Program
A conference organized by the University of Wisconsin-Madison African Studies Program to honor fifty years of volunteer service and assess the impact of the Peace Corps in Africa (and beyond)
March 24-26, 2011
Memorial Union, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Thursday
Friday
Saturday
Sunday (bonus)
Thursday March 24
2:30pm-5:00pm Info Center is open (Memorial Union, 2nd Floor)
4:00pm Buses Depart from Memorial Union for Welcoming Event at Promega. Please arrive by 3:45pm to ensure your spot on the bus
4:30-6:30pm Welcome Reception at the Promega Art Gallery
6:45pm Load Buses for return to Memorial Union
Friday, March 25
7:30am Info Center opens (Memorial Union)
8:30am Plenary 1
Peace Corps: The Early Years
Location: Memorial Union, Great Hall, 4th Floor
William Josephson, Founding Counsel of the Peace Corps
C. Payne Lucas, Peace Corps Asst. Dir., Togo (62-71), Africare founder
Bob Klein, Peace Corps Volunteer, Ghana I. Author of Being First
10:30am Coffee break
10:45am-12:00pm SESSON I
Peace Corps: The Very First Years
Location: Memorial Union, Reception, 4th Floor
C. Payne Lucas, William Josephson, and Bob Klein
Peace Corps Perceptions: Text, National Identity, Landscapes
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison East Room, 3rd Floor
Lynne Heasley, Chris Duvall, and Heidi Frontani
From Isolation to the Daily Skype: Volunteers Communicating with Home
Location: Memorial Union, Beefeaters Room, 3rd Floor
Cynthia Moore, Jonathan Blanchard, Colin Casey, Melissa Tully, Brian Ekdale
Writing Peace Corps: Readings by Writers
Location: Memorial Union, Play Circle Room, 2nd Floor
Katherine Case, Erica Bleeg, Bonnie Lee Black
Stories of Service: Peace Corps Teachers
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison West Room, 3rd Floor
Sydney Kling, Rebecca Lorentzen, Maria Moreno
African Perspectives of the Peace Corps
Location: Memorial Union, Round Table Room, 3rd Floor
Abdi Samatar, Samuel Gyasi Obeng, Emilie Ngo-Nguidjol Songolo
West African Linkages
Location: Memorial Union, Langdon Room, 4th Floor
Judy Lamm Figi, Mary Kay Diakite, Judy Reed
12:00pm Communities of Service
Meet others with an interest in a particular country or region to reflect on Peace Corps service in particular places.
12:30pm African Lunch Menu
Featuring African cuisine
1:00pm Featured Lunchtime Speaker: Jody Olsen
Two years of technical and personal Peace Corps connections: a lifetime of difference in the US and abroad
2:00pm-3:15pm SESSION II
Niger’66: A Peace Corps Diary
Location: Memorial Union, Play Circle Room, 2nd Floor
A film by Judy Irola
Stories of Service: Peace Corps in the 21st Century
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison West Room, 3rd Floor
Caroline Anderson, Taylar Foster, Brianna Zeigler
African Politics and African International Relations Today
Location: Memorial Union, Reception, 4th Floor
Aili Tripp, Scott Straus, Teju Olaniyan, Aliko Songolo
Returned Volunteers: Staying Connected and Inspired
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison East Room, 3rd Floor
Kate Schachter, Orelia Busch, Kirsten Johnson,Ginny Close
Moderated by: Kevin Quigley, National Peace Corps Association President
Integrating Work and Cultural Understanding
Location: Memorial Union, Langdon Room, 4th Floor
Joanna Dane, Richard Sitler
Adinkra Cloth: Art and Life Bound Seamlessly Together
Location: Memorial Union, Round Table Room, 3rd Floor
Mary Hark
3:15pm Coffee break
3:30pm Plenary 2
Location: Memorial Union, Great Hall, 4th Floor
Mark Green, former United States Ambassador to Tanzania
John Lange, former United States Ambassador to Botswana
John Campbell, former United States Ambassador to Nigeria
Commentary by Johnnie Carson, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Moderated by Anthony Carroll, VP Manchester Trade and Adjunct Professor at JHU/SAIS, RPCV Botswana 1976-78, Assistant General Counsel 1986-89
6:30pm Distinguished Lecture: Johnnie Carson (Free and open to the public)
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
With an introduction by Dr. Crawford Young
Saturday, March 26
9:00am Plenary 3
Returned Volunteers in Action
Location: Memorial Union, Great Hall, 4th Floor
Tom Nighswander, Malawi Children’s Village
Ruth Nighswander, Malawi Children’s Village
Brian Singer, Project Zawadi
Kevin Quigley, National Peace Corps Association President
Commentary by John Lange, Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Commentary by Don Gray, Retired Vice-President of the UW Foundation
10:30am Coffee break
10:45am-12:00pm SESSION III
Reconceptualizing Education in African Contexts: Education and Research Informed by Local Knowledges
Location: Memorial Union, Round Table Room, 3rd Floor
Maggie Bartlett, Beth Blue Swadener, Bekisizwe Ndimande
Returned Volunteers in Action
Location: Memorial Union, Reception, 4th Floor
A roundtable with Brian Singer, Tom Nighswander, Ruth Nighswander, Kevin Quigley, John Lange, and Don Gray
Bringing Africa Home through Poetry
Location: Memorial Union, Play Circle Room, 2nd Floor
Four award-winning RPCV-Africa (Botswana, Senegal, Rwanda, and Niger) poets will read poems that arose from their service and discuss how poetry can contribute to Americans' humane understanding of "the people and cultures" of Africa.
Sandra Meek, poet
Susan Rich, poet
Derick Burleson, poet
Ann Neelon, poet
Peace Corps Oral History
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison East Room, 3rd Floor
Bob Klein, Angene Wilson, Doug Boyd
Stories of Service: How Peace Corps changes lives
Location: Memorial Union, Langdon Room, 4th Floor
John Johnson, Karri Bartlett, Brenda Petta, James Quirin
Scaling up: From local service to international development
Location: Memorial Union, Beefeaters Room, 3rd Floor
Elizabeth Greene, Dechen Albero, Michael Buckler
African Dance and Movement
Location: Memorial Union, Tripp Commons, 2nd Floor
Prepare for the Ultimate Peace Corps party with a lesson from Maya Kadakia
12:00pm African Lunch Menu
Featuring African cuisine
1:00pm-2:15pm SESSION IV
Location: Memorial Union, Beefeaters Room, 3rd Floor
Jonathan Zimmerman, Jim Jones, Mark Canavera
Writing Peace Corps: Service through Story
Location: Memorial Union, Play Circle Room, 2nd Floor
Bird Cupps, Kara Garbe Balcerzak, Ephrat Livini
Peace Corps: New opportunities for former volunteers at home and abroad
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison East Room, 3rd Floor
Peace Corps Response team, Tom Brodd of RPCV-Madison Calendar Committee
From Peace Corps Training Director to the UW Faculty: A Profile of Joseph F. Kauffman
Location: Memorial Union, Old Madison West Room, 3rd Floor
Marcia Kauffman Krasnow, moderated by Dean Charles Read, current leader of the Joseph F. Kauffman Administrative Development
Peace Corps Re-connections
Location: Memorial Union, Round Table Room, 3rd Floor
Ernie Zaremba and colleagues
International Development in Africa Today
Location: Memorial Union, Langdon Room, 4th Floor
Jeremy Foltz, James Delehanty, Kenneth Shapiro
2:15pm Coffee break
2:30pm The Post-colonial African State: Reflections on a Half Century of Independence
Location: Memorial Union, Great Hall, 4th Floor
A Special Session by UW Professor Emeritus Dr. Crawford Young
4:00pm Talking Peace Corps (Free and open to the public)
Location: Orpheum Theatre, 216 State Street, Madison, WI
Celebrating 50 years of the Peace Corps and the Wisconsin Idea Abroad through story, film, poetry, and music
Featuring:
Aaron Williams, Director of the Peace Corps
Harold Scheub, Professor of African Oral and Written Literatures, UW-Madison
Sandra Meek, poet
Susan Rich, poet
Derick Burleson, poet
Ann Neelon, poet
Kevin Gibbons, RPCV-Philippines
Alhaji Umar N’jai, radio personality
Dan Banda, Emmy-awarding winning filmmaker
Judy Lamm Figi, RPCV-Sierra Leone
8:00pm The Ultimate Peace Corps Party
Location: Memorial Union, Great Hall, 4th Floor
An evening of dance, celebration, and performance
Sunday, March 27
Bonus events hosted by the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison and the National Peace Corps Association
10:00am-12:30pm NPCA Member Group Capacity Building Workshop
Location: Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center
As part of NPCA's mission to support and engage its member groups, four regional capacity building workshops are being organized this year, the first of which is being held in Madison, Wisconsin. These workshops are being held in conjunction with select 50th Anniversary Around the World Regional Expos. The workshop is free of charge and will seek to address the pressing issues of NPCA member groups during the 50th anniversary year and beyond. It is open to the public, but will be of special interest to RPCVs who are in, or would like to form, regional groups. Continental breakfast will be provided.
Register to participate in the workshop or sign up to present one or more of your group’s best practices.
2:00pm-5:00pm 50th Anniversary Around the World Expo
Location: Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center
The National Peace Corps Association, in conjunction with the Peace Corps Regional Recruitment Office in Chicago and the Returned Peace Corps Volunteers of Wisconsin-Madison, is coordinating a 50th Anniversary Around the World Expo in Madison, Wisconsin on March 27th, 2011. One of a series of nine regional Expos nationwide, this event will highlight the work of the Peace Corps over the past 50 years, while seeking to engage RPCVs and inspire the next generation of volunteers. There will be also be a special workshop for local educators to explore how they can incorporate Peace Corps and the Volunteers’ work into their classrooms. The Expo will feature exhibits from RPCVs showcasing their work around the world, remarks from both Peace Corps and NPCA, and discussion sessions for interested applicants and RPCVs. It is free and open to the public.
Register to attend the Expo, sign up to be an exhibitor for your country of service, or sign up to have an exhibit table for your group.
