January Faculty Features

Carol D. Rasnic, J.D., School of Business
Rasnic, professor of employment law and business law, took a break from her Fulbright year at the National University of Ireland, Galway, to introduce her new book at a Richmond Border's Book Store signing this month. The book is titled "Northern Ireland: Can Sean and John Live in Peace? An American Legal Perspective," published by Brandylane. In a detailed narrative, Rasnic explores the reasons for Northern Ireland's so-called troubles by addressing the two primary causes of the conflict-religion and politics, as well as the source of response to the troubles-the law. She began writing the book while serving as a Fulbright distinguished professor of law at Queen's Belfast, where she experienced the moods, hopes and fears of those who have endured the atrocities.

In addition, Rasnic has served as a guest lecturer from the NUI Galway law faculty research series, and has presented lectures for the law faculty at the University of Limerick and the University College Dublin Equality Studies Center. She also has given lectures for the National Disability Authority in Dublin and the American Institute at the University of Warsaw, Poland. This semester at NUI Galway, Rasnic will teach a graduate law class in comparative disability law.

Ted Tunnell, Ph.D., College of Humanities and Sciences
Tunnell, associate professor of history, recently appeared in the two-part PBS television series "American Experience" in the program titled "Reconstruction: The Second Civil War." During the program, Tunnell talked about the myths of Reconstruction and debunked myths that the South was tortured by the North and oppressed by carpetbaggers during Reconstruction. He demonstrated this through Marshall Harvey Twitchell - a well-known carpetbagger in the post-Civil War South and Yankee officer who ventured into the most violent corner of Louisiana to try to impose order. Twitchell's story is the focus of Tunnell's 2001 book "Edge of the Sword" (Louisiana State University Press), which disproves the dated stereotype of carpetbaggers as unprincipled scoundrels.

The PBS program was the first to examine in depth one of the least understood periods in American history. Spanning 1863 to 1877, "Reconstruction" interweaved the stories of key political players in Washington - including Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson and Ulysses Grant - with the stories of ordinary people, such as Twitchell, whose lives were caught up in the turbulent struggles of the era.