'In Search of Sepharad' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — The Campus Events and Visitors Fund will present "In Search Of Sepharad: Seeking Jewish Roots In Medieval Muslim And Christian Spain," a slide lecture by Dr. Gary Schiff, Adjunct Professor of History at Washington College, in Miller Library's Sophie Kerr Room on Tuesday, April 1, at 6 p.m. Dr. Schiff will augment the talk with photographic imagery taken during his recent travels in Spain.

Medieval Spain was a center of Jewish culture, flourishing alongside the Muslim and Christian elements. Cordoba, Spain, for example, was the birthplace of the great Jewish philosopher and physician Maimonides. "Sepharad" is the Hebrew name for Spain.

Admission to "In Search of Sepharad: Seeking Jewish Roots in Medieval Muslim and Christian Spain" is free and open to the public.

March 25, 2008

"Shattered Dreams" and a Portrayal of Dr. King at Washington College, January 30

Chestertown, MD, January 22, 2007 — What would Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. think of the state of race relations in America today? A dramatic one-man stage presentation explores this intriguing hypothetical question in "Shattered Dreams: What Would Dr. King Say Today?" Leon Williams will portray Dr. King at Washington College's Hynson Lounge on Tuesday, January 30, at 7:30 p.m.

Williams is the Director of Intercultural Programs at Buena Vista University in Iowa. He tours the country offering a variety of programs that address race issues on today's college campuses. He is noted for having a talent for taking the sensitive issues of race, diversity and multiculturalism and injecting them with humor, love and passion. He speaks to students about issues of oppression, interracial dating, racism, discrimination and black-on-black crime, among other issues. His programs are interactive, involving the use of music, activities and audience discussion.

In addition to touring campuses and serving as Director of Cultural Programs at his university, Williams is involved in his community as a volunteer for a local food pantry, Habitat for Humanity, a teen theater group and the Special Olympics. He has written and directed several plays, coordinated racism panels, and lectured in the History & Political Science Department at Ohio Northern University.

"Shattered Dreams: What Would Dr. King Say Today?" is being presented by the Washington College Office of Multicultural Affairs, the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, Black Studies Program, the Campus Events and Visitors Committee, the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the Rose O'Neill Literary House, Student Activities and the Student Government Association Diversity Committee. Admission is free and open to the public. For more information, call 410-810-7457.

Lost Culture: Scholar to Examine the Middle East in Two Lectures, November 8

Chestertown, MD, October 30, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Department of Art, the Campus Events and Visitors Committee, and the Arabic/Middle East Club present two lectures by Dr. Hashim Al-Tawil, Professor of Art History at Henry Ford Community College, November 8, in the College's Hynson Lounge. Both talks are free and open to the public.

"Lost Culture of Iraq: The Looting of Iraqi Antiquities, Artworks, and other Cultural Materials" will be presented Wednesday, November 8, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. The lecture will address the looting of Iraqi culture after the 2003 invasion, including the damage inflicted on and to museums, libraries, galleries, art collections, public monuments, and other cultural institutions.

"The Arab People and the Middle East: History, Art, and Culture of the Lands and the People," will be presented Wednesday, November 8, from 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. Dr. Hashim Al-Tawil will trace the history of the Arab people in the region of the Middle East from its earliest records to the present, with close connection to the civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, through the Roman, Byzantine, and Islamic civilizations. Additionally, his lecture will explore the characteristics of the Arab people through examination of their diverse ethnic groups, religions, and cultures from the pre-Islamic time to the present time.

Hashim Al-Tawil, Professor of Art History at Henry Ford Community College, specializes in the research of the history of Arab and Islamic art and culture. He was on the faculty of the University of Baghdad and active in the Iraqi art scene during the 1970's and 1980's. He is also a lecturer at the University of Michigan and the Detroit Institute of Art and is a frequent guest speaker at local and national universities in the United States and abroad.

Making Sense of Immigration Reform and Its Local Impact, Panel April 6

Chestertown, MD, March 29, 2006 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the Sigma Zeta Chapter of Sigma Delta Pi, the Washington College Spanish Club, and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present the panel discussion "Making Sense of Immigration Reform: Law, Politics, and the Eastern Shore," Thursday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in the College's Wingate Lecture Hall, Goldstein 100. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Panelists Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia, Timothy Dunn, and Neda Biggs will discuss immigration reform, from current legislative proposals to the implications of changes in the law for the Eastern Shore's immigrant communities. Bringing academic, policy, and legal backgrounds to this forum, as well as integrating national, regional, and local perspectives, the panelists will shed light on the competing interests, proposed legislative solutions, and the stakes for local communities that are involved in this contentious and timely issue.

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is a Senior Policy Associate/Counsel with the National Immigration Forum and an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Washington College of Law at American University, Washington, DC. Tim Dunn is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Fulton School of Liberal Arts, Salisbury University. Neda Biggs is an attorney, counselor, mediator, and interpreter who serves as the director of the Latino Crime Victim Advocacy program at the Latin American Community Center in Wilmington, Delaware, and is founder and coordinator of the Latino Immigrant Victim Subcommittee of Delaware's Victims' Rights Task Force.

Activist on Leading Edge of International Women's Issues and U.S. Foreign Policy Speaks, November 22

Chestertown, MD, November 9, 2005 — Washington College's Campus Events and Visitors Committee presents "The Role of Gender in Third-World Development," a talk by Ritu Sharma, co-founder and President of Women's Edge Coalition, Tuesday, November 22, at 10 a.m. in Goldstein Hall, Room 201. The talk is free and the public is invited to attend.

A first generation American of East Indian heritage and a distinct voice on international women's issues and U.S. Foreign policy, Sharma co-founded the Women's Edge Coalition in 1998 to advocate international economic polices and human rights for women worldwide. Sharma is an adept coalition builder, political strategist, and communicator who has led numerous advocacy campaigns to success. Her endeavors have resulted in a strong network of support from international aid agencies, domestic women's groups, human rights organizations, and local activists.

In 2002, the Coalition's advocacy increased by 30 percent the amount of U.S. money contributed to international programs to combat human trafficking, and it won more than $72 million dollars for programs to support Afghan women last year. The Women's Edge Coalition brings together more than 40 respected organizations and 15,000 citizen advocates to push the U.S. government for more effective international assistance programs that help women and their families escape poverty and become more self-sufficient.

For more information, visit http://www.womensedge.org.

Chaos and Creation: Scholar Offers New Perspectives on Renaissance Art, November 18

Chestertown, MD, November 4, 2005 — Washington College's Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, the French Club, the Department of Art, the Sophie Kerr Committee, and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present "Chaos and Continuous Creation in Renaissance Art and Literature," a lecture by Michel Jeanneret, Distinguished Professor, University of Geneva and the Johns Hopkins University, Friday, November 18, at 3:30 p.m. in the Casey Academic Center Forum. The event is free, and the public is invited to attend.

While Renaissance art is typically perceived as balanced, harmonious, and motionless, Jeanneret will explore its stranger side in the representation of all things as mobile and unstable. By drawing upon examples such as the Italian gardens, Leonardo da Vinci's sketches, and the masterpieces of Michelangelo and Montaigne, Jeanneret's lecture will emphasize a common fascination with the primitive and a general attraction for mobile shapes and unfinished objects.

A Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johns Hopkins, Jeanneret has taught at the University of Geneva, the College de France, the University of Paris-Sorbonne, and Paris 7-Denis Diderot, the Universities of Beijing and Kyoto, and the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. He specializes in the literature and culture of the Renaissance

Lecture Explores "Paris, Hollywood, And France's Memories Of World War II"

Chestertown, MD, October 1, 2004 — The Goldstein Program of Public Affairs, Campus Events and Visitors, and the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures present “Paris, Hollywood, and France's Memories of World War II," a lecture by Philip Watts, Professor of French and Chair of the Department of French and Italian at the University of Pittsburgh. The lecture will be held on Thursday, Nov. 4 at 4:30 pm in the CAC Forum. The event is free and open to the public.

Sixty years have passed since D-Day and the liberation of Europe, but France's role during World War II remains as contentious as ever. As the nation was divided in two, split between an occupied and a non-occupied zone, the French population found itself caught in a struggle between Charles De Gaulle and the Resistance and Philippe Petain's government of collaboration. Since 1945, films about the war in France have grappled with these divisions and ambivalences, from the epic "Is Paris Burning?" whose all-star cast celebrated the struggle of the Resistance to the documentary "The Sorrow and the Pity" which revealed how ordinary Frenchmen collaborated with the Nazis.

Dr. Watts will present some of the more significant films about World War II in France, beginning with the immediate postwar years, examining differences between how French filmmakers and Hollywood directors represented the war, and ending with a look at how more recent films, such as Jean-Paul Rappeneau's "Bon Voyage," reveal a continuing equivocation about this moment in history.

A preeminent scholar in French studies, Dr. Watts received the prestigious Aldo and Jeanne Scaglione Prize for French and Francophone Literary Studies in 2000 for his book Allegories of the Purge: How Literature Responded to the Postwar Trials of Writers and Intellectuals in France (Stanford University Press, 1998) and has published articles and reviews in "French Forum" "South Atlantic Quarterly" and "Esprit."

In conjunction with Dr. Watts' visit, there will be a free public screening of the film “Bon Voyage” by Jean-Paul Rappeneau (Cyrano de Bergerac, Le Hussard sur le toit) on Wednesday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. in the CAC Forum. The French Club will provide snacks. Contact Katherine Maynard at kmaynard2@washcoll.edu for more information.

Success And The Art Of Adherence, Lecture March 29 At Washington College

Chestertown, MD, March 16, 2004 — Washington College's Students in Free Enterprise, the Sigma Beta Delta Business Honor Society and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present “Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence,” a lecture by Lee J. Colan, president of the L Group, Inc, Monday, March 29, at 7:00 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The lecture is free and open to the public, and the first 50 people to arrive will receive a free copy of Colan's companion book, Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence.

Have you ever thought that business success is not just having talent, a popular product or a great idea, but a method? Lee J. Colan, Ph.D., author of Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence, believes in the simple maxim that the game of business is won by those who execute their strategies. While the challenges today's leaders face are always changing, the formula for winning remains the same: a focus on “how” more than “what.” Having a strategy gets you in the game, according to Colan, but execution gets you in the winner's circle. Sticking to It teaches the methods for follow-through, keeping a team on track and the practical steps that lead to business success. Joseph A. Bosch, Chief People Officer of Pizza Hut Corporation, said: “Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence will work in any company because Colan's strategies are grounded in real organizations and in the reality of human nature—not the theoretical. His passion for ‘keeping it simple' gives leaders confidence they can successfully create positive change.”

Founder and president of the Dallas-based consulting firm, L Group, Inc., Colan has more than 20 years under his belt as an organizational effectiveness consultant. He earned his master's and doctoral degrees in industrial/organizational psychology from George Washington University and has built a track record of successfully managing rapid organizational change and helping leaders and their organizations to grow.

For up-to-date information concerts and events at Washington College, visitcalendar.washcoll.edu.

Lecture Series Marks 50th Anniversary Of Brown V. Board Of Education Desegregation Decision

Chestertown, MD, January 28, 2004 — May 17, 2004, will mark the 50th anniversary of the unanimous Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education, which outlawed segregation in public education. In honor of Black History Month, Washington College—in cooperation with the Maryland Humanities Council—will host a lecture series to examine the context, impact and legacy of this historic turn in Civil Rights. All lectures are free and open to the public and will begin at 7 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge on their respective dates.

On Tuesday, February 3, Jeffrey L. Coleman, assistant professor of English specializing in multicultural/American literature at St. Mary's College of Maryland, will speak on “Pride and Protest: Poetry of the American Civil Rights Movement.” Dr. Coleman's lecture will explore the relationship between social forces and art during the late 1950s, the 1960s, and the early 1970s, and how the Civil Rights Movement of this period is expressed in the poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks, Alice Walker, Amiri Baraka, Michael S. Harper and others.

Dr. Coleman has worked as poetry editor for Hayden's Ferry Review and advertising copywriter for Young and Rubicam in New York. He earned his Ph.D. in American Studies from the University of New Mexico, his M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Arizona State University, and his B.A. in Communications from Winthrop University.

On Wednesday, February 11, 2004, Debra Newman Ham, professor of history at Morgan State University, will present “Expert Witnesses: The NAACP's Brown Case Strategy.” While many people know about the attorneys who argued many of the cases leading up to Brown v. Board of Education—Thurgood Marshall, Constance Baker Motley, Robert Carter and Jack Greenberg—few realize the number of scholars from various disciplines who were called upon to build or strengthen the school desegregation cases in courts around the country. Dr. Ham will look at the contributions of scholars such as historian John Hope Franklin and social psychologists Mamie and Kenneth Bancroft Clark, and the way the NAACP and the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund strategized their assault against segregation in American schools with the aid of such scholars.

Dr. Ham received her Ph.D. in African History from Howard University, her M.A. in African History from Boston University, and her B.A. in history from Howard University. She served as curator of the NAACP Papers at the Library of Congress from 1986 to 1995. She teaches African, African-American, archival and public history at Morgan State.

On March 23, 2004, the Brown v. Board of Education Lecture Series will conclude with a talk by Dr. Lenneal Henderson, distinguished professor of Government and Public Administration at University of Baltimore. Dr. Henderson will discuss “Brown at 50: New Challenges of the Hardening of the Categories,” taking a deeper look at Brown and its trail of cases leading up to today's controversies in educational equity. His lecture will address the shift in demographic, socioeconomic and educational context and content of school segregation; the shift from rights to resources and the problem of equitable public school financing; battles over curriculum and tracking, including the disproportionate number of non-white students in special education and learning disability tracks; and the quality of education and issues of multiculturalism and diversity.

Dr. Henderson serves as a Senior Fellow at the William Donald Schaefer Center for Public Policy and a Senior Fellow in the Hoffberger Center for Professional Ethics at the University of Baltimore. He has been a consultant to federal, state and local government, the corporate sector, and the nonprofit sector for more than 30 years in the areas of housing, education policy, energy management, environmental policy and public management. He received his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.

The Brown v. Board of Education Lecture Series is sponsored by Washington College's Office of International & Diversity Affairs, Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, Campus Events and Visitors Committee, Student Government Association, Center for The Study of Black Culture, Black Student Union and Cleopatra's Daughters, in cooperation with the Maryland Humanities Council and the Kent County Chapter of the NAACP.

Speaker To Discuss Choices And Challenges Faced By Minority Business Women

Chestertown, MD, March 28, 2003 — Washington College presents “CHOICES AND CHALLENGES OF A MINORITY BUSINESS WOMAN,” a lecture by Dr. Adrienne McCollum, President and CEO of Research Assessment Management, Inc., on Wednesday, April 2, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. McCollum has operated her management consulting firm for 20 years, doing business with the private sector and performing contractual work for a variety of government agencies and organizations, including the Agency for International Development, Department of Transportation, National Institute of Mental Health, Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, the Office of Child Abuse and Neglect, the While House Conference on Aging, the Head Start Bureau, and the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General. With a doctorate in education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and as a minority business woman managing a full-time staff of 45, in addition to numerous contractual consultants, Dr. McCollum understands the importance of teamwork and diversity in modern business and has developed and implemented workshops on “Working In A Diverse Work Force.”

In addition to her other activities, Dr. McCollum teaches at the University of Phoenix and has made presentations at American University, the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority and Benedict College. She has received honors and awards from the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped, the National Council of Negro Women, and the White House Conference on Aging, and she has served on the Board of Trustees of Benedict College for 10 years and on the Board of Directors of the William L Clay Research and Education Scholarship Fund. Dr. McCollum's other business experiences include the ownership of Burger King franchises, and presently, with her spouse Dr. R. Dale McCollum, four gas and convenience stores, and she is currently in the process of patenting a new invention.

Dr. McCollum's talk is sponsored by Washington College's Department of Business Management, the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the Campus Events & Visitors Committee, the Black Student Union and Cleopatra's Daughters.

Father Of A Nation: College Hosts Public Exhibit Of Washington Art And Artifacts February 13-28

Chestertown, MD, February 12, 2003 — In honor of George Washington's 271st birthday, Washington College has opened it archives and assembled its collection of George Washington images and artifacts for public viewing. The exhibit titled “FATHER OF OUR COUNTRY, FATHER OF OUR COLLEGE,” held in the lobby of the College's Tawes Theatre, Gibson Performing Arts Center, is free and open to the public daily, except Sundays, 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., from February 13 to February 28, 2003.

Approximately 15 special items selected from over 75 in the College's archives of Washingtonia will be on display, some for the first time in many years. Items on exhibit include a 1784 copy of College founder William Smith's, “An Account of Washington College”; a 1789 commission for Chestertown's customs collector signed by President Washington himself; and various 19th century Washington-inspired busts, lithographs, prints and embroidery.

For the last four months, a small group from the Washington College community has worked to catalog artwork and historical items owned by the College which feature George Washington. This exhibit highlights the College's unique connection to the first president while displaying some unusual historical items rarely seen by the public.

Washington College—the first college chartered in the new nation—was founded in 1782 under the patronage of George Washington, who consented to give his name and financial support to the College, and who served five years on the Board of Visitors and Governors before beginning his presidency. The Washington legacy is kept alive on campus in many ways, including the Washington Scholars Program, the Honor Code, a leadership development program, curricular offerings, and the academic programming of the College's C. V. Starr Center for the American Experience.

This exhibit was made possible by the Washington College's President's Office and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee.

Who's Really On First? Former MLB Umpire Talks About The Issues Of Sexual Orientation In Public And Private Life

Chestertown, MD, November 8, 2002 — Washington College's Office of Student Development Programs, Center for the Study of the American Experience, Student-Athlete Mentors, Campus Events and Visitors Committee, and the EROS Alliance present “WHO'S REALLY ON FIRST?”, a lecture by former Major League Baseball umpire Dave Pallone, Thursday, November 21, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.
Pallone worked for 18 years as a professional umpire, 10 with the National Baseball league. His 1990 best selling autobiography, Behind the Mask: My Double Life in Baseball, explored his life as a gay man in professional sports. As the third youngest umpire in the game's history, Pallone demonstrated courage and professionalism amidst the adversities, enmities and controversies of Major League Baseball. He has shared his unique perspectives on professional sports and the issues of sexual orientation through numerous television and radio programs, including Larry King Live, The Today Show, Phil Donahue and CBS Morning. In 1995, Pallone appeared on stage with tennis great Martina Navritilova at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, for a candid conversation about their personal and professional lives—the first time two prominent, openly gay people in professional sports appeared on stage. Pallone was also featured in ESPN's 1998 documentary, “Homophobia in Sports,” and was recently named as one of the 100 Men of the Century by Genre Magazine. He has brought his program “Who's on First?” to dozens of colleges and universities and, through his work, has made a significant contribution to society by educating and enlightening people to the not-so-openly-discussed realities and issues of sexual orientation.

Author To Address The Growing Threat To Civil Liberties In America At April 17th Talk

Chestertown, MD, April 4, 2002 — The Goldstein Program in Public Affairs at Washington College and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee present "THE GROWING THREAT TO CIVIL LIBERTIES IN THE USA: FROM NIXON TO 9/11," a lecture by Christian Parenti, author of "Lockdown America: Police and Prisons in the Age of Crisis." The talk will be held on Wednesday, April 17, 2002, at 7 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. Parenti is a graduate of the New School for Social Research and holds a Ph.D. in sociology form the London School of Economics and Political Science. His work has focused on the economic and social injustices of the war on crime, militarized policing, corrections and prisons. His recent book, "Lockdown America" (Verso, 2000), takes a long, critical look at the threat of an American criminal justice system eclipsing individual rights. When over 1.7 million Americans live in prisons; with one third of all young Black men in major urban areas in jail, on probation or awaiting sentencing; when spending on prisons in some states eclipses spending for higher education; and when prisons and prison labor become lucrative ventures for private corporations, Lockdown America asks what social and economic agendas are propelling America toward a "Big Brother" police state mentality.

Dr. Parenti teaches at the New College of California in San Francisco, and he has worked as a radio journalist in Central America, New York and California. His writing has appeared in The Nation, The Progressive, In These Times and The Christian Science Monitor, and his forthcoming book, "The Soft Cage: A History of Everyday Surveillance," will be released in 2003.

Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs is named in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, the College's former Chairman of the Board of Visitors and Governors, a 1935 alumnus, and Maryland's longest serving elected official. The Goldstein Program sponsors lecture series, symposia, visiting fellows, travel and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders in public policy.

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.

World-Renowned Guitarist to Speak, Perform in Chestertown February 22nd and 24th

Chestertown, MD, January 29, 2002 — Eliot Fisk—world-renowned classical guitar virtuoso—will speak on "Soul Music: The Importance of Art Music in a Democratic World," Friday, February 22, 2002, at Washington College, and perform in the newly renovated Prince Theatre in downtown Chestertown on Sunday, February 24, 2002. All proceeds from ticket sales benefit the Gertrude Goldenberg Education Fund for the Department of Education and Outreach of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Society.

A native of Philadelphia and educated at Yale University where he studied with harpsichordist Ralph Kirkpatrick, Fisk found his musical voice through the guitar and was coached privately by his idol, Andres Segovia, for several years. In 1981, Segovia wrote: "I consider Eliot Fisk as one of the most brilliant, intelligent and gifted young musical artists of our time, not only among guitarists but in all the general field of instrumentalists. His clear and flexible technique, his noble style of interpreting the beauty of classic compositions as well as the colorful music of today, put him at the top line of our artistic world."

Fisk has not fallen short of Segovia's mark. Over the past two decades, he has earned a worldwide reputation as an innovative, risk-taking, imaginative interpreter of classical guitar, frequently including his own transcriptions in performance as well as specially commissioned works by composers as varied as Luciano Berio, Robert Beaser, Cristobal Halffter, Nicholas Maw, Xavier Monsalvatge and George Rochberg. In 1996, he was voted Best Classical Guitarist by Guitar Player magazine, and he has over 20 CD releases to his credit.

In addition to performing as a recitalist, chamber musician and soloist with orchestras on four continents, Fisk is deeply involved in educational and outreach programs to bring the instructive and uplifting powers of music to schools, churches, prisons and senior citizen centers. He also teaches at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria and at the New England Conservatory in Boston.

On Friday, February 22, Fisk will speak on his musical outreach mission. His talk "Soul Music: The Importance of Art Music in a Democratic World" will be held in Washington College's Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall, at 4 p.m., and sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the Sophie Kerr Committee and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

On Sunday, February 24, Fisk will perform at 3 p.m. in the Prince Theatre, 210 High Street, Chestertown. His performance will include works by Bach, Scarlatti, Paganini, Beaser's "Mountain Songs" in duet with local violist Michael Strauss, and the D major guitar quintet of Bocherini, accompanied by the Mid-Atlantic String Quartet. Tickets are $20 for students, $35 for general admission, and $50 for prime, reserved seating. All proceeds benefit the music outreach programs of the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Society. Tickets are available at the Compleat Bookseller in Chestertown or by calling 410-810-3403.

"We need music in the schools," said Fisk in an interview with Hope magazine, summarizing his commitment to music outreach and education. "Music sensitizes us. Music makes people aware of other people. Music inculcates good study habits. Music activates the soul. It's a tragedy that in the feeding frenzy of the austerity budgets we've deleted music and art from the lives of our young people, and our republic will be the poorer for it."

Lecture to Address Fraud in Psychiatric Legal Testimony

Chestertown, MD, April 17, 2001 — Dr. Margaret A. Hagen, professor of psychology at Boston University, will give a talk titled, "Whores of the Court: The Takeover of the American Legal System by Psychoexperts" on Thursday, April 26, 2001, at 6:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, Dunning Hall, Washington College. The talk is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. Hagen is the author of Whores of the Court: The Fraud of Psychiatric Testimony and the Rape of American Justice (HarperCollins, 1997). In a provocative lecture, Dr. Hagen, past director of the graduate programs in developmental, personality and social psychology at Boston University, will explore how psychology as a science is in its infancy, and may be fundamentally inadequate to meet either the legal criteria for the admission of expert testimony into court or the countless demands placed on it by our modern legal system.

"Lawyers often refer to these psychoexperts as 'whores'," said Dr. Hagen. "They are the growing ranks of psychiatrists, psychologists, and social workers who give psychological testimony in our courtrooms today on subjects as varied as competency, dangerousness, amenability to rehabilitation, parental fitness and custody, child sexual abuse and recovered memory." In far too many cases, she believes, psychoexpert testimony falsely shapes prosecutions, verdicts and sentencing, and leads our judicial system away from the path of justice.

Dr. Hagen's talk is sponsored by the Washington College Campus Events and Visitors Committee.

Green Party Candidate Ralph Nader Speaks at WC April 30

Chestertown, April 20—Ralph Nader will speak at Washington College on Sunday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. Ranked third in polls on presidential candidates, Nader will talk about how government, corporations, and free trade will affect the global environment in the 21st century. His appearance in the Casey Academic Center Forum on campus is free and open to the public.

Nader is a noted lecturer whose simple message of being an active citizen touches a chord in his audiences. Years after they graduate, college students tell him how his lecture evening changed their lives.

Honored by "Time" magazine as one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century, Nader has devoted his life to giving ordinary people the tools to defend themselves against corporate negligence and government indifference. After publication of his 1965 book "Unsafe at Any Speed," about potentially fatal mechanical defects in some cars, and the Senate hearings that resulted from it, Nader was catapulted into the public sphere. Seat belts and air bags in automobiles resulted from Nader's expose.

Nader was instrumental in the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA; the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA; and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He helped draft and pass the Safe Water Drinking Act, the Meat and Poultry Inspection rules, and the Freedom of Information Act. Nader has formed numerous citizen groups, including the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Pension Rights Center, the Coalition for University in the Public Interest, and the student public interest research groups that operate in more than 20 states. He is now also working with alumni classes, including his own at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, to redirect their efforts from parties and reunions to volunteerism and community projects.

This William James Forum lecture is also sponsored by the Louis Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, The Society of Junior Fellows and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee.

Washington College Hosts Premiere of Sacred Ritual Film

Chestertown, April 17—"An Offering to Appeal for Rain" will be shown at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 27, in the Casey Academic Forum at Washington College. After the screening, film makers Alan R. Sandstrom and Pamela Effrein Sandstrom will discuss its significance and answer questions from the audience. Admission is free.

This will be the premiere of the video. No outsiders other than the film makers have ever witnessed this sacred ritual—a dramatic pilgrimage to the top of a sacred mountain to ask the water spirit for rain.

Anthropologist Alan R. Sandstrom has been conducting ethnographic research among Nahua Indians of Veracruz, Mexico, since 1972. Pamela Effrein, his wife, has accompanied him on all of his expeditions since their marriage. The Sandstroms' early research on ritual led to a groundbreaking analysis of ritual paper cutting among the Nahua, Traditional Papermaking and Paper Cult Figures of Mexico. Nahua medicine was the focus of Sandstrom's research, which led to the publication of The Image of Disease: Medical Practices of Nahua Indians of the Huasteca and to a volume co-edited with Brad Huber, Mesoamerican Healers. In 1981 Sandstrom published a study of curing and crop rituals, Traditional Curing and Crop Fertility Rituals among Otomi Indians of the Sierra de Puebla, Mexico: The Lopez Manuscripts.

Sandstrom's Corn is Our Blood: Culture and Ethnic Identity in a Contemporary Aztec Indian Village, now in its third printing, is the culmination of years of field research on the ethnic identity and culture change among the Nahua. The Sandstroms' most recent research examined milpa horticulture among the same population. In "An Offering to Appeal for Rain," the Sandstroms participated in a fantastic pilgrimage to the top of a sacred mountain to ask the water spirit for rain.

Alan Sandstrom received his Ph.D. in anthropology from Indiana University, Bloomington, and is professor of anthropology at Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne, where he has taught since 1975. He was recently appointed distinguished professor by the Academia Mexicana de las Ciencias (Mexican Academy of Sciences). Pamela Effrein Sandstrom has a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from Indiana University and is head of reference at the Indiana University-Purdue University Fort Wayne library.

The video premiere and Daniel Z. Gibson and John A. Wagner lecture are also sponsored by The Campus Events and Visitors Committee, The Department of Sociology & Anthropology, The Art Department, The Program in International Studies and the Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Zen Master at Washington College March 23

Chestertown, MD — The Zen principles of mental tranquillity, fearlessness, and spontaneity will be clarified by Reverend Keido Fukushima, chief abbot of Tofukuji Monastery in Kyoto, Japan, at Washington College on March 23. His lecture, "What is Zen?" takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge. At 4:30 p.m., Reverend Fukushima will give a demonstration of calligraphy in the O'Neill Literary House. Both events are free and open to the public.

Reverend Fukushima is well known as a Zen Master of special depth and insight as well as a calligrapher of rare discipline and adeptness. His calligraphy is highly prized in Japan as well as the United States, where it has been exhibited to great acclaim in New York and San Francisco. While touring America recently, Reverend Fukushima gave a calligraphy demonstration at Columbia University. Kay Larson, an art critic who also practices Zen, wrote for The New York Times that Reverend Fukushima "chatted freely with the audience. Suddenly he stopped talking. He mediated for a few moments, seeming to reach deep within himself. Then he picked up a thick, chunky brush and paused. Strike! The deed was done: a dense black circle. He gave it away."

Born in Kobe, Reverend Fukushima joined the Rinzai Zen school of Buddhism in 1947. After graduate studies at Otani University in Kyoto, he joined the monastery of Nanzenji in 1961. In 1971 he became the vice abbot at Hofukuji temple in Okayama prefecture. He came to Tofukuji as the leading Zen Master in 1980 and was appointed the head abbott of the Rinzai school of Buddhism in 1991. He has given lectures at 20 universities in the United States, including Harvard, Columbia and Bucknell.

Reverend Fukushima's appearance at Washington College is sponsored by the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee.

National Book Award Winner Speaks on Andrew Jackson

Chestertown, MD — Ever the controversial figure, Andrew Jackson's success as a military leader of the Battle of New Orleans will be the subject of a lecture by Robert Remini, distinguished professor of history emeritus at the University of Illinois, Chicago. The lecture takes place at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday March 22 in the Hynson Lounge at Washington College. Beginning at 4 p.m., preceding the lecture, Remini will sign his latest book, "The Battle of New Orleans."

Remini, who has been called "an historian in love with his subject," says that the Battle of New Orleans, fought after a peace treaty ending the War of 1812 had been ratified by Britain and the United States, "was one of the great turning points in American history" because it "produced a President and an enduring belief in the military ability of free people to protect and preserve their society and their way of life." Carlo D'Este, writing in "The New York Times Book Review," calls Remini's latest work, "an exceptional book that combines impressive scholarship with a riveting narrative." The book has also received rave reviews from readers.

Remini's three-volume biography, "Andrew Jackson," won the National Book Award and was reissued in 1998 as a Main Selection of the History Book Club. He is also the author of biographies of Henry Clay and Daniel Webster.

"Andrew Jackson and the Battle of New Orleans" is sponsored by the Washington College History Department. Washington College Phi Beta Kappa Associates, theCampus Events and Visitors Committee and the Robert Julian Emory Lecture Fund. It is free and open to the public.