Tribeca Films Founder Jane Rosenthal to Speak at Washington College Commencement May 20

TV journalist Harris Whitbeck ’87, banker Seetharaman and Mount Vernon CEO Rees also to be honored at 229th graduation ceremony

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Renowned film producer Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of Tribeca Productions and the Tribeca Film Festival, will address the graduates at Washington College’s 229th Commencement on Sunday, May 20. She also will receive an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree during the ceremony, which begins at 10:30 a.m. on the Campus Lawn.

            The College will bestow honorary degrees on two other special guests that morning: international banker Raghavan Seetharaman, and James C. Rees IV, President and Chief Executive Officer of George Washington’s Mount Vernon.  In addition, CNN  journalist and reality-show host Harris Whitbeck ’87 will receive the Alumni Citation for excellence in journalism and television broadcasting.

            A graduate of Brown and New York Universities, Jane Rosenthal was working as a vice president of production at Disney’s film group in 1988 when actor Robert DeNiro lured her back to the East Coast to help him create and run Tribeca Productions. In partnership with Rosenthal’s husband, real estate investor and philanthropist Craig Hatkoff, the company has steadily expanded its influence in the film industry through the creation of Tribeca Enterprises (which Rosenthal serves as CEO), the non-profit Tribeca Film Institute, and the wildly successful Tribeca Film Festivals.             

            Rosenthal, DeNiro and Hatkoff co-organized the first Tribeca Film Festival in the wake of the September 11 attacks as a way to help revive the economic and cultural conditions of lower Manhattan. Since that first festival in 2002, the event has become one of the largest film celebrations in the world. Because of their work, Rosenthal, Hatkoff and DeNiro received the inaugural September 11 National Museum and Memorial Foundation “Notes of Hope Award” for Distinction in Rebuilding.

Doha Bank Group CEO Seetharaman

As a producer, Rosenthal has enjoyed boundless commercial and critical success with dozens of films. Her comedies include Meet the Fockers and Analyze This, both  starring DeNiro, and her production Meet the Parents, also starring DeNiro, is one of the highest-grossing comedic franchises in history. In the drama category, her many films include the Matt Damon spy film The Good Shepherd and the crime drama A Bronx Tale. She won a 1997 Christopher Award, which recognizes media that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit,” for Marvin’s Room, a family drama with Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio and Diane Keaton.

            Also being honored by the College is influential banker Raghavan Seetharaman, Group CEO of Qatar-based Doha Bank. Seetharaman, who was on campus in February to deliver a lecture in the George Washington Leadership Series, will be receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree. A native of India, Seetharaman applied a strong work ethic and a welcoming attitude toward globalization and new technologies to transform Doha Bank into the fastest growing bank in the Middle East.  London-based EMEA Finance magazine, which covers the financial industry in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, has twice named him CEO of the Year. He has shared his expertise as a guest of major news outlets that include the BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera.

Mount Vernon CEO James Rees

            Honoree James Rees has served George Washington’s Mount Vernon, America’s most visited historic home, for nearly 30 years, the past 18 as president and chief executive officer. Under his leadership, more than a quarter-billion dollars have been raised for projects designed to renew national attention and emphasis on George Washington. Rees also has been an active partner with Washington College in strengthening students’ connections to George Washington as the school’s founding patron. He visited the Chestertown campus in 2007 to deliver a lecture based on his just-published book, George Washington’s Leadership Lessons: What the Father of Our Country Can Teach Us About Effective Leadership and Character. Rees will receive an honorary Doctor of Letters.

Alumni Citation recipient Harris Whitbeck ’87 is a multi-faceted journalist and television producer who has earned high accolades for his coverage of war, disaster, the environment and issues of social justice.  A native of Guatemala who is fluent in English, Spanish and French, he earned his undergraduate degree in International Studies from Washington College and his master’s in journalism from Columbia University before starting his career with CNN’s Spanish-Language network Telemundo. He later served as  an international correspondent for all of CNN’s networks and was Bureau Chief in Mexico City.

Whitbeck has made major contributions to coverage of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the September 11 attacks, the 2004 Haitian coup d’etat, and various political, economic and social developments throughout Latin America. He has been recognized with a number of journalism awards, including a 1999 National Headliner Award for his coverage of the Ciudad Juarez killings, and a DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton Award for his coverage of the Tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka.

Award-winning journalist Harris Whitbeck.

            Whitbeck’s Zodiak Latino production company was nominated for an International Emmy in 2011 for a reality program he wrote and produced about 11 physically disabled people testing themselves with a challenging expedition. In Guatemala, he co-founded Atitlan Producciones, a television production company that produces socially-minded content.  For the past several years, the busy Whitbeck also has hosted the reality-television series The Amazing Race: Latinoamerica.  

            General seating for the Commencement exercises will be available on the lawn. In case of rain, the event will move to the Benjamin A. Johnson Fitness Center and admission will be by ticket only. For more information, please visit: http://news.washcoll.edu/commencement.php.

Visiting Lecturer from London Shares His Own Journey through Radical Islam, April 3 at WC

CHESTERTOWN, MD—A scholar and journalist who now works to combat the Islamic radicalization he once actively embraced will share his personal journey in a talk Tuesday, April 3, at Washington College.

Shiraz Maher, a visiting lecturer in Political Science at the College, will deliver his talk, “My Journey through Radical Islam: A Personal Account,” at 5 p.m. in Hynson Lounge, Hodson Hall, on the College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. Sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, the talk is free and open to the public.

Now a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), based at Kings College, London, Maher works to counter the cultural, economic and political forces that lure young men into religious extremism and violence.

He knows first-hand what he’s up against. A native of England who spent much of his childhood in Saudi Arabia, Maher didn’t think much about his Muslim identity until after 9/11. He returned to the mosque and was soon drawn into a controversial group called Hizb ut Tahrir, which advocates for a single Muslim state ruled under Shiria law by a Caliph. Invited to join a Hizb ut Tahrir study group, he fell into friendship with its leaders and became increasingly a believer, leader and recruiter himself.

It was at Cambridge University, where he began examining Islamic texts on his own while earning an M.Phil. in Historical Studies, that his devotion to fundamentalism began to wither. The defining moment was the bombing of the London Underground, or subway, on July 7, 2005—what the British refer to as 7/7. Seeing so graphically where radicalization could lead, he resigned from Hizb ut Tahrir that night.

After finishing at Cambridge, he worked as a journalist, reporting on the Middle East for print and broadcast outlets that included the BBC, Sunday Times, New Statesman and Wall Street Journal. Before joining the ICSR, he worked for Policy Exchange, where he published an influential study examining the UK’s counter-terrorism strategy among Muslims.

Maher is in Chestertown for the semester at the invitation of Washington College president Mitchell B. Reiss. The two met last fall in London when Reiss took part in a debate sponsored by the ICSR.

For more on Maher’s background and career, visit his Kings College web page, http://icsr.info/page/Shiraz-Maher---Senior-Research-Fellow, and watch a BBC report on his experiences with Hizb ut Tahrir at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLSlh5P0UPc.

Prominent International Banker from Qatar to Deliver Inaugural Talk in Leadership Series at WC

CHESTERTOWN, MD—Influential international banker Raghavan Seetharaman, chief executive officer of Qatar-based Doha Bank, will deliver the inaugural address for the new George Washington Leadership Series at Washington College. Seetharaman will speak Wednesday, February 8, at 5 p.m. in the Casey Academic Center Forum. His topic will be “New World Order and Opportunities: Bilateral Trade, Investment, Banking and Finance between the Gulf and U.S.”

A native of India, Seetharaman is an unconventional leader known for setting a fast pace and embracing globalization and new technologies. He transformed Doha Bank from a small, traditional business into the fastest growing bank in the Middle East, adding new offices around the globe and expanding from basic consumer banking into areas such as financial services, insurance and real estate.

The charismatic executive joined Doha Bank in 2002 and in about five years had increased its market share of retail banking in Qatar from 4 percent to more than 25 percent. As head of one of the largest banks in one of the world’s richest countries—Qatar controls vast reserves of oil and natural gas—he often provides analysis and opinion on world-wide economic issues for major news outlets, including the BBC, CNBC, Bloomberg and Al Jazeera.

A 2007 profile in Forbes described him as a devout Hindu and a fitness enthusiast who practices yoga daily. He also is known for wearing a tuxedo to work every day. “I don’t carry any ideological baggage,” he told Forbes. “My only philosophy is that if one works for an institution, then you are obligated to make a success out of it.”

Washington College created the Leadership Series to honor the vision and values of founding patron George Washington, especially his belief in a better future achieved through education, respect for scholarship, and the ideals of leadership, character, and service to others. Under its auspices, leaders from a variety of professions and walks of life will be invited to campus to interact with students and faculty and to deliver a public address.

The Forum is located on the main floor of the Casey Academic Center (CAC), across the entrance drive from Roy Kirby Jr. Stadium, on the Washington College campus, 300 Washington Avenue. For more information: http://www.washcoll.edu.

Starr Center Announces Spring Lectures In American History, Culture And Contemporary Issues

Chestertown, MD, March 10, 2004 — Washington College's C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience announces a full season of speakers for spring, addressing colonial to contemporary American history and culture. All lectures are free and open to the public.

Ambassador Joseph Wilson, “The Mess in Iraq and the Way Ahead.”

Thursday, March 25, 7:30 p.m., Hynson Lounge. Ambassador Wilson has led a highly decorated career in the Foreign Service, and as the active ambassador to Iraq, he was the last American to meet with Saddam Hussein before the first Gulf War. He became the senior Africa expert on the National Security Council and planned President Clinton's trip in 1998. Shortly after debunking the White House claims of uranium sales from Niger to Iraq in 2003, his wife was exposed as a CIA operative. Wilson is the author of The Politics of Truth, which will be released in May. This talk is co-sponsored by the Washington College Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Captain Dan Parrott, “Baltimore Clippers: Then and Now.”

Thursday, April 1, 7:30 p.m., Hynson Lounge. Dan Parrott is a former captain of Pride of Baltimore II and the author of Tall Ships Down, a critically acclaimed book about disasters at sea. Parrott, assistant professor at the Maine Maritime Academy, will chart the history of the Baltimore Clipper from its introduction on the Chesapeake to the reproductions in use today. This talk is part of the ongoing Maritime Lecture Series, co-sponsored by Sultana Projects, Inc.

Adam Goodheart, “Two Pirate Ships at Point Comfort: New Discoveries on America's First Slaves.”

Thursday, April 15, 7:00 p.m., Hynson Lounge. In the summer of 1619—a year before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock— two corsairs, one Dutch and one English, sailed into the mouth of the Chesapeake and anchored near the mouth of the James River. Among the pirates' cargo were some two dozen Africans, the first slaves to arrive in the Virginia Colony. Drawing on research for a book he is writing on the history of slavery, C.V. Starr Fellow Adam Goodheart will describe recent discoveries that illuminate the lives of these first African-Americans and their strange, violent and eventful journey to the New World.

Walter Isaacson, “Benjamin Franklin and America's Values.”

Thursday, April 22, 7:30 p.m., Hynson Lounge. Isaacson is the author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, a critically acclaimed biography of one of America's formative intellects. A brilliant inventor, charming diplomat and complicated visionary, Franklin—more than anyone else in the founding period—created the archetype of the American “self-made” man. Isaacson, the former managing editor of Time and CEO of Time Warner, is the director of the Aspen Institute and is the author of Kissinger and co-author of The Wise Men.

David Steinberg, “Peale's Artist in His Museum and the Nineteenth Century Emblem Problem.”

Friday, April 23, 4:30 p.m., Casey Academic Center Forum. Known primarily as a portrait painter, Maryland-born Peale created the first museum of cultural and natural history in America. David Steinberg will explore the intersection of central problems in visual representation, theology and natural science through one of Peale's most famous paintings. Steinberg is a Visiting Scholar at the Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture. This lecture is part of the Starr Center's American Pictures Series and is co-sponsored by the Washington College Department of Art.

These spring lectures are sponsored by the C.V. Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience, an innovative forum for new scholarship about American history. Drawing on the special historical strengths of Washington College and Chestertown, the Center is dedicated to exploring the early republic, the rise of democracy, and the manifold ways in which the founding era continues to shape American culture. News about upcoming events is available online at http://starrcenter.washcoll.edu/, or by calling Program Manager Kees de Mooy at 410-810-7156.

For more information on upcoming concerts and events at Washington College, visitcalendar.washcoll.edu.

Washington College Hosts Four-Part Series on the Challenges of the War on Terrorism

Chestertown, MD, February 22, 2002 — During the month of March, the Washington College Department of Sociology and Anthropology is sponsoring a four-part speaker series on the history, context, policies and challenges of America's war on terrorism. The talks are free and the public is invited to attend these timely and important discussions.

On Monday, March 4, 2002, Ralph Begleiter, Distinguished Professor in Journalism at the University of Delaware and former CNN world affairs correspondent, will present the first lecture in the series, "WHOSE MEDIA?: MEDIA ETHICS AND NEWS COVERAGE OF THE TERRORIST ATTACKS AGAINST AMERICA." Prof. Begleiter will discuss issues of government and media relationships during the war on terrorism.

On Wednesday, March 6, 2002, Dr. Daniel L. Premo, Goldstein Professor in Public Affairs in the Department of Political Science at Washington College, will discuss the historical context of the war on terrorism in a lecture titled "THE U.S. WAR ON TERRORISM: OLD WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE?"

On Monday, March 18, 2002, Joe Miller, Assistant Director of Occupational Safety at the University of Delaware, will present "THE NBCS: AN OVERVIEW OF A FEW AGENTS OF TERRORISM. ARE WE READY?" Mr. Miller will discuss the threat of and response to nuclear, biological and chemical weapons attacks.

The series will conclude on Wednesday, March 20, 2002, with the lecture "U.S. FOREIGN POLICY AND THE WAR ON TERRORISM," presented by Dr. Tahir Shad, Chair of the Department of International Studies at Washington College.

All talks in the series begin at 7:30 p.m. in the College's Litrenta Lecture Hall, Dunning Room 113.

Speakers Series Focuses on Region's Sense of Place

Chestertown, MD, August 8, 2001 — The Historic Avalon Theater in Easton, Md., will host a 2001 Eastern Shore Lecture Series entitled "Journeys Home: People, Nature and Sense of Place." The presentations will explore the value we place on the natural world and give new insights into how those values translate into vibrant, safe and environmentally sound communities.

"Journeys Home" is a subscription lecture series co-sponsored by the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, the Adkins Arboretum, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the Horsehead Wetlands Center and the Maryland Center for Agroecology.

The schedule of presenters for Fall 2001 is:

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

John Hanson Mitchell: "Inventing Place"

Author of Ceremonial Time, Fifteen Thousand Years on One Square Mile, and other books melding history, environment, and place around his home in Massachusetts. Mr. Mitchell freely admits that visits to his Eastern Shore roots were the origin of the values he has developed about people, places, and things environmental.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Christopher Tilghman: "The Pull of the Land: Place and Imagination"

Mr. Tilghman's first book, In a Father's Place, is a set of stories set against natural landscapes of North America, including Maryland's Eastern Shore. The novel Mason's Retreat is about an expatriate Eastern Shore family that, on the eve of World War II, returns to its old estate on Chesapeake Bay. He is noted for being able to set scene after scene with remarkable clarity and sensitivity.

Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Northern Neck Chantey Singers: "Songs of Our Life, Songs of Our Sea"

A live performance of narrative and songs by a troupe of retired menhaden fishermen from Reedville, VA. Their cassette recording, See You When the Sun Goes Down, contains a selection of the chanteys they sing, traditional work songs that all-Black crews sang to coordinate the raising of their fishing nets. Performance organized in cooperation with the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Annapolis.

Ticket prices are $30 for the fall component of three lectures, or $10 per individual lecture. Student tickets are half-priced. All presentations will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Avalon Theatre, Easton.

For further information, contact Dr. Wayne H. Bell, Director of the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, at 410-810-7171.

College To Host Dialogue on Bay Restoration

Chestertown, MD, March 15, 2001 — On Saturday, April 7, 2001, Washington College will host a prominent group of retired statesmen to participate in a dialogue on the origins of the Chesapeake Bay Program. The dialogue will start at 10 a.m. in the College's Norman James Theatre.

The featured guest for this dialogue is the Honorable Charles M. Mathias, former U. S. Senator from Maryland, whose efforts in 1975 led to the creation of the Chesapeake Bay Program. Senator Mathias will be joined by former Maryland Governor Harry Hughes, former Senator Joseph Gartlan of Virginia, former Delegate Tayloe Murphy of Virginia, former Senator Bernard Fowler of Maryland, and the Honorable George Wolff, former member of the Chesapeake Bay Commission from Pennsylvania. The participants will examine the origins of the Bay Program movement and the work that citizens, politicians and environmentalists still must accomplish to restore the health of the Chesapeake.

John Toll, president of Washington College, is the host for the dialogue, which will feature elected officials, public policy makers, students and citizens who will have the opportunity to pose questions to the invited guests. The dialogue is sponsored by the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, Washington College's Center for the Environment and Society, and the Environmental Protection Agency's Chesapeake Bay Program.

The dialogue is free and open to the public, but tickets are required, as space is limited. Please call 410-377-6270 to reserve a space.

College Co-Sponsors Environmental Speakers Series

Chestertown, MD, January 9, 2001 — The Historic Avalon Theater in Easton, Md., will host a 2001 Eastern Shore Lecture Series entitled "Journeys Home: People, Nature and Sense of Place." The presentations will explore the value we place on the natural world and give new insights into how those values translate into vibrant, safe and environmentally sound communities.

"Journeys Home" is a subscription lecture series co-sponsored by the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, the Adkins Arboretum, the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, the Horsehead Wetlands Center and the Maryland Center for Agroecology.

The schedule of presenters for 2001 is:

Wednesday, February 14, 2001

Wes Jackson: "The 10,000-Year-Old Problem of Agriculture Can Now Be Solved"

Director and Founder, The Land Institute, Salina, KS. Author of Becoming Native to this Place, sketching his vision for the resettlement of America's rural communities. His most recent work, Rooted in the Land: Essays on Community and Place, co-edited with William Vitek, was released in 1996.

Tuesday, March 6, 2001

Janisse Ray: "The Country of Longing"

Author of Ecology of a Cracker Childhood, a remarkable first book that juxtaposes growing up as the daughter of a junkyard owner with the ecology of the Georgia longleaf pine ecosystem. Naming the Unseen, her chapbook of poetry about biology and place, won the 1996 Merriam-Frontier Award from the University of Montana.

Wednesday, April 18, 2001

Stephen Kellert: "Values of Nature, Sense of Place, and Human Well-Being"

Professor of Social Ecology, School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University. Dr. Kellert was co-author of The Biophilia Hypothesis with E. O. Wilson, a work that explores human values in conservation biology and nature. An earlier work, Ecology, Economics, Ethics: The Broken Circle, highlights his interest in environmental ethics that has made him a major figure in conservation biology.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

John Hanson Mitchell: "Inventing Place"

Author of Ceremonial Time, Fifteen Thousand Years on One Square Mile, and other books melding history, environment, and place around his home in Massachusetts. Mr. Mitchell freely admits that visits to his Eastern Shore roots were the origin of the values he has developed about people, places, and things environmental.

Wednesday, October 17, 2001

Christopher Tilghman: "The Pull of the Land: Place and Imagination"

Mr. Tilghman’s first book, In a Father’s Place, is a set of stories set against natural landscapes of North America, including Maryland’s Eastern Shore. The novel Mason’s Retreat is about an expatriate Eastern Shore family that, on the eve of World War II, returns to its old estate on Chesapeake Bay. He is noted for being able to set scene after scene with remarkable clarity and sensitivity.

Wednesday, November 7, 2001

Northern Neck Chantey Singers: "Songs of Our Life, Songs of Our Sea"

The series concludes with a live performance of narrative and songs by a troupe of retired menhaden fishermen from Reedville, VA. Their cassette recording, See You When the Sun Goes Down, contains a selection of the chanteys they sing, traditional work songs that all-Black crews sang to coordinate the raising of their fishing nets. Performance organized in cooperation with the Blacks of the Chesapeake Foundation, Annapolis.

Ticket prices are $50 for the complete six lectures, $30 for the spring or fall component of three lectures, or $10 per individual lecture. Student tickets are half-priced. All presentations will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Avalon Theatre, Easton. For further information, call Dr. Wayne H. Bell, Director of the Washington College Center for the Environment and Society, at 410-810-7171.

NASDAQ President to Speak on Financial Matters

Chestertown, MD, October 9, 2000 — Alfred R. Berkeley III, president of The Nasdaq Stock Market, Inc., will discuss NASDAQ's role in today's investing environment when he speaks at Washington College on Tuesday, October 17. Titled "The Future of Financial Markets," his talk will begin at 7 p.m. in the Casey Academic Center Forum.

Prior to assuming command of NASDAQ in 1996, Berkeley was a managing director and senior banker in the corporate finance division of Alex. Brown & Sons, Inc., where his primary expertise involved large computer software and electronic commerce companies. He joined Brown & Sons in 1972 as a research analyst and became a general partner in 1983. In the 1970s, Berkeley was one of the first securities analysts in the nation to recognize the importance of the emerging software industry. His research in that field won him a coveted Institutional Investor All-American award.

Berkeley served as Alex. Brown's head of information services from 1985 to 1987 and worked from 1987 to 1989 in the firm's merger and acquisition division, where he helped to develop the company's technology practice. From 1989 to 1991, he took a leave of absence from Alex. Brown and joined Safeguard Scientifics. There, he served on the executive committee and as chairman of a number of the firm's subsidiaries, including Rabbit Software and Micro Decision Ware.

Berkeley's talk is sponsored by the J. C. Jones Seminar in American Business. It is free and open to the public.

Students interested in these or other programs at Washington College should contact the Admissions Office, 1-800-422-1782, or visit the college Web site at www.washcoll.edu.

Talk to Address State of the Bay

Chestertown, MD, September 8, 2000 — Can the Chesapeake Bay be rescued from the ravages of pollution, over-harvesting and development? John Page Williams will discuss the state of the Bay's health and provisions for its future when he presents "Is the Bay Savable? What Needs to be Done" on Tuesday, September 19 at Washington College.

Senior naturalist for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Williams will address the Chesapeake 2000 Bay Agreement—a contract designed to nurture and sustain the Bay, protect it as a habitat, restore and conserve watersheds, wetlands and forests, and improve water quality—and what it means for the Bay's future. He is author of two books, Exploring the Chesapeake in Small Boats and Chesapeake Almanac. In addition to a bi-weekly newspaper column, he has also written columns on fishing and natural history.

Williams's talk begins at 7:30 p.m. in Litrentra Lecture Hall, Dunning Hall. Sponsored by the McLain Program in Environmental Studies, it is free and open to the public.

Civil Rights activist to speak

Chestertown, MD, September 8, 2000 — Charged with dissonance, violence and a passionate struggle for equality, the Civil Rights Movement both changed and created history. Activist, educator and award-winning film producer Judy Richardson will discuss the Movement's history, its lessons, its current relevance, and its future when she speaks on "The Civil Rights Movement: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" at Washington College on Tuesday, September 26.

A staff member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee in the early 1960s, Richardson worked on SNCC projects in Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi, including the "Freedom Summer" of 1964 when volunteers traveled throughout the South to help register African American voters. In 1965, she joined current NAACP Chairman Julian Bond's successful campaign for the Georgia House of Representatives. During the 1970s, Richardson directed a study of racism in African American children's books for Howard University; conducted a national study of political prisoners in the United States; and directed a Washington, D.C., scholarship agency for African American students. She also organized a residential freedom school that brought together young people from civil rights struggles in both the North and the South in order to discuss common concerns and strategies.

Richardson is co-producer of the acclaimed television series "Eyes on the Prize," a photojournalistic history of the Civil Rights Movement, and of "Malcolm X: Make It Plain," an in-depth film portrait of the Civil Rights leader. She speaks nationally on the Civil Rights Movement and the making of "Eyes on the Prize," speaking with young people about the values of the Movement and their relevance to current issues. Rev. Benjamin F. Chavis Jr., national director of the Million Man March, has called her "not only an authentic voice of the past, but a vibrant voice of the future."

Richardson's talk, sponsored by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, begins at 7:30 p.m. in Norman James Theatre. It is free and open to the public.

Green Party Candidate Ralph Nader Speaks at WC April 30

Chestertown, April 20—Ralph Nader will speak at Washington College on Sunday, April 30, at 7:30 p.m. Ranked third in polls on presidential candidates, Nader will talk about how government, corporations, and free trade will affect the global environment in the 21st century. His appearance in the Casey Academic Center Forum on campus is free and open to the public.

Nader is a noted lecturer whose simple message of being an active citizen touches a chord in his audiences. Years after they graduate, college students tell him how his lecture evening changed their lives.

Honored by "Time" magazine as one of the 100 most influential Americans of the 20th century, Nader has devoted his life to giving ordinary people the tools to defend themselves against corporate negligence and government indifference. After publication of his 1965 book "Unsafe at Any Speed," about potentially fatal mechanical defects in some cars, and the Senate hearings that resulted from it, Nader was catapulted into the public sphere. Seat belts and air bags in automobiles resulted from Nader's expose.

Nader was instrumental in the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA; the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA; and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. He helped draft and pass the Safe Water Drinking Act, the Meat and Poultry Inspection rules, and the Freedom of Information Act. Nader has formed numerous citizen groups, including the Center for Auto Safety, Public Citizen, Pension Rights Center, the Coalition for University in the Public Interest, and the student public interest research groups that operate in more than 20 states. He is now also working with alumni classes, including his own at Princeton University and Harvard Law School, to redirect their efforts from parties and reunions to volunteerism and community projects.

This William James Forum lecture is also sponsored by the Louis Goldstein Program in Public Affairs, The Society of Junior Fellows and the Campus Events and Visitors Committee.