1998-1999
70th Commencement
Two hundred fifteen students received bachelor of arts degrees and 115 graduate students received the master's degree at the College's 70th commencement, May 21. Speaking as an alumna and a member of the board of trustees, Joanne M. Braxton,'72, professor and director of the Middle Passage Project at the College of William and Mary, addressed the class of 1999. Michele Myers also spoke to graduates at her first commencement since becoming the College's ninth president.
"When a Child Pretends" Airs on Public Television
The value of pretend play for a child's development is the theme of a new film, When a Child Pretends, conceived at the Child Development Institute of Sarah Lawrence College, and produced for public television by Jonathan Diamond Associates. Narrated by Joanne Woodward, the film features the Child Development Institute faculty and children at play. When a Child Pretends was filmed at the Sarah Lawrence College Early Childhood Center and the Central Park East I school in New York City.
40th Annual Children's Mayfair
Sarah Lawrence College welcomes children of all ages to the 40th Annual Children's Mayfair on Saturday, May 1 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. A traditional rite of spring for many area parents and caregivers, Mayfair features rides, games, balloons, clowns, music, and entertainment for children and their parents. There will be popcorn, cotton candy, and other goodies for sale throughout the afternoon. For directions and more information, please call (914) 395-2575.
Winners of Young Artists Competition to Perform
Winners of the fourth annual Young Artists Competition, sponsored by the Sarah Lawrence College Music Department, have been announced and will perform with the Sarah Lawrence Chamber Orchestra in a free concert on Sunday, April 25, at 4 p.m. in Reisinger Concert Hall. The winners, who will each receive a $500 prize, are: Ji Lin Yang, violin, String Division; Brea Weil-Hearon, flute, Wind/Brass Division; and Chia-Jung Tsay, piano, Piano Division. The program will include An Outdoor Overture by Aaron Copeland, Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 by Felix Mendelssohn, Poem for Flute and Orchestra by Charles Tomlinson Griffes, and Totentatz by Franz Liszt. For more information, please call (914) 395-2411.
Friends of Library Present Annual Spring Gala
Charles E. Pierce, Jr., director of the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City, will speak about the "Challenges Facing Cultural Institutions in the 21st Century," at The Friends of the Sarah Lawrence Library Annual Spring Gala at 8 p.m., Friday, April 23 in Reisinger Hall on the Sarah Lawrence campus.
The group will honor Michele Tolela Myers, in her first year as president of Sarah Lawrence, at this event. Both the lecture and reception which follows are free and open to the public. Reservations are not required. For information and directions, please call (914) 395-2472.
Holocaust Memorial Day Lecture
Sarah Lawrence College will commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day with a lecture by Professor James Young of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, entitled "Berlin's Holocaust Memorial Problem--And Mine," Wednesday, April 21 at 5 p.m. in the Film Viewing Room, Reisinger Performing Arts Center. The event is free and open to the public. For directions and more information, please call (914) 395-2411.
Graduate Writing Program Reading Series
Writers participating in the Sarah Lawrence College Writing Program Reading Series this spring include Li-Young Lee, Ian Frazier, and Toi Derricotte.
Singer/Songwriter Dar Williams to Appear in Concert
Folk-rock singer/songwriter Dar Williams will appear in concert at Sarah Lawrence College on Thursday, April 1 at 8 p.m. in Reisinger Hall. Sarah Lawrence students must present a valid I.D. A limited number of seats will be reserved for the general public. For reservations or for more information, please call (914) 395-2411.
Hyman H. Kleinman Fellowship
In a clear signal of its commitment to younger faculty, and in honor of a beloved teacher, Sarah Lawrence College announces the establishment of the endowed Hyman H. Kleinman Fellowship in the Humanities, the first fellowship of its kind at the College.
Kathleen Neal Cleaver to Speak
Kathleen Neal Cleaver, human rights activist, author, lawyer and current holder of the Joanne Woodward Chair in Public Policy at Sarah Lawrence College, will deliver a lecture titled "Looking Back Through the Heart of Dixie" on Wednesday, March 10, 1999 at 6:30 p.m. in Reisinger Hall. The lecture, which looks at the historical underpinnings of the collapse of the struggle for social justice from an African American perspective, is free and open to the public.
Indigenous Women in Urban Communities
The historical and contemporary experiences of Native American women living in urban areas of the U.S. and Canada will be the subject of a three-day conference, "Native Women Weaving Urban Traditions: An Exploration of Indigenous Women and Their Urban Communities," which will bring leading Native American activists, artists and academics to the campus of Sarah Lawrence College beginning on Friday, March 5 and continuing through Sunday, March 7.
Right-To-Write
Sarah Lawrence students, faculty and a corrections officer participating in the "Right-to-Write" creative writing project at the Westchester County Correctional Facility will present a special reading of fiction, poetry, and memoir written by incarcerated women. The reading will be held on Thursday, March 4, 1999, at 8 p.m., at the Herbert Mark Newman Theatre, in Pleasantville, NY. Tickets are $18; $15 for senior citizens and members of the theatre; $7 for students with I.D. To reserve tickets, please call (914) 741-0333, Ext. 688.
Foreign Film Festival
"Political Cinema," the fourth annual Sarah Lawrence College Foreign Film Festival, to be held from February 26 to March 7, 1999, will feature 26 films in 19 languages. "This year we celebrate cultural diversity through language, and attempt to bring general awareness to political issues around the world," said Eduardo Lago, Spanish and Literature faculty member and curator of the festival. "We use 'political' in a broad sense," said Lago. "The festival is a call for peace and understanding among different cultures, peoples, and faiths."
Black History Month Concerts
he Universal Records performing artist Rachid and the Barnard/Columbia Gospel Choir will be featured in two February concerts at Sarah Lawrence College as part of the College's celebration of Black History Month. Rachid, a '96 graduate of Sarah Lawrence, will perform Saturday, February 20 at 8 p.m. in the Studio Theatre; the Barnard/Columbia Gospel Choir, which features Vandalyn Kennedy, a '98 Sarah Lawrence graduate, will perform Monday, February 22 at 8:30 p.m. in Reisinger Hall. Both concerts are free and open to the public.
Celebrity-Donated Items for Bid in Scholarship Auction
A Vera Wang gown, a script signed by the cast of "Chicago Hope," and autographed copies of Alice Walker's The Color Purple and J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban are just a few of the items donated and up for bid at the annual Students for Students Scholarship Fund auction at Sarah Lawrence College, Friday, February 11 in Reisinger Hall.
Dawn Upshaw Concert to Benefit SLC
Opera singer and recording artist Dawn Upshaw will perform "songs inspired by the wonder of childhood" on Thursday, January 28, 1999, at 7 p.m. to benefit Sarah Lawrence College. The program will be held in Reisinger Concert Hall on the Sarah Lawrence campus. A reception will follow.
Amiri Baraka Reading
Amiri Baraka, poet, dramatist, teacher and community activist, is one of the most important African American writers of our time. In addition to his two novels, seven books of non-fiction and countless plays, Amiri Baraka has published 13 volumes of poetry, including Funklore and Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones [1961-1995].
Chorus, Chamber Choir and Orchestra Present Bach
The Sarah Lawrence College Chorus, Chamber Choir and Orchestra will present Bach's Christmas Oratorio and other works on Sunday, December 6 at 4 p.m. in Reisinger Hall. Included in the program are:
Orchestra Presents "J.S. Bach and Relatives"
The Sarah Lawrence College Orchestra presents a concert on November 22, 1998 at 4 p.m. in Reisinger Hall featuring works by the Bach family, perhaps the world's most outstanding family of musicians. Sungrai Sohn will conduct the program, which is free and open to the public.
Hafsat Abiola to Speak on Nigerian Crisis
Hafsat Abiola, 23 year-old daughter of Moshood Abiola, the last democratically elected President of Nigeria, will speak on the current Nigerian political crisis on Wednesday, November 18 at 7 p.m. in Reisinger Hall on the Sarah Lawrence campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
Edward G. Shirley to Give Adda Bozeman Lecture
Edward G. Shirley, a pseudonymous former CIA officer and author of Know Thine Enemy: A Spy’s Journey into Revolutionary Iran will deliver the annual Adda B. Bozeman Lecture in International Affairs at Sarah Lawrence College on Monday, November 16, 1998 at 5:30 p.m. in Titsworth Lecture Hall. The title of Mr. Shirley’s lecture, which is free and open to the public, is: "Women in the Clandestine Service: Do They Make Good Spies?"
"Clinton: Retry, Ignore, or Fail? A Debate"
Sarah Lawrence College will sponsor a debate entitled: "Clinton: Retry, Ignore, or Fail? A debate about the presidency and U.S. democracy" on Tuesday, November 10 from 1:00 - 3:00 p.m. in Reisinger Auditorium. Panelists Frances Fox Piven, political science professor at CUNY; Norma Thompson, associate professor of political science at Yale University; Bruce Miroff, professor and chairman of the political science department at SUNY, Albany and Dennis Parker, civil rights attorney, will address the questions: "Should the President be impeached and removed from office? Will Clinton's problems lead to a GOP conquest of the White House and Congress in 2000? What does the Clinton scandal mean for a world economy in turmoil, or for the future of U.S. democracy itself?"
Jazz Festival
Sarah Lawrence College presents its first-ever Jazz Festival on its Bronxville campus. The four-day festival, to be held in the college’s Reisinger Concert Hall, will celebrate the cutting edge tradition of improvised jazz, and strives to promote music that is at the same time both underground and rooted firmly in the Jazz tradition. The student-organized festival will run from October 21- October 24, 1998. Tickets are $10; $8 for senior citizens and students or $28 for a festival pass. All concerts are at 8 p.m.
Hadassah and SLC Co-sponsor Conference on Jewish Women
Scholars, artists and activists exploring the experience of Jewish women will be the topic of a conference co-sponsored by the Westchester Region of Hadassah and Sarah Lawrence College, to be held on Saturday October, 17 and Sunday, October 18 on the College's Bronxville campus.
Michele Tolela Myers Inaugurated Ninth President
Michele Tolela Myers was installed as the ninth president of Sarah Lawrence College on September 25, extolling the college's distinctive system of education and focusing her attention on the integral role the creative and performing arts play within the liberal arts.
Campbell Sports Center Opens
Cutting the ribbon to officially open the College's first ever sports center are from left to right Margaret Noyes '49, Alice Stone Ilchman, president emerita, Michele Tolela Myers, president, and Margot Bogert, chairman of the board. Trustees, donors, students, faculty and staff were given a grand tour of the facility, complete with demonstrations and games.
Convening the College
Good afternoon and welcome. I am delighted to be the official greeter on our opening day of school. For those of us whose first year at Sarah Lawrence this is, it is a special moment indeed. We have finally begun in earnest what we have long waited for. Speaking for myself, I must ell you I am happy to be here, eager to know all of you, ready to work.