Scholar Offers Literary Look at Virgin Queen

CHESTERTOWN—Eric Griffin, Associate Professor and Chair of English at Millsaps College in Jackson, MS, will lecture on “The Burden of Comedy: England, Spain, and Our Romance With Elizabeth Tudor,” on 4:30 p.m., Monday, October 18 in the Rose O’Neill Literary House at Washington College. He will argue that our culture’s 400-year-old romance with the Virgin Queen internalizes the features of dramatic comedy as scripted by the Elizabethans themselves, making it impossible for us to consider her with historical objectivity. He also will discuss the Anglo-Spanish conflict of the late sixteenth century and its relevance for U.S. and U.K. relations with the Hispanic world today.

Griffin, who also directs Millsaps’ Program in Latin American Studies and teaches in the Living in Yucatan Program, has written in numerous journals, including Representations,English Literary Renaissance, The Journal for Early Modern Cultural Studies and in Envisioning an English Empire: Jamestown and the Invention of the North Atlantic World edited by Robert Appelbaum and John Wood Sweet (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005).

His recent book, English Renaissance Drama and the Specter of Spain: Ethnopoetics and Empire (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009), explores Anglo-Hispanic literary and cultural relations from the late fifteenth through the early seventeenth centuries.

The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Sophie Kerr Committee.

Smithsonian Curator to Discuss Native Americans of the Chesapeake Region

CHESTERTOWN—Dr. Gabrielle Tayac, a curator at the National Museum of the American Indian, will discuss the lives of the Native American peoples of the Chesapeake region when she visits Washington College on Tuesday, October 19.

In “The Algonquian Peoples of the Chesapeake,” Tayac will describe the lives of the Nanticoke, Powhatan, and Piscataway nations Chesapeake. The talk will take place at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall.

A member of the Piscataway Indian Nation and Tayac Territory, Tayac co-founded the League of Indigenous Sovereign nations. Her grandfather, Turkey Tayac, was the last traditional Piscataway chief and medicine man.

Gabrielle Tayac is a graduate of Cornell and earned her PhD at Harvard, where she researched the history and collective identity of the Piscataway people from the 1500s through 1998. She is the author of Meet Naiche: A Native Boy from the Chesapeake Bay Area, a children’s book that follows the daily life of a contemporary 11year-old Piscataway/Apache boy.

The talk, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs. For information contact Darnell Parker at dparker2@washcoll.edu.

"Best Actress" Winner Kitty Winn to Attend Movie Screening at Washington College

CHESTERTOWN—Kitty Winn will visit Washington College on Tuesday, October 19 for a special showing of the movie for which she earned Best Actress at the 1971 Cannes Film Festival. The Panic in Needle Park, in which she plays Helen opposite Al Pacino’s Bobby, will be shown at 4 p.m. in Norman James Theatre, followed by a Q&A session.

A veteran performer who has appeared in dozens of movies, stage plays and television episodes, Winn is best known for that winning portrayal of Helen, a young homeless woman who falls in love with a handsome hustler and follows him into the depths of drug addiction. Played out on the streets of New York, the grim love story has been praised for its realistic presentation of the drug culture and the psyche of the junkie. Directed by Jerry Schatzberg and produced by Dominick Dunne, the film was based on the book by James Mills, with screenwriting by Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne.

In addition to the Cannes honor, Winn’s performance as Helen made Premier Magazine’s 2006 list of the “100 Greatest Performances of All Time.” Other roles included Sharon in The Exorcist, and Marianne Whitman in Mirrors. She also appeared as Ophelia in a well-known 1972 New York production of "Hamlet" that also starred Stacy Keach, Colleen Dewhurst and James Earl Jones.

Hosted by the Drama Department, the movie and discussion are free and open to the public.

Ellis Island Author Puts Today's Immigration Conflicts in Historical Perspective

CHESTERTOWN, MD—A scholar with a keen knowledge and understanding of America’s immigrant past will offer historical perspective on today’s immigration conflicts when he visits Washington College on Wednesday evening, October 20.

Vincent J. Cannato, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Boston and author of American Passage: The History of Ellis Island (HarperCollins, 2009) will speak about immigration in the early 20^th century and how it relates to the immigration issues sparking political, social and economic discord a century later. The talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, John S. Toll Science Center, and is free and open to the public.

“In the current immigration debate, it's often hard to find a broader perspective amid the political soundbites,” said Adam Goodheart, Hodson Trust-Griswold Director of the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, which is sponsoring the event. “But we can look to the past for context, and perhaps even wisdom. We’re not the first generation to argue about issues of citizenship, assimilation, and immigrant workers.”

Cannato will explore the politics and prejudices surrounding one of the largest mass migrations in history, and share stories of the some 12 million people who entered the U.S. through the Ellis Island portal. He also will focus on how a better knowledge of our past as a nation of immigrants can help us analyze and understand the controversies of today.

"The nation's immigration law was predicated on the idea that a self-governing people could decide who may or may not enter the country,” he writes in the introduction to American Passage. But that idea “conflicted with the idea that the rights guaranteed in the Constitution were universal rights. How could the Declaration of Independence's basic creed that all individuals were created equal mesh with the idea that some immigrants were desirable and others undesirable? That conflict between American ideals is central to an understanding of why Ellis Island was created in the first place."

Cannato’s book has received rave reviews. The Boston Globe called American Passage “a finely honed account that encompasses both the human story of the immigrant experience, often a sad one, and the political and bureaucratic responses.” The New York Times noted that, “Anyone with a stake or even a fleeting interest in the overhaul of the nation’s immigration policies should read American Passage.”

As a compliment to Cannato’s talk, the Starr Center will lead a free student road trip the following weekend to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. “American Passage: Ellis Island,” is co-sponsored by the Starr Center and the Washington College Office of Multicultural Affairs.

About the C.V. Starr Center

The C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience explores our nation’s history – and particularly the legacy of its Founding era – in innovative ways. Through educational programs, scholarship, and public outreach, and especially by supporting and fostering the art of written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between past and present, and between the academic world and the public at large. From its base in the circa-1746 Custom House along Chestertown’s colonial waterfront, the Center also serves as a portal onto a world of opportunities for Washington College students. For more information on the Center and on the Patrick Henry Fellowships, visit http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu.

Eco-Tourism Researcher to Share Experiences October 12 at Washington College

A researcher and manager of sustainable tourism projects will talk about her experiences, and offer advice for eco-friendly travel when she visits her alma mater, Washington College, Tuesday, October 12. Christina T. Cavaliere is now a senior research assistant at the University of Otago in Dunedin, New Zealand, where she is completing her PhD. She formerly headed up training and education for the International Ecotourism Society, a D.C.-based organization that promotes sustainable travel. Her lecture, “Bio-cultural Conservation & Climate Change: Agro-ecotourism in the Tropics,” will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall, Toll Science Center.

Cavaliere earned her B.A. degree in Environmental Studies and Fine Arts from Washington College in 1999. She spent a semester in Thailand studying the environmental practices of the Hmong communities and traveled to Ecuador for a month to conduct environmental field studies in the Amazon region and the Galapagos Islands. She went on to earn a master’s degree with a focus on research tourism and tropical forest conservation from James Cook University in Queensland, Australia and is now a PhD candidate at The University of Otago. She has worked in more than 35 countries on six continents, focusing mostly on equatorial climates.

Cavaliere’s October 12 talk is sponsored by the Joseph H. McLain Program in Environmental Studies at Washington College.

Washington College Students Revive Homecoming in Royal Fashion

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Who needs a football team to host a Homecoming? Not Washington College, where after a hiatus of some eight years, the students brought the tradition back with a vengeance, King and Queen and all.

Student Government president Andrew Antonio says the event, organized jointly by his group and the Student Events Board, exceeded even his own expectations. “We wanted to give the students a chance to celebrate their College and show pride it its athletic teams,” he says of the goal. “Attendance at the sports events was great, we had about 600 students show up for the dance, and people took the vote for the King and Queen seriously. People were chalking the sidewalks and putting up posters,” he says of the homecoming campaigns that ultimately crowned seniors Matt Keller, a business major from New Canaan, CT, and Tina Gardner, an economics major from Elkton, MD, as King and Queen.

“The whole experience was fun and exciting,” says Gardner who reports that being homecoming queen has not transformed her life: “I still have to go to class, eat at the dining hall, do my homework etc. However, it is fun having my friends call me ‘Tina Queena.’ I think this will be a fun tradition to continue in future years. Students enjoy having a reason to get dressed up.”

King Matt agrees. "It was a great way to start off the school year and for everyone to participate collectively as a campus," he says. "The feedback from all of my friends has been nothing but positive about the whole thing, and they were excited to see me win the crown." Keller told the student newspaper, the Elm, that his KA fraternity brothers gave him the promotional support that put him on top of the royal voting. They helped promote my name around campus and set up a giant bed sheet banner saying ‘Vote Keller 4 King’ outside of the chapter house,” he noted.

Without football to anchor the festivities (the last year Washington College fielded a football team was 1950), organizers encouraged students to turn out and support the teams playing at home that Saturday: women’s varsity soccer, field hockey and volleyball teams, and the men’s club rugby team. The men’s varsity soccer team and both sailing teams were competing out of town.

Student organizers printed T-shirts for the sports teams to wear that Friday to promote Homecoming, and the student athletes were recognized at the dance Saturday night. A fall harvest theme coincided with the College-wide Fall Family Weekend going on that weekend.

The new director of student activities, Emmanuel Lalande, credits Antonio and his counterpart at SEB, Ed Hoegg, for collaborating to bring back the homecoming tradition. The student leaders, in turn, credit Lalande for stressing the need for collaboration and for fully supporting their efforts.

Antonio told the Elm that he and Hoegg hope the return of homecoming will be a first step toward boosting school spirit. “Student apathy has always been a problem,” he told editor Alice Horner. “That mentality starts with not having a football team. But a football team is not a prerequisite for Homecoming.” And a homecoming celebration, he added, “can only add value to the student experience.”

Photo: King Matt and Queen Tina show off their sparkly headpieces as Homecoming's royalty.

Blue Skies, Warm Wishes and the Virtues of a Founding Patron Highlight Reiss Installation

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Mitchell B. Reiss was sworn in and celebrated as the 27^th president of Washington College on October 2, and even Mother Nature seemed to endorse the choice. On the only cloudless day in a week of torrential rains, the sun shone from a crisp blue sky as dozens of local and state dignitaries, splendidly robed scholars, beaming trustees and proud students and friends of the College assembled on the Front Lawn for the installation ceremony.

In welcoming the crowd, Edward Nordberg, the chair of the College's Board of Visitors and Governors, said the presidential search committee had found in Mitchell Reiss “an extraordinary leader” who could clarify and fully articulate Washington College's position among the nation's best liberal arts colleges. Reiss's hope for his presidency, said Nordberg, “is to make this wonderful college as great as it can be, and to leave to his successor a small liberal arts college recognized throughout the nation for what it does best: teaching young people to live lives of purpose, instilling in our students a love of learning, and building the intellectual habits and the moral character of tomorrow's leaders.”

In his inaugural remarks, President Reiss called on the Washington College community to be a living monument to the timeless values George Washington embodied. Washington's words to Congress in 1790—“There is nothing which can better deserve your patronage than the promotion of science and literature. Knowledge is, in every country, the surest basis of public happiness”—reside at “the very heart of our mission,” Reiss said.

Washington and his revolutionary colleagues understood that the new nation required “a citizenry equipped not just with facts and figures,” Reiss continued, “but with creativity and the moral courage to safeguard our inheritance and help us form a more perfect union.”

If George Washington could revisit his College on the Chester today, “he would be immensely pleased by the high caliber of student scholarship, by the intensity of our professors' focus on teaching, and by the almost magical intellectual exchanges that take place among them,” Reiss assured. “Above all else, he would see our students learning not what to think, but how to think for themselves.”

The institution has a further responsibility, he said, “a higher calling, if you will: to help our students negotiate a pathway to becoming responsible members of their communities, their professions and their country. “We know that education alone does not instill a reverence for honesty, fidelity or a dedication to speak the truth. We know that being well educated does not guarantee success. Sadly, the headlines point to the moral failings of educated men and women every day. Titans of finance, public representatives, scientists, even spiritual leaders—we seem to see a lot of highly educated people these days who have lost their way, who have not wedded knowledge with values.”

At Washington College, Reiss said, students are expected to wed knowledge with the virtues embodied by Washington:

Integrity: We ask our students to be trustworthy, honest and fair; to be accountable for their actions and to set an example for others.

“Respect: We ask our students to appreciate freedom of inquiry and expression, and diversity of views, to protect the diversity of species on our planet, and to value the histories and the cultures of peoples different than themselves.

“Courage: We ask that our students hold fast in the face of enormous odds, that they not shy away from shaping the future. And we ask that they know their responsibility to do the right thing, especially when the consequences are grave.”

The most important of these virtues, he concluded, is courage. The 55 men in Philadelphia who on July 4th 1776, with 30,000 of King George’s soldiers and sailors anchored in New York Harbor, declared the independence of the 13 United States of America in “a leap of faith made in ink but to be purchased in blood. … This example of bold action and unwavering spirit—this profound sense of optimism at our ability to create a better future—all this George Washington bequeathed to us, his college, his living monument.

“George Washington recognized the potential of the young United States to become one of the world’s truly great nations,” Reiss concluded. “It is my fervent wish that Washington College realize its potential as one of the world’s truly great institutions of higher learning.”

Earlier in the ceremony, nine speakers brought official greetings on behalf of campus, state and national constituencies, mixing praise for the College, the campus and the new president with bits of humor.

U.S. Congressman Frank Kratovil spoke words of congratulations and welcome on behalf of the Maryland Congressional Delegation, and especially acknowledged the Center for Environment & Society for research and teaching that benefits the whole Eastern Shore and beyond.

State Senate President Mike Miller, representing the Governor and Maryland’s General Assembly, charmed the crowd with his endorsement of Mitchell Reiss. Miller said he had suggested that the presidential search committee at University of Maryland consider Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary William Gates as candidates. Washington College did even better, he suggested: “You got a new president who, as an advisor to Condoleezza Rice and Bill Gates, told them what to do.” Reiss is “the total package,” he added, with experience in world affairs, politics and academia.

Chestertown Mayor Margo Bailey said her early impression of Mitchell Reiss, in addition to “very charming” and “looks good in a suit,” was of a new college president who wanted to forge strong bonds with the community. “He understands that the success of these two communities, Washington College and Chestertown, depends on our working together.”

The president of the Student Government Association, Andrew Antonio, offered words of welcome to the Reiss family and presented the President with a framed copy of photographer Bob Ramsey’s panoramic view of Chestertown’s riverfront. The SGA also presented flowers to President Reiss’s mother, Rhea Reiss, and First Lady Elisabeth Reiss.

Vicky Sawyer, Associate Director of the Center for Career Development, used her southern accent and charm to good effect, recounting Reiss’s first jobs, as a parking lot attendant fitting cars into small spaces and a stock boy in his grandfather’s store fitting goods into small spaces on the shelves. Those jobs prepared him for helping first year students fit their belongings into very small spaces on opening day, she reported. On behalf of the College staff, she presented the president with a Washington College clock “preset to 5 o’clock to remind you to go home,” and a large gold wrench, “a reminder that in higher education, there’s always something that needs fixing.”

Alumni Board chair Timothy Reath ’96 pledged the support of his group and promised to learn the alma mater, a cause being championed by First Lady Elisabeth Reiss. And associate professor of drama Michelle Volansky, speaking for her fellow professors and lecturers, recognized the faculty’s commitment to advancing egalitarianism, self-determination and justice throughout the school’s history. She then assured the new president that she and her colleagues were “ecstatic” to have him here and that “negotiating with the faculty will be slightly easier than negotiating with terrorists.”

Two special guests from higher education community added their insights. The national secretary of Phi Beta Kappa, John Churchill, underscored the need for champions of the liberal arts today and congratulated the College on naming a new president so “demonstrably capable in every way.” Mary Pat Seurkamp, the president of Notre Dame of Maryland and chair of the Maryland Independent Colleges and Universities Association, joked that she looked forward to seeing Mitchell Reiss’s diplomatic and tactical skills in action in three lesser known areas of a college president’s realm: snow removal, the legalities of downloading and mixing music, and the selection of curtain fabrics for College rooms being redecorated.

The event was strongly anchored in tradition. Kicking off the inauguration, music department chair Garry Clarke, director of the humanities program Richard Gillin and professor of chemistry emeritus Frank Creegan led the formal academic procession as the Carrolton Brass played “the Prince of Denmark’s March.” More than 120 colleges and universities were represented as officials and alumnae dressed in their schools’ gowns and hoods filed by in order by age of institution, from oldest to youngest. That meant Oxford University alumna Emilie Amt, a former professor at Washington College, led the parade as a representative of her 843-year-old alma mater, and Edgar Schick brought up the rear as president of the Baltimore International College, established in 1975.

In between, the representatives included a number of college presidents, including William Kirwan, chancellor of the University of Maryland system, Fred Lazarus of the Maryland Institute College of Art, Roger Casey of McDaniel, Ronal Volpe of Hood, William Johnston of Wesley, Thomas Foley of Mount Aloysius, and Barbara Viniar of Chesapeake College. Kent County’s Superintendent of Schools Barbara Wheeler wore the robes of her alma mater, Morgan State University. Provost Michael Halleran represented The College of William & Mary, where Mitchell Reiss spent nearly a decade as an administrator, professor and diplomat-in-residence. President Reiss’s father, Martin, and sister, Randi Reiss-McCormack, donned the robes of M.I.T. and Cornell for the occasion.

President Emeritus Baird Tipson returned to campus for the celebration, as did five former first ladies of the College: Ann McLain, Melissa Clarke, Libby Cater Halaby, Katherine Trout and Debbie Toll.

Following a flawless inauguration ceremony, everyone enjoyed a bountiful lunch spread on the first floor of Hodson Commons and outside beneath a tent.

That evening, the Board of Trustees and Senior Staff joined the Reiss family for a black tie dinner and dancing at Hynson Ringgold House.

Jay Young ’81, the chair of the presidential search committee that led to Reiss’s selection, was thrilled with the installation festivities. “The weekend was a spectacular celebration of all that is great about Washington College. All our constituencies were represented and everyone felt the great expectation, hope and excitement for the College’s future,” he said.

“Yes, Mitchell has incredible credentials in academia and in the diplomatic service, but more importantly, he shares our passion—he really gets that this is a special place, he has figured that out for himself.”

Young also was impressed with how many Reiss family members traveled to Chestertown from as far away as England and New Zealand to share the occasion with the new president and first lady and their children, Mathew and Michael. “It was lovely to have his family on campus,” Young noted. “They have all embraced this College. They seem genuinely thrilled for Mitchell to have us, and for us to have Mitchell.”

Photos: Music Department Chair Garry Clarke and President Reiss lead the Recessional following the installation ceremony. Reiss addresses the crowd gathered on the campus lawn.