Judy P. Byers

To be proclaimed as Northern Ireland Week by the City of Fairmont, the week of April 1 through 5 will feature the visit of a distinguished delegation of visitors from Northern Ireland. A series of speaking events and presentations, several of which will be open to the public, has been planned.

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the shared main campus of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College will host a special presentation in March as part of its Folk Cultural Series.

A team of Fairmont State University students traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier in December to present their comparative research tourism as part of the 2012 ARC Appalachian Teaching Project. Their project focused on the exploration of conflict and poverty in relationship to community sustainability and economic stability between Northern Ireland and North Central West Virginia through heritage tourism.

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the shared main campus of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College will launch the new “Appalachian Italian Folk Cultural Series” with a special event on Sunday, Nov. 11.

What is today Fairmont State University was first established in 1865 as the West Virginia Normal School at Fairmont, a private institution dedicated to educating teachers. Many decades and name changes later, it was the proud teaching tradition that gave birth to “Mountain Mother Goose.”

“Mountain Mother Goose” – which this summer becomes an operetta for young audiences and in the fall will become a published collection of childlore and a curriculum for public school teachers – has been a labor of the love of folklore for a distinguished group of Fairmont State faculty members.

Jingles, jangles, rhymes, The Hunkitchy Man, The Greedy Old Fat Man, Marigold and more -- you’ll find them all in “Mountain Mother Goose,” an operetta for young audiences.

The production, presented by the Fairmont State University School of Fine Arts, the Town and Gown Youth Company and the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center, will be on stage in the Wallman Hall Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, June 8 and 9, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 10. Following each performance will be a reception to meet the composer and the cast at the Folklife Center. Tickets are $12 and are available by calling (304) 367-4240.

An April event in Clarksburg will honor a prominent Italian family and raise funds to support scholarships for Fairmont State University students to participate in an exchange program with the University of Calabria in Italy.

The Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center on the campus of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College is sponsoring a study and travel abroad program in the summer of 2012 called Roads to Appalachia through Northern Ireland.

A team of Fairmont State University students traveled to Washington, D.C., earlier this month to present their research on economic sustainability in Helvetia, W.Va., through heritage tourism as part of the 2011 ARC Appalachian Teaching Project.

The Faculty Merit Foundation of West Virginia has named Dr. Gregory P. Noone of Fairmont State University as first runner-up for the 2011 Professor of the Year award. Each year the Foundation honors an outstanding faculty member at a West Virginia college or university.