(Posted November 25, 2013)

HUNTINGDON, Pa. -- The latest edition of "Juniata Voices," an anthology of lectures, articles and presentations given by Juniata faculty and visiting speakers, has posted its 2012-13 edition online, the 13th volume.

The journal is online at http://www.juniata.edu/services/jcpress/voices/.

The new edition features many nationally respected experts talking about varying aspects of politics, although not always overtly. Some talks, like "Building Braddock," by Braddock, Pa. mayor John Fetterman, revealed the day-to-day realities of Pennsylvania government, while "Super PACS and the Presidential Election," by Anthony Nownes, political science professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, showed how individual or groups with large amounts of money can influence national elections.

The politics talked about in the new "Voices" are not always contemporary. For example, Lloyd Benson, professor of history at Furman University, examined how horrific battles in the Civil War affected the voting results of elections held after the battles in "Ballots and Bullets: The Politics of Antietam and Chickamauga." In "Art, Creativity and Conflict Transformation: A Practitioners Field Note," Tatsushi Arai, detailed how to use artistic creativity to humanize interactions in order to foster peaceful solutions to social conflicts.

Jean Jacques Sene, assistant professor of cultural studies at Chatham University, tackles a similar topic in relation to the politics of Africa in the talk "Africa in Conflict: Transformation or Recovery." New York Times reporter Mark Mazzetti also delivered a global viewpoint in his lecture, "U.S. Relations with Pakistan," where he outlined a theory that the United States is shifting to a new type of warfare driven by the Central Intelligence Agency rather than the military.

Juniata faculty were not to be outdone on the politics issues, either. Dennis Plane, together with Derrick Magnotta, a senior from Tafton, Pa., collaborated on a Bookend Lecture, "Experiential Learning at the National Political Conventions and the Presidential Inaugurations." In the talk, the pair illustrated the benefits of study-away experiences such as the classes Plane created to attend national political conventions. Pennsylvania Sen. Donald White focused more closely on a single controversial issue in his talk "The Effects of Obamacare."

The "Voices" anthology also features forays into how art affects our culture. For example, Jim Tuten, associate professor of history, interviewed Christiane Citron, granddaughter of artist Minna Citron for the premiere of the art exhibit "Minna Citron: The Uncharted Course from Realism to Abstraction." In addition, art historians John E. Simmons and Julianne Snider show how scientific illustration is a key to the perception and preservation of animal specimens in the lecture "Image and Reality: Perception, Depiction and Preservation of Nature."

As always, there are poems included in "Voices." This year, Todd Davis, as part of the Pennsylvania Poets series, contributed "A Memory of Heaven" and "Coal."

Art historian Judy Maloney, co-curator of the Juniata College Museum of Art, and artist Evan Summer collaborated on a lecture "The Art of Evan Summer: Landscapes, Nocturnes and Pigs." One of Juniata's writing instructors, Marsha Ann Tate, links local history with a summer resort in Canada in a Bookend Lecture, "Of Iron and Ozone: The History of the American Summer Colony in Cobourg, Ontario."

International history is addressed in "Voices" by another Bookend Lecture, "Planting Little Colonies in the South Seas": The Making of a Missionary Empire," by Alison Fletcher, associate professor of history and Juniata student Moira Mackay. The lecture discussed the important role missionaries played in establishing Pacific colonies for Great Britain.

The rest of "Voices" feature speeches at important Juniata events, ranging from convocation to commencement. Daniel Welliver, associate professor of sociology, told students that college will prepare them for the outside world in "You Can Handle the Truth." International student Reinaldo Liem is included for his Bailey Oratorical winning speech "A Second Language for Our Home, Juniata College." Michael Henderson, associate professor of French, talked about his own college experience in the talk "It Gets Better." Finally, President Emeritus Tom Kepple shared two stories about leadership in his 2013 commencement address "Two Tales to Treasure."

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.