Internationally Renowned Multi-Media Artists Hill, Quasha Discuss 'Singular Times' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Department of Art presents "Singular Times and Other Liminal Realities," a lecture and panel discussion by intramedia artist Gary Hill and artist/poet George Quasha, at Litrenta Lecture Hall on Thursday, November 8, at 7:30 p.m. The presentation was organized by Washington College Assistant Professor of Art and intermedia artist Monika Weiss.

Gary Hill's seminal and internationally celebrated work in various media -- especially video and installation art (with a broad orientation including cybernetics, electronics, sound, language and image) -- has been exhibited at major museums around the world, including solo exhibitions at the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, Paris; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; the Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York; the Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Basel; the Museu d'Art Contemporani, Barcelona; and the Kunstmuseum, Wolfsburg, among many other distinguished venues.

Hill has received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations, and has been the recipient of numerous awards and honors, most notably the Leone d'Oro Prize for Sculpture at the Venice Biennale in 1995, a John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Grant in 1998, and the Kurt Schwitters Award in 2000.

George Quasha is an artist and poet who works across mediums to explore principles in common within language, sculpture, drawing, video, sound, installation and performance.

Quasha's axial stones and axial drawings have been exhibited at the Baumgartner Gallery in Chelsea, New York, the Sought Foundation in Philadelphia, the Cotuit Center for the Arts in Cape Cod, the ZONE Chelsea Center for the Arts in Chelsea, and recently in a solo exhibition at the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art at SUNY New Paltz. They are featured in the recently published book Axial Stones: An Art of Precarious Balance (North Atlantic Books: Berkeley, 2006). Last year, Quasha received a Guggenheim Fellowship in film and video.

Quasha also is known for his video-installation work, "Speaking Portraits (in the performative indicative)," in which he has recorded nearly 600 artists, poets and composers in 10 countries and 20 languages describing their views on art. This work has been exhibited at White Box in Chelsea, at the Snite Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame, at the Samuel Dorsky Museum, and in several other countries (France, Poland, Switzerland and India). It was recently featured in five public installations as part of the 2007 Kingston, New York, Sculpture Biennial.

Quasha's numerous written works include books of poetry, anthologies and writings on art. He has a new book on his fellow Washington College co-lecturer Gary Hill forthcoming from Ediciones Poligrafa (Barcelona).

Hill and Quasha have enjoyed a 25-year performance collaboration (video/language/sound) that continues to this day and also often includes frequent collaborator Charles Stein.

Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to "Singular Times and Other Liminal Realities" is free and open to the public.

October 27, 2007

Crime, Comedy Combine as Lonergan's 'Lobby Hero' Staged at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Department of Drama will present Kenneth Lonergan's "Lobby Hero" in Norman James Theatre on Friday and Saturday, November 2 and 3, at 8 p.m.

A senior thesis directed by Liz Flair, "Lobby Hero" is the story of young, hapless security guard Jeff (played by sophomore Travis Brown) and his growing ties to a murder investigation. The comedy has Jeff's supervisor William (played by senior Ben Kozlowski) testifying against his problematic brother, while an attractive new rookie cop (played by sophomore Annabelle Shore) is put on the stand against her seasoned partner Bill (played by Ben Majors).

Jeff's big mouth manages to mire him deeper in the investigation until all four characters are brought together realizing how connected they really are. Truth quickly becomes elusive with personal and social responsibilities being placed into question. Loyalties are strained and the cost of justice is unsure as the audience is left to wonder what will happen next.

Admission to "Lobby Hero" is free, but seating is limited and reservations are required; call 410/778-7835 or e-mail drama_tickets@washcoll.edu.

October 26, 2007

Rose O'Neill Literary House Launches New Series of Community Meetings

Chestertown, MD — Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House will hold its first-ever open community meeting on Sunday, October 28, at 6 p.m. All are invited to participate in the cultivation of an active atmosphere of networking, event planning, conversation—and above all, a love for language, stories and the creative life.

While many student, faculty and community groups use the Rose O'Neill Literary House, they rarely have an opportunity to interact. Nor is there any advisory group that shapes policies and programs at the House. The open meetings, which will be held monthly, will help instill a greater sense of interrelatedness among the various users of the facility.

"Anyone with an interest in overseeing, imagining and inhabiting the House is welcome" to Sunday's meeting, said Joshua Wolf Shenk, Director of the Rose O'Neill Literary House. "The House itself is a gathering place and resource for anyone interested in creative life and especially those interested in the writing arts."

Writers on campus have a range of interests—from fiction and poetry to editing, journalism, screenwriting and publishing. The community meetings will bring these creative talents together to imagine and oversee the programs of the Rose O'Neill Literary House and to share writing and reading-related resources and opportunities.

Agenda items for the first meeting include the Literary House refurbishment, spring programs, ground rules for booking events, and more.

The contents of each meeting will be shaped largely by participants. "Come to one meeting, come to every meeting," said Shenk. "We want your input on programs, the House and your ideas for the future."

Pizza and soft drinks will be served at the inaugural meeting.

October 25, 2007

Cold War History from the Soviet Side: 'Failed Empire' Author Zubok Visits Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Washington College's Conrad Wingate Memorial Lecture Series presents "The Soviet Union: America's Worst Enemy?"—a talk by Vladislav Zubok, Associate Professor of History at Temple University, in the Litrenta Lecture Hall on Tuesday, November 6, at 5:30 p.m. A booksigning will follow.

Dr. Zubok is the author of the newly published A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War From Stalin to Gorbachev; he also is co-author of Anti-Americanism in Russia: From Stalin to Putin and the prize-winning Inside the Kremlin's Cold War: From Stalin to Khrushchev.

O.A. Wested, author of The Global Cold War, hailed Dr. Zubok's new book as "an excellent overview of Soviet foreign policy and a forceful explanation of why Communism collapsed, centering on Gorbachev's mistakes and misjudgments."

The first work in English to cover the entire Cold War from the Soviet side, A Failed Empireprovides a history different from those written by the Western victors.

Dr. Zubok argues that Western interpretations of the Cold War have erred by exaggerating either the Kremlin's pragmatism or its aggressiveness. Explaining the interests, aspirations, illusions, fears and misperceptions of the Kremlin leaders and Soviet elites, Dr. Zubok offers a Soviet perspective on the greatest standoff of the 20th century.

Using recently declassified Politburo records, ciphered telegrams, diaries, taped conversations and other sources, Dr. Zubok explores the origins of the superpowers' confrontation under Stalin, Khrushchev's contradictory and counterproductive attempts to ease tensions, the surprising story of Brezhnev's passion for détente, and Gorbachev's destruction of the Soviet superpower as the by-product of his hasty steps to end the Cold War and to reform the Soviet Union.

In reviewing A Failed Empire, the History Book Club enthused, "Zubok has taken on a huge challenge in attempting to narrate the entire evolution of the Cold War from the perspective of the apex of power in Moscow. He succeeds admirably. ... This is a book that can be read by the specialist and generalist alike. ... The book should reignite serious discussion about the causes of the disintegration of the Soviet Union, which is the subject of his interesting conclusion."

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.

Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to "The Soviet Union: America's Worst Enemy?" is free and open to the public.

October 24, 2007

Senatorial Colloquy Continues at Washington College with Sens. Bayh, Bumpers

Chestertown, MD — The Senatorial Colloquy on American History and Politics, led by former Senator Birch Bayh (D-Ind., 1963-81) and hosted by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, continues with a public conversation between Senator Bayh and Senator Dale Bumpers (D-Ark., 1975-99) at Washington College's Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on Monday, November 5, at 5 p.m.

Senator Bayh is a senior fellow of the C.V. Starr Center. Throughout a career spanning more than half a century, he won renown as a tireless and effective champion of civil rights and education, and as a highly respected authority on the U.S. Constitution. The only person since the 18th century to write more than one successful amendment to the Constitution, he has been called "a latter-day Founding Father," as well as a master of the art of congressional leadership, often across party lines.

Senator Bumpers represented Arkansas from 1975 until 1999, and has been acclaimed as one of the Senate's most eloquent orators in recent times. Less than three weeks after he retired from the Senate, he was called back to deliver the closing argument in defense of his friend President Bill Clinton, in only the second presidential impeachment trial in the history of the country. "Mr. Bumpers summoned forth the dignity of an earlier form of public discussion, the kind prized by the Founding Fathers," wrote one commentator in the New York Times.

The 2007 Senatorial Colloquy will continue with Senator Bayh and Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) in Hynson Lounge on Monday, November 12, at 5 p.m.

Founded in 1782 under the personal patronage of George Washington, Washington College has hosted numerous national leaders throughout its long history—beginning with the institution's namesake himself, who attended the 1784 Commencement.

Later visitors included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush. The College's alumni have included several members of the U.S. Senate.

The 2007 Senatorial Colloquy is part of Washington College's celebration of its 225th anniversary year, and it draws inspiration from the institution's founders, who believed that the future of American democracy depended on education, civil discourse, and an informed understanding of history.

Admission to the Colloquy sessions is free and open to the public; admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on attending, please call the C.V. Starr Center at

410/810-7161. For more background on the Senatorial Colloquy and the participating Senators, please visit the Center's website at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

October 24, 2007

Guitar Virtuoso Alex de Grassi to Perform at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Washington College Concert Series continues its 2007-2008 season with a performance by Grammy-nominated guitarist Alex de Grassi at the Norman James Theatre on Saturday, October 27, at 8 p.m.

Often cited as one of the world's top finger-style steel-string guitarists, Alex de Grassi brings a unique voice to the art of acoustic guitar with his evocative compositions and arrangements, a richly layered sound and sheer virtuosity. The Wall Street Journal has called his playing "flawless" and Billboard hails his "intricate finger-picking technique with an uncanny gift for melodic invention."

De Grassi's trademark is an ability to create a highly orchestrated sound in his solo guitar music. His playing weaves together melody, counter-melody, bass, harmony, rhythm and cross-rhythms, creating a canvas of sound unheard of in a solo guitar performance.

His career has drawn acclaim for numerous recordings released by Windham Hill, RCA Novus, Tropo Records, 33rd Street and other labels, as well as for his live performances as a soloist and within ensemble settings. He has toured extensively on the concert circuit, performing in Europe, Japan and throughout North America, including such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Interlochen Festival, the Montreux Jazz Festival and the Belfast International Festival.

De Grassi was the subject for a PBS concert/television show, "Alex de Grassi: The Artist's Profile."

Now in its 56th season, the Washington College Concert Series will continue with performances by the flute/piano due "2" on February 2, 2008; the Cambodian Classics Ensemble on March 2, 2008; and harpist Elizabeth Hainen on April 26, 2008. Single tickets can be purchased at the door, $15 for adults and $5 for youth and students. Season tickets are available. For more ticket information and a 2007-2008 season brochure, call 410/778-7839.

October 19, 2007

Beauty in the Wood: Von Voss Presents 'Tree-Talk'

Chestertown, MD — Vicco von Voss '91 returns to Washington College to present "Tree-Talk: The Scientific and Spiritual Understanding of Trees" at Litrenta Lecture Hall on Thursday, October 18, at 7:30 p.m.

"Tree Talk" is being presented as part of the McLain Lecture Series in Environmental Studies.

Vicco von Voss was a double major at Washington College, completing majors in both art and chemistry. He has used his combined scientific and artistic abilities well. After graduation from Washington College he apprenticed with cabinetmaker Heinrich Meyerfeldt in Hamburg, Germany. Von Voss is the recipient of several awards, among them being a Niche Award finalist, an honorary Top Graduate award in Germany, and the Lynette Nielson Award acknowledging excellence in Art from Washington College.

He also is the author of several articles in regional publications; most recently, he penned a main feature in the October 2007 issue of Chesapeake Life magazine.

Von Voss said he believes that a tree is an "ever-changing and organic being," and he uses this concept in creating masterpieces of functional furniture that "serve to celebrate the beauty of the wood and also give the tree a second life."

Litrenta Lecture Hall is in the John S. Toll Science Center. Admission to "Tree-Talk" is free and open to the public.

October 16, 2007

Senatorial Colloquy Continues at Washington College with Sens. Bayh, Laxalt

Chestertown, MD — The Senatorial Colloquy on American History and Politics, led by former Senator Birch Bayh (D-Ind., 1963-81) and hosted by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, continues with a public conversation between Senator Bayh and Senator Paul Laxalt (R-Nev., 1974-87) at Washington College's Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on Monday, October 22, at 5 p.m.

Senator Bayh is a senior fellow of the C.V. Starr Center. Throughout a career spanning more than half a century, he won renown as a tireless and effective champion of civil rights and education, and as a highly respected authority on the U.S. Constitution. The only person since the 18th century to write more than one successful amendment to the Constitution, he has been called "a latter-day Founding Father," as well as a master of the art of congressional leadership, often across party lines.

Senator Laxalt, who represented Nevada between 1974 and 1987, was often referred to as "The First Friend" due to his closeness to President Ronald Reagan. He was national chairman of President Reagan's three presidential campaigns (in 1976, 1980, and 1984).

At President Reagan's behest, Senator Laxalt traveled to the Philippines in 1986 to urge then-President Ferdinand Marcos to undertake political and military reforms, and eventually convinced the Philippine leader to step down peacefully, helping to avert a bloody civil war.

Founded in 1782 under the personal patronage of George Washington, Washington College has hosted numerous national leaders throughout its long history—beginning with the institution's namesake himself, who attended the 1784 Commencement.

Later visitors included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush. The College's alumni have included several members of the U.S. Senate.

The 2007 Senatorial Colloquy is part of Washington College's celebration of its 225th anniversary year, and it draws inspiration from the institution's founders, who believed that the future of American democracy depended on education, civil discourse, and an informed understanding of history.

Admission to Monday's Colloquy session is free and open to the public; admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on attending, please call the C.V. Starr Center at 410/810-7161. For more background on the Senatorial Colloquy and the five participating Senators, please visit the Center's website at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

October 11, 2007

Underwater Filmmakers Present 'Sharkwater' Screening at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — An exclusive viewing of "Sharkwater," a film by experienced diver and underwater photographer Rob Stewart, will be shown at Washington College's Litrenta Lecture Hall on Friday, October 19, at 7:30 p.m.

"Sharkwater" has not been released nationally yet, so this screening will provide the College and local community a unique opportunity to get a first look at the film in this area, followed by a question-and-answer session with the film crew.

The event is being hosted by Washington College's Center for Environment & Society in celebration of the College's Fall Family Weekend and the Chestertown Wildlife Show.

Stewart, who has had a lifelong fascination with sharks, said he made the film in an attempt to debunk historical stereotypes and media depictions of sharks as dangerous creatures; he reveals them as pillars in the evolution of the seas and shows how these magnificent creatures have gone from predator to prey.

A native of Toronto, Stewart joined conservationist Paul Watson of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society on a four-month expedition in some of the most shark-rich waters in the world, including Cocos Island, Costa Rica, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador and Guatemala, to deter poachers.

"Sharkwater" documents their journey in Guatemala, where they encountered shark poachers and found themselves in a series of life-and-death situations, including pirate boat rammings, gunboat chases, arrests, run-ins with organized crime, corrupt court systems and attempted murder charges that forced them to flee for their lives.

John Seidel, Director of the Center for Environment & Society, said that there were two different themes running throughout the film.

"The film seems to have two tracks," said Seidel. "The first is simply the story of how sharks, which we always think of as endangering us, are endangered by human predation, including long-line fishing, over-exploitation solely for their fins, and through a misplaced fear. The second story line is the human drama of making a film that many people did not want to see made—these included poachers and their business partners, including organized crime, and governments.

"At its heart, however, the film explores the threats to an apex predator, an animal that is the culmination of millions of years of evolution but is now severely threatened by humans," he added.

Seidel said that sharks play an extremely important role in the ecosystem of the ocean and that they are "far more threatened by us than we are by them—somewhere between 50 and 100 million sharks are killed each year, just for their fins.

"What we have been slow to understand is that sharks have a very important place in the world's ocean ecosystems. Their loss would have profound impacts on other species, and this over-fishing is symptomatic of a much larger problem. Oceans cover about 70 percent of our planet, and we can't ignore them just because they're for the most part out of sight. I hope that the people who see this film will appreciate both that threat to sharks and other ocean species, as well as the important role they play in nature, despite our fears. The world would be a much poorer place without them."

Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. The screening is free and open to the public.

October 10, 2007

Washington College Welcomes Its First-Ever Mary Wood Fellow: Author/Editor Hannah Tinti

Chestertown, MD — For five days this October, the Rose O'Neill Literary House and the Department of English at Washington College are welcoming the story writer and editor Hannah Tinti, as the first-ever Mary Wood Fellow.

This extended stay by an emerging woman writer was conceived by Mary Wood '68. "I thought that the young writers—especially the young women writers—might get some encouragement and insight into the writing life by somebody who has broken through the glass ceiling," said Wood, a former board member of Washington College and a long-time friend of literary programs. "And if the writer stays for longer than just one overnight reading, they could talk to her and get to know her."

The College community will get to know Hannah Tinti from October 16th through the 20th. Her packed schedule includes three public presentations, several class visits, one-and-one conferences with students, and even a ride on the skipjack Ellsworth.

Tinti's first collection of stories, Animal Crackers, was widely praised by critics, and was a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers pick for 2004, among other honors. Her first novel, Resurrection Men, is forthcoming with the Dial Press. She is also the editor of One Story, which publishes one story every issue. The journal, which she co-created in 2001, has had stories recognized in Best American Short Stories, Best New American Voices, Best American Non-Required Reading, and on public radio's "Selected Shorts."

One Story has been profiled in the New York Times, Newsweek and elsewhere. "Perhaps most satisfying of all," Tinti said, "we've seen many One Story writers go on to publish their first books."

Tinti will deliver a talk on publishing at the Rose O'Neill Literary House on Thursday, October 18, at 4:30 p.m. Students who are interested in learning about how to get published and read as a literary writer are encouraged to attend. On Saturday, October 20, at 1:30 p.m., Tinti will give a public reading at Hynson Lounge, where she will be preceded by student writers she will work with during her stay. Late night Saturday, Tinti will make a special appearance at a Writers' Union reading, for which students should meet at the Literary House at 9 p.m.

October 10, 2007

Five U.S. Senators Gather at Washington College for Bipartisan Conversations on Politics and History

Chestertown, MD — Their experiences span the administrations of every President from John F. Kennedy through George W. Bush. They have drafted amendments to the Constitution, battled over Supreme Court nominations, expanded civil rights, debated wars, brokered peace. Collectively, they have served nearly 100 years in the United States Senate.

And this semester, these five renowned legislators—among the Senate's most distinguished former and current members—will be at Washington College to share their reflections on politics, history, and the art of leadership with students, faculty, and the general public.

Senators from both sides of the aisle, including Gary Hart (D-Colo., 1975-87), Paul Laxalt (R-Nev., 1974-87), Dale Bumpers (D-Ark., 1975-99), and Richard Lugar (R-Ind., 1977-present) will participate in the 2007 Senatorial Colloquy on American History and Politics, led by former Senator Birch Bayh (D-Ind., 1963-81) and hosted by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. In a series of four public conversations, on October 17, October 22, November 5, and November 12, Senator Bayh and his guests will discuss the history and traditions of the Senate, as well as their own experiences in office. The Senatorial Colloquy will offer exceptional insights into what it is like to belong to what has been called "the most exclusive club in the world."

Amid the historic setting of 18th-century Chestertown, the Senatorial Colloquy also offers some of America's leading lawmakers a chance to reflect on enduring challenges that confront the nation. The goal of the series is to rise above the ins and outs of current politics and consider how the Senate can, in these contentious times, live up to the ideals of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison—who, in The Federalist Papers, envisioned the Senate as embodying nothing less than "a sense of national character."

Senator Bayh, who will participate with one visiting senator in each of the public conversations, is a senior fellow of the C.V. Starr Center at Washington College. Throughout a career spanning more than half a century, Senator Bayh won renown as a tireless and effective champion of civil rights and education, and as a highly respected authority on the U.S. Constitution. The only person since the 18th century to write more than one successful amendment to the Constitution, he has been called "a latter-day Founding Father," as well as a master of the art of congressional leadership, often across party lines. Along with the 25th Amendment (establishing the rules for Presidential disability and Presidential and Vice-Presidential succession) and the 26th Amendment (lowering the voting age to 18), Senator Bayh drafted Title IX of the Higher Education Act (prohibiting gender discrimination on campus) and helped draft the landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act and 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The 2007 Senatorial Colloquy also includes a series of student seminars at which 16 Washington College undergraduates have opportunities to study American politics and history in a small-group setting with Senator Bayh, and to continue the discussion with each visiting senator over a private dinner after each of the Colloquy's public sessions.

"Senator Bayh is not only a legendary figure in American public life, he is also an extraordinary teacher and mentor," said Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C.V. Starr Center. "Our students are fortunate indeed to learn about politics and history firsthand from someone who has literally made history. And the four guests whom he has invited to join him this semester are among the most thoughtful, eloquent, and farsighted members of the Senate in recent decades."

Senator Gary Hart (Wednesday, October 17—READERS, PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS THE CORRECT DATE, NOT OCTOBER 15) represented Colorado in the Senate from 1975 to 1987. A leading intellectual figure in American political life, he is widely recognized as among the first to forecast the end of the Cold War, and he co-chaired the U.S. Commission on National Security for the 21st Century, which warned of terrorist attacks on America before 9/11. Senator Hart was a candidate for the Democratic Party's nomination for President in 1984 and 1988. Currently Wirth Chair Professor at the University of Colorado, he has authored more than a dozen books.

Senator Paul Laxalt (Monday, October 22), who represented Nevada between 1974 and 1987, was often referred to as "The First Friend" due to his closeness to President Ronald Reagan. He was national chairman of Reagan's three presidential campaigns (in 1976, 1980, and 1984). At President Reagan's behest, he traveled to the Philippines in 1986 to urge then-President Ferdinand Marcos to undertake political and military reforms, and eventually convinced the Philippine leader to step down peacefully, helping to avert a bloody civil war.

Senator Dale Bumpers (Monday, November 5) represented Arkansas from 1975 until 1999, and has been acclaimed as one of the Senate's most eloquent orators in recent times. Less than three weeks after he retired from the Senate, he was called back to deliver the closing argument in defense of his friend President Bill Clinton, in only the second presidential impeachment trial in the history of the country. "Mr. Bumpers summoned forth the dignity of an earlier form of public discussion, the kind prized by the Founding Fathers," wrote one commentator in the New York Times.

Senator Richard Lugar (Monday, November 12) is the longest serving U.S. Senator in Indiana history, having been first elected in 1976. One of the Senate's most respected voices on foreign policy, he has recently played a pivotal role in that body's ongoing debate on the Iraq War. Senator Lugar is the Ranking Member of the Foreign Relations Committee, which he has also chaired, along with the Agriculture Committee. He was a candidate for the Republican nomination for President in 1996.

All the public conversations begin at 5:00 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall at Washington College. Admission to the Colloquy sessions is free and open to the public; admission will be on a first-come, first-served basis. For more information on attending, please call the C.V. Starr Center at 410-810-7161. For more background on the Senatorial Colloquy and the five participating Senators, please visit the Center's website at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

The four public conversations will be moderated by Steven Clemons of the New America Foundation, who is a member of the C.V. Starr Center's Advisory Board and author of the popular political blog "The Washington Note." A keen observer of politics inside the Beltway, Clemons also writes frequently on foreign policy, defense, and economic policy.

Founded in 1782 under the personal patronage of George Washington, Washington College has hosted numerous national leaders throughout its long history—beginning with the institution's namesake himself, who attended the 1784 Commencement. Later visitors included Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and George H.W. Bush. The College's alumni have included several members of the U.S. Senate. The 2007 Senatorial Colloquy is part of Washington College's celebration of its 225th anniversary year, and it draws inspiration from the institution's founders, who believed that the future of American democracy depended on education, civil discourse, and an informed understanding of history.

October 9, 2007

A Grim Legacy Explored: Author Discusses History of Eastern Shore Lynchings

Chestertown, MD — Civil rights lawyer and scholar Sherrilyn Ifill, author of the acclaimed new book On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century (Beacon Books, 2007), will explore the history of lynching on the Eastern Shore with a lecture/booksigning at the Bethel AME Church on Tuesday, October 16, at 7:30 p.m.

Professor Ifill's talk, sponsored by Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, will focus on how lynching and the violent climate surrounding lynching produced a decades-long legacy of silence, distrust and racial division. She also will lead an open discussion of how communities like those in Kent County—the site of a lynching and near-lynching in 1892 and 1931, respectively -- can use techniques like those used in South Africa's truth and reconciliation process to promote healing.

Sherrilyn Ifill is Professor of Law at the University of Maryland School of Law, and a nationally recognized advocate for civil rights, voting rights, and judicial diversity. She is a frequent guest on WYPR's "The Mark Steiner Show," where she offers commentary on race and the law, and a regular op-ed contributor to the Baltimore Sun and the AFRO-American. Prior to joining the University of Maryland faculty, she litigated voting rights cases for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund Inc.

Ifill first learned of the Eastern Shore's history of lynching from clients she represented in a Wicomico County discrimination suit, African-Americans unfairly affected by state highway siting decisions. Recognizing the link between contemporary inequalities and the long shadow of these grisly events, she turned her attention to bringing these stories back into the public eye.

Racial terrorism did not bypass Kent County. On May 17, 1892, an angry mob dragged 24-year-old James Taylor from a Chestertown jail cell and lynched him across the street from the Kent County Courthouse, leaving his body to dangle from a maple tree for an hour, spotlighted by a lantern.

Taylor's death came on the heels of the murder of a Millington doctor and subsequent arrest of 11 black suspects, events that set racial tensions in the county boiling. When the young daughter of a white Kennedyville farmer accused her father's hired hand of sexual assault, vigilantes leapt into action. No jury ever considered the evidence against Taylor.

Nearly forty years after the lynching of Taylor, a mob again demanded blood in November 1931, fanning out across four counties in pursuit of 27-year-old George Davis. Seeking a job opportunity, Davis had entered his former employers' residence and frightened the lady of the house; attempted criminal assault charges ensued. The night after his arrest, 700 angry men assembled outside the Chestertown jail; the group's leader openly carried a rope. Only a quick response on part of the Kent County Sheriff saved Davis's life.

Sherrilyn Ifill's talk is cosponsored by Washington College's Center for the Study of Black Culture, the Chester Valley Ministers' Association, Mt. Olive AME Church, Janes United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalists of the Chester River, and the African American Schoolhouse Museum & Council.

"This is not a 'black' story or a 'white' one, but a history relevant to every resident of Kent County: black, white, elderly, young, the lifelong resident and the newcomer alike," said Jill Ogline, Associate Director of the C.V. Starr Center. "We hope to lay the foundation for an ongoing conversation on lynching's legacy, looking toward the goals of restorative justice and community reconciliation."

Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the C.V. Starr Center explores our nation's history—and particularly the legacy of its Founding era—in innovative ways. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between past and present, and between the academic world and the public at large. From its base in the circa-1746 Custom House along Chestertown's colonial waterfront, the Center also serves as a portal onto a world of opportunities for Washington College students. Its guiding principle is that now more than ever, a wider understanding of our shared past is fundamental to the continuing success of America's democratic experiment.

Admission to the October 16 event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410-810-7157.

October 4, 2007

Dr. Fredrika J. Teute, Prominent History Scholar, Accepts 2007-8 C.V. Starr Fellowship

Chestertown, MD — The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience has appointed Dr. Fredrika J. Teute, a nationally prominent scholar and editor in the field of early American history, as its new C.V. Starr Fellow. Dr. Teute will spend the entire academic year 2007-8 in residence in Chestertown, working on a book and teaching at Washington College. She was selected from among dozens of applicants for this year's fellowship.

As Editor of Publications at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture—a leading center for the study of colonial history, sponsored jointly by the College of William & Maryand Colonial Williamsburg—Dr. Teute has shaped some of the most seminal works in early American history published over the past two decades. In 2006 alone, books published by Omohundro received 10 major prizes, including the Phi Beta Kappa Society's Ralph Waldo Emerson Award and the American Historical Association's James A. Rawley Prize.

At the same time, Dr. Teute has pursued research on her own project, an exploration of the formation of national identity in early Washington, D.C. Her book focuses on the career of the novelist, journalist, and saloniste Margaret Bayard Smith, a little-known but fascinating figure in the rough-and-tumble world of Jeffersonian-era politics. The yearlong C.V. Starr Center Writing Fellowship will afford Teute an opportunity to temporarily lay down her editor's pencil and complete her manuscript.

"The Starr Center is an ideal place for me, with its focus on the Revolutionary period and origins of the United States and its locale not far from Washington, D.C.," said Dr. Teute. "These are the era, concerns, and setting of my own study."

"A primary mission of the Starr Center is to foster innovative approaches to the American past," said Adam Goodheart, the Center's Hodson Trust-Griswold Director. "Dr. Teute's book—weaving together political and social history, literature and the fine arts, through the life story of an extraordinary woman—will, I believe, show readers early America in a whole new light. I am delighted that we are supporting her work."

Dr. Teute received her B.A. at Radcliffe College, her M.A. at the College of William & Mary, and her Ph.D. at Johns Hopkins University. She has served as associate editor of the Papers of James Madison and the Papers of John Marshall, as well as Editor of Publications at the Virginia Historical Society. She has been a Mellon Fellow at the Huntington Library and a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at the American Antiquarian Society, of which she is also an elected member. She has co-edited several books and published numerous scholarly articles in leading publications. In addition to her role at the Omohundro Institute, Dr. Teute is a Lecturer in History at the College of William & Mary.

"Dr. Teute's residence in Chestertown provides our students with a wonderful opportunity and promises to enhance the status and reach of the Starr Center in the scholarly community," said Assistant Professor of History Kenneth Miller. While at Washington College, Dr. Teute will teach an undergraduate course and deliver a public lecture on her project.

Established in 2000 with a grant from the New York-based Starr Foundation, the C.V. Starr Center draws on the special historical strengths of Washington College and colonial Chestertown to explore the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture, through innovative educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history. In cooperation with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History and George Washington's Mount Vernon, the Center administers the George Washington Book Prize, a $50,000 annual prize recognizing outstanding published works that contribute to a greater understanding of the life and career of George Washington and/or the Founding era.

October 2, 2007

The Art of Photography Meets the Age of Globalism at Washington College

Chestertown, MD, October 1, 2007 — The Washington College Department of Art & Art History will present "More and More About Less and Less: Conceptual Photography in the Age of Globalism," a lecture by photographer Daniel Faust, at the Casey Academic Center Forum on Tuesday, October 2, at 5 p.m.

The New York-based Faust's recent photographic excursions have ranged from Chicago, Paris, Seville and Tangier to Dubai and Johannesburg, along with many and miscellaneous places in between. His ever-growing archive of works presently consists of 25,000 images.

Faust is currently exhibiting United Nations photographs in the Istanbul Biennial. Last summer he exhibited in "Hidden in Plain Sight" at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art. In 2006 he exhibited at the Second International Biennial of Contemporary Art in Seville.

His work has been published in ArtForum, Grand Street, the New York Times and Parkett.Niche, a novel illustrated with 85 Faust photographs, is slated for publication in November 2007.

Admission to "More and More About Less and Less: Conceptual Photography in the Age of Globalism" is free and open to the public.