Hollins University

Summer Term Ends
2024-07-26 00:00 - 23:59 (America/New_York)

No Shame Theatre
2024-07-26 23:00 - 2024-07-27 00:30 | Hollins Theatre
No Shame Theatre is an experiential performance lab where writers, performers and audience are constantly changing roles. Anything can happen and usually does in this late night venue for original work. We take the first 15 pieces to walk in the door and there are only three rules: pieces must be original (no copyright violations), short (five minutes or less), and not break anything (including the law). Inside those rules you can do pretty much anything you’re interested in trying in front of a live audience–plays, monologues, songs, dance, poetry, mime, juggling, comedy, tragedy, Improvisation, dada, magic–we’ve even seen people do floral arrangements! Pieces are accepted starting at 10 pm, doors open at 10:30 pm, and the show starts at 11 pm, running on average an hour and a half.

Opening Convocation
2024-09-03 16:30 - 17:30 | duPont Chapel
Hollins officially launches the 2024-25 academic year with Opening Convocation on Tuesday, September 3, at 4:30 p.m., in duPont Chapel. We will welcome new students into the campus community and seniors will process in their robes for the first time. Immediately following Opening Convocation, seniors will participate in the annual tradition of taking their first official steps onto Front Quad.

Fall Classes Begin
2024-09-04 00:00 - 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States

Hollins Music Faculty Showcase
2024-09-08 15:00 - 16:00 | duPont Chapel
Hollins music faculty will present a showcase concert featuring classical, popular, and theatrical selections. Come and see what our excellent musicians are capable of!

Eboo Patel: "Building Bridges Across Difference"
2024-09-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
Building and maintaining a participatory, democratic society involves developing strategies for talking with and listening to people who don’t always share our perspectives and life experiences. Dr. Eboo Patel, author, speaker, educator, and founder of the organization Interfaith America will offer his insights about democracy, pluralism, and faith, and discuss our shared responsibility of building bridges across difference.

“Building Bridges Across Difference” is part of the Hollins Distinguished Speaker Series. A reception and book signing will follow in the Botetourt Reading Room (relocated from the Green Drawing Room in Main). The event is free and open to the public. Seating will be limited.

Helen Phillips Reading and Lecture
2024-09-19 20:15 - 21:30 | Hollins Room, Wyndham Robertson Library, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Helen Phillips is the author of six books, including the novel The Need (Simon & Schuster, 2019; Chatto & Windus, 2019), which was long-listed for the National Book Award and named a New York Times Notable Book of 2019. Her latest novel, HUM, was published in August 2024 by Simon & Schuster/Marysue Rucci Books.

Phillips’ short story collection Some Possible Solutions (Henry Holt, 2016) received the 2017 John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her novel The Beautiful Bureaucrat (Henry Holt, 2015), a New York Times Notable Book of 2015, was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Her collection And Yet They Were Happy (Leapfrog Press, 2011) was named a notable collection by The Story Prize and was re-released in 2023. She is also the author of the children’s eco-adventure book Here Where the Sunbeams Are Green (Delacorte Press, 2012).

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

Admission Open House
2024-09-21 00:00 - 23:59, 2024-10-26 00:00 - 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Hollins invites current high school students to attend this one-day open house to learn more about our academic programs, unparalleled leadership training, extensive internship program, and study away. You’ll tour our beautiful campus, meet current students, and discover what your future could look like at Hollins.

Register to attend here: https://shorturl.at/9Sv4y.

Sarah Juliet Lauro Reading and Lecture
2024-10-03 19:30 - 21:00 | Hollins Room, Wyndham Robertson Library, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States
Sarah Juliet Lauro, Ph.D., is assistant professor of hemispheric literature at the University of Tampa. She has written widely on zombies in literature and film, but her new work focuses on commemorations of slave rebellion in various forms.

Lauro’s first book, The Transatlantic Zombie: Slavery, Rebellion, and Living Death (2015) showcases her expertise in both postcolonial literature of the Western hemisphere and horror film. She followed this with the publication of an edited volume, Zombie Theory: A Reader (2018), and the slim book Kill the Overseer! The Gamification of Slave Revolt (2020). Lauro enjoys collaborative scholarship and has edited collections both for book publication and for special issues of journals. She has also done some writing for magazines and online outlets, most recently for Art Papers and Monument Lab Bulletin.

Lauro received the 2015 Tyler Rigg award for the year’s best essay in the international journal Disability Studies Quarterly.

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

Opera Roanoke Young Artists Preview
2024-10-06 15:00 - 16:30 | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
The talented young artists of Opera Roanoke will present works from the upcoming season.

Violin Concerti of Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky
2024-10-13 15:00 - 17:00 | Talmadge Recital Hall, Bradley
Kevin Matheson on violin and Melia Garber on piano will present two violin concerti in full. Don’t miss this chance to hear these works from great masters beautifully performed!

Fall Break
2024-10-17 00:00 - 2024-10-18 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States

Nathan Osorio Reading and Lecture
2024-10-24 19:30 - 21:00
Nathan Xavier Osorio won the 2024 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize for his collection Querida. Selected by poet Shara McCallum, his debut collection will be published by The University of Pittsburgh Press in September 2024.

Osorio’s chapbook, The Last Town Before the Mojave, was selected by Oliver de la Paz for the Poetry Society of America’s 2021 Chapbook Fellowship. His poetry, translations, and essays have been featured or are forthcoming in BOMB, The Offing, Boston Review, Public Books, Notre Dame Review, the New Museum of Contemporary Art, and elsewhere. He has received fellowships from the Fine Arts Work Center, the Kenyon Review, and Poetry Foundation.

Osorio is currently a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Irvine. He conducts critical and creative research that explores the work of contemporary Latinx poets and artists who use multimodal decolonial poetics to unsettle western forms and illuminate the complexities of life within coloniality.

Sponsored by the Department of English and Creative Writing, the Department of Modern Languages, and the Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Fund.

Family Weekend 2024
2024-11-01 00:00 - 2024-11-03 23:59
Parents and family members are invited to join our Hollins student body for a weekend filled with organized activities running from Friday afternoon through Sunday morning! We hope to have you join us! Schedule coming soon.

Hollins Family Weekend 2024 Schedule (PDF)

Fall VCO Concert
2024-11-17 15:00 - 17:00 | duPont Chapel
The Valley Chamber Orchestra will offer their fall concert, featuring Modest Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an Exhibition” and a movement of Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto with Mackenzie Alderson ’25.

Event flyer: 111724_VCO Concert

Distinguished Speaker Series: Ailey School Student Performance Group
2024-11-20 19:00 - 20:30 | Hollins Theatre
THEATRE SEATING IS SOLD OUT! All Tickets will now be for a live video feed.
The Ailey School honors the vision of Alvin Ailey, founder of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, by providing the best professional dance education with a focus on multidisciplinary training.

Dancers from the Ailey School will offer a performance and a keynote address on the history of the Ailey company, their relationship with college campuses and diversity, and the importance of teaching and the arts. The dancers come from all corners of the world to train and perfect their craft in the Ailey style of dance which incorporates multiple techniques including ballet, Horton, Graham-based modern, jazz, West African, Dunham technique, and hip hop. Led by Rehearsal Director Freddie Moore, the dancers are given the opportunity to share Mr. Ailey’s vision through valuable professional performance experience. This special event is part of the Hollins Distinguished Speaker Series.
Admission is free and open to the public, but seating is limited, and tickets are required (click here to reserve your space). Once tickets in the theatre are sold out, we will offer tickets to overflow seating in another location, with a video feed from the event in the theatre.

Thanksgiving Recess
2024-11-25 00:00 - 2024-11-29 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States

Winter Concert
2024-12-08 18:30 - 19:30 | duPont Chapel
The Hollins Choirs will present their holiday concert, accompanied by the student orchestra, guest musicians, and local children in choir. Featuring a multi-lingual performance of “Silent Night” by candlelight. Please join us and let’s celebrate the holidays together!

Winter Break Begins
2024-12-19 00:00 - 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States

Short Term Begins
2025-01-06 00:00 - 23:59 | Hollins University Campus, 7916 Williamson Road, Roanoke, VA, 24020, United States

Trivia Night
2025-01-13 00:00 - 23:59 | Goodwin PDR
Join us for an exciting evening of trivia action! This dynamic competition features three engaging rounds where your knowledge will be put to the test. Whether you’re a trivia enthusiast or just looking for some fun, you can participate solo or team up with friends to tackle challenging questions across various categories.
Current Hollins undergraduate students are welcome to participate, and the best part? There’s no need to register in advance – just show up ready to play! For those interested in forming teams, you can organize your group beforehand or find teammates when you arrive. This is a perfect opportunity to showcase your knowledge, meet fellow students, and enjoy some friendly competition.

Freshman Class Meeting: Island Princess Edition
2025-01-15 19:00 - 21:00 | VAC Auditorium
Come for information on the happenings and upcoming plans of the freshman class, and stay for Barbie Island Princess themed activities.

What’s Your Story? Creating a Rule of Life (That You Actually Want to Follow)
2025-01-16 12:00 - 13:30 | Janney Lounge, Moody
This workshop focuses on developing a spiritual practice through creating a “Rule of Life” and walks participants through spiritual goal-setting in an easy-to-understand and meaningful way. Lunch is provided (pizza with GF and halal options).

The target audience is anyone interested in developing a spiritual practice.

Where Love Leads: Love as a Leadership Strategy
2025-01-16 17:00 - 18:30 | Ballator Gallery, Moody Center
The first in the Batten Leadership Institute‘s “Leading Together” speaker series will explore why and how love can be an effective leadership strategy and how to apply that strategy in your daily life. Hollins University President Mary Dana Hinton extols that education and the liberal arts, in particular, demand the use of love as a leadership strategy.
The event will begin with a networking reception at 5 p.m., the presentation at 5:30 p.m., and a Q&A beginning at approximately 6 p.m.
Dr. Hinton is the thirteenth president of Hollins University. An accomplished higher education leader, she currently serves as the president of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities board of directors. She is the author of Leading from the Margins: College Leadership from Unexpected Places.
The Leading Together speaker series seeks to facilitate learning and build community around the practice of leadership in Southwest Virginia. Sponsored by the Hollins Batten Leadership Institute and the William R. Kenan Jr. Leadership Endowment Fund, the speaker series is free and open to the public.

Hollins Playwright's Lab is thrilled to present our 2025 Winter Festival of New Works!
2025-01-18 19:30 - 21:30 | Hollins Theatre
FRIEDA
Written by ArLynn Parker. Directed by Vanna Richardson.

“The family I’d been tricked into choosing was never going to accept me.”

This one-act play revolves around a young woman wandering through a near-lifeless forest she wants to escape. As she speculates directly to the audience about what brought her to this place, she reveals herself to be the stepmother to a pair of challenging children. The expectations of what she imagined her life to be and what she was saddled with collide as she recounts her story. Taking place in the woods in which she lost her way, details of her childhood, loveless marriage, and the desperate hunger that drove her to make the most important decision of her life become clear. Ultimately wrestling with questions of what it means to be a “chosen family,” she attempts to set the record straight.

NUPTIAL MASS
Written by Ben Abbott. Directed by David Veatch.
Jeff has been looking forward to getting married his whole life. But when his fiancée doesn’t show up at the church on the morning of the wedding, he scrambles to figure out where she is and why. What will it take for the wedding to go forward as planned? Is he prepared for the secrets that will come to light as he tries?

Content warning: Nuptial Mass contains queer themes, religious themes, and simulated, comical drug use.

Both performances will take place on the Hollins Theatre’s main stage. $10 general admission. FREE for Hollins students, faculty, and staff.

Inauguration Watch Party and MLK Day Reflection
2025-01-20 10:00 - 14:00 | VAC 119
The Inauguration Watch Party and MLK Day Reflection event creates a thoughtful pairing that bridges two significant moments in American civic life. The presidential inauguration represents the peaceful transfer of power and continuation of democratic traditions, while MLK Day honors Dr. King’s profound impact on civil rights and social justice in America.
Holding these observances on the same day in January offers a chance to explore their interconnected themes:

Dr. King’s work was fundamentally about expanding democratic participation and ensuring all Americans could fully engage in civic life;
The inauguration ceremony itself embodies democratic principles Dr. King fought to protect and extend to all citizens;
Both occasions invite reflection on the ongoing work of strengthening democracy and advancing equal rights.

This event is intended for current Hollins students. Interested faculty and staff are also welcome.

Cozy Journaling Workshop
2025-01-21 14:00 - 15:00 | Gordh Room (Chapel)
This workshop walks participants through different styles of journaling as well as the connection between wellness and a journaling practice. Participants will be equipped with templates that suit their journaling style and learn about the neuroscience behind journaling.

DIY Paint by Number
2025-01-21 16:00 - 17:30 | RAT
Join Devon and Alison and paint your very own Paint-by-Numbers kit! Kits are limited, so please sign up outside Megan’s office to secure yours. For current Hollins students, please sign up outside Megan’s office to secure your kit.

Intramural Pickleball
2025-01-23 16:00 - 18:00 | Auxiliary Gym
Come play pickleball! It is open to all faculty, staff, and students. It is also open gym style, so no sign-up is necessary.
