The Association of Southwestern University Alumni strives to provide alumni with quality lifelong learning activities and events. The following events took place during the 2007-2008 academic year. Click here to view upcoming lifelong learning opportunities.

Aldersgate Day Celebration
May 22, 2008
Aldersgate Day commemorates the founder of Methodism John Wesley’s “heart-warming” experience on Aldersgate Street in London in 1738. In honor of the 270th anniversary of Aldersgate Day, Ellsworth Peterson ’55 and Rev. Milton Jordan ’62 have coordinated a celebration for Thursday, May 22, in the Lois Perkins Chapel at Southwestern University. The day will feature a morning presentation by Rev. Debra Crumpton, pastor at Wellspring United Methodist Church in Georgetown, on the topic of Christian community. A lunch buffet will be served in The Cove located on the lower level of the Red & Charline McCombs Campus Center for $6.50 per person. Following lunch, Ellsworth Peterson ’55, professor emeritus of music, will give a presentation on aspects of the Wesleyan music tradition. And, interspersed throughout the day’s celebration, Henry Holloway ’50 will lead the singing of Wesleyan hymns. Friends are welcome. Please RSVP to the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at 800-960-6363.

Theatre Performance: SubUrbia
April 23-27, 2008
The Southwestern University Theatre Department invited alumni and their families to attend SubUrbia. Performances are scheduled for Wednesday, April 23 and Thursday, April 24 at 7 p.m. and Friday, April 25 and Saturday, April 26 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, April 27 at 3 p.m., in the Jesse and Mary Gibbs Jones Theatre of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. This performance was recommended for mature audiences. When available, order your tickets online.

Some plays are set in castles, drawing rooms or on ancient battlefields. SubUrbia presents a day in the life of seven rootless young Americans who hang out every night in the parking lot of a convenience store. This parking lot becomes the private domain of three men in their very early twenties: Jeff is a sometime student, Buff an easy-going party animal, and Tim is an alcoholic Air Force vet. They talk trash, drink beer, get high, eat Oreos and harass the owners of the convenience store, and revel in their high school glory days. The return of their high school friend, Pony – now a successful rock singer with a video on MTV – sparks an extraordinarily explosive night of drinking, sex and violence as the friends air their resentments and examine the choices they’ve made. This is an edgy, sarcastic, captivating and thoroughly compelling drama about our disenfranchised youth, written by one of America’s leading contemporary playwrights.

2008 Shilling Lecture
Monday, April 21, 2008
Former U.S. Senator, Bill Bradley spoke on The New American Story, including Nine Questions to Ask Before Voting for President, as the 2008 Roy and Margaret Shilling lecturer, Monday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. Bradley provided insights as to why he thinks politics is stuck and idealism is not dead. A Princeton graduate and Rhodes Scholar, Bradley served three terms in the U.S. Senate. Throughout his wide-ranging career, Bradley played professional basketball for the New York Knicks, received an Olympic Gold Medal in basketball, authored four books, and currently serves as a visiting professor at Stanford, Notre Dame and the University of Maryland.  Click here to visit the Shilling Lecture Web site.

The Thirtieth Brown Symposium
April 3-4, 2008
The thirtieth Brown Symposium will be held April 3-4 in The Alma Thomas Theater, located in The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. This year's theme is "Umwelt: Exploring the Self-Worlds of Human and Non-Human Animals," based on an influential paper by Jakob von Uexkull (1934) who argued that to truly understand animal behavior, one must appreciate the animal's "umwelt" or self-world. Presentations by four speakers and an art exhibition will reflect on how humans can experience the self-worlds of species other than our own. This year's speakers and featured artist will be:

• Dr. Diane Ackerman,writer and poet, author of The Zookeeper's Wife and An Alchemy of Mind.
• Dr. Christopher W. Clark, Imogene Powers Johnson director of the Bioacoustics Research Program at the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology and senior scientist in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior.
• Dr. David Fogel, president and chief executive officer of Natural Selection, Inc.
• Dr. Michael S. Gazzaniga, professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
• Rudy Pozzatti, artist and distinguished professor emeritus of fine arts at Indiana University.

Online registration is open until March 21. For more information, contact Sue Smith.Guest Artist Exhibit
Feb. 13, 2008 - April 4, 2008
An exhibit by internationally known printmaker, Rudy Pozzatti, entitled "Bestiaries," will open Wednesday, Feb. 13, at the Fine Arts Gallery, in The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. The collection features images from two hand-printed artist's books, "The Bestiary of Bishop Theobaldus" and "Darwin's Bestiary." Pozzatti is a distinguished professor emeritus at the Hope School of Fine Arts of Indiana University.

L’Chaim! Life itself, joyous and tragic, is the subject of this lively, comic, and heartbreaking musical. In this tale of rural life in a Ukrainian village on the eve of the Russian Revolution are faith and struggle, happiness and suffering, passionate youth and tired old age, idealism and practicality, money and poverty, compromise and conviction, and above all, constancy and change.

Based on the short story “Tevye and His Daughters” by Sholom Aleichem, this classic musical is widely considered the greatest work of American musical theatre. In the little Russian village of Anatevka, Tevye, a poor dairyman, tries to instill in his five daughters the traditions of his tight-knit Jewish community in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russian.

Rich in historical and ethnic detail, Fiddler on the Roof has touched audiences around the world with its humor, warmth and honesty. The universal theme of tradition cuts across barriers of race, class, and religion, with beloved songs including Matchmaker, Matchmaker, If I Were a Rich Man, Sunrise, Sunset, and Tradition.

Road Scholars Presentation
Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2008 
Time: 6 p.m.
Road Scholar: Eric Selbin, professor of political science and University Scholar
Location: Z’Tejas (1110 West 6th Street, Austin)
Cost: $15 per person Family members and guests are invited.
RSVP by Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008, to the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at 800-960-6363.

When John Adams set forth his "Thoughts on Government" in 1776, he asserted that "Laws for the liberal education of youth, especially of the lower class of people, are so extremely wise and useful, that, to a humane and generous mind, no expense for this purpose would be thought extravagant." Many critics of American public education would argue, however, that this dream of providing equal access to a quality education for all children is essentially a dream unfulfilled. This lecture will provide alumni and guests with an opportunity to examine and critically analyze trends and issues related to equal educational opportunity in America.

Fleming Lecture in Religion and Willson Lecture
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
The 2008 Fleming Lecture in Religion and the Willson Lecture will be a combined event featuring Cain Hope Felder, professor of New Testament language and literature at the School of Divinity at Howard University. The lecture will take place Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 4 p.m. in Lois Perkins Chapel. For questions, contact Aaron Rohre, acting director of religious life.

Felder is recognized as a leader in the academic study of the New Testament, with a specific focus on the African presence in the scripture. He taught at Princeton Theological Seminary and was the first national director of the United Methodist Black Caucus. He is also the founder and president of the Biblical Institute for Social Change (BISC), an organization dedicated to inform, inspire, affirm and transform the Christian community through scholarship and research. Felder is author and editor of several books including Troubling Biblical Waters: Race, Class and Family, The Original African Heritage Study Bible, Stony the Road We Trod and many more. He is also editor of The Journal of Religious Thought. He holds a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Howard University, a diploma in theology in New Testament and Greek from Oxford University, a master of divinity in theology degree from Union Theological Seminary, and a master and doctorate of philosophy degrees in biblical languages and literature from Columbia University.

Road Scholars Presentation: "The Wonders of Chocolate"
Sunday, Jan. 27, 2008
Time: 2-4 p.m.
Road Scholar: Romi Burks, assistant professor of biology
Topic: "The Wonders of Chocolate"
Location: The San Antonio Country Club (4100 N New Braunfels Ave., San Antonio)
Attire: Business Casual (No jeans, please.)
Cost: Free for Southwestern alumni and friends, courtesy of The San Antonio Area Association.
To attend: RSVP to the Office of Alumni and Parent Relations at alumni@southwestern.edu or 800-960-6363.

Theatre for Young Audiences:Seussical: The Musical
Dec. 1-2, 2007
The Southwestern University Theatre Department invited alumni and their families to attend Seussical: The Musical. Performances are scheduled for Saturday, Dec. 1 and Sunday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m., in the Jesse and Mary Gibbs Jones Theatre of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center.

" After all those years being stuck on a page
Did you ever imagine you’d see me on stage?
Now I’m here, there is no telling what may ensue!
No, there’s no telling what!
But I’ll give you a clue…"

So says the mischievous Cat in the Hat at the onset of this fantastical, magical, musical extravaganza that captures the imagination and revolutionary whimsy of Dr. Seuss as colorful tales are seamlessly woven together in this enchanting musical celebration. Brimming with sassy sophistication, The Cat in the Hat is host to an eye-popping parade of zany characters including Horton the Elephant, Gertrude McFuzz, Mayzie La Bird, and all the Whos of Whoville. Concocting a Seussian gumbo of musical styles, ranging from Latin to pop, swing to gospel, and R&B to funk, these beloved creatures will inspire all ages to become “Thinkers of strange and wonderful Thinks!” So let your toes tap, your fingers snap, and your imagination run wild for Seussical the Musical!

Dance Repertory Theatre
Nov. 15–16, 2007
Featuring the work of the Southwestern Dance Department and its gifted choreographers and dancers, this event celebrated the enduring power of movement in a visual and kinetic revelry. Attendees experienced a mosaic of vivid and imaginative dance works in varied styles.

Art Exhibit: The American Modernist: Sculptor Bruce Beasley
Nov. 1-Dec. 9, 2007
The Art Department welcomed alumni to visit The American Modernist: Sculptor Bruce Beasley. This exhibit was on display Nov. 1-Dec. 9, 2007, in the Fine Arts Gallery of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center.

Theatre Performance: The Country Wife
Oct. 24-28, 2007
The Southwestern University Theatre Department invited alumni to attend The Country Wife. Meet Horner, Quack, Mr. and Mrs. Pinchwife, Sparkish and Mrs. Squeamish in this bawdy 17th-century Restoration comedy. This tale is full of seduction, devotion, cuckolds and lust and contains a plot filled with outrageously racy comedy. Banned for 170 years because of its licentious plot and language, this play would have made Shakespeare blush. Sex is the force behind all of the cleverly intertwined plot strands, which together explore the romantic entanglements of a group of wealthy characters in sordid post-Puritan London. Jealous husbands, unfaithful wives, playboys and hypocrites are the stuff of tabloid journalism, reality TV, and this hilariously racy satirical comedy of manners. It shocked England in 1675 as much as it delights audiences today.

Amy Tan to Serve as the 2007 Writers Voice Speaker
Oct. 23, 2007
Amy Tan, author of the 1989 bestseller The Joy Luck Club, was the 2007 speaker for the Writers Voice series sponsored by the A. Frank Smith, Jr. Library at Southwestern. The 2007 Writers Voice lecture was scheduled for Oct. 23, 2007. Tan has written several other novels since The Joy Luck Club, including The Kitchen God’s Wife (1991), The Hundred Secret Senses (1995), The Bonesetter’s Daughter (2001) and Saving Fish from Drowning (2005). Her first work of non-fiction, The Opposite of Fate, was published in 2003. Tan also has written two children’s books, The Moon Lady (1992) and The Chinese Siamese Cat (1994).

Art Exhibit: Gerry Wubben, Monumental Drawings
Sept. 4-27, 2007
The Art Department welcomed alumni to visit Gerry Wubben, Monumental Drawings. This exhibit was on display Sept. 4-27, in the Fine Arts Gallery of The Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center.