The elections are approaching, and Roanoke College’s Dr. Harry Wilson has everything you need to know before you go to the ballot box.

Wilson, who is a professor of political science and director of the Institute for Policy and Opinion Research at Roanoke, will speak on Oct. 4 about this year’s presidential and Virginia Senate elections for the College’s monthly coffee shop talk series. The discussion will start at 8 p.m. at Mill Mountain Coffee & Tea in Salem.

Wilson will discuss the importance of both elections and what policies will be enacted depending on who wins the presidency. He will speak for 15 to 20 minutes, and there will be time for questions afterwards from the audience. The event is free and open to the public.

Read on to check out other October events at Roanoke College.

The Importance of Judicial Integrity: Judge Dorothy Winston Colom
Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m., Colket Center Wortmann Ballroom

Dorothy Winston Colom, a Mississippi judge and 1974 Roanoke College graduate, will speak on the role of honesty in the law and legal profession. Colum is a judge for the 14th Chancery Court District of Mississippi. She practiced law for 14 years, before becoming a state trial judge in 1994. Her talk is part of the Turk Pre-Law Series.

Performing Arts Series Presents: Anthology: 25 Years with Anonymous 4
Tuesday, Oct. 2, 7:30 p.m., Olin Theater, $12/$8*
Tickets available at www.roanoke.edu/tickets or by calling (540)375-2333.

The Performing Arts Series presents this iconic vocal group in its only Virginia performance this season. To mark its 25th year together, Anonymous 4 has created a unique concert program, “Anthology 25.” It features ancient, traditional and modern works from each of the group’s 19 prize-winning, chart-topping harmonia mundi CDs. The selections are in one, two, three and four voices. They range from 11th century plainchant, richly harmonic English conductus to spicy French motets of the 13th century, exotic 15thcentury Hungarian polyphony, 19th century shape note hymns and contemporary works.

The New Yorkers Co.
Friday Oct. 5, 7:30 p.m., Olin Theater, $7/$5*
Free tickets are required and available at www.roanoke.edu/tickets.

The New Yorkers, an innovative theater company, includes six young actors, writers, musicians and directors who will present work they have written and shaped especially for their debut performance in Virginia. They are in residence at Roanoke College for a week in October through the generosity of a Copenhaver Scholar-in-Residence Grant. Their work originated with the internationally-known Dutch company, Orkater.

RC Wind Ensemble with Blacksburg Community Band
Thursday, Oct. 11, 7:30 pm, Olin Theater

The Roanoke College band will perform with guests, Blacksburg Community Band, under the direction of Dr. Joseph Blaha.

Art Exhibition: Friday, Oct. 26-Sunday, Dec. 2
Olin Gallery: Roanoke College’s Studio Art Faculty: Scott Hardwig, Elizabeth Heil and Katherine Shortridge
Smoyer Gallery: Gretchen Batcheller, Cole Hartson and Jeanne Stewart
Opening Reception: Friday, Oct. 26, 6-8 p.m., Smoyer Gallery

The Roanoke Studio Art Faculty exhibition will showcase work created by Scott Hardwig, Elizabeth Heil and Katherine Shortridge, all Roanoke faculty members. Hardwig, who came to Roanoke in 1977, teaches ceramics and sculpture. He received his master of fine arts degree from New York State College of Ceramics at Alfred University.

Heil joined Roanoke’s faculty in 1981, and she teaches photography, computer graphics and printmaking. She earned her master of fine arts degree in printmaking and drawing from Northern Illinois University.

Shortridge received her master of fine arts degree from Indiana University, and she has taught painting and drawing at Roanoke since 2003.

The Smoyer Gallery exhibition will highlight works by other Roanoke faculty members, Gretchen Batcheller, Cole Hartson and Jeanne Stewart. Batcheller taught painting and mixed media courses during her 2011-12 visiting professorship in Roanoke’s Fine Arts Department. Hartson has taught graphic design at Roanoke since 2003, while Stewart is the College’s new professor of arts and crafts in schools.

‘60s Rock—When the Music Mattered
Tuesday, Oct. 30, 8 p.m., Colket Center Pickle Lounge

Barry Drake, often called a walking encyclopedia of music, will present his last rock & roll multimedia show, “60s Rock – When The Music Mattered.” Drake, one of rock music’s foremost historians, is retiring from the lecture circuit and will celebrate, examine, clarify and put into perspective one of the most exciting decades in our music history. The show will feature hundreds of slides and musical clips from one of music’s most innovative decades. For more information, call (540) 378-5125.

– Submitted by Roanoke College