MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College opens the new Peter Paul Luce Gallery in McWethy Hall with a traveling exhibition by former art instructor Karen Gunderson, whose 16 large-scale black and white drawings and paintings explore the theme of safety in friendship, within the context of moral courage.

“Moral Courage During WWII: Denmark and Bulgaria” runs Oct. 6 through Nov. 17. A reception is during Cornell’s homecoming, Saturday, Oct. 19, from 3-5 p.m. Gallery hours are 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday and 2-4 p.m. Sunday. Admission is free.

The exhibition includes large-scale seascapes evoking the rescue of Danish Jews by boat to Sweden, as well as iconic portraits of the kings of Denmark and Bulgaria who led their nations’ rescues of their Jewish citizens.

“These are not celebratory portraits of larger-than-life heroes and heroines, blinded by their bright goodness, so much as they are human-scaled images of people who did what they could, even as they remained haunted by the knowledge that this may not have been enough,” stated James Young, professor of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in an essay for the exhibition at Hebrew Union College in New York.

Gunderson taught at Cornell from 1968 to 1970 before moving to New York. Her other teaching appointments have included the Chicago Art Institute, Ohio State University and the Maryland Institute College of Arts. She grew up in a Danish community in Racine, Wis., where she learned about the courage of the people of Denmark and their king, Christian X, who assisted more than 7,000 Danish Jews in their escape to Sweden by boat, saving them from Nazi roundups.

Gunderson last year won the Lorenzo Magnifico Award of Second Prize in Painting at the Florence (Italy) Biennale. Recently she was sent by the U.S. Department of State to Lome, Togo, to teach and lecture.

Cornell’s McWethy Hall became the new home of the art department this fall. Formerly known as Alumni Hall, the building opened in 1909 as Cornell’s first gymnasium. Renovations have added the gallery, offices for faculty, studios for faculty and students, large teaching studios, a sculpture court and off-street parking. A formal dedication will be at homecoming. The Luce Gallery was built with a $1 million grant from the Henry Luce Foundation, which was given in honor of Peter Paul Luce of Englewood, Colo., son of Luce Foundation founder Henry R. Luce and a Cornell life trustee.

MOUNT VERNON — Theresa Hammond, author of “A White-Collar Profession: African American Certified Public Accountants Since 1921,” will discuss her book and accounting ethics during a two-day visit to Cornell College.

She will host a forum discussion on current issues in accounting practices at 3:15 p.m. Monday, Oct. 7, in Cole Library Room 108, and discuss her book at 11:10 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, in Hedges Conference Room of The Commons.

Hammond is associate professor of accounting and Ernst and Young Research Fellow in Diversity Studies at Boston College. In preparation for her book, she spent 10 years conducting in-depth interviews with African-American accountants from around the country, framing the interview data within statistical and sociological research. The themes in her book center around affirmative action, race relations, economic history and elite professions’ tendency to be closed to diversity.

The Cornell events are co-sponsored by Cole Library and the Lecture, Artists, Cultural Events Consortium.

MOUNT VERNON — The recently released U.S. News & World Report annual guide to “America’s Best Colleges” ranks Cornell College in the second tier among 217 national liberal arts colleges.

U.S. News separates the colleges into four tiers. Tier 2 colleges are ranked 53 to 113. Cornell’s actual ranking is in the top 100 of national liberal arts colleges.

“The hallmark of the Cornell College experience is the quality of faculty-student relationships on our close-knit campus,” says Jonathan Stroud, vice president for enrollment. “While this indicator of quality cannot be captured adequately in rankings found in U.S. News or other college guides, we are nonetheless pleased that the college’s place among the finest colleges in the country is being increasingly recognized in these types of publications.”

Cornell also was included among the top 10 percent of colleges and universities across the nation and Canada in The Princeton Review’s 2003 edition of “The Best 345 Colleges.” The October 2002 issue of Seventeen magazine ranks Cornell eighth among the Top 10 “Cool” Small Schools. Cornell also is listed in “Peterson’s Competitive Colleges: Top Colleges for Top Students”; “Kaplan’s Unofficial, Unbiased Insider’s Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges”; and “Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That’s Right for You” and “Colleges That Change Lives,” books by Lauren Pope, former education editor of the New York Times and director of the College Placement Bureau.

Editor’s note, Sept. 17: The online chat with Dan Savage has been postponed indefinitely, due to scheduling problems.

MOUNT VERNON — A Cornell College sociology class will host an online chat with nationally syndicated sex-advice columnist Dan Savage, author of “The Kid,” about a gay couple’s quest to adopt a child.

The chat is Wednesday, Sept. 18, from 7-8 p.m. CST. Go to www.cornellcollege.edu/auditorium, and follow the instructions.

“The Kid” chronicles the arrangements Savage and partner Terry Miller made for an open adoption, where the birth mother stays in the picture. Their son, D.J., is now 4. The book is required reading in sociology professor Tina Fetner’s “Families in Social Context.” Seattle-based Savage and a student in the class, sophomore Addy Free of Iowa City, have corresponded regularly.

“I thought the book was hilarious and also terribly honest about the nature of the gay male couple and the process of adoption, legal and otherwise,” Free said. “I just dropped him an e-mail one day and asked him if he’d be into (the chat), and he agreed pretty quickly.”

Savage’s column, “Savage Love,” is published in about 75 newspapers, mostly alternative weeklies. “The Kid” is available at the Cornell bookstore.

MOUNT VERNON — Cornell College will mark the first anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks with two observances and courses this month that focus on the event with discussions, assignments or a break from class to reflect on the impact of the attacks.

A sunset observance is Tuesday, Sept. 10, from 7:30 to 8 p.m. at Ink Pond. Lanterns and candles carrying messages of hope and healing – written by students, faculty and staff — will float on the manmade pond. The service will include songs, poems and prayers from around the world. In case of rain, the event is Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 8 p.m.

The tradition of floating lanterns originated after the bombing of Hiroshima during World War II. Many who were severely injured in the August 1945 bombing threw themselves into the rivers to escape the unbearable heat and pain. Several years later, the survivors and citizens floated lanterns praying that their parents and friends killed by the atomic bomb would rest in peace.

A second observance is set for Wednesday, Sept. 11, from 11:15 to 11:45 a.m. outside Allee Chapel. The service will include the dedication of a Peace Pole, plus poetry, songs and words of hope and healing. The Chaplain’s Office is coordinating both events.

Students in a sociology course, Families in Social Context, will read about the impact of war on families, but the class will not meet Sept. 11, allowing students time to “reflect on this topic,” said Tina Fetner, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology.

In U.S. Social History Since 1940, students will consider how Americans commemorate the past through memorials. They will examine four sketches of potential memorials for the World Trade Center site, then design their own memorials and explain how their design represents the events of Sept. 11 for visitors to the site.