Events for Monday, October 06, 2008
and the next 10 days

Monday, October 06, 2008  
LECTURE: UNITED NATIONS REFUGEE BRANCH
by Barry and Leilani Rigby
Sponsored by: United Nations Alliance
Time: 4:45 pm
Location: Chapel, Main Building

Former United Nations official Barry Rigby will give a talk about the U.N.’s refugee branch and his experiences working with the High Commissioner for Refugees. Mr. Rigby will be joined by his wife Leilani, who will also reflect on life abroad and raising a family in war-torn countries. The free talk will take place on Monday, October 6 at 4:45 pm in the College Chapel, Main Building. All are invited to attend; a reception will follow the talk.

Barry Rigby earned his B.S. in zoology and an MSW from the University of Utah. His international life began with two years in Bangkok, Thailand, where he graduated from high school. He was in a captain in the U.S. Army (infantry) from 1965-70, serving in Vietnam and Thailand. In 1972, he took a job in New York City with the International Association of Schools of Social Work, then in 1979, moved by the plight of the Vietnamese boat people, he applied to work with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Over the next 20 years, Mr. Rigby worked for UNHCR at their headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and at other locations around the globe, including Sudan, Pakistan, Somalia and many others. He concentrated on programs of care and feeding in massive camp situations (Pakistan), protection and evaluation of individual cases (Turkey), and repatriation issues (Bosnia).

Leilani Rigby graduated from the University of Utah with a B.A. in English. She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand, worked in Germany for a year, and in 1973, began working for UNICEF in New York City. When her husband Barry joined UNHCR in 1979, they were sent around the world. The last stop before Barry’s retirement in 2000 was Zagreb, Croatia, where Mrs. Rigby and their children resided while Barry worked in Sarajevo, Bosnia, where families were not allowed to live.

During 20 years overseas as a UNHCR spouse, Mrs. Rigby enjoyed the diversity of people and cultures. She worked occasionally, cooked constantly, taught countless other spouses how to play bridge, gave premature birth to a daughter in Pakistan, and found a second daughter to adopt in Ethiopia; Metasabia Rigby is now a senior at Wells College. The family now lives in Jefferson, New York.

This lecture is part of the new Inclusive and Intercultural Excellence Series, introduced by the President's Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, Interculturalism and Globalism this year. The series’ theme for 2008-09 is Transcending Boundaries through Democratic Practice. Through this theme, Wells hopes to engage the community in considering the issues of interculturalism and inclusiveness at the institutional, local, national, and global levels.


This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact Steve Gilchrist, Director of Institutional Diversity 315-364-3643.

Monday, October 06, 2008  
READING FROM THE TRANSSEXUAL MEMOIR "WHAT BECOMES YOU"
by co-authors Aaron Raz Link and Hilda Raz
Sponsored by: Wells Visiting Writers Series
Time: 7:30 pm
Location: Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall 2nd Floor

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is pleased to announce that collaborative mother and son authors Hilda Raz and Aaron Raz Link will be on campus for a three-day residency, which includes a public reading from their memoir, "What Becomes You." A reception will follow with an opportunity to meet the authors; light refreshments will be served.

Billed as a “collaborative memoir that offers unique perspectives of complete identity change,” the autobiography What Becomes You (University of Nebraska Press) tells the tale of co-author Aaron Raz Link, who began life as a girl named Sarah and 29 years later, began life anew as a gay man. Turning from female to male, and from teaching scientist to theatre performer, Link and his mother and co-author Hilda Raz document the extraordinary medical, social, legal, and personal process involved in a complete identity change.

While on the Wells campus, the duo will also participate in a number of classes, and host a discussion of the processes behind writing, editing, and publishing.

This reading and the Wells College Visiting Writer Series are made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. Poets and writers are invited to campus throughout the academic year to meet with students, present writing workshops, and read from their works.

Additional sponsors of this event are the Psychology Department; the Dean of the College’s Office; and the President's Committee on Diversity, Inclusion, Interculturalism and Globalism, which has launched a new Inclusive and Intercultural Excellence Series this year. The series’ theme for the 2008-09 year is Transcending Boundaries through Democratic Practice. Through this theme, Wells hopes to engage the community in considering the issues of interculturalism and inclusiveness at the institutional, local, national, and global levels.


This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact Bruce Bennett, Professor of English 315-364-3228.

Learn more about What Becomes You here

Wednesday, October 08, 2008  
LECTURE ON THE SEMAI OF MALAYSIA
by Professor Emeritus Robert K. Dentan of Buffalo University
Sponsored by: Sociology/Anthropology Dept.
Time: 12:30 pm
Location: Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall 2nd Floor

Renowned anthropologist Robert K. Dentan, professor emeritus at the University of Buffalo, will host an informal discussion on Anthropology, Development and the Purpose of the Social Sciences. His talk takes place just before his new book "Overwhelming Terror: Love, Fear, Peace, and Violence among Semai of Malaysia" is released in November.

Of the book, Carol Laderman of City College says: “ ‘Overwhelming Terror’ demonstrates that Semai ways of life are not something rare and strange, but a continuation of the ways of successful ancient egalitarian societies. Robert Knox Dentan, applying lessons learned among Semai to contemporary American problems, succeeds admirably in a way that makes one proud to be an anthropologist.”

This powerful ethnography of a people believed to be the least violent in the world explores how they maintain peaceful relations even under the most dire circumstances. Dentan, the world's foremost scholar of Semai, brings its members vividly to life. His book includes translations of their poetry, dramatized accounts of particular events, and extensive quotations from a wide range of individuals.

Unlike many behavioral scientists, Dentan argues that the Semai approach to conflict is a successful Darwinian adaptation. A recurring theme in the book is the importance of psychological "surrender" to maintaining this adaptation.


This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact Laura McClusky, Associate Professor of Sociology 315-364-3252.

Wednesday, October 08, 2008  
ART OPENING
"Terrains of Absence"
Sponsored by: Wells Art Department
Time: 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.
Location: String Room Gallery, Main Building

The Wells College Art Department introduces “Terrains of Absence” by artist Mark Iwinski. An opening reception tonight offers an opportunity to meet the artist; light refreshments will be served. The show runs through November 5.

Mark Iwinski is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who works with urban architectural history and environmental concerns. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Growing up in the 1960s in Milwaukee, he became aware of a dramatic shift in city planning and the plague of urban renewal. He observed firsthand over the decades the lost and changing fabric of the city and began to think about urban architectural loss and renewal and its implications for the cultural heritage and health of our cities. This fascination with the architectural history of place resurfaces in “Terrains of Absence.”

“Iwinski's prints offer a seductive beauty that stops us long enough to pose the question – ‘what do we lose under the rhetoric of progress’?,” said Assistant Professor of Art History and String Room Gallery Director William Ganis. “His sensual colors and papers are ultimately betrayed by the effects of the chainsaw and wrecking ball. This tension creates a powerful statement about the ambiguities many of us feel when replacing the old with the new.”

“Terrains of Absence” features two kinds of works: huge prints made from large tree stumps on paper; and photographs that layer images of the same place, past and present. Each series respectively deals with natural and cultural history; both suggest absences in the landscape.

Iwinski’s prints and sculptures have been exhibited nationally. His artist’s book Crosscuts has been part of the recent internationally traveling exhibition Aracdia id est Artists’ Books, Nature and Landscape in 2007.

He has taught art at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Colby College, and the College of William and Mary. Iwinski has been awarded grants from the Vermont Council for the Arts and the Cornell Council for the Arts; he is the recipient of a 2006 Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts grant for his printmaking and site specific environmental work with old growth forests. This year, he was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Photography for his photo-performative series, This was now, which is planned for a major exhibition in Ithaca in 2010; and some of which will be included the Wells College exhibition. He currently lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.

The String Room Gallery is located in Main Building. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday – Thursday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
More information coming soon.

This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact William Ganis, Assistant Professor of Art History 315-364-3465.

Friday, October 10, 2008  
NO SCIENCE COLLOQUIUM THIS WEEK
Fall Break
Time: Fall Break
Location: Fall Break

There will be no science colloquium presentation this week; no classes are in session for Fall Break.

This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact Jaclyn Schnurr, Associate Professor of Biology 315-364-3274.

See this semester's schedule

From Friday, October 10, 2008 To Tuesday, October 14, 2008  
FALL BREAK
Time: Fall Break
Location: Fall Break

Wells College is on Fall Break from Friday night, October 10 through 8:00 am Wednesday, October 15. No classes are in session.

This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact General Information, 315-364-3266.

From Wednesday, October 08, 2008 To Wednesday, November 05, 2008  
ART EXHIBIT
"Terrains of Absence" by Mark Iwinski
Sponsored by: Wells Art Department
Time: see gallery hours below
Location: String Room Gallery, Main Building

The Wells College Art Department is pleased to announce the second exhibition of the 2008-09 academic year. “Terrains of Absence” by artist Mark Iwinski will be on display in the String Room Gallery from October 8 through November 5. An opening reception to be held on Wednesday, October 8 from 6:00-8:00 pm offers an opportunity to meet the artist; light refreshments will be served.

Mark Iwinski is an interdisciplinary artist and educator who works with urban architectural history and environmental concerns. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts and Master of Fine Arts in sculpture from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. Growing up in the 1960s in Milwaukee, he became aware of a dramatic shift in city planning and the plague of urban renewal. He observed firsthand over the decades the lost and changing fabric of the city and began to think about urban architectural loss and renewal and its implications for the cultural heritage and health of our cities. This fascination with the architectural history of place resurfaces in “Terrains of Absence.”

“Iwinski's prints offer a seductive beauty that stops us long enough to pose the question – ‘what do we lose under the rhetoric of progress’?,” said Assistant Professor of Art History and String Room Gallery Director William Ganis. “His sensual colors and papers are ultimately betrayed by the effects of the chainsaw and wrecking ball. This tension creates a powerful statement about the ambiguities many of us feel when replacing the old with the new.”

“Terrains of Absence” features two kinds of works: huge prints made from large tree stumps on paper; and photographs that layer images of the same place, past and present. Each series respectively deals with natural and cultural history; both suggest absences in the landscape.

Iwinski’s prints and sculptures have been exhibited nationally. His artist’s book Crosscuts has been part of the recent internationally traveling exhibition Aracdia id est Artists’ Books, Nature and Landscape in 2007.

He has taught art at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, Colby College, and the College of William and Mary. Iwinski has been awarded grants from the Vermont Council for the Arts and the Cornell Council for the Arts; he is the recipient of a 2006 Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts grant for his printmaking and site specific environmental work with old growth forests. This year, he was awarded a New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Photography for his photo-performative series, This was now, which is planned for a major exhibition in Ithaca in 2010; and some of which will be included the Wells College exhibition. He currently lives and works in Durham, North Carolina.

The String Room Gallery is located in Main Building. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday – Thursday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
More information coming soon.

The String Room Gallery is located in Main Building. Hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday – Thursday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.

This event is open to the Wells community and the public.
There is no charge for this event.

For more information, please contact William Ganis, Assistant Professor of Art History 315-364-3465.

Archive of Campus Events: 2001-Present

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Archive of Campus Events: 1996-2001:

Archive of campus events from May, 1996 through Summer, 2001