QUOTE OF THE WEEK

In Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery wrote, “Life is worth living as long as there’s a laugh in it.”

It’s the last week of classes. Finals are around the corner. It’s unarguably a very stressful time, but wallowing in misery and letting your negative emotions get the better of you is probably not the best strategy to ending the semester in success.

Allow yourself to enjoy the little things, and above all, find something that makes you laugh. It might be a cliche that “laughter is the best medicine,” but it really can help reduce stress, especially if you’re with good company.

THIS WEEK AT FALVEY

Monday, December 4

Mindfulness Monday | 1-1:30 p.m. | Multifaith Prayer Room, St. Rita’s Hall | Virtual Option | ACS Approved | Free & Open to Villanova Students, Faculty, & Staff

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Company and Industry Competitive Intelligence 101 Workshop | 5 p.m. | Room 206 | ACS Approved | Free & Open to Villanova Students | Refreshments Served | Register Here

Tuesday, December 5

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Wednesday, December 6

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Company and Industry Competitive Intelligence 101 Workshop | 6 p.m. | Room 206 | ACS Approved | Free & Open to Villanova Students | Refreshments Served | Register Here

Thursday, December 7

Falvey Library’s Annual Stress Busting Open House | 1-3 p.m. | Speakers’ Corner | Free & Open to the Villanova Community | Refreshments Served

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

Sunday December 10

The Learners’ Studio/Center for Speaking and Presentation | 4-9 p.m. | Room 301 | Free

HOLIDAYS THIS WEEK

Photo by Aleksandra Tanasiienko on Unsplash

If you need a sweet snack to motivate you while studying, today, Dec. 4 is National Cookie Day, a day dedicated to any cookie you can imagine. Chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies. If you really want to add a little festivity, you can enjoy some gingerbread cookies.

If you’re perhaps feeling a little more fancy, National Pastry Day is this Saturday, Dec. 9. Pastries come in hundreds of varieties, flavors, and textures, so whether you’re into croissants, crepes, bear claws, or baklava, this is your excuse to pop into a local bakery and enjoy.

Sunday, Dec. 10, is Nobel Prize Day. Although Nobel events will take place over the week, Sunday is dedicated to the achievements of Nobel Prize recipients, in honor of the first Nobel Prize. If you’re interested to learning more about all of the past recipients, you can browse the list here. This year’s Nobel Prize in Literature goes to Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, whose works you can check out through Falvey here.

Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant in Falvey Library.

Credit: Ill. Niklas Elmehed © Nobel Prize Outreach This use is strictly editorial. This permission is free of charge, according to https://nobelprize.qbank.se/mb/?h=f142eee16bc09dd5247dd753fd9ef889

On Oct. 9, 2023, the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to Claudia Goldin, PhD, the first woman to be awarded the prize solo and the first woman offered tenure by Harvard’s economics department.  Dr. Goldin’s work has been centered around documenting and understanding the history of women’s labor force participation and the gender wage gap.  Her work has important  implications for labor market, educational and social welfare policies.

Dr. Goldin’s work is not confined to understanding disparities, but extends to correcting them.  Across academia men economics majors outnumber women at an alarming rate. In an IMF podcast Dr. Goldin observed: “Men think economics is about finance so they take economics. Women think economics is about finance, so they don’t take economics. Women believe economics is not about people, that psychology is about people, which is what many women end up majoring in. We have to do better in teaching them that economics is about people.” Dr. Goldin was the principal investigator in a the Undergraduate Women in Economics Challenge, which was an experiment that incentivized colleges and universities to implement creative interventions to improve the popularity of majoring in economics to women.

Cheryl Carleton, PhD, Associate Professor, Economics, who teaches Women in Economics ECO 3118, noted that Villanova is working to “increase diversity overall, which includes women.” According to the Federal Reserve, 7% of white men and 6.4% of underrepresented men major in economics at Villanova University, whereas only 2.5% of  white and underrepresented women major in economics.  At Villanova, significant gains have been made by hiring more diverse faculty who bring “new methodologies, which appeals to a broader audience, including women.”

Dr. Carleton noted that Mary Kelly, PhD, Associate Chair, Economics, has been active in promoting a diverse range of events and speakers to appeal to a broader range of students.  The most recent Economics Department newsletter documents these efforts.  Carlton trusts these initiatives “inspires [women & underrepresented students] to take some economics courses and thus they are more able to use the tools of economics throughout whatever career path they choose.”

Below is sample of the books Goldin’s authored, co-authored and edited in our collection:

• Urban Slavery in the American South, 1820-1860: A Quantitative History. University of Chicago Press, 1976.
• Understanding the Gender Gap: An Economic History of American Women. Oxford University Press, 1990.
• The Regulated Economy: A Historical Approach to Political Economy. University of Chicago Press, 1994.
• The Defining Moment: The Great Depression and the American Economy in the Twentieth Century. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
• Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America’s Economic History. University of Chicago Press, 2006.
• The Race Between Education and Technology. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008.
• Women Working Longer: Increased Employment at Older Ages. The University of Chicago Press, 2018.
• Career and Family: Women’s Century-long Journey Toward Equity. Princeton University Press, 2021.

Many of Dr. Goldin’s papers are published in the most prestigious economics journals.  The breadth of her research is thrilling.  You can browse the papers on EconLit here.

Finally, Dr. Goldin’s devotion to a rigorous scientific method is expressed via the many datasets she collected and made accessible for replication and further uses via the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research.

Linda Hauck, MLS, MBA is Business Librarian at Falvey Library.

By Ethan Shea

Earlier this month, Annie Ernaux was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. Ernaux is French writer who has always been open about the intimate details of her life. Her ability to communicate these personal highs and lows in such lucid fashion is what won her the most coveted of all literary awards.

Even at the age of 82, Ernaux says this award motivates her to continue writing. As someone whose activism for women’s rights is often at odds with French President Emmanuel Macron and American political counterparts, Ernaux’s work is still very much steeped in and relevant to contemporary politics.

Only 17 out of 119 writers who received the Nobel Prize in Literature have been women, so it is significant that Ernaux has been the second woman to receive the prize in the last three years.

If you would like to learn more about last year’s recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Abdulrazak Gurnah, check out this blog on Falvey’s website.

Additionally, Falvey has a few of Ernaux’s books, such as La Place, La Honte, and her first novel Les armoires vides, available for pick-up in the stacks. If you consider yourself a Francophile or someone who enjoys French literature, you should certainly give them a read.

To learn more, use your access to the New York Times granted through Villanova University to read this NYT article!

Ethan Shea is a graduate student in the English Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

By Ethan Shea

“By the Sea” and “Desertion” by Abdulrazak Gurnah

The Nobel Prize in Literature is widely known as the most prestigious award a writer can receive. The distinguished prize was first awarded in 1901 and is traditionally announced annually, but in spite of its 120 year lifespan, this literary accolade has only been awarded 114 times. This is because the committee does not necessarily need to choose a winner for any given Nobel Prize. In fact, with regard to the 1948 Nobel Peace Prize, after the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, who never won a Nobel Prize, the committee claimed “there was no suitable living candidate” to receive the award that year. Additionally, various scandals and global events have caused awards to be postponed or dismissed entirely.

2021 Nobel Prize in Literature Winner, Abdulrazak Gurnah

Regardless, in spite of the challenges posed to humanity over the past couple years, last month, Abdulrazak Gurnah became the first Black writer to win a Nobel Prize in Literature since Toni Morrison in 1993. The prize committee praised Gurnah’s “uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism” when announcing his achievement.

Gurnah is a Tanzanian writer who grew up in Zanzibar. In 1964, violence within his homeland forced him to relocate to England. His experience living in both nations gives Gurnah a unique perspective on colonial exploitation that saturates his writing.

Although Gurnah’s work has previously been shortlisted for the Booker Prize, until now, he has not reached the level of widespread acclaim that many other Nobel Prize winners have. Gurnah’s previous lack of recognition makes his win an especially welcome event within literary circles.

Falvey Memorial Library houses some of Abdulrazak Gurnah’s books, such as Desertion and By The Sea, which live on the shelves of our Fourth Floor Stacks. Feel free to stop by and grab one of these books for yourself! Additionally, through interlibrary loan (ILL) and E-ZBorrow, you have access to some of Gurnah’s other books!

Ethan Shea is a first-year English Graduate Student at Villanova university and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Memorial Library.

Art courtesy of Joanne Quinn, Director of Communication and Marketing

All Hallows

Learn more about Louise Glück:

• Dictionary of Literary Biography’s Entry
  Whitfill, Patrick. “Louise Glück (22 April 1943-).” Twenty-First-Century American Poets, Third Series, edited by John Cusatis, vol. 380, Gale, 2017, pp. 146-159. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 380. Gale Literature: Dictionary of Literary Biography, Accessed 16 Oct. 2020.
• Falvey Memorial Library’s collected works by Glück and about Glück
• Reviews of her works
• Colm Tóibín with Louise Glück: Clytemnestra Revisited Video (New York Public Library)
• A recent profile (The New Yorker)
• Further poetry resources (Falvey’s English subject guide)

Text by Kallie Stahl, Communication and Marketing Specialist at Falvey Memorial Library. Links curated by Sarah Wingo, MA, MSI, the Liaison Librarian for English Lit, Theatre, and Romance Languages.