U of Wisconsin Hosts 50th Anniversary Event

Joining the University of Michigan https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/university-of-michigan-events-for-the-50th-anniversary/ and the Black Mountain Institute of UNLV, https://peacecorpsworldwide.org/black-mountain-institute-features-rpcv-writer/ is the African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin, Madison Campus. This is fitting as Madison was the first campus to get Bob Gale’s Big Blitz treatment back in ’63.

I received a note from James Delehanty (Niger 1979-81) from the University outlining the event.

It will take place in Madison on March 24-26, 2011; the focus is Africa. The intent of the conference is to explore the impacts of the United States Peace Corps in Africa and elsewhere, and on the lives of Americans who have served as volunteers or have been otherwise touched by the Peace Corps.

Tthe conference will include opportunities for celebrating, reminiscing, and socializing (see the attached preliminary program, e.g., a keynote address by Peace Corps Director Aaron Williams, story booths, the ultimate Peace Corps dance party in Memorial Union, etc.), but the core of the conference will be several evaluative panels featuring research and commentary by scholars and writers bringing a variety of perspectives on the Peace Corps and the experience of volunteer service.

If you may wish to present at the conference, whether in one of the panels you see on the preliminary program or in a panel that you think we should create, please write an email message to us at <events@africa.wisc.edu> describing your work and interests and outlining briefly the subject that you might be prepared to address in a 15-20 minute panel slot. Please use the subject header “Potential Participant” in your email message.

All are welcome. The African Department is particularly interested in those who served in Africa, and those who graduated from the University of Wisconsin. To express tentative interest in attending the conference, or to inquire about it, please send your email message to that same address, <events@africa.wisc.edu> and use the subject header, “Interested in Attending.”

Conference registration will be an on-line process commencing in about September or October, 2010.

Blocks of hotel rooms have been set aside, and former Peace Corps Volunteers in Madison are ready to put up guests at no charge, so if a late March weekend in Madison to mark 50 years of the Peace Corps appeals, please them know!

web: africa@wisc.edu
email: events@africa.wisc.edu