Keene, N.H. 9/9/05 - The slender line between life and death for people in war-torn countries and in nations devastated by natural disasters, such as Sudan and Haiti, will be examined in Keene State College's 2005-06 fall and spring lecture series. The stories of the people from these countries will be told by Americans who traveled to these places to share expertise or supply aid, or to report on what they saw.

These issues will be explored in lectures by such speakers as human rights lawyer and genocide expert Jerry Fowler, doctor and humanitarian David Walton, and author Tracy Kidder. The College's Bi-annual Public Affairs Symposium, to be held in November, will address, "Globalization: Impact on the Peoples of the World."

"This year we're looking at how students learn to do research that helps them make connections with the wider world," explains William Stroup, associate professor of English and coordinator of the Summer Reading Program. This year's book, Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder, follows Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health, on his quest to bring medicine to the world's poorest countries.

Issues of American life will also be featured during the lecture series, showcased by a talk in March by this country's greatest living documentary maker, Frederick Wiseman.

Monday, September 26
8th annual Holocaust Memorial Lecture
Dr. Peter F. Hayes, Northwestern University
"German Corporate Complicity in the Holocaust"
7:30 p.m. Mabel Brown Room, Student Center

Wednesday, October 18
Sidore Series
Jerry Fowler: "Genocide Emergency, Darfur: Who Will Survive Today?"
7 p.m. Mabel Brown Room, Student Center
Jerry Fowler is staff director of the Committee on Conscience at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Fowler previously was legislative counsel for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, where he worked on a broad array of human rights issues, including international justice and refugee and asylum policy.

November 3-5
Bi-annual Public Affairs Symposium
"Globalization: Impact on the Peoples of the World"
This symposium will examine the phenomenon of globalization by addressing global environment, global health, and global justice. Globalization encompasses every aspect of human life, affecting economic, political, technological, and cultural domains. It has become a central focus of struggle between forces who support its current direction and those who see it as destructive. Therefore, it is urgent for us to probe the context and meaning of globalization.

Friday, November 4
Ewing Public Affairs Lecture
Dr. David Walton, Partners in Health
Medicine and Social Justice
4 p.m., Mabel Brown Room

Dr, Walton, a resident at Brigham and Women's Hospital, divides his time between Boston, Haiti, and Rwanda, where he works for Partners in Health, the international charity organization that provides direct health care services and undertakes research and advocacy activities on behalf of those who are sick and living in poverty.

Dr. Paul Farmer founded Partners in Health (PIH) in 1987, initially to support local community health activities in Central Haiti by providing clinic and a training program for community health workers. Today, PIH provides medical services to the poor of Haiti, Rwanda, Peru, Russia, and Boston.

Thursday, February 23
A talk by Tracy Kidder, author of Mountains Beyond Mountains, KSC's 2005-06 Summer Reading Program text. The subject of the book is Dr. Paul Farmer, founder of Partners in Health.
7 p.m., Mabel Brown Room.

Wednesday, March 29
Mason Library Lecture
Frederick Wiseman
"How to Read a Documentary Film"
4 p.m., Mabel Brown Room, Student Center

Frederick Wiseman is one of the United States' most prolific and renowned documentary filmmakers. Many of his films deal with issues of social justice and inequality within the U.S.: Titicut Follies, High School, Law and Order, Hospital, Welfare, Adjustment and Work, Multi-handicapped, and Public Housing.

Wiseman will present sequences from several of his films and discuss with the audience what lay behind his choices of the segment and how he arrived at an interpretation of their meaning.

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