Academics

Category: Academics

Emotions — Hidden and Shared — Explored in Lawrence University “Devised” Theatre Production

A collection of original, borrowed and collaboratively written scenes that explore feelings all people have, hide and sometimes share closes Lawrence University’s 2011-12 main stage theatre season with four performances May 10-12 in Cloak Theatre of the Music-Drama Center.

“Show Your Face(s): A Masque” will be staged at 8 p.m. each day, with an additional 3 p.m. matinee performance on Saturday, May 12. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749.

Kathy Privatt, associate professor of theatre arts and James G. and Ethel M. Barber Professor of Theatre and Drama, describes the play as “as a devised theatre piece.”  The work’s designation of “A Masque” is a reference both to physical masks and the Renaissance form of entertainment that featured a collection of scenes with acting, singing and dancing.

Unlike most traditional theatrical works, “Show Your Face(s): A Masque” is not based on a pre-existing script. Instead, Privatt and the production team created a script during the rehearsal process, drawing inspiration from the set, music and sound design, costumes, movement and mask work, improvisation and texts submitted by the cast, crew, Lawrence and greater Fox Valley communities.

Mask-making activities open to the Lawrence campus over the past year also served as inspiration for the production team.

“The play has been created collaboratively by both creating materials and using materials and texts that already exist to form a whole new production,” said Privatt, who director of the production.

Inspired in Part by Suicide Prevention Training

The play is being presented in conjunction with Lawrence’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) grant for mental wellness and suicide prevention.  The production represents a year of research and preparation by Privatt.

“I was specifically inspired by some material in the suicide prevention training that I received through the SAMHSA grant,” said Privatt. “That training reaffirmed that, just as we’re all human, we all experience the same emotions and we all make decisions about when to hide those emotions and when to share them.

“The process has been one of the most collaborative I’ve ever experienced, with each element having strong impact on our choices,” Privatt added. “We started with a basic framework of episodes, each chosen to explore a range of related emotions.  We worked together, with mask expert Adam Pagdon, and movement experts Deb Loewen and Laura Murphy, to choose and create material for each episode. The performance showcases the pieces that we ultimately felt compelled to share.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries. Follow us on Facebook.

 

Lawrence University Remembers the Holocaust in Multimedia Symposium

As the remaining voices of Holocaust survivors grow fewer and more far between, Lawrence University will examine that dark moment in human history May 11-13 in a wide-ranging, interdisciplinary and multimedia symposium entitled “Austrian Jews: Exile and the Holocaust.”

The symposium will bring together Lawrence students, faculty and the larger community in a far-ranging examination of both the history and present-day implications of the Holocaust.

Full schedule of events

The timing of the symposium is tied to the anniversary of the end of World War II on May 8, 1945 and to the annual April 19 “Day of Remembrance,” which each year commemorates the Jewish genocide at the hands of the Nazis. All symposium events are free and open to the public.

Survivor Stories

Highlighting the program will be the first-person experiences shared by four Holocaust survivors who fled Vienna, Austria in 1938 to escape the Nazis. Curtis Brown from Neenah, and Anne Kelemen, Gerda Lederer and Renee Wiener, all from New York City, will share their personal accounts of topics covering life in Austria leading up to the war, escape via the Kinder Transport, working with the French Underground and life during the war in the labor camps.

Brown, Kelemen and Lederer star in the 1999 award-winning documentary on the Viennese emigration, “Abschied ein Leben Lang” (A Life-Long Farewell),” one of three films that will be shown during the symposium. Wiener was recognized in 2010 for her World War II work in the French Resistance with the Insignia of the Legion of Honor in a special awards ceremony at the French Consulate General in New York City.

“The chances of our students ever speaking to a Holocaust survivor are getting slimmer very rapidly,” said Professor of Music Catherine Kautsky, who organized the symposium. “It seems more and more urgent to give these survivors a forum in which to speak out, particularly to the younger generations of students for whom World War II may seem like ancient history.”

The inspiration for the symposium grew out of a series of round-robin letters circulated by Kautsky’s 90-year old father, John Kautsky, and a group of his Viennese high school peers, all of whom were forced by the Nazis to emigrate from Vienna in 1938.

The letters chronicle the experience of leaving their homeland and establishing citizenship in new countries. The letters are now being published, generating considerable interest in the United States, Austria and Germany. They will be featured in a presentation by Jacqueline Vansant, professor of German at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, including footage of Kautsky’s father discussing the letters, followed by clips of a present-day boy at the very same school reading from the very same letters during a December 2011 ceremony at that high school.

Multiple Perspectives

The symposium is designed to amplify the survivors’ experiences from multiple perspectives, among them:

  • film screenings: “God Does Not Believe in Us Anymore,” “Watermarks,” and “Abschied ein Leben Lang” (“A Life-Long Farewell”).
  • a pair of concerts, including staged scenes from the opera “Der Kaiser von Atlantis,” by Viktor Ullmann, written at the Theresienstadt labor camp and completed shortly before Ullmann’s death in the gas chambers at Auschwitz. Prior to the Saturday, May 12 concert, Lawrence Associate Professor of Music Julie McQuinn will present the talk “Music and the Holocaust: Remembering the Inconceivable.”
  • an art exhibition featuring prints and paintings of Austrian and German Expressionists, with commentary by Elizabeth Carlson, Lawrence associate professor of art history and Frank Lewis, curator of Lawrence’s Wriston Art Gallery.
  • dramatic readings of letters, poetry and memoirs of survivors by theatre professors Timothy X. Troy of Lawrence and Susan Sweeney of UW-Madison and actress Jacque Troy of the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
  • a video created by Lawrence student members of Hillel, a Jewish student organization, featuring interviews with students and faculty members discussing their family connections to the Holocaust and the responsibility of sharing information about the Holocaust with future generations.
  • a discussion of dance choreography of the period by Rebecca Salzer, visiting professor of dance, with an introduction by Lawrence President Jill Beck.
  • a presentation by Jacqueline Vansant entitled “Making Connections over Space and Time: The Extraordinary Group Correspondence of Jewish-Austrian Schoolboys.”
  • a display of student art work and poetry that deals with Judaism, the history of the Holocaust and generational issues.

“The arts will be featured prominently in the symposium as mirrors of the society in which they were created,” said Kautsky. “Concerts produced by the Lawrence Conservatory of Music faculty and guest artists will feature works by Jewish composers written in or about the concentration camps and the presentation of poetry, dance and visual art should likewise serve as very visceral reminders of a period in history we can’t afford to forget.”

A reception featuring Viennese pastries and coffee will be held with symposium participants Saturday, May 12 afternoon.

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker and current Lawrence artist-in-residence Catherine Tatge is collaborating with students to produce a documentary about the symposium.

Lawrence members of Hillel are donating six native Wisconsin perennials to the Sustainable Lawrence University Garden (SLUG) as a remembrance tribute to the six million Jews who were lost in the Holocaust.

Full schedule of events

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries. Follow us on Facebook.

Latin American and Spanish Cinema Showcased in Lawrence Film Festival

Nine international films representing seven countries will be showcased May 9-13 in Lawrence University’s first annual Latin American and Spanish Film Festival.

The theme of the festival focuses on the body and sex. All films will be shown with English subtitles and are free and open to the public.

Paul Julian Smith

Highlighting the festival will be a presentation by Paul Julian Smith, internationally recognized literary and film critic in Hispanic cultural studies. Smith will discuss the work of acclaimed Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar in the address ” Almodóvar’s Women” Friday, May 11 at 6 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium.

Smith has written dozens of reviews as the Spanish film critic for the British Film Institute’s Sight and Sound magazine. The author of “Desire Unlimited: The Cinema of Pedro Almodóvar,” he has established himself as one of the world’s leading scholars on the work of the Spanish filmmaker.  Smith is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Ph.D. program in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian Literatures and Languages at City University of New York

The film festival schedule includes:

• May 9 — “The Skin I Live In” (Spain)
A brilliant plastic surgeon, haunted by past tragedies, creates a synthetic skin that withstands any kind of damage. His guinea pig: a mysterious and volatile woman who holds the key to his obsession. Warch Campus Center cinema, 6 p.m.

• May 9 — “The Fish Child” (Argentina)
A desperate love story between two young girls. Unable to find a place for their love in the world they live in, they are pushed to commit a crime. Warch Campus Center cinema, 8:30 p.m.

• May 10 — “Reverón” (Venezuela)
The story of the famous visual artist Armando Reverón from 1924 to 1954, including his personal relationship with the woman named Juanita who would become his inseparable companion. Warch Campus Center cinema, 6 p.m.

• May 10 — “Leap Year” (Mexico)
Laura’s personal life consists of one affair after another. She meets Arturo, and the pair begins an intense sexual relationship. As the days go by, Laura crosses them off on a calendar, revealing her secret past to her lover. Warch Campus Center cinema, 8:30 p.m.

• May 11 — “A Year Without Love” (Argentina)
A writer living with AIDS searches for a cure and human interaction in the hospitals and sex clubs of Buenos Aires. Wriston Art Center auditorium, 8:30 p.m.

• May 12 — “Undertow” (Peru)
An unusual ghost story set in the Peruvian seaside. A married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover with his town’s rigid traditions. Warch Campus Center cinema, 6 p.m.

• May 12 — “Love For Sale” (Brazil)
In order to raise money, a young woman in the northeast of Brazil decides to raffle her own body. Warch Campus Center cinema, 8:30 p.m.

• May 13 —  “Mosquita y Mari” (USA)
In a fast-paced immigrant community where dreams are often lost to economic survival, two young girls contemplate life as they awaken sexual desires in each other. Warch Campus Center cinema, 6 p.m.

• May 13 —“Chico & Rita” (Spain)
Chico is a young piano player with big dreams. Rita is a beautiful singer with an extraordinary voice. Music and romantic desire unites them, but their journey – in the tradition of the Latin ballad, the bolero – brings heartache and torment. Warch Campus Center cinema, 8:30 p.m.

Spanish Department page about the Festival

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

Lawrence’s Outstanding Teaching Award Honors Whitefish Bay, Drummond Educators

Two state secondary educators will be honored Sunday, May 6 with Lawrence University’s 2012 Outstanding Teaching in Wisconsin Award.

Jeffrey Stiedaman and Benjamin Swanson, teachers at Whitefish Bay and Drummond high schools, respectively, will receive a certificate, a citation and a monetary award from Lawrence President Jill Beck in ceremonies at the president’s house. In addition, Lawrence will provide their respective schools with $250 for library acquisitions.

Nominated by Lawrence seniors, recipients are selected on their abilities to communicate effectively, create a sense of excitement in the classroom, motivate their students to pursue academic excellence while showing a genuine concern for them in and outside the classroom. Since launching the award program in 1985, Lawrence has recognized 58 high school teachers.

Jeffrey Stiedaman

A native of Rosendale and a graduate of Laconia High School, Stiedaman joined the Whitefish Bay High School faculty in 2003. Spanning grades 9-12, he teaches social studies, world history, psychology and AP psychology. He has served as an advisor to the student council, coached the freshman baseball team and is currently involved with the school district’s mentoring program for new teachers.

An Energetic, Passionate Teacher

In nominating him for the award, Lawrence senior Cam Blegen described Stiedaman as an “energetic, passionate” teacher who embraces the roles of advisor, mentor and role model.

“Mr. Stiedaman’s students are able to achieve success because he makes the subject fun, exciting and relevant to each and every student,” wrote Blegan, a 2008 graduate of Whitefish Bay High School. “He motivates his students to strive for excellence by doing the same in his own teaching. My experiences in his classroom solidified my interest in medicine and the skills I learned in his classroom helped me achieve success at Lawrence.”

Stiedaman earned a bachelor’s degree in history from UW-Madison and a master’s degree in education from Marian University.

Swanson has taught at Drummond High School since 2006 after beginning his teaching career in the Solon Springs School District in 2004. In addition to 9th-grade civics and 10th-grade U.S. history, Swanson teaches junior and senior class level courses in sociology, economic theory, modern U.S. history, current issues and a political science course focused on criminal and social justice issues.

Benjamin Swanson

Outside the classroom, Swanson has coached the girls’ varsity softball and basketball teams for the past six and two years, respectively.  In 2009, he was selected to participate in the federally funded, professional development program “The Teaching American History Grant Project,” a three-year long ongoing workshop held in Superior, featuring visiting authors and historians.

Empowering, Encouraging

Lawrence senior Leah Miller, a 2008 Drummond High School graduate, cited Swanson for having “a dramatic impact” on students in nominating him for the award.

“Mr. Swanson completely changed the way students felt about the social science classes…teaching us about real world issues and ways to approach these issues,” Miller wrote in her nomination. “He connects with his students, empowers them and encourages them to do well not only in his class, but in every class as well as outside the classroom. Mr. Swanson was the person in school who made me realize that I had the ability to do anything I wanted and I could change the world some day.”

A native of Solon Springs, Swanson earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with a major in history and broad field social studies from UW-Superior with additional teaching certifications in economics and sociology.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

Lawrence University French Professor Awarded Fulbright Fellowship to Senegal

Lawrence University Associate Professor of French Lifongo Vetinde has been named a recipient of a 2012-13 Fulbright Teaching and Research Fellowship. Beginning in October, Vetinde will spend 10 months teaching at the Université Gaston Berger in Saint-Louis, Senegal, West Africa.

Associate Professor of French Lifongo Vetinde

During his fellowship appointment, Vetinde will teach two courses, one on American literature by minority authors focusing on the works’ relevance to socio-political discussions of American society, particularly issues of identity and race relations. While the first course is a modified version of the course “Expressions of Ethnicity” he teaches in the Ethnic Studies program at Lawrence, the second course, specifically designed by Vetinde for his fellowship, will serve as a comparative study of the works of such American writers as W.E.B. Dubois, Alice Walker and Maya Angelou with those of Saint-Louisian writers such as Abdoulaye Sadji, Malick Fall and Abdel Aziz Mayoro Diop.

Vetinde also will devote the second half of his fellowship appointment to expanding his scholarship on Francophone African literature and cinema, focusing on the literature about the city of Saint-Louis produced by French colonial writers in the mid-19th century as well as the writings of the Saint-Louis educated native elite from the early decades of the 20th century onwards.

“I want to investigate how these writers explored the relationship between the French colonialists and the Senegalese nationals,” said Vetinde, a native of Cameroon who moved to the United States when he was 29. “These are neglected but very important works of literature of Saint-Louis, a city that is the quintessential crossroads of cultures, ethnicities, races, religions and languages. I want to study the role creative fiction played in the emergence of Senegal’s national identity.”

A member of the Lawrence faculty since 1996, Vetinde has directed Lawrence’s Francophone Seminar, a 10-week study-abroad program in Dakar, Senegal, four times, most recently in 2010.

“We are extremely pleased and proud that Professor Vetinde has been awarded a Fulbright Fellowship,” said David Burrows, Lawrence provost and dean of the faculty. “As life in the 21st century has become increasingly globalized, education must emphasize the richness of cultures and countries other than one’s own and Fulbright Fellowships are a powerful way for intercultural education to occur. Professor Vetinde is a wonderful teacher and scholar and we’re happy that he is able to be part of that education.”

The fellowship, worth approximately $55,000, will cover Vetinde’s travel and living expenses while in Senegal as well as provide a teaching stipend and research support.

“Beside the principal objective of promoting international cultural understanding between the United States and Senegal, this fellowship provides an opportunity for me to give back what I’ve learned here to my native continent,” said Vetinde, who earned a master’s degree in French and a Ph.D. in romance languages with emphasis on Francophone African literature at the University of Oregon after earning the equivalent of a master’s degree in Cameroon.

Established in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Scholar Program is the federal government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. It provides grants in a variety of disciplines for teaching and research positions in more than 120 countries.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

Lawrence Welcomes Author and Cultural Critic William Deresiewicz for University Convocation

Provocative essayist, cultural critic and author William Deresiewicz presents “Through the Vale of Soul-Making: The Journey of the Liberal Arts” Thursday, April 19 at 11:10 a.m. in a Lawrence University convocation. The presentation, in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, will be followed by a question-and-answer session at 2:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. Both events are free and open to the public.

William Deresiewicz

Focusing on higher education, social media and other culture issues, Deresiewicz is a contributing writer for The Nation and a contributing editor for The New Republic. His weekly “All Points” blog on culture and society appears in The American Scholar.

A three-time National Magazine Award nominee (2008, ’09, ’11), his essays include “Generation Sell” (the business plan as art form of our age), “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education” (what the Ivy League won’t teach you) and “Faux Friendship” (about Facebook).

“Solitude and Leadership,” an essay that encourages the practice of introspection, concentration and nonconformity he delivered as an address to the plebe class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 2009, has been used as a teaching tool across the U.S. military, the corporate world, schools of business and at the Aspen Institute.

Deresiewicz spent 10 years (1998-2008) as an English professor at Yale University before embarking on a full-time writing career. He chronicled the chronicled the transformative effect literature has had on his life in the 2011 novel  “A Jane Austen Education: How Six Novels Taught Me About Love, Friendship, and the Things That Really Matter.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

Extreme Ice Survey Project Focus of Lawrence Presentation

Acclaimed photographer  James Balog, who has chronicled the natural environment for three decades for National Geographic, discusses his climate change project “The Extreme Ice Survey” Tuesday, April 17 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Warch Campus Center.

Combining art and science, Balog creates innovative, dynamic and sometimes shocking interpretations of the world’s fast-changing landscapes, plants and animals. In 2005, Balog founded the Extreme Ice Survey (EIS) to document the impact of global climate change.

The  most wide-ranging, ground-based, photographic study of glaciers ever conducted, the EIS employed 27 time-lapse cameras at remote sites in Greenland, Iceland, Nepal, Alaska, and the Rocky Mountains, recording nearly one million photographs that reveal the extraordinary ongoing retreat of glaciers and ice sheets, and providing visual evidence vital to scientists studying glacier dynamics.

National Geographic showcased this work in the June 2007 and June 2010 issues and the EIS project was the focus of the 2009 NOVA documentary “Extreme Ice.”  It also was the subject of the feature-length documentary, “Chasing Ice,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January of this year.

Balog’s appearance is co-sponsored by Green Roots, the Fox Cities Book Festival, and Renewegy.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

 

Passion for Canoes Earns Will Meadows $25,000 Watson Fellowship

Unabashed nature enthusiast Will Meadows speaks of canoes in near reverential tones.  In his mind, canoes are as centric to the ecosystem as a bird’s nest or a beaver dam.

“Canoes represent the coexistence of creativity and nature,” says the Lawrence University senior. “They lie at the intersection of human ingenuity and place, vessels for exploration, artistic expression and sustenance.”

Will Meadows '12

Beginning in August, Meadows will spend a year immersing himself in canoe-building communities across five distinct environmental regions of the world as a 2012 Watson Fellow.

Meadows, an environmental studies major from Cincinnati, Ohio, was one of 40 undergraduates nationally awarded a $25,000 fellowship from the Rhode Island-based Thomas J. Watson Foundation for a year of independent travel and exploration outside the United States on a topic of the student’s choosing.

His proposal —”Humanity’s Vessel: The Art and Ecology of Canoes” — was selected from among 147 finalists representing 40 of the nation’s premier private liberal arts colleges and universities. More than 700 students applied for this year’s Watson Fellowship.

For much of his still-young life, Meadows has used canoes and rivers for his method and means of exploring the world, whether it was the Chao Phraya River in Thailand, the Jong River in Sierra Leone, the Rogue River in Oregon or the Boundary Waters Wilderness and Canoe Area in northern Minnesota.

“I would often escape to the river after school, looking for my true education,” said Meadows, who is spending his spring break on a 100-mile canoe trip down the Buffalo River in Arkansas. “In every way, rivers have been my teachers, my schools. Rivers define me. Moving steadily in a canoe is my natural experience.”

First Stop Lake Titicaca
Meadows will begin his “wanderjahr” at Lake Titicaca, on the border of Bolivia and Peru, working with the indigenous Uros peoples, who build reed canoes. There he also hopes to use his talents as a sculpture artist to create beautifully intricate reed dragon headed vessels with the Uros.

Next fall he will travel to the Solomon Islands, immersing himself in the ocean voyaging Polynesian canoe culture.

“I want to explore the art of the open-ocean canoe and the issues affecting the people of the sea as the struggle continues to preserve ancient voyaging knowledge and artisanship.”

On Tanzania’s ocean island of Zanzibar, Meadows will help construct outrigger dugout canoes and sail among Tanzania’s native fishing communities while studying the ecological issues affecting these peoples.

“My academic background in the environmental sciences as well as my professional experiences in sustainable agriculture, forestry, water and land management, will help me explore the conservation issues affecting the canoe-building natives,” said Meadows, who has been active in Lawrence’s on-campus sustainable garden and instrumental in the establishment of an on-campus orchard.

The diverse designs of North American native bark canoes will be Meadows’ focus for two months beginning in April 2013. Using Toronto as his base, Meadows will work with two world-renowned canoe builders, Rick Nash and Pinnock Smith of the Algonquin First Nation.

Meadows concludes his fellowship next summer in northern Norway with an apprenticeship in skin and canvas boat building with Anders Thygesen, founder of Kajakkspesialisten (the kayak specialist), a company renowned for its work in building traditional skin-on-frame sea kayaks and traditional paddles.

“As the final location in my journey,” said Meadows, “Kajakspecialisten will be a place to really consider what my role will be in this world after the Watson experience.”

An “ideal Watson Fellow”
Brian Pertl, dean of the conservatory of music and Lawrence’s campus liaison to the Watson Foundation, described Meadows as “an ideal Watson Fellow.”

“Will’s proposed canoe-building odyssey perfectly channels his deepest passion into an immersive multi-cultural experience,” said Pertl. “His endless curiosity, love of life and affable nature will make him an ideal ambassador for this most prestigious of fellowships. I am so excited for his success and can’t wait to see how this year changes his life.”

Over the course of the past year and a half, Meadows and a four-person crew, with help from the father of Lawrence geologist Marcia Bjornerud, constructed a 16-foot pine and walnut strip canoe on campus — a project he described as “the most meaningful and enveloping of my life. When she finally rode the water for the first time, I remember lying on my back looking at the sky from her seatless belly, and the border between river, canoe and person faded with the setting sun.”

According to Meadows, his Watson proposal is in many ways a paradoxical project.

“A global comparison of handcrafted vessels hasn’t been thoroughly conducted, so in that way this is a new and cutting edge idea. But it’s also the desire to transfer knowledge of some of the oldest practices of humankind. I might be one of the only people with the chance to learn techniques in all these diverse world canoe styles. This is an opportunity to find new meaning at the crossroads of all my passions, including writing, ecology, art, people and exploration. I can’t wait to dive in and challenge myself to the absolutely fullest during my Watson year.

“I encourage everyone to ask themselves the question, ‘what is my ultimate passion?,'” Meadows added. “Putting this proposal together has helped me answer that question, but more importantly it showed me the beauty in other people’s passions. What’s your Watson?”

Meadows is the 68th Lawrence student awarded a Watson Fellowship since the program’s inception in 1969. It was established by the children of Thomas J. Watson, Sr., the founder of International Business Machines Corp., and his wife, Jeannette, to honor their parents’ long-standing interest in education and world affairs.

Watson Fellows are selected on the basis of the nominee’s character, academic record, leadership potential, willingness to delve into another culture and the personal significance of the project proposal. Since its founding, nearly 2,600 fellowships have been awarded.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges by Forbes, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

Sculptor Rob Neilson Named One of 13 Fox Cities’ “Creatives”

Sculptor Rob Neilson

Sculptor Rob Neilson, associate professor of art and Frederick R. Layton Professor of Art, was among 13 “creatives” spotlighted in the March edition of Fox Cities Magazine for helping define “the Fox Cities’ new wave of artistic ambition.”

Best known for his public art, including last year’s “compassionate manhole covers,” which can be found in the sidewalks along College Ave. in downtown Appleton and on the Lawrence campus, Neilson was featured in a story examining community artists, creators and innovators who represent the potential the Fox Cities has “to make its mark on the creative world map.”

Download a PDF to read the article and check out this online only follow-up to the story.

About Lawrence University

Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.

Lawrence Film Series Features PBS’ Series “Women, War and Peace”

Three episodes from the PBS television series “Women, War and Peace,” which spotlights stories of women in conflict zones around the world, will be shown at Lawrence University’s Warch Campus Center cinema.

The series opens Friday, March 2 at 8 p.m. with “I Came to Testify,” the story of 16 women who testified against Serbian-led forces in the Bosnian war.

“Peace Unveiled,” which follows three Afghani women advocating for women’s rights during peace talks with the Taliban, will be shown Saturday, March 3 at 1 p.m.

The series closes Sunday, March 3 at 1 p.m. with a screening of “War Redefined,” a film that challenges the conventional wisdom that war and peace are a man’s domain through interviews with leading thinkers, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, Bosnian war crimes investigator Fadila Memisevic and globalization expert Moisés Naím.

Filmmaker Abigail Disney, who was awarded an honorary degree by Lawrence in 2010, served as an executive producer for the series.

About Lawrence University

Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a world-class conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. Ranked among America’s best colleges, it was selected for inclusion in the book “Colleges That Change Lives: 40 Schools That Will Change the Way You Think About College.” Individualized learning, the development of multiple interests and community engagement are central to the Lawrence experience. Lawrence draws its 1,445 students from 44 states and 35 countries.  Follow us on Facebook.