Ellen Handler Spitz, honors college professor of visual arts, recently spent several days in southern Appalachia as part of a program at the University of the South sponsored by the Yale University School of Medicine and Scholastic Books.

During her visit, Spitz spoke on “Reflections on Children’s Cultural Lives.” Spitz’s lecture was the third event in the annual Easter semester lecture series presented by Community Engaged Learning, the University of the South’s academic community engagement program. This annual series features a range of speakers from all over the world. Speakers address a variety of topics of concern for people living on the Cumberland Plateau and in surrounding communities.

Spiz was also a guest lecturer in “Child, Family, and Community Development in Rural Appalachia,” a psychology course developed out of a partnership between Sewanee’s Psychology Department and Yale School of Medicine’s Child Study Center. The purpose of the program is to help children and families in poverty-stricken Appalachia and to build community and foster a rich cultural life.

In addition to lectures, meetings, classes, Spitz also read aloud to four groups of small children in Grundy County. She read “Trumpet,” “A Birthday for Frances,” and “Miss Agatha’s Lark.”