Waterville Public Library

World In Your Library Speakers Announced!

The Waterville Public Library is partnering with the Maine Humanities Council, the Margaret Chase Smith Foundation and the Mid-Maine Global Forum to present a three-part speakers series, The World in Your Library. 
 
The Waterville Public Library has selected three speakers and topics for hour long presentations on global and domestic issues. The schedule of the series is as follows:
 
Political Satire and the Authoritarian State in Contemporary China: 12 p.m., Wednesday, September 20, at the Alfond Youth Center, 126 North Street, Waterville, ME with Dr. Hong Zhang, Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, Colby College. The 9/20 event is a joint program of the Mid-Maine Global Forum and the Waterville Public Library.
 
Educational Funding for Equity in Maine: 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, September 26, at the Waterville Public Library, 73 Elm Street, Waterville, ME 04901 with Dr. Flynn Ross, ETEP Coordinator, University of Southern Maine.
 
Envisioning Waterville: A Photographic and Postcard History: 5:30 p.m., Tuesday, October 17, at the Waterville Public Library, 73 Elm Street, Waterville, ME 04901 with Dr. Libby Bischof, Associate Professor of History and Department Chair, University of Southern Maine.
 
This lecture series is made possible by the Maine Humanities Council. The hour long programs are free and open to the public.
 
FMI: watervillelibrary.org
 
HONG ZHANG
Associate Professor of East Asian Studies, Colby College
Wednesday, September 20, 2017 @ 12:00p
Alfond Youth Center, 126 North Street, Waterville, ME 04901
Mid-Maine Global Forum & Waterville Public Library Event
Political Satire and the Authoritarian State in Contemporary China
One new social phenomenon in China’s post-Mao reform era is the resurgence and wide-spread popularity of political satire. Diverse and pungent satirical sayings of reform-era China poke fun at corruption, hypocrisy, bureaucratic inefficiency, as well as voice outcries at new social ills and injustices. This talk explores the popularity and role of political satire as a form of protest to vent dissent in the authoritarian China, and argues that as a social barometer, the political satire provides us an important window to understand how Chinese people develop their political astuteness through producing, circulating, and consuming political humor and satire in contemporary China. 
 
Dr. Hong Zhang obtained her Ph.D. in Anthropology from Columbia University and a recipient of Fulbright Senior Scholar Research Award. She is currently Associate Professor of East Asian Studies at Colby College, where she teaches both Chinese language and Chinese culture courses. Her research interests include changing family life and marriage patterns, gender and intergenerational relations, impact of one-child policy and new eldercare patterns, the development of civil society and NGOs and the politics of satire and humor in contemporary China. She has published book chapters and top-tier peer-review articles in Signs, China Quarterly, China Journal, Journal of Contemporary China, Asia Anthropology and Journal of Long Term Home Health Care.
 
FLYNN ROSS
ETEP Coordinator, University of Southern Maine
Tuesday, September 26, 2017 @ 5:30p
Waterville Public Library, 73 Elm Street, Waterville, ME 04901
Educational Funding for Equity in Maine
Ensuring all students, no matter what their zip code is, have access to quality schools is an essential mission of state funding for education.  This presentation is a brief overview of educational funding for Maine Schools in context compared to other states and nations.  Principles of equity and questions to ask of your local school boards and budgets will be presented. 
 
Dr. Flynn Ross is the coordinator for ETEP, the Extended Teacher Education Program at the University of Southern Maine. It is a graduate level teacher certification program. She is the state co-coordinator of the Scholars Strategy Network, to promote public scholarship in the media and legislature to enhance democracy. Her research is focused on high quality teacher preparation and ensuring access for underrepresented teaching candidates. Dr. Ross is also involved in community action research to improve educational opportunities and attainment through the Westbrook Children’s Project.  She is the faculty coordinator of Equity and Excellence in Maine Schools, a Maine based clearinghouse of resources and supports for ensuring access to high quality education for all students.
 
LIBBY BISCHOF
Associate Professor of History and Department Chair, University of Southern Maine
Tuesday, October 17, 2017 @ 5:30p
Waterville Public Library, 73 Elm Street, Waterville, ME 04901
Envisioning Waterville: A Photographic and Postcard History
In this richly illustrated presentation, Photo Historian Libby Bischof will examine Waterville's history through historic postcards and photographs. Audience members will be asked to reflect upon change over time, especially in light of the present revitalization of the downtown area.
 
Libby Bischof explores American society through the lens of history—and the lens of a camera. A nineteenth-century American cultural historian, Professor Bischof specializes in the history of photography, particularly in Maine. Recently she co-curated the exhibition Maine Moderns: Art in Sequinland, 1900-1940 at the Portland Museum of Art with Senior Curator Susan Danly. The show won the critic’s choice award for best Historic Show in the 2011 New England Art Awards. Her other research interests include Maine history, modernism, how friendship informs cultural production, and nineteenth-century New England women writers.