Colby College Scholar to Be First Karen Levin Coburn '63 Lecturer

"Same-Sex Marriage and the Shadow of Polygamy" is the title of the first Karen Levin Coburn '63 Lecture in Women's Studies at Skidmore College, to be delivered Thursday, March 31, by Cheshire Calhoun of Colby College. Free and open to the public, the talk will begin at 8 p.m. in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall.

Calhoun is Charles A. Dana Professor of Philosophy at Colby College, and an expert on ethics and the areas of moral, feminist, and lesbian and gay philosophy. She is editor of Setting the Moral Compass: Essays by Women Philosophers, to be published by Oxford University Press; author of Feminism, the Family, and the Politics of the Closet: Lesbian and Gay Displacement (2000, Oxford University Press); co-editor (with Robert C. Solomon) of What is an Emotion? Classic Readings in Philosophical Psychology (1984, Oxford University Press); and author of Leaving Home: Reflections on Lesbianism and Feminism (1997, Fembooks, Taiwan). She also has written a number of articles and chapters for various academic and professional journals.

She earned a B.A. degree with honors at Northwestern University, and master's and doctoral degrees at the University of Texas at Austin.

In a feature story published in the winter 2003 edition of Colby Magazine, Calhoun talked about the importance of civility on campus and beyond, adding that discussions of civility must give serious consideration to social norms for appropriate behavior.

The Karen Levin Coburn '63 Lecture at Skidmore honors Coburn, an English major known for her student leadership while at Skidmore. She continued her education at Harvard, where she earned an M.A. T. degree in English, and at Washington University in St. Louis, where she earned an M.A. degree in counseling. Currently associate vice chancellor for students and dean of the freshman transition at Washington University in St. Louis, Coburn is co-author of the acclaimed book, Letting Go: A Parent's Guide to Understanding the College Years, which has sold nearly 300,000 copies and is now in its fourth printing.

Adrienne Zuerner, associate professor of French and director of Skidmore's Women's Studies Program, called Coburn "an accomplished and successful professional woman who will serve as a role model to our students." The Coburn Lecture, said Zuerner, "is an extraordinary opportunity that will enrich the Women's Studies curriculum, raise the level of conversations about gender on campus and contribute to the ongoing visibility and academic strength of our program."

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