Dear New College Friends and Family,
Please allow me to update you on at some length on a number of fronts. It has been a challenging three months. Many folks in our community were hit hard by the April tornadoes which brought a complex end to our academic year. After the death of her mother, Lori Pittman retired after serving New College with kindness, generosity, and the utmost professionalism for over 23 years. And just last week, Zoe Bromberg, a May graduate, was killed in a tragic accident in Spain.
Dr. Jerry Rosenberg will be retiring in January of 2012, and we are losing a fine faculty member, Dr. Joe Brown, to an exciting opportunity at the London School of Tropical Medicine.
We are determined – and, perhaps, even much more so, in need – of some celebration of our 40th anniversary this August 20th and 21st although our ambitions have been tempered by the tragedies that have befallen our community. So please join us if you can for commemoration of this wonderful part of UA’s and the state of Alabama’s history. We know that Professors Passerini, Blewitt, and Rosenberg will be with us. . . and hopeful of visits by Alice Parker, Bob McKenzie and others.
Anniversary Weekend: The Plan
August 20th
2:00, Moody Recital Hall, concert by internationally acclaimed harpist and composer, Anne LeBaron, and current New College faculty member Andrew Dewar. http://www.annelebaron.com/
5:00, BBQ in front of Lloyd Hall, our new digs
7:30 – your choice – we have a block of Steely Dan tickets for you to enjoy, or you can join an improvisational crew of us at local bar for open mic activity and New College storytelling
August 21st
11:00, pancake breakfast in the New College lounge
1:00-3:00, “seminars” with New College faculty members
The Ferguson Center Gallery will hold an exhibit of New College photographers throughout August and feature work by Wayne Sides, Mary Rachel Fanning, and Barbara Lee Black.
If you would like a hotel room you can call the Hotel Capstone at (205) 752-3200 and for a reduced rate say you are attending the New College anniversary: http://www.hotelcapstone.com/ Room availability is first come, first serve. It is a non-football weekend, so there should be little trouble finding room in Tuscaloosa.
If you could rsvp at mdsouza@nc.ua.edu it would great help in our planning efforts. If you would like a Steely Dan Ticket please let us know. No registration fee is required, but donations will be gratefully accepted and put towards New College scholarship funds.
More Anniversary Events:
August 26 – Lori Pittman Retirement Celebration
September 29th – With American Studies – Rose Gladney Lecture Series, Dr. Cheryl Fish, Borough of Manhattan Community College, on Buckminster Fuller and June Jordan
October 22nd-23rd “Living Your Best Life Sustainably”—A Visit with Amanda and Lee Borden, at their Alabama farm-home.
November 17th – With College of Nursing – Health Care Reform Summit #1
Ed O’Neil, NC74, Director of the Center for the Study of the Health Professions, University of
California at San Francisco
February 29th Health Care Reform Summit #2, with T.R. Reid, Washington Post
April 5th – An evening with Dr. Neal Berte and Dr. Bernie Sloan
TBA – New College and Department of Psychology, Holocaust Symposium, in Honor of Dr. Jerry Rosenberg
And – we hope – many other events. . .
Please feel free to contact Margaret D’Souza for information on any of these events.
New College is thriving. We are now 11 faculty members, 210 students in self-designed majors, 50 students in self-designed minors, 50 students in minors in Civic Engagement and Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies. . . and close to 400 students in our adult education New College Life Track (formerly EXD). As always, we’re involved in range of community, research, teaching, and service activities to make you proud. Please be part of our future.
All best, Jim
James C. Hall
Director, New College