COMMENTARY A Great Life; and Great Lives
William Crawley bids adieu, and Scott Harris picks up his mentor's torch at the annual announcement of the speakers and books that will headline the 22nd Annual Great Lives lecture series.
By Martin Davis
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
How does one celebrate a person stepping aside after 55 years at the same organization?
University of Mary Washington President Troy Paino found an appropriate way to wish history professor and founder of the Great Lives Lecture Series — William Crawley — a well-earned retirement on Tuesday night at the kick-off event for the 22nd annual Great Lives lecture series.
Befitting Crawley’s commitment to the life of the mind, and to igniting people’s love for history, Paino reached for Robet Putnam’s classic study, Bowling Alone, which this year is also celebrating its anniversary — 25 years since its publication.
Putnam’s book is great, Paino noted, because it’s explains what brings people together. “That,” Paino said speaking directly to Crawley, “is what you have done” with this series.
Also celebrating Crawley Tuesday night was the new director of the Great Lives program, Scott Harris. An undergraduate student of Crawley’s, Harris has built his own reputation as a historic preservationist and is the ideal person to carry forward what his mentor birthed.
Harris and Paino presented Crawley a small, rotating bookcase with a declaration on top celebrating Crawley’s success with Great Lives.
Appropriately for an American historian who earned his Ph.D. at the University of Virginia, the stand is based on a design by none other than Thomas Jefferson.
Harris for the first time handled the introduction of the 15 books and their speakers who will appear this season, starting with the first lecture on January 21, 2025, that will be delivered by Liza Mundy, who will talk about her work, The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA.
Sitting nearby watching as his student took the helm was Crawley, whose life has brought him to a point even rarer than being an individual who has worked 55 years at the same institution. He was able to watch as the lecture series he started some 22 years ago to kindle students’ and citizens’ passion for history passed to his own student who will now take that vision to a new generation of life-long learners.
The Advance would like to add to Paino’s and Harris’ accolades and say thank you, Dr. Crawley, for the Great Life you have lived. You have accomplished what we so desperately need.
You’ve brought people together.
The 2025 Great Lives Lecture Series
January 21
Women of the CIA
Liza Mundy
January 23
Pete Rose
Keith O’Brien
January 28
Rod Serling
Anne Serling
January 30
Barbara Walters
Susan Page
February 4
John Glenn and Ted Williams
Adam Lazarus
February 6
Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull
Mark Lee Gardner
February 13
John Lewis
Raymond Arsenault
February 18
Captain James Cook
Hampton Sides
February 20
James A. Garfield
C.W. Goodyear
February 25
Da Vinci, Shakespeare, Newton, Beethoven, and Einstein
Bulent Atalay
February 27
Phillis Wheatley: America’s First Black Poet
David Waldstreicher
March 11
James Longstreet
Elizabeth Varon
March 13
Pat Nixon
Health Hardage Lee
March 18
Hedy Lamarr
Stephen Michael Shearer
March 20
Jay Gatsby
Bob Batchelor
Local Obituaries
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