This year the Peace Corps commemorates 50 years of promoting peace and friendship around the world. Today, Boston University celebrates its long-standing relationship with the Peace Corps and the agency’s mission and legacy of service by honoring the past, demonstrating effectiveness and inspiring the next generation of volunteers.

Boston University’s Center for Global Health & Development along with the Peace Corps New England Regional Office and the Boston Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers are pleased to sponsor an event at the Boston University’s Trustee Center (One Silber Way, 9th floor) from 4 to 7 PM. The event will feature:

• Original art commemorating the Peace Corps by Boston University’s College of Fine Arts
• Sights and Sounds of Service video by Peace Corps at 50
• World music performances by local musicians
• Pictures from the front—2011 winners in the Boston Area Peace Corps Volunteers photo contest
• Discussions with leaders and volunteers

Our discussions, Future Dreams and Fond Memories by Returned Peace Corps Volunteers will feature Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, (SPH’03), Jeffery M. Collins, and Steven B. Bloomfield. To attend, register here.

BU’s New Ambassador to the Arts (via BU Today)

The Friends of the Libraries will host Academy Award-winning actor Geena Davis for a reception and lecture  tonight at 6:00 PM in Metcalf Hall at the GSU. Davis will reflect on her career and discuss the work of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. The evening will be dedicated to the memory of Charles Edward “Ted” Murphy, Project Manager of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Archival Collaboration and respected film critic.  The event is free to Friends of the Libraries and BU Students and $25 per person for public.

This evening, the Boston University Art Gallery (BUAG) is presenting Harold Reddicliffe: Paintings from Three Decades, exploring the body of work created by realist painter and Boston University College of Fine Arts Associate Professor of Painting Harold Reddicliffe. Paintings from Three Decades features over eighty still-life paintings dating back to 1981.  The opening reception starts at 6PM in the Stone Gallery, and the exhibition continues through January 16, 2011. The exhibition and reception are free and open to the public.

Benjamin E. Juarez

“Benjamin brings to Boston University an impressive spectrum of experience as an artist and leader in the performing and visual arts, a passion for creating a world-renowned conservatory, and a vision for the role of the arts in the fabric of a modern research university,” said Brown. “I have great optimism for the future of the College of Fine Arts under his leadership.”

Juarez’s forward technological thinking, coupled with his vast knowledge of the world of arts and his administrative experience in academia, will advance fine arts education at BU.

Prior to being appointed dean, Juarez directed the Centro Nacional de las Artes, Mexico’s national arts center, running professional schools in music, dance, arts, theater and film, research centers, the organization’s TV channel, and more than 20 theaters and performing spaces.

Earlier, Juarez served as director of cultural activities for Universidad Anahuac del Sur. For a decade from 1992, he led an international research project on Mexican cathedral music that provided for the transcription and performance of hundreds of works composed between the 16th and 19th centuries. The work yielded a dozen CDs bankrolled by UNESCO and other funders.