A celebration of faculty research and creativity will take place on Wednesday, October 7, beginning at 3:30 p.m. with a talk by Wally Lamb, associate professor of English.

The celebration, including the talk and the reception following, is open to the entire University community. Lamb's talk will be "Constructing A Novel Through Research, Trial and Error, and Serendipity.".

The celebration, planned by a committee headed by Robert V. Smith, vice provost for research and graduate education and dean of the Graduate School, will feature Lamb's talk at 3:30 p.m. in the Konover Auditorium of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center. A reception will follow in the 24-hour study lounge of the Homer Babbidge Library, from 4:30 to 6 p.m.

"It is indeed fitting to honor the creativity, research, and publication of members of the faculty," says Chancellor Mark A. Emmert. "In acknowledging the extent and quality of papers and books written and published, works of art created, grants obtained, research postered, awards received et al., we not only display and celebrate our academic accomplishments, we also advance community awareness and understanding of them.

"Our planning committee members are excited about the expanded nature of this year's celebration," he says. "We hope our faculty colleagues will also be enthused about this opportunity to celebrate UConn's contributions to research, scholarship and creative activities -- contributions that advance the intellectual, cultural and economic aspects of our world community."

The celebration will include a display of posters from Biology Central Services, reprints, and books displayed by the UConn Coop.

Lamb, author of two bestsellers, She's Come Undone, his first novel, and I Know This Much Is True, released earlier this year, was a visiting faculty member here last year and joined the full-time faculty this fall to head the creative writing program.

He is a former teacher of the year at Norwich Free Academy.

A consultant to David Geffen Pictures/Warner Brothers for She's Come Undone, Lamb is also at work on a third novel, Sire of Sorrow, forthcoming from Harper Collins/ReganBooks.

Both his novels have been featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

He has received numerous awards, including a National Endowment for the Arts Creative Writing Fellowship and the Pushcart Prize in Fiction. He has been a National Medal of the Arts nominee, and a finalist in the Los Angeles Times Book Award for Best First Novel of the Year. Lamb's first novel, She's Come Undone, was named a Notable Book the Year by The New York Times Review of Books, and a Top Ten Book of the Year by People magazine.

At the University, he has revived the Long River Review, the annual publication for creative writing students.

Lamb received his bachelor's degree from UConn in 1972 and his master's from the University in 1977. He has an M.F.A. in writing from Vermont College.

Karen A. Grava