Ayers will speak at Oct. 26 Convocation

Edward L. Ayers, the new dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, will deliver the University’s annual Fall Convocation address on Oct. 26. The ceremony will begin at 2 p.m. on the Lawn.

Ayers, a nationally known expert in Southern history and Civil War, joined the faculty in 1980 after earning an undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee and master’s and doctoral degrees at Yale University. He is a co-founder of the Virginia Center for Digital History at U.Va., along with current center director William G. Thomas. Among Ayers’ best-known works is the acclaimed Web project, “Valley of the Shadow: Two Communities in the American Civil War,” a comprehensive examination of everyday life before and during the Civil War in two small communities on either side of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Ayers chaired the U.Va. Faculty Senate from 1998 to 1999, leading a major discussion of the role and impact of technology in academic life.