Friday, September 28, 2012

The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh, Security Advisor Juan Zarate Discuss the Secrets of National Security


Seymour Hersh's investigative reporting
has earned every major journalism award.
Image courtesy of U. of Minnesota.
CHESTERTOWN, MD—How does a democratic society, facing serious threats of terrorism, strike the right balance between the government’s need for secrecy and the public’s right to know? In a special event at Washington College on Monday, October 8, one of the nation’s preeminent investigative journalists and a top security analyst who has served in the front lines of counter-terrorism efforts will offer their answers and perspectives.
             “Secrecy, the Media and National Security,” a conversation with Pulitzer-Prize winning New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh and former Deputy National Security Advisor Juan Zarate will be moderated by Washington College president Mitchell B. Reiss. The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place at 4:30 p.m. in Decker Theater, Gibson Center for the Arts, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. It is sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.
            “This is a special opportunity to hear true voices of experience address this complex and important issue from different perspectives,” says President Reiss. “We could not ask for a better expert to represent the view of journalists than the legendary Sy Hersh. And Juan Zarate brings great insight from his years in the thick of the battle to protect the country from an increasingly dangerous matrix of threats.”
            In a career that spans more than five decades, Seymour M. Hersh has won dozens of accolades and every important award in his profession, including a Pulitzer Prize, five George Polk Awards, and two National Magazine Awards. He earned the 1970 Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting with his expose of the My Lai Massacre and its cover up during the Vietnam War. More than thirty years later, he was uncovering abuses at Abu Ghraib prison.
            Hersh wrote his first piece for The New Yorker in 1971 and has been a regular contributor since 1993, focusing heavily on military and security issues. He is the author of nine books, most recently Chain of Command: The Road from 9/11 to Abu Ghraib, and is currently at work on a volume about the Cheney vice-presidency.
Juan Zarate provides security analysis for CBS News.
Image courtesy of CBS News.
            Juan C. Zarate is Senior Adviser to the Center for Strategic and International Studies
(CSIS), national security analyst for CBS News, and a Visiting Lecturer at Harvard Law School. He served as Deputy National Security Advisor for Combating Terrorism from 2005 to 2009. Today he advises companies and organizations on homeland security, financial-related terror risks, new  technologies and investments.
            In the George W. Bush Administration, Zarate was responsible for
 developing and overseeing implementation of the U.S. government’s counterterrorism
 strategy. He also oversaw policies related to transnational security threats, including counter-narcotics, 
maritime security and critical energy
infrastructure protection. 
Earlier, as the first Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for
 Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes, Zarate expanded the Treasury Department's powers to advance national security interests. 


            Mitchell B. Reiss, a scholar in international affairs, became president of Washington College in July 2010 after serving as Dean and Vice Provost for International Affairs at the College of William & Mary. As Director of the Office of Policy Planning at the U.S. State Department from 2003 to 2005, he provided Secretary Colin L. Powell with independent strategic advice.  And as the President’s Special Envoy for the Northern Ireland Peace Process from 2003 to 2007, he led historic progress towards ending “the Troubles.” In 1999 Reiss helped manage the start-up and operations of the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, leading its negotiations with the North Koreans. His most recent book is Negotiating with Evil: When to Talk to Terrorists (2010, Open Road)

Photos courtesy of University of Minnesota and CBS News.

Literary House Celebrates Faculty Authors With Open House Saturday, September 29



CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Rose O’Neill Literary House at Washington College invites the community to meet seven faculty authors at a special event Saturday, September 29, at 2 p.m.  Please stop by the House, located at 407 Washington Avenue, to visit with the following faculty members and learn about the books they have published in the past two years:



Emily Chamlee-Wright
The Cultural and Political Economy of Recovery: Social Learning in a Post-Disaster Environment
Routledge, 2010.

The Political Economy of Katrina and Community Rebound
Edward Elgar, 2012.

Jehanne Dubrow
Red Army Red: Poems
Northwestern University Press, 2012.

Stateside: Poems
Northwestern University Press 2010

Meredith Davies Hadaway
The River is the Reason: Poems
Word Press, 2011

Alisha R. Knight
Pauline Hopkins and the American Dream: An African American Writer's (Re)Visionary Gospel of Success
University of Tennessee Press, 2012.

Kathryn M. Moncrief
Performing Pedagogy in Early Modern England: Gender, Instruction and Performance
Co-edited with Kathryn R. McPherson
Aldershot: Ashgate, 2011.

Gary S. Schiff
In Search of Polin: Chasing Jewish Ghosts in Today's Poland
Peter Lang Publishing, 2012. 

Richard Striner
Lincoln and Race
Southern Illinois University Press, 2012.

Supernatural Romance in Film: Tales of Love, Death, and the Afterlife
McFarland & Co., 2011.

Lincoln's Way: How Six Great Presidents Created American Power
Rowman & Littlefield, 2010




Thursday, September 27, 2012

Sandbox Percussion Quartet performs October 5 for 12@Hotchkiss free concert series


CHESTERTOWN, MD—The Sandbox Percussion Quartet will give the next performance of the Washington College Music Department’s “12@Hotchkiss” lunchtime concert series on Friday, October 5. The free public performances, hosted at noon in the Hotchkiss Recital Hall on the first Friday of each month, feature acclaimed musicians from the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
         Sandbox Percussion is comprised of Garret Arney, Victor Caccese, Ian Rosenbaum, and Adam Rosenblatt, classically trained musicians who studied at the Peabody Conservatory and the Yale School of Music. They bring a youthful energy to their performances, which range from traditional percussion works to experimental improvisations and new music. The quartet took part in the Summer 2012 Norfolk New Music Workshop in Norfolk, Conn., and made its New York City debut at the St. John’s Episcopal Church Concerts on the Slope series, earning an invitation to be the ensemble-in-residence for the Fall 2013 season. The quartet was a finalist in the New England Chamber Music Competition, held in Boston.
         The October 5 performance at Washington College will feature the work of composers Steve Reich, Jason Treuting and Paul Lansky.
Hotchkiss Recital Hall is located in the Gibson Center for the Arts at Washington College, 300 Washington Avenue. For more information on the 12@Hotchkiss series, please visit the Music Department website at http://music.washcoll.edu, or contact series director Grace Eun Hae Kim at gkim2@washcoll.edu.
         

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Russian Trio Opens 61st Washington College Community Concert Series on Saturday, October 6



CHESTERTOWN, MD—Three young Russian-born musicians will open the 61st Season of the Washington College Community Concert Series on Saturday evening October 6 with a program of Haydn, Brahms and Shostakovich. The concert by The Russian Trio will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Decker Theatre, in the Gibson Center for the Arts on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Avenue.
            The Trio consists of pianist Katherine Harris Rick, violinist Nikita Borisevich and cellist Dmitry Volkov, all of whom earned early recognition for their musical talents, winning prestigious awards and competitions. They met as graduate students at the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and formed the trio in 2011. The following summer they earned both the Silver Medal and the Audience Choice Award at the 2012 Chesapeake Chamber Music Competition in Easton.
            Pianist Katherine Harris Rick made her debut at age 9 in her hometown of Yakutsk, Siberia, and never looked back. She earned honors and awards from the World Piano Competition, the Rachmaninoff Competition for Young Pianists, and the International Russian Music Piano Competition. Her musical education continued with a full scholarship to Azusa Pacific University at age 15 and a full graduate assistantship in accompanying at the Peabody Conservatory.
            Violinist Nikita Borisevich began studying the violin at age 5, first played with the Perm Opera Symphony Orchestra at 12, and won Russia’s “Magical Bow” national competition for violinists and cellists at 15. He was admitted on a full scholarship to the Moscow Conservatory.  An avid chamber musician as well as soloist, Nikita won a Grand Prix in the 2011 International Chamber Music Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia, and this year made his debut at the Moscow Philharmonic Society.
            Cellist Dmitry Volkov has performed as a soloist with the National Symphony of Mexico, the Youth Orchestra of the Americas, the Samara Symphony Orchestra, the Togliatti Symphony, and the Naberezhyne Chelny Symphony.  He has won numerous scholarships and awards, including the Stephen Kates Memorial Scholarship in Cello and the First Act Heifetz Institute Scholarship.
The October 6 program will include Haydn’s Trio in C Major, No. 43, Brahms’ Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8 and Shostakovich’s Trio in E Minor, Op. 67.
Tickets to the single concert are priced at $15 per adult, $5 for youth ages 18 and under, and free for Washington College students with a valid ID.  Both individual and season tickets ($50 for all five concerts) can be purchased at the door. There are no reserved seats. To purchase tickets in advance or become a Concert Series patron ($75 and up), please call 410-778-7839 or e-mail concert series director Kate Bennett at kbennett2@washcoll.edu.
For more on the 2012-13 season, visit http://news.washcoll.edu/concertseries.php.