Saturday, Jan. 25 | 8 p.m.
Harper Hall
This concert will feature Conservatory faculty Brigit Fitzgerald (bassoon), Ann Ellsworth (horn), Zach Marley (tuba), Kivie Cahn-Lipman (cello), Andy Hudson (clarinet), and Cayla Rosché (voice), joined by eight students and narrator Marcia Bjornerud, Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies and professor of geosciences.
Come cheer on your Vikings at their home events this week!
Saturday, Jan. 25 | 6:30 p.m.
Warch Campus Center
All are invited to the 2025 Lunar New Year Celebration! The festivities will begin with cultural presentations and performances in Esch Hurvis, followed by a cultural expo and dinner in Somerset.
We would be delighted if you would join us in celebrating the New Year with our student organizations:
Friday, Jan. 24 | 12:30-2 p.m.
Memorial Chapel
The annual University Convocation shares ideas and provides insight on contemporary issues. Invited by the faculty Convocations and Commencement Committee, this address is delivered by individuals of high accomplishment in their respective field.
This year’s Convocation speaker is Patricia Smith: poet, spoken-word performer, playwright, author, and writing teacher.
Patricia Smith is the award-winning author of eight critically acclaimed books of poetry, including Unshuttered (Triquarterly Books, 2023); Incendiary Art (Triquarterly Books, 2017), winner of the 2018 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, the 2018 NAACP Image Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and finalist for the Pulitzer Prize; Shoulda Been Jimi Savannah (Coffee House Press, 2012), winner of the Lenore Marshall Prize from the Academy of American Poets; Blood Dazzler (Coffee House Press, 2008), a National Book Award finalist; and Gotta Go, Gotta Flow (CityFiles Press, 2015), a collaboration with award-winning Chicago photographer Michael Abramson. Her other books include the poetry volumes Teahouse of the Almighty (Coffee House Press, 2006), Big Towns Big Talk (Zoland Books, 2002), Close to Death (Zoland Books, 1998), and Life According to Motown (Tia Chucha, 1991); the children’s book Janna and the Kings (Lee & Low, 2013); and the history Africans in America (Mariner, 1999), a companion book to the award-winning PBS series. Her work has appeared in Poetry, The Paris Review, The Baffler, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and Tin House as well as Best American Poetry, Best American Essays, and Best American Mystery Stories. She co-edited The Golden Shovel Anthology—New Poems Honoring Gwendolyn Brooks (University of Arkansas Press, 2017), and edited the crime fiction anthology Staten Island Noir (Akashic Books, 2012).
Smith is a Guggenheim fellow, a Civitellian, a National Endowment for the Arts grant recipient, a finalist for the Neustadt Prize, a two-time winner of the Pushcart Prize, a former fellow at both Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony, and a four-time individual champion of the National Poetry Slam, the most successful poet in the competition’s history. She is a professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University, a former Distinguished Professor for the City University of New York, an Academy of American Poets Chancellor, and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Wednesday, Jan. 22 | 12-1 p.m.
Warch 226 – Mead Witter
This event features Dr. Timothy Shaffer, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse and Director of the SNF Ithaca Initiative in the Joseph R. Biden, Jr. School of Public Policy and Administration at the University of Delaware.
“Practical Politics: Real Talk, Real Strategies” invites students, faculty, and staff to explore the power of dialogue in driving change. Through interactive discussions, gain practical tools for navigating tough conversations, fostering civil discourse, and building strategies to make your voice matter in politics and beyond.
The Campus Conversations series brings together leading constitutional and legal scholars, along with civil discourse experts, to explore critical issues at the intersection of law, governance, and society. It aligns with Lawrence University’s mission by fostering engaged learning, cultivating sound judgment, and promoting respect for diverse perspectives in a transformative liberal arts environment.
Lunch will be available! Please RSVP by Jan. 20.
Watch for updates weekly; TBD dates will be filled in as learned. Please note that dates are subject to change due to weather or supply chain issues. Please be safe when in these areas!
We are hosting a Safety Planning Workshop geared toward 2SLGBTQIA+ students that is open to all students. We will meet Thursday, Jan. 16 from 4-6 p.m. in the Diversity & Intercultural Center.
Our friends at Diverse + Resilient will be sharing their wisdom on how marginalized people can live with safety in mind. The presentation will help you understand what safety Planning is and what strategies you can use to recognize and prepare for difficult or dangerous situations. You will also be able to work through some practice scenarios to use the tools you learned.
Safety Planning is important for all of us in marginalized communities, especially at a time when those who don’t believe in our rights are empowered.
If you plan on attending this event, please RSVP via the link below.
The Blu’s Food Pantry Winter Term Request Form is now open for pantry orders to be placed! The pantry provides food, hygiene products, and basic school supplies for students with need. Students can submit one order per week using this Microsoft Form.
If you are interested in donating to Blu’s Food Pantry, please place non-perishable donations in the boxes located around campus. Boxes are located in Warch, Memorial, Steitz, and the Con lobby. If you have any questions or notice a donation box needs to be emptied, please contact diversitycenter@lawrence.edu.
Wednesday, Jan. 22
Faculty & Staff Lunch | Noon | Warch 226 – Mead Witter
Student Dinner | 5:30 p.m. | Warch 325 – Pusey
The Campus Conversations series continues with Dr. Timothy Shaffer, PhD. Dr. Shaffer is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Chair of Civil Discourse at the University of Delaware, focusing on civic engagement, deliberative democracy, and transformative educational practices globally.
“Practical Politics: Real Talk, Real Strategies” invites students, faculty, and staff to explore the power of dialogue in driving change. Through interactive discussions, you will gain practical tools for navigating tough conversations, fostering civil discourse, and building strategies to make your voice matter in politics and beyond.
All faculty and staff are invited to a lunch event at noon in Mead Witter. All students are invited to a dinner event at 5:30 PM in the Pusey Room. RSVP in advance.
Saturday, Jan. 18
12-2 p.m. | Warch 225 – Esch Hurvis
Elise Knudson and rebeca medina will join to share their body-mind practices of listening to the pull of the earth and to each other. This class will start with a detailed warm-up of the spine and will move into exploring states of touch and movement. This will develop into a dance where the focus will be on discovering new challenges in the specific excavation of pouring weight.
No registration is required. Some understanding or knowledge of Contact Improvisation appreciated/expected.
Email Margaret Paek with questions (margaret.s.paek@lawrence.edu).
7 p.m. | Warch 225 – Esch Hurvis
U.F.O. (Uncharted Forms of the Occasion) is an improvisational performance practice bringing together musicians and movers to spontaneously compose for an audience. Inspired by a lineage of improvisational group performance formats such as Hyperlocal MKE and Lower Left’s Available Space in San Diego, U.F.O. is a site for artists to gather and create—relying on their years of individual improvisational research and practices to support this delightful and sometimes precarious community endeavor.
This iteration of U.F.O. is directed by special Dance Series artists Elise Knudson + rebeca medina and collaboratively and improvisationally created and performed by Elise Knudson, rebeca medina, Greg Riss, Jean Carlo Ureña Gonzalez, Loren Kiyoshi Dempster, Margaret Sunghe Paek, Matt Turner, Mauriah Donegan Kraker, and Tim Albright.
