The Connecticut College campus is quiet during spring break, but there are plenty of events in March to bring the community to campus. The following are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted:
•Through March 5: “Towards A New Reality,” a faculty art exhibition, Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m., Saturday-Sunday, 1-4 p.m., the galleries of Cummings Arts Center. The Connecticut College Department of Art presents “Towards A New Reality,” a cooperative installation of works by Associate Professor of Art Gregory Bailey and Professor of Art Timothy McDowell. The sculpture, dioramas, prints and paintings that comprise “Towards A New Reality” are responses to “the increasingly ominous data and subsequent scientific warnings of the environmental situation underway on our planet,” according to the artists — “the ever-present, daily discourse on rising temperatures, rising oceans, rising CO2 levels, and dangerous climatic changes that seems to have us spiraling towards a new reality.” For more information, contact the art department at 860-439-2740.
•March 3: "American Traditions,” a concert by the Connecticut College Concert Band, Jazz Ensemble, Traditional Jazz Band, and the U.S. Coast Guard Academy Band, 7 p.m., Evans Hall of Cummings Arts Center. Adjunct Assistant Professor of Music Gary Buttery co-directs the program with Chief Warrant Officer Ian Frenkel, the director of bands at the Academy. The bands will perform works by American composers including Cole Porter, Sammy Cahn, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus and the Gershwin brothers, as well as the popular “Suite of Old American Dances” by Robert Russell Bennett. For more information, contact Terry Wisniewski at terry.wisniewski@conncoll.edu.
•March 24: “Corruption: an intended economic strategy of the Assad Regime,” a lecture by Ahmad Alachkar, 4:30 p.m.. Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room in Shain Library. Alachkar, one of first and few scholars to hold a PhD in economics in Syria, will speak about the economic conditions that underlie the uprising in Syria. He left Syria in December 2012 after threats and attacks on his family and came to Connecticut College under the auspices of the Institute for International Education Scholar Rescue Program. For more information, contact Nancy Lewandowski at nancy.lewandowski@conncoll.edu.
•March 25: “Asiatic Cholera in the Americas: Slavery, Colonialism and the Making of Epidemiology," a lecture by Associate Professor of History , 4:15 p.m., the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity, 740 Williams Street. This event is part of the Center for the Comparative Study of Race and Ethnicity’s ConnWorks series. For more information, contact Jennifer Bonnano at jennifer.bonnano@conncoll.edu.
•March 26: “Ukraine on the Edge,” a panel discussion about recent events in Ukraine, 11:50 a.m. to 1p.m., Ernst Common Room of Blaustein Humanities Center. Connecticut College faculty and staff members will contextualize the political events in Ukraine over the past three months, including the popular uprising that led to the overthrow of President Victor Yanukovych, the establishment of an interim government in Kiev, and the annexation of the Crimean peninsula by the Russian Federation. Sponsored by the Department of Slavic Studies. For more information, contact Lynne McCue at lemcc@conncoll.edu.
•March 27: “Women in America's First Prisons,” a lecture by Jen Manion, associate professor of history, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room in Shain Library. Using visual images from prisons throughout the United States, this presentation will show how prison design affects inmate and staff behavior and provide a historical perspective on models of prison design, concentrating on what are known as third-generation models and direct supervision. For more information, contact Ana Campos-Holland at acamposh@conncoll.edu.
•March 27: “Israel, America and the Competition for the Jewish Future,” a Melrod Judaic Studies Lecture by Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of The New Republic and member of the Editorial Board of The Jewish Review of Books, 4:30 p.m., Zachs Hillel House Great Room. A reception will follow. For more information, contact Diane Monte at diane.monte@conncoll.edu.
•March 27: “Meet the President.” The greater New London community is invited to meet Connecticut College President Katherine Bergeron at a special community reception, 5-7 p.m., The Thames Club, 290 State St., New London. Drop in any time between 5 and 7 p.m., enjoy hors d’oeuvres and a student a cappella performance – and meet the college’s new president. There will be a short speaking program at 5:45 p.m. For more information, contact Deborah MacDonnell at deborah.macdonnell@conncoll.edu.
•March 28: "Sexual Assault in the Military and Torture in Abu Ghraib,” a lecture by Susan Burke, noon, Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room in Shain Library. Burke is a renowned human rights lawyer whose work was the focus of the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Invisible War.” The lecture is sponsored by the College’s chapter of Amnesty International. For more information, contact Conor McCormick-Cavanagh at cmccormi@conncoll.edu.
•March 28: “La Frontera: Cultural Identities on the Mexican-U.S. Borderland,” a lecture by Martha Chew Sanchez, associate professor in the global studies department at Saint Lawrence University, 4:30 p.m., Charles Chu Asian Art Reading Room in Shain Library. This talk will explore the cultural expressions derived from the interactions among people on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border. For more information, contact Ana Campos-Holland at acamposh@conncoll.edu.
•March 28: Mario Pavone and Orange Ensemble, 7 p.m., Evans Hall in Cummings Arts Center. The Department of Music, in conjunction with the Dayton Artist-in-Residence Program, presents jazz bassist and composer Mario Pavone and his Orange Ensemble in concert. Following a week-long residency, Pavone will perform with his longtime A-list collaborators along with a special guest or two. The concert will feature recent and new compositions, and will include Connecticut College student musicians. Tickets are $10 for general admission, $5 for students and seniors, and free to Connecticut College students, staff and faculty. Pavone will give a talk about his music on Wednesday, March 26, at 11:50 a.m. in Fortune Recital Hall. It is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Terry Wisniewski at terry.wisniewski@conncoll.edu
•March 29: New York Museum Bus Trip, 8 a.m., Cummings Arts Center loading dock. The departments of Art History and Studio Art host a bus trip to New York City that stops at several museums and points of interest. Tickets are $45 for the general public, faculty and staff; $35 for Connecticut College students. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Debbie Radachy at darad@conncoll.edu.
•March 29: Sex Trafficking Panel Discussion, 1 p.m., 1941 Room of the College Center at Crozier-Williams. Connecticut College’s Slavery Ends Today student club hosts a panel featuring Connecticut College faculty and Melva O'Neill, the community engagement coordinator at Safe Futures (formerly the Women’s Center of Southeastern Connecticut). The panel will focus on the various cycles — economic, sociological, psychological — that contribute to the proliferation of human trafficking. For more information, email Slavery Ends Today at set@conncoll.edu.
•March 29: onStage at Connecticut College presents Trisha Brown Dance Company, 7:30 p.m., Palmer Auditorium. Defining “cutting edge” since her first work at the Judson Dance Theater 40 years ago, Trisha Brown’s intellectual and creative experimentation has brought her international recognition as a leader in abstract choreography. Brown remains a grande dame of the dance, a leader of postmodernism and an enduring renegade. She developed a new approach to movement and choreography that has changed the way we look at dance. Tickets are $28 for general admission, $25 for seniors and $14 for students. For tickets and information call 860-439-2787 or visit onstage.conncoll.edu.