Starr Center Donates 50+ New Washington-Era History Books to Miller Library

Chestertown, MD, December 21, 2006 — It was a veritable book bonanza on a recent wintry afternoon at Clifton M. Miller Library, as Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience made its yearly donation-delivery of a mountain of new volumes on early America.

The books are all entrants in the annual George Washington Prize, now in its third year. One of the nation's largest literary awards, the George Washington Prize honors outstanding books that contribute to a greater public understanding of the life and career of George Washington and/or America's founding era. Conceived and administered at the Starr Center (in partnership with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington's Mount Vernon), the $50,000 annual prize is awarded by a panel of nationally distinguished historians.

One of the prerequisites for entering the George Washington Prize competition is that the publisher must supply one extra copy of the book for donation to Miller Library. The result? Virtually every major book regarding the founding period published each year is now ending up in the Miller Library collection. And such will be the case, year by year, from here on in, thanks to the George Washington Prize. It amounts to a true book-acquisition coup for WC's library. "One of the things that excites me most about the program," remarked Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the Starr Center, "is that it serves as a conduit for all of these volumes straight into Miller Library."

The number of George Washington Prize entrants continues to grow. "This year we got in more titles than ever before," said Goodheart.

The donation to the library amounts to some 52 books, with a total retail value of approximately $1,800.

"It certainly strengthens our collection on George Washington, the Founders, and the whole founding era," said an appreciative Dr. Ruth Shoge, Director of Miller Library. "I'm impressed with the wide variety of subjects on the era ... the financial aspects, slavery, gender ... I think the scholarship is really opening up on that period, beyond the Founders to other issues we still grapple with."

Goodheart likewise noted the great diversification that is the concomitant result of the current proliferation of Colonial/Revolutionary historiography. In addition to a healthy number of new titles about Washington and other household-name heroes of early America, "We're now seeing a flood of books on lesser known aspects ... advancing our knowledge of the period in many ways."

Meanwhile, the prestigious George Washington Prize judging panel is perusing industriously, narrowing down the field. (And as the number of books vying for the prize continues to grow, so too does the amount of reading for the judges.) The ultimate winner will be announced in May.

The exhaustive roundup of entrants from literally dozens of publishing houses was handled by the hardworking duo of Interim Book Prize Coordinator Charles Hohman '05 and Starr Center Program Manager Kees deMooy '01.

Books Donated

• Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen (Ivan R. Dee)
• A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation by Catherine Allgor (Henry Holt)
• The Declaration of Independence: A Global History by David Armitage (Harvard University Press)
• A Nation Among Nations: America's Place in World History by Thomas Bender (Hill and Wang)
• Rape & Sexual Power in Early America by Sharon Block (University of North Carolina Press)
• George Mason, Forgotten Founder by Jeff Broadwater (University of North Carolina Press)
• What Would The Founders Do?: Our Questions, Their Answers by Richard Brookhiser (Basic Books)
• Infamous Scribblers: The Founding Fathers and the Rowdy Beginnings of American Journalism by Eric Burns (PublicAffairs)
• The Scratch of a Pen: 1763 and the Transformation of North America by Colin G. Calloway (Oxford University Press)
• Founding Fighters: The Battlefield Leaders That Made American Independence by Alan C. Cate (Praeger Security International)
• The General and Mrs. Washington by Bruce Chadwick (Sourcebooks)
• Thomas Jefferson: Reputation and Legacy by Francis D. Cogliano (University of Virginia Press)
• Frederick Douglass and the Fourth of July by James A. Colaiaco (Palgrave Macmillan)
• A Well Regulated Militia: The Founding Fathers and the Origins of Gun Control in America by Saul Cornell (Oxford University Press)
• A Most Amazing Scene of Wonders: Electricity and Enlightenment in Early Americaby James Delbourgo (Harvard University Press)
• The Many Faces of Alexander Hamilton: The Life and Legacy of America's Most Elusive Founding Father by Douglas Ambrose and Robert W. T. Martin, eds. (New York University Press)
• In the Name of the Father: Washington's Legacy, Slavery, and the Making of a Nationby François Furstenberg (Penguin Group USA)
• Emancipating New York: The Politics of Slavery and Freedom 1777-1827 by David N. Gellman (Louisiana State University Press)
• Interpreting the Founding: Guide to the Enduring Debates Over the Origins and Foundations of the American Republic by Alan Gibson (University of Kansas Press)
• Forgotten Allies: The Oneida Indians and the American Revolution by Joseph T. Glatthaar & James Kirby Martin (Hill and Wang)
• "I Tremble For My Country": Thomas Jefferson and the Virginia Gentry by Ronald L. Hatzenbuehler (University Press of Florida)
• Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington by Peter R. Henriques (University of Virginia Press)
• The Whiskey Rebellion: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton and the Frontier Rebels Who Challenged America's Newfound Sovereignty by William Hogeland (Simon and Schuster)
• The Faiths of the Founding Fathers by David L. Holmes (Oxford University Press)
• Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson: Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American Architecture by Hugh Howard (Bloomsbury USA)
• John Paul Jones: America's First Sea Warrior by Joseph F. Callo (Naval Institute Press)
• M'Cullough v. Maryland: Securing a Nation by Mark R. Killenbeck (University of Kansas Press)
• Jefferson and the Press: Crucible of Liberty by Jerry W. Knudson (University of South Carolina Press)
• James Madison and the Struggle for the Bill of Rights by Richard Labunski (Oxford University Press)
• Experiencing Mount Vernon: Eyewitness Accounts, 1784-1865 by Jean B. Lee, ed. (University of Virginia Press)
• Sex Among the Rabble: An Intimate History of Gender & Power in the Age of Revolution, Philadelphia, 1730-1830 by Clare A. Lyons (University of North Carolina Press)
• American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham (Random House)
• Native America, Discovered and Conquered: Thomas Jefferson, Lewis & Clark and Manifest Destiny by Robert J. Miller (Praeger Publishers)
• Not Your Usual Founding Father: Selected Readings from Benjamin Franklin by Edmund S. Morgan, ed. (Yale University Press)
• The Forgotten Fifth: African Americans in the Age of Revolution by Gary B. Nash (Harvard University Press)
• Patriot Sons, Patriot Brothers by Hugh O. Nash, Jr. (Westview Publishing)
• Thomas Paine: Enlightenment, Revolution and the Birth of Modern Nations by Craig Nelson (Viking Adult Books)
• Washington's God: Religion, Liberty and the Father of Our Country by Michael & Jana Novak (Basic Books)
• George Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots by Dave R. Palmer (Regnery Publishing)
• Samuel Adams: Father of the American Revolution by Mark Puls (Palgrave Macmillan)
• Epic Journeys of Freedom: Runaway Slaves of the American Revolution and their Global Quest for Liberty by Cassandra Pybus (Beacon Press)
• Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, The Slave Trade and the American Revolution by Charles Rappeleye (Simon and Schuster)
• Washington's Spies: The Story of America's First Spy Ring by Alexander Rose (Bantam Dell)
• Republicanism, Religion and the Soul of America by Ellis Sandoz (University of Missouri Press)
• Rough Crossings: Britain, The Slaves and the American Revolution by Simon Schama (Ecco Publishing)
• The Divided Ground: Indians, Settlers and the Northern Borderland of the American Revolution by Alan Taylor (Knopf)
• Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian W. Toll (Norton)
• The Unexpected George Washington: His Private Life by Harlow Giles Unger (Wiley)
• George Washington's Enforcers: Policing the Continental Army by Harry M. Ward (Southern Illinois University Press)
• Re-creating the American Past: Essays on the Colonial Revival by Richard Guy Wilson, Shaun Eyring and Kenny Marotta, eds. (University of Virginia Press)
• Race and Liberty in the New Nation: Emancipation in Virginia from the Revolution to Nat Turner's Rebellion by Eva Sheppard Wolf (Louisiana State University Press)
• Revolutionary Characters: What Made the Founders Different by Gordon S. Wood (Penguin Group USA)
• Financial Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America Rich by Robert E. Wright & David J. Cowen (University of Chicago Press)
• Liberty Tree: Ordinary People and the American Revolution by Alfred F. Young (New York University Press)

Washington College Announces Spring 2007 Graduate Courses in English, History, and Psychology

Chestertown, MD, December 15, 2006 — Students, educators and mental healthcare professionals are invited to register for Spring 2007 graduate courses at Washington College. The College offers Master's Degree programs in English, History and Psychology, as well as graduate courses in Education, which can help to meet requirements for advanced professional certifications. The Spring 2007 graduate term begins the week of January 29 and ends the week of April 30. Final Exams are scheduled for May 7-10.

The following graduate courses will be offered during the Spring 2007 semester:

• ENG 599-10 Special Topic: Culture of the Old/Cultures of the Young
  Tuesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
• ENG 599-11 Special Topic: The Prose of Paris
  Monday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
• HIS 598-10 Special Topic: Prosperity, Depression and World War II: 1919-1945
  Wednesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
• HIS 599-10 Special Topic: The Classical Historians of Ancient Greece
  Monday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
• HIS 599-11 Special Topic: Man on Horseback: A History of Modern Authoritarian Regimes
  Tuesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
• PSY 508-10 Research Methods & Advanced Statistics
  Wednesday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.
• PSY 511-10 The Exceptional Child
  Tuesday, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
• PSY 570-10 Introduction to Counseling
  Monday, 6:00-8:30 p.m.
• PSY 598-10 Special Topic: Positive Psychology
  Thursday, 7:00-9:30 p.m.

All graduate classes are held on Washington College's Chestertown campus unless otherwise noted. Students are urged to register prior to January 5, 2007, to guarantee texts.

Graduate tuition is $850 per course, plus a non-refundable course registration fee of $70. A late payment fee of $150 will be added to any account with an outstanding balance beyond the second 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.

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

The College's graduate education course schedule and registration materials are available online at www.thertc.net 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.

Mills Named New Media Relations Director For Washington College

Chestertown, MD, December 14, 2006 — Maryland-based author/editor Eric Mills has been appointed Director of Media Relations for Washington College.

Mills comes to the College after serving on the editorial staff of the United States Naval Institute, where he held the position of Acquisitions Editor for the Naval Institute Press.

"Eric's love of history combined with his media savvy made him an ideal fit for us," said Meredith Davies Hadaway, Washington College's Vice President for College Relations and Marketing. "As we're gearing up to celebrate the College's 225th anniversary in 2007, it's fortuitous to have him coming aboard."

Mills brings a multi-media background to his new role. On the print-media front, he is the author of Chesapeake Bay in the Civil War (Tidewater Publishers, 1996), Chesapeake Rumrunners of the Roaring Twenties(Tidewater, 2000), and, forthcoming from the Naval Institute Press, The Spectral Tide: Great True Ghost Stories of the U.S. Navy. His byline has appeared in Naval History, Proceedings, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Baltimore Magazine, and numerous other publications.

On the broadcast-media front, Mills wrote the screenplay for "The Bay at War," a short documentary film, narrated by Roger Mudd, produced as a tie-in with the exhibit currently on view at Virginia's Steamboat Era Museum. Mills also served as chief consultant to the exhibit, which was largely inspired by his Civil War book.

On the cyberspace-media front, Mills was Internet correspondent for the Naval Institute's nationwide conference series, providing on-site coverage for the Institute's Web site with constant Web-updates from New York City, Washington, D.C., and other locations around the country.

Mills was educated at St. Paul's School in Brooklandville, Md., and earned a B.A. in English from Towson State University. Prior to his years of involvement in book publishing, he worked as a features reporter and editor for the Easton Star-Democrat and other newspapers within Chesapeake Publishing's Mid-Shore division. He was twice the recipient of the Suburban Newspapers of America (SNA) Award, once for Best Entertainment Section and once for Best Layout and Design. He later worked as an exhibits researcher/developer for the Historical Society of Talbot County, and as Editor of Publications and Publicity Director for the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.

"I have worked on both the sending and receiving ends of the media-relations process," Mills said, "and I'm glad to be able to bring that sort of dual insight to the position. Washington College is steeped in history, and I am thrilled at the prospect of helping get the word out, on all media fronts, about this wonderful school. It's one of the oldest colleges in America and one of the region's brightest gems."

New Hampshire Writer Appointed Associate Director Of O'Neill Literary House

Chestertown, MD, December 11, 2006 — Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland, is pleased to announce that Priscilla Hodgkins, a writer and the former Associate Director of the Bennington Writing Seminars at Bennington College, has been appointed Associate Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House at Washington College. Hodgkins succeeds Katherine Wagner, who has served as Associate Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House since its founding in 1985. A poet and assistant professor, Wagner will continue to teach her popular classes in the English Department.

Hodgkins' appointment marks a milestone for the Rose O'Neill Literary House—an anchor of the venerable literary tradition at Washington College—where she will hold the first full-time administrative position.

"Priscilla is the perfect person for a great opportunity ahead," said Joshua Wolf Shenk, the Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House. "For two decades, the house has been run, nobly, and indefatigably, by scholars who have been given a break on their teaching for part-time administrative duties. But champions of the Lit House—including Kathy Wagner, and directors emeritus Robert Day and Robert Mooney—have for years seen the need for a full-time Associate Director. I'm grateful for the boost in resources in this time of transition—and to have such a qualified and creative associate."

Shenk also noted the momentousness of Professor Wagner's departure from day-to-day life at the Rose O'Neill Literary House. "It's a sad moment for the Lit House," he said, "Kathy has been here from the very beginning, and knows this place down to the bones. I'm grateful to her for her great work—and for showing me the ropes."

Shenk was appointed the third full-time Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House on July 1, 2006. An acclaimed essayist, for magazines like Harper's and The Atlantic Monthly, he is the author of the New York Times notable book Lincoln's Melancholy, published in 2005 by Houghton Mifflin.

Hodgkins, a native of New Castle, New Hampshire, received her bachelor's at the University of New Hampshire and her M.F.A at Bennington Writing Seminars, a program she helped build from scratch starting in 1993. In 1996, she became Associate Director of the program. Now considered among the top graduate writing programs in the country, the M.F.A. program is notable for its emphasis on rigorous reading as the foundation for writing. Over four semesters, students are required to read about a book a week and write critical papers in addition to their original creative work. "Our adage," Hodgkins says, "has been 'Read a hundred books. Write one.'"

With a background that includes systems analysis, media production, and hospital administration, Hodgkins says she is eager for a new challenge. "I'm glad to be part of something so special as the Rose O'Neill Literary House," Hodgkins says. "I fell in love with the place when I visited, and with the idea of a center for the literary arts."

She continued, "I began to read literature rather late in life. I found a profound truth in a well known saying, 'We read to know we are not alone.' A few years later, I began to write short stories and found that we also write to know we are not alone. The Rose O'Neill Literary House provides a place for the literary community to share work and to collaborate on events and projects. It's a splendid opportunity."

Hodgkins, who grew up in a small town near the Piscataqua River, says she is also glad to be living near the Chester River—and in a town that reminds her of home.

Hodgkins has published short stories, book reviews, and essays. Her fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Agni, Creative Nonfiction, The Milwaukee Sentinel, and Confrontation. Her essay "Einstein Didn't Dream of My Mother" was recognized in Best American Essays, and her story "Bread and War" was nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Washington College is a private, independent liberal arts and sciences college located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it is the first college chartered in the new nation.

Hodson Trust Awards $4.5 Million to Washington College for Scholarships, American History Center

Chestertown, MD, November 30, 2006 — Washington College has been awarded $4.5 million in grants from The Hodson Trust to augment merit scholarship funds and to support the College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, officials of the College have announced.

"We know the importance of understanding our history to build our future," Washington College President Baird Tipson said. "The Hodson Trust support will enable us to keep those lessons alive on our campus and in our nation as we educate tomorrow's leaders."

In its current grant to Washington College, The Trust has designated $1 million to augment the Hodson Trust Merit Scholarship Endowment, which provides four-year awards to full-time students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement, character, and citizenship. An additional $3.5 million will endow the Hodson Trust-Griswold Directorship and programming for the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, which opened in 2000. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the C.V. Starr Center is dedicated to scholarship and programming that explore the nation's founding era, the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture.

"The Hodson Trust's generosity will make possible a host of new initiatives to benefit the students and faculty of Washington College, and to advance the Center's programs to a new level of excellence," said Adam Goodheart, the Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. "It is exceptionally fitting that this gift also honors Jay Griswold, who has been a valued friend, benefactor, and counselor to the Starr Center since its inception. He can truly be called one of our chief 'Founding Fathers,' and I am honored that the directorship now bears his name and that of the Hodson Trust."

Jack S. "Jay" Griswold is Director and Senior Advisor of Brown Investment Advisory Trust Company, a money management firm. A 1964 graduate of Princeton who earned an MBA from The Wharton School of Finance in 1969, Mr. Griswold is a Director of Alex. Brown Realty and of Chevy Chase Bank, a trustee of Living Classrooms and the Maryland Historical Society and the Chairman of Washington College's Board of Visitors and Governors.

Adam Goodheart, who assumes the title of Hodson-Trust Griswold Director, was appointed director of the C.V. Starr Center in July 2006. A prolific essayist, critic, and historian, he publishes frequent articles in the New York Times, National Geographic, Smithsonian Magazine, and other publications. A graduate of Harvard University, he was a founding editor of Civilization Magazine and a member of the editorial board of The American Scholar.

One of the Starr Center's new initiatives made possible by the Hodson gift will be a program of faculty enhancement grants for research in American history, culture, politics, and related areas. "The Center's support of research conducted by Washington College faculty is important to its mission of strengthening the intellectual climate of the College and building bridges between the campus and the external community," said Christopher Ames, Provost and Dean of the Faculty. "These funds will supplement existing funds for faculty research and move us closer toward the goal in our strategic plan of doubling the funds available for faculty enhancement and travel." Goodheart added that the Starr Center is also working with faculty and admissions staff to create a special merit-scholarship program for outstanding students of American history and related fields.

The Hodson Trust was established by the family of Colonel Clarence Hodson to support excellence in education. Since 1920, The Hodson Trust has given more than $184 million to fund academic merit scholarships as well as research grants, technology improvements, facilities, library expansion, athletic programs, faculty salaries, and endowment funds at Johns Hopkins University, Hood, St. John's and Washington Colleges.

In addition to its latest Washington College gift, the Trust this week also awarded $4.5 million each to St. John's, Hood, and Johns Hopkins. Hodson Trust Chairman Finn M. W. Caspersen pointed out that these grants are the largest in the Trust's 86-year history. "The impact of the Hodson Trust's support is exponential—reflected not only in the accomplishments of the generations of students the Trust has supported, but also in the ever growing contributions of these students to society."

Colonel Clarence Hodson, who grew up in Maryland, believed that credit should be available to the average American, a revolutionary idea in 1914 when he founded the Beneficial Loan Society. Beneficial, which became one of the nation's most successful corporations, was headed by Caspersen from 1976 to 1998 and is now part of HSBC. During Caspersen's tenure, the market capitalization of Beneficial Corporation grew from $480 million to $8.8 billion, an 18-fold increase.

For information about The Hodson Trust, visit www.hodsontrust.org. Washington College is a private, independent college of liberal arts and sciences located in historic Chestertown on Maryland's Eastern Shore. Founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, it was the first college chartered in the new nation.

WC Art Professor Examines Whistler's Gold Scab, November 29

Chestertown, MD, November 21, 2006 — Washington College's Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series presents Professor Aileen Tsui, Assistant Professor of Art History, speaking on "The Peacock's Gold Scabs: Aestheticism and Commercial Contagion in Whistler's Art," Wednesday, November 29, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum. The talk is free, and tea will be served at 4 p.m.

The talk will explore the entanglement of two seemingly opposed tendencies in the works of the expatriate American artist James McNeill Whistler: a commitment to aesthetic purity and autonomy, on the one hand, and a strategic play with publicity and the art market, on the other. Professor Tsui will discuss Whistler's manipulation of competing aesthetic and commercial imperatives in both his rhetoric and his art, including the famous painting known today as "Whistler's Mother." Special attention will be given to "The Gold Scab" (1879), a painting in which the artist's ambivalence to the commodification of art, ordinarily expressed through nuanced irony or witty wordplay, explodes into a strange visual hybrid of caricature and portrait.

Professor Tsui is an Assistant Professor of Art History at Washington College, where she teaches classes on European and American art of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. She received her Ph.D. from Harvard University and was an Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow at Columbia University. She is currently researching connections between nineteenth-century Japonisme and commodity culture for her study of the elements of East Asian exoticism in Whistler's art.

The Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series showcases the research, writing and talent of Washington College's faculty and is sponsored by the Rose O'Neil Literary House. Established in 1985, the Literary House was acquired and refurbished through a generous gift of alumna Betty Casey, Class of 1947, and her late husband Eugene, and named in memory of his late mother, Rose O'Neill Casey. Now in its 21st year, the O'Neill Literary House reflects the eclectic spirit of Washington College's creative writing and academic culture.

The New George: CSI Techniques Used to Put a New Face on Our First President November 30 and December 1

Chestertown, MD, November 14, 2006— George Washington is the most recognizable of the Founding Fathers. His familiar face is featured on our dollar bill and quarter, and his is the most prominent visage on Mount Rushmore. But do these unsmiling images accurately represent the father of our nation? And what did he look like in his younger years? A team of scientists, historians, and artists set out to find out, and their results may surprise you. The resulting reconstruction of George Washington has been widely featured in the media, including CNN, ABC News, the New York Times, Scientific American, and National Geographic.

Join Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience for an exciting two-day event, "The Three Faces of George," a series of lectures and exhibitions on the forensic and artistic reconstruction of George Washington, on November 30 and December 1. The exhibition will feature images, documents, objects, and 3-D computer models related to the reconstruction. All events are free and open to the public.

THURSDAY, NOV. 30.

5:00 - 7:15 p.m. "The Three Faces of George" exhibition at Larrabee Arts Center. 7:30 p.m.Lecture by Jeffrey H. Schwartz (Professor of History and Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh), "The Three Faces of George: Anatomy," Norman James Theater.

FRIDAY, DEC. 1.

3:00 - 5:15 p.m. "The Three Faces of George" exhibition at Larrabee Arts Center (includes a light reception). 5:30 p.m. Lecture by Ivan Schwartz (founder and Vice President, StudioEIS, New York), "The Three Faces of George: Art," Norman James Theater.

Jeffrey H. Schwartz is a physical anthropologist and one of the world's leading experts on human forensics. Five years ago George Washington's Mount Vernon asked Schwartz to lead an effort to recreate George Washington at three different stages of his life: at 19 (when he was a surveyor), 45 (as a general at Valley Forge), and 57 (when he was sworn in as the first president). Using Washington's dentures, clothing, primary documents and state of the art techniques developed especially for this project, Schwartz and his team uncovered many surprises that shed new light on the father of our nation.

Ivan Schwartz and artists at StudioEIS used the information gathered by Jeffrey Schwartz to create three life-like sculptures of George Washington, which now form the central exhibit in Mount Vernon's brand new Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center. Information contained in written descriptions, paintings, and laser scans of the two most accurate sculptures of George Washington was combined into 3-D computer models created by the Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling (PRISM) at Arizona State University. This data was brought to life by a team of artists and sculptors, resulting in three stunning lifelike figures that bring people face to face with a much more human, expressive George Washington.

"The Three Faces of George" is sponsored by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the Starr Center draws on the special historical strengths of Washington College and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, the Starr Center explores the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. In partnership with other institutions and with leading scholars and writers, the Center works to promote innovative approaches to the study of history, and to bridge the gaps between historians, contemporary policymakers, and the general public. "The Three Faces of George" is co-sponsored by the Washington College Department of Art, and the Department of Sociology and Anthropology.

For more information, visit the C. V. Starr Center online at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

WC Drama Department's Schoolgirl Figure Tackles Weighty Issues, November 16, 17, and 18

Chestertown, MD, November 14, 2006 — Washington College's Drama Department presentsSchoolgirl Figure, a senior thesis directed by Kyle Woerner, written by Wendy MacLeod, November 16 at 9 p.m., and November 17 and 18 at 8 p.m. in the McLain Atrium of the College's John S. Toll Science Center. Reservations are required. For show information, call 410-778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

A powerful black comedy about the culture of eating disorders, Schoolgirl Figure dares to venture into a high school where the in-crowd is the thin-crowd. After the death of the ur-anorexic Monique, queen of the Carpenters, the girls battle for the crown and The Bradley, the most-desired boy in school. Thus, the diet wars begin. Lead performers include freshman Travis Brown as The Bradley, freshman Molly O'Connell as Jeanine, sophomore Mary Lide as Patty, and senior Laura O'Sullivan as Renee.

"I really admire the way playwright Wendy MacLeod masks social commentary with black comedy. She takes on society's body image phenomenon head-on and does not shy away from controversy," comments Director Kyle Woerner, "Even though it's humor, Schoolgirl Figure's themes of overcoming societal norms ring true. At its core, the play is designed to provoke a reaction, whether good or bad."

Woerner also warns that the play deals with a mature subject matter and contains partial nudity. For those who have had, in recovery, or currently suffering form an eating disorder, the play may serve as a possible trigger.

New York Yankees Coach on Campus, November 14

Chestertown, MD, November 14, 2006 — The Washington College Men's Baseball Team welcomes Dana Cavalea, the Strength and Conditioning Coach of the New York Yankees Organization, to campus, Tuesday, November 14, 2006, at 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., in the Wellness Department. The event is free, and students, faculty, and staff are invited to attend.

Stop by to meet and learn a few tips from the acclaimed coach who has trained greats such as Alex Rodriguez, Carl Pavano, Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson, and many other professional athletes. Cavalea is a graduate of the University of South Florida where he earned a B.S. in Exercise Science. He has spent time with the Toronto Bluejays, Pittsburgh Pirates, USF Football Team, and Velocity Sports Performance. He is certified by the National Strength and Conditioning Association as a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, the US Weightlifting Committee, and by the National Academy of Sports Medicine, and specializes in the development in multi-planar strength, power, and speed development. Currently, he is pursuing his Masters Degree in Sports Performance and Injury Rehabilitation.

A Firsthand Reading with Novelist Katherine Min, November 30

Chestertown, MD, November 13, 2006 — Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House presents author Katherine Min, reading from her works, Thursday, November 30, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room of the Miller Library. The event is free and open to the public.

Katherine Min's short stories have appeared in numerous publications, including TriQuarterly, Ploughshares, The Threepenny Review, and Prairie Schooner, and have been widely anthologized, most recently in The Pushcart Book of Stories: The Best Short Stories from a Quarter-Century of The Pushcart Prize; her short story "Courting a Monk" won a Pushcart Prize, and "The Brick" was read on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts program in 1999. Most recently, she published her debut novel Secondhand World (Knopf 2006), the story of a Korean-American family living in upstate New York.

Selected by Redbook Magazine as its October Book Club pick, the novel has been praised as "[a] haunting debut...swirling, textured, beautifully detailed," by Publishers Weekly, and as "a graceful, unflinching examination of the fragility of our ties to the past and the pitfalls of human adaptability" by D.Y. Bechard, author of Vandal Love.

Min received the New Hampshire Arts Council fellowships in 2004 and 1995 and, in 1992, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded her a grant. A graduate of Amherst College and the Columbia School of Journalism, she currently teaches at Plymouth State University and the Iowa Summer Writing Festival.

The reading is sponsored by the Rose O'Neill Literary House. Established in 1985, the Literary House was acquired and refurbished through a generous gift of alumna Betty Casey, Class of 1947, and her late husband Eugene, and named in memory of his late mother, Rose O'Neill Casey. Now in its 21st year, the O'Neill Literary House reflects the eclectic spirit of Washington College's creative writing and academic culture.

Tea and Talk Reading Reveals Radical Revisioning in African American Writing, November 15

Chestertown, MD, November 13, 2006 — Washington College's Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series presents Dr. Alisha Knight, Assistant Professor of English and American Studies, speaking on "Famous Women of the Negro Race and Pauline Hopkins's (En)Gendered Gospel of Success," Wednesday, November 15. The talk is free and all are welcome to enjoy tea, lively discussion, and the comfortable surroundings of the Rose O'Neill Literary House. Tea will be served at 4 p.m., followed by the talk at 4:30 p.m.

Professor Knight's talk will focus on author Pauline Hopkins's radical revision of the American success archetype. An acclaimed African American woman writer, Hopkins's concern for African American progress occupied her literary imagination throughout her writing career; she had special interest in exposing how the popular success myth of the Gilded Age proved unrealistic to the African American experience. Knight will discuss Hopkins's use of her non-fiction series, "Famous Women of the Negro Race" to signify on the iconic self-made man and to create a definition of success for African American women.

An Assistant Professor of English and American Studies at Washington College, Professor Knight is also Director of the Black Studies Program. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Drew University where she received her Ph.D. in English. Professor Knight is presently researching the Colored Co-Operative Publishing Company and the Post-Bellum, Pre-Harlem African American Publishing Trade.

The Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series showcases the research, writing and talent of Washington College's faculty and is held in the College's O'Neill Literary House. Established in 1985, the Literary House was acquired and refurbished through a generous gift of alumna Betty Casey, Class of 1947, and her late husband Eugene, and named in memory of his late mother, Rose O'Neill Casey. Now in its 21st year, the O'Neill Literary House reflects the eclectic spirit of Washington College's creative writing and academic culture.

Wassail, Wassail! WC Music Department Delights at Their Annual Renaissance Christmas Dinner, December 1 and 2

Chestertown, MD, November 9, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Music invites the public to their annual Renaissance Christmas Dinner, Friday, December 1 and Saturday, December 2, at 7 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. Reservations are required. Tickets cost $16 for boarding students, $20 for non-boarding students, $20 for faculty and staff, $25 for regular tickets, and $35 for patron tickets (of which $10 is tax deductible). To reserve tickets, call 410-778-7875.

Minstrels, madrigals, and dancers unite as members of the Washington College Early Music Consort, Vocal Consort, and Dance Club entertain diners with traditional carols, period instruments, and lively dances. Guests delight in the sights, sounds, and flavors—including succulent roast beef and wassail—of an Old English Christmas Feast, and celebrate the holiday season.

WC Drama Department Presents a Deadly Classic—Arsenic and Old Lace Performed, November 10 and 11

Chestertown, MD, November 8, 2006 - Washington College's Drama Department presentsArsenic and Old Lace, a senior thesis directed by Holly Marsden, written by Joseph Kesselring, November 10 and 11, at 8 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre. Reservations are required. For show information, call 410-778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

The Brewster household is far from dull. In this classic dark comedy, Mortimer Brewster, a theatre-hating drama critic, debates whether to marry the woman he loves in the midst of dealing with his crazy family. Featuring two spinster aunts who have resorted to killing lonely old men with a strychnine and cyanide laced glass of wine, and two eccentric nephews—one who thinks he is Teddy Roosevelt and one who has killed twelve men all around the world—the play brims with hilarious scenes and action. The ensemble cast includes: seniors Alaina Anderson, Marc Frankel, and Molly Weeks; juniors Bobby Bangert and Marielle Latrick; sophomore Ben Kozlowski; and freshmen Jess Dugger, Lauren Guy, Kelsey Long, Jory Peele, Tony Reisinger, and Brendan Williams.

"The first time I saw this show performed, I knew that I had to be a part of it," Director Holly Marsden notes, "Not only does the play entertain, it strikes upon a fascinating issue: one person's view of insanity is very different from the next."

International Education Week Engages in Global Partnerships and Opportunities, November 13-17

Chestertown, MD, November 8, 2006

Read the schedule of events below or view the printer-friendly schedule (PDF).

Monday, November 13

1. International Photo Competition
10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Dining Hall
Vote on your favorite photograph. Photos taken by WC students while abroad.

2. Flag Chalking on Martha Washington Square
4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Martha Washington Square
Come out and show some international pride and chalk country flags!

3. Movie (Hosted by Office of International Programs)
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
CAC Forum
L'Auberge Espagnole
As part of a job that he is promised, Xavier, an economics student in his twenties, signs on to a European exchange program in order to gain working knowledge of the Spanish language.

Tuesday, November 14

1. Japanese Tea Ceremony and Workshops
3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m.
Atrium, Toll Science Center
The Japanese Club invites the WC community to join them for tea. The ancient tea ceremony will be performed by Japanese students who will also teach the art of calligraphy and origami.

2. Movie (Hosted by the Spanish Club)
7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
East Hall/International House basement
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Director Alfonso Cuaron's Oscar-nominated film was one of the most talked-about films of 2002. An older woman joins rich teenagers on a escapade that involves seduction, conflict and the harsh realities of poverty.

3. International Dances
9:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Norman James Theatre
Come see traditional dances from Nepal and Japan performed by WC students.

Wednesday, November 15

1. Open House-Office of International Programs
11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Office of International Programs
Learn more about the study abroad opportunities at WC and enjoy international refreshments.

2. International Idol
7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Student Center
Based on American Idol with an international flair. We will have commentary from the faculty judges.
*The winner of photo competition will be announced at this event.
*IRC will be selling fortune cookies at this event.

Thursday, November 16

1. A Night in Marseille (Hosted by the French Club)
7:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
East Hall/International House basement
Les Choristes
A music teacher lands a job at a boys' boarding school populated by delinquents and orphans.
*Crepes will be served.

Friday, November 17

1. Wear your Country on Your Sleeve (Hosted by I-house and IRC)
5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
East Hall Basement
Open to anyone interested in decorating t-shirts with country flags, fun facts, sayings, and images. We ask that non-residents of the I-House bring an old t-shirt to decorate.

2. Movie (Hosted by the Japanese Club)
7:30 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
East Hall/International House basement
Seven Samurai
A desperate village hires seven samurai to protect it from marauders in this crown jewel of Japanese cinema.

Samuel Beckett in Today's Cultural Climate, November 13

Chestertown, MD, November 2, 2006 — In the last of a series of four events celebrating the centenary of the birth of Irish writer Samuel Beckett, Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee presents "Beckett after Beckett," a lecture by theater critic Jonathan Kalb, Monday, November 13, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room of the Miller Library. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

In his lecture, Kalb will argue that, in the 17 years since Samuel Beckett's death, the Western society that so honored him during his lifetime has grown more worldly, more consumerist, more celebrity-obsessed, more enamored of speed, glut and glamour, and more immersed in compulsive trivialization. In recent years, the overwhelming nature of this process has been reflected in the mixed results of many Beckett performances. Kalb's lecture will examine this evolution and will consider what place still exists for the artistic dissent and resistance associated with Beckett in the current cultural environment.

A professor and chair of the theater department at Hunter College of the City University of New York, Jonathan Kalb is also a member of the theater Ph.D. faculty at the CUNY Graduate Center and editor of HotReview.org, The Hunter On-Line Theater Review. In 1991, he won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, the country's richest and most prestigious prize for a theater critic, for his first book, Beckett in Performance(Cambridge University Press) and his articles and reviews in The Village Voice. Kalb was a regular theater critic for The Village Voice from 1987-1997 and the chief theater critic for New York Press from 1997-2001.

He has published dozens of essays, articles, interviews, and other writings in such journals as The New York Times, The Nation, Salmagundi, Modern Drama, Theater Journal, Theater, Performing Arts Journal, TDR, Theater Heute, The Threepenny Review, The Michigan Quarterly Review, New German Critique, TheatreForum, American Theatre, as well as in numerous books. Two book collections of Kalb's critical writing have been published: Free Admissions: Collected Theater Writings (Limelight Editions, 1993) and Play By Play: Theater Essays and Reviews, 1993-2002 (Limelight Editions, 2003). In the late 1980s, Kalb was awarded a Fulbright Grant to Germany and lived in West Berlin for two years, where he began to write about German theater.

His book The Theater of Heiner Müller—the first general study in English about the most important German playwright after Brecht—was published by Cambridge University Press in 1998 and reissued as a revised and enlarged paperback by Limelight Editions in Fall 2001.

The reading is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee, which works to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has done so much to enrich Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor" and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

Goodfellow Lecture Examines Northern Echoes of the American Revolution, November 20

Chestertown, MD, November 1, 2006— The Washington College Department of History's annual Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture and the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience welcome Alan Taylor, professor of history at the University of California at Davis, speaking on "John Graves Simcoe's Counter-Revolution: Northern Echoes of the American Revolution," Monday, November 20, at 4:30 p.m. in the Litrenta Lecture Hall of the John S. Toll Science Center. A book signing will follow. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. Alan Taylor serves as professor of history at the University of California at Davis, where he has taught courses in early American history, the history of the American West, and the history of Canada since 1994. He is the author of five books including Liberty Men and Great Proprietors: The Revolutionary Settlement on the Maine Frontier, 1760-1820 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1990), William Cooper's Town, Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early Republic, (New York: Viking Penguin, 2001), Writing Early American History (2005), and The Divided Ground (2006). William Cooper's Town won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for American history as well as Bancroft and Beveridge prizes, and American Colonies received the 2001 Gold Medal for Non-Fiction from the Commonwealth Club of California.

His next book project, The Civil War of 1812, will examine the political rupture of North America affected by conflict between the American republic and the British Empire. In addition to his several book ventures, he is a contributing editor for The New Republic, and is active in the History Project at UCDavis, which provides curriculum support for K-12 teachers in history and social studies. In 2002, he won the University of California at Davis Award for Teaching and Scholarly Achievement and the Phi Beta Kappa, Northern California Association, Teaching Excellence Award.

The Guy F. Goodfellow Memorial Lecture Series was established in 1989 to honor the memory of the late history professor who had taught at Washington College for 30 years. The intent of the endowed lecture series is to bring a distinguished historian to campus each year to lecture and to spend time with students in emulation of Dr. Goodfellow's vibrant teaching style.

For more information please visit the C.V. Starr Center site at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu

Phi Beta Kappa Awards Chapter to Washington College

Washington, D.C., October 31, 2006 — The Phi Beta Kappa Society has voted to establish new chapters at six American colleges and universities. The decision was made this month at the Society's 41st Triennial Council in Atlanta.

Founded in 1776, Phi Beta Kappa is the nation's oldest academic honor society and has more than 500,000 members. The addition of the six new chapters brings the total number chapters to 276 nationwide.

The new chapters are at the following institutions: Clemson University, Clemson, S.C.; The College of New Jersey, Ewing, N.J.; The University of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif.; Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas.; Washington College, Chestertown, Md.; and Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio.

Phi Beta Kappa celebrates and advocates excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its campus chapters invite for induction the most outstanding arts and sciences students at America's leading colleges and universities. The Society sponsors activities to advance these studies—the humanities, the social sciences, and the natural sciences—in higher education and in society at large.

John Churchill, secretary and chief executive officer of the Society, said, "Phi Beta Kappa exists to honor students who have excelled in those studies, and to advocate for the liberal arts and sciences both on campus and in the broader world. I am delighted to welcome these institutions to Phi Beta Kappa. The chartering of chapters on these campuses is a recognition of their excellence in the liberal arts and sciences.

"With the establishment of these chapters, we acknowledge the accomplishments of the six institutions in the field of liberal education, and we look forward to a lively partnership in advancing that cause. The Phi Beta Kappa members among the faculty and staff on each campus will organize their chapter in the weeks ahead, and we will present the charters and install the chapters in ceremonies during the 2006-2007 academic year."

Phi Beta Kappa stands for freedom of inquiry and expression, disciplinary rigor, breadth of intellectual perspective, the cultivation of skills of deliberation and ethical reflection, the pursuit of wisdom, and the application of the fruits of scholarship and research in practical life. We champion these values in the confidence that a world influenced by them will be a more just and peaceful world.

Columbia's Musick Plays "The World of George Washington," November 11

Chestertown, MD, October 30, 2006 — The Washington College 2006-2007 Concert Series Season continues with a performance by Columbia's Musick, "The World of George Washington," Saturday, November 11, 2006, at 8 p.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall.

Perfectly complementing Chestertown's 300th anniversary celebration, Columbia's Musick will perform "The World of George Washington," a dramatic and engaging musical portrait of our first president. Featuring stirring marches, celebratory songs, and chamber music from the collection of Washington's stepdaughter, Nelly Custis, their program promises to transform audiences to the eighteenth century. They will also delight with dance and theatrical tunes treasured by our founding father as well as songs lamenting his death in 1799 and festive music from later commemorations of Washington's birthday.

Columbia's Musick is one of the few groups in the country devoted to the seldom-heard music of early America. The ensemble has toured widely, performing their Washington concert at venues such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and Boston's historic King's Chapel, where the group is Ensemble-in-Residence. Columbia's Musick is a member of the New England States Touring Roster, the New Hampshire Arts Council's Artist Roster, and the South Carolina Arts Commission's Artists-in Education Roster. The ensemble members include D'Anna Fortunato, mezzo-soprano; Thomas Gregg, tenor; Peter H. Bloom, baroque flute; Judy Bedford, baroque bassoon; and Richard C. Spicer, harpsichord and director.

For ticket information and a free 2006-2007 season brochure, call 410-778-7839 or 800-422-1782, ext. 7839, or e-mail kbennett2@washcoll.edu. Individual tax-deductible patron memberships begin at $75.00. Contributing patron memberships begin at $150.00, supporting at $250.00, and sustaining at $500.00. All membership packages include two tickets, and all donations over the price of the tickets are tax-deductible. Season tickets are available at the box office on performance nights.

Season tickets and memberships can be purchased by check or money order from the Washington College Concert Series, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620-1197.

Peter Pan Syndrome on Stage: WC Drama Department Presents Boys' Life, November 2, 3, and 4

Chestertown, MD, October 30, 2006— Washington College's Drama Department presents Boys' Life, a senior thesis directed by Greg Schaefer, written by Howard Korder, November 2, 3, and 4, at 8 p.m., in the College's Reid Basement. Reservations are required. For show information, call 410-778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

Why do men do what they do? Will they ever grow up? Howard Korder's Pulitzer Prize nominated Boys' Life explores these questions and themes of love and friendship as it follows the lives of friends, Jack, played by senior Harry Wright; Don, portrayed by junior Tim Helmer; and Phil, depicted by junior Phil Doccolo. Through a variety of hilarious, fast-paced scenes, the twenty something college buddies struggle through life, love, and, of course, the relationships with their female counterparts. Rounding out the cast in a variety of comic roles, the ensemble includes: junior Juliana Schoettler, freshman Liz Murphy, sophomore Mary Lide, senior Keighty McClallen, freshman Annabelle Shore, and sophomore Mike Golze.

"People my age will really be able to relate to this story and these characters," says Director Greg Schaefer, "As college students, we are at a very intimidating time in our lives, and this play allows us to sit back and watch characters going through these very real, very personal struggles, that so many of us are about to face. Anyone who's ever been a man, or ever had a relationship with a man, will definitely identify."

Celebrate GIS Day at Washington College, November 15 and 16

Chestertown, MD, October 30, 2006 — Washington College's Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Lab will be celebrating GIS Day 2006 on Wednesday, November 15, and Thursday, November 16. The two-day celebration will introduce the Washington College and Chestertown community to GIS and will commence with a GIS Lab open house, Wednesday, November 15, 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., in room 206 of Goldstein Hall, followed by GIS Program Coordinator, Dr. Wendy Miller, presenting "So, What is GIS?" Wednesday, November 15, at 7 p.m., in room 100 of Goldstein Hall.

On Thursday, November 16, activities will include a hands-on GIS workshop from 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m., in the computer room of the Casey Academic Center, and a Geocaching workshop (GPS), from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m., to be held outside. If you would like to attend these workshops, please call 410-810-7177 or email wmiller3@washcoll.edu to register. All events are open to the public, faculty, and staff, and students are encouraged to attend.

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a computerized mapping system that stores, displays, and analyzes any type of data that has a geographic location. A GIS takes data from a table, spreadsheet, or database and creates a map. It allows for the ability to view, understand, and visualize data in ways that are simply not possible using rows and columns. Visit the open house to investigate all that the Washington College GIS Lab has to offer and to ask any burning questions. Dr. Wendy Miller's lecture will additionally shed light on GIS as a discipline and its specific projects. Thursday's hands-on GIS workshops will allow participants to create their own map, join a scavenger hunt utilizing GPS units, and gain practical experience in the field of GIS.

Washington College's GIS Day is part of a global event whose motto is "Discovering the world though GIS." On November 15, hundreds of organizations, schools, and towns will celebrate GIS Day, proving once again that geography does matter. To learn more about these global events, visit the website, http://www.gisday.com, or to learn more about GIS at Washington College and its GIS Day, visit the website, http://gis.washcoll.edu.

Lost Culture: Scholar to Examine the Middle East in Two Lectures, November 8

Chestertown, MD, October 30, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Department of Art, the Campus Events and Visitors Committee, and the Arabic/Middle East Club present two lectures by Dr. Hashim Al-Tawil, Professor of Art History at Henry Ford Community College, November 8, in the College's Hynson Lounge. Both talks are free and open to the public.

"Lost Culture of Iraq: The Looting of Iraqi Antiquities, Artworks, and other Cultural Materials" will be presented Wednesday, November 8, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. The lecture will address the looting of Iraqi culture after the 2003 invasion, including the damage inflicted on and to museums, libraries, galleries, art collections, public monuments, and other cultural institutions.

"The Arab People and the Middle East: History, Art, and Culture of the Lands and the People," will be presented Wednesday, November 8, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. Dr. Hashim Al-Tawil will trace the history of the Arab people in the region of the Middle East from its earliest records to the present, with close connection to the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, through the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic civilizations. Additionally, his lecture will explore the characteristics of the Arab people through examination of their diverse ethnic groups, religions, and cultures from the pre-Islamic time to the present time.

Hashim Al-Tawil, Professor of Art History at Henry Ford Community College, specializes in the research of the history of Arab and Islamic art and culture. He was on the faculty of the University of Baghdad and active in the Iraqi art scene during the 1970's and 1980's. He is also a lecturer at the University of Michigan and the Detroit Institute of Art and is a frequent guest speaker at local and national universities in the United States and abroad.

Student Programmers Score High in ACM Contest

Chestertown, MD, October 28, 2006 — Teams from Washington College participated in the Mid-Atlantic regional playoffs of an international programming contest run by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) October 28. One of the teams, the WC Wildcats, placed 17th out of 135 teams, higher than opponents from Johns Hopkins and UMBC, and just below a team from Maryland at College Park. A second team, the WC Wolves, placed 100th overall.

The Wildcats were also awarded a plaque for being the top team at the local site—after placing above Delaware, Drexel, Rowan, and Temple.

These results are the strongest showing of any Washington College programming team since they started competing in 1998. Professor Shaun Ramsey of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science coached the teams. The Wildcats consisted of sophomores Samuel Evans and Ben Kozlowski, and senior Lucas Gerber. The Wolves, playing with one member absent, consisted of senior Jeremy Alexander and freshman Timothy Gelner.

The contest, sponsored by the IBM Corporation and Google, is a five-hour marathon where teams of three persons are given a single computer and a set of 8 problems to solve. Solutions are submitted electronically and judged at a location in Virginia. Scoring is done by awarding points for the number of minutes taken until a correct solution is submitted. If a submitted solution is incorrect, the team is sent a cryptic message on the lines of "wrong output," and may resubmit with further penalties. At the end of the contest the team with the lowest total points and highest number of solved problems wins. The prize for solving a problem is a much-coveted, helium-filled, colored balloon. A sense of the difficulty of the problem-set is obtained by the sobering fact that only one team in the mid-Atlantic solved 5 problems, and thirty-six solved none. Washington College solved two, and that was good enough to be the leader among the ten teams at this site.

Washington College was one of nine sites that hosted the contest. Running a site is a carefully choreographed operation. The site-directors were Louise Amick and Austin Lobo who were assisted by Michael McLendon and Jennifer Whitehead. The contest was held in the Goldstein 100 classroom with top-of-the-line IBM laptop computers. Keeping the networks functioning, monitoring the flow of data, were engineers Cal Coursey and David DeMarsi. The laptops were connected to a central computing server named Albert, after a respected former professor, which in turn linked up with the contest server in Virginia. Responsible for all the underlying software was the Systems Administrator, Ted Knab. Hardware and software rested on the computing infrastructure set up by CIO Billie Dodge. Under site-judge Martin Suydam, the contest started at noon and ran smoothly to completion.

The success of the teams and the site stems from a long-term commitment to computing science and technology by the College's administration. Washington College has offered a minor in computer science for nearly four decades. The computer science major was established in 2000 within the Department of Mathematics, with two graduates emerging in 2001. The first person to receive the degree was a woman.

Computer Science at Washington College stays true to the sprit of a liberal education. Students are put through a rigorous curriculum balanced between theory and practice that prepares them for careers and graduate school. Many take second majors in areas like mathematics, art, philosophy, and biology.

Computer programming is taught under the Windows and Linux operating systems and the students learn industry-standard programming techniques in the C++ and Java languages. Beyond the core courses, the students study the theory of computation and algorithm design, databases and networks, and round off their training with a capstone course in software engineering that emphasizes teamwork and the management of large programming projects.

Students have learning opportunities outside the class, such as in the Computing Club. They also do internships, independent study, and guided research projects. In the summer of 2006, Kozlowski worked on a challenging problem in computer graphics under Ramsey, and Evans implemented a major component of a code-breaking algorithm under Lobo. Three past leaders of the programming teams have become PhD candidates, with one already finished and the other two in progress. A fourth went on to do biomedical engineering and now designs prostheses.

Four team members will return next year, supplemented by promising first-year students. A proposal is in the works to host an NSF sponsored conference in computer science, and next year there will be a new computer server nicknamed Sampson for its power and in honor of a former president of the college.

Ships Ahoy! C.V. Starr Center Lectures Scheduled for Chestertown's Downrigging Weekend, November 5

Chestertown, MD, October 27, 2006— Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience presents "History on the High Seas," in conjunction with Sultana Projects, Inc.'s Sixth Annual Downrigging Weekend, Sunday, November 5. The event is free and open to the public. Join us in a heated tent behind the Custom House for two hearty maritime lectures, with free hot beverages supplied courtesy of Washington College. On Saturday, November 4, the college will provide water for visitors to the waterfront, where eleven tall ships includingKalmar Nyckel and Pride of Baltimore II will be moored for the entire weekend.

At 1:30 p.m., John Donoghue, a recent Ph.D. graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, will present "Pirates in the Court of King Death: Three Tales of Justice Under the Jolly Roger." Donoghue will discuss pirates and their alternative society, which featured a unique code of justice that was radically democratic for its time. Then, at 2:30 p.m., Kees de Mooy, Program Manager at the C.V. Starr Center, will present "Following in Schooner Sultana's Wake: Uncovering the History of an 18th Century Naval Vessel." While a student at Washington College, Kees de Mooy researched the history of the Schooner Sultana, a Royal Navy vessel that was used to patrol for smugglers along the American coastline prior to the Revolution.

"History on the High Seas" is sponsored by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the Starr Center draws on the special historical strengths of Washington College and the Eastern Shore of Maryland. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, the Starr Center explores the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. In partnership with other institutions and with leading scholars and writers, the Center works to promote innovative approaches to the study of history, and to bridge the gaps between historians, contemporary policymakers, and the general public.

For more information about the C.V. Starr Center, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/ , and for details on Downrigging Weekend, November 3-5, visithttp://www.sultanaprojects.org/downrigging.htm.

An Abbess and Her Garden of Delight: Medieval Historian Investigates Gender and Spirituality, November 9

Chestertown, MD, October 27, 2006 — Washington College's Conrad M. Wingate Lecture in History presents "Garden of Delights: A Twelfth Century Abbess and Her Book," a talk by Dr. Fiona Griffiths, Assistant Professor of History, New York University, on Thursday, November 9, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. Fiona Griffiths is a medieval historian whose work focuses on the intersection of gender and spirituality. Her book, The 'Garden of Delights': Reform and Renaissance for Women in the Twelfth Century (The University of Pennsylvania Press, November 2006) explores the involvement of monastic women in the spiritual and intellectual developments of twelfth-century Europe, overturning the assumption that women were largely excluded from the "renaissance" and "reform" of this period. Focusing on the 'Hortus deliciarum' (Garden of Delights), a magnificently illuminated manuscript of theology, biblical history, and canon law written both by and explicitly for women at the end of the twelfth century, Griffiths offers a persuasive new reading of female monastic culture, arguing for women's engagement with the spiritual and intellectual vitality of the period on a level previously thought unimaginable.

Griffiths has taught at New York University and Smith College. Her articles have appeared in the Journal of Medieval History, Viator, and such collections as Listen, Daughter: The Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages, Medieval Memories: Men, Women and the Past, 700-1300 and Women Writing in Latin. She is currently writing a book on pastoral care in the monastic relationships between nuns and their priests, that is, pastoral care, within the contexts of medieval reform movements.

The Conrad M. Wingate Memorial Lecture in History is held in honor of the late Conrad Meade Wingate '23, brother of late Washington College Visitor Emeritus Phillip J. Wingate '33 and the late Carolyn Wingate Todd. He was principal of Henderson (MD) High School at the time of his death from cerebrospinal meningitis at age 27. At Washington College, he was president of the Dramatic Association, president of the Adelphia Literary Society, and vice president of the Student Council in 1922-23.

Newsday's James Pinkerton and Election 2006, November 27

Chestertown, MD, October 23, 2006 — Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs presents "Election 2006: A Fair and Balanced Analysis," a lecture by Newsday'sJames P. Pinkerton, Monday, November 27, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

As a leading columnist for Newsday and a contributing editor to the American Conservative, James Pinkerton is at the pulse of the political world. He contributes to the Fox News Channel and appears regularly as a panelist on the Fox "News Watch" show, the highest-rated media-critique show on television. He will offer an analysis of the 2006 Election and foresight into the politics of the day. In addition to his media involvement, he worked in the White House domestic policy offices of Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush and in the 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 presidential campaigns. He has also been a member of the board of contributors to USA Today and a lecturer at the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University.

He is the author of the widely acclaimed book, What Comes Next: The End of Big Government and the New Paradigm Ahead (Hyperion, 1995). His writings have appeared inThe New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Foreign Affairs, Fortune, The New Republic, National Review, and Slate, among other publications.

Pinkerton is a fellow at the New America Foundation and also at the Free Enterprise Fund, both in Washington, DC, and serves an adviser to the Herbert Quandt Stiftung, the foundation of BMW. He graduated from Stanford University.

The talk is sponsored by Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, established in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, 1935 alumnus and Maryland's longest serving elected official. The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, travel and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders in public policy and the media.

Ben Folds Breaks out the Beats at Washington College's Lifetime Fitness Center, November 18

Chestertown, MD, October 20, 2006 — Washington College welcomes Ben Folds/Band, with special guest Corn Mo, to its Benjamin A. Johnson Lifetime Fitness Center, Saturday, November 18, 2006, at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Washington College students, faculty, and staff can purchase tickets for $15 each (with a five ticket maximum) from 9:30 a.m. to noon and 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, in the Office of Student Affairs starting October 30.

General Admission tickets are $25 per person and are available starting October 30 through all Ticketmaster locations, online at ticketmaster.com, or by calling 410-547-SEAT. Tickets purchased the day of the show cost $30 at the door.

For further information, contact the College's Director of Student Activities, Robert Hooey, at 410-810-7146 or by e-mail at bhooey2@washcoll.edu.

Best-known as the powerhouse leader of Ben Folds Five, Ben Folds launched his solo career in 2000 after the band's breakup. Since then, he has released four solo LPs, including his most recent solo album entitled Songs for Silverman. With this striking and intricately crafted album, Ben Folds shows his maturity as a powerful artist through tricky time signatures and delicate ballads on tracks such as "Jesusland" and "Late." He also contributed to William Shatner's most recent album Has Been and will release a compilation featuring remastered and reworked songs from his EP's by the end of 2006.

Ben Folds' solo act creates quite the buzz on the road. Renowned as "Ben Folds and a piano," he's not shy of inviting audience members on stage to break out the beats, often asking them to sing trumpet and saxophone melodies or provide backing vocals. With a little audience assistance and Folds' improvisational skills, riotous renditions of pop tunes take the crowd by storm.

Learn more about Ben Folds at http://www.benfolds.com.

Centenary Celebration of Beckett Continues with MLA's Marjorie Perloff, October 30

Chestertown, MD, October 19, 2006 — In the third of a series of four events celebrating the centenary of the birth of Irish writer Samuel Beckett, Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee presents "In Love with Hiding: Samuel Beckett's War, " a lecture by Marjorie Perloff, President of the Modern Language Association, Monday, October 30, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room of the Miller Library. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

Unlike the many critics who approach Beckett as primarily a philosophical writer whose principal subject is "alienation" or "the human condition," Marjorie Perloff insists on the importance of his precarious life as a member of the resistance in Nazi-occupied France—even though he never wrote about them directly—as a key to understanding his work. She will illustrate this point by discussing, among other texts, Beckett's most famous play, Waiting for Godot.

Marjorie Perloff has long been recognized as one of the most energetic and innovative of contemporary literary critics. A champion of avant-garde poetry, she has authored hundreds of articles and a dozen books, including The Poetics of Indeterminacy: Rimbaud to Cage, Radical Artifice: Writing Poetry in the Age of Media, and Poetry On and Off the Page: Essays for Emergent Occasions. In addition to her books of literary criticism, Perloff has written theVienna Paradox, which recounts her childhood in Austria, from which her family fled in 1938.

The reading is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee, which works to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has done so much to enrich Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor" and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

Mirth, Innocence, and a Dash of Life—Scholar and Novelist Maureen Howard Reads from Her Works, October 24

Chestertown, MD, October 19, 2006 — Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee presents Maureen Howard, reading from her works, October 24, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room of the Miller Library. The event is free and open to the public.

A scholar as well as a novelist, Maureen Howard creates a rich backdrop of history and ideas in her fiction and is often called upon to write introductions to new publications of classics, such as Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway and Edith Wharton's The Age of Innocence. Three of Howard's seven previously published novels have been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award, and her 1978 memoir, The Facts of Life, was the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award.

"A grand writer of English prose; she's witty and (a rarer quality in novelists) she's intelligent as well," declared Peter S. Prescott in Newsweek. Often compared to the works of Henry James and Virginia Woolf, her writing receives praise for its brilliant, sensitive commentary on contemporary society.

In addition to her own fiction writing, Howard has just edited the two-volume Edith Wharton: Collected Stories, spanning the American writer's career from 1891 to 1937. The Library of America approached Howard for this project based on her previous scholarship on Wharton's novel, The House of Mirth.

The reading is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee, which works to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has done so much to enrich Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most "ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor" and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

WC Drama Department's Production of Metamorphoses Transforms, October 20 and 21

Chestertown, MD, October 17, 2006 — Washington College's Drama Department presents Metamorphoses,based on the myths of Ovid, a senior thesis directed by Rachel Loose, written and originally directed by Mary Zimmerman, October 20 and 21, at 8 p.m., in the College's Tawes Theatre. Reservations are required. For show information, call 410-778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

Everything Midas touched turned to gold; Orpheus lost Eurydice to the underworld.Metamorphoses breathes life into these and Ovid's most memorable myths, drifting seamlessly from past to present and exploring the age-old themes of love, lust, greed, and the loss of a loved one. Staged around a pool, the play utilizes the talent of ten actors to portray more than 60 characters to a twenty-first century audience. Actors include: seniors Liam Daley, Ken Dolch, David Hosey, and Val Larson; junior Kevin Reagan; sophomores Bethany Creel, Dorothy Johnson, Hester Sachse, and Ryan Stiffler; and freshman Lauren Davenport.

"The show is about the endurance of the human spirit—the challenges we face, and how we change and adapt as a result of our experiences," notes Director Rachel Loose. "These myths resonate, and I knew I had to direct such a challenging and provoking piece."

College Calls for Nominations for President's Medal and Distinguished Service Awards

Deadline for Nominations: November 30, 2006

Chestertown, MD, October 12, 2006 — Baird Tipson, President of Washington College, today called for nominations for the annual President's Medal and the President's Distinguished Service Awards, which recognize employees, as well as community members and organizations, for meritorious service to Washington College and/or Chestertown and the greater Kent County community. The College is accepting nominations until Thursday, November 30, 2006. The award recipients will be honored at the College's George Washington's Birthday Convocation on February 23, 2007.

The President's Medal recognizes the accomplishments of an individual or an organization that has made significant contributions to the advancement of Washington College and/or the region. Last year's recipients were Ruth Briscoe, Nancy Dick, Jim Siemen, the Chestertown Volunteer Fire Department, and the Kent Family Center.

The President's Distinguished Service Awards recognize exceptional performance, leadership, and service by faculty and staff of Washington College. Last year's recipients were Louis Saunders, Joachim Scholz, and Laura Johnstone Wilson.

Nominations will be reviewed and evaluated by the President's Awards Advisory Committee. Please review the rules and criteria below before submitting nominations.

Nomination Rules & Criteria

Individuals may be nominated in either or both award categories. Nominees will be considered for an award only in the category for which they have been nominated. Individuals serving on the Awards

Advisory Committee are not eligible for nomination. Nominations in both categories are due by November 30, 2006. Nominations should include a cover sheet with the following information: (1) the name of the nominee; (2) the award for which the individual or organization is being nominated; and (3) the name of the nominator.

The President's Medal

The recipient of the President's Medal will be an individual or organization with an exemplary record of sustained and acknowledged contribution to the quality of life in Chestertown, Kent County, and/or at Washington College. The candidate's career or organization's work should be distinguished by a dedication to the fulfillment of the ideals represented in the Washington College mission statement and by service to their fellow human beings. Particular emphasis will be placed on contributions that have had a wide-ranging positive influence on Chestertown and the Washington College community.

Eligibility: Any individual or organization may be nominated for the President's Medal. A nominee should have at least five years of demonstrated service.

Nomination Materials: A letter of nomination should be submitted, clearly indicating why the individual or organization should be so honored and how the individual or organization exemplifies the criteria for this award. A résumé, curriculum vitae, or brief background sketch of the nominee should accompany the nomination letter. At least two, but no more than three, seconding letters of nomination may accompany the nomination or may be sent under separate cover. In subsequent years, nominations submitted in the past two years will automatically be reconsidered; however, updated information is encouraged.

President's Distinguished Service Awards

The President's Distinguished Service Awards recognize exceptional performance, leadership, and service by an employee of Washington College. The recipient of this award will have a record of exemplary performance and distinctive contributions to the operation of an administrative, academic, research, or service unit on campus. He or she will have clearly demonstrated initiative toward the improvement of the College's programs or campus activities and will have shown commitment to the campus community as a whole.

Eligibility: Any member of the faculty or staff who has been employed by Washington College for at least five years (in any of one or more capacities) may be nominated for a President's Distinguished Service Award. No more than five awards will be given annually. The awards will be distributed equitably between salaried and hourly employees.

Nomination Materials: A letter of nomination should be submitted, clearly indicating why this individual should be so honored and how the individual exemplifies the criteria for this award. A résumé, curriculum vitae, or brief biographical sketch of the nominee should accompany the nomination letter. At least two, but no more than three, seconding letters of nomination may accompany the nomination or may be sent under separate cover. In subsequent years, nominations submitted in the past two years will automatically be reconsidered; however, updated information is encouraged.

Deadline for Nominations: The deadline for the receipt of nominations and supporting materials for both the President's Medal and President's Distinguished Service Awards is Thursday, November 30, 2006. Nominations or supporting materials received after that date will not be considered.

Nominations should be sent to President's Awards Advisory Committee, c/o President's Office, Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620.

Washington College's Ducks Unlimited Chapter Holds Second Annual Benefit Banquet, October 28

Chestertown, MD, October 10, 2006 — Washington College's chapter of Ducks Unlimited—the first collegiate chapter in Maryland—invites the public to its second annual banquet, Saturday, October 28, 2006, at 6 p.m. in the college's Casey Academic Center Forum. Banquet tickets can be purchased in advance or at the door for $30 per person, $50 per couple, and $20 per student.

Along with a delicious selection of pulled pork, sliced top round of beef, and assorted desserts served by Amuse-Bouche Catering, banquet tickets entitle guests to a one-year membership in Ducks Unlimited and to participate in the evening's live and silent auctions for decoys, limited edition prints, jackets, a Charles Daly 12-gauge shotgun, blind bags, and other accessories donated through the generosity of local businesses. All proceeds support the wetland and waterfowl conservation efforts of Ducks Unlimited.

Ducks Unlimited works to conserve, restore, and manage wetlands and associated habitats for North America's waterfowl. In addition to supporting these efforts, the Washington College chapter hosts fundraising activities and workshops, such as an annual decoy carving class.

For more information and advance ticket reservations, contact David Brooks, chairman of Washington College Ducks Unlimited, at 410-299-1200, or via e-mail:dbrooks2@washcoll.edu.