Staff And Faculty Honored For Long Years Of Service To Washington College

Chestertown, MD, December 15, 2004 — In an annual holiday tradition, the President's Office of Washington College hosted a luncheon to recognize staff and faculty members for their years of service and dedication to the College. The reception was held December 10 in the Hynson Lounge. This year marks milestones for 32 outstanding Washington College employees.

Honored for 10 years of service were: Robert Janega, Baker, Dining Services; Loretta Lodge, Assistant to Senior Vice President for Finance and Management; Bryan Matthews, Director of Athletics; Toni May, Baker, Dining Services; and Kenneth Sutton, Assistant Director for Administrative Computing.

Honored for 15 years of service were: Susan Mary Brown, Turf Specialist; Dale Daigle, Associate Professor of Drama; Dawn Nordhoff, Clinical Director; Satinder Sidhu, Associate Professor of Physics; and Sara Smith, Switchboard Manager.

Honored for 20 years of service were: Phyllis Brown, Coordinator of Information Services, Admissions; Linda Cades, Director of Career Development; Judith Hymes, Director of Technical Services, Miller Library; Marcia Landskroener, Associate Director of College Relations; Juan Lin, Professor of Physics; Jerome Lindsey, Associate Supervisor of The Cove; Wendy Morrison, Programmer; Virginia Pyle, Housekeeping, Buildings & Grounds; Dorothy Robbins, Transportation Secretary, Buildings & Grounds; Terrence Scout, Professor of Business Management; Ethel Squares, Housekeeping, Buildings & Grounds; and John Wagner, Director of Waterfront Activities.

Honored for 25 years of service were: Joseph Cathers, Assistant Director of Physical Plant; Allison Miller, Senior Associate Director of Admissions; Elizabeth Parcell, Lecturer in Music; and George Spilich, Professor of Psychology.

Honored for 30 years of service were: Bonnie Fisher, Director of Counseling Center; and Doris Oakley, Benefits Administrator.

Honored for 35 years of service were: Christine Pabon, Associate Professor of French; George Shivers, Professor of Spanish; and Nancy Toy, Assistant Director of Student Aid.

Louis Saunders, Maintenance Mechanic with Buildings & Grounds, received special recognition for 40 years of service to the College.

“I applaud and sincerely appreciate their hard work and ongoing dedication on behalf of the College,” said Baird Tipson, President of the College. “All have contributed—each in his or her own unique but significant way—to making Washington College one of the nation's premier liberal arts colleges.”

New Book Examines Ongoing Conflict Between The Ideals Of Public Safety And Civil Liberties

Chestertown, MD, December 14, 2004 — John B. Taylor, Ph.D., Washington College's Louis L. Goldstein Professor of Public Affairs and a specialist on American constitutional law and history, has released a new book, Right to Counsel and Privilege against Self-Incrimination: Rights and Liberties under the Law, as part of the “America's Freedoms” series from ABC-CLIO publishers. Right to Counsel and Privilege against Self-Incrimination analyzes these two complementary rights of the accused in the context of their interpretation by the U.S. Supreme Court and the ongoing debate over their role in the criminal justice system.

In 1963, Ernesto Miranda, a poor Mexican immigrant, was arrested in Phoenix, Arizona, for kidnapping and rape. After a two-hour interrogation resulting in a confession, Miranda was convicted and sentenced to 60 years in prison, but the police had never informed him of his right to counsel and his right not to incriminate himself. Miranda argued that his conviction should be overturned because his confession should not have been admitted as evidence—and the Supreme Court agreed. That decision aroused a storm of controversy and forged a new link between two basic rights. Right to Counsel and Privilege against Self-Incrimination explores the origins, historical development, current status, and future of these two rights intended to protect persons accused of crimes.

“The right to counsel and privilege against self-incrimination are linked in important ways,” writes Taylor. “These are the two rights that relate most centrally to the manner in which a criminal defendant presents himself or herself and the case to police, judge, and jury; the rights that affect most directly the defendant's ability to say effectively the things he or she wishes to say and to decline to say the things he or she does not wish to say. These rights are fundamental today, but there was a time in Anglo-American legal history when the problem was not simply that they could be violated, but that they did not exist at all.”

Two case studies presented by Taylor—Powell v. Alabama and Brown v. Mississippi—reveal the brutal injustices suffered by Southern blacks in the 1930s and explain how the Supreme Court made landmark decisions that began to expand the coverage of the right to counsel and the privilege against self-incrimination. After a brief review of the English and colonial origins of these rights, Taylor canvasses all of the major cases in their evolution, with particular focus given to the revolutionary cases of the 20th century that produced a convergence of these rights in the famous case of Miranda v. Arizona (1966). The work also examines subsequent cases and discusses issues that lie ahead, including those related to the war on terror, the availability and cost of effective counsel—especially for defendants in capital cases—and the continuing controversy over whether the Miranda decision has helped suspects or hindered police.

For students of the Constitution and civil liberties, Right to Counsel and Privilege against Self-Incrimination features a chronology of cases, a glossary of entries on key individuals and cases, excerpts from seminal Supreme Court decisions, and an extensive annotated bibliography.

Taylor is the chair of the Department of Political Science at Washington College, where he teaches courses on American government, political thought, constitutional law, civil liberties, and criminal justice, and advises pre-law students. He received his doctorate from Princeton University and has taught at the college since 1972.

Vietnamese And Algerian Francophone Literature Topic Of Washington College Professor's New Book

Chestertown, MD, December 3, 2004 — Pamela Pears, assistant professor of French at Washington College, has just released her new work, Remnants of Empire in Algeria and Vietnam: Women, Words, and War, published by Lexington Books this November. InRemnants of Empire, Pears proposes a new approach to francophone studies that employs postcolonial theory, along with gender and feminist inquiries, to emphasize the connections between two geographically and culturally-separated postcolonial francophone literatures.

“The purpose of this book is to introduce those who may not be aware of it to francophone literature from Algeria and Vietnam, especially that written by women,” Pears said. “I also wanted to demonstrate the links between the two former French colonies to show how, ultimately, they are powerful reminders of a shared colonial heritage. Based on my research, I've found that we can gain a much greater understanding of the feminine postcolonial subject through a comparative approach such as this.”

Pears studied four novels—Yamina Mechakra's La Grotte éclatée, Ly Thu Ho's Le Mirage de la paix, Malika Mokeddem's L'Interdite, and Kim Lefèvre's Retour la saison des pluies—that illustrate the profound transformation of women's roles in Algeria and Vietnam during and following the presence of French colonialism. These four authors never attempt to unfold a clear and single definition of the postcolonial female subject, but, instead, explore the various subjective possibilities, expand on them, and ultimately place them in question. Although the differences between Algeria and Vietnam are striking, it is through their connections to one another that we can foreground postcolonial gender issues, according to Pears. Whereas geographical boundaries and official nationalities serve as divisive classifications, the links between the works lead us to a much more engaging dialogue and understanding of postcolonial Francophone literature.

“Pamela Pears has written a compelling study,” said Mildred Mortimer, professor of French and Francophone Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder. “She argues convincingly that the experience of French colonialism, the changing role of women in society, and the narrative technique of fragmentation link the writings of Algerian novelists, Yamina Mechakra and Malika Mokeddem to Vietnamese writers Ly Thu Ho and Kim Lefèvre. As Pears aptly notes, women, words, and war are the vestiges of the colonial empire that France secured in the nineteenth century and lost in the twentieth. Cultural influences survive political and military struggles.”

A graduate of Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Pears holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pittsburgh and has taught French language and literature at Washington College since 2001.

Lexington Books, a division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, publishes specialized scholarship that contributes to the most current debates in the humanities and social sciences. From political theory, history, international studies, and philosophy to innovative journals and book series in fields such as comparative political theory, practical philosophy, and Japanese studies, Lexington provides a forum for important new work by emerging and established scholars.

Washington College Announces Spring 2005 Graduate Courses In English, History And Psychology

Chestertown, MD, December 3, 2004 — Students, educators and mental healthcare professionals are invited to register for Spring 2005 graduate courses at Washington College. The College offers master's degree programs in English, history and psychology, as well as graduate courses in education that can help to meet requirements for advanced professional certifications. The regular graduate term begins January 24-27 and ends the week of May 2-5. HIS 598-12 has been specially scheduled to run over the course of six Saturdays—January 8 and 29, February 26, March 12, April 9 and 23, and May 7.

Education courses are scheduled on an ongoing basis at a number of Maryland locations. Information is available at www.RegionalTrainingCenter.org.

The following graduate courses will be offered during the Spring 2005 semester:

ENG 501-10 17th Century British Literature, Tuesday, 6:30-9:00 p.m.
ENG 597-10 Special Topic: The Irish Novel, Monday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
HIS 521-10 Ancient Rome, Wednesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
HIS 598-10 Special Topic: U.S. Diplomatic History 1776-1823, Thursday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
HIS 598-11 Special Topic: Tolerance and Persecution in the Middle Ages, Monday, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
HIS 598-12 Special Topic: Teaching and Learning U.S. History, Saturday, 9:00 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
(Please note special scheduling arrangement above.)
PSY 508-10 Research Methods and Advanced Statistics, Thursday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
PSY 540-10 Social Psychology, Tuesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
PSY 570-10 Introduction to Counseling, Monday, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
PSY 598-10 Special Topic: Health Psychology, Tuesday, 4:00-6:30 p.m.

All Spring graduate classes are held on Washington College's Chestertown campus unless otherwise noted. Students must pre-register prior to December 22 to guarantee texts. The Washington College Bookstore will be open for students to purchase texts on Monday, January 24, 5:30-7:00 p.m., and Tuesday, January 25 through Thursday, January 27, 6-7 p.m. Graduate tuition is $770 per course, plus a non-refundable course registration fee of $55. A late registration fee of $150 per course will be assessed for students who register after the first week of classes. Pre-registration forms are accepted at the Registrar's Office in person, by mail, by phone at 410-778-7299, or by fax at 410-810-7159.

For complete information on Washington College's graduate course offerings, including detailed course descriptions and registration forms, visit http://grad.washcoll.edu.

The College's graduate education course schedule and registration materials are available online at www.RegionalTrainingCenter.org, or by calling the Regional Training Center at 800-433-4740 between the hours 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Faces Of Homelessness: A Panel Discussion, Thursday, Dec. 2

Chestertown, MD, December 2, 2004 — The Washington College Student Service Council along with the Center for Service Learning, Amnesty International, and the Washington College Student Government Association (SGA) hosts the panel discussion, "Faces of Homelessness," Thursday, December 2 at 6 p.m. in the Casey Academic Forum. The panel will feature former homeless people describing their experiences of street life and poverty, as well as the social and economic issues that foster homelessness.

This event is part of a year-long program on Hunger and Homelessness focusing on local and tangible issues that affect our community. All are encouraged to attend.