At the next Catawba College Community Forum, Dr. Bethany Sinnott will present what she calls “a somewhat whimsical exploration of a state that we all share—that of being human—with particular illustrations from a certain recognized authority on that state: William Shakespeare.”
She will draw on selections from King Lear, Hamlet, The Tempest, and other well-known plays. This free event will be held at the Tom Smith Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 25.
When Sinnott retired from the faculty of Catawba College this past spring, the entire college rose for tribute after tribute to her gentle spirit and unflagging dedication to the college community. Sinnott left a remarkable legacy: hundreds of former students who, under her tutelage, learned to love English language and literature in general, and the works of William Shakespeare in particular.
Sinnott earned her B.A. from Duke University, M.A. from Northwestern, and Ph.D. from UNC-Chapel Hill. In addition to teaching in the English Department at Catawba for 42 years, she served stints as Director of the Hurley School of Humanities and as department chair. In 1994 she was named Leona Fleming Herman Professor of English. She won the Swink Award for Outstanding Classroom Teaching in 1979, the Sears Award for Teaching Excellence and Campus Leadership in 1991, the South Atlantic Association of Departments of English Outstanding Teacher Award in 2000, and Catawba’s Trustee Award for Outstanding Service to the College in 2006.
Her Shakespeare-related activities include participation in a 1995 National Endowment for the Humanities Summer Institute, “Center for Renaissance and Shakespearean Staging.” Since 2003 she has served regularly as Nancy Lyles Classics in Context Lecturer for the North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, and she lectured for Elizabeth’s Bard Weekend in High Point for several years. She has also provided lectures for local groups, including Center for Faith and the Arts. Sinnott has published several articles on Shakespeare and has contributed conference papers to the Shakespeare Association of America and the Ohio Shakespeare Festival.