was to become a general in the U.S. Army. “I was afraid to tell anyone, afraid I couldn’t do it, afraid I wasn’t good enough.”

But Stephens, who spent 30 years in the U.S. Army did achieve his goal, and the newest AU graduates can do the same, he assured them.

“It takes a lot of courage to follow your heart,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to have a dream. It can become a reality.”

The path is not always easy, he admitted. “I made wrong turns, U-turns and did doughnuts in the parking. I went up, and I went down, and made roads where there weren’t any,” but he did achieve the goals he laid out for himself at the beginning of his career.

If  they don’t have a dream yet, Stephens advised the graduates, “Give yourself the gift of believing in yourself… Try anything and everything, search high and low, until you find something you love (then) get on with your life.

“The new degree (you have just received) will open doors you didn’t even know about before,” Stephens said. “Go out with your new master’s degrees and make it work for you.”

A graduate of West Virginia State University, Stephens choose a military career. As an assistant professor in the Reserve Officers Training Corps, he was assigned to the ROTC unit at Alfred University, and earned his master’s degree in counseling while working full-time and raising a family.

Stephens is now vice president for External Relations for Clayton (GA) State University.

Speaking on behalf of the students who received their master’s in literacy, Myra Fisher declared, “We did it. We came in (to the program) alone, and we walk out today as friends, as associates, as brothers and sisters, and we all love each other.”

They could not have done it without the support of their families, Fisher said. “They stand by us. They stood behind us. They hold us up, and they pull us through.”

Christian Horn, one of three who spoke on behalf of the counseling students, thanked Dr. Jay Cerio, professor of school psychology and program director, and Dr. Robert K. Bitting, associate professor of counseling and coordinator for the downstate practicum, for their leadership. “I respect them a lot for their hard work, their help and their friendship.”

Melissa Bastian, also speaking on behalf of the counseling students, said she knew she had made the right decision from the moment she arrived in Alfred. Students take classes weekends at downstate location, but begin the two-year program with two weeks of classes on the Alfred campus.

Participating in Alfred’s downstate program “was a wonderful experience, something we will treasure forever” said Diana Fuller. “We became a family. We made friendships that will last a lifetime.”