Formal opening of the academic year, with traditional faculty procession and remarks by President Robert L. Head, Ph.D.

Amber Madison is the author of "Hooking Up: A Girl’s All-Out Guide to Sex and Sexuality," a book for college and high school-aged young women about sexual health, sexuality, and relationships. She travels around the country speaking with teens and adults about sex and relationships. In 2008 she won a sexual health communication award from Choice USA. Adams Media recently published her second book: "Talking Sex With Your Kids: Keeping Them Safe, and You Sane—By Knowing What They’re Really Thinking." She is frequently quoted in national publications and has appeared on the Today Show, MTV News, NPR and dozens of local TV and radio broadcasts.

 

 

Celebrate the cello with 10 local and regional cellists performing pieces ranging from Bach to the Beatles.

 

 

 

A rousing, bawdy Southern fairytale set in 18th century Mississippi, "The Robber Bridegroom" is the story of the courting of Rosamund, the only daughter of the richest planter in the country, by Jamie Lockhart, a rascally robber of the woods. Sure to be a barrel of laughs.

Emily Yellin, author of "Our Mother’s War," will speak on her book which chronicles the lives of American women at home and at the front during WWII. Yellin has been a longtime contributor to the New York Times. Her work has also appeared in Time, Newsweek, The International Herald Tribune and other publications. In 2004, she contributed the chapter about women to the commemorative book, "The World War II Memorial: A Grateful Nation Remembers."

 

Whether laughing with garment workers in Cambodia or discussing SCUBA diving with lobster divers in Nicaragua, Timmerman seeks to connect people through words and pictures. He believes that if we can reduce global issues to the stories of individual people, we can better understand ourselves and others. Timmerman has a special interest in discovering where our clothes are made, and hence his recent book, "Where Am I Wearing? A Global Tour to the Countries, Factories and People That Make Our Clothes." His writing has appeared in Christian Science Monitor and Condé Nast Portfolio and has aired on NPR.