Washington College Adds Guadalajara, Mexico To Study Abroad Programs

Chestertown, MD, March 23, 2004 — In response to the growing demand from today's college students for global educational opportunities, Washington College has added the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara, Mexico to its selection of 42 study abroad programs in 26 countries. The new program in Mexico offers students both formal studies and community outreach opportunities for an applied, engaged learning experience.

“This is a great program for students studying Spanish, international studies, business, or Latin American history and culture,” said Professor Tahir Shad, director of Washington College's International Studies Program. “Students should have some Spanish language skills before they go, but the school has a well-established intensive language program ready to prepare students for immersion in the university and the Mexican culture.”

Founded in 1935, Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara is the second largest university in Mexico and offers 50 undergraduate majors, including arts, international relations, economics, psychology, education, Spanish language and literature, law, engineering, and health sciences. Costs for the program are met for Washington College students through a prearranged tuition exchange program.

With a mix of cultural heritage and modernism, urban sensibilities and rural heritage, the university's hometown of Guadalajara is Mexico's second largest city, located in the state of Jalisco, which is known for its spring-like climate and as the epicenter of Mexican culture. Students can take advantage of Guadalajara's rich cultural resources and nearby attractions such as Puerto Vallarta, Chapala (the largest lake in Mexico), the town of Tequila, and the historic colonial city of Guanajuato.

While abroad, students have the opportunity to take a large array of subjects, not always offered at Washington College. The university's International Language Center is equipped with modern multimedia facilities for language instruction, and for students with a special interest in Spanish and Latin American culture, the Center offers several study options such as intensive Spanish courses, a Spanish and culture program, and Spanish courses for special purposes such as Business Spanish and Spanish for Physicians.

Housing for students, prearranged through the university's International Exchange Department, is with approved families who offer room and board to international students. By living with a family, students can practice their Spanish, learn more about Mexican culture, and experience first-hand a different way of life.

Interested students should contact Kelly Keer, Administrator of International and Diversity Affairs, at 410-778-7762, or via e-mail: kkeer2@wahscoll.edu.

Scholar To Discuss Maoist Terrorism And Guerrilla Wars In Peru And Nepal, October 23

Chestertown, MD, October 13, 2003 — Washington College's International Studies Program welcomes David Scott Palmer, Professor of International Relations and Political Science at Boston University, speaking on “Terror in the Name of Mao: True Believers and People's War in Peru and Nepal,” Thursday, October 23, at 7:30 p.m. in the Casey Academic Forum. Dr. Palmer's talk will present a comparative analysis of Maoist guerrilla organizations in Peru (the Shining Path) and Nepal. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.
Dr. Palmer has worked on issues related to political development, insurgency, border disputes, and civil-military relations in Latin America since studying in Chile and Uruguay and serving as a Peace Corps Volunteer in highland Peru in the early 1960s. His major publications focus on Peruvian politics at both the national and local level, the Shining Path, the Latin American military, the Peru-Ecuador border conflict, drug trafficking and United States-Latin American relations. He served as Chair of Latin American and Caribbean Studies for 12 years at the Foreign Service Institute of the Department of State, including four years as associate dean. He has consulted with the United Nations Development Program, the Ford Foundation and USAID, most recently as a Conflict Prevention and Mitigation Specialist in Nepal. He lectures and consults regularly on terrorism and related issues for various government institutions, including the State Department, the National Intelligence Council and the U.S. Armed Services.

Will Japan Go Ballistic? O'Neill Literary House Launches Spring Tea & Talk Series February 25

Chestertown, MD, February 10, 2003 — Washington College's O'Neill Literary House Tea & Talk Series kicks off its spring lecture series on Tuesday, February 25 at 4 p.m. with “Japan Going Nuclear?,” a talk to address the likelihood of Japan developing nuclear weapons in response to current tensions with North Korea and in its region. The talk will be presented by Dr. Andrew Oros, assistant professor of international studies and political science at the College. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Dr. Oros specializes in the international and comparative politics of East Asia, theories of international relations, and foreign intelligence and espionage. He has published articles in Japan Forum, Public and International Affair, Intelligence and National Security, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, and numerous other journals. His report “Can Japan Come Back?” was published recently in a Japanese newspaper.

The Tea & Talk Series will continue on March 18 with “Strings Attached,” a poetry reading and Celtic harp performance by Meredith Davies Hadaway, Vice President for College Relations at Washington College. Hadaway has played the harp in local and regional venues, and has traveled to Ireland as a guest artist for the Clifden (Connemara) Community Arts festival. She is currently a candidate for a Master of Fine Arts degree in poetry from Vermont College.

On April 22, Polly Kuulei Sommerfeld, a lecturer in drama at Washington College, will present “What's Equity Got to Do With It?”, a Q&A focusing on the challenges faced by professional actors.

The Tea & Talk Series provides opportunities for college faculty and staff to share their areas of expertise with the college and with the surrounding community. All talks are held at theO'Neill Literary House on Washington Avenue in Chestertown. Tea is served at 4 p.m.; talks begin at 4:30 p.m. Admission is free.

One Land, Two Peoples: Washington College Hosts Symposium On Middle East Affairs October 24

Chestertown, MD, October 11, 2002 — Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs will present the symposium “One Land, Two Peoples: Conflict in the Middle East,” on Thursday, October 24, 2002, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is encouraged to attend this timely and important discussion.
To be moderated by Dr. Tahir Shad, Director of Washington College's International Studies Program, the symposium will feature four panelists immersed in the complexities of the political, strategic, economic, ethnic and religious issues that divide Israel and Palestine, as well as the entire Middle East region. The panel will comprise Nubar Hovsepian, Associate Director of the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania; Scott B. Lasensky, a Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, Assistant Director of the Council's U.S./Middle East Project, and a foreign policy analyst specializing in international politics, American foreign policy, and the Middle East; Haim Malka, a research analyst specializing in Palestinian-Israeli issues at The Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy; and Janine Zacharia, Washington correspondent since November 1999 for The Jerusalem Post who has covered the Middle East from a U.S. perspective, including the Clinton Administration's efforts to broker peace deals between Israel and her Arab neighbors, and the Bush Administration's evolving policy toward the region.
The symposium is sponsored by Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, established in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, a 1935 alumnus and Maryland's longest serving elected official. The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, travel and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders in public policy and the media.

International Relations Club Presents 2001 Culture Night April 21

Chestertown, MD, March 26, 2001 — The Washington College International Relations Club will host Culture Night 2001 on Saturday, April 21, 2001, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. The program celebrates national and international diversity with an International Buffet Dinner in the Casey Academic Center Gallery and multicultural entertainment in Norman James Theatre, William Smith Hall.

The International Buffet Dinner begins at 7 p.m. and will offer a variety of international delicacies. Guests will be able to sample Polish pirogies and golabkies, Danish meatballs, artichoke dip, vegetable curry, seaweed salad, Brazilian cheese balls, Yorkshire pudding, Black Forest cake, Moroccan harost, sausage in sauerkraut, spring rolls, soul food dishes prepared by the Black Students Union, and many more appetizers and desserts.

Attendees also will be treated to a dazzling array of multicultural entertainment in Norman James Theatre starting at 8:30 p.m. Enjoy an international fashion show, Tunisian singing, Urdu language readings, Spanish Sevillanas and Merengue dancing, Indian dancing, traditional Japanese song, and much more.

The general public is invited. Tickets are $10 for adults. Washington College students and children are free. Tickets can be purchased through the International Relations Club, Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue, Chestertown, MD 21620. Please make checks payable to Washington College. Money raised benefits the international students program at Washington College. For further information, call 410-778-8762.

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.