Starr Center Donates 78 New Washington-Era History Books to Miller Library

Chestertown, MD — Miller Library is awash in the latest books about George Washington and the Revolutionary era, thanks to a gift from the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience of 78 volumes being considered for this year's George Washington Book Prize.

Books about everything from the men and women who founded the new nation to the Native Americans who were displaced in the process will be on display at the library until the winner of the $50,000 award is announced at Mount Vernon on May 29.

Now in its fourth year, the George Washington Book Prize honors work that contributes 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 prize is awarded annually by a panel of distinguished historians. It is one of the largest literary awards in the nation.

Every year, publishers are asked to submit five copies of each book they enter—three are forwarded directly to the jurors, one is kept at the Starr Center, and one is set aside for Miller Library. As a result, nearly every major book published about the founding period over the past four years is now part of the College's collection.

The number of George Washington Prize entrants continues to grow—this year, the total retail value of the donated books is about $2,700, a 50 percent increase over last year's cache.

"It certainly strengthens our collection on George Washington, the Founders, and the whole founding era," says 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."

Publishers have been showing an increased interest in the period, and the result is more diversity—books that go beyond Washington and other household-name heroes of early America, and even beyond the borders of the United States, reflecting on how our own country's revolution has affected the rest of the world. "These are not just a bunch of biographies of dead white males," said Adam Goodheart, the Starr Center's Hodson Trust-Griswold Director. "Collectively, they provide a vivid and broad portrait of an entire period of history, as well as address many questions that still confront the 21st century."

Meanwhile, this year's panel of jurors is reading and discussing each of those 78 books—not a job for the faint-hearted—and narrowing the field. Washington College President Baird Tipson will announce the three finalists at Convocation on George Washington's Birthday.

Books Donated

• Allison, Robert J. New England Remembers: The Boston Tea Party (Commonwealth Editions)
• Armitage, David. The Declaration of Independence: A Global History (Harvard)
• Axelrod, Alan. Blooding at Great Meadows: Young George Washington and the Battle that Shaped the Man (Running Press)
• Axelrod, Alan. The Real History of the American Revolution: A New Look at the Past(Sterling)
• Berg, Scott W. Grand Avenues: The Story of the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C. (Pantheon)
• Bober, Natalie S. Thomas Jefferson: Draftsman of a Nation (Virginia)
• Bouton, Terry. Taming Democracy: 'The People,' the Founders, and the Troubled Ending of the American Revolution (Oxford)
• Broadwater, Robert P. American Generals: A Biographical Dictionary of the Revolutionary War (McFarland)
• Burian, A. Ward. George Washington's Legacy of Leadership (Morgan James)
• Burke, James. American Connections. The Founding Fathers. Networked. (Simon & Schuster)
• Burns, Eric. Virtue, Valor, & Vanity: The Founding Fathers and the Pursuit of Fame(Arcade)
• Calloway, Colin G. The Shawnees and the War for America (Penguin)
• Carp, Benjamin. Rebels Rising: Cities and the American Revolution (Oxford)
• Chadwick, Bruce. The General and Mrs. Washington: The Untold Story of a Marriage and a Revolution (Sourcebooks, Inc.)
• Church, Forrest. So Help Me God: The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State (Harcourt)
• Clary, David A. Adopted Son: Washington, Lafayette, and the Friendship that Saved the Revolution (Bantam)
• Cumfer, Cynthia. Separate Peoples, One Land: The Minds of Cherokees, Blacks, and Whites on the Tennessee Frontier (North Carolina)
• Dershowitz, Alan. Finding Jefferson: A Lost Letter, A Remarkable Discovery, and the First Amendment in an Age of Terrorism (Wiley)
• Dunkerly, Robert M. The Battle of Kings Mountain (History Press)
• Dunn, Susan. Dominion of Memories: Jefferson, Madison & the Decline of Virginia(Basic Books)
• Dunn, Jr., Walter S. Choosing Sides on the Frontier in the American Revolution(Praeger)
• Ellis, Joseph J. American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies at the Founding of the Republic (Knopf)
• Ellis, Joseph J. The Founding Fathers: The Essential Guide to the Men Who Made America (Wiley)
• Faherty, Duncan. Remodeling the Nation: The Architecture of American Identity, 1776-1858 (New Hampshire)
• Farris, Michael. From Tyndale to Madison: How the Death of an English Martyr Led to the American Bill of Rights (B&H)
• Ferling, John. Almost a Miracle: The American Victory in the War of Independence(Oxford)
• Fleming, Thomas. The Perils of Peace: America's Struggle for Survival after Yorktown(HarperCollins/Smithsonian)
• Gaines, James R. For Liberty and Glory: Washington, Lafayette, and Their Revolutions(Norton)
• Gibson, Alan. Understanding the Founding: The Crucial Questions (Kansas)
• Glover, Lorri. Southern Sons: Becoming Men in the New Nation (Johns Hopkins)
• Goodfellow, Anne Marie. Textual Evidence of the Life of Simon Girty, American Revolutionary Turncoat: An Historian's Guide to the Draper Manuscript Collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society (The Edwin Mellen Press)
• Gray, Edward G. The Making of John Ledyard: Empire and Ambition in the life of an Early American Traveler (Yale)
• Griffin, Patrick. American Leviathan: Empire, Nation, and Revolutionary Frontier (Hill and Wang)
• Hagger, Nicholas. The Secret Founding of America: The Real Story of Freemasons, Puritans & the Battle for the New World (Sterling/Watkins)
• Hartman, Saidiya. Lose Your Mother: A Journey along the Atlantic Slave Route (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
• Hitchens, Christopher. Thomas Paine's Rights of Man (Atlantic Monthly)
• Hogan, Margaret A., C., et al. The Adams Papers: Adams Family Correspondence, Volume 8, March 1787-December 1789 (Harvard)
• Hogan, Margaret A. and Taylor, James C. My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams (Belknap)
• Holland, Matthew S. Bonds of Affection: Civic Charity and the Making of America—Winthrop, Jefferson, and Lincoln (Georgetown)
• Holton, Woody. Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution (Hill and Wang)
• Hormats, Robert D. The Price of Liberty: Paying for America's Wars (Holt)
• Howard, Hugh and Roger Straus III. Houses of the Founding Fathers: The Men Who Made America and the Way They Lived (Artisan)
• Hyland, Matthew G. Montpelier and the Madisons: House, Home and American Heritage (History Press)
• Isenberg, Nancy. Fallen Founder: The Life of Aaron Burr (Viking)
• Kierner, Cynthia A. The Contrast: Manners, Morals and Authority in the Early American Republic (NYU)
• Koschnik, Albrecht. Let a Common Interest Bind Us Together: Associations, Partisanship, and Culture in Philadelphia, 1775-1840. (Virginia)
• Kukla, Jon. Mr. Jefferson's Women (Knopf)
• Lane, Eric, and Oreskes, Michael. The Genius of America: How the Constitution Saved Our Country and Why It Can Again (Bloomsbury) Larson, Edward J. A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign (Free Press)
• Latimer, Jon. 1812: War with America (Belknap/)
• Linklater, Andro. The Fabric of America: How Our Borders and Boundaries Shaped the Country and Forged our National Identity (Walker)
• Loughran, Trish. The Republic in Print: Print Culture in the Age of U.S. Nation Building, 1770-1870 (Columbia)
• Marcus, Maeva, editor. The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789-1800, Volume Eight, Cases: 1798-1800 (Columbia)
• McDonnell, Michael A. The Politics of War: Race, Class & Conflict in Revolutionary Virginia (North Carolina)
• McGuire, Thomas J. The Philadelphia Campaign (Volume II): Germantown and the Roads to Valley Forge (Stackpole)
• McKenna, George. The Puritan Origins of American Patriotism (Yale) Miller, Amelia F. and Riggs, A. R.. Romances, Remedies and Revolution: The Journal of Dr. Elihu Ashley of Deerfield, Massachusetts, 1773-1775 (Massachusetts)
• Moore, Peter N. World of Toil and Strife: Community Transformation in Backcountry South Carolina, 1750-1805 (South Carolina)
• Moyer, Paul B. Wild Yankees: The Struggle for Independence Along Pennsylvania's Revolutionary Frontier (Cornell)
• Neimeyer, Charles P. The Revolutionary War: American Soldiers' Lives (Greenwood)
• Onuf, Peter S. The Mind of Thomas Jefferson (Virginia)
• Pangle, Lorraine Smith. The Political Philosophy of Benjamin Franklin (Johns Hopkins)
• Pasles, Paul C. Benjamin Franklin's Numbers: An Unsung Mathematical Odyssey(Princeton)
• Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship: A Human History (Viking)
• Riordan, Liam. Many Identities, One Nation: The Revolution and its Legacy in the Mid-Atlantic (Penn)
• Ryan, D. Michael. Concord and the Dawn of Revolution: The Hidden Truths (History Press)
• Shaffer, Jason. Performing Patriotism: National Identity in the Colonial and Revolutionary Theater (Penn)
• Shain, Barry Alan. The Nature of Rights at the American Founding and Beyond(Virginia)
• Sidbury, James. Becoming African in America: Race and Nation in the Early Black Atlantic (Oxford)
• Stephenson, Michael. Patriot Battles: How the War of Independence Was Fought(HarperCollins)
• Stewart, David O. The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution(Simon & Schuster)
• Stockdale, Eric and Holland, Randy J. Middle Temple Lawyers and the American Revolution (Thomson)
• Unger, Harlow Giles. America's Second Revolution: How George Washington Defeated Patrick Henry and Saved the Nation (Wiley)
• Urban, Mark. Fusiliers: The Saga of a British Redcoat Regiment in the American Revolution (Walker)
• Waterman, Bryan. Republic of Intellect: The Friendly Club of New York City and the Making of American Literature (Johns Hopkins)
• Wilbanks, Charles, editor. The American Revolution and Righteous Community: Selected Sermons of Bishop Robert Smith (South Carolina)
• Winik, Jay. The Great Upheaval: America and the Birth of the Modern World: 1788-1800 (HarperCollins)
• Zagarri, Rosemarie. Revolutionary Backlash: Women and Politics in the Early American Republic (Penn)

January 21, 2008

Baird Tipson Elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities

Washington, D.C. — The membership of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) has selected Baird Tipson, president of Washington College, to the NAICU Board of Directors.

NAICU is the leading national association representing private higher education, serving as the unified voice of nearly 1,000 independent college and university presidents, and specialized, state, and regional association executives. NAICU member institutions enroll nine of every 10 students attending a private college or university in the United States.

Members of NAICU's board of directors set the association's agenda on federal higher education policy; actively encourage support of NAICU priorities and initiatives; and oversee the association's financial administration. Members serve three-year terms.

"Baird Tipson was selected by his peers because of his expertise in the field, proven leadership, and commitment to America's college students," said NAICU President David L. Warren. "He assumes his responsibilities at a time of great challenge and transformation for American higher education."

"The federal budget deficit, growing student financial need, increasingly competitive global economy, and today's culture of accountability are among the dynamics affecting higher education" Warren said.

Tipson has been president of Washington College since 2004. Prior to joining the university he served as president of Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. He served as President of the North Coast Athletic Conference and as president of the Springfield Symphony Orchestra Board. He also is past president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities of Ohio.

Tipson is currently Chairman of the Centennial Athletic Conference, and is a member of the board of the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum, the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, the Independent College Fund of Maryland, and Maryland Independent College and University Assocation.

In addition to serving as President, Tipson also is a professor of religion at Washington College. He and his wife Sarah have two grown children.

January 29, 2008

Writer + Artist = Husband + Wife: 'He Said/She Saw' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The husband-wife team of writer Matthew Swanson and illustrator Robbi Behr will present "He Said/She Saw," a discussion of the collaborative creative experience, at Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House on Thursday, February 7, at 4:30 p.m.

Swanson and Behr are the creators and producers of Idiots'Books, a subscription-based series of volumes on a wide-ranging diversity of subject matter. Innovative, insightful, often whimsical, the books provide a showcase for Swanson's witty, deceptively simple writing style and Behr's distinctive and memorable artwork.

While Swanson and Behr have been spending January co-teaching a class on artistic collaboration at their alma mater, Williams College in Williamsport, Mass., the two normally reside in Chestertown, where Robbi is a visiting lecturer in art at Washington College.

Admission to "He Said/She Saw" is free and open to the public.

January 27, 2008

'Race in the New Global World' Explored at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Two leading sociologists will come together for a panel discussion on "Race in the New Global World" at Washington College's Hynson Lounge on Thursday, February 7, at 7:30 p.m.

The appearance by Tukufu Zuberi, Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Africana Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, and Eduardo Bonilla-Silva, Professor of Sociology at Duke University, is being presented by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Dr. Zuberi has made important contributions to the study of interracial contact, population studies and Africana studies. He is the author of several books, including Swing Low, Sweet Chariot: The Mortality Cost of Colonizing Liberia in the 19th Century and Thicker Than Blood: An Essay on How Racial Statistics Lie.

Dr. Zuberi is co-host of the Public Broadcasting Service's "History Detectives," a nationally syndicated TV series that seeks to uncover the mysteries of America's past; he also is currently working on a PBS documentary on African independence.

Eduardo Bonilla-Silva is a major scholar of race, ethnicity and their connection to stratification and political economy. His work focuses not just on the black-white divide, but has increasingly focused on the Latin Americanization of racism in the United States and other countries.

Dr. Bonilla-Silva's many published works include Racism Without Racists: Color-Blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States and White Supremacy and Racism in the Post-Civil Rights Era.

In addition to being co-presenters of the February 7 panel discussion at Washington College, Drs. Zuberi and Bonilla-Silva are soon to be co-authors as well; their book White Logic, White Methods: Race, Epistemology, and the Social Sciences is slated for publication this summer by Rowman & Littlefield.

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program has hosted journalists, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of both national and international stature.

The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy.

Hynson Lounge is located in Hodson Hall. Admission to "Race in the New Global World" is free and open to the public.

January 23, 2008

Fairchild Discusses 'Ecology and the Human Spirit' at the Custom House

Chestertown, MD — JoAnn Fairchild, Program Manager for Washington College's Center for Environment & Society (CES), will present "Ecology and the Human Spirit" at Custom House, 101 Water Street, on Wednesday, February 6, at 4:30 p.m.

Fairchild received her B.A. in philosophy and M.A. in psychology from Washington College, and now, as a member of the CES team, she works toward the goals of environmental stewardship and preservation of natural resources.

While serving as tourism director of Kent County from 1997 to 2001, Fairchild coordinated the National Scenic Byway and Maryland Heritage Area initiatives. From 2001 to 2002, she promoted conservation and sustainability while working as development director for the Maine Island Trail Association. From 2003 to 2004, she helped to market energy-efficient homes for the people of Santiago de Chile.

An avid nature lover—she's involved in hiking, sailing, bicycling, skiing ("any activity in the great outdoors," she said) — Fairchild embodies a personal philosophy of caring for the environment while benefiting spiritually from keeping active in the natural world.

Admission to "Ecology and the Human Spirit" is free and open to the public.

January 21, 2008

Furst Up: Washington College's 2007-2008 Sophie Kerr Series Continues with Acclaimed Author/Playwright

Chestertown, MD — The 2007-2008 Sophie Kerr Lecture Series at Washington College continues with a reading by Joshua Furst, one of the most exciting writers on the current New York literary scene, in the Sophie Kerr Room on Tuesday, February 5, at 4:30 p.m.

Furst's reading kicks off three months' worth of dynamic Sophie Kerr Series literary offerings, including poetry, memoirs, and a reading by a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist.

The series honors the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has enriched Washington College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to Washington 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"—the famed Sophie Kerr Prize—and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships and to help defray the costs of student publications.

Joshua Furst's critically acclaimed book of stories, Short People, was described by the Miami Herald as "a near magical collection." The Los Angeles Times called it "startling . . . a thoughtful if disturbing portrait of what it means to be a child. Or, more to the point, what it means to be human." And the Times of London raved, "Any one of these stories is enough to break your heart. . . . Joshua Furst's debut is both enjoyable and important."

Furst also is the author of the novel The Sabotage Café and many cutting-edge plays. From 1993 through 1998, he was an active participant in the New York alternative theatre scene. Among other accomplishments in this field, he helped organize and run Nada Theatre's 1995 Obie Award-winning Faust Festival and was one of the producers of the 1998 New York RAT conference, which brought experimental theatre artists from across the United States together for a week of performance and symposia.

Furst's plays include "Whimper," "Myn" and "The Ellipse and Other Shapes." They have been produced by numerous theatres, both in the United States and abroad.

Admission to Furst's Feb. 5 reading is free and open to the public. The Sophie Kerr Room is located in Washington College's Clifton S. Miller Library. After Furst's appearance, the 2007-2008 Sophie Kerr Series will continue with the following offerings:

Huston Diehl Reading, "Dream Not of Other Worlds"

Sophie Kerr Room, Monday, February 25, 2008, 4:30 p.m.

When Huston Diehl began teaching a fourth-grade class in a "Negro" elementary school in rural Virginia, the school system's white superintendent assured her that he didn't expect her to teach "those children" anything. It was the waning days of the Jim Crow South, and Diehl soon discovered how low expectations impeded her students' ability to learn. With its overcrowded classrooms and poor facilities, her segregated school was vastly inferior to the county's white elementary schools, and the message it sent her students was clear: "Dream not of other worlds."

In her memoir Diehl reveals how her students reached out to her, a young white Northerner, and shared their fears, anxieties and personal beliefs. She reflects on what the students taught her about the hurt of bigotry and the humiliation of poverty as well as dignity, courage and resiliency.

Today, Diehl is professor of English at the University of Iowa and a widely published authority in the field of Renaissance literature. Her memoir, Dream Not of Other Worlds: Teaching in a Segregated School, 1970, chronicles an important moment in American history and the struggle to integrate schools in the South. The presentation at Washington College will be a reading from her memoir. Professor Diehl will be joined in the reading by Polly Sommerfeld, Lecturer in Drama at Washington College.

Fiction Reading with Jane Smiley

Norman James Theatre, Friday, March 28, 2008, 4 p.m.

The jewel in the crown of the Sophie Kerr Series each year is Sophie Kerr Weekend, and the keynote event of Sophie Kerr Weekend 2008 will be a much-anticipated reading by Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley. Smiley, who holds an M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, is the author of 11 novels, including A Thousand Acres, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1992. She also is the author of four books of nonfiction, includingThirteen Ways of Looking at the Novel (2005). Her essays have been published in Vogue, The New Yorker, Harper's, the New York Times, The Nation and many other publications.

Smiley's latest novel, Ten Days in the Hills, was published earlier this year by Knopf/Random House. A re-imagining of Boccaccio's Decameron set among the Hollywood crowd in the opening days of the Iraq War in 2003, Ten Days in the Hills has enjoyed universal acclaim. "The book is generating early buzz," observed The Wall Street Journal. In a starred review,Publishers Weekly hailed the hot new novel as a "scintillating tale... Smiley delivers a delightful, subtly observant sendup of Tinseltown folly, yet she treats her characters ... with warmth and seriousness." The Philadelphia Inquirer praises the author for "delivering a Tinseltown classic." The Los Angeles Times Book Review declared the novel "a blazing farce, a fiery satire of contemporary celebrity culture and a rich, simmering meditation on the price of war and fame and desire." The Times U.K. called it a "highly entertaining yet thoughtful examination of postmillenial America."

Dubbed "the reigning master of social satire" by Elle magazine, Smiley received the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award for Literature in 2006.

Poetry Reading with Erin Murphy

Sophie Kerr Room, Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 4 p.m.

Washington College graduate Erin Murphy (class of 1990) is the author of Dislocation and Other Theories, Science of Desire (a finalist for the Paterson Poetry Prize) and Too Much of This World (winner of the Anthony Piccione Poetry Prize). Her poems have appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including Random House's 180 More: Extraordinary Poems for Every Day. Murphy has received the Foley Poetry Award, the National Writers' Union Poetry Award, a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award and a $5,000 Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Prize.

Valerie Traub Lecture, "The Nature of Norms: Anatomy, Cartography, King Lear"

Sophie Kerr Room, Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 4:30 p.m.

Valerie Traub is professor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, where she is Director of the Women's Studies Program. Her publications include Gay Shame, The Renaissance of Lesbianism in Early Modern England, Feminist Readings of Early Modern Culture: Emerging Subjects and Desire and Anxiety: Circulations of Sexuality in Shakespearean Drama. Traub's essays have appeared in the GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies, English Literary Renaissance, Feminist Studies, Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Studies and elsewhere. Her book in progress is Mapping Embodiment in the Early Modern Text: The Prehistory of Normality.

Admission is free to all Sophie Kerr Series events. For more information, call 410/778-7879.

January 21, 2008

Flute-Piano Duo Comes '2' Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The 56th season of the Washington College Concert Series continues with a performance by "2," the duo of flutist Peter H. Bloom and pianist Mary Jane Rupert, at the Norman James Theatre on Saturday, February 2, at 8 p.m.

The Boston-based "2" performs dramatic and engaging masterpieces both old and new. Bloom and Rupert are known for their creative programming and compelling performances of repertoire from the great works of the European Baroque to the stunning new pieces of today's composers. They have concertized together for more than 15 years, appearing in venues across the country, and have recorded two CDs on the North Star label. They've been praised for their "music that can set the heart singing" (Better Homes & Gardens) and their "stellar concert ... fine musicians in perfect harmony and with such mastery of their instruments" (the Bedford Gazette).

Acclaimed as a concert pianist and harpist, Rupert has given solo recitals from Carnegie Hall to Beijing Concert Hall, and has appeared with symphony orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the United States. She is on the faculties of Wellesley College, Tufts University, Boston College and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She earned a bachelor of music in piano from Oberlin College, and she holds a master of music in piano and in harp, and a doctor of music in piano performance and music literature from Indiana University.

Bloom has given solo recitals from Boston to Beverly Hills, tours nationally with chamber groups and jazz ensembles, and appears on more than 25 recordings from labels including Sony Classical, Dorian, Newport Classic and others. The Boston Globe called his playing "a revelation for unforced sweetness and strength." He is a historical instrument consultant to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, has served on the faculties of New England Conservatory and Regis College, and is a board member of the James Pappoutsakis Flute Competition. He holds a master of music in flute performance with distinction from the New England Conservatory.

The 2007-2008 Washington College Concert Series will continue with a performance by the Cambodian Classics Ensemble on Sunday, March 2, at 4 p.m., and a recital by harpist Elizabeth Hainen on Saturday, April 26, at 8 p.m. All concerts are presented at the Norman James Theatre, located in William Smith Hall.

Tickets ($15 for adults and $5 for youth and students) for each concert can be purchased at the door. For more ticket information, call 410/778-7839.

January 21, 2008

Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention Awards Regional Crime-Mapping Grant to Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Maryland Governor's Office of Crime Control (GOCCP) has awarded a grant of more than $95,000 to the Washington College Department of Sociology and Anthropology. The grant is being received through GOCCP's Maryland Statistical Analysis Center (MdSAC) Research Program, to assess regional crime mapping across Caroline, Cecil, Kent, Talbot and Queen Anne's counties and their municipalities and towns.

Since 2003, Washington College has operated a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) laboratory, which has completed a broad array of state, county and local mapping projects. This is the first criminal justice-related award for Washington College from GOCCP, and it places the College among an elite group of other Maryland research institutions working on law enforcement and crime issues.

Over the next year, the project will evaluate current crime data collection methods and will conduct a pilot project that explores the benefits of regionalization of mapping resources. Recommendations for future mapping will be provided to the state next November.

The project kick-off meeting, attended by more than 40 representatives including the state police, county sheriffs, local police chiefs, county GIS coordinators, GOCCP representatives and College project faculty, was held at the College in mid-January.

Crime mapping, widely used by big-city police forces, has helped them develop policing strategies to allocate resources at the right time to decrease community crime rates. This initiative is among the first to offer these techniques to rural and small-town law enforcement agencies on a regional basis.

"We've had some experience with crime mapping in Baltimore County, and we found it to be very useful," said Chestertown Police Chief Walter Coryell, formerly of the Baltimore County Police Department. "It's valuable in allowing you to see what's happening not only in a historical sense, but also has value in a sense of predicting where to allocate resources. It will be an interesting project, and we look forward to seeing how it goes."

"This grant is a wonderful example of collaboration for an important cause: collaboration between the disciplines of criminology and GIS, between Washington College and area law enforcement, and among the different Eastern Shore jurisdictions themselves," said Christopher Ames, Provost and Dean of Washington College. "We are proud to be a part of this effort to harness new technology in the service of crime prevention."

January 18, 2008

Saving the Western Wilderness: 'Wild Utah' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The effort to save some of the most strikingly beautiful lands in the West will be described when Jackie Feinberg, National Grassroots Organizer for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA), presents "Wild Utah: America's Redrock Wilderness" at Washington College's Litrenta Lecture Hall on Wednesday, January 23, at 7 p.m.

"Wild Utah" is a multi-media slide show featuring stunning images by noted wilderness photographers and narrated by Robert Redford. Feinberg will lead the audience on a journey through the redrock county of Southern Utah, offering inspiration to take action to preserve some of the most unique and breathtaking landscapes of the world.

SUWA has been working for 25 years to protect Utah's remaining desert wild lands. At stake is the preservation of the outstanding wilderness at the heart of the Colorado Plateau, and the management of these lands in their natural state for the benefit of all Americans.

SUWA promotes local and national recognition of the region's unique character through research and public education; supports both administrative and legislative initiatives to permanently protect the Colorado Plateau wild places within the National Park and National Wilderness Preservation Systems, or by other protective designations where appropriate; builds support for such initiatives on both the local and national level; and provides leadership within the conservation movement through uncompromising advocacy for wilderness preservation

Feinberg's lecture at Washington College is sponsored by the Center for Environment & Society, the Student Environmental Alliance, the WC Wilderness Club, and Echo Hill Outdoor School. Admission is free and open to the public. Litrenta Lecture Hall is located in the John S. Toll Science Center. For more information, call 410/778-7295.

January 10, 2008

From Eastern Shore Farm Field to Sold-Out Crowd at Wrigley Field

Washington College Alumnus Writes Biography of Washington College Baseball Legend 'Swish' Nicholson

Chestertown, MD — He was baseball's top slugger during the World War II era. Revered by Chicago Cubs fans, he spent 10 years on Chi-town's North Side, where he would claim National League home-run and RBI titles twice, earn spots on five National League All-Star teams, and play a pivotal role on the pennant-winning club of 1945.

Baseball aficionados in general, and Cubs fans in particular, have long awaited a biography of legendary Bill "Swish" Nicholson. So, too, have Eastern Shoremen and Washington College alumni—for Nicholson was one of their own. Now, another Washington College alumnus, Robert A. Greenberg, has filled the void in the baseball literature with "Swish" Nicholson: A Biography of Wartime Baseball's Leading Slugger, recently published by McFarland & Company.

They nicknamed him "Swish" because of his big, powerful swing. Born in Chestertown in 1914, he played baseball on champion Washington College teams in the 1930s and went on to a Major League career that included stints with the Philadelphia Athletics (1936), the Chicago Cubs (1939-1948) and the Philadelphia Phillies (1949-1953).

A left-handed batter and right-handed outfielder, Nicholson amassed some noteworthy career highlights: a five-time All Star (1940-1941, 1943-45), a two-time National League home-run leader (1943-1944), a two-time National League RBI leader (1943-1944), and a National League leader in total runs (1944).

In a 1944 game, fearing Swish's mighty swing in a clutch moment, a pitcher intentionally walked Nicholson with the bases loaded, thus garnering the formidable slugger another interesting stat: Nicholson is one of only four players in Major League history to have received what's known as "the Supreme Compliment," an intentional walk with bases loaded; with him on that rarefied list are Nap Lajoie (1901), Mel Ott (1929) and Barry Bonds (1998).

"To suggest that Bill Nicholson was popular with National League spectators, foreign and domestic, would be an understatement," writes Greenberg. "Every city to which the Cubs traveled had its legion of fans eager to cheer or good-naturedly jeer him.

"Nicholson was the strong, silent type, good-looking, and modest, besides. Former Cubs teammate Len Merullo remembered: 'Bill had a great sense of humor, even though he was very quiet. He had a dry humor. Everybody loved him.'"

It's not surprising, then, that when the Cubs traded Nicholson to the Philadelphia Phillies in 1949, it came amid dissenting cries of distraught Cubs fans. Nicholson's numbers had been dropping through the late 1940s due to deteriorating eyesight. On the Phillies, he assumed the role of elder statesman to the 1950 "Whiz Kids," helping them to the National League title with a couple of dramatic pinch-hit homers.

But diabetes was wracking the constitution of the erstwhile powerhouse. His eroding health forced him out of the game in 1953. He returned to the Eastern Shore and the farming life from which he had sprung. "How good he would have been, had he remained healthy, will never be known," Greenberg notes. "What he accomplished in his brief run at the top was, however, pretty heady stuff for a farmer from Chestertown."

In his final years, Nicholson was able to savor some recognition for his glory days. In 1990 he was inducted into the Chicago Sports Hall of Fame. In 1992, four years before William Beck Nicholson passed away at the age of 81, a life-sized bronze statue of him was erected with fanfare in Chestertown. It captures Swish in his signature pose: just having completed a great titanic swing of the bat, feet already in running motion, eyes gazing upward at the ball he's just sent soaring out of the park.

"Swish" Nicholson: A Biography of Wartime Baseball's Leading Slugger is available through your local bookstore and on amazon.com.

January 10, 2008