Campus Life

UWF Downtown Lecture Series to present Dr. Amy Mitchell Cook

The University of West Florida College of Arts & Sciences will host the chair and associate professor of the Department of History, Dr. Amy Mitchell-Cook, as guest speaker for the upcoming UWF Downtown: A Lecture Series Honoring the Arts and Humanities event. The lecture will take place on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2014 at Heritage Hall in Seville Quarter, 130 E. Government St. in Pensacola.

Refreshments will be served at 5:30 p.m., followed by Cook’s presentation, Women of the Sea: Female Pirates, Sailors and Wives Who Set Sail, at 6 p.m. This event is free and open to the public.

Cook’s specialization in maritime history, with an emphasis on shipwreck narratives, stems from her archaeological experience of working on various shipwreck projects throughout the world, including the United States, Bermuda, Puerto Rico and West Africa.

Cook recently co-authored a chapter on the maritime history of Florida in The History of Florida, which was released at the end of October. In addition, the University of South Carolina published her manuscript, A Sea of Misadventures: Shipwreck and Survival in Early America, which examines shipwreck narratives in early America.

Cook has a B.A. in Anthropology from the University of Florida, an M.A. in Maritime Studies from East Carolina University and a Ph.D. in History from Penn State University.

Founded in 2012, UWF Downtown is a four-part lecture series hosted by the UWF College of Arts and Sciences that promotes the value of the liberal arts in contemporary life. It showcases outstanding teacher scholars who serve the community as UWF faculty, as well as scholars of national prominence who amply illustrate the essential role of the liberal arts in building and sustaining contemporary culture.