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Door to Door - News from Muhlenberg College
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Muhlenberg becomes new home of Holocaust Resource Center

WMUH Airs "Muhlenberg Minutes"

The Write Stuff

 PAGE 5
Spotlight on Philanthropy - Foundation gift helps fund learning adventures

Music for 'Berg ears...

Guerilla Girls hit Muhlenberg campus

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Luncheon fosters special connections

Board elects new trustees

Muhlenberg becomes new home of
Holocaust Resource Center

The College welcomed the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley's Holocaust Resource Center to the campus this fall during a November dedication ceremony. The Center is housed on the second floor of Ettinger Hall, one of the College's main academic buildings.

The Holocaust Resource Center's current collection includes more than 2,000 books, tapes and accounts from survivors of the Holocaust. Muhlenberg College will catalog and digitize the collection, which will eventually be available through the Trexler Library and via the Internet and World Wide Web.

Curtis Dretsch, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the College for faculty, and Leon Silver, executive director of the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, will oversee the Center. Julius Jacobs, a Holocaust survivor, is the director.

"Muhlenberg College is extremely proud to be the new home of the Holocaust Resource Center, and to partner with the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley," says Dretsch. "Having the Center on our campus will be of great benefit to our students, our faculty and the entire Lehigh Valley." Photo of director, Julius Jacobs, and students

According to Silver, the Jewish Federation will provide staffing and maintain the overall collection.

"We are quite pleased with this partnership, and we look forward to continuing our special relationship with the College," says Silver. "This is a significant historical and cultural resource. It is our hope that housing the Center on Muhlenberg's campus will enhance scholarship and research initiatives of this tragic, but historic, era."

The Holocaust Resource Center is open to the public. Hours are Mondays and Thursdays, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Photograph:
Left to right: Barry Levine '02, Julius Jacobs, director of the Holocaust Resource Center, and Ilana Scharff '02.

WMUH Airs "Muhlenberg Minutes"

On January 13, the Muhlenberg College radio station WMUH, 91.7 FM, began airing a "Muhlenberg Minute" every Sunday at 7:59 a.m., following the 7:30 a.m. Lutheran Vespers. Each Sunday, Muhlenberg chaplain Peter Bredlau offers a one-minute message discussing the day's Gospel lesson. The program is linked to the Revised Common Lectionary, which is used in most Protestant churches. The "Muhlenberg Minute" is replayed several times each week. WMUH can be heard online at www.muhlenberg.edu/wmuh.

The Write Stuff

Writers at Muhlenberg brought an assortment of noted literary figures to campus this semester through an impressive schedule of public readings known as the Living Writers Series.

Journalist/novelist Robert Olen Butler kicked off the semester-long series in September. Butler, who currently teaches at Florida State University, won a Pulitzer Prize for his book, "A Good Scent from Strange Mountain," a short story collection about the aftermath of the Vietnam War and its impact on the Vietnamese. His most recent novel, "Mr. Spaceman" is a humorous account of America at the end of the 20th Century.

Also on the roster were poet Gerald Stern, who won the National Book Award for "This Time, New & Selected Poems"; poet/essayist Adrienne Rich, author of more than 15 volumes of poetry and four books of non-fiction prose; and award-winning non-fiction writer Scott Russell Sanders.

One of the highlights of the Living Writers Series included an appearance by essayist/playwright David Sedaris, who spoke to a captivated crowd in Egner Chapel in October. In addition to his commentaries on NPR's "Morning Edition," Sedaris is the author of the bestsellers "Barrel Fever" and "Naked." His most recent book, "Me Talk Pretty One Day," is currently being made into a film by director Wayne Wang.

The series wrapped up at the end of November with a talk by Ha Jin, a novelist and short story writer born in mainland China who immigrated to the United States following the Tianamen Square massacre in 1993. Jin won the National Book Award for his novel, "Waiting," and his most recent book is a collection of short stories titled "The Bridegroom."


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