14 - 21

march

2005

public health activist to deliver wilson lecture

Dr. Paul Farmer, a world-renowned infectious diseases specialist who has been called a public health Robin Hood, will deliver the Carolyn Wilson Lecture on Monday, April 4, at 5:30 pm in Jewett Auditorium. [Farmer's lecture is available online, in both podcast and streaming format, via Wellesley's partnership with the WGBH Forum Network. Click here to access the lecture.]

Farmer is co-founder of Partners in Health, an international organization that brings the benefits of modern medical science to some of the most impoverished areas of the world.
In Haiti, where he spends much of his time, Farmer implemented one of the first HIV/AIDS treatment programs in the developing world. Thanks to the efforts of a tuberculosis (TB) center in Haiti, founded by Farmer, the success rate for multidrug-resistant TB rivals that of hospitals in the United States. He expanded the treatment of multidrug-resistant TB to Peru and Siberia, where he has achieved similar success.
Farmer’s work has been recognized with a MacArthur Foundation “genius grant” and the American Medical Association’s Dr. Nathan Davis International Award in Medicine and Public Health.

He is the subject of Mountains Beyond Mountains: The Quest of Dr. Paul Farmer, A Man Who Would Cure the World, written by Tracy Kidder.

The most prestigious of the College’s annual lectures, the Wilson Lecture was established through the bequest of journalist and writer Carolyn Wilson, a member of the Class of 1910.

Writer Katherine Anne Porter gave the inaugural speech in 1962, and since then, noted lecturers have included Eudora Welty, Maya Angelou, Cornel West, Robert Coles, Toni Morrison, Lani Guinier and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

take a tour of the history of special effects

Cultural critic and historian Norman Klein will talk about the magic of special effects and illusions on Tuesday, March 15, at 5:15 pm in Collins Cinema. He is the author of a recent book, The Vatican to Vegas: A History of Special Effects, a guided tour through special effects from 1550 to the present.

“Norman’s work reveals the compelling relationships between collective memory (and amnesia), mediation and power; the creation of illusion and scripted space; the line between fact and fiction, ‘social imaginary’ and historical record,” said Jessica Irish, art.

“Special effects and illusions are meant to delight, delude and present a safe thrill,” reads a review from FrontList on Klein’s book, described as “an uncommonly perceptive understanding of the seductive nature of these illusions.”

Klein looks at how a variety of illusory devices have affirmed and expressed ideas about power. His book begins with Renaissance princes staging lavish theatrical events and continues through to the architectural and electronic illusions found in 21st century Las Vegas. Along the way, he looks at re-creations of the battle at Gettysburg, fireworks in 18th-century Rome, Disneyland, the birth of cinema and more.

Klein is a professor of critical studies at the California Institute of the Arts. His other books include The History of Forgetting: Los Angeles and the Erasure of Memory and Seven Minutes, a Definitive History of Animation and Bleeding Through: Layers of Los Angeles, 1920-1986, a cinematic database novel/DVD-ROM. For more information, call x3775.

islam and women

On Monday, March 14, at 5 pm in Pendleton Atrium, Asian Awareness Month presents a lecture, “Islam and Women,” by feminist Muslim scholar Riffat Hassan.

A pioneer of feminist theology in the context of the Islamic tradition, Hassan is founder of the International Network for the Rights of Female Victims of Violence in Pakistan, a nonprofit organization with a worldwide membership that has played a noteworthy role in highlighting the issue of violence against girls and women. She is a professor in the Department of Religious Studies at University of Louisville, Kentucky.

The event is sponsored by the Pakistani Student Association. For more information, e-mail PSAmail@wellesley.edu.

researchers examine issues of mixed heritage

Census data indicate increasing numbers of people who come from mixed ancestry. College students, among other groups, are effectively claiming their right to self-identification in ways that disrupt the imposition of a single identity affiliation that denies one’s mixed heritage.

To examine this new and growing movement in light of existing theories of racial identity development, researchers Michelle Porche and Peony Fhagen-Smith will present results from a pilot study through the analysis of student interviews at a free lunchtime seminar at the Wellesley Centers for Women, Cheever House, on Thursday, March 17, from 12:30-1:30 pm. Bring lunch; coffee and tea are provided.

Porche is a research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women, studying early childhood and adolescent literacy. She directs a research and evaluation project of a literacy intervention in Ohio, which serves low-income children from preschool to middle school. She investigates other aspects of adolescents’ socio-emotional development, including the role of gender in academic achievement and mixed ancestry development.
Fhagen-Smith, a psychology professor at Wheaton College, has developed a model of ethnic identity development across the lifespan. She has worked to expand a reliable and valid measure to assess ethnic identity among African American adults. She has applied her theory-building work to describe the experiences of people with mixed ancestry and developed the MAREID (mixed ancestry racial and ethnic identity development) model. She has also investigated demographic variables that may relate to ethnic identity among young adults. For more information, call x2500.

tracing the history of the drug trade

“The Pre-Colombian Era of Drug Trafficking in the Americas (1945-1965),” a lecture by author and Stony Brook University Professor of History Paul Gootenberg, will be presented Thursday, March 17, at 4:30 pm in Collins Cinema. He will discuss an important chapter of the history of illicit drugs: the origins of the first drug trade in the Americas between 1945 and 1965, and the development of an intricate underground world that lead to the notorious South American cocaine trades of the 1970s and ’80s.

“Professor Gootenberg is one of the few historians doing serious research on drug history,” said Alejandra Osorio, history. “In his research he has tapped new archives uncovering new sources that reveal the emergence in postwar Latin America of hundreds of anonymous pioneers of illicit drugs in the Andes and their shifting paths to consumers in the United States.”

Gootenberg is the editor of Cocaine: Global Histories and the author of Imagining Development: Economic Ideas in Peru’s “Fictitious Prosperity” of Guano, 1840-1880 and numerous other books and articles. He has been a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, the Russell Sage Foundation, the Institute for Advance Studies at Princeton University and Harvard University. He is a Rhodes Scholar and the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards. The lecture is sponsored by the History Department and Latin American Studies. For more information, call x2605.

colleagues in the news

dan brabander, geosciences, Heather Clark ’07 and Rachel Erdil ’07 will present an abstract, “The Goal of Sustainable Urban Gardening with the Challenge of Lead Contaminated Soil,” at the 40th annual meeting of the Northeastern Section of the Geological Society of America March 14-16. About 700 geoscientists will attend the meeting. The research team works with The Food Project, a community organization that promotes sustainable and organic agriculture. The research is focused on fingerprinting the sources of lead in urban gardens and designing creative approaches to remediate the problem. Bradander also gave an invited presentation, “From Inquiry in the Schoolyard to PowerPoint Large Lecture Hall: Strategies for Re-kindling Curiosity about Earth Processes,” at the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography’s annual meeting in Salt Lake City in February.

jessica irish, art, has been invited to be the guest juror for the 2005 annual exhibition of media arts work at the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She will select the top works in interactive, animation, 3D, video and print, created within the Multimedia Arts and Sciences program, and give an artist’s talk on her own work and recent projects.

mary lefkowitz, classical studies, was invited to be the keynote speaker at a Classics Department Graduate Colloquium at the University of Virginia, “Perspectives on the Past: The Politics of (Re) Making History.” The conference, which included graduate students from across the country, was organized by graduate students at the University of Virginia, who picked Lefkowitz as the keynote speaker and chose the theme of the conference on the basis of her planned keynote address, “Archaeology and the Politics of Origins: The Search for Pyramids in Greece.”

calendar

monday march 14

italian table. 12:30-1:30 pm, Tower Court private dining room. Info: x2616.

symposium. “Algebra, Geometry, Computers, and the Hilbert Syzygy Theorem.” Speaker: Jessica Sidman, mathematics, Mount Holyoke. 4:15-5:15 pm, SCI 396. Sponsor: Mathematics. Info: x3148.

lecture. “Islam and Women.” Speaker: Riffat Hassan, feminist Islamic scholar. 5-7 pm, PNE 225A. (See story) Sponsor: Pakistani Students Association. Info: x2959.

meeting. College Government Senate. 6 pm, Academic Council Room. Info: x1181.

esl tutoring. 6-8 pm, PLTC small conference room. Info: x2480.

apt workshop. “There Are Only 24 Hours in a Day: Are You Using Yours Wisely?” 7 pm, McAfee. Info: x2641.

meditation. 7-8:15 pm, meditation room, lower chapel. Sponsor: Buddhist Community. Info: x2793.

lecture. “Children and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Speaker: Sally Theran, psychology. 7 pm, PNE 239. Info: OMHAmail@wellesley.edu.

lecture. “Stalin and the 1932-33 Ukrainian Famine Crisis.” Speaker: Terry Martin, history, Harvard. 7:30 pm, Library Lecture Room. Sponsor: Anthropology. Info: x2138.

tuesday march 15

lent begins. Orthodox Christian tradition.

cws workshop. “Interview Skills.” 12:30 pm, GRH 428. Info: x2352.

lecture. “A History of Special Effects.” Speaker: Norman Klein, critical studies, California Institute of the Arts. 5:15-6:30 pm, Collins Cinema. (See story) Sponsor: Art. Info: x3775.

sharing circle. 7-8 pm, Little Chapel. Sponsor: Unitarian Universalist. Info: x3484.

german table. 7:30-8:30 pm, Schneider loft. Info: x2584.

wednesday march 16

cws workshop. “Résumé Writing.” 12:30 pm, GRH 428. Info: x2352.

seminar. “Computer Science Senior Series.” Speakers: Gina Kim ’05, Gloria Kim ’05 and Yuan Niu ’05. 12:30 pm, SCI E111. Sponsor: Computer Science. Info: x3147.

concert. “To Infinity and Beyond: Piano Works That Contemplate the Spirit.” Pianist Sarah Takagi. 12:30 pm, Jewett Auditorium. (See story) Sponsor: Music. Info: x2028.

meditation. 12:30-1 pm, meditation room, lower chapel. Sponsor: Buddhist Community. Info: x2793.

french table. 12:30-1:30 pm, Bates private dining hall. Info: x2403.

spanish table. 12:30-1:30 pm, Tower Court dining hall. Info: x3571.

disability discussion. Speaker: Jim Wice, disability services. 12:30-1:30 pm, FND 305. Info: x2434.

lecture. “Celebrating 65: Simplifying Medicare.” 12:30-1:30 pm, Library Lecture Room. Wellesley College employees only. Sponsor: Human Resources. Info: x2212.

lecture. “Veterinary School Admissions.” Speaker: Tara Crawford, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine. 12:30-2 pm, SCI 277. Info: preveterinarymail@wellesley.edu.

russian table. 1-2 pm, FND 416. Info: x3584.

anime film. Princess Mononoke. Animator: Miyazaki Hayao. 4:50 and 7:30 pm, FND 207. Sponsor: East Asian Languages and Literatures. Info: x3226.

panel. “What’s on Her Mind?” 5-7 pm, Freeman living room. Sponsor: Asian Awareness Month. Info: x2959.

meeting. Good Book Club. 6:30 pm, BIL 202. Sponsor: Protestant Christian Chaplaincy. Info: x2655.

concert. Chamber Music Society. 7:30 pm, Jewett Auditorium. Sponsor: Music. Info: x2028.

thursday march 17

st. patrick’s day.

meditation. 12:30-1 pm, meditation room, lower chapel. Sponsor: Buddhist Community. Info: x2793.

lecture. “College Students Talk About Mixed-Ancestry Identities.” Speakers: Michelle Porche, WCW; Peony Fhagen-Smith, psychology, Wheaton. 12:30-1:30 pm, Cheever House. (See story) Info: x2483.

cws workshop. “Internships for Davis Scholars.” 4:15 pm, CE/DS House. Info: x2352.

lecture. “The Pre-Columbian Era of Drug Trafficking in the Americas.” Speaker: Paul Gootenberg, history, Stony Brook. 4:30-6 pm, Collins Cinema. (See story) Sponsor: History. Info: x2605.

esl tutoring. 6-8 pm, PLTC small conference room. Info: x2480.

panel. “Academics and Christianity.” 7 pm, BIL 100. Sponsor: Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. Info: x2655.

apt workshop. “Interaction with Professors.” 7 pm, McAfee. Info: x2641.

film. TaeGukGi. 8-10 pm, Collins Cinema. Sponsor: Korean Students Association. Info: KSAmail@wellesley.edu.

easter celebration. 8:45-10 pm, Little Chapel. Sponsor: Protestant Christian Chaplaincy. Info: x2655.

friday march 18

spring break. Begins after last class.

cws workshop. “University of Illinois at Chicago-School of Public Health.” 12:30 pm, GRH 428. Info: x2352.

prayer/discussion. Muslim communal (Jummah). 12:45-1:30 pm, lower chapel. Info: x2025.

saturday march 19

seminar. 8:30 am-4:30 pm, PNE 239, 339, 225, 225A. Sponsor: Higher Education Resource Services. Info: x2529.

sunday march 20

worship service. 11:15 am, Houghton Chapel. Sponsor: Protestant Christian Chaplaincy. Info: x2655.

monday march 21

baha’i new year.

lecture. “The American Chestnut: Our Lost Heritage.” Speaker: Gary Jacob, American Chestnut Foundation. Reception: 1:30 pm; lecture: 203 pm. Botanic Gardens Visitor Center. Cost: $10 members; $13, others. Sponsor: FOH. Info: x3094.

ongoing

exhibit. Modernist Art. March 9–June 2006. Sponsor: DMCC. Info: x2051.

exhibit. The Reign of Terror. March 9–June 19. Sponsor: DMCC. Info: x2051.

exhibit. The “Master Prints” of Hendrick Goltzius and Mannerist Art. March 9–June 19. Sponsor: DMCC. Info: x2051.

exhibit. The Observed and Envisioned: 16th to 19th Century Indian Miniature Paintings of Mughal and Rajput Women. March 9–June 19. Sponsor: DMCC. Info: x2051.

exhibit. Dedicated to the Class of 2005: A Look at the Class of 1905. Archives, Clapp Library, through March. Info: x2127.

don't miss...piano works for contemplating the spirit

Exploring music that examines the spiritual realm, pianist Sarah Takagi will present “To Infinity and Beyond: Piano Works that Contemplate the Spirit,” Wednesday, March 16, at 12:30 pm in Jewett Auditorium. Takagi will play the Bach-Busoni Chaconne in D minor, BWV 1004, Skryabin’s Sonata No. 4 in F-sharp, Op. 30 and selections from Messiaen’s Vingt Regards sur L’Enfant-Jesus.

Currently working on her doctorate at the New England Conservatory of Music, where she has received bachelor and master degrees, Takagi was a finalist at the 1996 Shoreline Alliance for the Arts Competition, winner of the 1994 Janet Gates Peckham International Prize for Excellence, 1989 and 1993 winner of the NEC Piano Department Honors Auditions, 1990 winner of the NEC Tourjee Award and was listed in the 1994 “Who’s Who among American Colleges and Universities.”She has performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Recital Hall, Jordan Hall, the French Library and other concert halls as well as on PBS and public radio. She is a founding member of the cello-piano duo PiantiCella and is on the piano faculty at Wellesley and at the New England Conservatory of Music Extension Division. For more information, call x2028.

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