Nationally Recognized Women’s Historian to Deliver Wells College Commencement Address

President Lisa Marsh Ryerson is pleased to announce that Wells College’s 135th annual commencement activities will take place on Saturday, May 24 beginning at 10:00 am. The ceremony will be held on the lawn in front of Macmillan Hall. In the case of inclement weather, the gathering will move indoors to Phipps Auditorium. One hundred and six degree candidates, along with their families and friends, are expected to attend the ceremony.

Dr. Sally Roesch Wagner, renowned for her work in the field of women’s rights history, will give the commencement address this year. Wagner, the executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation in Fayetteville, New York, is a nationally recognized lecturer, author and performance interpreter of women’s rights history.  One of the first women to receive a doctorate in the United States for work in women’s studies (UC Santa Cruz), and a founder of one of the country’s first college women’s studies programs, (CSU Sacramento), Dr. Wagner was named the Jeanette K. Watson Women’s Studies Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities at Syracuse University in 1997. She has also been a research affiliate of the Women’s Resources and Research Center at the University of California, Davis and a consultant to the National Women’s History Project.

The theme of her work has been telling the untold stories. Her monograph, She Who Holds the Sky: Matilda Joslyn Gage, reveals a suffragist written out of history because of her stand against the religious right 100 years ago, while Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Influence on Early American Feminists documents the influence of Iroquois women on early women's rights activists. 

Wagner is currently the executive director of the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation. Gage, a 19th century suffragist, abolitionist, and supported of Native American sovereignty, worked side by side with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, yet is the lesser known of the three. The trio wrote The History of Woman Suffrage together in Gage’s Fayetteville home, where Wagner now resides. Wagner is in the process of restoring the old home and creating extensive programming on the subjects of anti-slavery, women’s rights, Haudenosaunee relations, and more.

Wagner appeared as a “talking head” in the Ken Burns PBS documentary, “Not for Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony” for which she wrote the accompanying faculty guide for PBS.  She was also an historian in the PBS special, “One Woman, One Vote” and has been interviewed several times on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Democracy Now.” Her essays have appeared in more than a dozen publications. 

For more information about Sally Roesch Wagner and Wells College’s commencement activities, please contact director of communications Gwen Webber-McLeod at 315/364-3260 or by email at gmcleod@wells.edu.. Additional information about the Matilda Joslyn Gage Foundation may be found at www.nyhistory.com/gagepage/index.htm.

May, 2003

Early Music Concert at the Wells College Boathouse

Second annual recital brings to mind love, springtime

Elizabethan Conversation will present a concert “Doulce memoire (sweet memory) and other Renaissance Songs” on Wednesday, May 28 at 6:00 pm in the Wells College Boathouse on Route 90 in Aurora.  Admission to this varied program of madrigals and instrumental music is $5 for adults; children are free. The public is invited to enjoy an evening of music on the lake.

This second annual May-time concert in the historic boathouse overlooking Cayuga Lake aims to bring music of earlier times to the community. The selections include 16th century Spanish, French, and English songs of love and springtime, and instrumental dances by composers Diego Ortiz, Orlando Lassus, John Dowland, Pierre Sandrin, and Jacob Arcadelt.

Of the five musicians, four are from the village of Aurora: Susan Sandman, the organizer of this program and professor emerita of Wells College, will play recorder and viols; her musical and life partner, Derwood Crocker, will play the lutes. Together in 1982 they founded Elizabethan Conversation. Also performing are Gary Aubin, general manager of Sodexho food services at Wells, as tenor soloist; Rick Bogel, a professor at Cornell, on trombone; and John MacClellan of Union Springs on recorders. 

Two viols and one lute used for this program were hand-built by Crocker, who, in addition to his musical talent, is also an art restorer and an instrument maker for early music. Elizabethan Conversation achieves musically pleasing and exciting performances on period instruments by combining scholarship in historical performance with individual judgment, and mixing in the magic of the moment. The concert will be accompanied by informal conversation explaining the music and instruments. 

For more information about Elizabethan Conversation and the concert, please contact Susan Sandman at 315/364-8406. 

May, 2003

Gopher Award - May, 2003

In an effort to improve communications in the community and help people better understand and appreciate the work of their colleagues, the Staff Diversity Committee announces the first recipients of their "You're All Right" honor. Committee representatives tell us this prestigious award comes in the guise of a singing gopher. Individuals that receive this tribute will have the privilege of displaying The Gopher for one month in their respective office or department.

The first area the committee is honoring is the Grounds Department. According to a committee representative, “Members of this area have over the past few months kept our streets and sidewalks clear of ice and snow during a very cold winter. We thank the following individuals for their necessary but often unnoticed contributions to our safety: Don Bunn, Richard Coleman, Gary Gamlen, Jeff Radcliffe, Harold Van Horn, and Kevin Van Orman.”

May, 2003

Annual Senior Thesis Art Show Opens at Wells College

The Wells College Art Department is pleased to announce the annual senior thesis art exhibit. The show opens on Monday, May 12 and runs through Saturday, May 24 in the college’s String Room Gallery in Main Building, and in Long Library. The exhibit is free and the public is cordially invited to view the show. An opening reception with refreshments provides an opportunity to meet the student artists on Monday, May 12 from 7:00-9:00 pm in the Gallery.

Seven visual arts majors, all from New York, will show their work. Art forms that will be represented include painting, digital imagery, charcoal sketching, sculpture, and mixed media. All graduating seniors, regardless of major, are expected to present a culminating thesis of their academic work while at Wells.

String Room Gallery hours are Monday through Friday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Wednesday evenings from 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information about the show and art classes at Wells College, please contact art professor William Roberts at 315/364-3237.

Other images from the senior show:
Christina Wilde 1
Christina Wilde 2
Elaine Waldschmidt Construction
Elaine Waldschmidt Studio

May, 2003

All are welcome to enjoy the sweet sound of Appointed, the Wells College Gospel choir. The student group will present this special Mothers' Day worship service and concert in Barler Recital Hall on Sunday, May 11 at 7:30 pm. The event will feature readings by students plus the wonderful singing voices of this newly formed yet accomplished Gospel group. Led by Dean of Students Karen Green and senior Afua Boahene '03, Appointed is sure to add an uplifting grande finale to Mothers' Day. Everyone is invited to this free celebration.

May, 2003

Earlier Articles in Wells College News:
 

May, 2003	Sept.,2000.-May.,2001	May,1998	May - June,1997
April, 2003	Sept. 1999-Aug.,2000	April,1998	March - April,1997
March, 2003	August,1999	March,1998	February,1997
Jan.-Feb., 2003	May,1999	February,1998	Nov. - Dec.,1996
December, 2002	April,1999	January,1998	October,1996
November, 2002	Feb. - March, 1999	December,1997	September,1996
October, 2002	January,1999	November,1997	June - Aug.,1996
September, 2002	Fall,1998	October,1997	May,1996
August, 2002	August,1998	September,1997	April,1996
Sept.,2001.-May.,2002	June -July, 1998	July - August, 1997	Feb - March, 1996

Last updated 09/19/2003