Stay in the know about everything happening around campus this week! Discover upcoming events, important dates, and key deadlines so you can make the most of the month and never miss what matters.
Check out October Important Dates to Know!
Monday, September 28
Connections Across the Ages - 11:30 am-1 pm
Connections Across Ages fosters cross-generational understanding and addresses chronic loneliness that impacts students and older adults, helping build stronger, more connected communities. Students build meaningful relationships with older adults in our community within a welcoming, stress-free environment. Students meet on Mondays to participate in programs and events with older adults at the Community Life Center in Salem.
A pizza lunch will be provided!
RSVP for our informational collaborative session on 9/28
Aaron Larget Caplan - Guitar America 250 - 7:30-8:45 pm
Two and a half centuries of America are commemorated by guitarist Aaron Larget-Caplan in GUITAR AMERICA 250, an exploration of the United States’ musical history. From The Star-Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful to Paul Simon’s America and Eddie Van Halen’s 316, Larget-Caplan journeys through the soundscapes of a diverse nation. The evening includes music by abolitionists, immigrants, suffragettes, revolutionaries and rockstars with spoken word provided by special guest, poet Richard Hoffman.
Admission to this concert is free but advance reservations are recommended.
Tuesday, September 29
Exploratory Fireside Chat - 4-5 pm
This Fireside Chat will feature faculty from Education, Healthcare Studies, Psychology, and Geography & Sustainability.
The Latino Higher Education Landscape - 5-6 pm
Join the School of Education and SSU's HSI-MSI Initiatives to learn about Latino college students and the institutions that serve them in MA. We will discuss the data from the latest White Paper by the Gastón Institute (UMass-Boston) with the authors. This is a great opportunity to learn about the importance of HSIs in MA and discuss the research process when studying our regional higher education landscape. Guest Speakers: Fabián Torres- Ardila, Fatema Ahad, and Elisa Castillo.
Perinatal and postpartum mental health doesn't fit neatly into one discipline's scope of practice and neither does effective care. This presentation explores how it takes a team of professional to come together to support the whole family unit during one of life's most vulnerable transitions. Through collaborative, team-based approaches, presenters will highlight how shared expertise, open communication, and mutual respect across disciplines lead to more responsive, holistic care for parents and infants alike. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for building stronger interprofessional partnerships in their own practice settings.
Writers Series: J.D. Scrimgeour and Rebecca Hart Olander - 7:30-9 pm
Salem State Professor J.D. Scrimgeour is the inaugural poet laureate of Salem, Massachusetts. He is the author of six books of poetry, the most recent being Small, Rectangular, Reflected World (Nixes Mate, 2025). He’s also written two books of nonfiction, including Themes for English B: A Professor’s Education In and Out of Class, which won the AWP Award for Nonfiction. A longtime resident of Salem, Scrimgeour has written in many genres about the city. Mary Towne Eastey, an ancestor in his direct line, was put to death during the Salem Witch Trials. Another ancestor, Thomas Perkins, sat on the jury that found her guilty. His multi-genre collection, Poet in High Street Park: Prose & Poetry for Modern Salem (Loom Press), is a love song to the city by a writer who has grounded himself in the everyday realities of living in it for the past 30 years, from playgrounds to classrooms to ballfields. It is testimony that, beneath the Halloween hoo-ha and the historical tours crowding the sidewalks, people live here. Finding the universal in the local, the book asks who we are and who we want to be.
Rebecca Hart Olander is a Women's National Book Association Poetry Award winner and the author of three poetry collections: Dressing the Wounds (a chapbook from dancing girl press, 2019), Uncertain Acrobats (CavanKerry Press, 2021), a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award in Poetry and the Massachusetts Book Award in Poetry, and Singing from the Deep End (CavanKerry Press, 2026). Rebecca has taught writing at Amherst and Smith colleges, at Westfield State University, and through Pioneer Valley Writers’ Workshop, and she works with poets in the Maslow Family Graduate Program in Creative Writing. She is the editor/director of Perugia Press.
Thursday, October 1
The Trials We Still Face: From Stage to Community, Bridging Salem's Past and Present - 9:30-10:30 am
In conjunction with Salem State's upcoming theatre production, Becky Nurse of Salem, join us for a timely community conversation that carries the play's central questions off the stage and into the room. Sarah Ruhl's play follows Becky Nurse, a descendant of Salem Witch Trials victim Rebecca Nurse, as she navigates economic hardship, fraught healthcare systems, addiction, and mental health in present-day Salem. This conversation picks up where the play leaves off, asking how our social structures shape individual and community wellbeing today.
Moderated by Sara Moore, Professor and Chair of Sociology, the discussion brings together voices from city government, healthcare, mental health services, and the arts.
Careers in English Panel - 3:05-4:20 pm
Please join us to hear from a panel of Salem State English Department alumni as they discuss how their English degrees helped them create their careers.
The Hispanic-Serving Institution Movement in Massachusetts - 5-6:30 pm
Salem State’s Elisa Castillo and Michele Davila Goncalves have been invited as guest speakers at Harvard University’s Cervantes Observatory of the Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures in the United States.
They will discuss the growing HSI movement in Massachusetts, Salem State’s intentional approach to becoming an HSI through the Roadmap to Servingness, and the role of language access in creating a more inclusive and responsive experience for students
Cafe Connections: Fall Karaoke - 7-9 pm
Come celebrate the start of fall with a night of Karaoke and refreshments!
Friday, October 2
From Classroom to Public Service - 9:25-10:40 am
Where can a degree in political science take you? Join us in Library 003A, as distinguished department alums return to share their experiences in public service, reflect on their career journey, and offer advice for students interested in making a difference.
El Punto Mural Tour - 5:30-8 pm
In honor of Hispanic/Latinx Heritage Month, join the Center for Justice and Liberation and the Latinx ERG on a tour of the vibrant murals of The Point/El Punto neighborhood of Salem!
The tour is scheduled for Friday 10/02/2026. Shuttles will pick up attendees from the Ellison Campus Center at 5:30pm. The tour will run from about 6-7pm, followed by dinner at Espacio. We will return to campus at 8pm.
Spots are limited, reserve yours now!
Saturday, October 3
Day Hike and Lunch - 9:30 am-3:30 pm
Please join Campus Life and Recreation on an outdoor adventure! We will be completing a day hike at Prospect Hill Park in Waltham, MA. This hike is about a 3 mile loop which can take about 2 hours to complete. Campus Life and Recreation will provide transportation and lunch for the hike. Limited spots available. Register by 9/11.
Athletics Schedule for the Week.
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