2009

APPLETON, WIS. — Water has been called “the oil of the 21st century,” an increasingly valuable core commodity in a global marketplace. Although water covers more than 70 percent of the earth, only three percent of that water is fresh and only one percent of that is available for consumption.

Lawrence University’s annual Spoerl environmental studies lecture series will examine various facets of water and its management, the conflicts that arise between economic development and water availability, and methods for resolving those clashes of interest in 2009’s four-part series. All talks in the series are free and open to the public.

Jeb Barzen director of field ecology at the International Crane Foundation in Baraboo, opens the series Tuesday, Jan. 13 at 4:30 p.m. in Science Hall 102 with the address “How Can Lessons from China and Wisconsin Help Us Improve Conservation on Private Land.”

During his 21 years with the ICF, Barzen has overseen the development and implementation of restoration plans on the organization’s 200-acre site and been engaged in numerous wetland restoration projects throughout southeast Asia. Last October, his efforts were recognized with John T. Curtis Award for Career Excellence in Ecological Restoration from The Friends of the Arboretum in Madison.

Other talks scheduled in this year’s series include:

• Jan. 20 — “Great Lakes Water Compact: Now What?,” Peter Annin, associate director, Institute for Journalism and Natural Resources, Missoula, Mont., 7:30 p.m., Wriston Art Center Auditorium.

• Feb. 3 — “Water is for Fighting: Water Conflicts and Crises in China and the U.S,” Jennifer Turner, director of the China Environmental Forum, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C., 7:30 p.m., Science Hall 102.

• Feb. 11 — “What China is Doing Right Environmentally,” Phil McKenna ’99, freelance environmental writer, Science Hall 102.

The environmental lecture series is sponsored by the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society. Established in 1999 by Milwaukee-Downer College graduate Barbara Gray Spoerl and her husband, Edward, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on the role of science and technology in societies worldwide.

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University geologist Marcia Bjornerud has been named a recipient of a 2009 Fulbright Senior Scholar Award. Beginning in March, the $28,000 award will support four months of research in New Zealand at the University of Otago, the country’s oldest and top-ranked research university.

Bjornerud, professor of geology and the Walter Schober Professor in Environmental Studies, specializes in mountain building processes. While in New Zealand, her research will focus on rocks exposed along the Alpine Fault on the South Island, one of the world’s most active plate boundaries.

“Convergence between two tectonic plates, combined with extremely rapid rates of erosion, can force rocks from as much as eight miles deep in the earth’s crust to the surface in ‘only’ a few million years,” said Bjornerud, a member of the Lawrence faculty since 1995. “I will be studying rocks that have recorded ancient earthquakes along this fault line as a way to understand better what happens during great seismic events.”

Bjornerud’s research in New Zealand will complement her current field-based studies with Lawrence students on the ancient rocks of northern Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, which were once in a similar tectonic setting.

“Studying fault zones, both modern and ancient, can improve seismic risk assessments in earthquake-prone areas,” Bjornerud explained. “While it may never be possible to predict earthquakes with precision, understanding the phenomena that lead to runaway slip on faults may eventually lead to warning systems that could save lives.”

This is the second time in nine years Bjornerud has been recognized as a Fulbright Scholar. In 2000, she was awarded a Fulbright fellowship that took her to the University of Oslo for a year of field research on the west coast of Norway.

Appointed the first holder of the Schober professorship in April 2007, Bjornerud has written two books, the science textbook “The Blue Planet” and 2005’s “Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth,” a storyteller’s history of the Earth and the toll human activity is exacting on the planet. In 2003, she was elected a Fellow of the Geological Society of America.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in geophysics at the University of Minnesota, Bjornerud earned master’s and doctorate degrees in geology at the University of Wisconsin.

Established in 1946 and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, the Fulbright Scholar Program is the federal government’s flagship program in international educational exchange. It provides grants in a variety of disciplines for teaching and research positions in more than 120 countries.

APPLETON, WIS. — A diversity scholar who believes in the power of turning dreams into reality will be the keynote speaker at the Fox Cities annual celebration honoring the man whose own dreams changed the United States.

Bola Delano-Oriaran will examine the question of what is each person’s purpose in the world at the 18th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Monday, Jan. 19 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence University Memorial Chapel. The theme for this year’s event is “Beyond Dr. King’s Dream: Next Steps.”

The celebration, co-sponsored by Lawrence University and Toward Community: Unity in Diversity, is free and open to the public. The Post-Crescent and WFRV-TV are media partners for the event.

Rev. Roger Bertschausen, who helped found the MLK celebration in 1992 and continues to serve in planning the annual event, calls Delano-Oriaran “someone who has made a real difference in the Fox Cities.

“I am excited to have Bola Delano-Oriaran keynoting this year’s event,” said Bertschausen, pastor at Fox Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship church. “In her work with students as well as her work with our community, she has promoted and exemplified Dr. King’s dream.”

An assistant professor of education at St. Norbert College, Delano-Oriaran shares her message of understanding the richness and value of diversity in society in a high-energy presentation. Ever since she organized a fund-raiser for a disabled homeless man as a 13-year-old in her native Nigeria, Delano-Oriaran has advocated the importance of each person’s role in building a better community and world.

Delano-Oriaran saw her own dream of a place where all people could gather to celebrate their individual identities and experiences realized with the creation of the Fox Cities Rotary Multicultural Center in 2004.

Her efforts on behalf of diversity issues and community change have been recognized with numerous awards, including the Rotary Club of Appleton Charles and Patricia Heeter Outstanding Community Leadership Award and the St. Norbert College Bishop Robert F. Morneau Community Service Award. In 2000, the Wisconsin State Human Relations Association presented her with an Outstanding Human Relations Educator Award.

Highlighting the celebration will be the presentation by Toward Community of the annual Jane LaChapelle McCarty Unity in Diversity Award to an area individual who has made great strides in bringing different people in the community together. Delano-Oriaran was a recipient herself of this award in 2004.

“This year’s celebration occurs the eve before the inauguration of the first African-American president in U. S. history,” said Kathy Flores, chair of the MLK committee and a member of Toward Community. “Not only is this an exciting time, it truly is a realization of Dr. King’s dream. I am excited to come together with citizens of the Fox Cities to hear Bola Delano-Oriaran share her vision of how we as a people can move forward together into the future and into the next steps of Dr. King.”

The MLK celebration also will include music performances by the Kaukauna High School Concert Choir and Lawrence sophomore Isake Smith. Area students will read their winning essays addressing the question “Beyond Dr. King’s Dream: Next Steps” as part of the celebration.

“This celebration is truly another example of how a community, sharing similar yet different cultural values, can come together and pay tribute to a dream, dreamt by many,” said Mohammed Bey, acting assistant dean for multicultural affairs at Lawrence. “It is has been inspiring to witness the level of participation from the community for this event.”

A sign language interpreter will be present for the program and a reception for all in attendance will follow.

APPLETON, WIS. — Blizzards, cabin fever and ice storms will fill Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theater Friday, January 16 when Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company presents — and embraces — “Snow.”

Tickets for the 8 p.m. performance, at $10 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton, 920-832-6749.

A mix of physical beauty, wit, power and the white stuff, “Snow” has been described as “Riotous… wonderfully clever and sweet” by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The show, featuring new choreography inspired by winter’s impact, pays tribute to a three-year running history of Wild Space winter performances that have coincided with raging blizzards and record-setting snowfalls.

Under the direction of Artistic Director Debra Loewen, the performance by the seven-member company will include Wild Space’s latest work, “Eight Feet Deep,” as well as “Winter Dream,” “Drift” and “Whiteout,” among others.

“Snow has been the muse for this performance,” said Loewen. “The annual blanket of whiteness enhances scenes of human movement, shifts our sense of sound and alters our physical patterns. We are different for living with snow. We love it and sometimes hate it, but it makes us who we are.”

Founded in 1986, Wild Space Dance Company has served as a company-in-residence at Lawrence since 2000. Hailed as “richly imaginative and witty” by the New York Times, Wild Space is known for site-specific works and artistic collaborations.