Open Windows Guest Lecture Series:
DVDs available for checkout in 13 Mellen where noted.
April 6, 2009
Monica Prendergast:: She spoke about her research on peace education through theater and her past performance of the one-woman, one-act play Peace Mom, a powerful political storytelling play by Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo and Franca Rame about the work of U.S. peace activist Cindy Sheehan. Monica is an Assistant Professor in Creative Arts in Learning here at Lesley University. DVD available in 13 Mellen
October 21, 2008
Ebony Three Arrows: Spoke about class and gender roles in indigenous cultures and two-spirit people who have both a masculine and a feminine spirit, thus fulfilling mixed gender roles in many Native American indigenous groups. Three Arrows is a member of the Green Mountain Band of AniYunWiwa and is the Keeper of the Fire of the Tsalagi (Cherokee) in Boston.
March 20, 2008
Dr. Peniel E. Joseph: Dr. Joseph returned to Lesley to present on the topic From Black Power to Barack Obama for Black History Month. A leading scholar of African American history at Brandeis University and frequent national commentator on civil rights, race, and democracy issues. (DVD available in 13 Mellen)
March 18, 2008
Deborah Faye Lawrence: Redressing Grievances: A Collage Workshop, a two hour workshop where participants pillaged hundreds of magazines to construct an authentic (not literal) self portrait in justaposition to social issues such as consumerism, media misrepresentation, and the political status quo.
The satirical collages of Deborah F. Lawrence, MFA, have been exhibited in solo shows at Lincoln Center, New York, University of Pennsylvania, the Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture, and many other venues. An adjunct professor in the Creative Arts in Learning Program at Lesley University, an artist mentor for the MFA Program at the Art Institute of Boston, and a professional artist, Lawrence is the recipient of grants from the Creative Capital Foundation, NEA, Western States Arts Federation, the Gottlieb Foundation and the Puffin Foundation. A full-color book on her work, Dee Dee Does Utopia, is available from Distributed Art Publishers, New York.
February 12, 2008
Dr. Berta Rosa Berriz: Identity, Learning, and the Arts. Dr. Berriz was born in Cuba and is a National Board Certified bilingual teacher, National Faculty at Lesley University , a dancer, a writer, and storyteller. Her doctoral research at Harvard Graduate School of Education (2005) investigated the relationship between the cultural identity of Puerto Rican and Dominican second-generation students and their teachers’ assessment of their academic performance.
She has written about and given workshops teaching effective ways to engage children from diverse cultural backgrounds. Her current work within Boston Public Schools is Fifth Grade Sheltered English Immersion Teacher at the Sumner Elementary School in Roslindale, Massachusetts.
November 27, 2007
Wyoma: African Healing Dance. Wyoma is a performer and facilitator of Afican and healing dance, and a body/mind consultant. Wyoma has taught and conducted workshops in a wide range of contexts throughout the United States for over thirty years. She has also worked in Africa and New Zealand. Central to her approach is the transformative and organic nature of African Dance, and the recognition of our body’s own inherent wisdom. She honors dance as a healing and spiritual endeavor, and has become a creative force for transformation among her students, audiences, and associate performers. (DVD available in 13 Mellen)
November 20, 2007
Dr. Peniel E. Joseph: Dr. Joseph is a leading scholar of African American history at Brandeis University and frequent national commentator on civil rights, race, and democracy issues, and his work has appeared in the New York Times, the Chronicle Review, and the Washington Post. Named a top young historian by the History News Network and an emerging scholar by Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Dr. Joseph is the author of Waiting ‘Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power. He was named a Washington Post Book World ‘Best Nonfiction 2006 Pick’ and a Mark Lynton History Award finalist. He has previously taught at Stony Brook University, Arizona State University, and University of Rhode Island. A native New Yorker, he lives in Somerville, Mass. (DVD available in 13 Mellen)
March 19, 2007
Debi Milligan: Looking for Evidence of Engagement and Discernment in a High School Photography Class: The Development of a Lesson. She teaches photography at Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School and Portraiture at the New England school of Photography and is a professional photographer who takes book jacket photos for many local authors. She presented a photography lesson using Project Zero Thinking Routines with an emphasis on how these routines can cultivate student understanding, promote the formation of meaningful questions for critique, and lead students toward intentional decision-making in their photographic endeavors.
November 28, 2006
Judith Black, a professional storyteller with a national following. She was inducted into the National Storytelling Network’s Circle of Excellence in 2005 for “exceptional commitment and exemplary contribution tot he art of storytelling. She also opened a new one-woman show “Retiring the Champ” which explores issues of aging and dying in America. (DVD available in 13 Mellen)
September 26, 2006
Abigail Jefferson spoke on storytelling (DVD available in 13 Mellen).
