2011 Faculty Lecture Series

Media contact:  Noelle Lemoine, communications assistant; tele: (413) 597-4277; email: [email protected]

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass., January 19, 2011 — During February and March, Williams College will sponsor the annual Faculty Lecture Series. The special aim of this series is to present big ideas that cross disciplinary boundaries. The six lectures in the series will take place on Feb. 10, 17, and 24 and March 3, 10, and 17. All lectures will take place at 4 p.m. in Wege Auditorium, with receptions to follow in Schow atrium. The lectures are free and open to the public.

On Feb. 10, Gretchen Long, associate professor of history, will deliver the opening lecture of the series. Her talk is titled “‘He’s Got No License, Nor No Deplomer’: A Black Doctor and His Story After the Civil War.”

The second lecture, scheduled for Feb. 17, is titled “A Medieval Chinese Poem in Its Material Contexts.” Associate Professor of Chinese Christopher Nugent will deliver the lecture.

Stephen Freund, associate professor of computer science, will present a talk on Feb. 24 titled “Stopping the Software Bug Epidemic.”

On March 3, Claire Ting, associate professor of biology, will present a lecture titled “Minimal Genomes, Maximal Productivity: Microbial Strategies for Dominating the High Seas.”

Brian Martin, associate professor of French, will give the lecture on March 10. It is titled “Gays in the French Military: From Napoleon to the First World War.”

The final lecture will take place on March 17. Olga Shevchenko, associate professor of sociology, will give a talk titled “Crisis as a Way of Life: Culture of the Everyday in Today’s Russia.”

The Faculty Lecture Series was founded in 1911 by the wife of a faculty member who hoped to “relieve the tedium of long New England winters with an opportunity to hear Williams professors talk about issues that really mattered to them.”

END

Founded in 1793, Williams College is the second-oldest institution of higher learning in Massachusetts. The college’s 2,000 students are taught by a faculty noted for the quality of their teaching and research, and the achievement of academic goals includes active participation of students with faculty in their research. Students’ educational experience is enriched by the residential campus environment in Williamstown, Mass., which provides a host of opportunities for interaction with one another and with faculty beyond the classroom. Admission decisions are made regardless of a student’s financial ability, and the college provides grants and other assistance to meet the demonstrated needs of all who are admitted.

Published January 19, 2011