University Hosts Seventh Annual Social Powwow

Willamette University will host the Seventh Annual Social Powwow Saturday, March 14, in Cone Field House at Sparks Athletic Center. The free event, which is open to the public, begins with a Grand Entry at 4 p.m.

The event will include Native arts and crafts, food, dancers, drum groups, a raffle for a Pendleton blanket and a men’s Grass Dance contest. The master of ceremonies is Bob Tom, the arena director is David West and the host drum is Steiger Butte.

The powwow is sponsored by Willamette’s Native American Enlightenment Association and the Office of Multicultural Affairs. For more information call (503) 370-6265.

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Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series and Salem Chamber Orchestra Bring Conductor/Pianist for Residency

Internationally renowned conductor and concert pianist Xu Zhong will be visiting artist-in-residence at Willamette University for 10 days in February. Maestro Xu Zhong’s residency will include a solo piano recital Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m., a piano master class Feb. 10 at 11:30 a.m., and two concerts with the Salem Chamber Orchestra (SCO) Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. and Feb. 15 at 3 p.m. All performances are in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette.

The solo recital program, sponsored by the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series, will feature two of Beethoven’s monumental piano sonatas, “Sonata in F minor, Op. 57” (Appassionata) and the “Sonata in A Major, Op. 101.” Also on the program are works by Liszt and Stravinsky.

Xu Zhong will be featured as both conductor and soloist with SCO. He will take the podium for Mozart’s beloved “Overture to Don Giovanni,” and then conduct from the piano as he performs Mozart’s piano concertos K. 467 in C major and K. 595 in B-flat major.

One of China’s most active and influential pianists and conductors, Xu Zhong is the executive artistic director of the Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra and music director of the Shanghai Sinfonietta. He has enjoyed successful collaborations with many of the world’s most renowned musicians and has appeared as guest conductor with Orchestre National de France, Moscow State Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, Houston Symphony, China Philharmonic, Japan Philharmonic, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Israel Chamber Orchestra and Netherlands Chamber Orchestra in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw.

“Mr. Xu Zhong is outstanding among his generation,” wrote the Rome Times in Italy. “His talent, fantastic skills, incomparable control and elegance will make him a star worldwide.”

Xu Zhong claimed the first prize in prestigious piano competitions, including the 5th Tokyo International and the 10th Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. “Xu Zhong has definitely become the greatest winner in the history of the Tchaikovsky International Competition,” wrote Russia’s Moscow Daily newspaper.

His concert career as a pianist and conductor includes regular performances in Europe, North and South America, and Southeast Asia. “La Folle Journee de Nantes au Japon,” held in May 2005, cited him as one of the most exciting pianists to emerge on the world stage.

Tickets for SCO concerts are $10–$20 for adults, $10 for education employees and $5 for students, with reserved seating. Tickets for the Grace Goudy Distinguished Artists Series recital are $20 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, with general seating. A service charge will be added. The master class is free and open to the public.

Tickets for these events are available through the Pentacle Theatre Box Office, at www.pentacletheatre.org or (503) 485-4300. For more information contact the Salem Chamber Orchestra office at (503) 480-1128 or the Willamette University Music Department at (503) 370-6255.

Xu Zhong Residency Schedule

Sun., Feb. 8
Solo Piano Recital, 7:30 p.m. (adults $20, students/seniors $12)

Tues., Feb. 10
Master Class for Pianists, 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m. (free)

Sat., Feb. 14
Salem Chamber Orchestra, 7:30 p.m. (adults $10–$20, education employees $10, students $5)

Sun., Feb. 15
Salem Chamber Orchestra, 3 p.m. (adults $10–$20, education employees $10, students $5)

All performances are in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center at Willamette University at 900 State Street in Salem, Ore.

SCO’s performances of “Drs. William and Selma Moon Pierce Masterworks Series: Program II” are sponsored by DesignPoint, Inc., and George and Stephanie Puentes. Beautiful watercolor paintings by artist Sam Rouslin are available for sale in the lobby, with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting SCO.

Salem Chamber Orchestra is a public benefit corporation operating in association with Willamette University to present professional level chamber orchestra performances, provide a performance platform for Mid-Willamette Valley musicians, and promote the performance, understanding and appreciation of music through artist training and music education programs.

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Klamath Tribal Leaders to Discuss Restoration of Native Lands

Klamath tribal leaders and a representative of the Trust for Public Land will speak Monday, Feb. 2, at Willamette University about an option agreement that enables the Klamath Tribes to purchase 90,000 acres of their original reservation near their tribal home of Chiloquin, Ore.

The free public event is at 7 p.m. in Hudson Hall in the Mary Stuart Rogers Center and is part of Willamette’s Indian Country Conversations series.

“Klamath Tribal Homelands: Restoring a Legacy” will feature leaders of the Klamath Tribes, including Joseph Kirk, tribal chairman; Jeff Mitchell, tribal council member; and Perry Chocktoot, tribal council member and director of Culture and Heritage. Charles Sams III, director of the Tribal and Native Lands Program of the Trust for Public Land, will discuss the background to the option agreement, which was negotiated by the trust.

The land in question, the Mazama Tract, is the largest of 32 properties nationwide that the trust is working to restore to American Indians, and is about 8 percent of the 1.2 million acres reserved for the Klamath Tribes in an 1864 treaty. The reservation was liquidated by Congress in 1954 during the now repudiated policies of the Termination Era. While the tribe regained federal recognition in 1986, no land base was restored. The Mazama Tract, located east of Crater Lake, would be purchased from Cascade Timberlands, LLC.

“This is an exciting step in rebuilding a tribal nation that was wrongly terminated,” Sams said.

“It’s the first step toward re-creating a sustainable homeland for the Klamath Tribes,” Kirk said. “Not only will land provide the tribe with financial stability, it’s a significant part of our spiritual and cultural identity. There are culturally sensitive areas to take care of, that hopefully have not been lost to past activities.”

The event is on Willamette’s Founders Day, recognizing the university’s founding by Jason Lee and other Methodist missionaries who came to the Willamette Valley in 1834 to open an Indian mission school. In 1842, Lee and the missionary community established a school for children of settlers called the Oregon Institute; this marked the founding of what is now Willamette University. Two years later, the original Indian Manual Labor School was closed.

On Founders Day 2005, Willamette held a Ceremony of Renewal with regional tribes to acknowledge its Indian mission legacy and begin a new chapter in the mutual history of Oregon’s tribal communities and the university. At the ceremony, President M. Lee Pelton announced the establishment of a lecture series to bring guests from Indian country to the campus and broader Willamette Valley for dialogue, teaching and learning.

The Indian Country Conversations series is sponsored by the President’s Office and the College of Liberal Arts, and is coordinated by anthropology Professor Rebecca Dobkins in consultation with the university’s community-based Native American Advisory Council. “Klamath Tribal Homelands: Restoring a Legacy” is co-sponsored by The Tribal and Native Lands Program of the Trust for Public Land.

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Willamette University celebrates MLK Days

Oral histories honor MLK Day

Willamette University and the Salem community present “I’m Not Getting On, Until Jim Crow Gets Off,” by Awele Makeba, Monday, Jan. 19, at 7 p.m. in Hudson Hall at Willamette. The event is free and the public is invited.

The interactive performance and dialog highlight a watershed moment in United States history — the Montgomery bus boycott. The oral histories about the women in the Montgomery movement are presented through a talking timeline that lets the audience reclaim this “herstory” in collective memory.
A variety of voices and stories weave the historical narrative. By interacting with the audience, Awele deconstructs the complexities of this layered history and links it to contemporary issues.
The audience is given an opportunity to discuss content and to interview characters about their motivations. The program concludes with the creation of a human sculpture by audience volunteers that celebrates the role of women as leaders and foot soldiers in the freedom struggle.

Makeba is an award-winning actor and playwright, storyteller and recording artist.
She is a “truth-teller” for social change, researching and performing African American history that might otherwise be lost. She invites audiences to wrestle with complex and emotionally laden issues that teach us about our common humanity.

Makeba has mesmerized audiences in Russia, Australia, Taiwan, France and Canada, and has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.

The event is co-sponsored by Salem’s Human Rights and Relations Advisory Commission, the Salem Chapter of the NAACP, the YWCA Racial Justice and Cultural Diversity Conference, the Salem Multicultural Institute, and One Community Initiative.

Civil rights film shown at Willamette

The Birth of a Nation will be shown Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m. in the Montag Den at Willamette University. The event is free and the public is welcome.

The silent film, directed by D. W. Griffith and released in 1915, is one of America’s most influential and controversial motion pictures. The film was based on Thomas Dixon’s novel and play, The Clansman. It has provoked great controversy for its treatment of white supremacy and sympathetic account of the rise of the Ku Klux Klan. A discussion will follow the film.

Hip hop artist to speak about King’s legacy

Willamette University will sponsor hip hop performance lecturer Mark Gonzales, who will speak about “King’s Legacy: A Lyrical Look” Thursday, Jan. 22, at 11:30 a.m. in Cone Chapel at Willamette and again at 7:30 p.m. in Cat Cavern in Putnam University Center. Both events are free and the public is invited.

Gonzales is a poet, Hip Hop Theatre playwright and performance lecturer who combines the spoken word and a turntable, and uses hip hop as a tool of resistance, rebellion and enlightenment. He has appeared on HBO’s Def Poetry, Fox News, and at conferences across the United States. The Alaskan-born Chicano has traversed refugee camps in Palestine, back alley streets in Cuba and youth prisons in Los Angeles.

‘Song Talk’ Celebrates African History and MLK Days

Composer, musician and scholar Bernice Johnson Reagon will present a lecture interspersed with song Friday, Jan. 23, at 7:30 p.m. in Smith Auditorium.

For more than four decades, Bernice Johnson Reagon has been a major cultural voice for freedom and justice. Perhaps no individual better illustrates the transformative power of traditional African American music and cultural history. A singer and composer, Reagon recently retired after 30 years of performing with Sweet Honey in the Rock, the internationally renowned a cappella ensemble she founded in 1973. She produced most of the group’s recordings, including the Grammy-nominated Still The Same Me, a 2001 release for younger audiences. Her work as a scholar and composer is reflected in numerous publications and productions on African American culture and history.

Tickets are $5 and are available beginning at 9 a.m. Jan. 20, on the 2nd floor of Putnam University Center.
Doors open at 7 p.m. Call (503) 370-6265 for information.

Join the Stride Toward Freedom 5K Run/1-Mile Walk

Celebrate the life and spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., at Willamette University’s second annual fundraiser, the Stride Toward Freedom 5K Run/1-Mile Walk. The race will begin at 9 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Brown Field at Willamette University. Runners and walkers of all ages are welcome.

The entry fee includes post-race snacks, and a T-shirt for the first 100 entrants. Pre-register online for $15 at www.Active.com (type in “Willamette University”) or at Putnam University Center at Willamette, or register for $20 beginning at 8 a.m. the day of the race.

Proceeds will benefit the Salem Multicultural Institute for a performance and lecture series. The institute also sponsors the World Beat Festival, held each June at Salem Riverfront Park.

For more information contact Reyna Meyers at (503) 370-6046 or rmeyers@willamette.edu.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT MLK EVENTS, CONTACT GORDY TOYAMA AT (503) 370-6265.

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Community Invited to Star Trees Lighting and Festivities

The Salem community is invited to the 12th annual Star Trees Lighting Saturday, Dec. 6., at 6:30 on the lawn north of historic Waller Hall at Willamette University. The free program begins at 6:30 p.m. and will include carols, along with hot chocolate and cookies.

Prior to the event, Bon Appetit will provide a holiday dinner from 4 to 7 p.m. at Willamette's Goudy Commons. The menu will feature ingredients from local farms and will include herb roasted turkey with fresh cranberry compote, smoked pork loin with cider glaze, buttermilk mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, pumpkin squash lasagna with butternut cream, roasted hard squash and salads with pomegranate and hazelnut dressings. Desserts include pumpkin pie, Southern comfort pecan pie and apple and quince crisp. The cost is $10 for adults and $6 for children eight and younger. No reservations are needed.

Following the Star Trees Lighting, the music department will sponsor a free family holiday concert at 7 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. The Willamette University Band, Headband and other ensembles will perform an array of seasonal music. Seating is limited.

Participants are invited to bring articles of clothing to the 15th annual PennyCoat Drive, sponsored by Beta Theta Pi, to benefit those in need. Tables for donations will be set up near the Star Trees.

Event sponsors include Willamette University, Dick and Linda Carney, Elwood's Tree Service, Bon Appetit, Beta Theta Pi and Roth's Fresh Markets.

The Star Trees are located on the Willamette campus, across from the State Capitol at 900 State St. in Salem. For information about the PennyCoat Drive, contact John at (562) 665-8307 or jaschmid@willamette.edu. For information about the lighting and concert, call Michelle at (503) 370-6031.

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Federal Public Defender of Oregon Visits Willamette University

The Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at Willamette University presents Steven T. Wax, author of Kafka Comes to America: Fighting for Justice in the War on Terror, a Public Defender's Inside Account, at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 19 in Paulus Great Hall at the College of Law. This event is free and open to the public.

Wax is in his sixth term as the Federal Public Defender of Oregon. A graduate of Colgate University and Harvard Law School, he was a key part of the Brooklyn, N.Y. district attorney’s prosecution of David Berkowitz, a.k.a. “The Son of Sam.” Wax and his team are currently representing seven men held as “enemy combatants” in Guantanamo Bay. He has taught at the Northwestern School of Law at Lewis and Clark College, serves as an ethics prosecutor for the Oregon State Bar and lectures throughout the country.

For more information, contact Reyna Meyers with the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at (503) 370-6046.

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Panelists to Offer Post-Election Insights

The Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at Willamette University will host a post-election panel discussion to address the impact of religion on the 2008 election and the future role of religion in the upcoming administration, in Congress and in Oregon politics.

The panel discussion will be Nov. 12 at 7:30 p.m. in Paulus Great Hall at the Willamette University College of Law. This event is free and open to the public.

Panelists include Mara Vanderslice of the Matthew 25 Network, a national grassroots mobilization group for evangelical Christians; Bill Lunch, chair of the Oregon State University department of political science and a political analyst for Oregon Public Broadcasting; and Michael Sean Winters, who writes about politics and Catholicism for a variety of national publications including the Washington Post and America: The National Catholic Weekly.

This event is the last in a three-part series on “Religion and the 2008 Election.” For more information, contact Reyna Meyers at (503) 370-6046 or rmeyers@willamette.edu.

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Celebrate Campus Sustainability Day at Willamette

The Sustainability Council will host Campus Sustainability Day Wednesday, Oct. 22, to celebrate sustainability at Willamette and the university's recognition from the National Wildlife Federation as the U.S. campus most engaged in sustainable activities.

The event will begin at noon in the Alumni Lounge with an address by President M. Lee Pelton and the announcement of this year's sustainability mini-grants. Cake and refreshments will be provided.

A Sustainability Fair in Jackson Plaza from 12 to 2:30 p.m. will feature local organizations and companies, and student groups promoting sustainability activities and projects.

After the fair, the Willamette Bike Shop will coordinate activities on Brown Field from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

"The Future of Food" will be shown that evening at 7 p.m. in Smullin 216. At 9 p.m. the University's coffee shop, the Bistro, will end the day with a sustainability themed open-mic night. Those interested in participating should contact the Bistro at (503) 370-6900.

All events are free and open to the public. For event information visit www.willamette.edu/centers/csc/events/. To learn about sustainability at Willamette University, visit www.willamette.edu/about/sustainability/.

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Celebrate Sustainability Day at Willamette University

The Sustainability Council at Willamette University will host Sustainability Day Wednesday, Oct. 22, to celebrate sustainability at Willamette and the university’s recognition from the National Wildlife Federation as the U.S. campus most engaged in sustainable activities.

The event will begin at noon in the Alumni Lounge with an address by President M. Lee Pelton and the announcement of this year’s sustainability mini-grants. Cake and refreshments will be provided.

A Sustainability Fair in Jackson Plaza from 12 to 2:30 p.m. will feature local organizations and companies, and student groups promoting sustainability activities and projects.

After the fair, the Willamette Bike Shop will coordinate activities on Brown Field from 2:30 to 4 p.m.

“The Future of Food” will be shown that evening at 7 p.m. in Smullin 216. At 9 p.m. the University’s coffee shop, the Bistro, will end the day with a sustainability themed open-mic night. Those interested in participating should contact the Bistro at (503) 370-6900.

All events are free and open to the public. For event information visit www.willamette.edu/centers/csc/events/. To learn about sustainability at Willamette University, visit www.willamette.edu/about/sustainability/.

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University Hosts Urban Earth, Art and Music Festival

The 10th annual Wulapalooza, Willamette University’s free music, art and Earth festival, will be held Saturday, April 26, on Brown Field.

Associated Students of Willamette University present the festival, which begins at noon with the main music stage opening at 5 p.m. This year’s featured performers are Mobius Band from New York, and Portland bands The Blow, Blitzen Trapper and Panther. Other stages will feature performances from local and student-organized bands, a student art show and other activities.

Each year Wulapalooza includes a fundraiser for a local charitable foundation. This year the event will sponsor the Marion-Polk Food Share. The event is free, but canned food or monetary donations for the food share are welcome.

This year Wulapalooza celebrates its 10th anniversary. In the past decade, the event has evolved from a small festival providing a creative outlet for students on campus into a community event that brings in nationally recognized talent.

The festival seeks to provide a venue for community members to visit Willamette’s campus, familiarize themselves with student organizations and be the university’s guests for a day of music, art and entertainment.

For more information, call the Office of Student Activities at (503) 370-6463 or visit www.willamette.edu/org/wulapalooza.

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Willamette University Hawaii Club Hosts Annual Lu’au

Willamette University’s Hawaii Club will host the 19th Annual Lu’au Saturday, April 19, in Cone Field House at Sparks Athletic Center. Doors open for dinner at 5:30 p.m., followed by a show beginning at 7 p.m.

Each year, the Hawaii Club strives to recreate a piece of home in the Cone Field House and share Polynesian culture with the Salem community. The theme of this year’s event is “Mau Ke Aloha No Hawaii,” or “Forever the Love of Hawaii.” Guests will enjoy freshly made Hawaiian food, music and dance performances from across Polynesia, and an opportunity to purchase products unique to Hawaii from the Country Store.

Tickets to attend both the dinner and show are sold out. Tickets for the show only are still available for $10, or $5 for Willamette students and employees. Children younger than 7 are admitted free.

Show-only tickets are available this week at Goudy Commons from 5 to 7 p.m. or in Putnam University Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information, contact Gordy Toyama in the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (503) 370-6265.

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Columnist Frank Rich to Speak at Willamette

Op-ed columnist Frank Rich of The New York Times will present the spring 2008 Atkinson Lecture at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University. He will discuss the intersection of culture and politics.

Tickets are available beginning Monday, March 3, at the Information Desk in Putnam University Center. For Willamette faculty, students and staff, the first ticket is free with a Willamette ID, and subsequent tickets are $10 each. Tickets for the general public are $10.

A former film and television critic at Time magazine and The New York Post, Rich began working for The New York Times in 1980, and during the years has served as chief drama critic and political commentator. His op-ed columns have been a regular feature of the Times since 1994. In 1999 he was given the additional duty of senior writer for The New York Times Magazine.

Rich's weekly essays on the intersection of culture and news helped inaugurate the expanded opinion pages that the paper introduced in the Sunday Week in Review section in 2005. From 2003-05, Rich was the front-page columnist for the Sunday Arts & Leisure section.

Among other honors, Rich received the George Polk Award for commentary in 2005. His latest book, “The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth From 9/11 to Katrina,” was published by the Penguin Press in 2006. His childhood memoir, “Ghost Light,” was published in 2000 by Random House. The film rights to “Ghost Light” have been acquired by Storyline Entertainment. A collection of Rich’s drama reviews, “Hot Seat: Theater Criticism for The New York Times, 1980-1993,” was published by Random House in October 1998.

Born in 1949 in Washington, D.C., Rich is a graduate of its public schools. He graduated magna cum laude in 1971 from Harvard College, earning a bachelor of arts degree in American history and literature. At Harvard, he was editorial chairman of The Harvard Crimson, an honorary Harvard College scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, and the recipient of a Henry Russell Shaw traveling fellowship. Rich has two sons and lives in Manhattan with his wife, author Alex Witchel, who is a reporter for The New York Times.

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Willamette University Honors Wartime Students

Japanese-American students at Willamette University during World War II were forced to say an abrupt goodbye when federal prosecutors rounded them up for a trip to an internment camp. In February, Willamette invites them to return for a series of events in their honor.

Japanese-American alumni from the time period, their families and the general public are invited to campus Feb. 19, the 66th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt signing Executive Order 9066 authorizing the removal of people deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to relocation centers further inland.

Oregon Poet Laureate Lawson Inada and friends will present “Revisiting Willamette: A Sentimental Journey,” an evening of poetry and jazz, Feb. 19 at 7:30 p.m. in Hudson Hall. Inada, a nationally noted poet and the author of five books, is an emeritus professor of writing at Southern Oregon University who was sent to an internment camp as a young boy. Gov. Ted Kulongoski appointed him Oregon’s fifth poet laureate in 2006. The program also will include 1940s–era music performed by jazz musicians Larry Nobori, Rick Homer, Andre St. James, Nola Bogle and Gordon Lee. This event is co-sponsored by the Portland Japanese American Citizens League.

Earlier in the day, Shizue Seigel, author of “In Good Conscience,” will discuss cross-racial alliances to protect civil liberties during wartime in a lecture at 4 p.m. in the Hatfield Room of the Hatfield Library. Siegel’s book offers portraits of two dozen citizens who spoke out against internment and examines how ordinary people can become advocates for justice and compassion.

Two films, “From 9066 to 9/11” and “Stand Up for Justice: The Ralph Lazo Story,” will be presented Feb. 18 from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Paulus Lecture Hall at the College of Law. The event will include a discussion with the filmmakers and local Japanese-Americans affected by Executive Order 9066. Ralph Lazo was a Latino teenager who boarded a train to a World War II camp so he could join his Japanese friends.

All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Michelle Maynard at (503) 370-6031.

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Community Invited to Celebrate Africa Week

Willamette University will host its third annual celebration of Africa with a series of free events during the week of Feb. 18–22.

In previous years, Willamette hosted one day of Africa-related events, but with growing interest among students and faculty, the program was expanded to an entire week. All events are free and open to the public.

The film “Blood Diamond” will be shown at 9 p.m. Feb. 18 in Smith Auditorium. The film will be accompanied by a discussion of the historical forces that triggered the actual events depicted in the film and will contextualize the film within current geopolitics.

Jan Haaken, Portland State University psychology professor and author of “Speaking Out: Women, War, and the Global Economy,” will lead a workshop at 1 p.m. Feb. 19 in the Hatfield Room of Hatfield Library. The workshop will explore why and how African countries are often mired in social unrest.

Willamette students and faculty will unveil Oregon’s first mammoth puzzle map of Africa Feb. 20 at 3:30 p.m. in Cat Cavern. In addition to a puzzle competition and activities, students will display educational posters for each of Africa’s 54 countries. Festivities will include African music and snacks.

That evening at 6 p.m. in Cat Cavern, attendees can watch “Africa Dreaming,” four 25-minute short films produced by African filmmakers about love, family and relationships in Namibia, Tunisia, Mozambique and Senegal.

On Feb. 21, four Willamette students will show slides and share experiences from their time studying abroad in South Africa, Uganda and Ghana. This event is at 11:30 a.m. in Cone Chapel.

The week culminates Feb. 22 with an all-day African market in Putnam University Center and Goudy Commons. Come shop for jewelry, crafts, drums, clothing, baskets and artwork while supporting humanitarian projects in Africa and local entrepreneurs in Oregon.

African cuisine will be served throughout the week in Goudy Commons, Cat Cavern and the Bistro. Also that week is an exhibition of West African Yoruba sculpture on display at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art.

For more information about any of these events, contact Willamette’s anthropology department at (503) 370-6615.

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Video Contest, Symposium Highlight Focus the Nation at Willamette

Willamette University students, faculty, staff and community members gathered on campus recently for a daylong symposium on problems and solutions surrounding global climate change. The discussions were part of a nationwide project called Focus the Nation, with more than 1,200 colleges and universities participating.

Willamette also hosted a contest to create a video for the original song “Oceans Rising,” written by Willamette Vice President Kristen Grainger. Grainger performed the song with guitarist Dan Wetzel. The winning video, created by Willamette senior Katie Salisbury, a religious studies major, was shown at a free concert in Smith Auditorium. View Salisbury’s video at www.willamette.edu/go/oceans_rising.

Thursday’s discussions focused on a wide range of topics, including health effects of climate change, the challenge of teaching climate change in schools, the relationship between faith and climate change and private sector contributions to sustainability. Panelists included state agency representatives, educators, students and faculty.

For more information, visit www.willamette.edu/about/sustainability/focusthenation/ or focusthenation.org.

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Willamette University Events Focus on Global Warming

Focus the Nation, a nationwide conversation dedicated to finding solutions to global climate change, will take place Thursday, Jan. 31, at more than 1,200 colleges and universities across the nation. Willamette University will host a free day-long symposium and a free concert. The community is invited.

Joint Chiefs of Staff, a regional band, will kick off the event with a free concert Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 8 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. Willamette has invited students and community members to produce an accompanying music video for the original song, "Oceans Rising," by singer/songwriter Kristen Grainger, who serves as Willamette’s vice president. Winning videos will be shown at the concert.

Beginning Thursday, Jan. 31, the eight panel sessions are:

--- "Local and National Responses to Global Climate Change," 8 to 9:30 a.m., Montag Center. Panel moderator is Joe Bowersox, Dempsey Chair in Environmental Policy and Politics.

--- "Health Effects and Behavioral Solutions to Climate Change," 9:40 to 11:10 a.m., Alumni Lounge, University Center. Panel moderator is psychology Professor Sue Koger.

--- "Economic Incentives to Address Climate Change," 9:40 to 11:10 a.m., Montag Center. Panel moderator is economics Professor Don Negri.

--- "Tomorrow’s Global Citizens: Education and the Challenge of Global Climate Change," 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Cone Chapel, Waller Hall. The convocation will be moderated by Professor Neil Liss, School of Education.

--- "The Role of Law and Policy in Addressing Climate Change," 12:50 to 2:20 p.m., Alumni Lounge, University Center. Panel moderator is law Professor Susan Smith.

--- "Faith and Climate Change," also from 12:50 to 2:20 p.m., Montag Center. The Rev. Karen Wood, associate chaplain for vocational exploration and director of the Lilly Project at Willamette, will moderate.

--- "Private Sector Contributions to Sustainability," 2:30 to 4 p.m., Montag Center. Elliot Maltz, professor of marketing at the Atkinson Graduate School of Management, will moderate.

--- A Willamette University student panel, 2:30 to 4 p.m., Alumni Lounge, will provide the closing discussion.

Visiting panelists include Michael Grainey, Oregon Department of Energy; Tim Stumhofer, Climate Clean; Regina Hauser, Oregon Natural Step Network; Bruce Hamilton, PPM Energy; Geoff Huntington, Sustain; Professor Paul Thiers, Washington State University, Vancouver; The Rev. Gail McDougal, First Congregational Church; Dave Aston, Port of Portland; Dr. Ernie Neimi, ECONorthwest; Steve Novick, candidate for U.S. Senate; Jon Yoder, Salem-Keizer Public Schools; Gail Achtermann, Oregon State University Institute of Natural Resources; Maggie Langlas, U.S. Department of the Interior, BLM; Rabbi David Kominsky, Temple Beth Sholom, Salem.

Focus the Nation is the brainchild of Lewis and Clark College Professor Eban Goodstein, who wrote “Fighting for Love in the Century of Extinction: How Passion and Politics Can Stop Global Warming.”

It is Goodstein’s belief that university professors will fail as educators unless they prepare students for the challenge of climate change.

For more information visit www.willamette.edu/about/sustainability/focusthenation/schedule.htm, www.focusthenation.org or www.willamette.edu/about/sustainability/contest/song.htm.

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Community Invited to Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

Willamette University will host a week of public events in January to honor the life and works of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The first public event is the Stride Toward Freedom 5K Run/Walk at 9 a.m. Jan 19 on Brown Field. The cost is $15, and proceeds benefit the Fabric of Cultures: Performance & Lecture Series at the Salem Multicultural Institute. Registration is available online at www.active.com.

Willamette will host a free lecture featuring Jamie Washington at 7 p.m. Jan. 21 in Hudson Hall. The topic is “Our Work for the Next 40 Years: Realizing the Dream 2048.” Washington is president and founder of the Washington Consulting Group, a multicultural organizational development firm in Baltimore, Md. He is a founding faculty member of the Social Justice Training Institute, a diversity development program for professionals.

A free civil rights film series will be available Jan. 22–24 in Montag Den. The series opens Jan. 22 with “Strange Fruit,” which explores the history and legacy of a song that portrays the lynching of a black man in the American South. “The Beloved Community,” shown Jan. 23, is about a city near Detroit struggling with a toxic petrochemical industry that could be leading to problems with women’s pregnancies. The series ends Jan. 24 with “Coffee Date,” which uses comedy to raise awareness of gay stereotypes. All films begin at 7 p.m. and are followed by discussions.

Also on Jan. 24 is a free showing of “Spirit to Spirit: Nikki Giovanni” at 11:30 a.m. in Cone Chapel. The film highlights the life and work of world-renowned poet and activist Giovanni, who was once crowned “The Princess of Black Poetry.”

The week culminates with an MLK celebration featuring Nikki Giovanni and the Rainbow Dance Theatre at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in Smith Auditorium. The theme is “Truth is on its Way.” Tickets are $5 each, with a limit of four per person, and are available beginning at 9 a.m. Jan. 21 at the University Center Information Desk.

For information about any of these events, call (503) 370-6265 or visit www.willamette.edu/go/mlk.

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Poet, Dance Troupe to Perform at Martin Luther King Jr. Event

World-renowned poet and activist Nikki Giovanni and Rainbow Dance Theatre are the featured performers at Willamette University’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. celebration.

The event is at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 25 in Smith Auditorium. Tickets are $5, with a limit of four per person, and are available beginning at 9 a.m. Jan. 21 at the University Center Information Desk. The theme of the event is “Truth is on its Way.”

Giovanni is a widely read American poet, commentator, activist and educator who has authored some 30 books for both adults and children. She prides herself on being “a black American, a daughter, a mother, a professor of English,” and she is known for her outspokenness and long-time commitment to the fight for civil rights and equality. She is a University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech.

Rainbow Dance Theatre gets its name from its roots in Hawaii, the “land of rainbows,” as well as from the ethnic diversity of its company members and the diverse cultural influences in its choreography. The company’s virtuosic style fuses West African dance, Haitian dance, hip-hop, martial arts and American modern dance with computer animation and aerial choreography.

For more information, call the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (503) 370-6265 or go to www.willamette.edu/go/mlk.

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Community Invited to Star Trees Lighting

The community is invited to the 11th annual Star Trees Lighting Saturday, Dec. 1, at Willamette University. The free program begins at 6:30 p.m. on the lawn north of Waller Hall and is followed by a free Family Holiday Concert at 7 p.m. in the nearby Smith Auditorium.

The Willamette University Band and other small chamber groups will play a broad range of seasonal music. Seating is limited.

Prior to the event, Bon Appetit will provide a holiday dinner from 3:30 to 7 p.m. at Goudy Commons on the Willamette campus. The cost is $9 for adults and $5 for children 8 and younger.

The tree lighting will include carols, along with free hot chocolate and cookies. A drawing will be held for a boy and girl to flip the switch that lights the trees, and each winner will also receive a small gift and a $50 gift certificate from The Willamette Store on campus.

The community is invited to bring articles of clothing to the 14th annual PennyCoat Drive, sponsored by Beta Theta Pi to benefit Salem’s homeless population. (The Willamette fraternity will also go door-to-door earlier in the day to collect clothing.)

Event sponsors include Willamette University, Dick and Linda Carney, Elwood’s Tree Service, Bon Appetit, Beta Theta Pi, Starbucks, the Lilly Project and The Willamette Store on campus.

The Star Trees are located on the Willamette campus, across from the State Capitol Building at 900 State Street in Salem. For information about the PennyCoat Drive, contact Daniel at (503) 375-5304 or via email. For information about the lighting and concert, call Michelle at (503) 370-6031.

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Murdock College Science Research Program this weekend at Willamette

Willamette will host the 16th Regional Conference on Undergraduate Research, sponsored by the Murdock College Science Program. Various activities will take place Friday and Saturday in Sparks Center, Smith Auditorium and Hudson Hall as Willamette welcomes 550 visitors from institutions across the Pacific Northwest.

The Neil O. Thorpe Honorary Lecture will feature biologist Hazel Barton, who will speak about “Amazing Caves: Amazing Microbes” Friday, Nov. 2, at 7:15 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. Barton is the Ashland Endowed Professor of Integrative Science at Northern Kentucky University. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Students and faculty are invited to attend any or all poster and presentation sessions. For more information or a conference schedule contact Stasinos Stavrianeas via email or (503) 370-6392.

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Willamette Community Learns from Renowned Scientist

What will be the state of environmentalism in the next 200 years? How do you conduct scientific research without “selling out” to a major corporation? Why is society so disconnected from nature? How do you encourage environmentalism on a global scale?

These are the burning questions on the minds of Willamette University’s science students. And they had a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this week to get answers — by posing them to Edward O. Wilson, one of the world’s greatest living scientists, while he visited campus to deliver the Biology Centennial Lecture.

“We’re in a very strange situation in the 21st century,” Wilson told the students in an intimate meeting before speaking to a sold-out crowd of 1,300 that evening in Smith Auditorium. “We have Stone Age emotions, we have medieval beliefs and we have god-like technology.

“We have evolved to exploit the planet, and now we’re having trouble slowing down.”

Wilson is considered a leader in the fields of entomology, animal behavior, evolutionary psychology, island biogeography, biodiversity, environmental ethics and the philosophy of knowledge. He is the Pellegrino University Research Professor Emeritus at Harvard University, and he has won two Pulitzer Prizes for his non-fiction books “The Ants” and “On Human Nature.”

At his evening lecture, he addressed “The Future of Life,” informing the crowd about the immense biodiversity of our planet and the important task of trying to protect it. He had the same message for the students earlier. “The world needs to see that ecology and biodiversity studies are fundamental to the health of the planet,” he said.

He talked about meeting with evangelical leaders, setting aside their different views regarding evolution and focusing on issues they both agreed on. “I told them, ‘Let’s stop talking about issues like abortions and stem cells. Let’s do something important together, which is save the creation. See how we can combine science and religion into a single enterprise … and accomplish something quite extraordinary.’”

Wilson also discussed his work on the Encyclopedia of Life, an online resource launched in May that will include information about every species on the planet (view it at eol.org). “We’ve now reached an advanced state in the information age such that the idea of having everything known and available to everybody is not out of reach.”

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New Students Welcome Sir Salman Rushdie

Be brutal with the idea but respectful of the person who holds it was a primary message offered by Sir Salman Rushdie during the late August Opening Convocation at Willamette.

Packed with new students and their parents, the audience in Smith Auditorium responded to the internationally respected author with two standing ovations and enthusiastic applause as he discussed with wit and insight his formative years as a student — first at boarding school and then as an undergraduate.

“There are three mistakes you can make in boarding school,” said Rushdie. “Be clever, be foreign and be bad at games. I hit the trifecta.” While boarding school was not a positive experience for Rushdie, he found a much more inviting and positive experience at Cambridge University where he attended King’s College beginning in 1965.

“University is that moment when you come away from the stricture of high school and have the first adult experience of your life. In University, you work out who you are. You experiment with yourself and try on different skins. Through this process you work out what you will be and won’t be. It is your portal to the adult world. You are a migrant and university is where you begin to make your way.”

He added, “The thing I learned most at Cambridge was that you should be as brutal as possible toward ideas but as courteous as possible to the people who hold them. The undergraduate experience is transforming. You learn to be tolerant and open to new ideas. You learn that scholarship doesn’t seek self — it seeks the work.”

It’s clear that Rushdie credits his experiences at Cambridge more than he credits his degree in history. He managed a good natured tease when he said, “Throughout my life, no one has ever asked me what kind of degree I got or even if I’ve got one at all. I have to say it’s been useless.”

Rushdie is the author of such international best-sellers as Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses. The latter was deemed sacrilegious by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa against Rushdie in 1989. Despite this proclamation, and the international controversy that followed, Rushdie went on to produce some of his most compelling work, including The Moor’s Last Sigh and The Ground Beneath Her Feet while living under the constant threat of death. His most recent novel, Shalimar the Clown, was an international best-seller and a nominee for both the Man Booker Prize and Commonwealth Writer’s Prize.

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Willamette University Sends Off Class of 2007

Libby Appel, longtime artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, will deliver the Willamette University College of Liberal Arts commencement address Sunday, May 13.

Appel also will be awarded an honorary doctor of fine arts degree. Other honorary degree recipients are Mercy Corps founder Dan O’Neill, honorary doctor of humane letters; physicist and Professor Carl E. Wieman, honorary doctor of science; and Cao Jianming, vice president of the People’s Supreme Court in China, honorary doctor of laws.

The College of Law commencement speaker is Steven T. Wax, federal public defender for the District of Oregon, and the Atkinson Graduate School of Management speaker is Tim Boyle, president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear Company.

The College of Liberal Arts will award 489 bachelor’s degrees, the College of Law 156 JD and LLM degrees, Atkinson 57 MBA degrees, and the School of Education 92 MAT degrees.

The College of Liberal Arts and School of Education will hold commencement at 3 p.m. on the Quad. The College of Law ceremony is at 11:30 a.m. on the Quad. Atkinson Graduate School of Management’s commencement is at 9 a.m. in Hudson Hall.

College of Liberal Arts
Commencement speaker Libby Appel is the first woman to hold the Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s top artistic post. For 15 seasons, she has served as artistic director on numerous plays, including The Winter’s Tale, Bus Stop, Richard III, Richard II, Macbeth, The Trip to Bountiful, Three Sisters, King Lear and Henry VI Parts One, Two and Three, for which she also was co-director. She has directed more than 50 plays at more than 20 professional theatre companies, and has served as dean and artistic director at the School of Theatre at the California Institute of the Arts, and head of the acting program at California State University, Long Beach. Appel wrote Mask Characterization: An Acting Process, created and produced the video Inter/Face: The Actor and the Mask, and is co-author of two plays, Shakespeare’s Women and Shakespeare’s Lovers.

Honorary degree recipient Dan O’Neill founded Mercy Corps in 1981, and since then the agency has generated more than $1 billion in humanitarian aid in more than 81 countries, assisting children and families through emergency relief projects, self-help development programs and civil society initiatives. O’Neill has authored award-winning books and articles and his editorials have appeared in national and international publications.

Honorary degree recipient Carl E. Wieman, a 2001 Nobel Prize recipient, is a physicist at the University of British Columbia who in 1995 produced the first true Bose-Einstein condensate. In 1998 he was awarded the Lorentz Medal, which highlights important contributions to theoretical physics, and he also has received the National Science Foundation’s highest honor for excellence in both teaching and research.

Honorary degree recipient Cao Jianming is a well-known international trade and economic law scholar and serves as justice and executive vice president of the People’s Supreme Court in China. He has numerous honors in international law, and he spent most of his career at East China University of Politics and Law serving as professor, associate dean, dean of the international law department, vice president and president.

College of Law
Commencement speaker Steven T. Wax is the federal public defender for the District of Oregon. He is a frequent writer and speaker on federal criminal issues, and has been the attorney in a number of high-profile cases, including several involving Guantanamo Bay detainees. Wax is admitted to practice in the U.S. District Court for the Districts of Oregon, Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second and Ninth Circuits, and the U.S. Supreme Court.

Atkinson Graduate School of Management
Commencement speaker Tim Boyle is the president and CEO of Columbia Sportswear Company, one of the largest outerwear brands in the world and the leading seller of skiwear in the U.S. Boyle oversees operations of the company from its Portland headquarters. In 1992, he and his mother, Columbia Chairwoman Gert Boyle, were co-recipients of Inc. Magazine’s Northwest Entrepreneur of the Year award. Boyle is a board member of Widmer Brothers Brewing Company, Northwest Natural and Oregon Trout.

For more information about Willamette University’s commencement, call (503) 370-6209 or go online to www.willamette.edu/events/commencement/schedules.

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College 101 Prepares Students for Higher Education

High school students wanting to learn more about the college experience and how to prepare for higher education can attend a new program this summer at Willamette University.

College 101 is a weeklong campus immersion program July 1–7 that will provide high school sophomores, juniors and seniors with the expert information and advice they need to make the right college choices.

“This isn’t just a camp about attending Willamette University,” says Alice Sorenson, Willamette’s director of scheduling, events and conferences. “Many high school students don’t know what they need to do to get ready for college, or how to get there. We want to give students a taste of what college is all about.”

Participants will be immersed in the college campus environment, living in a residence hall supervised by current college students. Each day of the program will be like a typical day of college — starting with breakfast in Willamette University’s Goudy Commons and including classes, field trips, recreational sports, college fairs, practice interviews, coaching sessions for admission essay-writing and other activities throughout the day.

Sessions will include information about admissions and financial aid, facts about the ACT and SAT, a sample SAT test with results and test-taking advice, sample classes taught by university faculty, and student hosts who share their real-life college experiences and answer questions about life outside the classroom.

The cost for the program is $625 per student, which includes programming, notebooks, food and housing. Those who register by May 15 receive a $75 discount. The final deadline is June 22.

For more information, call (503) 375-5442 or go online to www.willamette.edu/dept/scheduling/college101.

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Groundbreaking Film Stirs Debate About Ocean Management

The groundbreaking documentary “Common Ground: Oregon’s Ocean” will be presented Tuesday, March 6, at 6:30 p.m. in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University.

The free 30-minute film features stunning views of Oregon’s underwater world and presents solutions, backed by commercial fishermen and scientists, for restoring the state’s ocean ecosystems. Secretary of State Bill Bradbury will moderate a question-and-answer session between the audience and fishermen, scientists, policy makers and conservationists.

“Common Ground” has drawn overflow crowds throughout the state, having been released just as the push for offshore fish farms and drilling has accelerated and as the largest fisheries closure in the nation’s history has been implemented along the West Coast.

The Pew Oceans Commission and U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy reports have highlighted the alarming health of the world’s oceans.

“Coastal development, unsustainable fishing practices and the loss of habitat and biodiversity threaten our coastal waters,” said Willamette biology Professor Ben Crabtree. “The fisheries closure off our coast threatens the economy of coastal communities and raises critical concerns about the health of our waters.”

According to Gov. Ted Kulongoski, “‘Common Ground’ is a useful tool in stimulating long overdue discussions about marine protection in Oregon.”

Commercial fishermen say the documentary is a must-see cautionary tale.

“Advances in technology have allowed us to aggressively target fish that were ignored before, or that were barely fished for years and years,” said Jeff Feldner, a Newport, Ore., commercial fisherman since 1972. “All of a sudden there’s this goldmine to be exploited, and our nature is to go and do that. We must now do a course correction. Our ability to properly manage those species must catch up with our ability to catch them.”

“If we want to have healthy fisheries and coastal communities we absolutely must have healthy marine ecosystems,” said Jane Lubchenco, a marine biologist at Oregon State University who served on the Pew Oceans Commission.

“It’s appropriate for Oregonians to learn about reserves and talk about them quite seriously,” she said.

Question-and-answer panel members include Carolyn Waldron, director of Oregon Ocean; Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University; Leesa Cobb, Port Orford Ocean Resource Team; Terry Thompson, Lincoln County Commissioner; and a member of the State Legislature’s Joint Committee on Ocean Preparedness and Ocean Policy.

The event is sponsored by Willamette University and Green Fire Productions. For information call 503-370-6474 or visit www.oceansonline.org.

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March 2007 Atkinson Lecture Is One of a Kind

Two of the nation’s most gifted writers, one a poet and the other a playwright, will share the stage in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University March 20 where they will discuss the nexus of art and politics in America.

Former Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky and Pulitzer Prize recipient Tony Kushner will share the evening that closes out the 2006-07 Atkinson Lecture Series at Willamette.

Tickets will be available for faculty, students and staff at the Information Desk in University Center beginning March 1. The first ticket is free; subsequent tickets are $10 each. (Because we expect this lecture to sell out, we are not making tickets available to the general public.)

Tony Kushner’s plays are as complex as his own beginnings. The gay, Jewish socialist, raised in Louisiana and educated at Columbia University and New York University, says he enjoys addressing audiences that are receptive to ideas for change and progress. And his ideas have earned him high praise.

His plays include A Bright Room Called Day, Angels in America, Homebody/Kabul, and Caroline or Change. He wrote the screenplay for the Mike Nichols film of Angels in America and Steven Spielberg’s Munich.

Among his many accolades, Kushner is the recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, two Tony Awards for Best Play, three Obie Awards for playwriting, the Evening Standard Award, a Whiting Writer’s Fellowship, an Arts Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an Emmy. In 1998, London’s National Theatre selected Angels in America as one of the “ten best plays of the 20th century.”

Pinsky, U.S. Poet Laureate from 1997-00, has dedicated his career to identifying and invigorating poetry’s place in the world. He is the author of six acclaimed collections of poetry, most recently Jersey Rain. His collection, The Figured Wheel, was a Pulitzer Prize nominee and received the Lenore Marshall Award and the Ambassador Book Award of the English Speaking Union.

He was elected in 1999 to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and his poems appear in magazines such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Threepenny, American Poetry Review and frequently in the Best American Poetry anthologies.

Pinsky teaches in the graduate writing program at Boston University.

The Atkinson Lecture series has welcomed world leaders, authors, actors, scientists and educators to campus since its founding in 1956.

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Columbia River Tribal Leaders to Speak at Willamette on Founders Day

Tribal leaders Carol Craig of the Yakama Nation and Louis Pitt of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation will speak Thursday, Feb. 1, at Willamette University about “Ancestral Rights and Responsibilities.”

This free public event is at 7 p.m. in the Mary Stuart Rogers Music Center and is preceded by a 6 p.m. reception. The dialogue takes place on Willamette’s Founders Day and is part of the Indian Country Conversations series.

Craig and Pitt will offer an introduction to the history of Columbia River tribes and the treaties negotiated with the U.S. government in the 19th century. They will discuss the ongoing responsibilities — shared by the tribes, the federal government and the public — implied by these treaty rights, particularly to protect salmon habitat.

Craig is the public information manager for the Yakama Nation Fish and Wildlife Resource Management Program in Washington. In 2002, she was one of four finalists for Portland-based Ecotrust’s Buffet Indigenous Leadership Award in recognition of her efforts to educate the public and tribal communities about native people’s traditions, cultures and treaty rights. That same year, she was given the Spirit of the Salmon Award from the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission for her public outreach education throughout the Pacific Northwest. Craig has been widely recognized for her achievements in Native American journalism and public affairs.

Pitt is the director of government affairs and planning of the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. He works with state and federal officials and is on the communications team for the proposed Bridge of the Gods casino project. A former Columbia River Gorge commissioner, Pitt has served as a tribal appellate judge, as a member of Gov. John Kitzhaber’s transition team, and on the Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Committee.

This event is on Willamette’s Founders Day, recognizing the university’s founding by Jason Lee and other Methodist missionaries who came to the Willamette Valley in 1834 to open an Indian mission school. In 1842, Lee and the missionary community established a school for children of settlers called the Oregon Institute; this marked the founding of what is now Willamette University. Two years later, the original Indian Manual Labor School was closed.

On Founders Day 2005, Willamette held a Ceremony of Renewal with regional tribes to acknowledge its Indian mission legacy and begin a new chapter in the mutual history of Oregon’s tribal communities and the university. At the ceremony, President M. Lee Pelton announced the establishment of a lecture series to bring guests from Indian country to the campus and the broader Willamette Valley for dialogue, teaching and learning.

The Indian Country Conversations series is sponsored by the President’s Office and the College of Liberal Arts dean, and is coordinated by associate professor of anthropology Rebecca Dobkins in consultation with the university’s community-based Native American Advisory Council.

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University Plans Week of Events to Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.

While most area colleges and universities have a holiday on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Willamette University uses the day to launch a week of discussions and activities surrounding social justice issues and the accomplishments of this revered civil rights leader.

The week starts Jan. 15 with Willamette students, faculty and staff signing the Willamette University Pledge, which encourages people to make a personal commitment to adhere to a common belief that all individuals are valued, including those in the majority and those in the minority.

Most other events during the week are open to the public. They begin with a free showing of the documentary film Rivers of Change: The Story of Five Unheralded Women in Montgomery and Their Struggle for Justice and Dignity. The event is at 7 p.m. Jan. 15 in Hudson Hall. The film is about the untold stories of women who fought discrimination and segregation in the U.S. and how their collective efforts changed a nation and impacted the world (visit www.weshall-overcome.com for more information). The movie’s producer/writer/director, William Dickerson-Waheed, will lead a post-screening discussion about social activism.

Portions of the film also will be shown from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Jan. 18 in Cone Chapel, on the second floor of Waller Hall, as part of the University’s weekly convocation series. Waheed also will speak at this event, which is open to the public.

The University’s celebration culminates Jan. 19 with a public event and concert at 7 p.m. in Smith Auditorium. Olympia Vernon, Willamette’s Hallie Brown Ford Chair in Creative Writing, will give a community welcome, and Grammy Award-winning South African a capella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo will perform. Tickets for the public are $5 and will be available at the University Center Information Desk beginning at 5 p.m. Jan. 17. There is a limit of four tickets per person. Willamette students and employees can obtain one free ticket beginning Jan. 8. For concert information, call the Office of Multicultural Affairs at (503) 370-6265.

Other campus-only events Jan. 19 include a Southern soul food luncheon at 12:30 p.m. in Cat Cavern, which will feature another showing of segments of Rivers of Change. The Willamette community also will participate in an annual event called Into the Streets, where people act on King’s philosophy of service to the community by doing community service projects at a number of Salem sites, including the HOME Youth & Resource Center, Lifeline AIDS Project, Marion-Polk Food Share, Salvation Army and Willamette Valley Hospice. For more information about Into the Streets, call the Office of Community Service Learning at (503) 370-6807.

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South African a Cappella Group to Perform at Willamette University

Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African a cappella group featured on Paul Simon’s acclaimed “Graceland” album, will perform at 7 p.m. Jan. 19 in Smith Auditorium at Willamette University. The group will be featured at Willamette’s annual Martin Luther King Jr. celebration, sponsored by the Office of Multicultural Affairs.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo will give a live performance of its latest album, “Long Walk to Freedom,” a collection of 12 new recordings of the group’s classic songs sung in Zulu and English. The album, released in January 2006, has received two Grammy Award nominations, for Best Contemporary World Music CD and Best Surround Sound Production.

The group, assembled in the early 1960s in South Africa by Joseph Shabalala, marries the intricate rhythms and harmonies of South African musical traditions to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music. The new album features guest vocal performances from famous South African artists and from contemporary pop singers, including Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, Natalie Merchant and Sarah McLachlan. For more information, visit www.mambazo.com.

Please note that tickets for this event are no longer available.