Renowned Russian-Born Journalist Masha Gessen to Speak at Purchase College-SUNY Nov. 5

The following announcement is from Purchase College-SUNY:

The Purchase College, SUNY, School of Humanities will present An Evening with Masha Gessen: A Lecture, Reading, and Conversation on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 from 4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. The event—which is free and open to the public—will take place in the Recital Hall, Music Building at Purchase College (735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY). A book signing will follow the lecture/reading. Part of the Durst Distinguished Lecture Series, the program is supported by an endowment from the Durst family, long-time benefactors of Purchase College.

Masha Gessen is an award-winning journalist, author, and activist who was born in Russia and emigrated to the United States. Noted for her opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, she has also written extensively on LGBT rights. A contributor to numerous newspapers and magazines, Gessen has written several books, most recently Words Will Break Cement: The Passion of Pussy Riot (2014).

Gessen’s focus on the power of media and art to affect society has a deep connection with the interests of many of our students,” says Suzanne Kessler, Purchase College’s dean of the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and Vice Provost for Academic Affairs. “Purchase students are known for their commitment to media and art that help to create positive change in the world.”

Kessler notes that Masha Gessen’s work interfaces with a number of degree programs at Purchase College, including its majors in Media, Society & and the Arts, Journalism, and Gender Studies.

Ross Daly, associate professor of journalism and chair of the School of Humanities at Purchase College, remarks, “The Durst series allows us to expose Purchase students to great writing and directly to the writers who create that work. Masha Gessen has stood up for Russia’s persecuted LGBT community and the imprisoned members of Pussy Riot—and in doing so she has stood up to Vladimir Putin. Gessen fits into a long and proud tradition of Russian writers who criticize authoritarian regimes through a simple technique: they refuse to accept lies.”

The Gessen program is also linked to the current exhibit featured at the Neuberger Museum of Art at Purchase College entitled “This Leads to Fire: From Nonconformism to Global Capitalism, Selections from the Kolodzei Art Foundation.” The Evening with Masha Gessen will be a “Neu First Wednesdays” program, a series which is organized by Purchase College students for the college community and the public.

According to Olivia Kalin, curator of education at the Neuberger Museum of Art, “‘This Leads by Fire’ provides a great access point to explore a history that hasn’t been seen in this part of the world—and put the pieces of the history together. We are fortunate to bring Masha Gessen—such an extraordinary contemporary voice—to the campus to bring the focus of the exhibition to the present moment.”

A generous gift from the late Shirley Durst established an endowed fund to support the Durst Chair in Literature, awarded to distinguished professors whose work bridges literature and the visual or performing arts, and the Durst Distinguished Lecture Series for visiting professors and other lecturers. This generous support has benefited the college and especially enriched the School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the School of Humanities, and the Literature program at Purchase College.

Upcoming programs of the Durst Distinguished Lecture Series will feature Colson Whitehead and other renowned writers.

For more information on the Gessen event, please visit: http://news.purchase.edu/an-evening-with-masha-gessen/ or call 914.251.6550.

About Purchase College, SUNY

Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspirations for Purchase were to combine on one campus conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Today, Purchase College, SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu

Photo: Masha Gessen. Photo credit: Svenya Generalova