Winchester Pride Celebration
Every year we invite influential and successful individuals, who have a background in the LGBTQ+ community, to come speak and share the wisdom, stories and advice to the audience.
Nick Powers -
In coordination with the new exhibition 123—I love you:
Queer Life at Glen Burnie, this illustrated presentation with Curator of Collections Nick Powers will introduce the MSV campus as a site of queer history. Learn more about the lives of museum founder Julian Wood Glass Jr. and his romantic partners, how they developed the Glen Burnie House and surrounding formal gardens through a queer lens, and the unique stories behind some of the fascinating objects from the Glen Burnie Queer Studies Collection currently on view in 123—I love you.
Mayor John David Smith, Jr. –
Mayor of Winchester & Local Restaurant Owner
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Mr. Smith is owner and partner of Water Street Kitchen and Village Square Restaurant & V2 Bar, both on the Loudoun Street Mall. Mr. Smith has been very involved in the community since investing in Old Town Winchester in 2003 serving on the Planning Commission from 2010-2016 and the Old Town Development Board (OTDB) from 2004-2010. Mr. Smith was chairman of the OTDB from 2008-2010. He also served as a member of the Winchester Parking Authority from 2007-2008. Mr. Smith graduated from Charleston High School in Charleston, WV and attended Marshall University in Huntington, WV and the University of the District of Columbia.
Tracy Fitzsimmons
Shenandoah University President
Tracy Fitzsimmons, Ph.D., became Shenandoah University’s 16th president on July 1, 2008. She is the institution’s first female president since its founding in 1875. She came to Shenandoah in 2001, as dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, became vice president for Academic Affairs in 2002 and was named senior vice president in 2006. She holds a faculty appointment as professor of political science and still teaches a course each year. Previously, Dr. Fitzsimmons was a tenured faculty member and faculty leader at the University of Redlands in Redlands, CA.
As president of Shenandoah University, she leads an institution of 4,100 students, and 900 faculty and staff at its 129-acre site in Winchester, Va., and sites in Loudoun, Fairfax, and Clarke Counties, Va.
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