FRANK RICH
Monday, September 21, 2009
Reception: 6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Woodward Center

Frank Rich is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times. His weekly column helped inaugurate the expanded opinion pages the paper introduced in the Sunday Week in Review section in 2005. Before writing his column, Mr. Rich served as The Times’ chief drama critic beginning in 1980.

In 2005, he received the George Polk Award for commentary, which honors contributions to journalistic integrity and investigative reporting. In addition to his work at the The Times, he has written about politics and culture for many other publications.  His latest book, The Greatest Story Ever Sold: The Decline and Fall of Truth from 9/11 to Katrina, was published in 2006. Before joining The Times, Mr. Rich was a film and television critic at Time Magazine, film critic for The New York Post and film critic and senior editor of New Times Magazine. Rich earned a bachelor’s degree in American history and literature from Harvard College in 1971.

In May 2008, Mr. Rich signed on as a creative consultant to help initiate and develop new programming at the pay-TV network HBO.

In conjunction with the talk by New York Times Columnist Frank Rich, on September 21st, Westfield State College will host a reception to benefit PHENOM – the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts.  PHENOM mobilizes students, staff, faculty, alumni, parents, and community organizations to advocate for an affordable, accessible, well funded and democratically governed public higher education system in Massachusetts.

SULTAN SHARRIEF, Bilal’s Stand, Film Screening and Director’s Presentation
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
7:00 pm
Scanlon Banquet Hall

The Bilal's Stand film focuses on the life of a Detroit high-school senior, Bílal, and his family's long-owned taxi stand. "The Stand," as they call it, has been the source of all activity and income for the family for the last sixty years, and it seems as though Bílal is about to carry the torch. However, after secretly submitting a college application and taking up ice carving in order to win a scholarship, he is forced to decide whether he will continue working at the Stand-the only life he's ever known-or take a chance at social mobility. The film is based on a true story and deals with issues of education, religion, community values, and social prosperity. After the screening, the Director will discuss the issues presented in the film and how they relate to prevalent issues on college campuses around the country. He'll also discuss the unique manner in which the film was made and answer any questions presented by the audience.

DANIEL PINK
Monday, October 5, 2009
Reception: 6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Woodward Center

Daniel Pink is the author of a trio of proactive, best selling books on the changing world of work. A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future,” charts the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies and describes the six abilities individuals and organizations must master in an outsourced, automated age.” It is a long running New York Times and BusinessWeek bestseller. Mr. Pink’s latest work, The Adventures of Johnny Bunko: The Last Career Guide You’ll Ever Need is the first American business book in the Japanese comic format known as Manga.   This novel was one of the bestselling graphic novels of 2008 and the only graphic novel ever to become a BusinessWeek bestseller.

Dan's articles on business and technology appear in many publications, including the New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company and Wired, where he is a contributing editor. He has provided analysis of business trends on CNN, CNBC, ABC, NPR and other networks in the U.S. and abroad. He also lectures to corporations, associations and universities around the world on economic transformation and the new workplace.

Dan held his last job in the White House, where he served from 1995-1997 as chief speechwriter to Vice President Al Gore. He also worked as an aide to U.S Department Secretary Robert Reich. He received a bachelor’s degree with honors from Northwestern University and a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.

ARCHER MAYOR, a reading from The Price of Malice
Thursday, October 15, 2009
7:00 pm
Westfield Athenaeum

Archer Mayor’s Joe Gunther detective series (19 books in all) is described by the Chicago Tribune as “the best acclaimed police procedural series being written in America”.  He is also the 2004 winner of the New England Independent Booksellers Association Award for Best Fiction—the first time a writer of crime literature has been so honored. In addition, Archer is a death investigator for Vermont's Chief Medical Examiner, and a Deputy Sheriff for Windham County, VT.

For years, Archer has integrated actual police methodology with intricately detailed plot lines into novels that The New York Times has called “dazzling,” and Booklist has said are “among the best cop stories being written today.” Whereas many writers base their books on only interviews and scholarly research, Mayor's novels are based on actual experience in the field. The result adds a depth, detail and veracity to his characters and their tribulations that has led The New York Times to call him “the boss man on procedures,” and the Arizona Daily Star to write, “Few deliver such well-rounded novels of such consistent high quality.”

JARITA DAVIS, Ph.D., An Evening of Poetry with Jarita Davis
Monday, Novemeber 2, 2009
7:00 pm
Scanlon Living Room

Dr. Jarita Davis is a poet and fiction writer of Cape Verdean descent, raised in North Haven, CT and currently living in Falmouth, MA. Dr. Davis's project, There Should Be More Water, is a cycle of poems examining the shifting identities of Cape Verdean and Cape Verdean-Americans whose culture is marked by a continual migration to and from their island origins. Her work highlights the influences that New England and American culture has had on Cape Verdean immigrants, as well as the influences that Cape Verdeans have had upon their New England communities. A discussion and book signing will follow the poetry reading.

MEHDI USMANOV, Umeed-New Hope in America, Lecture and Performance
Wednesday, Novemeber 18, 2009
7:00 pm
Dever Auditorium

Akhisk Turks are Turkish people who speak one of the eastern-anatolic dialects of Turkish language.  About 80% also speak fluent Russian.  They are of Islamic faith of Sunni denomination.  In 1828 part of Turkey and Georgia was seized by the Russian Empire, leaving the Akhisk Turks detached from their native land.  Having been deported as many as three times between 1944 and 2005,  Akhisk Turks have been dispersed across the former Soviet Union, Turkey and United States.  Statistically, there are about 90 thousand Akhisk Turks living in Kazakhstan, about 70 thousand in Azerbaijan, 30 thousand in Kirgizstan, 15 thousand in Uzbekistan, about 7 thousand in the Ukraine and nearly 15 thousand spread across 34 states in the United States.

Westfield welcomes the Akhisk Turks to campus to speak about their history and share performances of their native dance and music.

TOM PATTI, Illuminating the Invisible, Gallery Exhibit and Reception
Thursday, Novemeber 19, 2009
5:30 pm
Ely Arno Maris Gallery

Join us for the Ribbon Cutting Celebration for the new Ely Arno Maris Gallery on campus at 5:30, followed by an Artist Exhibition and Reception featuring the glass sculpture of Tom Patti.  The Gallery show runs November 19 – December 18.

Trained as an industrial designer and sculptor, Tom Patti is known for his innovative use of glass and plastics to create visionary architectural systems, small-scale sculptural works, and large architectural art commissions. Published and exhibited throughout the world, his work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the National Museum of American Art in Washington D.C., the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Louvre in Paris and numerous others.

He has collaborated with architects and engineers in the United States and abroad, including Cesar Pelli, Graham Gund, FX Fowle, Arquitectonica and Buro Happold, on projects ranging from NIGHT PASSAGE - a large curved glass wall of  blast-resistant glass at a New York subway station where over two and one half million people per day experience the artwork, to MIAMI RAIN, a constantly changing sculpture on the north corner and west wall of the MARQUIS building being developed by Africa-Israel.

"When I was a kid General Electric was in my backyard. They were experimenting with man-made lightning and I went to the building where they were doing the test. When I saw it for the first time I knew what I was looking for – that mystery event of discovery between science and creativity"

BOWZER'S R-n-R PARTY
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Time: 8:00 pm
Location: Woodward Center

The impressive contrast between mild-mannered Jon Bauman and his creation and alter-ego, the unique “Bowzer,” has raised a lot of eyebrows in the entertainment industry. That is because Jon’s portrayal of “Bowzer,” leader of the Sha Na Na group, was so convincing that the casual observer thought he actually walked the streets of Brooklyn when not performing. Bauman surfaced as one of the most multi-dimensional performers in show business today, with careers as host, producer, writer, performer, author, musician and social activist. 

In l969, Jon joined several of his Columbia classmates in "Sha Na Na" and created the character of "Bowzer.” With "Bowzer" the dominant character on stage, Jon was a major force in leading the group to their successful TV series. At its peak, "Sha Na Na" was the number-one syndicated show in America, and was also seen in 32 foreign countries.

When Jon left "Sha Na Na" in the mid-80's, he began to explore his many talents even further. He did a l80-degree turnaround from a "greaser" to a game show host.  He then became one of the original "VJs” on the music channel, "VH-1.” Jon next wrote and hosted LBS Communications twelve-part series "The Story of Rock 'n' Roll." The following year, he became co-host of KHJ's "L.A. In The Morning,” having broadened his skills to an issue-oriented talk show.

Finally, Jon's live show, "Bowzer's Original Doo-Wop Party,” was the most successful production show ever at Atlantic City's TropWorld Casino and Entertainment Resort. Jon has been performing ever since with his group, Bowzer and the Stingrays, at fairs, amusement parks, cruise ships and conventions all over the country and the world! 

www.bowzerparty.com

ELINOR LIPMAN
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Reception:  6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Location:  Scanlon Banquet Hall

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts, Elinor Lipman is the author of eight novels about contemporary American society and a collection of short stories. She graduated from Simmons College, where she studied journalism. She received the New England Book Award for fiction in 2001. Her novel, Then She Found Me, was adapted into a 2007 feature film, directed by and starring Helen Hunt. Also, her novels The Ladies Man and The Pursuit of Alice Thrift, are in pre-production as feature films.

Lipman has taught writing at Simmons, Smith and Hampshire Colleges.  She is frequently asked to judge contests and to serve on panels for grants. She most recently served on the 2006 literature panel for the National Endowment for the Arts.

www.elinorlipman.com

DR. MICHAEL ERIC DYSON
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Reception:  6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Location: Woodward Center

Dr. Michael Eric Dyson is an American academic, author and radio host. A former teen father who once lived on welfare, he received a Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University and is an ordained minister of the Baptist denomination. Dyson taught at the DePaul University, Chicago Theological Seminary, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Columbia University, Brown University and University of Pennsylvania. Since 2007, Dyson has been University Professor of Sociology at Georgetown University teaching courses in theology, English and African American studies. He is also a regular commentator on National Public Radio, CNN and the HBO TV program Real Time with Bill Mahr.

Dyson is best known for his commentary on American culture, especially as it pertains to African Americans. Dyson uses the terms “Afristocracy” and “Ghettocracy” to describe a division in American black society. He is also a leading scholar on hip-hop music, as well as its roots in African and African American cultures.  He has been dubbed “the hip-hop intellectual” for his pioneering explorations of rap music.  He has been named one of the hundred most influential black Americans by Ebony Magazine.

www.michaelericdyson.com

THE ONION
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Reception:  6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Location: Woodward Center

The Onion dates back to 1756, when Freidrich Siegried Zweibel, an immigrant farmer from Prussia, bartered a sack of yams for a printing press and named his fledgling news paper The Mercantile Onion.

Others contend the first issue of The Onion was printed in 1988 in Madison, Wisconsin, by two students working out of their University of Wisconsin dorm.  In the paper’s early years, the humor had a local focus, with headlines that included “Pen Stolen From Dorm Study Area” and “Winged Monkeys Terrorize State Capitol.”

The Onion is a Peabody award-winning, American “fake news” organization. It features satirical articles reporting on international, national and local news. The Onion’s articles comment on current events, both real and imagined. It parodies traditional newspaper features, such as editorials, man-on-the-street interviews, and stock quotes, as well as a traditional newspaper layout and AP-style editorial voice. The Onion’s presentation explores/mocks today’s most current topics while specifically tailoring the content to the tone of any event.   The Onion is distributed in cities throughout the country and has a weekly readership of more than three million people.  The Onion has been dubbed “arguably the most popular humor periodical in world history” by The New Yorker.   Taking into account its humble dorm-room origins, The Onion is an authority in turning creative endeavor into profitable business.

www.theonion.com

ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Reception:  6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Location: Woodward Center

Zbigniew Brzezinski is a Polish-born American political scientist, geostrategist and statesman, who served as United States National Security Advisor to President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1981. Known for his hawkish foreign policy at a time when the Democratic Party was increasingly dovish, he is a foreign policy "realist" and considered by some to be the Democrats' response to Republican Henry Kissinger.

Major foreign policy events during his term of office include the normalization of relations with the People’s Republic of China, the signing of the Second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, the brokering of the Camp David Accords, and the signing of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties, relinquishing overt U.S control of the Panama Canal after 1999. He is currently professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, and a member of various boards and councils. He appears frequently as an expert on the PBS program The News Hour with Jim Lehrer.

GLORIA STEINEM
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Reception:  6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Location: Woodward Center

Rising to national prominence as a feminist leader in 1969, Steinem was a founder of New York Magazine in the 1960’s and broke ground in 1963 with an investigative report on how the employed women of Playboy were treated, which was made into a 1985 movie, A Bunny’s Tale. In the 1970’s, she became a leading political leader and one of the most important voices of the Second-Wave feminism, the women’s rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. In 1971, along with other feminist reformers, she founded the National Women’s Political Caucus. The next year, Steinem became the founding editor and publisher of “Ms.” Magazine, which brought feminist issues to the forefront and became the movement’s most influential publication. Steinem actively campaigned for the Equal Rights Amendment, in addition to other laws and social reforms that promoted equality. She also founded/co-founded many groups, including the Women’s Action Alliance, the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Women's Media Center, and Choice USA. She helped create the Take Our Daughters to Work Day.

Today, Steinem is considered one of the most important feminist reformers of the Second-Wave of the Women’s Movement in the United States. She has had several of her books become bestsellers, and has been published in many magazines and newspapers here and in other countries.  Biography magazine listed her as one of the 25 most influential women in America.  In 1993, she was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York. She is currently at work on Road to the Heart: America As if Everyone Mattered, a book about her more than thirty years on the road as a feminist organizer; and with the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College on a project to document the grassroots origins of the U.S. women's movement.  

GREG MORTENSON
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Reception:  6:00 pm
Presentation: 7:00 pm
Location:  Woodward Center

Greg Mortenson is the co-founder and executive director of non-profit Central Asia Institute, founder of Pennies for Peace, and co-author of New York Times bestseller Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace…One School at a Time which has been a New York Times bestseller for 120 weeks since its release in January 2007. In March 2009, Mortenson received Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-e-Pakistan (Star of Pakistan) for his dedication and humanitarian effort to promote education and literacy in rural areas for 15 years. Several bipartisan U.S. Congressional representatives nominated Mortenson for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Three Cups of Tea is required reading for U.S Senior military commanders, 0fficers in the Norwegian War College, U.S Special Forces deploying to Afghanistan, Pentagon officers in counter-insurgency training, and Canadian Defense Ministry members. He served in the U.S Army in Germany, where he received the Army Commendation Medal. Since a 1993 climb on Pakistan’s K2, Mortenson has dedicated his life to promote community- based education and literacy, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. As of 2009, Mortenson has established over 90 schools in rural and often volatile regions, which provide education to over 34,000 children. TV newscaster Tom Brokaw calls Mortenson, “one ordinary person, with the right combination of character and determination, who is really changing the world.”

www.gregmortenson.com