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 On Saturday, April 27, Smith College will host an Arabic Cultural Festival for the campus and local communities. The festival is the first ever organized to celebrate Arabic arts and culture at Smith College and in the Pioneer Valley. The festival showcases the arts, music, cuisine, traditions, and, most importantly, the spirit of the Arab world.
The festival, which begins at noon on April 27, will take place on Smith’s Davis Lawn (or in the Davis Ballroom in the event of rain). Guests can enjoy free Arabic music, dance, poetry, calligraphy, and henna hand designs, as well as the sale of handcrafted gifts and Arabic and Middle Eastern books. There will also be numerous activities for children and families.
Additionally, there will be several performances throughout the day including music from Middle Eastern/North African fusion group Atlas Soul from 12:30 to 2 p.m., traditional Middle Eastern music from the Layaali Arabic Ensemble from 2:30 to 4 p.m., and Algerian Rai singer Cheb Yassin from 4 to 5 p.m.
The festival is sponsored by the Betty Hamady Sams ’57 and James F. Sams Fund, the Lecture Committee, Middle East Studies Program, and the Global Studies Center. The event is free and all are welcome.
 Smith College is offering a two-day symposium called Trafficking Sex: Politics, Policy, Personhood beginning Thursday, April 18. The event, which opens with a keynote by Gloria Steinem and Ruchira Gupta, will cover the complex and controversial issues of human sex trafficking.
A full schedule is as follows:
Thursday, April 18, 2013
7 p.m. Welcome/Keynote, John M. Green Hall: A conversation with Gloria Steinem, writer, lecturer, editor, and feminist activist and Ruchira Gupta, sex trafficking abolitionist, journalist, and activist.
Friday, April 19, 2013
11 a.m. Panel 1, Ford Hall 240: “Technology, Trafficking, and the Law” featuring Christina Bain, Director, Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government; Sergeant Detective Donna M. Gavin, Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit, Massachusetts Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking; and Jennifer Musto, Faculty Fellow, Rice Humanities Research Center’s inaugural Rice Seminar, “Human Trafficking Past and Present: Crossing Borders, Crossing Disciplines“. Moderated by Alice Hearst, Government.
12:30 Break
1:45 p.m. Panel 2, Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall: “Sex Trafficking in the United States” featuring Vednita Carter, Founder and Executive Director, Breaking Free; Crystal DeBoise, Director of Social Services, Sex Workers Project, Urban Justice Center; and Kelli Dorsey, Executive Director, Different Avenues. Moderated by Carrie Baker, Study of Women and Gender.
3 p.m. Break
3:30 p.m. Panel 3, Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall: “Global Trafficking and Human Rights” featuring Christie Edwards, Program Manager, Human Rights & Middle East and North Africa, Vital Voices Global Partnership; Julietta Hua, Associate Professor, Women and Gender Studies Department, San Francisco State University; and Patricia Williams, James L. Dohr Professor of Law at Columbia University. Moderated by Greg White, Global Studies Center, Government.
5 p.m., Closing Remarks, Weinstein Auditorium, Wright Hall
 The Art and Technology research group from the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg has invited two Smith students to spend the week of May 26–June 2 at their university. Costs for travel, food, and lodging will be covered. Students must demonstrate an interest in the connection between art and technology; a knowledge of German is preferred but not required.
To apply, students should write an essay of 250–400 words explaining why they wish to take the trip and what they hope to gain from it. At the end of the trip, students will be asked to write a 250-400 word account of their visit. Applications must be sent to Jocelyne Kolb (e-mail jkolb@smith.edu) by Thursday, April 17 at 6 p.m.
 On Tuesday, April 16, the Global Studies Center will host info sessions for Smith’s study abroad programs in Paris and Geneva. Any student interested in studying abroad in 2014-15 should attend the session, which begins at 4 p.m. Smith’s long-established Junior Year Abroad programs in Geneva and Paris attract about 30 students each year. Students live in university housing or with French-speaking families, attend classes with their French and European peers, and come back with near-native language skills and a real understanding of the culture.
The following day, Wednesday, April 17, at 12:15 p.m., the Global Studies Center will also host Les Sciences à Paris Program Info Session. In 2014-2015, Smith will be launching Les Sciences à Paris program, a new science-oriented study abroad option within the long-standing Smith program in Paris. Les Sciences à Paris will feature two courses on the unique aspects of scientific thought and methodology in France, as well as options for internships and/or laboratory placements. The program is open to science majors with at least one year of college-level French. Questions about the new program may be directed to Dean of International Studies Rebecca Hovey or Computer Science and Faculty Director in Paris (2014-2015) Christophe Golé.
 The group Korean American Students of Smith is holding its final event of the year—Korean Culture Day—on Saturday April 20, 2013. Korean Culture Day is an annual spring social gathering for friends and families to come and indulge in delicious Korean food, and participate in various Korean traditional games and other cultural activities. In the past, activities included Korean origami and fan making, Korean “butgeulsi” or calligraphy, and Korean games such as “Ddakji chigi” (a slap-match game played with a traditional paper toy).
This year, Korean Culture Day will be serving homemade Korean mung-bean pancakes, or “bin dae duk”. Students and family members will get the chance to learn and play various Korean traditional games such as “Yut Nori/Yunnori” (a board game played mainly during Korean New Year), “Gonggi” (a popular Korean children’s game played using pebbles), and “Jegichagi” (a Korean traditional outdoor game). Other cultural activities will include “hoddeok” cooking class (a delicious flour dough pancake filled with sugar syrup or honey inside), and possibly a Korean Fan Dance workshop.
This event is open not only to Smith College students and faculty but also to the entire Pioneer Valley community, including Five College students and the city of Northampton. Korean Culture Day is free of charge, and will be held at the Smith College Unity House from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.
 The Five College Chinese Speech Contest will be held on Friday, April 12 from 2:30 to 6:00 p.m. in Smith College’s Neilson Library Browsing Room. Chinese language students from the Five Colleges will compete on three levels: Beginning, Intermediate and Advanced Chinese.
Each semester Smith offers several Chinese language courses, as do other colleges in the consortium. The speech contest is open to all and sponsored by the Five College East Asian Languages Program.
 Dr. Bennett (medical director of Nityanand Ashram) and Smith students Ryan Rasdall, Anna Valentine, and Karen Morfin. In the fall of 2013, Smith College will offer a seminar in Women’s Health in India: Tibetan and Indian Women, and on April 2 and 3, Health Services will offer info sessions on the seminar.
The information sessions on the IDP 320 seminar will discuss the program including a J-term trip to India. Info sessions will be held at Health Services on April 2 from 5-6 p.m. and April 3 from noon-1 p.m. If attending the April 3 session, please RSVP to epeters@smith.edu, as a pizza lunch will be served.
A similar seminar was offered in 2010, when Dr. Leslie Jaffe, College Physician and Director of Health Services, took a group of five students to India to teach Indian and Tibetan women about women’s health.
 This afternoon, March 29, the Global Studies Center will present a new event in their ongoing series of Global Salons. The Global Salon—Video Artwork: Constructing a Virtual Chinese City, will feature a viewing of the video artwork The Birth of RMB City, followed by discussion and perspectives from Suzanne Gottschang, associate professor and chair of anthropology; Jim Middlebrook, assistant professor of architecture; and John Slepian, assistant professor of art. The event begins at noon.
The Birth of RMB City is an acquisition by the Smith College Museum of Art. It is part of a larger project by artist Cao Fei using new digital technologies to consider ideas about urban space.
 Molly Mulligan ’05 has been chosen to compete with the Israel Lacrosse Association’s 20-player roster at the 2013 Federation of International Lacrosse Women’s World Cup to be held in Canada from July 11-20, 2013.
Molly, who played three years of lacrosse at Smith, finished her career with 31 goals and three assists in 33 games. Though currently a Post Doctoral Fellow at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, in Haifa, Israel, Molly said she tried out for the team because she “hadn’t played a sport since I moved to Israel and was really missing being involved with a team.”
Israel’s roster is composed of both Israeli players, as well as members of the Jewish diaspora, in accordance with the rules and regulations of the Federation of International Lacrosse.
 Founded in 1987, student organization EKTA is celebrating its 25th anniversary this academic year. “Ekta” means “unity” in several languages spoken in South Asia and the organization aims to weave together its members’ languages, cultures, faiths, and identities in order to form a community among South Asians and those who are interested in the region studying at Smith.
On April 5, EKTA will be hosting “Jhalak,” its main event for the spring semester. Jhalak is a cultural show with performers from the Five College area and beyond. The show will encompass performances from all over South Asia and will highlight the diversity of the region.
 Jhalak will take place at 7 p.m. at JMG Hall and promises to be a colorful and entertaining evening. There will also be a dinner before the performance. The dinner, which begins at at 5:30 p.m., will take place in the Campus Center Carroll Room and promises people a “true taste of South Asia”.
Jhalak will be a welcome break after a stressful week! Entrance is free for both the show and dinner.
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