Colonial Latin America Myth-Making

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Professor Adorno is not only a distinguished scholar, but she has also written quite successfully for a general audience, and she is an excellent guest speaker. She will give a public lecture, “Gonzalo Guerrero: Hearsay and History in Myth-Making about Colonial Latin America,” on Friday, April 14th at 3pm in the Hatfield Room.

Talk abstract:

“Gonzalo Guerrero” is the name given by sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers to a shipwreck victim who was thought to have joined Maya society and became a Maya war lord who thwarted the Spanish conquest of Yucatan (Mexico). The retelling of the story has proven irresistible: as recently as fifteen years ago there appeared a newly discovered “autobiography” of Gonzalo—and it was not the first. Tracing this series of arresting accounts through the centuries in both Spanish-language and Anglo-American English-language traditions, we will consider how fiction emerged from history and hearsay in the Latin American literary tradition. Taking this celebrated example from the chronicles of the Spanish conquest period, we will contemplate the issue of  how vaguely known historical events become the object of hearsay, eventually creating myths that are ultimately given the credence and weight of history. This lecture will be illustrated (PowerPoint).

Lestle Sparks Collection

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The Lestle Sparks Willamette Student World War II Correspondence collection contains letters written to and from Willamette students serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. In general, the students thanked Sparks for college newspapers sent by the athletic department and recounted their efforts to exercise and play their favorite sports while in the service. Often students were unable to indicate their current location or assignment, however, some letters contain candid depictions of military life.

Lestle J. Sparks was born on May 3, 1897 in Seaz, Arkansas. Sparks was associated with Willamette University for 64 years spanning his enrollment in 1915 to his death in 1979. Sparks graduated from Willamette in 1919 with a degree in Chemistry. Shortly after graduation he began teaching at Coquille High School near Bandon, Oregon. In 1921 Sparks returned to Salem and taught Chemistry and Physical Education at Salem High School.

In 1923 Sparks was offered a full-time teaching position with Willamette University. Sparks began as an Assistant Professor of Physical Education and was soon promoted to Associate Professor, eventually Sparks became Head of the Physical Education Department. At various times throughout his career, Sparks served as head coach of the football, basketball, track and tennis teams. Although he retired as a member of Willamette’s faculty in 1962, Sparks continued coaching tennis until 1974. Sparks died at the age of 82 in 1979.

Upon Sparks’ death, his wife, Marion Linn Sparks ’22 and his daughter, Marion Sparks DaBoll ’51 found an unlabeled box in his office containing correspondence. Unknown to his family, these letters were sent to and from Willamette students serving in the U.S. armed forces during World War II.

To view this collection visit:

http://libmedia.willamette.edu/cview/archives.html#!doc:page:eads/4884

MOHL Research Award 2017

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Money, Money, Money…

Have you written and researched an amazing paper this year?  If so, we’ve got good news…the library is sponsoring its annual MOHL Research Award and you may be eligible to win a $500 cash prize!  The award will be given for a student paper in any discipline that demonstrates outstanding research using library and information resources.

To be eligible for this award, the paper must have been written in the sophomore or junior year as part of regular class work and in the current academic year (Fall 2016/Spring 2017).  Deadline: May 9, 2017 at 5:00 p.m.  For complete details and instructions see:  library.willamette.edu/about/award.

*Papers done as a senior project but in the junior year are excluded

 

Lecture: Electoral Politics in Southeast Asia

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The Center for Asian Studies is pleased to invite you to a lecture and presentation by Prof. Meredith Weiss, University at Albany SUNY) on “Electoral Politics in Southeast Asia: Policy, Patronage, and Public Interest.”  The lecture will be on Monday, April 10 at 4:15 p.m. in the Hatfield Room of the Hatfield Library.  Refreshments will be served.

“Throughout Southeast Asia, in a range of phenomena sometimes collectively labeled “money politics,” candidates for elected office distribute patronage— benefits that might include cash, food and other goods, public-sector jobs, infrastructure projects, or other rewards—via clientelist networks. Sometimes illegal or illicit, other times above-ground and at least tacitly condoned, such practices span the electoral cycle and deeply inflect the quality and character of governance structures, democracy, and national integration. This seminar will offer an overview of a multi-year, cross-national, collaborative research project to track and compare these practices and their implications for candidates, political parties, citizens, and policies in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.”

Read more about Professor Weiss at: http://www.albany.edu/rockefeller/faculty_pos_weiss.shtml

WU Reads: April’s Focus is Immigration

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“For all the noise and anger that too often surrounds the immigration debate, America has nothing to fear from today’s immigrants.  They have come here for the same reason that families have always come here, for the same reason my father came here—for the hope that in America, they could build a better life for themselves and their families.” —Barack Obama

Locally, nationally, and around the world, immigration is on everyone’s mind.  To find out more about this important topic, check out some of the current immigration-related books from our collection: http://libguides.willamette.edu/wu_reads

 

Faculty Colloquium: Michaela Kleinert

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Please join us this Friday, April 7th at 3 pm. in Collins 318 for our seventh Faculty Colloquium of this semester. Treats will be provided and please note the change in location.

Presenter: Michaela Kleinert, Associate Professor of Physics
Title:  “Danger! Do not look into the laser beam with your remaining eye!” – Or – What is going on in Kleinert’s research lab?

Since its invention in 1960, the laser has become an integral part of our society. While most everyday lasers are cw (continuous wave) lasers of low power – for example barcode scanners at the grocery checkout –, powerful pulsed lasers that produce extremely short bursts of light (between only a billionth and a millionth of a billionth of a second long!) find more specialized applications both in research and industry. From the creation of super-hydrophobic surfaces that are completely water-repellent to the formation of micrometer sized structures that guide light or allow computers to work properly, from identifying explosives at long range to determining the chemical composition of ancient coins or even rocks on Mars – if you can imagine it, there is a laser to do the job!


A generous donation of two 10-ps pulsed laser systems (ESI, Beaverton) has allowed me to enter this fascinating field of research, and in this talk I will discuss projects that are currently being investigated in my research lab. I will introduce the physics of laser/material interaction that leads to the formation of microstructures on metallic surfaces. I will also talk about the plasma plume, the ejected material that forms above the surface and that can be a blessing and a curse: A dense plume leads to strong recombination lines as the electrons recombine with their respective ions. This is advantageous when investigating laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) since it amplifies the characteristic chemical fingerprints that allow us to identify unknown samples. On the other hand, a large plasma plume also acts as a shield and prevents the laser light from hitting the surface (plasma shielding). This of course is not desired when the goal is to pattern the surface in a controlled way (micromachining).

Students are welcome. We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

Roger Lowenstein Talk

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The Economics Department, with support from the Gillis Fund, is excited to announce a talk by financial writer and bestselling author Roger Lowenstein on Monday, April 3rd at 4:15 p.m.  This event will be held in the Hatfield Room, and is free and open to the public.  There will be a book signing after the talk.

 

Ralph Barnes Correspondence Exhibit

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New Exhibit Going up in the Library on March 24th, 2017

UPDATE: The date for this mini exhibit has been delayed.  Additional information will follow as they become available.  (3-24-17)

This exhibit looks at the life and experiences of Ralph Barnes a Willamette University alumni from the class of 1922. Barnes was a foreign correspondent with the New York Herald Tribune. Ralph Barnes worked in Mussolini’s Italy, Joseph Stalin’s Russia, and Adolf Hitler’s Germany. Included in this exhibit are excerpts of Barnes foreign correspondence experience.  This exhibit has been put together by Kate Kerns, our Archives and Special Collections intern.

WU Rook Caps

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Our Archives and Special Collections intern Kate Kerns has put together a special mini exhibit on the first floor of the library about Rook Caps based on the materials available in the Willamette University Archives and Special Collections.  This exhibit will be replaced later this week by a new exhibit by Kate Kern, so please take a look before these items are sent back into the archives.  Below are some photos of this fun exhibit, Rook Kaps worn at Willamette, a Rook Bible, photos, and stories that center around Rook Kaps. This is a good example of some of the fun things you can find in our Archives, and what could be learned about them.

A special thank you to Sybil Westenhouse for investing in experiential learning through the Sybil Westenhouse Archives Excellence Fund.

Rescheduled Faculty Colloquium

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Dear Colleagues,

Thanks to Professor Maegan Parker Brooks, we have been able to reschedule Professor Richards talk, originally scheduled for March 10th.

Please join us on Wednesday, March 22nd from 11:30-12:30 in Montag Den for our seventh Faculty Colloquium of this semester. (Please note change in time and location) Treats will be provided.

Cindy Koenig Richards, Associate Professor of Civic Communication and Media
 

Title: Learning by Creating in the Public Sphere

This faculty colloquium presentation will connect my scholarly work on agency to our efforts at Willamette “to transform knowledge into action and lead lives of achievement, contribution, and meaning.” My book project, Voters in the Making: Women’s Participatory Culture in the Pacific Northwest, 1865-1912, illuminates a set of practices through which disenfranchised women developed agency in the public sphere. Reflecting on this set of practices–and their relationship to liberal arts education–motivated me to make project based learning integral to my courses. I’ll share my practical approach to designing student projects that are publicly engaged, academically oriented, production centered, and peer supported. And, some students from CCM 361 The Public Sphere will join us to discuss their perspectives on two projects we carried out in fall 2016. First, students in this course led Willamette DebateWatch, a series of events that brought together more than 800 community members to view and discuss the 2016 US Presidential debates. Second, students in this course produced a self-published book of data visualizations, entitled Networked Publics in the 2016 US Presidential Campaign.

Students are welcome.

We look forward to seeing you there.

Doreen Simonsen and Daniel Rouslin
Faculty Colloquium Coordinators

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