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New U.N. Ambassador Nominee Holds Honorary Degree from Lawrence University

Samantha Power, President Barack Obama’s recent nominee as new U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has a Lawrence University connection.

U.S. Ambassador to the UN nominee Samantha Power received an honorary degree from Lawrence in 2004. (Official White House Photo by Amanda Lucidon)

President Richard Warch awarded Power an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters — her first honorary degree — at Lawrence’s 2004 commencement. At the time, she was a lecturer in public policy at Harvard University’s  John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The year before Lawrence recognized her with an honorary doctorate, Power had won the 2003 Pulitzer Prize in the general non-fiction category for her book “A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide,” which examines U.S. responses to genocide in the 20th century. The book also earned the 2003 National Book Critics Circle Award and the Council on Foreign Relations’ Arthur Ross Prize for the best book in U.S. foreign policy.

A long-time Obama advisor, Power currently serves as the president’s senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights. Her nomination is subject to U.S. Senate confirmation.

Lawrence holds its 2013 commencement Sunday, June 9. Celebrated University of Chicago Professor Martha Nussbaum will be this year’s honorary degree recipient.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Author, Scholar Martha Nussbaum Receiving Honorary Degree at Lawrence’s 164th Commencement

Martha Nussbaum, one of the world’s pre-eminent scholars, public intellectuals and an award-winning author, will receive an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree Sunday, June 9 at Lawrence University’s 164th commencement.

Martha Nussbaum will receive an honorary degree from Lawrence June 9 at its 164th commencement.

Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics at the University of Chicago, Nussbaum also will serve as the principal commencement speaker. This will be Nussbaum’s second appearance at Lawrence. She was a speaker on Lawrence’s 2000-01 convocation series.

Lawrence is expected to award 308 bachelor degrees to 290 students from 32 states and nine countries during commencement exercises that begin at 10:30 a.m. on Main Hall green. The ceremony is free and open to the public.

For the second straight year, Lawrence will provide a live webcast of its commencement ceremony.

Lawrence will hold a baccalaureate service Saturday, June 8 at 11 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Joy Jordan, associate professor of statistics, presents “Your One Wild and Precious Life.”  The baccalaureate service and commencement exercise are both free and open to the public.

Retiring President Jill Beck, who is presiding over her ninth and final commencement, along with Lawrence Board of Trustees Chair Terry Franke ’68 and senior Yagmur Esemen from Nicosia, Cyprus, also will address the graduates.

Before joining the University of Chicago in 1995, Nussbaum taught at Harvard and Brown universities. At the same time, she served seven years as a research advisor at the World Institute for Development Economics Research in Helsinki, which is part of the United Nations University.

As the holder of the Freund chair, Nussbaum has full appointments in the University of Chicago’s philosophy department and the law school, as well as associate appointments in the political science and classics departments and the divinity school. She is also a member of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies and a board member of the Human Rights Program.

A Champion of Liberal Education

Beck called Nussbaum “a great defender of the liberal arts and exemplary role model for our students.”

“She demonstrates how to bridge effectively scholarly interests with issues of the day and with the need for taking informed positions in our lives and societies. In Dr. Nussbaum’s case, she uses her knowledge of classics to generate contemporary political critique. I’m sure the graduating students will enjoy meeting her and hearing her perspectives.”

Nussbaum is widely regarded as one of the country’s most celebrated philosophers and celebrated thinkers. She believes philosophers should act as “lawyers for humanity” to address questions of justice, basing her work on a political philosophy of human capability and functioning that has both Aristotelian and Kantian roots. Her scholarship also has focused on the transformative aspects of the connections between literature and philosophy.

“As we tell stories about the lives of others,” Nussbaum has said, “we learn how to imagine what another creature might feel in response to various events.  At the same time, we identify with the other creature and learn something about ourselves.”

Award-winning author

A prolific writer with more than 350 published scholarly articles, Nussbaum is the author of nearly three dozen books, including 2010’s “Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities,” in which she argues that the humanities are an essential element for the quality of democracy. Her book “Cultivating Humanity: A Classical Defense of Reform in Liberal Education,” was recognized with the Ness Book Award of the Association of American Colleges and Universities and the University of Louisville’s Grawemeyer Award in Education.

Nussbaum has been the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including the 2012 Phi Beta Kappa’s Sidney Hook Memorial Award, which honors national distinction by a scholar in the areas of scholarship, undergraduate teaching and leadership in the cause of liberal arts education. In 2012 she also received Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Social Science. The award honors a person whose work “constitutes a significant contribution to the benefit of mankind.”

A native of New York City, Nussbaum earned a bachelor’s degree in 1969 from New York University, where she studied theatre and classics. She went on to earn master’s and doctoral degrees in classical philology from Harvard University.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Theatre Arts Department Presents Irish Historic Drama “The Plough and the Stars”

Irish playwright Sean O’Casey’s dramatic story on Ireland’s revolt against British rule will be retold May 9-11 in four performances of Lawrence University’s production of “The Plough and the Stars.”

Performances will be staged in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center at 8 p.m. each night with an additional 3 p.m. matinee Saturday, May 11. Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for students and seniors (free to Lawrence students/faculty/staff with I.D.), are available at the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749.

Written just a decade after the “Easter Rising,” an armed insurrection staged in 1916 with the goal of ending British occupation of Ireland, “The Plough and the Stars” explores the events leading to the uprising as experienced by working-class occupants of a Dublin tenement house. Ten years after the uprising, O’Casey’s poetic portrayal of the still-sensitive subject matter sparked a riot at the play’s 1926 premier at the Abbey Theatre.

“Sudden political changes can spark unforeseen social consequences including divided families, civilian casualties and a crisis of faith in social institution,” said director and Professor of Theatre Arts Timothy X. Troy.”Our production will be thoroughly rooted in the close quarters of a tenement house in Dublin, highlighting the local accent, use of idiomatic language and how people with a variety of perspectives lived in same household.”

Employing both heartbreak and humor, O’Casey’s play focuses on the social and political complexities of the Easter Rising without glorifying violence in the name of freedom.

Junior Erik Morrison, an English and theatre arts major from Denver, Colo., spent the 2012-13 fall term studying theatre in Dublin.  He was cast in the production as Captain Brennan of the Irish Citizen Army.

“It’s great to be able to thank my Irish friends by doing a play central to their history and one that honors what’s best about Ireland and the Irish in times of crisis,” said Morrison. “I couldn’t think of a better play for such a bitterly polarized time in our own country.”

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

David Cordie Senior Experience Exhibited at UW-Fox’s Valley’s Weis Earth Science Museum

Mazon Creek fossilized fern frond.

As part of his Senior Experience, Lawrence University senior biology major David Cordie is curating an exhibition of fossils detailing climate change that will be featured at UW-Fox’s Valley’s Weis Earth Science Museum beginning Wednesday, May 8.

The exhibition features a dozen plant fossils from the Mazon Creek fossil bed in northern Illinois. Cordie also created several posters to accompany the fossils, explaining what they reveal about the region’s climate approximately 350 million years ago. It will be on display until mid-July. Cordie began the project last summer as part of an internship with Weis Museum director Joanne Kluessendorf.

“As director of the Weis Earth Science Museum, I want to take every opportunity to underscore the importance of the museum and its staff as a community resource,” said Kluessendorf.  “So, it was particularly enjoyable to share my expertise in paleontology as well as the museum fossil collections with a Lawrence student. David proved to be an excellent intern and I know that museum visitors will find his exhibit informative. I was also gratified that David chose to pursue a graduate degree in paleontology after this internship and has been accepted into the graduate program at the University of Iowa.”

The Weis Earth Science Museum is open Monday-Thursday, 12-4 p.m.; Friday 12-7 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Sunday 1-5 p.m.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Lawrence Hosts Premiere Screening of “Surviving Anschluss” May 7

Holocaust survivor Curtis Brown of Neenah will be one of four Viennese emigrés featured in the world premiere of the Lawrence University documentary film “Surviving Anschluss,” Tuesday, May 7 at 7 p.m in the Warch Campus Center cinema. The screening is free and open to the public.

Inspired by Lawrence’s May, 2012 multimedia Holocaust  Symposium, the film includes clips from the symposium as well as individual interviews with the four survivors. In addition to Brown, Anne Kelemen, Gerda Lederer and Renee Weiner, all from New York City, share their personal stories of fleeing Austria in 1938 to escape the Nazis. Anschluss refers to the occupation and annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany.

The documentary, made by students in Lawrence’s Film Studies program, was produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Catherine Tatge, who is serving as an artist-in-resident at Lawrence, and co-directed and edited by Anna Ryndova Johnson.

The 2012 Holocaust Symposium was produced by Professor of Music Catherine Kautsky, who was inspired by the stories of her parents who emigrated from Vienna to America following the Anschluss. Collaborating with faculty members in departments and disciplines across campus and with assistance from the Lawrence Hillel chapter, Kautsky created a three-day commemoration that featured lectures, discussions, gallery exhibitions and concerts. A performance of Paul Schoenfield’s chamber work “Camp Songs” was a highlight of the symposium and excerpts are woven throughout the film.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Campus Screening of Just-Released Film Comedy “Oconomowoc” Features Plenty of Lawrence Connections

Andy Gillies is returning to his alma mater, and he’s bringing his directorial debut film with him.

The 2004 Lawrence graduate will be on hand for a screening of his feature-length film “Oconomowoc” Thursday, May 2 at 9 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. Sponsored by the Lawrence University Film Club, the screening is free and open to the public.

Gillies, who wrote, directed and acted in the film, will conduct a Q & A following its screening.

A deadpan comedy set in its title Waukesha County town (the hometown of a one-time girlfriend of Gillies), the film has more Lawrentian fingerprints on it than just Gillies.’ The story follows 20-something slacker Lonnie Washington, portrayed by fellow 2004 Lawrence graduate Brendan Marshall-Rashid with “goofy soulfulness” as noted by the Hollywood Reporter, who moves back home.

Quirky characters abound, including Todd, Lonnie’s 30-year-old stepfather played by 2005 Lawrence grad Andrew Rozanski, and Travis, an old friend eager to recruit Lonnie in a poorly run T-shirt making business, portrayed by Gillies.

Deemed “an engagingly cynical ode to futility” by Slate Magazine, the film’s do-it-yourself aesthetic is complimented by an improvised acoustic score composed by Gillies, Marshall-Rashid and director of photography/editor Joe Haas.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

 

 

Lawrence University TEDx Event Explores Future of Liberal Education

Eleven thought leaders share their insights and perspectives on the value and evolution of a liberal arts education in a rapidly changing world May 3 during a TEDx event at Lawrence University.

Featuring a line-up of intellectual leaders, pioneers and critics, TEDxLawrenceU — “Reimagining Liberal Education” — is designed to spark a national conversation on the future of liberal education, address some of the important issues that have sparked national debate and commentary and ultimately lead to constructive changes at liberal arts colleges.

Beginning at 9 a.m., the event  will be broken into four separate sessions of approximately 90 minutes each.

Among the scheduled TEDxLawrenceU presenters are Lawrence President Jill Beck, Chronicle of Higher Education editor-at-large and author of the forthcoming (May 7 release) book “College (Un)Bound” Jeff Selingo and Daphne Koller, a Stanford University professor and co-founder of Coursera, an educational technology company that offers massive open online courses (MOOCs).

Through short presentations — no presenter is allowed to talk for more than 18 minutes — speakers will address such issues as:

• is online education a threat to liberal education or should it be embraced as part of the solution?

• is the financial model of liberal arts colleges viable in the 21st century?

• can liberal arts colleges remain relevant in a changing society?

• do governance structure and the organizational model of liberal arts colleges need radical reform?

“TEDx events are about powerful and stimulating talks that spur thought and discussion, and ultimately action,” said Adam Galambos, assistant professor of economics and a member of the event’s organizing committee. “TEDxLawrenceU brings that spirit to tackling some of the most fundamental questions and challenges that liberal arts colleges are facing today. We have put together an exciting program that draws on a variety of perspectives. It will be an exciting day, but I’m confident the talks we will hear, whether live or via the webcast, will be topics of conversations for long after that.”

In addition to the live presentations, three TEDTalk videos will be shown. In one, British author and visionary cultural leader Sir Ken Robinson argues we don’t get the best of people because they are educated to become good workers, not creative thinkers. In another, Liz Coleman, president of Bennington College, proposes a truly cross-disciplinary educational model that dynamically combines all areas of study and bucks the trend toward increasingly narrow areas of study. The third will be chosen just before the event opens.

The presentations will be accessible to the public via a free live video feed in Lawrence’s Warch Campus Center and all talks will be available on the TEDx YouTube channel shortly after the event.

About TEDx, x = independently organized event

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.

About TED 

TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with many initiatives.

At a TED conference, the world’s leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes or less. TED speakers have included Roger Ebert, Sheryl Sandberg, Bill Gates, Elizabeth Gilbert, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Brian Greene, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Three major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Vancouver, Canada, simultaneous with TEDActive, in Whistler, BC; and the TEDGlobal Conference takes place each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland.

On TED.com, talks from TED conferences are shared with the world for free as TED Talks videos. A new TED Talk is posted every weekday. Through the Open Translation Project, TED Talks are subtitled by volunteers worldwide into more than 90 languages. Through our distribution networks, TED Talks are shared on TV, radio, Netflix and many websites.

The TEDx initiative grants free licenses to people around the world to organize TED-style events in their communities with TED Talks and live speakers. More than 5,000 TEDx events have been held, and selected talks from these events are also turned into TED Talks videos.

The annual TED Prize grants $1 million to an exceptional individual with a wish to change the world. The TED Fellows program helps world-changing innovators from around the globe to become part of the TED community and, with its help, amplify the impact of their remarkable projects and activities. TED-Ed creates short video lessons by pairing master teachers with animators, for use in classroom instruction or independent learning.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Earth Day Presentation Features Native American Author, Environmentalist Winona LaDuke

Native American author and environmental activist Winona LaDuke explores how connections to the land can help move societies and economies forward to a better environmental future in a Lawrence University Earth Week presentation.  LaDuke’s address, Tuesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. in Youngchild Hall 121, is free and open to the public.

Winona LaDuke
Winona LaDuke

A  member of the Mississippi Band Anishinaabeg who lives and works on the White Earth Reservations in Northern Minnesota, LaDuke has written extensively on Native American and environmental issues, including 2011’s “The Militarization of Indian Country,” “Recovering the Sacred: the Power of Naming and Claiming” and “All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life.”

LaDuke is the co-founder of Honor the Earth, a Native American-led organization that seeks to break the geographic and political isolation of Native communities and increase financial resources for organizing and change.

Time Magazine named LaDuke one of America’s 50 most promising leaders under the age of 40 in 1994 and Ms. Magazine honored her as its 1998 “Woman of the Year” for her work with Honor the Earth.

A graduate of Harvard and Antioch Universities, LaDuke served as Ralph Nader’s vice presidential running mate on the Green Party ticket in the 1996 and 2000 presidential elections.

Her appearance is sponsored by the student organization Greenfire and the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Lawrence Welcomes Authors for Fox Cities Book Festival

Lawrence University will host visits by three authors and a documentary film screening in conjunction with the 6th annual Fox Cities Book Festival.  All events are free and open to the public. Lawrence is one of the sponsors of the book festival.

Lisa Genova

Writer and neuroscientist Lisa Genova, author of the New York Times’ bestsellers “Love Anthony,” “Still Alice” and “Left Neglected” speaks Friday, April 19 at 6:30 p.m. in Harper Hall. Genova, who writes “about people living with neurological diseases and conditions that are feared, ignored, or misunderstood,” has appeared on Dr. Oz and CNN and was featured in the Emmy Award-winning documentary film about Alzheimer’s, “To Not Fade Away.”

Humorist Michael Perry, author of the memoirs “Population 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time,” “Truck: A Love Story” and “Coop: A Year of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting,” appears Saturday, April 20 at 12 noon in the Warch Campus Center.

Michael Perry

Perry, who grew up on a small dairy farm and today makes his home in rural Wisconsin, has written for The New York Times Magazine as well as Esquire, Outside and Backpacker magazines and is a contributing editor to Men’s Health.

Jennifer Cockrall-King

Award-winning Canadian food journalist Jennifer Cockrall-King discusses her book “Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution” Monday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 102.

Cockrall-King examines alternative food systems in cities around the globe that are shortening their food chains, growing food within their city limits and taking their “food security” into their own hands Monday, April 22 at 7 p.m. in Thomas Steitz Hall of Science Room 102. Her appearance is supported by Lawrence’s Spoerl Lecture in Science and Society.

The film “Chasing Ice,” a documentary by National Geographic photographer James Balog will be shown Tuesday, April 16 at 7 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema. The film follows Balog’s journey across the Arctic documenting melting glaciers over a three-year period. A discussion will be held following the screening.

David McGlynn

Lawrence Associate Professor of English David McGlynn delivers the talk “From Essay to Memoir: The Conversion of a Door in the Ocean” Wednesday, April 24 at 7 p.m. at Thomas A. Lyons Fine Books, 124 W. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 140, Neenah.

Last month McGlynn was named recipient of the Council for Wisconsin Writers’ Kenneth Kingery/August Derleth Nonfiction Book Award for “A Door in the Ocean,” which traces McGlynn’s journey from competitive swimming and family tragedy through radical evangelicalism and adult life.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.

Flutist Leo Sussman Wins State Competition

Lawrence University sophomore Leo Sussman earned first-place honors in the recent Wisconsin Flute Festival Young Artist Collegiate Competition in Madison.

Leo Sussman ’15

Sussman was one of three flutists who performed a 15-minute program of his choosing in the finals held at the Pyle Center at the University of Wisconsin. Finalists were selected based on a previously submitted unedited recording of two contrasting movements from John La Montaine’s “Sonata for Flute Solo, Op. 24.” Sussman received $300 for his winning performance.

This was his second competition win as a Lawrence student. Last July, he won the San Francisco Flute Festival in his hometown.

A double degree candidate pursuing majors in flute performance and physics, Sussman is a student in the studio of assistant professor of music Erin Lesser.

The Wisconsin Flute Festival, sponsored by the Madison Flute Club, is an annual flute event featuring competitions, workshops and performances by a variety of professional flutists.

About Lawrence University
Founded in 1847, Lawrence University uniquely integrates a college of liberal arts and sciences with a nationally recognized conservatory of music, both devoted exclusively to undergraduate education. It was selected for inclusion in the Fiske Guide to Colleges 2013 and 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 1,500 students from nearly every state and more than 50 countries. Follow Lawrence on Facebook.