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Coming to Campus is a section announcing visiting speakers of note. Those who wish to submit items for this section should send a brief description (maximum 300 words) of the event, including the date, time, and place, and giving the name, title, outstanding accomplishments and, if available, a color photo of the speaker to: Visiting Speaker, Advance, 1266 Storrs Road, Storrs, CT 06269-4144 or by e-mail: advance@uconn.edu, with Visiting Speaker in the subject line. The information must be received by 4 p.m. on Monday, a minimum of two weeks prior to the event. Publication will depend on space available, and preference will be given to events of interest to a cross-section of the University community. |
Female Playwright to be Featured in Gerson Irish Literature Program April
12
Marina Carr, Ireland’s leading contemporary female playwright,
will read from her works at the Nafe Katter Theatre on April 12 at 7:30 p.m.
Carr, a former writer-in-residence at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin, whose plays have been staged internationally, is best known for using black humor to delve into taboo subjects such as suicide, incest, and domestic violence. She has penned numerous works during the past decade, including The Mai (1994), Portia Coughlan (1996), By the Bog of Cats (1998), On Raftery’s Hill (2000), and Ariel (2002). Her awards include The Irish Times’ Best New Play Award, the Dublin Theatre Festival Best New Play Award, a McCauley Fellowship, a Hennessey Award, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and an E.M. Forster Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Carr will read as part of the Elizabeth Shanley Gerson Memorial Irish Literature Program. Gerson’s husband, Louis, professor emeritus of political science, and their three children created the program in her memory because Gerson, an orphan from Ireland, possessed an ardent love of both Irish literature and UConn, where she earned her bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in social work.
The Gerson Irish Literature guest will read in the Nafe Katter Theatre, which features a thrust stage designed to bring actors into the audience, will provide an intimate setting for the dramatic reading.
The event will include a question-and-answer session with the playwright.
Former Child Soldier to Give Human Rights Lecture on ‘Lost Childhoods’ April
7
China Keitetsi was abducted by soldiers at the age of eight, and
was forced to fight and endure sexual abuse for 11 years. Keitetsi, who grew up
in Uganda, East Africa, now advocates on behalf of child soldiers worldwide. She
will give a public talk, “Lost Childhoods: The Plight of Child Soldiers,” at
12:30 p.m. on April 7, in Student Union Room 304. The event is sponsored by the
UNESCO Chair in Comparative Human Rights.
Keitetsi was abducted in 1984 by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
She will talk about the trauma of abduction, the loss of childhood, the sexual abuse to which she was subjected, and the enduring impact of the atrocities she both witnessed and was forced to commit.
Keitetsi says girls often suffer harsher abuse than boys – experiencing not only the brutality of combat, but also sexual exploitation. She was just 15 when she gave birth to her first child. Months later, she was forced to return to the army. When she was 19, a senior officer whose sexual advances she rejected retaliated by accusing her of having sold weapons to the enemy, and she had to flee for her life.
Keitetsi is now an international advocate for children who are kidnapped and forced into war. She has testified before the United Nations Security Council, and has traveled around the world to speak about the plight of child soldiers. Although her personal experiences took place in Uganda, she has taken up the cause of child soldiers all over the world. The United Nations estimates that as many as 300,000 children may be serving in armies in more than a dozen countries in Africa and Asia.
All-Night Fund-Raiser for Cancer Research April 8-9 to Feature Relay, Entertainment
Relay For Life, an overnight event designed to celebrate cancer
survivors and raise money for research and programs of the American Cancer Society,
will take place from 5 p.m. on Friday, April 8, to noon on Saturday, April 9, in
the CLAS quad (the grassy area between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Building and Beach Hall). Opening ceremonies begin at 7 p.m.
During the event, which is open to all members of the UConn community, teams of people take turns walking or running laps. The relay will continue rain or shine.
The event is also a chance for entertainment and fun; performers include The Conn-Men, the Ballroom Dance Club, and the Celtic Club.
There is no fee to attend, but there is a registration fee of $10 per participant. Those who want to walk or run laps must sign a waiver. Participants are encouraged to form teams of eight to 15 people to raise money and take turns doing laps. Those who register will receive a Relay for Life T-shirt while supplies last.
