Theater to Present “Mound Builders”

The Theater Department will present Lanford Wilson’s “The Mound Builders,” directed by Carolyn Anderson, professor of theater and chair of the department. Set against an archeological dig, this award-winning drama presents a world of greed, lust, and survival and examines the human need to build.

The production will be in the Studio Theater. Performances are scheduled Thursday through Sunday, Oct. 17-20, at 8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees Saturday and Sunday.

Tickets are $10 general admission; $7 for students/senior citizens. Group rates are available. For reservations, call the Theater Box Office at ext. 5439.

Sculptor to Launch Visiting Art Lecture Series

Sculptor Ellen Driscoll will kick off the Studio Art Visiting Lecture Series with an illustrated talk at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in Emerson Auditorium.

Admission is open to the public.

Driscoll is a professor of sculpture at Rhode Island School of Design. Her work includes installations such as “The Loophole of Retreat” (Whitney Museum at Phillip Morris, 1991) and “Passionate Attitudes” (Threadwaxing Space, New York, 1995); public art projects such as “Mum’s the Work” (a public banner project in collaboration with the Aphasia Support Group at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, Boston, 1998), “Meanderlink” (an airborne banner flying over Frederick Law Olmsted's Emerald Necklace in Boston, 2000); and “Ahab's Wife,” a theater production done as part of the 1998 International Puppet Festival at Snug Harbor Cultural Center, Staten Island.

Driscoll has been awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, Anonymous Was a Woman, and Harvard University’s Bunting Institute. Her work is included in major private and public collections such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art, and in such public spaces as Grand Central Terminal, where “As Above, So Below,” her glass tile, bronze, and digitized images are incorporated into a breathtaking mosaic design.

Lecturer to Address Economics of Solution to Palestinian-Israeli Conflict

Writer Joel Bainerman will discuss “How Economics Will Impact a Solution to the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict” when he visits the Skidmore campus Wednesday, Oct. 23.

Free and open to the public, the talk will begin at 8:15 p.m. in Davis Auditorium. Sponsors include the Intercultural Center, the Chaplain’s Office, the Department of Government, and the Jewish Student Union.

Bainerman will examine the specific economic problems that the Palestinian economy will face if and when a political solution with Israel is reached. He will focus on what will be required in terms of financial resources for a Palestinian entity to prosper and develop and where the fiscal resources can be located. Additional issues to be considered are the challenges associated with erecting a suitable industrial, social, and economic infrastructure on the West Bank and Gaza and what must be done to facilitate the rehabilitation of the local refugee population.

A Toronto native who immigrated to Israel in 1981, Bainerman has since spent more than two decades as a journalist and writer on Israeli and Middle East affairs, researching and writing on such topics as the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Israeli economy, Palestinian politics, and economic dimensions of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Formerly the business editor at the Jerusalem-based The Israel Economist, Bainerman is the former Israel correspondent for Canada’s national press service. He also served as economics editor of The Jerusalem Post. In 1996 he established The Israel Technology Letter, reporting for foreign investors on unique investment opportunities in Israel’s high tech sector, and developments between Israel and the Palestinian economies.

He is the author of Broken Promises: The Rise and Fall of Israel’s Technology-Based Industries, an in-depth study published in 2001. His book, What Every Jew and Arab Should Know about the Arab-Israeli Conflict, will be published this winter by ZBC Publishers, Jerusalem.

Davis to Read from Versailles

Professor of English Kathryn Davis will read from her newest book, the novel Versailles, beginning at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 6, in the Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery.

Free and open to the public, the reading will be in the Payne Presentation Room.

Versailles, published in August, is, according to The New York Times Book Review, a “splendid novel.”

In the News

Skidmore faculty and staff recently featured in mainstream media include the following:

Roy Ginsberg, professor of government, was a guest on WAMC’s “Roundtable” program Sept. 26, discussing the results of the recent German elections.

Charles Joseph, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, was interviewed for “Rooting for Truffles with Igor,” published in the Oct. 11 edition of The Chronicle of Higher Education. The story details new scholarship on the composer Igor Stravinsky, including Joseph’s two recent books, Stravinsky Inside Out (2001, Yale University Press) and Stravinsky and Balanchine: A Journey of Invention (2002, Yale University Press).

Joanne Devine, associate professor of English, was interviewed by The Sunday Gazette for “Soda? Pop? Words tell where you come from,” published Oct. 13, 2002.

Michael Sposili, director of alumni affairs and college events, was interviewed by The Times Union for “Colleges try to offer a degree of reassurance,” a story on family weekends published Oct. 13, 2002. Several Skidmore families were featured in the story.

President Studley is profiled in the latest issue of the Harvard Law Bulletin, Vol. 1, No. 54, Fall 2002. She is a 1975 graduate of Harvard Law School.

Jennifer Delton, assistant professor of history, was interviewed by The Saratogian for “Prof: Terrorists scarier than nuclear threat,” (Oct. 13, 2002), on the 40th anniversary of the Cuban Missile Crisis.