Carleton College Assistant Professor of Music and acclaimed pianist, Nicola Melville, will perform a program of solo piano pieces on Friday, October 9, 2009, at 8 p.m. in the Carleton College Concert Hall. The set list ranges from Beethoven’s “Waldstein” sonata, Debussy’s ever-popular Préludes, and a selection of Schumann’s beautiful miniature masterpieces, Davidsbündlertänze, all the way to David Liptak’s 2009 work, “Star Light.” This more recent composition was a commissioned piece for the XIV Chautauqua Piano Competition. This recital is free and open to the public.

Celebrating Latino Heritage Month, cultural anthropologist Arlene Davila will deliver Carleton College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, October 9, 2009, at 10:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel.  Her interests include urban and ethnic studies, the political economy of culture, and media and consumption studies, with a special focus on Puerto Ricans in the eastern U.S. and nationwide. The title of her presentation is “Latino Spin: Public Image and the Whitewashing of Race.”  This event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Julian Bond, chairman of the national board of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), will give a lecture entitled “Civil Rights: Then and Now” as the inaugural speaker in the Broom Lecture in the American Demographic Experience series, on Thursday, Oct. 8 from 12 noon-1:15 p.m. at Carleton College’s Concert Hall. Bond’s speech is the highlight of his three-day visit to the Northfield campus, as the first short-term Broom Scholar-In-Residence. His visit, which is made possible by a generous gift by the Broom family, includes a number of interactions with students and faculty. The visit comes during the NAACP’s centennial.

On Wednesday, October 7 from 5 to 7 p.m. the Carleton College Cowling Arboretum will sponsor a field trip to the Carleton-owned McKnight Prairie.

Beth Lo, ceramic artist and professor of art at the University of Montana, will deliver an artist’s talk on Monday, October 5, 2009, at 7:30 p.m. in the Boliou Hall Auditorium at Carleton College. Lo’s work is featured in the current Carleton Art Gallery exhibit, “In Between: Works by Kelly Connole and Beth Lo.” The lecture, titled “Family, Race, and Culture: Artistic Influences,” will explore the role of Lo’s Chinese-American heritage in the inspiration and production of her artwork. The exhibition features clay “kids” that embody American and Asian stereotypes, while also accentuating the vibrant history of Asian ceramics. The lecture, as well as the exhibit, are free and open to the public.

As part of its ongoing lecture series on anthropology and globalization, the As part of its ongoing lecture series on anthropology and globalization, the Carleton College Department of Sociology and Anthropology presents “Local Art, Global Culture and the State in Southwestern China” by Chas McKhann, a professor from Whitman College. The lecture is at 8:30 a.m. on Friday, October 2, 2009, in Leighton Hall, room 330. All lectures in the series are free and open to the public; coffee and bagels will be provided.

Sponsored by the Carleton College Department of History, the annual Herbert P. Lefler Lecture Series kicks-off Thursday, October 8, 2009, with a presentation by Marcy Norton, associate professor of history at The George Washington University. Entitled “Animals as Subjects and Objects: Hunting and Husbandry in Early Modern Europe,” Norton's lecture will take place at 5 p.m. in Leighton Hall, room 304. This event is free and open to the public.

Drew Miller, Carleton College Class of 1981 and founder of the acclaimed folk-rock group Boiled in Lead, will deliver the College’s weekly convocation address on Friday, October 2, 2009, at 10:50 a.m. in the Skinner Memorial Chapel.  For over twenty-six years, Miller’s Minneapolis-based band has blurred musical boundaries with its daring fusion of traditional folk, rock, punk, and global influences. Called a “legendary figure in the field of American folk rock” by World Music Central, Boiled in Lead and its individual musicians have earned over 20 Minnesota Music Awards, and toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe. Riding the crest of a highly acclaimed new album and ever burgeoning global recognition, bass guitarist Miller will discuss the inspiration behind what makes Boiled in Lead one of the most “…innovative world beat bands…”(National Public Radio). The convocation will include both lecture and musical demonstration, and will be followed in the evening by a concert by Boiled in Lead at 7 p.m. in the Concert Hall at Carleton College. Both events are free and open to the public.

The Northfield community will host its 12th annual CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Hunger Walk on Saturday, September 27th, 2009. Carleton students will join Northfield residents to walk to raise money for the Church World Service, with the aim of relieving global poverty and hunger crisis. The goal this year is to raise a total $35,000.

Robert A. Oden Jr., 63, Carleton College president since 2002 and a leader of educational institutions for more than 20 years, has announced his retirement effective June 2010, the end of the current academic year. “I’ve personally informed all Carleton Trustees to tell them of my plan to retire at the conclusion of the current academic year,” Oden said. “My wife, Teresa, and I have devoted a great many hours to considering this decision over recent months and reached the conclusion that the time to retire is this coming June. You have my pledge that my commitment to doing all I can for Carleton remains fully in place throughout the current academic year.”

The Carleton community will have a chance to gather and remember the life of Becca Campbell, former administrative assistant in the College's campus activities office since 1993. The gathering will take place on Thusday, Sept. 24, at 7 p.m. in Skinner Memorial Chapel. A visitation will proceed this celebration from 5-7 p.m. in the chapel's narthex.

Enid and Henry Woodward College Organist Lawrence Archbold will perform a new series of recitals, “Organ Adventures,” on Sunday, September 27 at 3 p.m. in the Carleton College Concert Hall. This series is a continuation of Archbold’s musical programming "Exploring Organ Music" which began in 1999. The new series features music from the Renaissance to Romanticism and includes works by Sweelinck, J. S. Bach, Frank, and Mendelssohn.  This concert is free and open to the public.