Dr. Simon Perry, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Marshall University, will sign copies of his book, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson: By Their Deeds You Shall Know Them, Tuesday, Sept. 17, on Marshall’s Huntington campus.
Perry, the John Deaver Drinko Fellow for the academic year 1994-1995, will sign his books beginning at 7 p.m. in the third-floor atrium of the Drinko Library.
The event is part of Marshall’s annual celebration of Constitution Week, which features activities – such as the popular quoits competition – throughout much of September. September 17 is Constitution Day.
“The Drinko Academy is pleased to publish Simon Perry’s recent book,” said Dr. Alan Gould, director of the Drinko Academy. “It’s been a personal pleasure for me to be Simon’s colleague and friend for nearly 40 years and he, although now retired, rightfully deserves his unofficial title of dean of the faculty.”
Perry’s role as a faculty member at Marshall from 1962 through 2010 made his 47-year tenure as a faculty member the longest in the history of the institution. He earned a reputation as an outstanding educator and received numerous prestigious awards during his illustrious career, including Marshall’s Distinguished Faculty Award. Two separate governors presented him with the Distinguished West Virginian Award. In a poll recently conducted by MU’s Office of Alumni Affairs, Perry was named the Outstanding Teacher at Marshall University.
The Dr. Simon D. Perry Center for Constitutional Democracy was created by the College of Liberal Arts to honor him along with John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, for whom the university is named. The purpose of the center is to promote the study of government, the constitution, and the work of John Marshall and the Supreme Court. It is an interdisciplinary academic program that promotes the teaching and original research regarding the formation and evolution of the U.S. Constitution and examines its importance in contemporary legal, political and civil and cultural matters.
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson: By Their Deeds You Shall Know Them can be purchased for $24.95 plus $6 for shipping and handling through The Drinko Academy.
Quoits/John Marshall Birthday Cake
One of the highlights of Constitution Week in recent years at Marshall has been the quoits competition on the west end of Buskirk Field. Teams of faculty, staff, students, fraternities and sororities can sign up now to play in the tournament that begins on Tuesday, Sept. 10, and continues through Friday, Sept. 13.
To sign up, participants need to stop by the quoits pits between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9, e-mail Kristen Pack at milhoan4@marshall.edu, or call her at 304-696-3183. The deadline for team registration is 5 p.m. Monday, Sept. 9.
The President’s Invitational Quoits Media Challenge is at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 24. It will be preceded by the cutting of John Marshall’s birthday cake on the Memorial Student Center plaza at 11 a.m. by President Stephen J. Kopp.
Quoits, a game in which rings of iron are pitched at stakes much like horseshoes, was the favorite game of John Marshall.
Also planned during Constitution Week:
- 4:30 p.m. Monday, Sept. 23 – Announcement of the winner of the Judge Dan O’Hanlon Constitution Week and John Marshall Celebration Essay Competition in the student center’s John Marshall Room.
- 2 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 26 – The Robert C. Byrd Forum on Civic Responsibility in the Francis-Booth Experimental Theatre features Early Freedom Rider Ms. Joan C. Browning. Her address is titled “Oh the Places That Freedom Riding Take Me.”
Browning, who lives on a hillside in the Irish Corner District of Greenbrier County, writes and lectures at colleges and universities on her personal experiences as a white woman in the civil rights movement.
On the 50th anniversary of the Freedom Rides, she was feted all across the country, including as a guest of Congress at the premiere of the documentary about the Freedom Rides, as a guest on the Oprah Winfrey Show, and at a meeting requested by President Barack Obama. She has been a guest lecturer at more than 75 colleges and universities.
In addition to speaking at the Byrd forum, Browning will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, also in the Francis-Booth Theatre. That address is titled, “The Constitution and Civil Rights.”
- 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8 – Amicus Curiae Lecture. The guest speaker will be James E. Simon, dean emeritus of New York Law School. His address will take place at the Marshall University Foundation Hall, home of the Erickson Alumni Center.
