Lincoln Studies Center Releases New Book on Lincoln-Douglas Debates
Scholars from the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox announce the first-ever critical edition of the texts of the historic Lincoln-Douglas Debates. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The Lincoln Studies Center Edition, co-edited by Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson, is the first book to provide a full text of the debates based on all known records. Read more about The Lincoln-Douglas Debates.
Davis and Wilson Featured in PBS Special
Professors Davis and Wilson were also recently featured in the program Lincoln and Douglas at Galesburg -- The Great Debate, a co-production of Knox College and WTVP-47, the Public Broadcasting System affiliate in Peoria, which premiered earlier this month. The program featured Davis and Wilson, along with other leading historians, and is the inaugural event in WTVP's Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration. Read more about the program.
Podcasts Give Historical
Background on Seven Debates
"The
Real Issue: The Real Debates," a series of podcasts
featuring Davis and Wilson, gives historical
background on
each of the seven debates
between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas that took place in the
summer and fall of 1858. Listen to the podcasts.
Local
Events Planned to Celebrate Debate
In conjunction with the Galesburg's Lincoln Bicentennial Commission,
Knox is planning events to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the
Lincoln-Douglas Debate at Knox and the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's
birth. See the list of Lincoln events.
Campus Celebrates Sustainability Initiatives
Knox has taken major strides toward becoming a sustainable environment, including doing away with lunch trays to save water, providing reusable to-go containers in the cafeteria and building a new bike shed on campus. To celebrate, the President's Task Force on Sustainability held an all-campus EquiKnox Picnic on September 22.
Students, faculty, and staff enjoyed dinner on the Gizmo patio using compostable utensils, registered their bicycles with the Galesburg Police Department, helped brick around the prairie plot and learned about sustainability efforts happening on the Knox Campus.
Read more about the picnic in The Register-Mail.
Read more about sustainability efforts at Knox.
Speaker Promotes Sustainable Society
On October 8, Sandra Steingraber, a native of central Illinois who has written extensively on environmental health, visited the Knox campus to discuss how colleges can build ecologically sustainable campuses and societies through "green" curriculum, institutional practices and student activism. Read More.
Professor Teaches Simplicity
Tim Kasser, associate professor of psychology, wrote The High Price of Materialism and teaches about Voluntary Simplicity in the cross-listed American studies/environmental studies class Alternatives to Consumerism. His article "The Good Life or the Goods Life" recently appeared in the fall issue of the Knox Magazine. Read the article.
A Note from the Editors
Family and Friends Weekend 2008
All parents, family members, and friends of the Knox community are invited to Family and Friends Weekend on October 24, 25, and 26. Be sure to check out the schedule, which now has a listing of the classes that are open to visitors to attend. Updates will be added as we receive them; be sure to stop by the registration table on Friday or Saturday for the most up-to-date information. View Family & Friends Weekend Schedule and Register online!
More News For Parents
The Knox College Business Office is now offering the opportunity to use credit cards online for payment of tuition. There is a convenience fee of 2.5 to 3 percent, and the use of a VISA Credit Card is not available. Learn more about tuition payments...
Countdown to Homecoming!
Homecoming is a few short weeks away. Have you registered yet? Don't miss your chance to catch up with old friends, chat with your favorite professors, visit classes with current students, or wander around campus. Register now and encourage your classmates to do the same!
Campus News
Knox Celebrates 150th Anniversary of Debate
A banner declaring "Knox College for Lincoln" draped over
Old Main set the stage for the 150 year anniversary of the
Lincoln-Douglas debate in Galesburg on October 11. Galesburg was the
fifth city of nine to host the Lincoln-Douglas debates, also known as
"Reunion Tour '08." Located on the east side of Old
Main, where plaques of Lincoln and Douglas surround the entrance, the
audience became witness to history as Abraham Lincoln, a Republican
upstart, debated Stephen Douglas, the most well-known Democrat of the
time. Abraham Lincoln was played by George Buss and Stephen Douglas was
played by Timothy Connors. The actors spent the previous day visiting
Galesburg grade schools and high schools. Read more in The Knox Student.
See more photos from Reunion Tour '08 in The Register-Mail.
Remembering Lincoln in Galesburg
When Abraham Lincoln debated Stephen Douglas on a blustery October day
in 1858 on the east side of Old Main at Knox College, Galesburg was
young city of 5,000 people and a hotbed of abolitionist activities.
Those who went to the debates and later set their impressions
down in print were mesmerized with Lincoln, according to accounts
compiled The Register-Mail. Read more in The Register-Mail.
Senate Candidate Debate at Knox
Two days after the 150th Anniversary of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate at
Knox, another debate took place on campus, this one between Democrat
Richard Durbin, U.S. Senator from Illinois, and Republican
Steven Sauerberg, who is challenging Durbin in the November election.
The debate was broadcast statewide by the Illinois Radio Network,
moderated by Craig Dellimore of WBBM and Melissa Hahn of IRN. Read more.
More
campus news and features.
Student News
Belzer First Generation to Attend College
Living in Elizabeth, Illinois, Sara Belger said she felt expected to take the same track as most of the people who surrounded her, which meant working full-time and taking a few classes at a community college. Since she already had a job as a waitress, she could have continued to work at restaurant after graduating from high school, as her mother did. Instead, she came to Knox. Read more in The Knox Student.
Transplant Recipient Eyes More Donors
All too familiar with the many difficulties facing someone in need of an organ or tissue transplant, Knox College junior Jackie Stillmaker is working to make the lives of those in need a little easier.
Ever since her three different corneal transplants, Stillmaker has done her best to raise awareness and support for the many needs of organ and tissue recipients. Her latest endeavor is heading up Knox College's role in the Donate Life Illinois 2008 Campus Challenge, an intercollegiate competition to register new organ and tissue donors. Read the Register-Mail story.
Studying Abroad Offers Much More Than An Education
As an international relations major, with a history and economics minor, Jessica Wise '09 says studying abroad provides an opportunity to learn more about the way the world works, to see things through different eyes, absorb a foreign culture and have a lot of fun.
Wise spent the better part of her junior year at the School for International Training (SIT) in Ireland. Read more.
Student Shares Story of Iowa FloodWhen junior Clayton Besong drove back to his hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, last spring, he had no idea it would be one of the last times he would see the train bridge; a sign he was close to home. The bridge collapsed when the Cedar River rose over 30 feet and flooded several sections of the city. "I really didn't think something like this would happen," said Besong, of the flood. "It's Iowa, we're landlocked. That's why I was in such disbelief." Read more in The Knox Student
More coverage of Knox students is available on the Knox news page.
Alumni News
Lawrence Named Illinoisan of the Year
Mike Lawrence, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, recently received "Illinoisan of the Year" honors from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association. The INBA says Lawrence has been a watchdog of Illinois politics for decades and continues to work for reform at the institute.
Before joining the institute in 1997, Lawrence was press secretary to Jim Edgar during Edgar's tenure both as governor and as secretary of state. He also has served on the Illinois Courts Commission and the State Board of Ethics. Lawrence headed news bureaus in Springfield for the Quad City Times, Lee Enterprises and the Chicago Sun Times, and was an editor at the Quad City Times and a reporter at the Galesburg Register-Mail. Read more.
G. Louis Vitale, Businessman, Lincoln-Douglas Award Recipient, Passes
G. Louis Vitale passed away October 2 in Scottsdale, Arizona. He was 95. A successful businessman, he founded G & M Distributors Inc., Galesburg, in 1946, and formerly owned Decatur Bottling Co., Decatur, as well as businesses in Aurora, Quincy, Peoria, Rock Island, Rockford and Madison, Wisconsin. In 1934, he was captain of the Knox football team and was always proudly supportive of Knox. Vitale received the Lincoln-Douglas Award recognizing his contribution to Knox. Vitale also served on the board of directors for Galesburg Cottage Hospital and First Midwest Bank, and was a founding member of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church. Read his obituary in the Register-Mail.
Alumni Notes
Mike Lawrence, director of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, recently received "Illinoisan of the Year" honors from the Illinois News Broadcasters Association. Read the WGIL article.
Jessical Strache and Megan Hall have had their work selected to be shown during the new choreographers' showcase at the 2008 Dancechicago Festival. Learn more about the festival.
Earlier this month, Knox County Board member and first-year Monmouth College American Politics Professor, Caroline Porter, registered students and faculty at a voter registration drive on the Monmouth campus. Many were first-time voters. "Young people, for various reasons, seem to be inspired by this election," said Porter. Read the Register-Mail article.
Carrie Hirst recently joined the faculty of the Wisconsin School of Business as a lecturer, supporting the Risk Management and Insurance MBA Specialization. Hirst previously worked for the Ridgeview Foundation in Waconia, MN, as a lead gift officer and fundraising development coordinator.
Meghan Reardon '08 had her
Hannah Sherry has been chosen to form the Register-Mail's newly formed Political Focus Group Sherry works with developmentally disabled adults in Galesburg and has been in the Army Reserves for five years.
Brian Tibbets
Faculty & Staff News
Lincoln Scholars Honored
Rodney Davis and Douglas Wilson, co-directors of the Lincoln Studies Center at Knox, are among 30 individuals from around the world who will receive a special Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial edition of The Order of Lincoln, the highest honor from the State of Illinois.
Davis and Wilson are among the nation's
foremost Lincoln scholars. They recently released the first critical
edition of the texts of the Lincoln-Douglas Debates. They also
co-edited Herndon's Informants, which assembles first-hand
recollections from people who knew Lincoln, and Herndon's Lincoln, a
biography by William Herndon, Lincoln's law partner in Springfield.
Read more.
Professor Emeritus of Political Science Philip Haring died at his home in Nantucket on September 27. He would have been 93 on October 7. He graduated from Harvard College and served in the Navy at Pearl Harbor. Read more about professor Haring's naval service in the Knox Magazine.
Professor Haring spent 26 years as a professor of political science at Knox, from 1954 until 1980. He was a much-loved teacher, who was known for challenging his students to think deeply about complex political and philosophical problems. During the Vietnam War, he was a valued mentor for his students who were struggling with questions about the war and decisions about military service. In 1970, he published the book Political Morality. Read his obituary in The Register-Mail.
Faculty & Staff Notes
Jennifer Smith, Assistant Professor of Dance, had her Chicago-based dance company, Back & To The Left Productions, selected to perform in the 2008 DanceChicago Festival. Learn more about the festival.
Vitalist Theatre, co-founded by Elizabeth Carlin-Metz, professor of theatre and Robin Metz, Philip Sidney Post Professor English, has won a Chicago After Dark Award for Outstanding Overall Technical Achievement in their most recent production of "A Passage to India."
Lincoln's writing and the Lincoln-Douglas Debates were the focus of two presentations given by Douglas Wilson, co-director of the Linoln Studies Center, in Peoria last month. Read more in the Peoria Journal Star.
Gregory Gilbert, associate professor of art, presented the lecture "Random Order: The Art and Life of Robert Rauschenberg" earlier this month at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa. Gilbert also talked about his work at Knox and with the Figge Art Museum on WVIK, Rock Island National Public Radio, in September.
Magali Roy-Fequiere, associate professor of Gender and Women's Studies, presented a paper on the "Cartographies of Identities: Puerto Rico(ans) in the XXIst Century" in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she discussed the work of award-winning novelist and poet Mayra Santos Febres. Roy-Fequiere has also been elected to the Puerto Rican Studies Association's Executive Council for 2008-2010.
Neil Blackadder, associate professor of theatre, received a fellowship to attend the Banff International Literary Translation Centre in Banff, Canada, where he completed a translation from German of the play Tattoo by the Swiss writers Igor Bauersima and Réjane Desvignes. This summer's issue of LMDA Review (The Newsletter of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas) featured, in a new collaboration with the Goethe-Institut Toronto, "Play-in-Print: A Selection from The Ballad of the Pine Tree Killer by Rebekka Kricheldorf, translated by Neil Blackadder," and "'A Fundamental Resistance': An Interview with Neil Blackadder by Beth Gallagher." The newly released book France: A Traveler's Literary Companion from Whereabouts Press features Neil's translation from French of "Rue Laferrière" by Jacques Réda. His translation of The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents will be premier on the New York stage in November.
In September, Laura Lane, professor of music, appeared on Don Wooten's Saturday Morning Live program on WVIK, Rock Island National Public Radio, where she talked about her work at Knox.
Jennifer Templeton, associate professor of biology, has published research carried out with Knox Joyce Christensen '03 entitled "A behavioral analysis of prey detection lateralization & unilateral transfer in European Starlings (/Sturnus vulgaris/)" in Behavioural Processes.
Nancy Eberhardt, professor of anthropology, presented a paper titled "What Does It Mean to Be Shan? Shifting Ethnic Markers for Shan in Northern Thailand" at the International Burma Studies Conference, held October at Northern Illinois University.
Tim Kasser, associate professor of psychology, recently gave eight talks in the United Kingdom:
- At the Labour Party Fringe Conference, he participated in panels on "Transport in an oil and climate constrained world" and "Beyond Growth: Well-being in a low carbon economy."
- Kasser participated in these same two panels at the Conservative Party Fringe Conference, and also spoke there on "Towards a Green new deal."
- He gave a talk on "A revolution of values: Materialism and its alternatives" at an event sponsored by the new economics foundation in London
- "A primer on intrinsic and extrinsic goals" was a talk given by Kasser to master's students in Positive Psychology at the University of East London.
- He spoke on "National values and the well-being of future generations" at the Northampton School for Girls in Northampton.
- The article "If you build it, will they come?: Public transport and personal values" was published in The Independent, a UK newspaper.
Michael Godsil, instructor in art, will present a gallery talk about the works of photographers Barbara Morgan and Carlotta Corpron at The Figge Art Museum in Davenport, Iowa, in November. Multiple photographs by both photographers are in the current exhibit of 80 photographs: "In the Light - Photographs from the Brent Sikkema Collection."
Contact Us
Submissions to The Gizmogram should be made to the editors at gizmogram@knox.edu. Submissions may be edited for space.
Editors
Megan Scott '96 & Cheri Siebken
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