The Association of Southwestern University Alumni strives to provide alumni with quality lifelong learning activities and events. The following events took place during the 2007-2008 academic year. Click here to view upcoming lifelong learning opportunities.

Chautauqua Institution 2008 Summer Program and Group Rates
If you are looking for an enriching, relaxing experience for you and your family this summer, the Chautauqua Institution is offering a special, all-inclusive group rate for Southwestern University alumni. The Chautauqua Institution is a not-for-profit organization that offers programs and facilities for spiritual renewal, intellectual stimulation and art appreciation. Among its amenities are accommodations at the Athenaeum Hotel, performance venues, golf, tennis, and educational and recreational facilities. Southwestern University learned about the educational offerings of Chautauqua Institution through the Institutions new director of education Sherra Haygood Babcock ’70. If you attend this summer, please share your experience with the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations as we are exploring the possibility of designating a Southwestern week at Chautauqua for Summer 2009. For more information about the Chautauqua Institution and details about the 2008 program, visit http://www.ciweb.org/.

Dallas Road Scholars Event: "Salt Cod and Cool Whip: Adventures in American Gastronomica."
The Houston Association of Southwestern University Alumni hosted a Road Scholars Presentation  Thursday, June 12, 2008 from 7-9 p.m. at Le Cordon Bleu Institute of Culinary Arts (11830 Webb Chapel Road at LBJ Freeway, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75234). The Road Scholars presenter was Elisabeth Piedmont-Marton, association professor of English, director of the Debby Ellis Writing Center, chair of the Humanities Division and Paideia Professor.

Topic Description: Food is an old subject. But the academic study of the way people produce, procure, prepare and eat food as a path to understanding culture is relatively new. Drawing from the diverse scholarly perspectives that form this new field of inquiry, this presentation will introduce alumni to new ways of thinking about history, literature and practices of everyday life as they relate to food and eating. Among the questions we’ll pursue are, what was the impact of West African slaves in the development of American food, what was the “home economics movement” and how did it shape gender roles, why is American food still considered inferior as a world cuisine, and how are food and politics intertwined?

This event was hosted by Steve Cotton ’77 and Joe Sissom ’53.

Southwestern and Chorus Austin
Directed by Southwestern University professor of music, Kenny Sheppard, and accompanied by David Utterback, instructor of music at The Sarofim School of Fine Arts, Chorus Austin is the musical home for many Southwestern alumni, faculty and staff. Chorus Austin is comprised of three groups - Austin Civic Chorus, Austin Vocal Arts Ensemble (AVAE) and Chorus Austin Consort - which perform several times year, presenting vocal music from a variety of genres and eras. At rehearsals, you'll regularly find Nettie Ruth Brucks Bratton ’48, professor emeritus Bob Horick, Eve Porter Fariss ’60, associate professor of music Bruce Cain, Katie Gleason Lewis ’01, and many more members of the Southwestern community. Check out these 2008 season highlights:

Friday, June 6, 2008 at 8:30 p.m. in the Lois Perkins Chapel, AVAE will perform choral music by Felix Mendelssohn, edited by professor of music J. Michael Cooper, for a Choral Evensong officiated by Bishop Joe Wilson ’59. This performance is free and open to the public. It is part of the Georgetown Festival of the Arts, under the artistic direction of Ellsworth Peterson ’55, professor emeritus of music.

Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 4 p.m. at the Klett Center for the Performing Arts at Georgetown High School, Austin Civic Chorus will combine with the San Gabriel Chorale and the Mendelssohn Festival Orchestra for an encore performance of Mendelssohn's "St. Paul," edited by J. Michael Cooper. Virginia Hyde Dupuy ’71 and Bruce Cain, associate professor of music, will be among the soloists for this performance, which is the finale of the Georgetown Festival of the Arts. For tickets and more information, visit http://www.gtownfestival.org/georgetown.html.

Aldersgate Day Celebration
May 22, 2008
Aldersgate Day commemorates the founder of Methodism John Wesley’s “heart-warming” experience on Aldersgate Street in London in 1738. In honor of the 270th anniversary of Aldersgate Day, Ellsworth Peterson ’55 and Rev. Milton Jordan ’62 have coordinated a celebration for Thursday, May 22, in the Lois Perkins Chapel at Southwestern University. The day will feature a morning presentation by Rev. Debra Crumpton, pastor at Wellspring United Methodist Church in Georgetown, on the topic of Christian community. A lunch buffet will be served in The Cove located on the lower level of the Red & Charline McCombs Campus Center for $6.50 per person. Following lunch, Ellsworth Peterson ’55, professor emeritus of music, will give a presentation on aspects of the Wesleyan music tradition. And, interspersed throughout the day’s celebration, Henry Holloway ’50 will lead the singing of Wesleyan hymns.

Theatre Performance: SubUrbia
April 23-27, 2008
The Southwestern University Theatre Department invited alumni and their families to attend SubUrbia. Performances are scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 and Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m. and Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m., in the Jesse and Mary Gibbs Jones Theatre of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. This performance was recommended for mature audiences.

Some plays are set in castles, drawing rooms or on ancient battlefields. SubUrbia presents a day in the life of seven rootless young Americans who hang out every night in the parking lot of a convenience store. This parking lot becomes the private domain of three men in their very early twenties: Jeff is a sometime student, Buff an easy-going party animal, and Tim is an alcoholic Air Force vet. They talk trash, drink beer, get high, eat Oreos and harass the owners of the convenience store, and revel in their high school glory days. The return of their high school friend, Pony – now a successful rock singer with a video on MTV – sparks an extraordinarily explosive night of drinking, sex and violence as the friends air their resentments and examine the choices they’ve made. This is an edgy, sarcastic, captivating and thoroughly compelling drama about our disenfranchised youth, written by one of America’s leading contemporary playwrights.

2008 Shilling Lecture
Monday, April 21, 2008
Former U.S. Senator, Bill Bradley spoke on The New American Story, including Nine Questions to Ask Before Voting for President, as the 2008 Roy and Margaret Shilling lecturer, Monday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. Bradley provided insights as to why he thinks politics is stuck and idealism is not dead. A Princeton graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Bradley served three terms in the U.S. Senate. Throughout his wide-ranging career, Bradley played professional basketball for the New York Knicks, received an Olympic Gold Medal in basketball, authored four books, and currently serves as a visiting professor at Stanford, Notre Dame and the University of Maryland.  Click here to visit the Shilling Lecture Web site.

The Thirtieth Brown Symposium
April 3-4, 2008
The thirtieth Brown Symposium will be held April 3-4 in The Alma Thomas Theater, located in The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. This year's theme is "Umwelt: Exploring the Self-Worlds of Human and Non-Human Animals," based on an influential paper by Jakob von Uexkull (1934) who argued that to truly understand animal behavior, one must appreciate the animal's "umwelt" or self-world. Presentations by four speakers and an art exhibition will reflect on how humans can experience the self-worlds of species other than our own. This year's speakers and featured artist will be:

• Dr. Diane Ackerman,writer and poet, author of The Zookeeper's Wife and An Alchemy of Mind.
• Dr. Christopher W. Clark, Imogene Powers Johnson director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and senior scientist in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior.
• Dr. David Fogel, president and chief executive officer of Natural Selection, Inc.
• Dr. Michael S. Gazzaniga, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
• Rudy Pozzatti, artist and distinguished professor emeritus of fine arts at Indiana University.

Guest Artist Exhibit
Feb. 13, 2008 - April 4, 2008
An exhibit by internationally known printmaker, Rudy Pozzatti, entitled "Bestiaries," will open Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Fine Arts Gallery, in The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. The collection features images from two hand-printed artist's books, "The Bestiary of Bishop Theobaldus" and "Darwin's Bestiary." Pozzatti is a distinguished professor emeritus at the Hope School of Fine Arts of Indiana University.

L’Chaim! Life itself, joyous and tragic, is the subject of this lively, comic, and heartbreaking musical. In this tale of rural life in a Ukrainian village on the eve of the Russian Revolution are faith and struggle, happiness and suffering, passionate youth and tired old age, idealism and practicality, money and poverty, compromise and conviction, and above all, constancy and change.

Based on the short story “Tevye and His Daughters” by Sholom Aleichem, this classic musical is widely considered the greatest work of American musical theatre. In the little Russian village of Anatevka, Tevye, a poor dairyman, tries to instill in his five daughters the traditions of his tight-knit Jewish community in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russian.

Rich in historical and ethnic detail, Fiddler on the Roof has touched audiences around the world with its humor, warmth and honesty. The universal theme of tradition cuts across barriers of race, class, and religion, with beloved songs including Matchmaker, Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, Sunrise, Sunset, and Tradition.

Road Scholars Presentation
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 
Time: 6 p.m.
Road Scholar: Eric Selbin, professor of political science and University Scholar
Location: Z’Tejas (1110 West 6th Street, Austin)
Cost: $15 per person Family members and guests are invited.

Road Scholars Presentation
Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008
Road Scholar: Dr. Jim Hunt, Southwestern University Provost
Topic: "Fulfilling an American Dream: The Quest for Educational Equality"
Location: The Briar Club (2603 Timmons Lane, Houston)
Time: 7-8:30 p.m.
Cost: $20 per person

Topic Description: When John Adams set forth his "Thoughts on Government" in 1776, he asserted that "Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant." Many critics of American public education would argue, however, that this dream of providing equal access to a quality education for all children is essentially a dream unfulfilled. This lecture will provide alumni and guests with an opportunity to examine and critically analyze trends and issues related to equal educational opportunity in America.

Fleming Lecture in Religion and Willson Lecture
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
The 2008 Fleming Lecture in Religion and the Willson Lecture will be a combined event featuring Cain Hope Felder, professor of New Testament language and literature at the School of Divinity at Howard University. The lecture will take place Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 4 p.m. in Lois Perkins Chapel. For questions, contact Aaron Rohre, acting director of religious life.

Felder is recognized as a leader in the academic study of the New Testament, with a specific focus on the African presence in the scripture. He taught at Princeton Theological Seminary and was the first national director of the United Methodist Black Caucus. He is also the founder and president of the Biblical Institute for Social Change (BISC), an organization dedicated to inform, inspire, affirm and transform the Christian community through scholarship and research. Felder is author and editor of several books including Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class and Family, The Original African Heritage Study Bible, Stony the Road We Trod and many more. He is also editor of The Journal of Religious Thought. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Howard University, a diploma in theology in New Testament and Greek from Oxford University, a master of divinity in theology degree from Union Theological Seminary, and a master and doctorate of philosophy degrees in biblical languages and literature from Columbia University.

Road Scholars Presentation: "The Wonders of Chocolate"
Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Road Scholar: Romi Burks, assistant professor of biology
Topic: "The Wonders of Chocolate"
Location: The San Antonio Country Club (4100 N New Braunfels Ave., San Antonio)

Theatre for Young Audiences:Seussical: The Musical
Dec. 1-2, 2007
The Southwestern University Theatre Department invited alumni and their families to attend Seussical: The Musical. Performances are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1 and Sunday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m., in the Jesse and Mary Gibbs Jones Theatre of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center.

" After all those years being stuck on a page
Did you ever imagine you’d see me on stage?
Now I’m here, there is no telling what may ensue!
No, there’s no telling what!
But I’ll give you a clue…"

So says the mischievous Cat in the Hat at the onset of this fantastical, magical, musical extravaganza that captures the imagination and revolutionary whimsy of Dr. Seuss as colorful tales are seamlessly woven together in this enchanting musical celebration. Brimming with sassy sophistication, The Cat in the Hat is host to an eye-popping parade of zany characters including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie La Bird, and all the Whos of Whoville. Concocting a Seussian gumbo of musical styles, ranging from Latin to pop, swing to gospel, and R&B to funk, these beloved creatures will inspire all ages to become “Thinkers of strange and wonderful Thinks!” So let your toes tap, your fingers snap, and your imagination run wild for Seussical the Musical!

Dance Repertory Theatre
Nov. 15–16, 2007
Featuring the work of the Southwestern Dance Department and its gifted choreographers and dancers, this event celebrated the enduring power of movement in a visual and kinetic revelry. Attendees experienced a mosaic of vivid and imaginative dance works in varied styles.

Art Exhibit: The American Modernist: Sculptor Bruce Beasley
Nov. 1-Dec. 9, 2007
The Art Department welcomed alumni to visit The American Modernist: Sculptor Bruce Beasley. This exhibit was on display Nov. 1-Dec. 9, 2007, in the Fine Arts Gallery of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center.

Theatre Performance: The Country Wife
Oct. 24-28, 2007
The Southwestern University Theatre Department invited alumni to attend The Country Wife. Meet Horner, Quack, Mr. and Mrs. Pinchwife, Sparkish and Mrs. Squeamish in this bawdy 17th-century Restoration comedy. This tale is full of seduction, devotion, cuckolds and lust and contains a plot filled with outrageously racy comedy. Banned for 170 years because of its licentious plot and language, this play would have made Shakespeare blush. Sex is the force behind all of the cleverly intertwined plot strands, which together explore the romantic entanglements of a group of wealthy characters in sordid post-Puritan London. Jealous husbands, unfaithful wives, playboys and hypocrites are the stuff of tabloid journalism, reality TV, and this hilariously racy satirical comedy of manners. It shocked England in 1675 as much as it delights audiences today.

Amy Tan to Serve as the 2007 Writers Voice Speaker
Oct. 23, 2007
Amy Tan, author of the 1989 bestseller The Joy Luck Club, was the 2007 speaker for the Writers Voice series sponsored by the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library at Southwestern. The 2007 Writers Voice lecture was scheduled for Oct. 23, 2007. Tan has written several other novels since The Joy Luck Club, including The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001) and Saving Fish from Drowning (2005). Her first work of non-fiction, The Opposite of Fate, was published in 2003. Tan also has written two children’s books, The Moon Lady (1992) and The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994).

Art Exhibit: Gerry Wubben, Monumental Drawings
Sept. 4-27, 2007
The Art Department welcomed alumni to visit Gerry Wubben, Monumental Drawings. This exhibit was on display Sept. 4-27, in the Fine Arts Gallery of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center.