News for the Smith College Community //February 15, 2001
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Rally Day 2001 to Offer Something for Everyone This Wednesday, Molly Ivins '66 is likely to offer some delightfully acerbic political commentary during her address at the annual Rally Day convocation. And that will only be a portion of what is traditionally a rousing hour-plus filled with award and medal presentations, music, addresses and lots of rambunctious hooting by students wearing outrageous hats. It's Smith's 125th Rally Day, an event that began in 1876 as a celebration of George Washington's birthday and has since expanded into a two-day series of entertainment, parties, meetings and presentations. It's also President Ruth Simmons' last Rally Day at Smith and the first time seniors will don their graduation garb (funny hats notwithstanding). The main event is the Rally Day Convocation on February 21 at 1:30 p.m. in John M. Greene Hall. Following introductory remarks by President Simmons, the junior and senior faculty teaching awards will be presented, as will the Rally Day Banner Contest awards, which this year illustrate the theme "Smith College: Yesterday and Tomorrow." Then, after the awarding of the Charis Medal -- to three faculty members who have served at Smith for more than 25 years -- four outstanding Smith alumnae will receive the Smith College Medal, presented each year to people who have distinguished themselves in their lives and work. This year's medalists are Ivins, Pamela Bowes Davis '68, Ann Kaplan '67 and Judith Tick '64. A reception for the medalists will follow the convocation at approximately 3 p.m. in Neilson Browsing Room. Each of the four medalists will be on campus on Tuesday, February 20, for informal gatherings open to students, faculty and staff. Kaplan, a Smith trustee and managing director at Goldman Sachs, will conduct an open class, Economics 206, International Finance, beginning at 10:30 a.m. in Seelye 311. Davis, a leader in the research and treatment of cystic fibrosis, will give a presentation, "Gene Therapy for Cystic Fibrosis: Hope or Hype?" followed by a question-and-answer session at noon in Burton 101. Ivins, a nationally syndicated political columnist, will lead a conversation at 3 p.m. in Neilson Browsing Room. And Tick, a pioneer in researching and documenting women's role in music history, will give a talk, "Ambient History: Writing Women in Grove's Dictionary," following a concert in her honor, "The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger," at 4:30 p.m. in Earle Recital Hall, Sage. Also on Tuesday, the campus community is invited to an All-College Tea for the medalists, from 4-5 p.m. in the Alumnae House Living Room. On Tuesday night, a Rally Day party for students will take place in Scott gym starting at 9 p.m. following a basketball game that pits class teams against each other. And at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday in John M. Greene Hall, students will put a comical spin on campus life when they perform skits at the annual Rally Day Show. Rally Day posters will be available for the taking in the JMG lobby before and after the convocation and a commemorative Rally Day button will be given to the first 250 people through the door. Don't miss it. Trio of Events to End Black History Month As the end of Black History Month draws near, Smith has planned several more events to celebrate the achievements and explore the histories of African-Americans. One of them is the annual New England Conference, a daylong series of events hosted by the Black Students Alliance (BSA) to explore the historical foundations of black activism. This year's conference, titled "Active Now: Exploring Black Activism in the Every Day," will take place on Saturday, February 24, in Wright Auditorium, beginning with registration at 9 a.m. and concluding with a 10 p.m. party. On Friday, February 23, the BSA and Smith College Museum of Art will host artist Emma Amos for a lecture to celebrate the BSA's gift to the museum of one of her works (see box, this page). Then on Tuesday, February 27, Smith's Black History Month celebration will close with a lecture by renowned science-fiction writer Octavia E. Butler. Butler, whose many works challenge the science-fiction genre to embrace aspects of African-American cultural experience and language, will speak in Wright Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Her lecture will also be the final event in "Race, Science, Fiction," a lecture series organized by the Afro-American studies department. The New England Conference, which will feature Elaine Brown, former Black Panter Party leader and author of A Taste of Power, and KRS-One, a hip-hop scholar and organizer of the Temple of HipHop Ministries, will also investigate current ideas and theories in hip-hop scholarship while identifying new forms of activism across academic and personal fields of interest. Also on the agenda will be workshops on activism in the fields of economics, the sciences, the creative arts and research. According to Mecca Sullivan '03, chair of this year's New England Conference, one objective of the BSA event will be to create community among campuses. This year's theme is particularly relevant to students, Sullivan explains. "Activism is traditionally important to students. We're hoping that this conference will not only present the foundations of black activism, but also encourage participants to think about activism in new ways." Sullivan says everyone is welcome to attend the conference and that efforts have been made to include the general community. Mentha Hynes, assistant dean of multicultural affairs, credits Sullivan and her committee with taking the lead in organizing the event. "They are doing a very good job," says Hynes. "More than 300 people are expected to attend this year's conference." Admission to the conference is $12 for students, $15 for the public. The ticket price includes admission to the lectures and workshops as well as an informal brunch and a soul food dinner with entertainment. The after-party, which is cosponsored by the Smith African Students Association, is open to all Smith students as well as conference participants. For more information about the conference or to reserve tickets in advance, contact Sullivan at msulliva@smith.edu. BSA Makes
Gift to the Museum Amos' work One Who Watches, an acrylic painting on canvas with African fabric borders, was purchased with a $6,000 gift from the BSA, given to the museum last May for the purpose of purchasing a work by an African American artist. Amos' painting was selected by the museum's curatorial staff and approved by BSA representatives Elisha Smith '01 and Abena Abrokwah '01, as well as Mentha Hynes, dean of multicultural affairs. Amos will be on campus on Friday, February 23, to give a lecture and presentation titled "Seeing in the Dark" at 4 p.m. in Neilson Browsing Room, as part of a celebration of the gift. She will discuss One Who Watches as well as her other works in the context of African-American contemporary art. The gift will be presented during the lecture. Amos, who is a professor of art at the Mason Gross School of Art at Rutgers University, is known for works that depict political and feminist themes. For her, making art is fundamentally "a political act," she has said, and she is associated with the feminist Heresies Collective, a journal of lesbian art and writings published in 1977, to which she contributed. Amos' works are exhibited in 25 public collections, including that of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Minnesota Museum of Art, the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, the Williams College Museum of Art and the Dade County Museum of Art. Amos has received numerous awards, including a Certificate of Honor from the Georgia Commission on Women, as well as fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the New York Foundation for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts. One Who Watches will become part of
the Smith College Museum of Art's permanent collection in March
when a tour that includes the painting ends. As part of a two-year
renovation and expansion of the Smith College Fine Arts Complex,
the museum is closed until 2002. Dictator's Impact to be Examined Ginetta Candelario, an instructor in sociology and American studies, will be the featured speaker on Monday, February 26, in Works-In-Progress, a lecture series organized by the Five College Women's Studies Research Center at Mount Holyoke College. Candelario will present "Engendering the State, Racing the Nation: Trujillo's Legacy and Dominican Identity Representations" at 4:45 p.m. in the center. Candelario's presentation will consider the ways in which Trujillo -- the dictator who ruled the Dominican Republic from 1930 until his assassination in 1961 -- relied upon and subsequently institutionalized gendered and racialized understandings of the Dominican subject/citizen. The project, derived from Candelario's dissertation research, is being prepared for publication as a chapter in a forthcoming anthology coedited by Susan Bourque, Esther Booth Wiley Professor of Government, and Marysa Navarro, professor of Latin American history at Dartmouth College. The anthology, tentatively titled Envisioning Equality: Gender, Ethnicity and Class in Latin America and the Caribbean, also features contributions from scholars in Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Bolivia, Trinidad and Tobago. Candelario, a 1990 Smith graduate, returned to the college as a Mendenhall Fellow in 1998. A year la-ter, she joined the faculty and is cur-rently teaching a seminar on Latina/o racial identities in the United States, as well as a sociology course on ethnic minorities in America. At the heart of her project on the Dominican Republic is the question of reproduction. Trujillo's domestic cultural practices and ideological structures encouraged high birth rates and increased European immigration all while repressing the country's Haitian citizens and executing an estimated 25,000 of them. To complete her research, Candelario recently spent a week in the archives of Santo Domingo, the Dominican Republic's capital. She says she is grateful to the Picker Travel Grant Program for Faculty Research, which helped fund the trip, and to the women's studies department for its support. For more information on the Works-In-Progress Series, call 582-2527 or consult www.wscenter.hampshire.edu/. At Smith, Many Options for Good Health By Eunnie Park '01 For members of the Smith College staff and faculty whose New Year's resolutions might have included good health, fitness and exercise, the college offers several programs to help them follow through. One of them is the ESS Faculty and Staff Exercise Program, a series of fitness classes offered for more than 20 years to college employees. For a small fee, employees can partake in aerobics and conditioning exercises, aqua-aerobics and yoga. And for those who prefer a less-structured exercise routine, the program offers the popular Century Club, in which participants set their own walking distance goals and earn free t-shirts when the goals are realized within 12 weeks. During the fall semester, 133 employees participated in the program. Connie Dragon, payroll/billing assistant in the physical plant, was one of them. Dragon, who has taken part in the college's fitness program for more than 12 years, says she started when her doctor recommended diet and exercise to treat her high blood pressure. So she now takes yoga, aerobics and step aerobics and participates in the Century Club. The classes have helped significantly in improving her blood pressure, Dragon says, and the excellent instructors make the program effective. "[The instructors] keep you interested," she adds. "If it's the same old thing every time, I would have quit by now." Amy Holich, manager of the Work Control Center in the physical plant, joined the ESS Fitness Program's aerobics class last fall. And though she has never liked aerobics in the past, she says she enjoys it now and feels the classes have been a big part of her success in losing 40 pounds since August. "I've been through a kind of an epiphany," Holich says. "I've made a lot of changes that changed my lifestyle. I love [exercise] now. I can't get enough of it." The college also offers other health programs like Weight Watchers @ Work and the Feldenkrais Method, a series of relaxation and restoration classes; and Heart-to-Heart, an eight-week wellness program that includes workshops on stress reduction, pilates and exercise physiology. Empoyees in the physical plant's walking program walk for half an hour at the beginning of their shifts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It's all part of the college's effort to encourage physical fitness and good health among its employees, by making exercise convenient, accessible and fun. "Smith really gives you a well-rounded
exercise program here," says Dragon, who also participates
in the walking program. "It's just success story after success
story. And it's all due to these Smith fitness programs." Basketball Squash Skiing
Up Close and Personnel The following employees were hired or departed the college in 2000: New Hires Departures Sources of further information, if any, are indicated in parentheses. Notices should be submitted by mail, by e-mail eweld@smith.edu) or by fax (extension 2171). Collegewide ITS Joins Info Line The Literacy Project Faculty & Staff Have a Heart Food
Drive Students Paid Internship
in D.C. Peer Writing Assistance Alumnae Scholarship
2001-02 Denis Johnston Prize Counseling Workshops Summer Study in
Korea Study-Abroad Deadlines Study Abroad in
Israel Free Tutoring Available Spielberg Fellowships
in Prague Study Skills Workshops Health Service Pap
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Sources of further information, if any, are shown in parentheses at the end of event descriptions. An asterisk following a listing indicates that the event is open to the public. Admission charges, if any, are listed when known. Items for this section must be submitted on Event Service Request Forms. Monday, February 19 Lectures/Symposia Five College Geology Lecture "Mid-Ocean Ridge Black Smokers: Biogeochemical Cauldrons on the Sea Floor." John R. Holloway, Mineralogical Society of America Distinguished Lecturer, department of geology, Arizona State University. 7:30 p.m., McConnell Auditorium* Performing Arts/Films Film A Door to the Sky (Morocco, 1989). Farida Ben Lyzaid, director. Third in the Third Annual Africa Film Series, featuring films of North Africa. Sponsors: government and Afro-American studies departments, Kahn Liberal Arts Institute, Five College African Studies Council. 8 p.m., Seelye 106* Other Events/Activities Reception for "Staff Visions," an exhibit of original art and crafts by Smith College staff. 4-6 p.m., McConnell foyer* Yoga class Noncredit, for students. All levels. 4:45-6 p.m., Davis Ballroom Tuesday, February 20 Lectures/Symposia Sigma Xi luncheon talk "Human Rights, Human Disease: The Nexus in Sudan." Steve Williams, biology, and Eric Reeves, English. Open to faculty, emeriti, and staff. Noon, College Club, lower level Lecture "What Does a Modern Woman Wear? Consumption and the Performance of Identity Among Chinese Muslims." Maris Boyd Gillette '89, assistant professor of anthropology, Haverford College, and author of Between Mecca and Beijing: Modernization and Consumption Among Chinese Muslims. 5 p.m., Seelye 207* Poetry Reading Celebrated New Formalist poet Mary Jo Salter will read from her new collection A Kiss in Space. Booksigning follows. 7:30 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room* Performing Arts/Films Concert and lecture "The Music of Ruth Crawford Seeger," in honor of Smith College Medalist Judith Tick, the Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Music, Northeastern University; followed by a lecture by Tick, "Ambient History: Writing Women Into Grove's Dictionary." 4:30 p.m., Earle Recital Hall, Sage Meetings/Workshops Weight Watchers at Work All welcome. 1 p.m., Dewey common room* Question-and-answer session with Poet Mary Jo Salter, who will read in the evening. Conversations about the craft of poetry. 3:30 p.m., Wright common room Informational meeting for students interested in applying for a fellowship in the "Religious Tolerance and Intolerance in Ancient and Modern Worlds" project sponsored by the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute (fall '01-spring '02). 5 p.m., Kahn Institute lounge SGA Senate meeting Open forum. All students welcome. 7:15 p.m., Seelye 201 Workshop L'Atelier, a theatre workshop conducted in French by Florent Masse. 7:30 p.m., Mendenhall CPA, T-209 Religious Life Meeting Newman Association.
Other Events/Activities Language lunch table German. 12:15 p.m., Duckett Special Dining Room B Conversation with Rally Day speaker and Smith College Medalist Molly Ivins '66. Open to students, faculty and staff. 34 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room All-College Tea with Smith College Medalists Pamela Bowes Davis '68, Molly Ivins '66, Ann Kaplan '67, and Judith Tick '64, for students, faculty and staff. 4-5 p.m., Alumnae House Living Room* Yoga class Noncredit, for students. All levels. 4:45-6 p.m., Davis Ballroom CDO Open Hours for library research and browsing. Peer advisers available. 7-9 p.m., CDO Rally Day Party "Say What" and D.J. in celebration of Rally Day. Sponsored by the Rec Council. 9 p.m.-1 a.m., Scott Gym Wednesday, February 21 Meetings/Workshops Religious Life Buddhist service and discussion. 7:15 p.m., Bodman Lounge, chapel Discussion with Baha'i Club about topics relating to the Baha'i faith and life. 8 p.m., Seelye 308 ECC Bible study Bring questions, frustrations and curiosities. 10 p.m., Bodman Lounge, chapel Other Events/Activities Classics lunch Noon, Duckett Special Dining Room C Rally Day Convocation "Smith College: Yesterday and Tomorrow." Molly Ivins '66, speaker. Smith College Medals and junior and senior teaching awards will be presented, and winners of the Rally Day banner contests will be announced. Rally Day commemorative buttons will be given out at the door (see story, page 1). 1:30 p.m., John M. Greene Hall* Rally Day Medalist reception (See story, page 1). Approximately 3 p.m., following the convocation, Neilson Browsing Room* Yoga class Noncredit, for students. All levels. 4:45-6 p.m., Davis Ballroom Rally Day Show Students put a comical spin on campus life. 7:30 p.m., John M. Greene Hall* |
Thursday, February 22 Lectures/Symposia Lecture "On the Bus with George W. Bush: Tales from the Weirdest Electoral Ride in Modern Presidential History." Jena Heath '84, journalist. 4:30 p.m., Seelye 207* Performing Arts/Films Performance Homeland/Homeless. Pan Welland, composer and vocalist, George Mgrdichian, Armenian oud player, and Ellen Kaplan, Kahn fellow, will present an interweaving of monologues, poetry and music dramatizing displacement, anxiety and attempts to repair and rebuild lives. 8 p.m., chapel* Theater Two plays: Giving up the Ghost by Cherrie Moraga, Mariza Baker '01, director. The story of a young woman in transcultural America; and Antigona Furiosa, by Griselda Gambaro (with translation by Marguerite Feitlowitz), Luisa Bieri '01, director. A raw, contemporary version of Antigone, set in Argentina in the 1970s. Tickets (585-ARTS): $7, general; $4, students, seniors. 8 p.m., Hallie Flanagan Studio* Meetings/Workshops Religious Life Drop-in meditation and stress-reduction class with Hayat Nancy Abuza. Open to all students, staff and Five College faculty. Sponsor: Office of the Chaplains. 4:305:30 p.m., Wright common room Intervarsity prayer meeting 7-10 p.m., Bodman Lounge, chapel Other Events/Activities Language lunch tables Korean, Russian. 12:15 p.m., Duckett Special Dining Room (alternate weekly) Friday, February 23 Lectures/Symposia Performing Arts/Films Meetings/Workshops Religious Life Other Events/Activities Alumnae House tea Albright and Gardiner houses are cordially invited to attend. 4 p.m., Alumnae House Living Room Reception for "Biblical Women," a story quilt exhibit by Smith alumna Lee Porter. 5-7 p.m., Alumnae House Gallery* Drag King Ball Fundraiser for the LBTA. Admission: $3, single; $5, cou-ple. 10 p.m.-1 a.m., Davis Ballroom Saturday, February 24 Lectures/Symposia Lecture "Property Law (in a day) for Land Trusters: How to Navigate Legal Issues Surrounding the Conservation of Open Space and Farmland Protection." Richard M. Evans, attorney. Fee: $10 (for written materials and refreshments). 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Neilson Browsing Room* Performing Arts/Films Sunday, February 25 Meetings/Workshops Meeting Amnesty International
Meeting Smith African Students Association. All welcome. 4 p.m., Mwangi Basement, Lilly Meeting Feminists of
Smith Unite. Religious Life Quaker (Friends) meeting for worship. Preceded by informal discussion at 9:30 a.m. All welcome, childcare available. 11 a.m., Bass 203, 204, 210, 211* Roman Catholic Mass Fr. Stephen-Joseph Ross, OCD, celebrant, and Elizabeth Carr, Catholic chaplain. Dinner follows in Bodman lounge. All welcome. 4:30 p.m., chapel Intervarsity Prayer Meeting 9-10 p.m., chapel Other Events/Activities Exhibitions "Staff Visions," an exhibit of original arts and crafts by Smith College staff. Through March 16. McConnell foyer* "The Refugees" Two life-sized sculptures by artist Judith Peck, depicting refugees carrying a child and worldly possessions. Through May 28. For more information, contact the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute, ext. 4292. Neilson Library, third floor* "Biblical Women" An exhibition of story quilts by Lee Porter '60. Using textiles and appliqué and quilting techniques, Porter depicts several scenes of women from the Bible, engaged in activities such as naming children, celebrating victories and mediating disputes. Through March 30. A reception will be held from 5 to 7 p.m., on Friday, February 23. Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Alumnae House Gallery* |
