Washington College Magazine
Monika Weiss, assistant professor of art, is an internationally acclaimed artist who recently exhibited in Italy, Poland, England and Canada. She has published a monograph survey of her work, Monika Weiss: Five Rivers, and is featured in Drawing Now: Between the Lines of Contemporary Art, showcasing today's best artists. Depicted here is Keimai II (Inferno), 2007, a site-specific drawing and live performance using graphite, charcoal, pages from Dante Alighieri's Commedia Divina published in Italy in 1910, and the artist's body, on rice paper.
Two Washington College poets read from their work as part of the Brooklyn Reading Works series and in conjunction with this year's Associated Writing Program conference. Meredith Davies Hadaway M'96, Vice President for College Relations and Marketing (second from left) and Erin Murphy '90, Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Penn State Altoona (far right) joined other Word Press poets Barbara Crooker and Kim Garcia to present "Word Girls." Fiction writer Paul Shepherd, who read at Washington College in 2006, introduced the readings.
Faculty/Staff News
Students To Visit Emerging Market Economy
There's a Starbucks in the Forbidden City. Former outdoor Silk Street vendors are now housed in a Xiu Shui Market, a five-story shopping mall. China is in the business of making money.
As professor Terry Scout puts it, the nation hosting the 2008 Summer Olympic Games is "poised to kick some capitalist butt."
In late May, Scout is taking 19 business students to see the emerging socialist market economy in action. Unlike past summer experiences exploring international business, these students won't be visiting the windmills and Delft factories of the Netherlands. But at 7.2 Chinese dollars to one US dollar, they will be able to afford to buy a Coke and maybe some great silk scarves.
"The biggest incentive to visit China, really, is the exchange rate between the euro and the dollar," admits Scout. "My wife and I were in Germany in 1992, when the euro cost 92 cents. Now it's $1.50. That has priced us right out of the market."
Scout was in China for six weeks in 1999 and visited again last fall to put together a China program for students of international business. China is an interesting case study, he says, because the government is much more involved in the economy, with special incentives given to businesses. There is also little concept of intellectual property.
The group will visit a law firm in Beijing to discuss legal aspects of doing business in China. Shanghai, China's economic center, Hong Kong and the manufacturing region of Shenzhen are also on the itinerary. Then there's that Starbucks at the corner of the Great Wall.
Shad Takes Personalized Education To Buenos Aires
The faculty exchange program that sent international studies program director Tahir Shad to Universidad Católica Argentina last semester was enlightening for both students and professor.
Because professors in Buenos Aires teach at multiple schools and typically never see students outside the classroom, Shad's students appreciated the opportunity to discuss career plans with a knowledgeable mentor. He directed some into graduate programs in the United States and in India; he helped others land internships at the Organization of American States in DC; and he recruited two students for Washington College's summer program in Tanzania, which Shad directs.
The exchange was a rewarding experience for him, too. His students developed a keen interest in U.S. foreign policy and the American presidential elections.He also had the opportunity to investigate reports linking Al-Qaeda to Argentina—important research relevant to his field.
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