Past Lectures

Renaissance Series

Serving the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University

The Renaissance Series was established by President MaryAnn Baenninger in 2006 to bring speakers to CSB who "demonstrate the diversity of opportunities available for women and men and...to encourage them to broaden their horizons in every respect, particularly in areas that are less traditional for the respective genders."

Speakers for this series are chosen based on their unique, compelling point of view on a current topic and their potential to enhance the intellectual vigor of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University.

In addition to a keynote address, they are available for student and/or faculty interaction on a small group basis (e.g., class visits, brown bag lunches, faculty seminar). In general, speakers for the Renaissance Series are women professionals or scholars who can serve as role models to the CSB and SJU student bodies.

2012-2013 Speaker

Colette S. Peters '93
Director, Oregon Department of Corrections
7:00 p.m., Monday, January 21, 2013
Gorecki 204A/B, CSB Campus

Colette S. Peters is the first woman to lead the Oregon Department of Corrections. She oversees Oregon's 14 correctional facilities, with an inmate population of 14,000, and manages 4,300 employees with a two-year budget of $1.4 billion. She was appointed to the position by Gov. John Kitzhaber, and her appointment was confirmed by the Oregon Senate on February 13, 2012.

Peters is a native of Milbank, S.D., a small farming town near the Minnesota-South Dakota border. She earned a bachelor's degree from College of Saint Benedict in 1993.

Following her graduation from CSB, she served as a juvenile counselor in Iowa, worked in a halfway house for gang members in Minneapolis, and served as a victim's advocate with the Denver Police Department. Peters also earned a criminal justice master's degree from the University of Colorado.

In 2004, she became the Oregon Corrections Department's public affairs administrator, and was soon promoted to assistant director. Peters was given a second title as inspector general, serving as an adviser to Max Williams, who then ran the Corrections Department.

She left the department in 2008 when her husband, Lynn Snyder (a 1992 Saint John's University graduate) took a job back in Minnesota as a portfolio manager. But in 2009, Peters and her family returned to Oregon when then-Gov. Ted Kulongoski selected her to head the Oregon Youth Authority. She held that post until Kitzhaber appointed her to run the Department of Corrections.

Peters will speak at College of Saint Benedict about her experiences as the first woman to lead the Oregon Department of Corrections. The lecture is free and open to the public.