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.