Olympic Authority To Address The Controversial History Of The Games At April 16th Lecture

Chestertown, MD, March 28, 2002 — The Washington College Department of Physical Education and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present "CRISIS OR TRIUMPH: THE OLYMPIC GAMES IN THE 21ST CENTURY," a lecture by Dr. John A. Lucas, Professor Emeritus at Penn State University, on Tuesday, April 16, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum.

Dr. Lucas is a retired professor of kinesiology and has been a long-distance runner since high school. His academic background includes degrees in sport science, sport history and American and European history. A finalist in the 1952 U. S. Olympic trials (10,000 meter), Dr. Lucas has dedicated his life to Olympic ideals and written three books on the history of the modern Olympic games, the most recent being "The Future of the Olympic Games" (1992). His love of the games has compelled him to attend all summer Olympic Games since 1960.

In 1993, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) recognized Dr. Lucas as Official Olympic Lecturer. He specializes in the historical, philosophical, ideological, financial, and political issues and contexts that have surrounded the Olympics; and he has shared his experiences, anecdotes, and viewpoints on the Games with thousands of people across the nation. In recognition of his service and support of Olympic ideals, he was awarded the Olympic Order Gold Medal by the IOC in 1996. Dr. Lucas resides in State College, PA.

Poet William Heyen To Read At Washington College April 4th

Chestertown, MD, March 27, 2002 — Award-winning poet William Heyen will read from his works on Thursday, April 4, 2002, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room of Washington College's Miller Library. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, Heyen is a well-respected American poet whose work has led many reviewers to compare him to one of his spiritual forefathers, Walt Whitman. Heyen professes his indebtedness to Whitman and subscribes to the earlier poet's belief that "the poet's art is not to chart but to voyage." According to Dictionary of Literary Biography essayist William B. Thesing, "Heyen's lyre has basically seven thematic strings—memory, nature, perception, disintegration, death, the past in Long Island and Germany, and the present community in Brockport [where he makes his home]."

Heyen is the editor of the soon-to-be-released anthology September 11, 2002: American Writers Respond, which will include includes responses from some of the finest writers in the country—John Updike, Erica Jong, Robert Pinsky and others—to the events of September 11.

April 11th Lecture To Examine The Art Of Hieronymus Bosch As A Mirror Of Human Nature

Chestertown, MD, March 27, 2002 — The Washington College Department of Art, the Friends of the Arts and the Washington College Art History Club present "A TASTE OF BOSCH: THE GARDEN OF EARTHLY DELIGHTS," a lecture by Reindert Falkenberg, Ph.D., Henry Luce III Professor of Western Art History and Religion at the Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. The talk will be held Thursday, April 11, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum.

Dr. Falkenberg received his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Amsterdam, and has taught at such universities as Harvard, Princeton and the University of California-Berkeley, in addition to the Graduate Theological Union. His research focuses on Late Medieval and Early Modern Art, and he has taught courses on Pieter Bruegel, Hieronymus Bosch and Late Medieval religious and devotional imagery.

His lecture will examine Bosch's "The Garden of Earthly Delights" as a mirror of the human soul, used to focus self-reflection on the fallen condition and chaotic state of human nature. "The mirror, in late medieval culture," writes Falkenberg, "has a whole variety of meanings and connotations. First of all, and most directly, it relates to the viewer's self-image, how a human being looks, or how he or she is—which is not the same. Moreover, it shows how a human being should not be, or shall be, as in writings such as the "Spiegel der sonden" (the Mirror of sins), or the "Spiegel der salicheit" (the Mirror of salvation). The mirror, therefore, may relate to the visible as much as to the invisible."

The Great Age Of Sail: Ormond Opens Maritime History Lecture Series At Washington College

Chestertown, MD, March 25, 2002 — The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, the Washington CollegeDepartment of Art and Sultana Projects, Inc., present "MARITIME PAINTING IN THE GREAT AGE OF SAIL," a lecture and slide presentation by Richard Ormond, Samuel H. Kress Professor at the Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts, National Gallery, Washington, D.C. Prof. Ormond's lecture will be held Monday, April 15, 2002, at 7.30 p.m., Casey Academic Center Forum. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

The former director of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, England, Prof. Ormond attended Brown University in 1961 before going on to Oxford for a degree in history. He is the great nephew of the American painter John Singer Sargent, and author of the book "John Singer Sargent: Paintings, Drawings, Watercolors."

Ormond's lecture is the first in a four-part Maritime Lecture Series sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience in partnership with Sultana Projects, an organization that provides unique, hands-on educational experiences in colonial history and environmental science on board Chestertown's reproduction 18th century schooner Sultana.

The series will continue this fall with lectures by Marcus Rediker, author of "Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750," and with Peter Linebaugh, "The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic"; John Broadwater, internationally known underwater archaeologist and manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, established to preserve the sunken ironclad U.S.S. Monitor; and Lisa Norling, author of "Captain Ahab Had a Wife: New England Women and the Whalefishery, 1720-1870," discussing the role of women in the American whaling industry. Look for coming announcements or contact Kees deMooy, program manager for the C.V. Starr Center, at 410-810-7156, for a complete program of events and times.

Upcoming Lectures in the Maritime Series at Washington College

September 19, 2002
History Professor Marcus Rediker, University of Pittsburgh, "The Pirate and the Gallows; Or, A Tale of Two Terrors" 7.30 p.m., Washington College, Hynson Lounge

October 10, 2002
John Broadwater, Manager of the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, "The Race to Save the Monitor" 7.30 p.m, Washington College, Hynson Lounge

November 7, 2002
Associate Professor Lisa Norling, University of Minnesota, "Quaker Wives and Cape Horn Widows: New England Women and the American Whalefishery" 7.30 p.m., Washington College, Hynson Lounge

America 2002: Pete Du Pont Shares Views On The Economic And Political State Of The Nation April 9th

Chestertown, MD, March 25, 2002 — The William James Forum at Washington College is pleased to present "AMERICA 2002," a lecture by former Delaware governor and columnist, the Honorable Pete du Pont, on the current economic and political state of the nation. The talk will be held Tuesday, April 9, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Du Pont is currently policy chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a public policy analysis organization that promotes free enterprise and conservative governmental policies, and contributes a regular column — "Outside the Box" — to www.opinionjournal.com, the editorial page website of The Wall Street Journal. He has served as a state legislator, U.S. Congressman, governor, and in 1988 was a Republican candidate for President of the United States. He is a director in the Wilmington, DE, law firm of Richards, Layton & Finger.

Du Pont began his political career in 1968 with his election to the House of Representatives of the Delaware General Assembly. Next, he spent six years in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1970-1976. He was a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and in 1975 was picked by Time magazine as one of America's "200 Faces for the Future." In l976, du Pont entered the race for Delaware governor against the Democratic incumbent and won what was then considered a landslide victory. He was re-elected in 1980 to a second term, winning a record 71 percent of the vote and becoming the first Delaware governor reelected in 20 years. During his tenure as Delaware's Governor, du Pont was known for his financial integrity and fiscal conservatism, signing into law two income tax reduction measures and a constitutional amendment that restrained future tax increases and limited government spending. In selecting him as one of the "Delawareans of the Century," the Wilmington News Journal said, "He set the stage for prosperity. As Delaware's governor, du Pont revived [the] business climate."

In 1996, du Pont co-founded IntellectualCapital.com, a weekly on-line public policy journal featuring the leading ideas of renowned public policy thinkers. He served as editor of this e-zine and bylined his own column until its sale in 2000. In October 1999, Newsstation.com named du Pont as one of the "50 best, most important, and most influential journalists on the Internet." Du Pont served as Chairman of the Hudson Institute from 1985-1987 and the National Review Institute from 1994-1997.

March 28th Student Conference To Address Ethnic Diversity And The American Identity

Chestertown, MD, March 25, 2002 — Washington College and Goucher College are proud to present "Redefining the American Identity: A Student Conference on Ethnic Diversity," Thursday, March 28, 2002, at 4 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center Forum. The conference will open with keynote speaker Dr. Seble Dawit, a former human and women's rights consultant in Africa and now director of the peace studies program and visiting assistant professor at Goucher College, Towson, MD. All members of the community are encouraged to attend.

Twelve students will present papers addressing the complex issue of ethnic diversity and national unity in the United States. The presentations will tackle such issues as civil rights, religious freedom and identity, and the variety of and change in people's political and social worldviews since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2002.

Session I will begin at 4:30 p.m., addressing the issue "Where Self-Identity and National Identity Meet: Looking at Solutions to Conflict." Session II will begin at 7:30 p.m. and address the issue of "E Pluribus Unum: Making it Work." Keynote speaker, Dr. Dawit, will conclude the conference at 9:30 p.m.

"The goal of the conference is to make students really think deeply about the complexities of these questions and to offer their analysis and potential solutions to these pressing issues of our society," says Bonnie Ryan, organizer of the conference and Jessie Ball Dupont Scholar in sociology and anthropology at the College. "After the tragedy of September 11, the question of our nation's diversity and unity really came to the fore. The attacks affected thousands of people of different backgrounds, nations, races and creeds, while others acted out in anger against innocent Arab-Americans. This conference will serve as a forum for our students to explore and to discuss these issues that support or challenge the diversity of the United States and the unifying forces of democracy that hold our nation together."

This student conference is sponsored by the Goldstein Program for Public Affairs, Goucher College, the Campus Events Office, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Lambda Alpha, the Anthropology Honors Society-Gamma Chapter, and the Black Student Union.

Society Of Junior Fellows Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Society Supports Self-Directed Undergraduate Research and Scholarship

Chestertown, MD, March 20, 2002 — Washington College's Society of Junior Fellows (SJF) will celebrate its first decade with an Anniversary Symposium on Wednesday, March 27, 2002, from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Center. The symposium will feature presentations of undergraduate research and scholarship sponsored and funded by the Society.

Founded in 1992 and modeled after Harvard University's Society of Fellows, Washington College's SJF gives undergraduates a taste of academic freedom through the opportunity to pursue their own self-designed and self-directed studies. Membership is open to all upperclassmen that have attained Dean's List status, have a cumulative GPA of 3.4, and have demonstrated leadership qualities through extra-curricular activities and community outreach.

"The Society extends a privilege and an obligation normally reserved for graduate students and faculty," says J. David Newell, chair of the philosophy department and curator of Washington College's SJF program. "Grants are given to SJF members who submit proposals to fund projects that will extend their learning beyond the classroom and the textbook into the realm of the experiential. In turn, these students return to campus and contribute to the intellectual life of the College. It gives undergraduates a taste of the 'real world' of academic research and scholarship."

The average size of a grant is about $3,300, says Newell, and the SJF gives out almost $95,000 per year in total grant money.

The ultimate object of the SJF is to motivate students beyond the classroom, with the goal to empower and to build self-confidence, personal maturity, and competency in undergraduates. Representing about 10 percent of the College's student body, the SJF has created a collegium of students dedicated to the exchange of ideas, motivated to enrich their educational experiences, and setting standards of excellence for the entire student body.

"I like to refer to these students in Platonic terms," says Newell. "They are 'the brightest and the best.'"

The SJF has admitted just over 200 students since its inception. Competition for grants is intense—only about one-third of SJF members receive them each year. It has funded hundreds of projects and internships since its inception and financed travel for students to conduct research in over 18 countries. Recent projects have taken students to Cuba, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Finland and South Africa.

For more information about Washington College's Society of Junior Fellows, visithttp://sjf.washcoll.edu.