Gustavus Adolphus College will hold its annual Gustavus Author Tea at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, May 6 in the Courtyard Café, located on the lower level of the C. Charles Jackson Campus Center.
Sponsored by the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library and the Book Mark, this event acknowledges and celebrates individuals from the campus community who have written or contributed in some way to a published book during the current academic year.
The following individuals and publications will be celebrated this year:
Race and Educational Reform in America by Sidonia J. Alenuma
Alenuma, an assistant professor of education, addresses the topic of educational reform in the United States, concentrating on the intersection of reform initiatives and issues of social difference and discrimination. Alenuma offers a historical survey of educational reform, a textual analysis of two contemporary reform measures (magnet schools and professional development schools), a discussion of critical multiculturalism as a viable tool for critiquing both magnet school and professional development school initiatives, and the ethnography of a local school that operates simultaneously as a magnet school and a professional development school.
Human Geography: Landscapes of Human Activities, 11th edition by Mark Bjelland (with co-authors Jerry Fellmann, ArthurGetis, and Judith Getis)
Bjelland, an associate professor of geography, authored this textbook which introduces students to the breadth of human geography and its relevance to understanding the world.
My White Orchid by Mary Everett
Everett, a retired Professor of French, presents a story of abortion and its psychological effect on one woman.
Through the Cracks by Barbara Fister
Fister, an academic librarian, professor, and chair of the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library, offers a second mystery with Chicago private investigator Anni Koskinen as a main character. As two racially charged investigations unfold, the impact of racial prejudice radiates cracks through the criminal justice system.
Folktales of the Dagara of West Africa by Paschal Kyoore
Kyoore, professor of French, offers a collection of folk tales from the Dagara people of West Africa who live in Ghana, Burkina Faso, and the Ivory Coast. The tales feature characters such as the spider, the rabbit, the elephant, and the hunter. There are also a few riddles and praise songs included.
Watonwan County, Minnesota: Past, Present, and Future by Roger McKnight
McKnight, an emeritus professor of Scandinavian Studies, offers a social history of Watonwan County that emphasizes the story of its people and what they have accomplished since its first settlements in the 1860s. He describes the role of Native Americans in its history, the impact of railroads, the birth of the county, the lives of early immigrants, the effects of modernization, the advent of the automobile age, and cultural changes in the present day.
First Words by Joyce Sutphen
Sutphen, Professor of English, offers this collection of poems that traces a shift in the rural landscape from horses to tractors, from haystacks to hay bales – and watches as time ages and changes the people who make up the story. First Words is both elegy and celebration – ultimately its center is family, then and now.
For more information about this event, contact Librarian Barbara Fister at 507-933-7553 or bfister@gustavus.edu.
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