Hollins University

Janet Crawford - The Coaching Advantage: A Leader's Game-Changing Superpower: Subtle Shifts. Extraordinary Results
2025-11-17 17:00 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space), 1327 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke,, VA, 24015, United States
Date: November 17th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space)
Description: Coaching isn’t an extra skill for leaders—it is the key to unlocking performance and building trust. In this interactive session, participants will discover how adopting a coaching mindset can transform everyday conversations into opportunities for growth, agency and empowerment. Through practice and reflection, we will learn practical techniques to listen beyond the what to the who, share reflections that shift perspectives, and ask questions that spark insight. Participants will gain skills to elevate their leadership, drive extraordinary results, and create greater ease in one’s day.
Speaker Bio: Janet Crawford is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with the International Coaching Federation, and the founder of Extra Ordinary Living—dedicated to embracing sustainable change. Prior to launching her private coaching practice, she spent 18 years in healthcare executive leadership. Janet partners with clients to maximize human potential—releasing what no longer serves them, building on existing strengths, and embracing new ways of leading, working, and living.

FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates
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Writers’ Harvest Reading
2025-12-04 19:30 - 20:30 | VAC Auditorium
Hollins faculty writers read from their work to raise money for the hungry. 100% of the proceeds will be donated directly to Feeding Southwest Virginia. Come hear exciting new work by our Hollins writers and help a very good cause at the same time! Students: $5 or a nonperishable food item; general admission: $10. Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing

Admitted Student Days
2025-12-06 13:00 - 15:30 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
[For admitted students only] Celebrate your admission to Hollins at Admitted Students Day! Explore campus, connect with future classmates, and get an inside look at student life, career pathways, and campus resources. Learn more about financial aid, student support, and the opportunities ahead as you picture yourself thriving at Hollins.
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Winter Choir Concert
2025-12-07 18:30 - 19:30 | duPont Chapel
We always pull out all the stops for this one! Join us as we draw in student musicians, children’s choir, and guest musicians to join our choirs in one last musical celebration of the year!

CANCELLED - Reimagining Medea
2025-12-08 19:00 - 20:00 | Dana Dance
Reimagining Medea written and directed by Dr. Anuradha Marwah
Performed by THEA 250

When: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED – December 8 at 7:30 pm

Where: Dana Dance

What: In the course ‘Reimagining Medea: Participatory Theatre’, which involves the making of a performance-in-the-round of Euripides’ play with student actors, we propose to investigate the proto-feminist underpinnings of the classical play for its relevance in today’s time and age. The performance is built via a series of workshops in which the actors explore modes of connecting with the audience through a deep introspection of their own responses to the mythic characters. Viewing contemporary concerns through the lens of the universal themes of tragedy, we aim at a fuller understanding of social and political issues around us and reaffirm theatre as one of the most effective workshops for democracy.

LeeRay Costa - Grounding Your Leadership in Contemplative Practice
2025-12-10 17:00 - 18:30 | Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space), 1327 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke,, VA, 24015, United States
Date: December 10th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space)
Description: Research tells us that self-awareness and relationality are critical components of effective leadership. Yet the constant change and overwhelming expectations that leaders experience daily can make embodying such qualities challenging. In this workshop we will explore how grounding your leadership in contemplative practices can increase presence, self-awareness, compassion (for self and others), connection, and resilience.
Speaker Bio: Trained as a feminist cultural anthropologist, Dr. LeeRay Costa currently serves as Executive Director of the Batten Leadership Institute, and Professor of Gender and Women’s Studies / Anthropology at Hollins University. She is co-editor of the book Contemplative Practices and Acts of Resistance in Higher Education: Narratives Toward Wholeness (Routledge, 2024). Her current interests include engaging spirituality, contemplative practices, and creative expression in the service of leadership, human flourishing, and transformative social change.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates

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Winter Student Recital
2025-12-10 19:30 - 20:30 | duPont Chapel
Join us as Hollins students and the student orchestra present a recital of music for family and friends.

Kismet Loftin-Bell - Power Moves: Navigating Priorities, People & Purpose With Strength
2026-01-13 17:00 - 18:30 | Goodwin PDR
Date: January 13th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Goodwin PDR, Moody Center, Hollins University
Note: the first 20 people to sign up will receive a free copy of the Clifton Strengths book and a code to take the assessment for free. This requires pre-registration.
Workshop Description: This is not your typical soft skills session. Power Moves helps women understand how to use their natural talents (via CliftonStrengths) to set priorities that matter, navigate tricky collaborations, and transform conflict into connection. Participants will leave with a clearer sense of direction, empowered communication tools, and a personal “Power Move Map” they can use daily.
Speaker Bio: Kismet Loftin-Bell currently serves as the Women’s Leadership Program Associate at High Point University in High Point, NC, supporting the Elizabeth Miller Strickland Women’s L.I.F.T. Fellowship—a transformative leadership development program that serves over 130 college women. She is a certified CliftonStrengths Coach, John Maxwell 360° Leader facilitator, and alumna of Hollins University.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates

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Admission Open House: Discover Hollins Day
2026-01-31 13:00 - 15:30, 2026-03-07 13:00 - 15:30, 2026-05-09 13:00 - 15:30 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Discover all that Hollins has to offer at our upcoming Admission Open House: Discover Hollins Day. Tour our beautiful campus, meet current students, and explore student life, career pathways, and campus resources. Attend info sessions on admissions, financial aid, and support services, and get your questions answered as you envision yourself at Hollins.
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Artist Talk: Edward Steffanni
2026-02-12 18:00 - 19:30 | VAC 119
Edward Steffanni is an American artist born in Ohio. He received his Master of Fine Arts in Printmaking from the Rhode Island School of Design.
In Edward’s interdisciplinary practice, he examines the relationships between queerness, concealment, nature, and spirituality using print media, ceramics, papermaking, and performance. His work has been exhibited nationally and has received awards within those exhibitions.
Join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum in hearing Edward discuss his artistic practice, particularly in relationship with his spring exhibition in the museum, Edward Steffanni: God-Shaped Hole, on view from January 29 – April 18.
Reception to follow lecture.
Image courtesy of Print Center New York. Photo by Argenis Apolinario.

Reading Series: Remica Bingham-Risher
2026-02-12 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Reading: Thursday, February 12, 2026 • 7:30 pm • Green Drawing Room, Main Building

Remica Bingham-Risher, a native of Phoenix, Arizona, is an alumna of Old Dominion University and Bennington College. She is a Cave Canem fellow and Affrilachian Poet. Among other journals, her work has been published in The New York Times, The Writer’s Chronicle, New Letters, Callaloo, and Essence. She is the author of Conversion (Lotus, 2006), winner of the Naomi Long Madgett Poetry Award; What We Ask of Flesh (Etruscan, 2013), shortlisted for the Hurston/Wright Award; and Starlight & Error (Diode, 2017), winner of the Diode Editions Book Award. Her first book of prose, Soul Culture: Black Poets, Books and Questions that Grew Me Up, was published by Beacon Press in 2022. Her book of poems along with family and historical photographs, Room Swept Home, published by Wesleyan in February 2024, won the Los Angeles Book Prize. She is currently the Director of Quality Enhancement Plan Initiatives at Old Dominion University and resides in Norfolk, VA with her husband and children.

Sponsored by: The Department of English and Creative Writing and the Jackson Poetry Fund

Artist Talk & Exhibition Opening: Dara Hartman, 2026 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence
2026-02-19 18:00 - 19:30 | VAC 119
Join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum in welcoming 2026 Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence Dara Hartman discuss her artistic practice, particularly in relationship with her exhibition in the museum on view from February 19 – May 2. Reception to follow lecture.

Dara is a full-time studio artist based in Salt Lake City, UT. She received a BFA from Virginia Tech and an MFA from Montana State University. After graduate school she moved to Washington and was an Adjunct Professor at Clark College in Vancouver, WA and at Oregon College of Art and Craft in Portland, OR. Most recently, Dara’s life has taken her to Salt Lake City, UT where she worked for 3 years as a product designer, a design team leader, and traveled to China to work with factories on model design and production. Since 2020, she has been director of Hollins’ own annual Women Working with Clay Symposium.

Writers' Virtual Winter Recharge 2026
2026-02-20 00:00 - 2026-02-22 23:59 | Virtual
Join us online for both manuscript and “write now workshops” with our acclaimed Tinker Mountain faculty! This is your opportunity to recharge your creativity, reconnect with the Tinker Mountain community of writers, and reframe your work.
The weekend begins with a social session on Friday evening and continues with workshops Saturday and Sunday, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 2 to 4 p.m. Just the right amount of time to affirm your writing and to reset for the balance of winter and spring.

Book Discussion: Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning By Vanessa Priya Daniel
2026-02-25 17:30 - 18:30 | Pilgrim Baptist Church, 1415 8th St NW, Roanoke, VA, 24016, United States
Please join us at Pilgrim Baptist Church for a discussion of the book Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning, by Vanessa Priya Daniel, who will be giving a keynote presentation at the Hollins University Leading EDJ conference on March 12. The book discussion will be facilitated by Dr. LeeRay Costa and Dr. Tiffany Hinton from Hollins University. Attendance is free and open to the public, and requires registration.

Author Bio: Vanessa Priya Daniel is an author, organizer, and award-winning leader for racial and gender justice. She has worked in social justice movements for twenty-five years as a labor and community organizer and funder. Her first book is Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, 2025). She founded and served for 17 years as executive director of Groundswell Fund, a leading funder of women of color-led grassroots community and electoral organizing. She is a recipient of the Smith College Medal, was featured by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of fifteen “Influencers” who are changing the nonprofit world, and was recognized by Inside Philanthropy as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy.” Daniel has written for The New York Times and other publications.

We are grateful to our co-sponsors for this event: Roanoke Women’s Foundation, Junior League of Roanoke Valley, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Delta Theta Sigma.

Guest Speaker Panel: Richard Conway & Rachel Fugate
2026-02-26 18:00 - 19:30 | VAC 119
Join the Eleanor D. Wilson Museum’s guest speakers Richard Conway, PhD, and Rachel Fugate, M.A., as they discuss their research work in relation to the exhibition Cultivating History: Food, Crops, and Art on loan from the VMFA from January 29 – March 21. Reception to follow panel.

Richard Conway received a PhD from Tulane University. A historian of colonial Latin America, his research interests include the social and environmental history of Mexico. He teaches courses including: Early Latin America, the History of Mexico, and Indigenous Societies in Latin America. He has published articles in several journals, including The Americas, Colonial Latin American Review, and Ethnohistory, and his book, Islands in the Lake: Environment and Ethnohistory in Xochimilco, New Spain was published by Cambridge University Press in 2021. He also serves as the book review editor of Ethnohistory.

Rachel Fugate is Exhibitions Registrar at Delaware Art Museum. She joined DelArt from Lehigh University Art Galleries where she was the Collections Manager and Registrar. Previously she was the Collections Curator at the DeVos Art Museum of Northern Michigan University. Rachel holds an MA in Art History from Syracuse University where she focused on British art of the long eighteenth century.

Reading Series: drea brown
2026-02-26 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Reading: Thursday, February 26, 2026 • 7:30 pm • Green Drawing Room, Main Building

drea brown is a Hollins alumna, queer Black feminist poet-scholar whose writing has appeared in journals and anthologies such as Stand Our Ground: Poems for Marissa Alexander and Trayvon Martin, Smithsonian Magazine, Southern Indiana Review, Bellingham Review, and About Place Journal. drea is the author of dear girl: a reckoning, winner of the Gold Line Press 2014 chapbook prize, and co-editor of Teaching Black: The Craft of Teaching on Black Life and Literature (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021). Their newly released monograph Conjuring the Haint: The Haunting Poetics of Black Women (University Press of Mississippi, 2025), explores the role of haunting in Black women’s literature and lived experiences.

Sponsored by: The Department of English and Creative Writing and the Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Fund

Admitted Student Day
2026-03-07 13:00 - 15:30 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States

MFA Thesis Readings
2026-03-10 18:30 - 19:30, 2026-03-17 18:30 - 19:30, 2026-04-07 18:30 - 19:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Second year MFA in Creative Writing students will read from their work. Each night will consist of three or four students reading for fifteen minutes in a variety of genres. There will be a small reception following each reading on the Porches of Main. Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing

Vanessa Priya Daniel - Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning & How We Can Show Up for Them
2026-03-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
Date: March 12th
Time: TBD
Location: Keynote presentation – Talmadge Hall, Hollins University; Book Signing following presentation – Lewis Reading Room, Wyndham Robertson Library, Hollins University
Joint event: Leading EDJ and BLI Leading Together series
Description: In this keynote presentation, Vanessa Priya Daniel, author of Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, 2025) will share the superpowers women of color leaders use to create winning strategies that drive meaningful change for all. She will also address how we remove the roadblocks that make leadership treacherous for women of color. Daniel’s presentation draws upon 25+ years of experience as an organizer, founder, and funder of over 100 women of color-led organizations. Additionally, her presentation is informed by over 45 interviews she conducted with many of the best and brightest women of color leaders in U.S. social justice movements and philanthropy, while completing her new book.
Speaker Bio: Vanessa Priya Daniel is an author, organizer, and award-winning leader for racial and gender justice. She has worked in social justice movements for twenty-five years as a labor and community organizer and funder. Her first book is Unrig the Game: What Women of Color Can Teach Everyone About Winning (Random House, 2025). She founded and served for 17 years as executive director of Groundswell Fund, a leading funder of women of color-led grassroots community and electoral organizing. She is a recipient of the Smith College Medal, was featured by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as one of fifteen “Influencers” who are changing the nonprofit world, and was recognized by Inside Philanthropy as one of the “Top 100 Most Powerful Players in Philanthropy.” Daniel has written for The New York Times and other publications.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates
We are grateful to our co-sponsors for this event: Roanoke Women’s Foundation, Junior League of Roanoke Valley, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and Delta Theta Sigma.

Register Today

She Kills Monsters
2026-04-09 00:00 - 2026-04-11 23:59 | Hollins Theatre
She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen, directed by E.B. Smith

When: April 9-11 at 7:30 pm and April 11 at 2 pm

Where: Hollins Theatre Main Stage

What: She Kills Monsters tells the story of Agnes Evans as she leaves her childhood home in Ohio following the death of her teenage sister, Tilly. When Agnes finds Tilly’s Dungeons & Dragons notebook, however, she finds herself catapulted into a journey of discovery and action-packed adventure in the imaginary world that was her sister’s refuge. In this high-octane dramatic comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and 90s pop culture, acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.

Content Warnings: Strong language

Admission: $10 general admission. $5 for non-Hollins students. FREE for Hollins students, faculty, and staff. Tickets are not yet available. Email boxoffice@hollins.edu to reserve complimentary tickets.

“She Kills Monsters” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

64th Annual Lex Allen Literary Festival 2026
2026-04-11 09:00 - 16:00 | VAC Auditorium
Readers: Julian Talamantez Brolaski, Rajia Hassib, and Nina MacLaughlin

Julian Talamantez Brolaski (it / xe / them) is a poet and country singer, the author of Of Mongrelitude (Wave Books, 2017), Advice for Lovers (City Lights, 2012), and gowanus atropolis (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2011). Julian is a 2023 Bagley Wright lecturer, a 2021 Pew Foundation Fellow, and the recipient of the 2020 Cy Twombly Award for Poetry. Its poems were recently included in When the Light of the World was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry (2020) and We Want It All: An Anthology of Radical Trans Poetics (Nightboat, 2020). With its band Juan & the Pines, it released an EP Glittering Forest in 2019; Julian’s first full-length album It’s Okay Honey came out in August 2023.

Rajia Hassib was born and raised in Egypt and moved to the United States when she was twenty-three. Her first novel, In the Language of Miracles, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice and received an honorable mention from the Arab American Book Awards. She holds an MA in Creative Writing from Marshall University, and she has written for The New York Times Book Review and The New Yorker online. She lives in West Virginia with her husband and two children.

Nina MacLaughlin is the author of Wake, Siren: Ovid Resung (FSG/FSG Originals), a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Massachusetts Book Award, as well as Summer Solstice and Winter Solstice (Black Sparrow), winner of the Massachusetts Book Award. Her first book was the acclaimed memoir Hammer Head: The Making of a Carpenter (W.W. Norton), a finalist for the New England Book Award. Formerly an editor at the Boston Phoenix, she worked for nine years as a carpenter, and is now a books columnist for the Boston Globe. Her work has appeared on or in The Paris Review Daily, The Virginia Quarterly Review, n+1, The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, Agni, American Short Fiction, the Los Angeles Review of Books, Meatpaper, and elsewhere. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Sponsored by the Lex Allen Literary Endowment, Department of English and Creative Writing, and the Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Fund

Jeanine Stewart - AI Meets Human Intelligence: Navigating the Multi-Cognitive Workplace
2026-04-20 17:00 - 18:30 | Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space), 1327 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke,, VA, 24015, United States
Date: April 20th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30 PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Grandin CoLab (Event Space)
Description: As managers and executives integrate AI tools into workplaces with a goal of boosting performance, they’re discovering unexpected challenges where artificial intelligence meets human cognition. This intersection creates new forms of workplace stress and requires fresh approaches to team development. Drawing on neuroscience research and applied psychology, we will consider some practical approaches for supporting leaders and their teams as organizations navigate this dynamic technological transformation.
Speaker Bio: Jeanine Stewart is a neuroscientist, executive coach, and former C-level executive who specializes in the intersection of AI, neuroscience, and leadership. She works with executives at major global organizations to help them master adaptive leadership in environments where human and artificial intelligence must collaborate effectively. Dr. Stewart has developed the NeuroMighty™ framework, which focuses on how human brains work in synchrony with one another and how to build core brain strengths that optimize team performance.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates

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Reading Series: Thomas J. Anderson III
2026-04-23 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
Reading: Thursday, April 23, 2026 • 7:30 pm • Green Drawing Room, Main Building

Professor T.J. Anderson III was born in Guthrie, Oklahoma, and is a poet and musician. He is the author of several works, including t/here it is (Omnidawn Press, 2023), Devonte Travels the Sorry Route (Omnidawn Press, 2019), Cairo Workbook (Willow Books, 2014), River to Cross (The Backwaters Press, 2009), Notes to Make the Sound Come Right: Four Innovators of Jazz Poetry (University of Arkansas Press, 2004), Blood Octave (Flat Five Recordings, 2006), and the chapbook At Last Round Up (lift books, 1996). A former Fulbright Scholar at Cairo University, Anderson currently resides in Roanoke, Virginia. He began teaching at Hollins University in 1998 and celebrates his retirement at the end of this year.

Sponsored by: The Department of English and Creative Writing

Farewell Reading – The Last Tango
2026-05-07 19:30 - 20:30 | Green Drawing Room, Main
An open reading by Hollins seniors and graduating Creative Writing MFA students. One last chance to hear our favorite student writers read before they depart. Note to readers: readings should be brief (i.e., 1-2 pages of poetry or 1-2 pages of prose). Readers will sign up to read prior to the event. Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing

Abrina Schnurman: Exploring the Leader-Follower Dynamic for Purpose-Driven Results
2026-05-11 17:00 - 18:30 | Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space), 1327 Grandin Rd SW, Roanoke,, VA, 24015, United States
Date: May 11th
Time: 5:00 PM-6:30 PM

5:00 PM: Networking
5:30 PM-6:30 PM: Speaker/Workshop

Location: Grandin CoLab (CoLaboration Space)
Description: While traditional leadership discourse has centered on leadership style or capacity, followers play a significant role in co-creating culture and outcomes. This talk adds to the leadership development toolkit by examining the dynamic intersection of leaders and followership as a framework for cultivating purpose-driven organizations and enhancing collective engagement.
Speaker Bio: Abrina Schnurman has been a core faculty member of the Batten Leadership Institute at Hollins University since 2004, where she teaches courses in leadership studies. She holds Executive Certificates in Leadership and Management from Harvard and the University of Virginia. She is also a licensed professional counselor.
FREE to the public. Registration is required. Register for any Leading Together Series Dates

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Commencement 2026
2026-05-17 10:00 - 12:00 | Berglund Center, 710 Williamson Rd NE, Roanoke, 24016, United States
More information regarding the comprehensive schedule for Commencement Weekend, including the featured speaker, will be provided in early March.
