Fine Arts and Humanities

Division Chair

Dr. Ashley Davis

Department Contact Info

Fine Arts and Humanities

807 Walker Avenue Memphis, TN 38126
Office: 901-435-1306
Fax: 901-435-1349
Mon – Fri 8:30A.M. – 4:30P.M.

Division Chair
Dr. Ashley Davis
ashley_davis@loc.edu

Administrative Assistant
Brittany Young
brittany_young@loc.edu
Office: (901) 435-1306

Click here to view full staff

The Fine Arts and Humanities Division strives to foster a student-centered learning environment with innovative teaching and learning initiatives that develop students’ communication and literary skills, promote cultural awareness and knowledge, and enhance students’ artistic and musical abilities. The Division, with areas of study in Art, English, Humanities, Foreign Languages, Journalism and Mass Communication, Music, Philosophy and Religion, offers majors in Art, English, Journalism and Mass Communication, and Music, all leading to the Bachelor of Arts degree. The division also offers an Interdisciplinary Studies major that leads to a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Dr. Juanita Williamson, internationally respected linguist and late Distinguished Service Professor at LeMoyne-Owen College, in her statement about the centrality of the humanities to mankind’s efforts to learn noted that “among the areas of man’s learning and lore, the area of the humanities…has addressed itself to the knowing of mankind and, thus, is a frame of reference through which to view the expanding knowledge man has gained through the ages (in our time particularly, the explosion of knowledge, both basic and applied): a framework through which all technological and scientific knowledge must be viewed if the end of man is not to be a desiccation of spirit and a fatigue that turns the human being into little more than a computer or a robot.

[There is] a body of knowledge within the humanities—Art, Music, Drama, English, History, Foreign Languages, Philosophy—that makes it unique in itself, [but] there is also a common thread that runs through them all: each takes as its central focus the study of the measure of man and deals through its own frame of reference with such questions as ‘What is man?’ ‘Where do we come from?’ ‘Where do we go?’ ‘What is the meaning of life?’.”

Bryllion and Mary Fagin Lecture Series in Humanities

The Fagin Lecture Series was established by a gift from Dr. Bryllion and Mrs. Mary Fagin in 1965. Dr. Fagin was a renowned scholar and wrote books on Edgar Allen Poe that marked his field. The lectureship has allowed the Fine Arts and Humanities Division to invite other scholars from myriad academic fields such as English, Art, Humanities, Journalism, Music, and Film to share their knowledge and expertise with LeMoyne-Owen College students.

In the past, the Fagin Lecture has been given by such eminent figures as Dr. Horace Porter, Stanford University; Dr. Richard Barksdale, Harvard University; Dr. Clifton Johnson, Tulane University; Dr. Riggins Earl, Jr., Emory University; and such noted authors as Perre Magness, Clifton Toulbert, and M.K. Asante.

LeMoyne-Owen College Sunday 

Each year the Fine Arts and Humanities Division majors perform at one of Memphis’ finest entertainment venues. Last year the students were featured at the Canon Center.

Leadership Mentor

In summer 2013, the HBCU Kings and Queens Leadership Conference named English Professor Ruby Hardy-Minter “Advisor of the Year”, during the Royal Academy awards held at the historic Peabody Hotel in Memphis, TN. Minter served as primary advisor for Mr. and Miss LeMoyne-Owen College for a decade. She guided such outstanding students as Jerome Heard, Sherika Holmes, and Rachelle Hawkins. Mr. Heard consequently won the coveted title of “Mr. HBCU, 2008-2009”; Ms. Holmes, the youngest Miss LeMoyne-Owen College, served two consecutive terms in that role; and Ms. Hawkins, Miss LeMoyne-Owen College 2004, studied and taught in China and apprenticed in the offices of Condoleezza Rice, the federal Secretary of State.

Professor Minter established the Royal Connection Leadership Organization in 2004 to bring forth, as she explained, “the essence and full potential of my students as campus royalty.” They thus become “shining stars” who are achievers and scholars and the “passionate fulfillment” of her advising.

The Debut Kashmir Society

This society is a scholastic/academic organization designed to recognize academic accomplishments, to foster scholarly activities, and to encourage a sense of intellectual community among its members.

The organization was established in the Fall Semester 2013 under The Division of Fine Arts and Humanities/Freshman Seminar. The originator and advisor of the group is Ruby Hardy-Minter, Professor of English and of Freshman Seminar. As a Fulbright Scholar of English, Ms. Minter taught and researched the teaching of grammar and linguistics in Kashmir, India. The resultant passion for her research inspired her to name this organization, “The Kashmir Society”.

The major objective of this organization is to promote academic student leadership through participation in various activities representative of the fine arts, drama, and communication all emphasizing the collegiate image.

Students selected to become charter members of the organization were freshmen who have achieved a grade point average of 3.0 or above for the Fall semester of 2013.