Alumni College was formed in 2002, and premiered at Reunion 2003. The Committee develops lifelong learning programs in support of the mission of the College Alumni Association to engage alumni in the academic life of Drew and strengthen the bonds between alumni and the University.
Chair: Linda Connors C’64
Office Contact: Jeanne Marano (973) 408-3229 or jmarano@drew.edu
Upcoming Activities
Alumni College: Among the Olive Pickers: Grassroots efforts toward peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians
Faculty Speaker: Jonathan Golden, Associate Director, Caspersen Centers; Assistant Professor, Religion; Director, Hillel
When: October 27, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Mead Hall, Drew University
Little known outside of the region, there are today numerous groups devoted to ongoing efforts at shared-living and co-existence Israel and the PA territories. Grassroots groups throughout the region are working in a variety of fields in order to help build bridges between these notoriously antagonistic peoples. Ranging from sustainable ecology projects, to archaeological excavations, to theatre, music and art, to experiments in living together, are these the small, but necessary steps toward reconciliation? Can these efforts really help the situation?
Jonathan Golden (Ph.D. in Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania, 1998) teaches at Drew University, where he is Associate Director of the Caspersen Centers, working closely with Drew’s Center for Civic Engagement, while serving as Assoc. Director for the Center on Religion, Culture and Conflict. Golden teaches in the Department of Religious Studies, the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies and the Theology School, specializing in the areas of Religion, Anthropology, and the Middle East - ancient and modern. He is the author of Ancient Canaan and Israel: New Perspectives and the forthcoming Dawn of the Metal Age. Golden offers courses and has written on such topics as religious conflict and terrorism, world archaeology, Jewish diaspora communities, ethnography of the Middle East and Latin America, and human evolution, with a special focus on the inter-face between science and religion. Golden is also Faculty Advisor to Drew Hillel and S.T.A.N.D. and is an active member of the Drew Disaster Relief Project; he also serves on the Religious Life Council and Diversity Committee. Golden lives in Florham Park, NJ, where he also enjoys playing soccer and performing/writing music.
>> Click here to register, or contact the Office of Alumni Relations at (973) 408-3229 or alumni@drew.edu.
Alumni College: A Winnable War? America's Involvement in Afghanistan
Faculty Speaker: Carlos Yordan, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Special Assistant to the Provost for Diversity
When: November 10, 2009, at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Mead Hall, Drew University
This lecture answers three set of questions. First, what factors led to the Taliban’s resurgence in parts of southeastern Afghanistan and how is it presently threatening the viability of the pro-Western Afghan government? Second, what is the Obama administrations current strategy and why is it unlikely to reverse the Taliban’s recent gains or undermine al Qaeda’s reorganization? Third, should President Obama deploy more troops to Afghanistan? To answer these questions, the lecture examines the United States’ counter-insurgency experience in Iraq after 2006. Lessons learned from this experience point out that it is possible to reverse the Taliban’s gains, but many Americans may not be ready to invest the necessary resources or make the necessary compromises to secure our regional interests. This puts the Obama administration in the same dilemma President Bush found himself prior to the 2006 midterm elections. By ignoring public opinion, he successfully stabilized Iraq, but the decision cost the Republican Party its political influence. Can a new strategy win the war, but undermine the Obama presidency?
Carlos L. Yordan grew up in San Juan, Puerto Rico. He earned his B.A. in International Studies and M.A. in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at American University in Washington , D.C. He finished his Ph.D. in International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Professor Yordan joined the Department of Political Science in fall 2005. Prior to Drew University , he taught at the University of Alabama-Birmingham (UAB), Hamilton College, the University of Maine, Husson College, and American University 's London Semester Program. He also was a Visiting Scholar in Cornell University's Peace Studies Program. His current research interests include: (1) U.S. foreign and national security policy; (2) post-war reconstruction efforts in Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Iraq; (3) terrorism, especially the recruitment, training and indoctrination of individuals, al Qaeda's transformation after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the financing of terrorism activities; and (4) the politics of civil war termination.
>>Click here to register, or contact the Office of Alumni Relations at (973) 408-3229 or alumni@drew.edu
Past Activities
Friday, September 25, 2009
2:00 – 3:30 p.m. - Today’s Drug Discovery Process: The Discovery of a Preclinical Anticancer Compound
Sponsored by RISE (Research Institute for Scientists Emeriti)
Speaker: Dr. Vincent P. Gullo, RISE Chemist
The discovery of new drugs is very challenging, particularly in the field of cancer. New approaches to meet this challenge are currently being applied to address the problem. This session will describe the state of the art strategy employed to discover new anticancer compounds. A specific example of a recent discovery from the biotech industry will illustrate novel scientific approaches.
3:30 – 5:00 p.m. - What’s in a Name?: Contemporary Questions in Women’s and Gender Studies?
Sponsored by the Womyn's Concerns House
Speakers: Wendy Kolmar, Director of Women's Studies; Professor of English, and Debra Liebowitz, Associate Professor of Political Science and Women's Studies
Recently, we changed the name of Drew’s program from “Women’s Studies” to “Women’s and Gender Studies.” What changes and new directions in the field motivated this change of name? In this panel, we’ll explore some of the recent conversations and debates that are reshaping the field. Debra Liebowitz and Wendy Kolmar, both women’s studies faculty members, will outline major recent developments in this interdisciplinary field; several additional faculty panelists will present their work as examples of the way these changes are affecting disciplinary work on gender and sexuality.
5 – 5:30 p.m. - Morris Pancoast: 20th Century American Impressionist Exhibit at the Korn Gallery and
Artwork donated to Drew University by Nathaniel and Henny Schneider C'49 in honor of Professor Elizabeth Korn
Speaker: Sara Lynn Henry, Professor Emerita of Art History
Why is it that we all love Impressionism? Taking a look at the work of the American artist Morris Pancoast can tell us in part why, and also reveals for us why Pancoast is a notable artist of the second generation of American Impressionists. Following after the first American artists to transform their work with the light, brush, and color of French influence (e.g. Weir, Sargent, Chase, Lawson, and Twachtman in the 1880s and 1890s), there emerged a legion of American painters who applied Impressionism to the American landscape (1900s to 1940s). Pancoast was early-on a second generation artist, studying under the realist Thomas Anschutz at the Pennsylvania Academy (late 1890s). After scraping together every penny, Pancoast next went to Paris to study at the Académie Julian (1902-1905) with the realist history painter Jean-Paul Laurens. Why was this realist training an important foundation for Pancoast, as it was for many of the American Impressionists? Certainly because such training allowed a firm craft that was rooted in the realist, observed presence of nature and in the veracity of the object. Pancoast--as the American others-- then brought the object alive through the living brush and the colored light of late Impressionism.
7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Session 4: Ethnic Autobiographies: The “I” and the “We”
Sponsored by Umoja House, La Casa, Asia Tree House, Kuumba, Educational Opportunity Scholars Program (EOS) and Pan African Studies
Speakers: Geraldine L. Smith-Wright, Professor of English, and Raul Rosales, Assistant Professor of Spanish
Professors Rosales and Smith-Wright will offer perspectives on the art of life-writing, with particular emphasis on American ethnic autobiographers. Their respective talks will shed light on the diversity of African-American and Latino autobiographical writing in the U.S., with writers not only narrating their personal stories but also addressing the complex relationships between the individual, immediate community, and the nation. What is the dynamic between a writer's particular ethnic representation and the wider ethnic label? How is the interplay between autobiography and fiction exacerbated by the ethnic factor? Are ethnic autobiographies already more communal than personal? How do issues raised in ethnic American autobiographies contribute to the idea of an American identity?
Raúl Rosales: "The Latino I / Eye: Autobiographical Representations of Self, Community, and Nation"
Gerry Smith-Wright: "The Caged Bird Still Sings: Maya Angelou's Circular Autobiographical Journey
Saturday, September 26, 2009
1 – 2 p.m. - Building America: Colonial Williamsburg
Speaker: Sharon Sundue, Chair and Associate Professor of History
In anticipation of the spring, 2010 Alumni/ae College trip to Colonial Williamsburg, this presentation will consider Williamsburg’s creation and recreation. Williamsburg was first founded in the early 18th century as a colonial capital city grappling with new social mobility and class tensions; ultimately in the era of the Revolution its residents paradoxically embraced popular participation in government while at the same time accepting white racial supremacy. Two centuries later, the city was rediscovered and preserved in an effort to protect American memory by teaching Americans about our democratic origins; in the last twenty years historians have also grappled with the less heroic side of Williamsburg’s past. As a living embodiment of American memory, Williamsburg offers unique insight into American attempts to grapple with our past and our identity.
2 – 3:30 p.m. - Fact and Faith: Moving Beyond the Conventional Debate
Sponsored by Hillel, Spirituality House and the Center on Religion, Culture and Conflict
Speaker: Jonathan Golden, Associate Director of Caspersen Centers; Assistant Professor of Religion; Hillel Director
Belief in the creation narrative as outlined in the Bible and the theory of evolution as outlined by Darwin are often pitted against one another as opposing points of view. Yet, there is little, if anything, in either views that precludes the truth of the other and the acceptance of both. In fact, Prof. Golden argues that in some ways these two systems of understanding the origins of the world are more powerful when taken together. In this lecture, we will explore the history of thought on this subject, the major issues that confront us today, and the various pathways toward a more productive discussion.
3:30 – 5 p.m. - Beyond School: Creating Community Educational Systems that Prepare Young People for Their Future, Not Our Past
Sponsored by the Caspersen School of Graduate Studies
Speaker: Ross Danis, Associate Dean for Education
There is a gap between the ability of our students and the complex demands of the world in which they will live. The “basic skills” of the 21st century include critical and creative thinking. This address will identify the skills and dispositions that schools will have to either teach or foster in order to increase the probability of success in a rapidly changing and increasingly complex world. Solutions and options will also be presented that will detail possible organizational structures and instructional designs that may replace or modify the current educational system.
