Lafayette College

Lafayette College announced Friday that it would develop a $10 million project for a new arts program at its campus in Easton, Pa. The Williams Arts Campus will involve converting two buildings to create teaching and performance space for theater, film, and media studies, officials said. The project is mainly being financed through a gift from the family of the late Morris R. Williams, a 1922 graduate of Lafayette. He and his wife, Josephine, lived in Easton and had two children, Charles K. Williams II and Joan Williams Rhame, a trustee emeritus at the college.

Once in a while we all get lucky and catch a cultural institution taking an enormous leap forward and landing right. It's a magical moment. One such occasion was the announcement made in April at the dedication of Lafayette College's first off-campus building by its president, Arthur Rothkopf. He declared that the existence of the college's new Williams Visual Arts Building in a rehabbed industrial/commercial structure "underscores Lafayette's commitment to the revitalization of Easton's downtown business core.

Antiques/Art/Crafts Annual Quilt Competition Diverse designs & intricate detail are featured in this show of competition quilts in the Gazebo. Peddler's Village, Rtes. 202 & 263, Lahaska; 215-794-4000. 1/27. Miniature Charm Quilts "Charm quilts" are made of different pieces of fabric cut in the same shape. Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary St., Pennsburg; 215-679-3103. Donations accepted. 1/27. Spring Garden Indoor Antique & Flea Market More than 60 vendors offer vintage clothes & furniture, collectibles, antiques, glassware.

Jim Mower, a wing guard for St. Joseph's Prep, has orally committed to play basketball at Lafayette College in Easton. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior also had scholarship offers from Colgate, Hartford, New Hampshire, Niagara and Quinnipiac. "Lafayette is a great school academically," Mower said. "I get along with the coaches really well. " Lafayette is coached by Fran O'Hanlon and plays in the Patriot League. Mower, a 17-year-old from Harleysville, averaged about 14 points per game last season.

Father Judge senior Wayne Maminski gave an oral commitment Monday to play soccer at Lafayette College. Maminski chose the Leopards over New Hampshire. "I just wanted to get into the best academic school that I could get into," Maminski said of accepting the partial scholarship. "It came down to academics and location. So Lafayette was the best fit for me. " In Maminski, Lafayette will get one of the area's top student-athletes. The Inquirer's Southeastern Pennsylvania player-of-the-year candidate has a 4.0 grade-point average and is ranked eighth of 280 students in his senior class.

Notre Dame Academy senior Colleen Fitzpatrick said yesterday that she would play basketball next fall for Lafayette College. Fitzpatrick, a 5-foot-11 power forward who averaged 16 points and eight rebounds per game last season, had narrowed her choices to Princeton, Lehigh, Towson and Lafayette. She said she decided to play for the Leopards after she visited their Easton, Pa., campus. "After exploring all the options I found that Lafayette was the best fit for me athletically and academically," said Fitzpatrick, who plans to study biology.

Brian Burke thinks he has found all he wants at Lafayette College. The Germantown Academy senior, an Inquirer all-area first team basketball selection and a second-team small schools all-state choice, has decided to attend the Patriot League college in Easton over La Salle, St. Bonaventure and American. "When I got home from my visit I decided that was the place I wanted to go," Burke said yesterday afternoon. "Academics, basketball-wise, it was close to home. Everything worked out. " Burke, a 6-foot, 5-inch shooting guard, exploded during his senior season to score 696 points and hand out 155 assists, both the second-highest one-season totals in GA history, despite sitting out two games.

Antiques/ Art/Crafts Annual Quilt Competition Diverse designs & intricate detail are featured in this show in the Gazebo. Peddler's Village, Rtes. 202 & 263, Lahaska; 215-794-4000. 2/3. Mid-Winter Antiques Show Books, ceramics, furniture, jewelry, pottery, linens. Wheaton Arts & Cultural Center, 1501 Glasstown Rd., Millville; 856-825-6800. $5. 2/4. Miniature Charm Quilts "Charm quilts" are made of different pieces of fabric cut in the same shape. Schwenkfelder Library & Heritage Center, 105 Seminary St., Pennsburg; 215-679-3103.

Lafayette College announced Friday that it would develop a $10 million project for a new arts program at its campus in Easton, Pa. The Williams Arts Campus will involve converting two buildings to create teaching and performance space for theater, film, and media studies, officials said. The project is mainly being financed through a gift from the family of the late Morris R. Williams, a 1922 graduate of Lafayette. He and his wife, Josephine, lived in Easton and had two children, Charles K. Williams II and Joan Williams Rhame, a trustee emeritus at the college.

LOS ANGELES - Coroner's investigators have identified a man found dead on a Los Angeles freeway as a 20-year-old Lafayette College student who failed to return home from a party in Bel Air. Coroner's Lt. Fred Corral said Monday that authorities used fingerprints to identify James Daniel O'Connell, who attended the Easton, Pa., college. Los Angeles police say O'Connell was last seen alive early Saturday at a party in Bel Air, which he attended with his brother. His mother reported him missing later Saturday, and police dispatched helicopter crews and patrol officers to search for him. Police say the man found dead on the freeway apparently had been struck by two vehicles.

Father Judge senior Wayne Maminski gave an oral commitment Monday to play soccer at Lafayette College. Maminski chose the Leopards over New Hampshire. "I just wanted to get into the best academic school that I could get into," Maminski said of accepting the partial scholarship. "It came down to academics and location. So Lafayette was the best fit for me. " In Maminski, Lafayette will get one of the area's top student-athletes. The Inquirer's Southeastern Pennsylvania player-of-the-year candidate has a 4.0 grade-point average and is ranked eighth of 280 students in his senior class.

Jim Mower, a wing guard for St. Joseph's Prep, has orally committed to play basketball at Lafayette College in Easton. The 6-foot-3, 180-pound senior also had scholarship offers from Colgate, Hartford, New Hampshire, Niagara and Quinnipiac. "Lafayette is a great school academically," Mower said. "I get along with the coaches really well. " Lafayette is coached by Fran O'Hanlon and plays in the Patriot League. Mower, a 17-year-old from Harleysville, averaged about 14 points per game last season.

Lafayette College, a small but academically rigorous, private liberal-arts college in Easton, named Daniel H. Weiss of Johns Hopkins University as its next president yesterday. Weiss, a professor of art history, became dean of the Johns Hopkins Krieger School of Arts and Sciences in 2002. He will assume the Lafayette presidency July 1, replacing Arthur J. Rothkopf, who is retiring after leading the college since 1993. "What Lafayette does exceptionally well is educate young people diversely, giving young people access to many different areas of learning," said Weiss, 47, who considers himself a strong champion of a broad-based liberal-arts education.

Lafayette College president Arthur J. Rothkopf yesterday told college trustees that he would step down as president at the end of the 2004-05 academic year. Rothkopf, who began his tenure in July 1993, will have been president of the small, private college in Easton, Pa., for 12 years. "Lafayette is blessed with outstanding undergraduates, highly competent and dedicated faculty and staff, loyal and generous alumni, and a board that is focused on the academic aspirations of the college," said Rothkopf, a Lafayette graduate and the board chair of the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.