Nassau Notes

Free guitar concert in the University Chapel

Grammy Award-winning jazz guitarist Bill Frisell (right) and accompanying guitarist Greg Liesz (left) will perform a free concert at 8 p.m. Friday, April 15, in the University Chapel.

Doors will open at 7:30 p.m. for the event, which is free for students, faculty and staff. Non-University patrons are asked to consider a $10 donation at the door to benefit music education in the state of New Jersey. No tickets are required.

Frisell is best known for leading a new fusion movement — the blending of jazz with country and folk. He won a Grammy Award this year for “best contemporary jazz album” for “Unspeakable.”

Liesz is well known for his mastery of a variety of guitars and stringed instruments. In addition to Frisell, he has performed with artists including Joni Mitchell, Sheryl Crow and John Hiatt. The performance at Princeton is expected to include jazz, rock, blues, folk, improvisation and fusion.

The concert is sponsored by Modern Improvisation Music Appreciation, a student group, as well as the Undergraduate Student Government, Office of the Vice President for Campus Life, Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, Office of Admission, Venture Fund, Office of Religious Life and Department of Music.

Times reporter to discuss welfare

New York Times senior writer Jason DeParle will speak on “American Dream” at 4:30 p.m. Monday, April 11, in 16 Robertson Hall.

DeParle has spent nearly 15 years covering urban issues, addressing anti-poverty, child welfare and welfare reform. In his recent book, “American Dream: Three Women, Ten Kids and a Nation’s Drive to End Welfare,” DeParle follows the lives of three single mothers in Milwaukee, Wis., as they struggle to raise 10 children while trying to get off welfare.

The lecture is sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School and the Bendheim-Thoman Center for Research on Child Well-Being.

Artist will present slide lecture, talk about printmaking

Painter and mural artist Cavin Jones will present a slide lecture and talk about printmaking at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in Room 219, 185 Nassau St.

Jones (whose 2004 work “Emergency Squad” is shown here) is part of the Program in Visual Arts’ annual printmaking project, through which an artist spends several weeks on campus working with faculty member Kip Deeds and students to make a print.

The talk is co-sponsored by the Council of the Humanities.

Al Jazeera is subject of presentation

Al Jazeera, the influential Arabic broadcasting service, will be the focus of a lecture at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

The second Goodman Lecture on Media and Global Affairs, titled “Al Jazeera: How It Sees the World,” will feature four speakers: Abderrahim Foukara, the Al Jazeera bureau chief in New York; George J.W. Goodman, chair of Adam Smith Global Television; and Princeton faculty members Michael Doran and Amaney Jamal.

A startup less than 10 years ago, Al Jazeera now has 50 million viewers a night, more than all the U.S. networks combined. The speakers will discuss how Al Jazeera achieved this reach as well as what the impact is.

The lecture series, directed by Goodman, is sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies.

ALLY Project training offered to faculty, staff

Faculty and staff members who wish to identify themselves as allies to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered community at the University are invited to participate in ALLY Project training on Wednesday, April 13.

The two-hour training begins at 2 p.m. in Multipurpose Room C of the Frist Campus Center.

The ALLY Project, established in 1998, is designed to help raise awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered issues and to provide a supportive and affirming atmosphere for LGBT students, faculty and staff on campus. Those who complete the training will be asked to display the ALLY Project sign in their work area.

No registration is necessary. For more information, contact Debbie Bazarsky at <bazarsky@princeton.edu> or 258-1353.

Gender and competition is talk topic

Accomplished athlete, coach and athletic administrator Kathy DeBoer will speak on “Gender and Competition: How Men and Women Approach Work and Play Differently” at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 13, in 302 Frist Campus Center.

The author of a 2003 book by the same title, DeBoer coached volleyball and served as senior associate athletic director at the University of Kentucky. She also has written multiple articles and book chapters on competition, gender, coaching, intercollegiate athletics and sports medicine.

DeBoer played basketball at Michigan State University in the 1970s and competed professionally for two years in the Women’s Basketball League, one of the first professional leagues for women in the United States. She was part of the coaching staff for the 1996 Olympics and has assisted with several other world sports events. She currently is the commissioner of general services for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County government in Kentucky.

Her lecture is part of the Princeton Varsity Club’s speaker series presented by Glenmede and is co-sponsored by the Women’s Center.

Alumnus to speak on world consensus

High Noon at the United Nations: Will the World’s Leaders Agree to a New Consensus on Development, Security and Human Rights?” is the title of an address set for 4:30 p.m. Thursday, April 14, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

Speaking will be Princeton alumnus Robert Orr, U.N. assistant secretary-general for policy coordination and strategic planning. He has held a number of senior positions within the federal government, including deputy to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. He also has worked with the U.S. Agency for International Development.

An authority on nation-building, post-conflict reconstruction and peace operations, Orr was part of the five-person delegation that conducted the first independent review of operations in Iraq in 2003 at the request of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

Orr received his M.P.A. and Ph.D. in international relations from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, which is sponsoring the lecture.

Nigerian novelist keynotes workshop

Distinguished Nigerian novelist and poet Chinua Achebe will deliver the keynote address for a workshop at 4:30 p.m. Friday, April 15, in 101 Friend Center.

His talk is titled “Insider Perspectives on Afro-Pessimism: Rethinking Our Role as Contemporary Self-Critics.”

Achebe is the Charles P. Stevenson Jr. Professor of Languages and Literature at Bard College. His recent works include “Another Africa” (with Robert Lyons, 1998), “Africa Is People” (1998), “Home and Exile” (2000) and “Collected Poems” (2004). He is the recipient of the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, the Lotus Award for Afro-Asian Writers, the Campion Medal and the German Booksellers Peace Prize.

The workshop, “After Afro-Pessimism: Fashioning African Futures,” will run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 16, in 101 McCormick. For more information, visit <www.princeton.edu/~sf/workshops/after_afro_pessimism>.

The talk is designated as the Walter Edge Lecture and is sponsored by the University’s Public Lectures Series along with several other departments.

Symposium focuses on children’s health insurance coverage in New Jersey

Health care experts and state legislators will discuss the “The Unhealthy State of Health Insurance for Children” at the University’s 2005 Symposium on New Jersey Issues from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Friday, April 15, in Dodds Auditorium, Robertson Hall.

The symposium will examine flaws in New Jersey’s health care insurance system and proposals for improvement. Despite a number of federal and state government programs aimed at improving health coverage, an estimated 10 percent of children in New Jersey do not have health insurance coverage.

The event’s keynote presentations will be delivered by three noted health care authorities:

• Uwe Reinhardt, the James Madison Professor of Political Economy at Princeton, who is one of the nation’s leading experts on health care economics;

• Sara Rosenbaum, chair of the Department of Health Policy and Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy at George Washington University, who has played a major role in the design of federal and state regulatory health policy in a wide range of areas; and

• Melanie Bella, vice president for policy at the Princeton, N.J.-based Center for Health Care Strategies, who leads the nonprofit center’s efforts to improve the quality of health care for some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations, including low-income families and people with chronic illness, disabilities or special needs.

The presentations will be followed by a panel discussion with legislators on the current state of health insurance for children in New Jersey and what government officials are doing to address the issue.

The symposium is sponsored by the University’s Policy Research Institute for the Region, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and Office of Community and State Affairs. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. For additional information or to register, visit: <web.princeton.edu/sites/pucsa/pucsa_reg/index.html>.

Art Museum

“Standing Soldier Oil Lamp,” a bronze work with cast and engraved designs from the second or third century B.C., is part of the exhibition, “Recarving China’s Past: Art, Archaeology and Architecture of the ‘Wu Family Shrines’” that runs through June 26 at the University Art Museum. The show re-examines one of ancient China’s great archaeological sites in an effort to reconsider some of the most fundamental assertions about the country’s cultural, archaeological and artistic past. For more information, visit <www.princetonartmuseum.org>.