Washington College News Service

Former Congressional Leader Jim DeMint to Get WC Award in Easton

November 13, 2019 by Washington College News Service 9 Comments

Washington College’s Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture will bestow its second annual Os Guinness Award for Service to the Public Good to former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, who served in Congress for 14 years, is the former president of the Heritage Foundation, and is current chair of the Conservative Partnership Institute in Washington, D.C.

The free, public event will happen Dec. 5 at 7 p.m. in the Prager Family Auditorium at 17 S. Washington St., Easton, where DeMint will also present a talk discussing his new book “Conservative: Knowing what to Keep.”

Named in honor of the influential public intellectual Os Guinness, the Institute’s annual Os Guinness Award recognizes men and women of exceptional accomplishment whose commitment to upholding America’s founding values of freedom, family, the strength of civic and religious organizations, and the rule of law has advanced the public good.

DeMint represented South Carolina’s 4th District as a Republican from 1999 to 2005, then was elected to the Senate and served there until 2013, when he stepped down to become president of the Heritage Foundation. He is currently the president of the Conservative Partnership Institute in Washington, D.C.

The Institute for Religion, Politics and Culture at Washington College studies the historic and continuing contributions of religion to political and cultural life, the enduring value of America’s founding principles, and pressing issues of public concern. For more information contact jprudhomme2@washcoll.edu.

Pulitzer Prize Finalist Greg Grandin at WC on Nov. 21

November 9, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Greg Grandin

Pulitzer Prize finalist Greg Grandin, whose new book “The End of the Myth: From Frontier to Border Wall in the Mind of America” has been listed for the National Book Award, will give a talk at Washington College examining the expansionist imperative across American history.

The free, public event on Nov. 21 begins at 5:00 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall in Toll Science Center and is hosted by the Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience. The talk is part of the center’s Crossing Cultures Series, which seeks to foster informed dialogue on immigration, migration, intercultural exchange, and their impact on American life.

A reception will follow the program.

“The End of the Myth” provides a new and eye-opening interpretation of the meaning of the frontier, from early westward expansion to President Donald Trump’s border wall. Grandin explores the meaning of the frontier across the full sweep of U.S. history—from the American Revolution to the War of 1898, the New Deal to the election of 2016.

“Ever since this nation’s inception, the idea of never-ending expansion—either in the form of a landed frontier, economic growth, or, now, an endless war—has been central to American identity,” Grandin says. For centuries, America’s constant expansion—fighting wars and opening markets—served as a “gate of escape,” helping to deflect domestic political and economic conflicts outward. But this deflection meant that the country’s problems, from racism to inequality, were never confronted directly.

Grandin, a professor at New York University, is the author of “The Empire of Necessity: Slavery, Freedom, and Deception in the New World,” “Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City” (a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize), and “Kissinger’s Shadow, the Long Reach of America’s Most Controversial Statesman.” A member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Grandin served as a consultant to the United Nations truth commission on Guatemala and has received the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, among others.

Since its debut in March, the Kirkus Review hailed “The End of Myth” as “an engaging and disquieting analysis of America’s recurring choice between ‘a humane ethic of social citizenship’ and barbarism.” According to Publishers Weekly: “this is a deeply polemical work, and should be read as such, but it offers a provocative historical exploration of a contentious current issue.” The book has been recently placed on the longlist for the 2019 National Book Award for Nonfiction.

About the Starr Center
Washington College’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience explores the American experience in all its diversity and complexity, seeks creative approaches to illuminating the past, and inspires thoughtful conversation informed by history. Through educational programs, scholarship and public outreach, and a special focus on written history, the Starr Center seeks to bridge the divide between the academic world and the public at large.

About Washington College
Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. It enrolls approximately 1,450 undergraduates from more than 35 states and a dozen nations. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.

Said Sadek Speaks at Washington College on Oct. 23

October 9, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Professor Said Sadek

The Arab Spring ushered in a new era in politics in Egypt and Tunisia, emboldening citizens, through social media and other new platforms, who had previously lacked a voice. Professor Said Sadek from American University in Cairo, who has focused his recent work as an Egyptian political and social scholar on the effects of this phenomenon, will discuss these changes at Washington College on Oct. 23.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs and begins at 7:30 p.m. in Hynson Lounge.

Since the Arab Spring, public apathy towards politics in Egypt and North Africa (Tunisia and Libya) has been replaced with high interest. Minorities that traditionally have been poorly represented in political institutions are gaining unprecedented voice and political traction. Social media has become a tool for government and the average citizen to speak their minds and reorganize stakeholders over various interests and crystallized demands. Unconventional politicians and independent YouTubers have begun to surpass and challenge existing traditional political parties and mainstream media.

Sadek appears in local, regional, and international media focusing on Middle Eastern developments. He has a BA in political science and master’s degrees in Middle East studies and sociology from the American University in Cairo. He received his Ph.D. in political science specializing in political communication, forecasting, and peace studies from Cairo University in 1996.

He has taught courses in political science, sociology, Arab society, mass communication, political sociology, political communication, terrorism and media, intermarriage in the Middle East, and the contemporary history of the Middle East in many private and international universities in Egypt including the American University in Cairo (AUC), Future University, and Nile University. He also works as a political risk consultant for several regional research centers and think tanks including the Finnish Institute in the Middle East (FIME) and the Beirut-based Tactical Report.

Sadek is a member of the Egyptian National Council for Women and the Arab Association for Political Science. In 1980, he was awarded Sadat Peace Prize for his research on Egyptian foreign policy after the signing of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty in 1979. In 2005, Sadek was awarded the Medal of the Knight of the Order of Lion of Finland, by Finland’s President Tarja Halonen, for his contribution to boosting Arab-Finnish academic and cultural relations. He has also been a consultant for the Ministry of Higher Education in reforming education in Egyptian universities.

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders in and out of government. It has hosted journalists, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of national and international stature. It also sponsors lectures, symposia, and visiting fellows, as well as student participation in models and conferences and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leaders experienced in developing public policy. Its current curator is Christine Wade, Professor of Political Science and International Studies, a highly sought expert on Latin American politics, and author and editor of several books on Latin America, including Captured Peace: Elites and Peacebuilding in El Salvador.

About Washington College
Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. It enrolls approximately 1,450 undergraduates from more than 35 states and a dozen nations. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.

Philosopher Justin Tiwald Leads Ethics Talk Oct. 16 at WC

October 7, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Justin Tiwald

Washington College’s Holstein Program in Ethics is pleased to host Justin Tiwald, a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at Princeton University, in a talk that examines the fundamental question of when it is up to us to figure out a moral problem, or when we should defer to others’ expertise.

The Oct. 16 talk “Moral Expertise: Confucian Philosophers on Deference and Deliberative Autonomy” is free and open to the public. It begins at 6:30 p.m., in Hynson Lounge of Hodson Hall.

In his talk, Tiwald will examine a fundamental issue in human life: When and under what circumstances should we defer to people who know more than ourselves about certain moral matters? We trust the experts when we seek a plumbing repair or auto maintenance, but what about when we face a moral problem? Suppose the problem is whether to buy organic or whether to support restrictions on gun ownership. Undoubtedly there are experts who know more about these issues than we do, but many still think that we have a responsibility to reach conclusions on our own. Bringing Confucian philosophy to the complicated moral challenges of today, this public lecture explores various positions on the use and misuse of moral expertise.

As Chair of the Department of Philosophy at San Francisco State University, Tiwald works on Chinese philosophy broadly construed, but has largely focused on Confucian, Daoist, and neo-Confucian accounts of moral psychology, well-being, and political authority, as well as the significance of Confucian views for virtue ethics, moral epistemology, and individual and human rights. He is the editor of, among others, “Oxford Handbook of Chinese Philosophy” (Oxford University Press, 2019), and is the author, with Stephen C. Angle, of “Neo-Confucianism: A Philosophical Introduction (Polity, 2017).

The Holstein Program in Ethics was established in 2014 thanks to the $5 million legacy gift of Richard Holstein ’68, a pediatric dentist. Previous speakers include Walter Shaub, the former director of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Jonathan Rauch, contributing editor of The Atlantic and the National Journal, and Mary John Miller, former Undersecretary for Domestic Finance of the U.S. Treasury. In addition to bringing national leaders in ethics to speak with students and the community about current issues, the program supports and enhances the study of ethics throughout the curriculum and fosters interdisciplinary research on a broad range of ethical issues. Its goal is to spark an appreciation for the importance of moral courage as a foundation for leading a life of purpose and meaning. For more information about the Holstein Program in Ethics see https://www.washcoll.edu/departments/holstein-program/.

About Washington College
Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. It enrolls approximately 1,450 undergraduates from more than 39 states and territories and 25 nations. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.

Water Security Topic of Oct. 16 Public Affairs Alumni Lecture at WC

October 1, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Water security and cooperation in global and local conflicts will be the topic of a talk by Ambika Vishwanath ’05, part of Washington College’s Goldstein Program in Public Affairs Young Alumni Program.

Ambika Vishwanath

The talk on Oct. 16 begins at 5:30 p.m. in Litrenta Lecture Hall of the Toll Science Center, and it is free and open to the public.

Vishwanath, co-founder and director of Kubernein Initiative, will examine how conflict over water resources is exacerbated by growing populations and unpredictable changes in the climate. However, Vishwanath argues that there have been more instances of cooperation than conflict over shared water resources. On occasion, countries have even used their water resources to forge ties leading to cooperation in other spheres as well.

Vishwanath’s lecture will focus on some of these positive examples from around the world and will examine how a nation’s domestic needs often plays a role in determining its transboundary water policy. Having travelled to many of these shared water basins, Vishwanath will bring personal anecdotes to discuss how cooperation is possible, and what other troubled regions and hotspots may learn from these examples.

Kubernein Initiative is an India-based geopolitical advisory that aims to bridge the gap on issues that require greater intellectual questioning and curiosity. Vishwanath has lead track two diplomacy efforts and consulted with several governments and international organizations, in India and around the world, at the intersection between transboundary water security and foreign policy. She also works in emerging concepts of Asian multilateralism and creating a better understanding of the rapidly changing landscape of India.

She has been published in several global newspapers, blogs, and journals and is a member of the Munich Young Leaders of the Munich Security Conference, Germany. She has a masters degree from the American University of Cairo, Egypt, and is a member of the Class of 2005, Washington College.

About Washington College

Founded in 1782, Washington College is the tenth oldest college in the nation and the first chartered under the new Republic. It enrolls approximately 1,450 undergraduates from more than 39 states and territories and 25 nations. With an emphasis on hands-on, experiential learning in the arts and sciences, and more than 40 multidisciplinary areas of study, the College is home to nationally recognized academic centers in the environment, history, and writing. Learn more at washcoll.edu.

Lit House Features WC Professor’s Research Into African American Publishing

September 23, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Alisha Knight

Alisha Knight, Associate Professor of English and American Studies, will discuss her unique research into the African American book publishing trade at the turn of the 20th century during a Sept. 26 event at the Rose O’ Neill Literary House.

The talk entitled “Agents Wanted: Selling Racial Uplift at the Turn of the Twentieth Century” is part of the Fall Literary House Series and is free and open to the public. It begins at 4:30 p.m. at the Lit House, followed by a catered reception.

Knight will discuss themes from her current research project, which is centered around the Colored Co-operative Publishing Company, a black-owned publisher based in Boston in the early 1900s. Her work examines the peculiar nature of disseminating literature to African Americans at a time when many publishers either took this reading audience for granted or simply assumed it did not exist.

Knight teaches a range of courses in African American literature and print culture at Washington College. Her teaching and scholarship favors interdisciplinary study, as she aims to expand the canon with lesser-known authors and bring new perspectives to well-known ones. Her first book, “Pauline Hopkins and the American Dream,” was published by the University of Tennessee Press in 2012. In addition to her second book project, she is co-editing a scholarly edition of Hopkins’s novel, “Hagar’s Daughter,” for Broadview Press.

For more information on this event or the Literary House, visit the website at www.washcoll.edu/centers/lithouse, or view the annual Literary Events Calendar brochure here: www.washcoll.edu/live/files/9229-2019-20-literary-events-brochure.

WC Presents the Live Performance Piece “The Diva Saga” on Sept. 20-21

September 5, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

Washington College’s Communications and Media Studies (CMS) Speaker Series presents the multi-channel video installation and live performance piece “The Diva Saga: The Legend of the Worst Drag Queen” on Sept. 20-21.

Performed by John Musser as Veronica Bleaus, and produced by Scott Andrew, the program begins at 7:30 p.m. at the Tawes Theater in the Gibson Center for the Arts. The performances are free and open to the public.

“The Diva Saga” questions constructions of sexuality, gender, and identity in a digital age and examines how Veronica Bleaus became the self-proclaimed “worst drag queen.” Lampooning normative and restrictive constructions of sex, artistic judgment, and popular culture, “The Diva Saga” draws heavily from visual and aural storytelling mediums including comic books, Japanese anime, video games, music videos, and high fantasy.

In a series of confrontations between a live Veronica and the avatars of drag—digital identities projected on stage (also played by Veronica)—the live and digital Veronicas clash in their respective interpretations, battling each other in a fantastic, campy, visual and sonic narrative.

John Musser is a performance artist and scholar from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He holds a PhD in English from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he investigated the queerness of diva performance and the way that divas shape queer culture. His alter ego, Veronica Bleaus, has been performing in drag and collaborating with visual artists since 2005. In 2009, Bleaus developed a public performance series, “Drive By Drag,” with visual and performance artist Dani Lamorte, and in 2015 was featured in Sasha Velour’s Vym magazine (now Velour).

Scott Andrew is a multimedia artist working in video, installation, performance, and new media. Andrew has most notably exhibited with the Institute for New Feeling at MoMA’s PopRally (NYC), Recess (NYC), Ballroom Marfa (Marfa, Texas), Whitechapel Gallery (London), Black Cube (Denver, Colorado), the Hammer Museum and the J. Paul Getty Museum (both in Los Angeles), as well as many regional, national, and international venues.

As an adjunct professor at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pittsburgh, Andrew teaches animation, video, and performance courses. He has also conducted workshops at the Warhol Museum, Mattress Factory, and Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh, and is a curator of TQ Live!, an annual LGBTQIA variety performance at the Andy Warhol Museum.

Dedicated to advancing discourse and learning around contemporary issues in communication and media studies across disciplinary boundaries, the CMS Speaker Series brings a diverse roster of speakers to campus to spark intellectual curiosity and engage the campus and Chestertown community in contemporary debate around a variety of issues.

For more information visit https://www.washcoll.edu/departments/communication-and-media-studies/cms-speaker-series/

Cardboard Boat Race on September 21

September 4, 2019 by Washington College News Service Leave a Comment

It wouldn’t be Fall Family Weekend at Washington College without the annual Cardboard Boat Race, which is set to take place Sept. 21 during the Center for Environment & Society’s “CES at 20: Celebration on the Waterfront.”

This year CES is marking its 20th anniversary, and we encourage the community to come celebrate with us during a laid-back afternoon on the Chester River. From 12-4 p.m. at Wilmer Park you can enjoy food, beer, wine, live music and the always-entertaining Cardboard Boat Race. There will be some activities and raffles, along with river cruises aboard the 46-foot Callinectes ($5 per person), kayaking, and paddle boarding.

The Cardboard Boat Race is open to individuals, businesses, schools, civic groups, and non-profit entities in Kent or Queen Anne’s counties. Over $650 in prizes will be awarded for the winners of categories including First Around the Course, Best Construction, Most Team Spirit, and the ever-popular People’s Choice. College President Kurt Landgraf and his wife, Rita, will be on hand to help with the judging.

The deadline for registration is Sept. 21 at 2:30 p.m., and participants must be at least 12 years old. All boats go on display at 12:30 p.m. on race day. Captains and crew meet at 2:45 p.m., the popular boat parade begins at 2:50, and the race starts at 3:00 sharp along the Pavilion in Wilmer Park.

Registration is at https://cvent.me/vQWWe and costs $15 per team. For boatbuilding tips, go to https://www.washcoll.edu/centers/ces/chestertown-riverfest/cardboard-boat-building-tips.php.

In case of foul weather, activities may be cancelled. For information contact Marisa Atkins at 410-810-7162, matkins2@washcoll.edu or visit https://www.washcoll.edu/centers/ces/chestertown-riverfest/cardboard-boat-regatta.php. Events are organized by the Center for Environment & Society at Washington College for Fall Family Weekend.

Local Artist Teams Up with WC to Create Public Mural

August 23, 2019 by Washington College News Service 1 Comment

In a sun-dappled, bricked terrace beside one of Washington College’s oldest buildings—Bunting Hall—the mellow Latin music flowing from a speaker on a picnic table competes with the late-summer rattle of cicadas while students paint a garden. Some of them listen to their own tunes with earbuds in, others talk back and forth, but all focus on the work at hand—turning what had been a barren, boring wall into Washington College’s newest piece of public art, a mural depicting native Maryland flowers.

“The idea was to celebrate the diversity with the colors and the shapes and sizes,” says Fredy Granillo, the Chestertown artist who conceived the mural design and has been collaborating with WC staff since fall of 2018 to make this happen. “If you look at the mural you see small flowers, big flowers. The meaning is, it doesn’t matter what color or size, each is a part of the larger mural.”

Fredy Granillo

The mural arts project—a metaphor for the student body and the larger Chestertown community as well—is one of the College’s 30 Explore! pre-orientation programs for incoming students. It came about after Andrea Vassar, assistant dean for first-year experience and student success, visited Mural Arts Philadelphia, the nation’s largest public arts program.

“That’s what gave me the inspiration, and it just started growing,” says Vassar, who is the program’s staff advisor. She presented the idea to Laura Johnstone Wilson, who oversees Explore! and loved the concept. Wilson contacted local artist Marcy Dunn Ramsay, who suggested her son-in-law, Granillo, for the project.

Granillo developed three proposals, which were presented to Senior Staff and College President Kurt Landgraf, who chose the flower mural. Then, Wilson approached Unity Nursery in Church Hill, who said they’d like to contribute flowers and plantings which will go into the long-dormant raised-bed boxes beneath the mural. Valerie RiChard, associate vice president for facilities, and her team worked all summer to prepare the courtyard and the wall for its makeover.

Students spent the first day of the program traveling to Philadelphia to take the Mural Arts Tour, where they also met with Carlos “CALO” Rosa, a friend of Granillo’s whose artwork is part of Mural Arts Philadelphia. He discussed the artistic process, as well as the meaning of the murals from the artist’s point of view.

The Explore! Mural Arts group on the terrace.

The next day they started on the mural itself. During the summer, Granillo had already painted the outlines. Students worked from eight-by-ten copies of each section with the colors depicted by number. Granillo mixed all the paint, numbered each container, and handed the students boxes for each section containing all that they needed. Over the course of three days, the students worked with Granillo, Vassar, and each other to paint the mural. The final touch was the plantings installation, which the students also did.

This is the second mural at WC and the first public mural in Chestertown by Granillo, a multi-talented musician and artist whose specialty is his distinctive interpretation of Talavera pottery. He had created five public murals in his native El Salvador, always with community input and young people participating.

“This was kind of perfect for me because they wanted the students to paint it,” he says. “Students are like seeds, finding water to grow into a flower and to make the community better with their ability and energy.”

The students planned to complete their weeklong program with a trip to Rock Hall to see its “Murals of Rock Hall” public art, as well as to sample the local ice cream, visit the beach, and see the Chesapeake Bay.

Follow Us