Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building, Colby College

A screening of the 2010 film Bag It, which follows “everyman” Jeb Berrier as he navigates our plastic world. Jeb is not a radical environmentalist, but an average American who decides to take a closer look at our cultural love affair with plastics. Sponsored by the Environmental Studies Program.

Dianne Harris is a senior program officer at the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, where she focuses on higher education and scholarship in the humanities. From 2015 to 2017 she served as dean of the College of Humanities and as professor of history at the University of Utah. She holds a Ph.D, in architectural history from […]

Journalist and former civil rights lawyer Alia Malek will provide a personal narrative of the Syrian conflict and a reading from her book The Home That Was Our Country: A Memoir of Syria. Born in Baltimore to Syrian immigrant parents, Malek worked in the legal field in the U.S., Lebanon, and the West Bank. In April 2011, […]

Finbarr O’Reilly is the co-author of Shooting Ghosts, a unique joint memoir with retired U.S. Marine Sgt. Thomas James Brennan. Their story about the unpredictability of war and its aftermath explores the things they’ve seen and done, the ways they have been affected, and how they have navigated the psychological aftershocks of war and wrestled […]

The photographs of the 2018 Oak Human Rights Fellow, Syrian photojournalist Bassam Khabieh, will be featured in the Diamond Atrium with a reception beginning at 6:30 p.m. A public talk at 7 p.m. will follow. Khabieh has powerfully documented war crimes and other ongoing human rights violations in the Syrian conflict. His stunning photographs, “one […]

Kristalina Georgieva, the first CEO of the World Bank, will deliver the 2018 George J. Mitchell Distinguished International Lecture. Until 2017 she was European commissioner for budget and human resources. From 1993 to 2010, she served in a number of positions in the World Bank Group, eventually rising to become its vice president and corporate […]

In conjunction with the Museum of Art exhibition Game Time: The Sports Photography of Walter Iooss, journalist Jemele Hill of ESPN and The Undefeated, a digital publication focused on race, culture, and sports, will join in conversation with Justin McCann, curator of the exhibition. The two will discuss issues that sit at the intersection of […]

The biennial Brody Award for 2018 will be presented to Judge Anita Brody, Senior United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Appointed by President George H.W. Bush in 1991, Judge Brody, who is not related to the award's namesake, is best known for presiding over the lawsuits and settlements relating to concussions […]

Eric S. Rosengren (Colby Class of 1979), president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and chair of the Colby College Board of Trustees, will deliver the annual Grossman Lecture in economics.

Rebecca Traister will give a lecture titled “Workplace Reckonings: Gender, Power, Politics.” Sponsored by the Government Department.

Kathleen Sullivan, 2017 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been engaged in the nuclear issue for nearly 30 years and has worked internationally as an educator for disarmament focusing primarily on two distinct audiences: young people and atomic bomb survivors (hibakusha). Currently, she is the program director for Hibakusha Stories, an arts-based initiative. As an education […]

A night with Zach Fowler, winner of The History Channel’s reality show Alone in a one-on-one conversation with Drew Bonifant, Sports Writer for the Morning Sentinel and Kennebec Journal. Zachary Fowler, a boatbuilder from Appleton, survived 87 days in the Patagonia region of South America to earn $500,000 on the TV show Alone on The […]

Kim Stanley Robinson, the 2018 Mellon Distinguished Fellow in Environmental Humanities, is one of the most well-known and respected science fiction writers in the world. His work has received 11 major awards from the science fiction field and has been translated into 23 languages. His Mars trilogy was an international bestseller, a benchmark in discussions […]

Olivia Gatwood has received national recognition for her poetry, writing workshops, and work as a Title IX compliant educator in sexual assault prevention and recovery. As a finalist at Brave New Voices, Women of the World, and the National Poetry Slam, Gatwood is an active member of the slam poetry community and has been featured […]

Mustafa Santiago Ali is the senior vice president of climate, environmental justice, and community revitalization for the Hip Hop Caucus, a national, nonprofit and non-partisan organization that connects the Hip Hop community to the civic process to build power and create positive change. Mustafa is renowned as a national speaker, trainer, and facilitator specializing in […]

Join us for a one-on-one conversation with Olympic luger Julia Clukey, led by Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel sports writer Travis Lazarcyzk. Julia was born in Augusta and started competing in luge at the age of 12. She would go on to medal in multiple World Cups, earn national honors, and represent the United States […]

The Colby College Republicans, Thomas College, and the Mid-Maine Chamber of Commerce will host Maine Republican Gubernatorial Debate 2018. The participating candidates are Garrett Mason, Mary Mayhew, Ken Fredette, Shawn Moody, and Michael Thibodeau. This event is sponsored by Maine Technology Group, Preti Flaherty, Serra Public Affairs, Sheridan Construction and Goldfarb Center for Public Affairs.

Award-winning historian and New York Times bestselling author Ibram X. Kendi will give the 2018 Martin Luther King Day keynote address, “Stamped from the Beginning,” which is also the name of his most recent book, which won the 2016 National Book Award for Nonfiction. Kendi puts forth a simple definition of a racist idea: “any concept […]

Screening and Q&A with Director Sabaah Folayan Told by the activists and leaders who live and breathe this movement for justice, Whose Streets? is an unflinching look at the Ferguson uprising. When unarmed teenager Michael Brown is killed by police and left lying in the street for hours, it marks a breaking point for the […]

Jinyan Zeng, the 2017 Oak Fellow, is a Chinese human rights activist and scholar who uses digital storytelling to expose and oppose political repression. She began her filmmaking career a decade ago while under house arrest in Beijing. In this her first public address to the Maine community, Zeng talks about the power of love […]

Designed to immerse exceptionally gifted musicians into the world of new music technologies, the Future Music Lab presents the newest insights into new music performance, the use of interactive computer technology, extended technique, improvisation, and composition for an exciting new world of sound and technology. In this concert, the director of the Future Music Lab, […]

PechaKucha Night Waterville volume 24 will be held on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 in Ostrove Auditorium, Diamond Building, Colby College. A reception with a cash bar and light refreshments will take place from 6:16p-7:15p. Presentations will begin at 7:20p. This event is free and open to the public.

In light of the turbulent 2016 presidential elections, as well as a broad array of other on-going transformations, many ponder the soundness of what Alexander Hamilton dubbed our “grand experiment.” Are citizen’s sovereign or largely powerless? Can future generations redeem a government of, by, and for the people? The 2017 William R. and Linda K. […]

The role of the media in the 2016 election was exceptional and will be studied for decades. Did the press underestimate Donald Trump’s support, or did it help fuel his ascent? The role of the press during the early stages of the Trump Administration has also become a hot topic. How will the press respond […]

In recent years, many hospitals have merged, increasing the concentration of hospital markets and raising concerns about the price and quality of care. How is hospital consolidation affecting the already high health care expenditures in the U.S.? Because hospital competition for privately insured patients occurs through price negotiations between hospitals and insurers, an estimation of bargaining […]