Elizabethtown College News 
Back to top 3/31/2008 Student's essay featured on NPR's 'This I Believe' Stephanie Patterson of Elkins Park, a first-year actuarial science major at Elizabethtown College, recently recorded an  essay for the National Public Radio (NPR) program “This I Believe.”Patterson and classmates in adjunct faculty member Deborah Linder’s “Writing and Language” course submitted an essay for consideration to WITF-FM, the Harrisburg NPR affiliate. During Spring Break, she learned her essay was selected and traveled to record her piece, which focused on cell phone courtesy. “I decided to write the essay on cell phone courtesy because it was the topic that I felt the strongest about,” Patterson said. “I have had many experiences where cell phone courtesy was ignored, so I just wanted to express my anger and frustration on the topic.” In her essay, Patterson noted the irony of today’s cell phone usage, saying that “we as a society are growing further and further apart by the technology that is supposed to be bringing us together.” The entire essay is being podcasted through WITF-FM’s website at http://www.witf.org/podcasts/This_I_Believe.xml. Created in the 1950s by journalist Edward R. Murrow, “This I Believe” featured Americans from all walks of life sharing their views and opinions about topics as diverse as the importance of self-worth and the value of patience. Patterson was told by representatives from the station that she is the first college student chosen to record an essay since WITF-FM reincarnated the program in April 2005. Back to top 3/26/2008 Theatre program to present 'Diary of Anne Frank' Elizabethtown College’s theatre program will present “The Diary of Anne Frank,” in its recent adaptation by Wendy Kesselman,  at 8 p.m. on April 10 – 12 and 17-19 in Tempest Theatre. Tickets cost $5 and are available by calling 717-361-1170.In addition, two faculty members will discuss the historical context and continued relevance of the play at 7 p.m., April 10, in Tempest Theatre. Presenters for that event, which is open to the public free of charge, are Director of the Center for Global Citizenship and Associate Professor of International Relations Bill Ayres and Visiting Professor of Hebrew Bible Erika Fitz. Written by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett in 1955 and the recipient of that year’s Pulitzer Prize for drama, “The Diary of Anne Frank” is based on the internationally acclaimed journal of a Jewish family’s experience in hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam during World War II. Kesselman’s adaptation was created for the Tony-nominated 1997 Broadway revival with Natalie Portman as Anne. This version restructures the play’s opening scene, gives the characters better definition, includes more of the Jewish aspects of their lives, and, most importantly, includes material from the definitive version of the diary, published after Anne’s father Otto died, which includes Anne’s writings about her dawning sexuality, her parents’ strained marriage and her own conflicts with her mother. About the photo: Emily Knitter, a first-year elementary education major from Selinsgrove, will portray Anne Frank; and Mike Gephart, a senior theatre major from York, will portray Peter Van Daan. In addition to “The Diary of Anne Frank,” the College will sponsor several other free, public events that focus on the Holocaust. Associate Professor of History David Brown will present “The U.S. Response to the Holocaust” at 11 a.m., April 16, in Room 212 of the Hoover Center for Business. His presentation will explore the reasons why the United States was slow to react to the destruction of European Jewry; its efforts to integrate a de-Nazified West Germany into the Cold War crusade against communism; and its responses to other instances of global genocide. A hobby-horse of the politicians, the Holocaust has drawn considerable interest from the American left, center and right. How they have used this tragic historical event to draw attention to their particular causes will also be discussed. Back to top 3/21/2008 PA State Police Commissioner Miller '95 to speak Pennsylvania State Police Commissioner Jeffrey Miller '95, who received national and international attention for his handling of the 2006  Amish school tragedy in Nickel Mines, will return to his alma mater to discuss the criminal justice perspective of the event.Col. Miller will speak at 7 p.m., April 1, in Elizabethtown College’s Gibble Auditorium. His talk, a fundraiser for the Sociology and Criminal Justice Club, is open to the public. Tickets cost $1 and will be sold beginning at 6:15 p.m. that evening. Half of the proceeds will go to the Club and the other half to the Domestic Violence Services of Lancaster County. Miller holds an associate’s degree from the University of South Florida. As a continuing education student, he earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Elizabethtown College in 1995, and then earned a master’s degree in public administration from the Pennsylvania State University. A former adjunct professor of criminal justice at Elizabethtown, Miller this year received the College’s Educate for Service award, the highest honor given to alumni. Back to top 3/18/2008 Poet Laureate Ted Kooser to read from works Two-time American Poet Laureate Ted Kooser will read from his works at 8 p.m., March 31, in Elizabethtown College’s Leffler Chapel  and Performance Center. His talk, sponsored by the Elizabethtown College Poetry Series, is open to the public free of charge. Free tickets required for the event are available by calling 717-361-4757.A professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Kooser is the author of 11 full-length collections of poetry, including “Delights and Shadows,” “Weather Central,” and his newest book, “The Poetry Home Repair Manual.” He has been awarded two National Endowment for the Arts fellowships in poetry, the Pushcart Prize, the Stanley Kunitz Prize, The James Boatwright III Prize for Poetry and a Merit Award from the Nebraska Arts Council. He is the winner of the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for “Delights and Shadows.” Back to top 3/17/2008 F.W. de Klerk to offer Ware Lecture on Peacemaking F.W. de Klerk, former president of South Africa, will present Elizabethtown College’s 2008 Ware Lecture on Peacemaking at  7:30 p.m., April 8, in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. The event is open to the public free of charge. Tickets are required and are available by calling 717-361-4757.As his most memorable contribution to peace, de Klerk supported the end of South Africa’s system of racial segregation and released political prisoners, including Nelson Mandela. Through skillful negotiation, he helped orchestrate the legislative dismantling of apartheid and the drafting of a new national constitution. De Klerk’s efforts were recognized with the Prix du Courage Internationale (The Prize for Political Courage), the Prince of Asturias Prize in Spain, and the UNESCO Houphouet-Boigny Prize. In 1993, he and Nelson Mandela were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize and the Philadelphia Peace Prize. De Klerk currently serves as the chairman of the F.W. de Klerk Foundation. He also is honorary chairman of the Prague Society for International Cooperation in the Czech Republic and a member of the Assembly of the Parliament of Cultures in Istanbul, and he plays a substantial role in Forum 2000, a think-tank initiated by former Czechoslovakian President Vaclav Havel and Nobel laureate Eli Wiesel. In addition, de Klerk serves on the advisory boards of the Peres Centre for Peace in Israel and the Global Panel in Germany. The Ware Lecture on Peacemaking is sponsored by Elizabethtown College alumna and Trustee Judy S. Ware ’68 and husband Paul, residents of Lancaster. Back to top 3/11/2008 Women's History Month speaker to discuss militarization of American culture Clark University professor Cynthia Enloe will be the featured Women’s History Month speaker at Elizabethtown College. Her  presentation, “Women, the Iraq War, and the Militarization of American Culture,” will begin at 7:30 p.m., March 13, in the Event Space of Brossman Commons. The event is open to the public free of charge.Enloe’s numerous books include “The Curious Feminist: Searching for Women in the New Age of Empire,” “The Morning After: Sexual Politics at the End of the Cold War,” and “Bananas, Beaches, and Bases: Making Feminist Sense of International Politics.” Copies of her 2007 book “Globalization and Militarism: Feminists Make the Link” will be available for purchase at the College Store. Her presentation is sponsored by the Women and Gender Studies program with support from the Leffler Fund, the Center for Global Citizenship, the Department of Political Science, and Pi Sigma Alpha, the Political Science Honorary Society. Back to top 3/3/2008 Hess Gallery to host exhibit by award-winning children’s book illustrator Illustrations by Chris Raschka, recipient of the 2006 Caldecott Medal for the best children’s picture book, will be exhibited in  Elizabethtown College’s Hess Gallery from March 10 – April 18. An opening reception has been scheduled from 4 to 6 p.m., April 1, in Hess Gallery. Raschka will also discuss his work and sign books at 7 p.m. that evening in High Library.In addition, Raschka will offer a talk at 11 a.m., April 2, in Leffler Chapel and Performance Center. All events are open to the public free of charge. Hours for Hess Gallery, which is located in Zug Hall, are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends. With thoughts of becoming a zoologist, Raschka attended St. Olaf College in Minnesota and graduated with a degree in biology. Just prior to beginning his first day of medical school, however, he decided to pursue a career in art. He has since produced a range of outstanding books that led Publishers Weekly to call him “one of the most original illustrators at work today.” Raschka has more than 40 children’s books to his credit, including his Caldecott Medal-winner “The Hello, Goodbye Window.” He has also done illustration for “A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems,” a critically acclaimed anthology that was both a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book and a Publisher Weekly Best Book of the Year. More recently, he again paired up with “A Poke in the I” partner Paul B. Janeszko to create “A Kick in the Head: An Everyday Guide to Poetic Forms,” which teaches readers the excitement and challenge that can be found in playing by the rules of poetry. Raschka illustrated Dylan Thomas’s timeless prose poem “A Child’s Christmas in Wales,” helping to produce a New York Times Book Review Best Illustrated Children’s Book. And he was a force behind “I Pledge Allegiance,” a picture book cowritten by children's author Bill Martin Jr. and fellow literacy expert Michael Sampson. He also wrote and illustrated, with artist Vladimir Radunsky, the picture book “Table Manners.” Raschka’s newest title, “The Grasshopper’s Song,” written by Nikki Giovanni, will be out in May. |
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