2010

Year: 2010

Where in the World is LU? Facebook Photo Contest

As Lawrence prepares to celebrate its 164th anniversary on Founders Day, January 12, 2011, we’re reaching out to students, alumni, faculty, staff and friends to learn “Where in the World is LU?”

E-mail a photo of a friend or loved one wearing Lawrence gear — something with the LU logo or something that says Lawrence University — to communications@lawrence.edu.  Provide a snappy caption and let us know where the photo was taken!  We’ll print as many photos as we can in the March issue of Lawrence Today and prizes will be awarded for the best photos! Judging begins January 12th and you’re the judge. (Check out these early entries.)

Not on Facebook? What are you waiting for? Click on the green “sign up” button to keep up with all the latest LU news and to network with friends, family and fellow Lawrentians.

The deadline for photos is January 10, 2011, so act fast. Here are the official rules.

Visit KK’s Apparel & Gifts Online Store for the latest LU fashions!

Main Hall Cited in Annual Magazine Architecture Contest

For the third time in four years, a Lawrence University building has been cited in Fox Cities Magazine’s “Great Spaces Great Places” contest.

Lawrence’s venerable Main Hall was the top vote-getter in the magazine’s Best Historic Landmark category. Home to the humanities, the 157-year-old building and campus centerpiece was hailed as an architectural “icon in the Valley” by one member of the judging panel.

Last year, Lawrence’s newly opened Warch Campus Center copped the Great Spaces Great Places’ Best New Construction title, while Alexander Gymnasium received the Best Historic Landmark honors in the 2007 contest.

LU Marimbaist Wins Music Competition

Lawrence University junior Tristan Renfrow earned first-place honors Nov. 27 in the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee Collegiate Music Competition, which was conducted at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield.

Tristan Renfrow

A percussion performance major from Cedarburg, Renfrow played three pieces on solo marimba for the competition, which featured eight finalists. He received a $2,500 scholarship for his winning performance.

He will perform a recital Sunday, March 20, 2011 at the Steinway Gallery of Milwaukee as part of the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee’s Artist & Ensemble Series. Renfrow is a student of Professor of Music Dane Richeson.

The competition is open to continuing college students — instrumentalists and vocalists — who either graduated from a Milwaukee area high school or who currently attend a Milwaukee area college.

Video Series Honored with CASE Circle of Excellence Award

Lawrence University’s weekly video of the people and programs that make the college distinctive has been recognized with a 2010 Circle of Excellence Award by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) District V.

The “This is Lawrence” video series received a silver award in the best practices in alumni relations category for colleges and universities with less than 3,000 students. The CASE Circle of Excellence Awards honor innovative and effective programs and projects in nearly 50 categories, including fundraising, alumni relations, advancement services programs and publication/web design.

The series grew out of a pair of on-campus student video contests, the first conducted in the spring of 2008 to produce a promotional piece to be used with Lawrence’s $150 million “More Light” capital campaign. A second contest, in the spring of 2009, promoted sustainability initiatives at Lawrence.

The weekly, two-minute videos highlight distinguished facets of Lawrence. They are distributed to approximately 15,000 members of the Lawrence community, including faculty, staff, students, alumni and friends of the college. TIL videos have featured topics ranging from Bobby McFerrin’s performance of Professor Fred Sturm’s composition “Migrations” to a behind-the-scenes look of a theatre production to an astrophysics lesson on the sidewalk.

“We are thrilled to be recognized by CASE for the ‘This is Lawrence’ video series,” said Cal Husmann vice president for development and alumni relations. “It has been a terrific and fun way to engage our alumni, parents, friends, students, and prospective students while reinforcing the many ways in which Lawrence’s mission is being realized in the lives of our students. We aren’t aware of any other colleges or universities using video in this fashion, so it is exciting to be a pioneer in this regard.”

Alex Bunke, a 2009 Lawrence graduate and winner of the first video contest, served as the original creator/producer of the series and was later joined by Rachel Crowl, web content and new media coordinator. Crowl, in conjunction with videographer Danny Ceballos, currently produce the series. Nearly 75 videos have been produced for the series.

Winners of the Circle of Excellence Awards will be recognized Dec. 12-14 at the 36th annual CASE V conference in Chicago. District V includes institutions in Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio.

LU Honor Society Wins National Award

Lawrence University’s chapter of Lambda Sigma honor society — Alpha Pi — was recognized recently (Oct. 30) with the Outstanding Chapter of the Year Award by the national executive board at the organization’s President’s Conference in Louisiana.

Lawrence was selected for the honor from among 39 colleges and universities in the United States whose Lambda Sigma chapters include members of the top 10 percent of each school’s sophomore class. The organization’s mission focuses on leadership, scholarship, fellowship and service.

According to chapter president Jaclyn Kottman, Lawrence’s 2009-10 chapter of 34 sophomores contributed more than 1,500 hours of community service last year on projects ranging from a canned food drive in the Fox Cities to making holiday cards for local nursing homes and hospitals to serving healthy snacks to students studying in the library for final exams.

Alpha Pi also received Honor Chapter status at the conference while Cam Blegen ’12, Whitefish Bay, co-chair of the chapter’s service committee, was awarded one of five $500 scholarships presented to an outstanding Lambda Sigma member.

Linda Fuerst, volunteer coordinator of alumni and constituency engagement, serves as the chapter’s advisor.

Six Students Earn Top Honors in State Singing Competition

Highlighted by Evan Bravos’ second straight state title, six Lawrence University students earned first-place honors at the 2010 Wisconsin chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competition held Nov. 5-6 at UW-Milwaukee.

Bravos, of St. Charles, Ill, won the men’s Upper Level Music Theater Division, after winning the senior men’s division in 2009.

Also winning their respective divisions were Alex York, Muskego, freshman men; Tory Wood, Escanaba, Mich., sophomore women; Luke Randall, Edina, Minn., sophomore men; Rachel Graber, St. Paul, Minn., junior women; and Ally Kunath, Park Ridge, Ill., junior women.

Thirteen of Lawrence’s 61 student entries advanced to the competition finals. In addition to the six winners, four Lawrence students earned second-place honors and two were awarded third place. The first-place finishers each received $150 for their winning efforts, while second- and third-place finishers received $125 and $100, respectively.

The 2010 auditions drew more than 500 singers from around the state who competed in 20 separate divisions by gender and level. Depending upon the category, NATS competitors are required to sing two, three or four classical pieces from different time periods with at least one selection sung in a foreign language.

Lawrence place winners with their category and (teacher) include:

First-Place Honors
• Alex York, freshman men (Steven Spears)
• Tory Wood, sophomore women (Patrice Michaels)
• Luke Randall, sophomore men (Ken Bozeman)
• Rachel Graber, junior women (tie) (John Gates)
• Allie Kunath, junior women (tie) (Joanne Bozeman)
• Evan Bravos, upper level music theater men (Ken Bozeman)

Second-Place Honors
• Ian Koziara, freshman men (Steven Spears)
• Anna Valcour, sophomore women (Joanne Bozeman)
• Clare Bohrer, junior women (Patrice Michael)
• Sarah Brannon, senior women (Ken Bozeman)

Third-Place Honors
• Zoie Reams, freshman women (John Gates)
• Stefan Egerstrom, senior men (Ken Bozeman)

Former U.S. Ambassador, Visiting Scarff Professor Discusses Status, Future of Eastern Europe

With the perspective of a 35-year career as a U.S. foreign service officer, former Ambassador Rudolf Perina shares his insights on the current state of affairs and prospects for the future for Eastern Europe in the opening address of the 2010-11 Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies.

Perina presents “Europe’s Post-Cold War Conflicts: The Prospects for Peace in the Successor States to Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union,” Monday, Nov. 8 at 7 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Ambassador Rudolph Perina

Drawing upon his experiences as head of the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade in the mid-1990s and as U.S. Special Negotiator for Eurasian Conflicts from 2001-04, Perina will discuss the major regional wars — the Bosnia and Kosovo conflicts in Yugoslavia, the Transnistria conflict in what is now Moldova, the Abkhazia conflict in Georgia, and the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan — which accompanied” the break-up of Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

The talk also will explore what the conflicts shared in common and examine the prospects for the future given the varying degrees of stalemate and uneasy truce that exists in the region.

Perina is spending the fall term teaching in the Lawrence government department as the Distinguished Visiting Scarff Professor. The professorship was established in 1989 by Edward and Nancy Scarff in memory of their son, Stephen, a member of the Lawrence class of 1975, who died in an automobile accident in 1984. It brings civic leaders and scholars to Lawrence to provide broad perspectives on the central issues of the day.

Born in Tabor, Czechoslovakia, four months before the end of World War II in Europe, Perina immigrated to the United States with his family in 1951. Growing up in New York, Cleveland and Seattle, he graduated from the University of Chicago and earned a Ph.D. in European history from Columbia University. Inspired by German-born Henry Kissinger, he joined the U.S. Department of State in 1974, specializing in Russian, East European, German and NATO affairs.

During his career, he served in Moscow, Berlin and Brussels and spent 1998-2001 as the U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova.

Perina retired from the U.S. foreign service in 2006, but continues to accept occasional assignments from the state department. Earlier this year he served two months as the Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S Embassy in Reykjavik, Iceland.

Other career appointments include:
• U.S. Embassy in Ottawa (1975-76)
• State Department NATO desk (1976-78)
• U.S. Embassy in Moscow (1979-81)
• U.S. Mission in Berlin, 1981-85,
• U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, 1985-87
• Director, European and Soviet Affairs, National Security Council staff, 1987-89
• Deputy Chairman, U.S. Delegation to the Vienna Negotiations on Confidence & Security Building Measures in Europe, 1989-1992
• Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Belgrade, 1993-96
• Senior Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, 1996-97
• Deputy Director, State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, 2004-06
• Chargé d’Affaires, U.S Embassy, Chisinau, Moldova, 2006
• Chargé d’Affaires, U.S Embassy, Yerevan, Armenia, 2007
• Senior State Department inspector, 2008

Annual Lawrence University Alternative Giving Fair Offers Humanitarian Gifts, Hope

Shoppers can get a head start on their holiday gift giving Sunday, Nov. 7 at Lawrence University’s fourth annual alternative giving fair in the Warch Campus Center. The fair, which runs from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., is free and open to the public.

The fair features a marketplace of booths with more than two dozen opportunities to support grassroots organizations involved in humanitarian projects around the world through the “purchase” of alternative/nontraditional “gifts.” Shoppers can donate to organizations involved in a wide range of projects that provide meals for children in Indonesia, medical supplies for children’s hospital in Kenya or solar-powered computers for a rural school in Honduras.

Cards with inserts that describe the cause the shopper chooses will be available so that the purchaser can present them to family and friends in the form of an “alternative gift” for the holidays.

“The alternative giving fair is designed to get the holiday season off to a hopeful and positive start,” said Laura Streyle, president of the organization Students Working Against Hunger and Poverty (SWAHP), which is sponsoring the event. “The amount of collaboration across campus and between Lawrence and the Fox Valley community to nurture the fair will hopefully provide satisfying fruit for all who attend.”

The fair also features tangible gifts hand-crafted by artisans in developing countries such as baskets, jewelry, scarves and hand bags provided by Globally Sound as well as other fair trade items. Live music will be performed by Lawrence students throughout the day and refreshments will be available.

Lawrence Helps Commemorate 20th Anniversary of Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities Program

Lawrence University will host a series of events commemorating the 20th anniversary of the Fox Cities-Kurgan, Russia Sister Cities Program Nov. 4-5. All events are free and open to the public.

The 30-member University of Wisconsin Russian Folk Orchestra performs Thursday, Nov. 4 at 7:30 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre of the Music-Drama Center. The orchestra performs with traditional Russian instruments, including the bayan, balalaika and the domra.

Three presentations will be conducted Friday morning, Nov. 5 in the Warch Campus Center.

Long-time Lawrence administrator Chuck Lauter, one of the founders and former president of the Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities program, and is wife, Estella, share stories of Russia and her people in the presentation “Reflecting on Past Years of Friendship” at 9 a.m. Chuck Lauter spent 31 years at Lawrence as dean of students, dean of off-campus programs and international student advisor, before retiring in 2000. He has led numerous trips to Kurgan.

Two faculty members of Kurgan State University, Larisa Zhirova, senior lecturer of English and Natalya Bochegova, dean of the philological department, present “Perspectives on Change” at 10:30 a.m.

A panel discussion and audience question-and-answer session featuring Zhirova, Bochegova, Kurgan city councilman and head of the Kurgan Small Business Development organization Ivan Kamshilov and journalist Elena Ovchinnikova, chairwoman of the Kurgan Journalism Union, will be conducted at 11:15 a.m.

Kiplinger’s Names Lawrence University Among Nation’s Best Values in Private Higher Education

Lawrence University was named the best value for delivering a high-quality education at an affordable price among Wisconsin private colleges and universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance in the magazine’s 2010-11 rankings released Oct. 28.

Kiplinger’s ranked Lawrence 43rd nationally among 100 private liberal arts colleges in the country and first among three Wisconsin private institutions, ahead of Beloit College (59th) in the liberal arts college category and Marquette University (50th) in the universities category.

The schools on Kiplinger’s list were selected from a pool of more than 600 private institutions and were ranked by both academic quality and affordability. Quality accounted for two-thirds of the rankings’ weight.

“Obviously we are pleased to be included among the best educational values in the country, particularly since two-thirds of this ranking is based upon academic quality,” said Steve Syverson, vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions and financial aid. “Lawrence is proud of its long-standing commitment to providing access to the strongest students, regardless of their family’s income.”

Nearly a quarter of Lawrence’s domestic students qualify for federal Pell Grants, which provide need-based grants to low income students to promote access to post-secondary education. More than 90 percent of Lawrence students receive some form of financial aid, with nearly 70 percent receiving need-based aid. The average financial aid package for 2010-11 is $28,100.

Swarthmore College was top-ranked among liberal arts colleges on Kiplinger’s list while Princeton University was number one on the private university list, nudging out the California Institute of Technology, which had been top-ranked each of the past four years.