Shepherd University Faculty Senate

The McMurran Convocation "Last Lecture"
The McMurran Convocation "Last Lecture" was established by the Shepherd University Senate in 2008, to honor an esteemed retiring or retired professor who has served the University and its students through the quality of his or her teaching, scholarship, and service to the campus and community. The "Last Lecture" is a unique opportunity to share with McMurran Scholars the wit and wisdom of the best in the higher education teaching profession, as well as an occasion to honor an extraordinary group of young scholars who are just setting out on their journey in the learned professions.

2010 Last Lecture
Dr. Charles W. Carter
Professor of English
1972-2010
Dr. Charles W. Carter is a native of Georgetown, South Carolina, and he was educated at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received his B. A., his M. A., and his Ph. D. Before coming to Shepherd in 1972, Dr. Carter was a member of the graduate faculty of Appalachian State University, Boone, North Carolina, and the full-time faculty at his alma mater, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Carter's areas of expertise include 19th-Century American literature, American poetry, English literature of the Renaissance, especially Shakespeare and Milton, and Classical literature and mythology--and he has regularly taught advanced courses in each of these areas. By invitation, Dr. Carter has given a number of poetry readings for the campus and the community over the last decade. He has served on virtually every major standing committee of the University and as chair of a number of special administrative task forces. He was the first Moderator of the Shepherd College Assembly, the first Director of Academic Advisement (1997-2005), and has been involved with Promotion and Tenure decisions on the departmental, school, and university levels for a number of years. Dr. Carter has held the rank of Professor of English since 1985; he served as Chair of the Department of English and Modern Languages from 1990-1993 and from 2004 to the present. In April 2000, he was inducted into the Shepherd chapter of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and, at the end of the present academic year, Dr. Carter will complete his 38th year of service to the University

"In Praise of Science," 2009 Last Lecture
Dr. Donald L. Henry
Professor of Physics
1985-2009
Dr. Donald L. Henry came to Shepherd in 1981, from Wilson College in Pennsylvania, where he was Assistant Dean of the College. At Shepherd he has served and led the institution in a variety of ways--as Dean of the School of Natural Sciences & Mathematics and prior to that as division chair. Since 1984, Dr. Henry has been a member of the editorial board of Proteus. He was a founding member of the Board of the American Conservation Film Festival, board member of the Friends of the National Conservation Training Center, the Potomac Valley Master Naturalist Program, and Project director for a prestigious NSF Academic Research Infrastructure grant, which funded renovation and replacement of science research laboratories at Shepherd. Dr. Henry has served on a variety of other boards, grant projects, and has been coordinator of Science Academy at Shepherd. His publications have appeared in Physical Review and the Journal of Chemical Physics, among others. Over the years, he has given much and served well Shepherd University--his colleagues, the institution, and most important his students have been inspired by his intellectual integrity and zest for learning. His words today are a fitting tribute for Shepherd University's highest academic honor.

Shepherd University | P.O. Box 5000 | Shepherdstown, West Virginia | 25443-5000 | 304-876-5000 | 800-344-5231