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Cohen
Arts and Lectures Series Passes a Milestone
This
year marked the 20th anniversary of the Cohen Arts and Lectures
Series, founded
by Bertha F. Cohen ’37 and the late Bernard
L. Cohen. The series has brought outstanding speakers on politics,
current affairs, and the arts, including former president Jimmy
Carter, novelist Kurt Vonnegut, television journalists David Brinkley
and Andrea Mitchell, folksinger Burl Ives, scientist Carl Sagan,
feminist Gloria Steinem, former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young, essayist
Anna Quindlen, and environmental activist Joseph P. Kennedy II.
It has also brought renowned performing artists to Moravian, including
pianist Vladimir Feltsman, the New York Philomusica chamber ensemble,
and the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra.
This year’s speaker was Thomas Friedman of the New York Times,
winner of three Pulitzer Prizes for his coverage of the Middle
East and the world before
and after September 11. He spoke to an audience of more than 1,500 people in
Johnston Hall, afterward signing copies of his latest book, Longitudes and
Attitudes.
Friedman was typical of past Cohen lecturers in attending a reception for trustees
and faculty and answering a generous number of audience questions after his
talk. James West, professor of economics and business, who coordinates the
Cohen Arts
and Lectures, says the series has had many speakers who gave more to the College
than a lecture.
Kennedy, for instance, was supposed to debate environmental issues with Jack
Kemp, but Kemp was unable to meet the commitment. Kennedy agreed to come and
speak on his own. “Although his formal remarks were surprisingly short,” said
West, “he did an extended Q and A. The best part was that he and his
wife came to a session with about 50 students the next morning and gave a very
warm
and enthusiastic presentation. He was certainly the most gregarious. Young
was a close second.”
Proceeds from the series go to a scholarship fund. Since the fund was established
in 1990, more than 50 Moravian students have been named Cohen Scholars. The
award goes to full-time Moravian College seniors who have demonstrated superior
academic
achievement and active participation in college or community activities.
This year’s recipients were Kristen Kuchera, an elementary education major
who has been an America Reads tutor and has taught Spanish to children at Thomas
Jefferson School; Lisa Montafia, who created an individually designed major in
nutritional science; Christine Pukszyn, an elementary education and psychology
major who is also a four-year member of the Moravian College Dancers; and Scott
Williams, a political science major working on an Honors project on energy policy,
national security, and the electrical grid, which has proved remarkably timely. “I
wrote the proposal in May,” Scott says, “and it came to the forefront
of the news in August!”
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