Francis Poulenc Trio To Play Washington College's Tawes Theatre, April 29

Chestertown, MD, April 24, 2005 — The Washington College Concert Series concludes its 53rd season with a performance by the Francis Poulenc Trio, Friday, April 29, at 8 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre, Single tickets can be purchased at the door, $15.00 for adults and $5.00 for youth 18 and under.

Comprising three uniquely gifted virtuosos—American bassoonist Bryan Young, Russian pianist Irina Lande and Russian oboist Vladimir Lande—the Francis Poulenc Trio combines 21st-century vibrancy with the best of European instrumental tradition. The Trio's performances leap beyond the ordinary concert experience, transporting audiences into a world of beautiful sonorities, playful rhythms and dramatic excitement. The trio heightens the lyricism of Poulenc, the virtuosity of Rossini, the wit of Jean Francaix and the jazzy elegance of Andre Previn.

For ticket information or to join the mailing list for next season's brochure, call 800-422-1782, ext. 7839. Individual tax-deductible patron memberships begin at $75.00. Contributing patron memberships begin at $150.00, supporting at $250.00 and sustaining at $500.00. All membership packages include two tickets, and all donations over the price of the tickets are tax-deductible.

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

Scholar Explores Author Susan Glaspell And The First Greenwich Village Avant-Garde, April 27

Chestertown, MD, April 21, 2005 — Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee presents “Strange Bedfellows: Susan Glaspell and the First Greenwich Village Avant-Garde,” a lecture by Linda Ben-Zvi, Professor of Theater Studies at Tel Aviv University, Wednesday, April 27, at 4:30 p.m. in the Sophie Kerr Room, Miller Library. The talk is free and open to the public.

Called a “venturesome feminist” by historian Nancy Cott, Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) is acknowledged as America's first important modern female playwright. Winner of the 1931 Pulitzer Prize for drama—and one of the most respected novelists and short story writers of her time—Glaspell created intrepid female characters and explored topics such as women's suffrage, birth control, female sexuality, marriage equality, socialism, and pacifism. A journalist by age eighteen, Glaspell migrated with her husband to New York's Greenwich Village, where the first American avant-garde was blossoming. Throughout her life, Glaspell was always willing to speak out for those causes in which she believed and willing to risk societal approbation for the sake of personal exploration.

Linda Ben-Zvi has published widely on modern and contemporary drama. Her books includeSamuel Beckett, Women in Beckett, Susan Glaspell: Essays on her Theatre and Fiction,Theatre in Israel, and Susan Glaspell: Her Life and Times. She has edited Glaspell's The Road to the Temple and is co-editing, with J. Ellen Gainor, The Complete Plays of Susan Glaspell. She currently serves as editor of Assaph, the Tel Aviv University English language theatre journal, and president of the International Samuel Beckett Society.

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

College Receives $100,000 Scholarship Grant From Mid-Shore Community Foundation

Chestertown, MD, April 18, 2005 — The Mid-Shore Community Foundation recently awarded a $100,000 scholarship grant to Washington College from its Austin and Martha Steele Fund. This grant helped Washington College raise $2.9 million to meet the conditions of a $750,000 challenge grant from The Kresge Foundation for the College's new 45,000-square-foot John S. Toll Science Center. Specifically, the scholarship grant will enable the college to award a scholarship annually to a student in need of financial assistance who is enrolled in the natural science division.

F. Graham Lee, president of the Mid-Shore Community Foundation, comments, “By awarding this grant, we are able to honor Dr. John Toll, one of our board members and the President Emeritus of Washington College, as well as one of the nation's leading science educators.”

The John S. Toll Science Center is a $26 million project and represents the college's commitment to invigorating the study and teaching of the sciences at the undergraduate level. State-of-the-art laboratories and classrooms will support new and evolving models for teaching the sciences. The Center will not only support the work of science majors but it will serve all Washington College students who must meet general education requirements by taking at least three courses in the natural sciences and quantitative methods.

According to Dr. Baird Tipson, president of Washington College, “We are grateful to the Mid-Shore Community Foundation for helping us meet the conditions of The Kresge Foundation's challenge grant, while also helping us meet a growing need at the college.” He adds, “During the past decade, burgeoning interest in the sciences has swelled student enrollments in biology, chemistry, physics, and psychology. In addition, the college has added new programs in environmental science, computer science, biochemistry, neuroscience, clinical psychology and earth science. The new science building will enable us to provide the best foundation possible in the sciences.”

John Eisenhower, Kweisi Mfume To Be Honored At Washington College's 223rd Commencement, May 22

Winner of Nation's Largest Undergraduate Literary Prize To Be Announced

Chestertown, MD, April 18, 2005 — In recognition of their outstanding accomplishments and careers, retired Brigadier General (AUS) John SD Eisenhower and Kweisi Mfume, former Congressman and head of the NAACP, will be honored at Washington College's 223rd Commencement on Sunday, May 22, 2005. The ceremonies begin at 10:30 a.m. on the Campus Lawn. In the event of rain, Commencement ceremonies will be moved indoors to Cain Gymnasium, and only ticket holders will be admitted to the Gymnasium and designated viewing sites.

The College will also award the Sophie Kerr Prize, the nation's largest undergraduate literary award, valued at $53,608 this year. The prize was established by the will of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has done so much to enrich the College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most “ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor” and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications. Ms. Kerr was a prolific writer who began her career as a woman's page editor for the Pittsburgh Chronicle Telegraph and the Pittsburgh Gazette and as managing editor of theWoman's Home Companion. During her lifetime she authored more than 100 stories and 23 novels. During the 38 years that the Sophie Kerr Prize has been awarded, its value has ranged from $9,000 to as high as $65,000.

The Honorable John SD Eisenhower, son of the late General and President Dwight David Eisenhower, is a graduate of the U. S. Military Academy at West Point and served with the First Army in Europe during World War II and the Army of Occupation in Germany and Austria after the War. Eisenhower also served with the 3rd Infantry Division in Korea, 1952-53, on the Army General Staff, 1957-59, on the White House Staff from October 1958 to January 1961, and as the U. S. Ambassador to Belgium from April 1969 to October 1971. In addition to his long career in military and diplomatic service, Eisenhower has been a military historian of some renown, publishing numerous books examining America's strategic conflicts and leaders in last century. His works include the New York Times bestseller The Bitter Woods, an account of the Battle of the Bulge; Intervention! The United States And The Mexican Revolution, 1913-1917; Agent of Destiny: The Life and Times of General Winfield Scott;Yanks: The Epic Story of the American Army in World War I; and, most recently, General Ike, A Personal Reminiscence. In recognition of his contributions to the field of history, the College will present to him an Honorary Doctor of Letters.

Recently announcing his intention to run for the coveted Senatorial seat to be vacated by the retiring Paul Sarbanes, the Honorable Kweisi Mfume has had a long and distinguished career in Maryland politics and media. Mfume became president and chief executive officer of the NAACP in 1996, after a 10-year career in the United States Congress, where he represented Maryland's 7th Congressional District. Mfume, whose West African name means, “conquering son of kings,” was born, raised, and educated in Baltimore. As a freshman at Morgan State University, he became more politically and socially active, and served as editor of the school's newspaper and head of the Black Student Union. He graduated magna cum laude and later returned to Morgan State to teach courses in political science and communications. In 1984, he earned a masters degree in liberal arts, with a concentration in international studies, from Johns Hopkins University.

As Mfume's community involvement grew, so did his popularity as an activist, organizer, and radio commentator. He translated that approval into a grassroots election victory for a seat on the Baltimore City Council in 1979. During the seven years of service in local government, Mfume led efforts to diversify city government, improve community safety, enhance minority business development, and divest city funds from the apartheid government of South Africa.

In 1986, he was elected to the Congressional seat that he was to hold for the next decade. Mfume was active with broad committee obligations and served on the Banking and Financial Services Committee, the General Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, the Committee on Education and the Small Business Committee. While in his third term, the Speaker of the House chose him to serve on the Ethics Committee and the Joint Economic Committee of the House and Senate where he later became chair. As a member of the House of Representatives, Mfume consistently advocated landmark minority business and civil rights legislation. He successfully co-sponsored and helped to pass the Americans with Disabilities Act, authorized the minority contracting and employment amendments to the Financial Institutions Reform and Recovery Act, strengthened Equal Credit Opportunity Law, and amended the Community Reinvestment Act in the interest of minority financial institutions.

Mfume served as chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus and later as the Caucus' Chair of the Task Force on Affirmative Action. In his last term in Congress, he was appointed the Vice-Chairman for Communications by the House Democratic Caucus. During his tenure as president and CEO of the nation's oldest and largest civil rights organization, Mfume raised the standards and expectations of NAACP branches nationwide and worked with NAACP volunteers across the country to usher in a whole new generation of civil rights advocacy. His six-point action agenda—encompassing civil rights, political empowerment, educational excellence, economic development, health, and youth outreach—gave the NAACP a clear and compelling blueprint for the 21st century. In recognition of his distinguished career in politics and public service, the College will present to him an Honorary Doctor of Public Service.

Mammoth Hunters: Archaeology Club Hosts Third Annual Atl Atl Throw, April 23

Chestertown, MD, April 14, 2005 — Long before fast food and microwave dinners, ancient humans stalked “big game” to keep family and village supplied with their daily requirement of protein. About 40,000 years, the invention of a small but ingenious device—the Atlatl—vastly improved our ancestors' chances of survival by increasing the speed, power and accuracy of their hunting spears. Washington College's Archaeology Club, in celebration of Archaeology Month, will exhibit this early technological advance with a free public demonstration of Atlatlspear throwing, Saturday, April 23, 1-4 p.m. on the Campus Lawn. Tours of the College's Public Archaeology Laboratory will also be held from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Custom House on High and Water Streets in Chestertown.

The Atlatl (from the Aztec word for “spear thrower”) is a device that imparted incredible mechanical and technical advantage to prehistoric humans. Increasing spear velocity 15 times and striking power 200 times, Atlatls were used worldwide prior to the advent of the bow and arrow. The oldest known Atlatl artifact is more than 19,000 years old, although it is believed that the Atlatl was in common use more than 40,000 years ago. An example of how human technology directly affects the natural environment, the Atlatl provided a tremendous hunting advantage and, conversely, might have contributed to the extinction of many large mammals throughout the world. The power that the Atlatl imparted to the spear was so great that the Aztecs readopted the technology for its armor-piercing ability against Spanish Conquistadors in the Sixteenth Century. The Atlatl is now attracting thousands of enthusiasts around the world for sport and competition throwing.

As part of the demonstration, participants will have a hands-on chance to test their ability and accuracy of throwing using the Atlatl by spearing a seven-foot tall straw target, “Murray, the Mastodon,” constructed by the Washington College Archaeology Club. Washington College's Archaeology staff will demonstrate technique and provide throwing and safety instructions.

Summer Field School Offers Forays Into Native American And African-American Archaeology, June 6-July 15

Chestertown, MD, April 14, 2005 — Washington College's Department of Sociology and Anthropology will again offer a Summer Field School in Archaeology from June 6 to July 15, 2005. Taught by archaeologist Dr. John Seidel and staff from the Washington College Public Archaeology Laboratory, the course provides practical experience in field archaeology and will focus on two local projects: the search for Tockwogh, a palisaded Indian village on the Sassafras River, and the excavation of the Charles Sumner Post, a Grand Army of the Republic Lodge established by African-American Civil War veterans in Chestertown.

The eight-credit program—open to both college students and adults—will teach excavation and lab techniques; remote sensing; artifact identification, dating and analysis; and mapping and surveying of archaeological sites using both theodolite and GPS. Hands-on fieldwork will be augmented by lectures and special presentations, laboratory work, and trips to regional sites and museums. “This year's Field School will give students the chance to explore Native American and African-American archaeology,” said Seidel, associate professor of anthropology and environmental studies. “Our first site will be the Charles Sumner Post, a Grand Army of the Republic lodge that served as a focal point for the African-American community in Kent County in the post-Civil War era. Our second objective is to search for the site of Tockwogh, an Indian village described by Captain John Smith on his 1608 voyage of exploration on the Chesapeake Bay.”

Smith described the village as palisaded—or fortified—and was surprised to find that the inhabitants had iron and brass tools, apparently obtained in trade with the Susquehannock Indians to the north, noted Seidel. Students will also have the opportunity to collaborate with a field school run by the University of Maryland on Wye Island. The multiple projects will offer training in a wide variety of activities and techniques.

Interested students are encouraged to apply early. Limited housing on the Washington College campus may be provided on a first-come, first-served basis. The class runs for six weeks, meeting five days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. The base of operations is the Washington College Public Archaeology Laboratory in the Custom House. Vans will take students to field sites outside of Chestertown. Tuition is $2,375. Students will register for ANT 296 Sections 10 and 11.

For more information and registration forms, contact Dr. John Seidel at 410-778-7756.

Reading To Feature Winners Of The 2005 Shore Poetry Contest And Pulitzer-Nominated Poet Sue Ellen Thompson, April 21

Chestertown, MD, April 11, 2005 — Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House will host a public reading by the winners of the 2005 Eastern Shore Poetry Contest on Thursday, April 21, at 6 p.m. Following the event will be a reading by this year's judge, Pulitzer Prize-nominated poet Sue Ellen Thompson. The public is invited to both readings. A free reception will follow.

Sue Ellen Thompson is the author of The Leaving: New and Selected Poems (Autumn House Press, 2001), nominated for a Pulitzer Prize in 2002. Her previous collections include The Body of Silk—awarded the 1986 Samuel French Morse Prize—and The Wedding Boat (Owl Creek Press, 1995). Thompson is a graduate of Middlebury College and the Bread Loaf School of English. Her work has appeared in the Georgia Review, Southern Poetry Review,The Seneca Review, Louisville Review, Tar River Poetry, and many other journals. She has also contributed essays to Family: A Celebration, Touchstones: American Poets on a Favorite Poem, Introspections: American Poets on One of Their Own Poems, and An Open World: Essays on Leslie Norris.

Thompson has served as a National Arts Club Scholar in Poetry and a Robert Frost Fellow at the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference. Her awards include two Individual Artist Grants from the state of Connecticut and the Nimrod/Hardman Pablo Neruda Prize for Poetry. She has served on the faculty of the New England Young Writers Conference at Bread Loaf and the Young Writers Institute in West Hartford. She has given readings throughout New England as well as at the National Arts Club in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC, and the Carnegie Institute in Pittsburgh. In 1999 she was invited to read her work at the Aran Islands Poetry Festival in Galway, Ireland. Thompson lives in Mystic, Connecticut, where she works as a writer and editor. Among her current projects is The Autumn House Anthology of Contemporary Poetry, of which she is editor.

The Eastern Shore Poetry Contest is sponsored by the arts councils of Cecil, Kent, Queen Anne's, Talbot, and Caroline counties. The readings are sponsored by the O'Neill Literary House and the Sophie Kerr Committee of Washington College, which work to carry on the legacy of the late Sophie Kerr, a writer from Denton, Md., whose generosity has done so much to enrich the College's literary culture. When she died in 1965, Kerr left the bulk of her estate to the College, specifying that one half of the income from her bequest be awarded every year to the senior showing the most “ability and promise for future fulfillment in the field of literary endeavor” and the other half be used to bring visiting writers to campus, to fund scholarships, and to help defray the costs of student publications.

2005 Eastern Shore Poetry Contest Winners

Youth, Grades 1-8

1st Place: “Birds and Butterflies” by Shannon Miller, Radcliffe Creek School, Kent County

2nd Place: “Shining Green” by Aaron Bramble, Radcliffe Creek School, Kent County

3rd Place: “Books" by Sage Fox, Cherry Hill School, Cecil County

Students, Grades 9-12

1st Place: “Working in the Woods” by Jessica Vooris, Queen Anne's County High School

2nd Place: “Cold Misery” by Alicia Vooris, Queen Anne's County High School

3rd Place: “The Hunters” by Joshua Stone of Towle Institute

Adults, 18-59

1st Place: “Prophecy” by Maggie Creshkoff of Port Deposit, Cecil County

2nd Place: “Before I Leave...” by Maggie Creshkoff of Port Deposit, Cecil County

3rd Place: “A Year Ago Today” by Dane Arnold, Chestertown, Kent County

Seniors, 60 and over

1st Place: “Yard Sale” by Jody Primoff, Greensboro, Caroline County

2nd Place: “Waiting” by Hal Wilson, Chester, Queen Anne's County

3rd Place: “Diagnosis: Old” by John Nashold, Greensboro, Caroline County