APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University President Jill Beck officially opens the college’s 161st academic year as well as the 2009-10 convocation series Thursday, Sept. 17 with the matriculation address “The State of the University: Challenges and Opportunities.” The convocation, at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, is free and open to the public.
Beck will discuss the momentum currently underway at Lawrence despite the obstacles posed by the current economic downturn, including the completion of the Richard and Margot Warch Campus Center, the College Ave. median garden and the structural and aesthetic renovations of the iconic Memorial Chapel, as well as other innovative initiatives on campus and in the community as a result of faculty and student engagement. The convocation will celebrate the achievements of students, faculty and staff in enacting the mission of the college.
As part of the convocation Jeff Clark, associate professor of geology and faculty associate to the president on the Green Roots program, a campus-wide sustainability initiative launched in the fall of 2008, will provide a progress report after one year of the program and lay out goals for the coming academic year.
Beck, the first woman appointed president of Lawrence, is in her sixth year as head of the college. Since assuming the presidency in 2004, she has focused on strengthening Lawrence’s commitment to individualized instruction, increasing collaborative and complementary activities between the fine and performing arts and the traditional liberal arts and sciences and encouraging more active community engagement by Lawrence faculty, students and staff.
Prior to being named Lawrence’s president, Beck spent eight years (1995-2003) as the dean of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine, where she established the daVinci Research Center for Learning Through the Arts, an interdisciplinary center for research focused on learning across disciplines.
A native of Worcester, Mass., Beck earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and art history from Clark University, a master’s degree in history and music from McGill University, and a Ph.D. in theatre history and criticism from the City University of New York. She served on the faculties of City College of the City of New York and The Juilliard School and has written extensively in the fields of dance history, theory, repertory, and technique, as well as choreographing and directing ballet and modern dance repertory.
Joining Beck on the 2009-10 convocation series are:
• Oct. 20, 2009 – Marcia Bjornerud, Lawrence University professor of geology and Walter Schober Professor of Environmental Studies. A structural geologist, Bjørnerud is the author of the book “Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth,” a history of the Earth and the toll human activity is exacting on the planet. A recipient of two Fulbright Scholar fellowships, she appears on this year’s series as the first recipient of Lawrence’s new Faculty Convocation Award, which honors a faculty member for professional excellence.
• Feb. 16, 2010 – Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S., the world’s largest sustainability agency. In 1996 at the age of 23, Werbach became the youngest-ever national president of the Sierra Club. He is the author of the 2009 book “Strategy for Sustainability,” an appeal to the business world to address social and cultural trends as well as environmental and economic ones.
• April 8, 2010 – Rebecca Solnit, award-winning writer and essayist, whose work focuses on issues of the environment, landscape and place. A contributing editor to Harper’s magazine, she is the author of more than a half dozen books, including 2007’s “Storming the Gates of Paradise: Landscapes for Politics,” an anthology of nearly 40 of her essays from the past 10 years.
• May 20, 2010 – Robert Hartwell, Vermont State Senator. A 1969 Lawrence graduate, Hartwell has been an advocate for environmental protection and land use issues, including the most comprehensive energy legislation ever enacted in Vermont. He currently serves as a trustee of the Vermont Land Trust and the Vermont River Conservancy.
