The reading has had to be postponed; please watch this page for information on rescheduling. 

Poetry Reading and Writing Workshop at Wells College 

John Hoppenthaler will read from his work; meet with students

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is pleased to welcome poet John Hoppenthaler to the Aurora campus. Hoppenthaler will read from his work at 7:30 pm on Monday, April 5 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. All are invited to hear this inspiring author. The free reading will be followed by a reception with an opportunity to meet the speaker; refreshments will be served.

Mr. Hoppenthaler's poems have appeared in numerous literary magazines, including Ploughshares, The Southern Review, New Letters, 5 AM, Tar River Poetry, The Bloomsbury Review, and Chelsea. He is the author of a book of poetry, Lives of Water, and serves as poetry editor of the journal Kestrel. He has recently taught creative writing at Manhattanville College, the West Virginia Writers' Workshop, and at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.

Of Lives of Water, poet David St. John wrote: “There is such measured composure and quiet wisdom to the poems of John Hoppenthaler’s powerful debut collection... that their resonance and beauty stay with us long after their reading.”

While on campus, Mr. Hoppenthaler will also participate in classes and conduct a poetry-writing workshop. 

Mr. Hoppenthaler’s 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 respective works.

For more information about John Hoppenthaler and the Visiting Writers Series at Wells College, please contact English professor Bruce Bennett at 315/364-3228.
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March, 2004

Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan discusses India’s choices

The public is cordially invited to attend a public lecture by Dr. Mahesh Rangarajan. He will speak on nature conservation policies in India on Tuesday, April 6 at 12:30 pm in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

India, the world's largest democracy, is a country with over one billion people. They share living space with the last lions in Asia, the largest concentrations of the tiger and the Asian elephant, and a host of other endangered landscapes, species and ecosystems. Conservation entails difficult choices and conflicts between human livelihood and habitat protection, and between economic growth and animal protection. A colonial past and the promise of a new future weigh heavily on present day choices. A host of new movements and initiatives raise hopes that there will be ways to harmonize India’s economic surge with nature conservation. The outcomes of these efforts will have implications well beyond India's borders.

Mahesh Rangarajan is a well-known historian of ecological change and a frequent television commentator on Indian politics. He is currently a consulting political analyst for “The Telegraph” and a visiting assistant professor at Cornell University. He has been a Fellow of the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library, and was a Rhodes Scholar between 1986 and 1989. Dr. Rangarajan has published several books on the history and politics of wildlife conservation, with a focus on India. He speaks regularly on a variety of topics including environmental history, environmental activism, and historical as well as contemporary aspects of the relationship between ecology and politics. 

Dr. Rangarajan’s lecture is sponsored by the Environmental Studies and International Studies majors. For more information, please contact professor Niamh O’Leary at 315/364-3279.
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March, 2004

Visiting Writer will read from her work

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is pleased to welcome poet, fiction writer, essayist, and children’s author Nancy Willard to the Aurora campus. Willard will give a public reading of her fiction at 7:30 pm on Wednesday, March 31 in the Art Exhibit Room, Macmillan Hall. Ms. Willard is this year’s Mildred Walker Visiting Fiction Writer. All are invited to hear this inspiring author. The free reading will be followed by a reception with an opportunity to meet the speaker.

Nancy Willard is the author of two novels, “Sister Water” and “Things Invisible to See,” as well as many poetry collections, essays, and children's books. She received a Newberry Medal for “A Visit to William Blake's Inn.” “Things Invisible To See” has been called “a miraculous novel of 
enduring power by one of our finest talents.” Writing about “Sister Water,” one critic referred to “Willard's gift for seamlessly mixing the magical and the mundane.” Another critic wrote: “Her prose is at once fluid and beautiful… creates an atmosphere that is simultaneously haunting and comforting.”

Nancy Willard has for many years been a Writer in Residence at Vassar College.

The Wells College Visiting Writer Series is supported by the New York State Council on the Arts, the Virginia Kent Cummins Writers-in-Residence Fund, and the Mildred Walker Fiction-Writer-in-Residence Fund. Several writers are invited to campus each academic year. 

For more information about Nancy Willard and the Visiting Writers Series at Wells College, please contact English professor Bruce Bennett at 315/364-3228.

March, 2004

In observance of Earth Day and Arbor Day, the Campus Greens welcome all students to step up their efforts to recycle and be more environmentally friendly.

• What: Week-long recycling effort
• When: Week of April 22-29, 2004
• How: Members of the Campus Greens will pick up recycled materials from the dorms daily. Recyclables will be weighed and a winner announced on Arbor Day (Friday, April 30). Prizes will be awarded in the dining hall during lunch hour.
• Why: To increase awareness about recycling and move the Wells community to action

For more information, please contact Jennie Cole ’06..

March, 2004

25th District rep will speak on the 2004 presidential election

The Wells College Republicans are most pleased to welcome Congressman Jim Walsh to campus on Monday, March 15. Congressman Walsh will be speaking in the Main Chapel at 7:00 pm on “National Issues in the 2004 Election.” Mr. Walsh will give a brief overview, then will open the floor for a question-and-answer session. The entire program should last about one hour, and is free and open to the public.

Jim Walsh of the 25th Congressional District represents New York State in the House of Representatives as a member of the Committee on Appropriations. He is one of 13 chairmen of the Appropriations Subcommittee, a group sometimes referred to in Washington as "the college of cardinals" because of their influence on national spending policies. In the 108th Congress, Mr. Walsh is chairman of the Subcommittee on the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development. His district includes Onondaga County, northern Cayuga County, Wayne County, and the northeastern portion of Monroe County.

Mr. Walsh’s visit to the Wells College campus is sponsored by the College Republicans. The mission of the Wells College Republicans is to make known and promote the principles of the Republican Party among members of the Wells campus and community, and to develop political skills and leadership abilities among its members as preparation for future service by them to the Party, community, and country.

To learn more about Congressman Walsh’s lecture, please call director of communications Gwen Webber-McLeod at 315/364-3260. More information on Congressman Walsh may also be found at http://www.house.gov/walsh/index.htm.
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March, 2004

Francis Bok of the American Anti-Slavery Group talks about his own captivity 

Amnesty International at Wells College welcomes Francis Bok to the Aurora campus on Tuesday, March 16, 2004. While at Wells, Mr. Bok will give a public lecture on “21st Century Slavery: Living Proof” beginning at 7:00 pm in the Chapel, Main Building. The talk is free and open to the public; donations to the American Anti-Slavery Group will be gratefully accepted. A reception with the speaker and a book signing will follow the presentation.

Francis Bok is a 24-year-old native of Southern Sudan. At the age of seven, he was captured and enslaved during an Arab militia raid on the village of Nymlal in 1986. During his captivity, Francis saw adults and children brutalized and killed. After escape and arrest, the United Nations in 1999 resettled him in North Dakota. He now lives in Massachusetts and is an associate at the American Anti-Slavery Group of Boston.

Mr. Bok is the author of Escape From Slavery: The True Story of My Ten Years in Captivity and My Journey to Freedom in America. The Books for a Better Life Awards this week named Escape from Slavery as 2003’s most inspiring and empowering book by a new author. The New York City Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society hosts the Books for a Better Life Awards annually. Escape from Slavery was chosen from a pool of five nominees competing for the 2003 Suze Orman First Book Award. This book will be available for sale and signing after the lecture. 

In addition to his book, Mr. Bok has spoken alongside Coretta Scott King, testified before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, met with Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and President Bush, and headed a panel on slavery at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government ARCO Forum. While in central New York, he will also speak at Cornell’s Warren Hall on Monday, March 15 at 5:00 pm.

Mr. Bok’s visit to the Wells College campus is sponsored by Amnesty International; the Wells College library; the Dean of Students; the Office of Intercultural Programs;     Collegiate; the divisions of Humanities and Social Sciences; and the departments of History, Religious Studies, International Studies, Foreign Languages and Literatures, and Spanish.

To learn more about Francis Bok and his lecture, please call Amnesty International advisor Laura McClusky at 315/364-3252. Additional information about Mr. Bok and Escape from Slavery may also be found at www.iabolish.com/escape.
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March, 2004

Earlier Articles in Wells College News:
 

	Dec., 2002	Jan.,1999	Sept.,1997
April., 2004	Nov., 2002	Fall,1998	July - Aug., 1997
March, 2004	Oct., 2002	Aug.,1998	May - June,1997
Jan.-Feb., 2004	Sept., 2002	June -July, 1998	March - April,1997
Nov., 2003	Aug., 2002	May,1998	Feb.,1997
Oct., 2003	Sept.,2001.-May.,2002	April,1998	Nov. - Dec.,1996
Sept., 2003	Sept.,2000.-May.,2001	March,1998	Oct.r,1996
Summer, 2003	Sept. 1999-Aug.,2000	Feb.,1998	Sept.,1996
May, 2003	August,1999	Jan.,1998	June - Aug.,1996
April, 2003	May,1999	Dec.,1997	May,1996
March, 2003	April,1999	Nov.,1997	April,1996
Jan.-Feb., 2003	Feb. - March, 1999	Oct.,1997	Feb - March, 1996

Last updated 06/03/2004