navigate: home: magazine: spring/summer 1998: article

Colombian ambassador addresses meeting at Penn State By Deborah A. Benedetti
Among the individuals participating in the opening session of the Tenth Congress of the Association of Colombianists held at Penn State were (from left): Dr. Rodney Erickson, dean of the Graduate School and vice president for research; Dr. Leon F. Lyday III, professor of Spanish and director of the congress; Dr. Juan Carlos Esguerra, Colombian ambassador to the United States; Dr. Carmen R. Millán de Benavides, former Penn State graduate student and congress organizer; Dr. Kurt Levy, honorary president, Association of Colombianists; and Dr. Agustín Lombana, executive director, Fulbright Commission in Colombia. Dwain Harbst—University Photo/Graphics Bruce Trinkley (right), associate professor of music at Penn State, conducts the cantata “Santa Rosalía” during the Tenth Congress of the Association of Colombianists. He was inspired to compose the cantata by a painting of the same name by Colombian artist Fernando Botero, which is owned by the Palmer Museum of Art. Dwain Harbst—University Photo/Graphics	Dr. Juan Carlos Esguerra, Colombian ambassador to the United States, gave the keynote address during the Tenth Congress of the Association of Colombianists, held at Penn State during the summer. It was the first time Colombia’s ambassador has attended a congress of the association held in the United States, according to Dr. Leon F. Lyday III, professor of Spanish at Penn State and director of the congress.   “We have had strong support from key political figures in Colombia for the Association of Colombianists,” Lyday said. “Both Dr. Esguerra, then dean of law at the Javeriana University in Bogotá, and Dr. Ernesto Samper, current president of Colombia, spoke at the 1995 congress held in Bogotá.”   Lyday added, “Hosting congresses can be advantageous for universities like Penn State. This is important in establishing and enhancing our image, which can help us attract graduate students, facilitate our own faculty and student activities in Colombia and establish stronger ties with the Fulbright Commission.”   About 100 participants from the United States, Colombia, countries in South America and Europe attended the congress, making it the largest congress held in the United States, Lyday said. As president of the Association of Colombianists for the last four years, he organized the congress in Bogotá in 1995, as well as the congress held at Penn State in 1997.   The Association of Colombianists is a nonprofit interdisciplinary organization devoted to the research and promotion of scholarly activity related to Colombia, he explained. The association’s members are from the fields of art, economics, film, history, literature, music and political science. Formed in 1983, the association alternates locations for congresses between sites in Colombia and the United States. Each congress gathers writers, critics, artists and researchers for presentations and special sessions that are open to the public. Often art exhibits, concerts, theater presentations and film festivals are held in conjunction with a congress, Lyday noted.   The 1997 congress was no exception. The congress featured a reprise of “Santa Rosalía,” a cantata composed by Bruce Trinkley, associate professor of music at Penn State, and first performed in 1995. The cantata was inspired by Colombian artist Fernando Botero’s painting of the same name, owned by the Palmer Museum of Art. The painting was displayed on stage during the cantata.   There also were presentations by Colombian writers Hector Abad and Manuel Zapata Olivella and other scholars, including Aníbal González-Pérez, Edwin Earle Sparks Professor of Spanish at Penn State, as well as an exhibit of the collection of the Peruvian man of letters Luis Alberto Sánchez at the Rare Books Room of Pattee Library; a musical concert by Lucía Pulido, Francisco Navarro and Ihan Betancour; storytelling by Carolina Rueda; readings by Colombian writers living in New York; theatrical skits by a Colombian troupe; and several new Colombian films.   Lyday noted that the Association of Colombianists received funding for the congress from Continuing Education, the dean of the College of the Liberal Arts and the college’s research office and the Office of Summer Sessions. In addition, Colombia’s foreign ministry awarded a grant of $10,000, the Fulbright Commission of Colombia and other Colombian organizations paid for transportation and lodging costs for some of the Colombians attending the congress.   A founding member of the Association of Colombianists, Lyday is a scholar of the theater of Colombia. He has held two Fulbright Fellowships—one to Colombia in 1961–62 and one to Brazil in 1976. A Penn State faculty member since 1966, he served as head of the Department of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese from 1986 to 1997.   He worked closely with Colombian graduate student Carmen R. Millán de Benavides to plan the congress. She received her Ph.D. from Penn State in August and now is academic director of Colfuturo, a Colombian government organization providing international education opportunities for Colombian students.   The next congresses of the Association of Colombianists will be held at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia, in 1999 and at the University of Illinois in 2001. an outreach program of the College of the Liberal Arts