Speaker to Examine Phillipine Politics

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Gary Gador Dionisio, a professor of diplomacy and a consultant on Phillippine politics and legislative affairs, will speak at Washington College on Monday, Oct. 29, on “Shaping Philippine Politics in 2012-13; State and Religion Nexus.”

            Sponsored by the Near Eastern Studies Program, the talk will take place at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. It is free and open to the public.

            Dionisio is an assistant professor in the Consular and Diplomatic Affairs Program at De La Salle–College of St. Benilde, in Manilla. His consulting clients include the City Government of Pasay, the National Union of Workers in Hotel Restaurant and Allied Industries, and the AKBAYAN Party.

Walter Isaacson On Benjamin Franklin And America's Values, April 22

Chestertown, MD, April 15, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience presents acclaimed journalist Walter Isaacson speaking on “Benjamin Franklin and America's Values,” Thursday, April 22, at 4:30 p.m., in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend. A booksigning will follow.

Isaacson is the president and CEO of the Aspen Institute, an international education and leadership institute founded in 1950. Born in New Orleans, Isaacson is a graduate of Harvard College and of Pembroke College of Oxford University. He began his career in journalism as a reporter for the Sunday Timesof London and the New Orleans States-Item. He joinedTime Magazine in 1978 and served as a political correspondent, national editor and editor of new media before becoming the managing editor of the magazine in 1995. In 2001, he became the chairman and CEO of CNN. His critically acclaimed biography, Benjamin Franklin: An American Life (2003), examines the brilliant inventor, charming diplomat and complicated visionary, who—more than anyone else in the founding period—created the archetype of the American “self-made” man. In addition, Isaacson is the author ofKissinger: A Biography (1992) and co-author of The Wise Men: Six Friends and the World They Made (1986). He lives with his wife and daughter in Washington, DC, and Aspen, CO.

The Isaacson lecture is sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. News and information about upcoming events and lectures is available online at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/, or by calling Program Manager Kees de Mooy at 410-810-7156.

Blogging And Slogging In 2004: Howard Dean To Speak At Washington College, April 13

Chestertown, MD, March 23, 2004 — Washington College's Harwood Program in American Journalism presents former Democratic presidential candidacy contender, HOWARD DEAN, Tuesday, April 13, at 5 p.m. in the College's Tawes Theatre. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

From blogs to meet-ups, from Deaniacs to disgruntled Democrats, Howard Dean has carved out a niche and built a new base in the world of national campaigning that likely will continue to challenge the steady-as-you-go Democratic machine and Washington-insider politics through this election cycle and for many to come.

A graduate of Yale and the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York, Dean began his political career as a state volunteer for Jimmy Carter's reelection, and in 1982 was elected to the Vermont House of Representatives. In 1986 he was elected lieutenant governor for the first of three terms in that position until assuming the governorship in 1991 after the death Governor Richard Snelling. Dean went on to serve five gubernatorial terms in Vermont. In May 2002, he first announced his intent to run for the presidency, formalizing it in June 2003 and campaigning on a platform that emphasized healthcare for all, fiscal responsibility and opposition to the war in Iraq. Dean's strident manner and left-of-center positions resonated with younger voters and with Democrats disillusioned with the party's centrist turn. While his supporters connected via the Internet, organized local meet-ups, and rallied around the issues, the media and his political opponents on the right and left focused on Dean's electability in the current political climate.

After fairing poorly in the primaries, Dean officially dropped out of the race on February 18, but he is not fading from the national political scene. On March 17, Dean announced the formation of his new organization, Democracy for America, which aims to strengthen and sustain grassroots involvement in the democratic process, hold politicians to a higher standard of honesty and openness about their policy choices, fight for progressive policies and battle far right-wing politics.

“Today, half of Americans don't even bother to vote,” said Dean. “People see what the problems are, but they are cynical about the system and prospects for change. Only through acting will people recognize the power they have to change this country.”

Although the primary season found him lagging behind John Kerry and other Democratic contenders, no candidate has done more to bring grassroots campaigning and fundraising into the Internet age than Howard Dean.

Howard Dean's visit is sponsored by Washington College's Harwood Lecture Series in American Journalism, established to honor the distinguished career of the late Washington Post columnist and ombudsman Richard Harwood, who served as a trustee and a lecturer in journalism at the College. Recent speakers in the series have included such political and media figures as Robert Novak, John McCain, James Carville, Judy Woodruff, Al Hunt, Mark Shields and Paul Gigot.

Tall Ships And Trials At Sea: Captain Dan Parrott On Baltimore Clippers, April 1

Chestertown, MD, March 22, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and Sultana Projects, Inc., as part of the Maritime Lecture Series, present “Baltimore Clippers: Then and Now,” a lecture by Daniel S. Parrott, former captain of the Pride of Baltimore II and author of Tall Ships Down, Thursday, April 1, at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend. A booksigning will follow the lecture.

Parrott is a professional mariner with more than 20 years of experience sailing tall ships all over the world. Holding ocean masters licenses from the United States and Australia, Parrott has served as master for numerous vessels, including Pride of Baltimore II, Harvey Gamage, Bill of Rights and Tole Mour. He holds a master's degree in maritime affairs from the University of Rhode Island and is the author of the critically acclaimed book,Tall Ships Down, which chronicles the final, disastrous voyages of five contemporary tall ships: Pamir (1957), Albatross (1961),Marques (1984), Pride of Baltimore (1986) and Maria Asumpta(1995). Parrott's lecture will trace the evolution of the Baltimore Clipper design from its origins in the early 19th century to the reproductions in use today. In addition, he will discuss the human and technological challenges of building and sailing historical reproductions of tall ships and his view that recent tall ship tragedies at sea that have been deemed acts of god probably resulted from an ignorance or neglect of age-old practices of seamanship.

The Maritime Lecture Series is sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience—an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown—in partnership with Sultana Projects, Inc., an organization that provides unique, hands-on educational experiences in colonial history and environmental science on board its reproduction 18th century schooner, Sultana.

For more information on upcoming lectures and events at Washington College, visithttp://calendar.washcoll.edu.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson Discusses Iraq War And The Road Ahead, March 25

Chestertown, MD, March 16, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs present Ambassador Joseph Wilson lecturing on “The Mess in Iraq and the Way Ahead,” Thursday, March 25, at 7:30 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Washington College. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Called by President George H. W. Bush “a true American hero,” Ambassador Joseph Wilson has been involved in international politics for more than twenty years. As the acting U.S. ambassador in Iraq during Operation Desert Shield, the massive U.S. buildup in Saudi Arabia after Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait, Wilson was responsible for freeing 150 American hostages seized by Iraq. He was the last American official to meet with Hussein before the first Gulf War.

During his highly-decorated career, Wilson held many senior government posts, including Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for African Affairs at the National Security Council in the Clinton administration, responsible for the coordination of U.S. policy to the 48 countries of sub-Saharan Africa. He was a principal architect of President Clinton's historic trip to Africa in March 1998 and a leading proponent of the Africa Trade Bill.

Wilson is now at the center of a major political maelstrom involving the White House, the C.I.A. and the second Gulf War in Iraq. In 2002, at the request of Vice President Dick Cheney, Wilson was assigned by the C.I.A. to investigate claims that Saddam Hussein was seeking to acquire uranium from Niger for the purpose of advancing his nuclear program. When his investigation turned up nothing, Wilson reported back to officials in Washington that there was no basis for the claims.

Surprised that President Bush repeated the claim, most famously in his 2003 State of the Union address, Wilson wrote in a New York Times op-ed that the Bush administration had exaggerated the public case for invading Iraq. One week later, Wilson's wife, Valerie Wilson (née Plame) was exposed by the conservative columnist Robert Novak as a clandestine CIA operative, reputedly by a White House source.

Wilson was a member of the U.S. Diplomatic Service from 1976 through 1998. His assignments included Niger, Togo, South Africa, Burundi, Congo and Germany. He was Political Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief of United States Armed Forces, Europe, and U.S. Ambassador to the Gabonese Republic and to the Democratic Republic of Sao Tome and Principe from 1992 to 1995. From 1988 to 1991, he was the Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq.

Wilson's awards include the Department of Defense Distinguished Service Award, the Department of State Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards, the University of California, Santa Barbara Distinguished Alumnus Award, and the American Foreign Service Association William R. Rivkin Award. He is the 2003 recipient of the Ron Ridenhour Award for Truth-Telling, awarded to an individual or organization that has brought an important issue to light.

Wilson manages JCWilson International Ventures, Corporation, a consulting firm specializing in strategic management and international business development. He is also an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington D.C.

The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture.

News about other upcoming events is available on-line at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/, or call Program Manager Kees de Mooy at 410-810-7156.

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.

Shark Hunting In Montana And Early Vertebrate Evolution, Lecture March 25

Chestertown, MD, March 15, 2004 — The Washington College Chapter of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society, as part of its Women in Science Lecture Series, presents “Snorkeling a Paleozoic Bay: Shark Fishing in Montana,” a lecture by Eileen Grogan, a Washington College 1984 alumna now associate professor of biology at Saint Joseph's University, Thursday, March 25, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. The lecture is free and open to the public.

After completing her bachelor of science in biology at Washington College in 1984, Dr. Grogan received her M.S. in biology from Adelphi University in 1988 and her Ph.D. in marine science from the College of William and Mary in 1993. She has taught at St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia since 1994.

Her research interest, and the focus of her talk, is the origin and evolution of early chondrichthyes (cartilage fish, such as sharks) and their connection to early vertebrate evolution.

The talk is sponsored by the Washington College Sigma Xi chapter, which was officially installed in April 2001. Founded in 1886, Sigma Xi is an international, non-profit membership society of more than 80,000 scientists and engineers elected to the Society because of their research achievements or potential. In addition to publishing the journal American Scientist, Sigma Xi awards annual grants to promising young researchers, holds forums on critical issues at the intersection of science and society, and sponsors a variety of programs supporting science and engineering, science education, science policy, and the public understanding of science. The College's affiliation allows faculty and students to advance scientific education and research through grants; to fund faculty and student projects, travel awards and conferences; and to sponsor visiting scientists and collaborative research with other institutions.

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

Starr Center Announces Spring Lectures In American History, Culture And Contemporary Issues

Chestertown, MD, March 10, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience announces a full season of speakers for spring, addressing colonial to contemporary American history and culture. All lectures are free and open to the public.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson, “The Mess in Iraq and the Way Ahead.”

Thursday, March 25, 7:30 p.m., Hynson Lounge. Ambassador Wilson has led a highly decorated career in the Foreign Service, and as the active ambassador to Iraq, he was the last American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. He became the senior Africa expert on the National Security Council and planned President Clinton's trip in 1998. Shortly after debunking the White House claims of uranium sales from Niger to Iraq in 2003, his wife was exposed as a CIA operative. Wilson is the author of The Politics of Truth, which will be released in May. This talk is co-sponsored by the Washington College Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Captain Dan Parrott, “Baltimore Clippers: Then and Now.”

Thursday, April 1, 7:30 p.m., Hynson Lounge. Dan Parrott is a former captain of Pride of Baltimore II and the author of Tall Ships Down, a critically acclaimed book about disasters at sea. Parrott, assistant professor at the Maine Maritime Academy, will chart the history of the Baltimore Clipper from its introduction on the Chesapeake to the reproductions in use today. This talk is part of the ongoing Maritime Lecture Series, co-sponsored by Sultana Projects, Inc.

Adam Goodheart, “Two Pirate Ships at Point Comfort: New Discoveries on America's First Slaves.”

Thursday, April 15, 7:00 p.m., Hynson Lounge. In the summer of 1619—a year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock— two corsairs, one Dutch and one English, sailed into the mouth of the Chesapeake and anchored near the mouth of the James River. Among the pirates' cargo were some two dozen Africans, the first slaves to arrive in the Virginia Colony. Drawing on research for a book he is writing on the history of slavery, C.V. Starr Fellow Adam Goodheart will describe recent discoveries that illuminate the lives of these first African-Americans and their strange, violent and eventful journey to the New World.

Walter Isaacson, “Benjamin Franklin and America's Values.”

Thursday, April 22, 7:30 p.m., Hynson Lounge. Isaacson is the author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, a critically acclaimed biography of one of America's formative intellects. A brilliant inventor, charming diplomat and complicated visionary, Franklin—more than anyone else in the founding period—created the archetype of the American “self-made” man. Isaacson, the former managing editor of Time and CEO of Time Warner, is the director of the Aspen Institute and is the author of Kissinger and co-author of The Wise Men.

David Steinberg, “Peale's Artist in His Museum and the Nineteenth Century Emblem Problem.”

Friday, April 23, 4:30 p.m., Casey Academic Center Forum. Known primarily as a portrait painter, Maryland-born Peale created the first museum of cultural and natural history in America. David Steinberg will explore the intersection of central problems in visual representation, theology and natural science through one of Peale's most famous paintings. Steinberg is a Visiting Scholar at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. This lecture is part of the Starr Center's American Pictures Series and is co-sponsored by the Washington College Department of Art.

These spring lectures are sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. News about upcoming events is available online at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/, or by calling Program Manager Kees de Mooy at 410-810-7156.

For more information on upcoming concerts and events at Washington College, visitcalendar.washcoll.edu.

Rural Communities, Sustainable Agriculture Topics Of March Lectures At Washington College

Chestertown, MD, March 10, 2004 — Washington College's Center for Environment and Society has organized two lectures in March that address citizen leadership and the sustainable future of rural, agricultural communities.

“These are vitally important issues for our region,” said Dr. Wayne Bell, director of the Center, which recently completed the pilot year of the Rural Communities Leadership Program. “Like never before, the rural economy and natural resources of the Eastern Shore are feeling the pressures of development. It is my hope that these lectures inspire citizens to examine these issues more deeply and to discuss alternative visions and strategies to better take advantage of such changes to preserve rural communities and the working landscapes on which they depend.”

On Tuesday, March 16, Dr. Jean Richardson, former director of Environmental Programs/ Partnerships in Communities (EPIC) in Vermont, will discuss “Leadership and Community: Taking Hold of Your Future,” in a free public lecture at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. A professor emerita of environmental studies, natural resources and geography at the University of Vermont, Richardson is an expert on sustainable rural community development, environmental negotiation and leadership and regional analysis. As director of the EPIC, a project of the UVM Environmental Program funded in part by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Richardson worked with local communities to develop the leadership, resources and vision to rebuild the institutional, economic and human fabric of rural areas. Her book, Partnerships in Communities: Reweaving the Fabric of Rural America (Island Press, 2000) shares lessons gained through her directorship of EPIC and is a handbook for supporting economically and ecologically sustainable agriculture, setting forth comprehensive strategies for locally-based, self-directed community development.

On Thursday, March 25, at 12 noon in the College's Hynson Lounge, the Washington College Academy of Lifelong Learning (WC-ALL), in cooperation with the Center for Environment and Society and Chesapeake Fields Institute, will host the Learn-at-Lunch presentation, “Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Community,” with Dr. Frederick Kirschenmann, director of Iowa State University's Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Reservations are required for the luncheon lecture. Individual tickets are $9.50 for WC-ALL members and $12 for non-members. For information and reservations, call Anne Singer at WC-ALL, 410-778-7221. Deadline for reservations is March 22.

Kirschenmann is an advocate for land stewardship and has been hailed as a leader of the organic/sustainable agriculture movement. He has received many national and international appointments, including one to the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) National Organic Standards Board, and his writings have appeared in various books focused on ethics and agriculture. As much a farmer as a philosopher, Kirschenmann is also president of Kirschenmann Family Farms, a 3,500-acre certified organic farm in North Dakota.

For more information on upcoming concerts and events at Washington College, visitcalendar.washcoll.edu.

The War Or Terror: Myths And Misconceptions, Lecture March 2 At Washington College

Chestertown, MD, February 24, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience presents Townsend Hoopes, Senior Fellow at the Starr Center, in a presentation, “Misconceptions in the War on Terrorism,” Tuesday, March 2, at 4:30 p.m. in the Custom House Library. Hoopes will discuss the effect of September 11 on U.S. foreign policy and the global war on terrorism. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Townsend Hoopes was a staff aide to three Secretaries of Defense—James Forrestal, General George Marshall and Robert Lovett—and also served as principal deputy for International Security Affairs at the Pentagon and Under Secretary of the Air Force. He has been co-chairman of Americans for SALT and director of the American Committee on U.S.-Soviet Relations, and is the author of several prize-winning books on foreign policy.

The talk is sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. News about upcoming events is available online athttp://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/, or by calling Program Manager Kees de Mooy at 410-810-7156.

From Monticello To Mulan: Lecture Examines Communicating Values Through Culture, February 26

Chestertown, MD, February 20, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience and the Washington College Department of Art present Cynthia Schneider in a presentation, “From Monticello to Mulan: Communicating Values through Culture,” Thursday, February 26, at 4:30 p.m. in the Hynson Lounge. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Cynthia Schneider was the Ambassador to the Netherlands from 1998-2001, and is currently Assistant Professor of Art History at Georgetown University. She was also Assistant Curator of European Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In addition to her academic endeavors, Ambassador Schneider was named by President Clinton as Vice-Chair of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities.

As Ambassador to the Netherlands, Schneider led initiatives in the fields of biotechnology, education and public diplomacy, and culture. Through the State Department's Art-in-Embassies program, she assembled at the Dutch embassy residence a museum-quality collection of American art. In the full-length catalogue of the collection, Another Salute, Ambassador Schneider explored the relationships between American and Dutch artists illustrated by the works of art. Schneider has published several books and numerous articles on Rembrandt and Dutch art of the seventeenth century, including Rembrandt's Landscapes(Yale University Press, 1990).

The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience is an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. News about other upcoming events is available on-line athttp://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/, or by calling Program Manager Kees de Mooy at 410-810-7156.

Chestertown's African-American Civil War Veterans Hall Topic Of February 23rd Lecture

Chestertown, MD, February 16, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience presents “With Sacred Vigilance: Chestertown's Charles Sumner Post,” a lecture by Kees de Mooy, Program Manager at the Center. The talk will be held Monday, February 23, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Casey Academic Forum. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Few may know that on South Queen Street in Chestertown stands one of only two African-American Civil War veterans' halls left standing in the United States. Decaying and abandoned since 1985, the hall was built in 1908 by local African-American veterans of the Civil War, and named for the famous abolitionist Senator from Massachusetts, Charles Sumner. The Charles Sumner Post #25, Grand Army of the Republic (G.A.R.) lodge, served a vital function in the local community. Members of the Sumner Post, including the Women's Relief Corps #1 (the first in Maryland), provided aid to fellow veterans, and the widows and orphans of Civil War soldiers. Army Hall, as it was commonly known, was used primarily for meetings and functions related to the veterans group, but was also rented out for graduation parties, weddings and musical performances. In 1937, Ella Fitzgerald and Chick Webb traveled by steamboat from Baltimore to perform on its second floor stage, and many other jazz notables passed through its doors. In 1955, the building was sold to the Centennial Beneficial Association, a group of men and women who formed themselves into “a society for the purpose of soothing the sorrows and softening the pillows of the sick and drying up the tears of the children.” Gradually, the building became known as Centennial Hall, and the structure's original name and function were all but forgotten.

The Charles Sumner Post is a living monument to African-American Civil War veterans and a vitally important part of local, state and national history. The C.V. Starr Center at Washington College and Preservation Incorporated—a local non-profit group dedicated to the building's restoration—raised the money to purchase this local treasure and save it from demolition. Restoring the building to its former glory will be a challenging but worthwhile undertaking.

De Mooy, a board member of Preservation Incorporated, will talk about the history of the post and its members, and discuss the restoration work that is planned. Funding and assistance for the project are provided by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Maryland Historical Trust, Preservation Incorporated, Kent County Heritage Trust, Historical Society of Kent County, C.V. Starr Center, Kent County Arts Council, and the many Friends of the Charles Sumner Post.

Author Ben Yagoda On Developing Style And Voice In Prose Writing, February 17

Chestertown, MD, February 9, 2004 — Washington College's Sophie Kerr Lecture Series presents “The Sound on the Page: Style and Voice in Prose Writing,” a lecture by Ben Yagoda, author of About Town—the recent omnibus history of The New Yorker—and Director of the Journalism Program, University of Delaware. The lecture will be held Tuesday, February 17, at 4:30 p.m. at the O'Neill Literary House. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

Yagoda is the author of the critically acclaimed booksAbout Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made(Scribner, 2000) and Will Rogers: A Biography (Alfred A. Knopf, 1993), and he is the co-editor of The Art of Fact: A Historical Anthology of Literary Journalism(Scribner, 1997). He has contributed articles, essays and reviews to more than 50 national publications, including Esquire, GQ, New York Times Magazine and the New York Times Book Review, and has been a regular columnist for Philadelphia Magazine and The Chronicle of Higher Education. A graduate of Yale and the University of Pennsylvania, Yagoda is an associate professor of English at the University of Delaware, where he teaches courses in journalism, literary non-fiction and non-fiction writing. He lives in Swarthmore, PA, with his wife and two daughters.

The talk is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Lecture Series, named in honor 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, she 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.

The Secret Lives Of Portraits: Exhibition Opens February 13

Chestertown, MD, February 3, 2004 — The Washington College Department of Art presents “The Secret Lives of Portraits,” an exhibition of paintings by Carrie Ann Baade, visiting lecturer in art at the College, that explores the whimsical side of traditional portraits. The exhibition will be open daily to the public, Monday-Friday, noon to 5 p.m., February 13 to March 4, in the Tawes Gallery, Gibson Performing Arts Center. An opening reception will be held Friday, February 13 at 4 p.m. with remarks by the artist at 5 p.m. The event is free and the public is invited to attend.

“This exhibition takes a different approach to many of the icons of our artistic heritage,” says Baade. “With a playful rearranging of images, my paintings attempt to reveal the secret lives of what are often viewed as static icons.”

Baade is currently a visiting artist at Washington College and teaches beginning drawing. She received her B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1997 and a Masters in Painting from the University of Delaware in 2003. Her paintings start with the premise that there is more to portraits than meets the eye. If the subjects were animated and had free will, she asks, would they tire of their centuries-old identities and opt for change, or alter their appearances while we momentarily looked away? Through collage and trompe l'oeil painting techniques, Baade layers these whimsical possibilities on “serious” art.

Red States, Blue States: Speaker Examines Regional Divisions In American Politics, February 4

Chestertown, MD, January 22, 2004 — Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs presents “Red States, Blue States: Regional and Cultural Divisions in American Politics,” a lecture by Michael Lind, Senior Fellow with the New America Foundation and noted author of Made in Texas and The Radical Center, Wednesday, February 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. This is a free event and the public is invited to attend.

Lind is the Whitehead Senior Fellow and director of the American Strategy Project at the New America Foundation, an independent, non-partisan, non-profit institute that explores public policy ideas that transcend the conventional political spectrum. He is the author of The Radical Center: The Future of American Politics (with Ted Halstead) and Made in Texas: George W. Bush and the Southern Takeover of American Politics (New America Books/Basic, 2003). Lind has been an editor or staff writer for The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The New Republic and The National Interest. He has written for The Atlantic Monthly, Prospect, The New York Times Magazine, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Financial Times and other leading publications, and he has appeared as a guest on CNN's Crossfire, C-SPAN, National Public Radio and The News Hour with Jim Lehrer. He has also been a guest lecturer at Harvard Law School.

Lind's first three books of political history—The Next American Nation (1995), Up From Conservatism (1996) and Vietnam (1999)—were all selected as New York Times Notable Books. He has also published several volumes of fiction and poetry, including The Alamo (1997), which the Los Angeles Times named as one of the Best Books of the year. He is currently working on a study of Abraham Lincoln titled What Lincoln Believed: The Values and Convictions of America's Greatest President, which will be published by Doubleday this year.

The talk is sponsored by Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, established in honor of the late Louis L. Goldstein, 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.

Politics Of Women Clergy Topic For Tea & Talk Series, January 26

Chestertown, MD, January 15, 2004 — The Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series and the Gender Studies Program at Washington College present “Women with a Mission: Gender, Religion, and the Politics of Women Clergy,” a lecture by Melissa Deckman, assistant professor of political science, Monday, January 26 at the O'Neill Literary House. The event is free and all are welcomed to enjoy tea, conviviality and discussion. Tea served at 4 p.m., talk begins at 4:30.

While it took many generations of struggle before women gained formal acceptance into the male-dominated ministry and rabbinate, the pulpit has recently become more hospitable to women, asserts Deckman, and as their numbers grow, women clergy are coming to exert an increasingly visible political presence in the United States. Her lecture will focus on the story of women clergy's encounters with politics, demonstrating how gender, professional status, and religion can affect citizens' political attitudes and behavior.

“I argue that the combination of gender, minority professional status, and the nature of the religious traditions that ordain women act together to move women clergy ideologically toward the political left,” says Deckman. “Ironically, though, these same factors can combine to make it difficult and potentially risky for women clergy to engage in visible action on controversial issues, but many do act, even on controversial issues such as gay rights and abortion. The ways that these women navigate the nexus of congregational ministry, community leadership, and prophetic political teaching is making a greater impact on American politics, both through their actions and through their influence on the beliefs and actions of the many American citizens who attend their congregations.”

The Rose O'Neill Tea & Talk Series showcases the research, writing and talent of Washington College's faculty and is held in the College's O'Neill Literary House. Established in 1985, the Literary House was acquired and refurbished through a generous gift of alumna Betty Casey, Class of 1947, and her late husband Eugene, in memory of his late mother, Rose O'Neill Casey. Now approaching its 20th anniversary, the O'Neill Literary House is a large, eclectic Victorian home that reflects the spirit of Washington College's creative writing culture.

Ruskin And Turner: The Art Of Ekphrasis, November 12

Chestertown, MD, November 11, 2003 — Charlotte Ribeyrol, a lecturer in English at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris, will present the lecture “Turner and Ruskin: The Art of Ekphrasis,” Wednesday, November 12, at 4:30 p.m. in the College's Hynson Lounge. This lecture, co-sponsored by Washington College's Sophie Kerr Committee and the Department of Art, is open to the public, and all are invited to attend.

As her title indicates, Ribeyrol's talk will deal with the literary tradition of describing works of art. She will concentrate on the writings of the Victorian author and art critic John Ruskin, particularly on his classic opus,Modern Painters, in which he vigorously defended the paintings of William Turner, whose work had been widely dismissed. Ribeyrol entered the Ecole Normale Supérieure at the age of 19 as an English major. Once there, she began studying art history, specializing in Flemish painting and in the links between text and image. She wrote her master's thesis on Ruskin and painting while teaching French at Oxford University (Somerville College). Returning to France, she won first place in the “Agrégation,” the national competitive exam for prospective university teachers. She then spent a second year teaching in Oxford (Christ Church, Brasenose and Lincoln Colleges) while writing her master's thesis on Swinburne and Whistler. Ribeyrol is currently writing her doctoral thesis on the role of ekphrasis in late nineteenth century (Fin de Siècle) poetry in England and in France, while working on a project with the Louvre on ancient Greek frescoes.

Scholars Discuss War And Peace In Contemporary Africa, Nov. 20

Chestertown, MD, November 5, 2003 — Washington College's Goldstein Program in Public Affairs and the Daniel Z. Gibson/John A. Wagner Visitors Fund, along with the Department of Foreign Languages, Literatures and Cultures, present “War and Peace in Africa as a Challenge to America: Political and Literary Perspectives,” a lecture by Dr. Mildred Mortimer, professor of French at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Dr. Robert Mortimer, professor of political science at Haverford College. The free talk will be held Thursday, November 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the Casey Academic Center Forum. The public is invited to attend.

In this joint lecture, Dr. Mildred Mortimer will discuss African literary texts that explore politics and examine the literary representations of the Rwandan massacres at Murambi. Dr. Robert Mortimer will then explore post-Cold War Africa and the breakdown of the relative peace that had prevailed on the continent until 1990, all the while posing the question of why the United States should be concerned—and feel implicated—in the civil strife in Liberia and its ramifications across West Africa. He will also discuss the role of the U.S. with respect to the war in Congo/Zaire, the difficult experiences of peacekeepers in Africa, and why he believes President Bush's trip to Africa was not a diplomatic success.

Dr. Mildred Mortimer received her B.A. from Brooklyn College, an M.A. from Harvard University and a Ph.D. from Columbia University. She specializes in Francophone African literature, with a particular interest in the literature of the Maghreb. She is the author ofMouloud Mammeri, écrivain algerien (1982), Assia Djebar (1988) and Maghrebian Mosaic: A Literature in Transition (2001); and the editor of Contes Africains (1972) and Journeys through the French African Novel (1990). She currently serves as the Associate Chair and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Department of French and Italian at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Dr. Robert Mortimer received his B.A. from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D from Columbia University. Under Fulbright and other grants, he has taught and conducted research in France and several African countries. His scholarly work analyzes the role of African and other “Third World” states in the international political system. Interested in policy matters, he has testified before Congress and served as a consultant to the Department of State, the Council on Foreign Relations and other foreign affairs organizations. From January through July 1998, he served as director of the West African Research Center in Dakar, Senegal.

Science, Politics, And The Struggle To Save The Bay

Chestertown, MD, October 23, 2003 — Washington College's Joseph H. McLain Lecture Series and the Center for the Environment and Society present "CHESAPEAKE BAY BLUES: SCIENCE, POLITICS, AND THE STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE BAY, " a lecture by Dr. Howard Ernst, Assistant Professor, U.S. Naval Academy and Senior Scholar, Center for Politics, University of Virginia. A book signing will follow. The event will take place Thursday, Oct. 23, Hynson Lounge, 7:30 p.m.

Historian To Discuss The Underground Literature Of 18th Century France, October 23

Chestertown, MD, October 14, 2003 — Washington College's Conrad Wingate Memorial Lecture Series presents “Mademoiselle Bonafon and the Private Life of Louis XV: What the Butler Saw and What the Public Read in 18th Century France,” a lecture by Princeton historian Robert Darnton. This free lecture will be held Thursday, October 23, at 4 p.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre. The public is invited to attend.
A former Rhodes scholar, Dr. Darnton holds a Doctor of Philosophy in history from Oxford University (1964) and now serves as the Shelby Cullom Davis Professor of European History at Princeton University. He is well known for his behind-the-scenes approach and research into the undersides of history, the history of books and the history of censorship with a specific focus on 18th century France. His books include The Great Cat Massacre: And Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1985); Berlin Journal: 1989-1990 (1993); The Forbidden Best-Sellers of Pre-Revolutionary France (1996), which won the National Book Critics Circle Award; and the recently released George Washington's False Teeth: An Unconventional Guide to the Eighteenth Century (Norton, 2003). In his October 23rd lecture, Dr. Darnton will discuss his most recent research on the underground literature in France attacking King Louis XV and the general theme of illicit literature as it related to public opinion in 18th century Paris. Taking an “historical perspective to current questions” viewpoint, Dr. Darnton sees 18th century France as a society awash in “information” and an underground press with parallels to our own time with the profusion of information and rumor on the Internet.
The Conrad M. Wingate Memorial Lecture in History is held in honor of the late Conrad Meade Wingate '23, brother of late Washington College Visitor Emeritus Phillip J. Wingate '33 and the late Carolyn Wingate Todd. He was principal of Henderson (MD) High School at the time of his death from cerebrospinal meningitis at age 27. At Washington College, he was president of the Dramatic Association, president of the Adelphia Literary Society and vice president of the Student Council in 1922-23.