Press Releases

Category: Press Releases

Jane Monheit, Kenny Wheeler Highlight Lawrence University Jazz Celebration Weekend’s 25th Year

Combine the vocal charisma of Jane Monheit, one of jazz’s hottest young vocalists, with the wide-ranging virtuosity of veteran trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and you have a bona fide “extravajazza” worthy of a celebration.

Monheit and Wheeler will headline the 25th edition of Lawrence University’s annual Jazz Celebration Weekend Nov. 11-12 at the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton.

Hailed as “jazz’s next sultry sweetie” by People magazine, Monheit performs Friday, Nov. 11 at 7:30 p.m. along with her quartet and the Lawrence Jazz Singers under the direction of Christine Salerno.

Wheeler, one of the jazz world’s most highly respected trumpet soloists, takes the stage Saturday evening, Nov. 12 for a 7:30 p.m. concert with the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble under the direction of Fred Sturm and the Lawrence Jazz Trio.
Tickets for both concerts, ranging from $15 for students to $22 for adults, are available at the Lawrence University Box Office, 115 S., Drew St., Appleton, 920-832-6749.

Growing up in a musical family on Long Island listening to Ella Fitzgerald recordings, Monheit, 27, burst on the jazz scene in 1998 as a 20-year-old singer, earning second-place honors at the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition. Two years later she released the first of her five albums, “Never Never Land“ with accompaniment by such notables as pianist Kenny Barron, bassist Ron Carter and saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman.

Monheit’s second album, “Come Dream with Me,” which featured saxophonist Michael Brecker and trumpeter Tom Harrell, entered the charts at no. 1 when it was released in May, 2001. She made her major label debut in 2004 with “Taking a Chance On Love“ on Sony Classical, which has remained on the Billboard Top 10 jazz chart since its release. Her latest CD, “The Season,” an 11-track holiday-themed collection of Christmas tunes, was released by Epic Records in mid-October.

Her performance career has taken Monheit to Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center and London’s Royal Festival Hall as well as the world’s most prestigious jazz festivals, including Monterey, JVC and North Sea. Following a 2002 concert in London, The Guardian hailed Monheit as a singer who “decorates a melody, lights up a lyric, but never loses the essential thread of the song itself.”

Born in Toronto, Canada, Wheeler, 75, has made his home in England since 1952. More than 50 years into his career, Wheeler has garnered more critical acclaim than popular recognition, but remains one of Europe’s most sought-after trumpet and flugelhorn players.

Influenced by the likes of Miles Davis and Fats Navarro, Wheeler has toured with bands led by Anthony Braxton, Ian Carr and Mike Gibbs and has collaborated with such jazz stars as Brecker and Keith Jarrett during his career.

Wheeler’s discography includes more than 20 recordings, including his 1975 solo album “Song For Someone,” which earned him Melody Maker Album of the Year honors. His most recent release, 2005’s “What Now” features Wheeler with bassist Dave Holland, pianist John Taylor and tenor saxophonist Chris Potter.

In addition to his noted performance skills, Wheeler is equally regarded as a composer, especially his works for jazz orchestras and large ensembles. He also remains an active music educator and is a member of the faculty at the prestigious Canadian Banff Workshop.

While Monheit and Wheeler may headline Lawrence’s Jazz Weekend, they are only part of the two-day celebration. More than 40 high school and middle school jazz ensembles from throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest will perform in seven educational workshop sites throughout the day on Friday.

From 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, the Lawrence Memorial Chapel stage will showcase continuous performances by visiting artist and educators, Lawrence jazz big bands, combos and the Faculty Jazz Sextet. All of the Saturday daytime performances are free and open to the public

This year’s visiting clinicians include Michelle Weir, the vocal jazz director at UCLA and co-conductor of the World Youth Choir; Matt Harris, one-time pianist/arranger with Maynard Ferguson and Buddy Rich and current director of jazz studies at the University of California, Northridge; Clay Jenkins, jazz professor at the Eastman School of Music in New York and former jazz trumpet soloist with Stan Kenton, Harry James, Buddy Rich and Count Basie; Steve Sveum, instrumental music teacher at Sun Prairie High School whose jazz ensemble has been a four-time national finalist in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s “Essentially Ellington” jazz festival; and Jennifer Scovell, vocal jazz director at McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minn.

Launched in 1981 as a way to bring professional jazz artists to the campus, establish a non-competitive jazz festival and promote jazz education, Lawrence’s Jazz Celebration Weekend has evolved into one of the area’s premier jazz events, hosting a veritable “Who’s Who” of jazz luminaries during its storied history, among them Dizzy Gillespie, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and Diana Krall.

“When we started the festival in 1981, we had 60 instrumental students from four local high schools in attendance and presented a single concert,” said Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence.

“Within five years, we had grown to the point where we had more than a thousand vocal and instrumental students coming in from 60 schools throughout the Midwest and concert headliners like Dizzy Gillespie and Gerry Mulligan. Over the years, the lure of Jazz Celebration Weekend has been the performances by international jazz stars and our unique non-competitive festival philosophy.”

Research Challenges with Native Americans Focus of Lawrence University Biomedical Ethics Series Lecture

Anthropologist Carolyn Smith-Morris will discuss the social, political and legal challenges facing ethnographic and biological researchers working with Native Americans in the second installment of Lawrence University’s three-part 2005-06 Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics.

Smith-Morris, assistant professor of anthropology at Southern Methodist University, presents “The Ethics of Research in Indian Country: An Anthropological Perspective” Friday, Nov. 11 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

A specialist in cross-cultural medical ethics, Smith-Morris will share insights from her nearly 10 years as a researcher among the Pima Indians of Southern Arizona, a tribe better known for high rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes than for its culture and history. Much of her research was conducted during the Pima’s most hostile and unwelcoming years toward outsiders since the Pueblo Revolt of the late 1600s.

The presentation will focus on methodologies and policies that work best between researchers and tribes amid contemporary tensions — traditional /modern, Indian/Anglo, natural/technological — as well as tribal fears that research data will be misrepresented or used unethically. Smith-Morris also will address the biomedical principle of “individual autonomy” in consent for treatment and for research and how that principle often conflicts with traditional Indian culture mores of strong family, community and other group-based modes of decision-making.

A member of the SMU anthropology department since 2002, Smith-Morris first began working with indigenous peoples with field research among Australian Aborigines of western New South Wales. She earned her bachelor’s degree in anthropology from Emory University and her Ph.D. with an emphasis in medical anthropology from the University of Arizona.

Smith-Morris’ appearance is supported by the Edward F. Mielke Lectureship in Ethics in Medicine, Science and Society. The lectureship was established in 1985 by the Mielke Family Foundation in memory of Dr. Edward F. Mielke, a leading member of the Appleton medical community and the founder of the Appleton Medical Center.

History of Science Scholar Discusses Mesopotamian Astronomy at Lawrence University

Francesca Rochberg, a scholar on the history of science, presents “The Astronomies of Ancient Mesopotamia” Monday, Oct. 31 in a Archaeological Institute of America lecture at Lawrence University. The presentation, at 7:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium, is free and open to the public. An informal reception with the speaker will follow the address.

A professor of history at the University of California, Riverside, who focuses on ancient astronomy and astrology, Rochberg will discuss the development of Mesopotamian celestial science in the second millennium B.C. and provide context for its place in relation to Western astronomy traditions.

Rochberg was a 1982 recipient of one of the $500,000 MacArthur Foundation “genius grants” and also was awarded a prestigious Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1994. She has written extensively on Babylonian astrology, astronomy, cosmology and is the author of three books, including “Babylonian Horoscopes,” for which she was awarded the John Frederick Lewis Award from the American Philosophical Society in 1999. Her latest book, “The Heavenly Writing: Divination, Horoscopy and Astronomy in Mesopotamian Culture” was published in 2004.

She earned a bachelor’s degree in Oriental Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Languages from the University of Chicago.

Lawrence University Receives $200,000 Grant for Expansion of Nanoscience Program

Lawrence University has been awarded a $200,000 grant by the National Science Foundation’s Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education program to support an expansion of its growing nanotechnology and nanoscience initiative. Lawrence was one of only 15 institutions nationally to receive the NSF-NUE grant.

The grant will enable Lawrence to incorporate nanoscience experiments and activities into core geology and environmental science courses during the next two years. This is the second NSF-NUE grant Lawrence has received in the past three years. A $100,000 NSF-NUE grant in 2003 helped launch Lawrence’s nanotechnology and nanoscience program, which began by focusing on interdisciplinary research opportunities in chemistry, physics and biochemistry.

Nanotechnology involves the scientific study and use of materials on an unimaginably small scale, including the manipulation of individual atoms. It is widely regarded as having the potential to revolutionize scientific research and science education.

‘Nano’ refers to a nanometer, which is approximately one eighty-thousandth the width of a human hair. Because nanomaterials typically exhibit different characteristics than those in larger forms, they provide unique and innovative applications in areas ranging from medicine and national security to environmental technology and consumer products.

“Lawrence is one of only a few liberal arts colleges in the country that is aggressively incorporating nanoscience into its science curriculum,” said Karen Nordell, associate professor of chemistry and the leader of Lawrence’s nanoscience initiative. “We’re excited about the new opportunities this latest NSF grant will provide, allowing us to expand and strengthen our nanoscience offerings into additional fields.”

Beyond curricular and research activities, the NSF grant will support the purchase of several pieces of sophisticated equipment specifically designed for the study of nanomaterials as well as other laboratory and classroom materials. The grant also will fund the development of several outreach programs, including conferences and workshops for area K-12 teachers and a partnership with the ArtsBridge America program.

“Nanoscience has tremendous potential to attract additional students to science, technology, engineering and mathematics careers,” Nordell said. “Lawrence’s expanded program will enable students and faculty to conduct interdisciplinary research projects not only on our campus but through collaborations with faculty and students at other universities as well. We hope to help raise awareness among undergraduates, middle and high school students and teachers of the many ways that nanoscale science is affecting our daily lives.”

Two Lawrence University Ensembles Selected as Featured Performers for State Music Conference

Lawrence University musicians will be exceptionally well represented as performers and composers when the 2005 Wisconsin Music Educators Association holds its annual state conference Oct. 26-29 in Madison.

The award-winning Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Fred Sturm, will pay tribute to some of Wisconsin’s most notable contributors to jazz with a pair of conference performances entitled “Homage to Wisconsin Jazz Composers” Oct. 26-27 at the Monona Terrace Convention Center. The Lawrence University Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Andrew Mast, will perform Friday, Oct. 28.

The 19-member Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble will be the conference’s opening day featured performer with a Wednesday evening concert and return to the stage first thing again the next morning for a second show. The two performances will feature 10 pieces each, collectively representing the work of 20 different composers and arrangers from across several important Wisconsin jazz constituencies.

Among the featured works will be four by retired state jazz education pioneers, including “Lady in Satin” by Oshkosh native and 1957 Lawrence graduate John Harmon, who founded the college’s award-winning jazz studies program in 1971; five by current Wisconsin university jazz educators, including “Nzemo Na Mvula Zamba” by Sturm and “Minor Surgery” arranged by Neenah native Marty Robinson, a 1989 Lawrence graduate now teaching at UW-Oshkosh; three Wisconsin school directors; two state natives who graduated from Wisconsin universities; three writers associated with Wisconsin jazz publishers; and three of Wisconsin’s greatest jazz stars, Woody Herman, the legendary big-band leader from Milwaukee, Lyle Mays of Wausaukee, the renowned keyboardist/composer with the Pat Metheny Group and noted contemporary jazz pianist Geoff Keezer from Eau Claire.

“This is both a great honor and a great opportunity for our students to play at the state conference,” said Sturm, whose collegiate ensembles have been cited by Downbeat magazine as America’s best eight times. “There are some terrific jazz programs in Wisconsin and we all vie for a spot on the annual conference program. We submitted some recordings last May and when I found out they offered us two programs, I could not have been more thrilled. This conference is really a wonderful way to showcase our talented student musicians to jazz educators from around the state.”

Collectively the recipient of two outstanding performance awards by Downbeat magazine as well as numerous other individual awards, the Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble has long been recognized as one of the country’s premier undergraduate jazz bands. It performs and records frequently, presenting cutting edge large ensemble literature, historically significant works, Lawrence student and faculty compositions and arrangements and accompanies visiting jazz solo artists.

Mast, in his second year as director of bands at Lawrence, will lead the Lawrence University Wind Ensemble in a four-piece concert at 11 a.m. on Friday Oct 28 at the Monona Terrace. Two of his program’s works will have strong Lawrence ties.
One piece, “My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone,” was composed by Percy Grainger and arranged by Sturm in honor of long-time Lawrence music professor Fred Schroeder, who was the director of bands at Lawrence from 1951-78.

Another piece, “Villanelle,” will feature James DeCorsey, Lawrence associate professor of music, on French horn. DeCorsey also wrote the arrangement for the Paul Dukas composition.

“‘Villanelle’ is a terrific piece originally composed as a contest piece for the Paris Conservatory, so it has moments of both beauty and fire,” said Mast, who was director of Bands at St. Ambrose University in Davenport, Iowa, before joining the Lawrence faculty in 2004. “And the 1998 arrangement of ‘My Robin,’ is a gorgeous and loving setting of this piece that happens to have two great Lawrence connections.”

The 55-member Lawrence University Wind Ensemble is selected from the top wind and percussion students in the Lawrence Conservatory of Music and regularly performs five to seven concerts throughout the academic year, frequently with guest soloists, conductors and composers. Their latest recording, “Air Mosaic” was released in the spring of 2005.

Lawrence University Celebrates John Harmon’s 70th Birthday with Musical Tribute

Acclaimed composer and jazz pianist John Harmon is having a milestone birthday on Oct. 25 and Lawrence University is throwing a musical tribute to commemorate the 1957 graduate’s special occasion.

The 2005 Lawrence Jazz Alumni Showcase Concert will celebrate Harmon’s 70th birthday in style with a program featuring many of his original works performed by a cast of Wisconsin’s most notable jazz performers. The tribute concert, Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton, is free and open to the public.

Harmon, who will perform a “classical” solo during the concert, will be joined on stage by many of his long-time friends and collaborators, among them singer Janet Planet, saxophonist Tom Washatka, trumpeter Bob Levy, guitarist Tom Theabo, trombonist Kurt Dietrich, bassist John Gibson and drummer Mike Hale. Harmon’s wife, Linda, and son, Noah, both pianists, also will perform during the musical celebration.

“John Hamon has literally touched the lives of thousands of artists, students, teachers and loyal fans,” said Fred Sturm, director of jazz studies and improvisational music at Lawrence and a former student of Harmon’s at Lawrence. “How fitting that his Lawrence legacy can be celebrated here where it all began nearly a half century ago.”

Harmon has established himself as one of America’s busiest composers and jazz pianists as well as an exceptional music educator. His extensive body of recordings include a solo piano album of his own compositions (“Rite of Passage”), works for symphony orchestra and wind ensemble, (“Bobby Shew: The Music of John Harmon”) and scorings of his original songs for voice and chamber orchestra (“Strings Attached”). Jazz standards and original compositions are featured on “An Evening of Jazz with the John Harmon Trio” and “More Beautiful than Planned” with Planet.

His music has been commissioned and performed by the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, “The Orchestra” of Los Angeles, the Fox Valley Symphony, the Santa Fe Chamber Orchestra, The Mirecourt Trio, jazz trumpeter Bobby Shew, Brazilian singer Flora Purim and the Either Orchestra. Harmon also co-founded the critically acclaimed contemporary nonet Matrix in 1974, which has recorded six albums, including 2002’s “Proud Flesh.”

An Oshkosh native and current Winneconne resident, Harmon has served as composer-in-residence for more than 40 elementary and secondary schools and has held a continuing role as composer-in-residence for the Red Lodge Music Festival in Montana since 1991.

His musical achievements and educational contributions have been widely recognized and include the Wisconsin Music Educators Association’s Distinguished Service Award in 1999 and the Fox Valley Arts Council’s Renaissance Award in 2000. Harmon also was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts degree last June by Lawrence and he was named a Fellow of the Wisconsin Academy of Science, Arts and Letters in July, 2005.

After graduating from Lawrence in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in music composition, Harmon studied with legendary jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, worked as a pianist and arranger in New York City and fronted a jazz trio that toured Europe in 1963. On his return to the states, he recorded the album “Lost in Sound” with jazz saxophonist Yusef Lateef. He also worked with Belgian composer Henri Pousseur while studying at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Harmon returned to his alma mater to serve as the first director of Lawrence’s jazz studies program (1971-74).

State Health Care Executive Opens Lawrence University Biomedical Ethics Lecture Series

One of Wisconsin’s leading advocates for the public disclosure of information on health care quality as a means of improving patient care will examine cost and quality challenges facing doctors and hospitals in the opening address of Lawrence University’s three-part 2005-06 Edward F. Mielke Lecture Series in Biomedical Ethics.

Christopher Queram presents “In Pursuit of Value: The Evolution of Quality-Based Purchasing” Tuesday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Queram, who has served as chief executive of the Employer Health Care Alliance Cooperative (The Alliance) in Madison since 1993, recently was named executive director of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality.

The collaborative, which includes hospitals, physician groups, employers and labor unions from around the state, focuses on formulating accepted measures of health care quality for doctors and hospitals.

Both the Menasha-based Affinity regional health care network and the ThedaCare medical delivery network based in Appleton are members of the Wisconsin Collaborative for Healthcare Quality.

Queram will examine current issues confronting the health care industry, including cost, quality, system dysfunction and the lack of informed and “value” conscious purchasers and consumers. He also will discuss the importance of employers creating a clear strategy to deal with spiraling health care costs, review challenges to a value-based purchasing health care model and suggest ways to create incentives for improving health care quality.

Active in numerous health care-related organizations, Queram is a member of the State of Wisconsin’s boards on Health Care Information and Private Employer Health Care and is a former chair of the board of the National Business Coalition on Health as well as a former president of the Wisconsin Business Coalition on Health.

He served on President Clinton’s Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, is a current member of the Planning Committee for the National Quality Forum and is a clinical instructor for Programs in Health Management at the University of Wisconsin.

As CEO of The Alliance, Queram oversees a non-profit cooperative that serves more than 700 corporations in Dane County and southern Wisconsin, representing more than 110,000 individual health-care subscribers.

A hospital executive in Madison and Milwaukee before joining The Alliance, Queram earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and history and a master‘s degree in health management from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Queram’s appearance is supported by the Edward F. Mielke Lectureship in Ethics in Medicine, Science and Society. The lectureship was established in 1985 by the Mielke Family Foundation in memory of Dr. Edward Mielke, a leading member of the Appleton medical community and the founder of the Appleton Medical Center.

Lawrence University Graduate Discusses Development, Uses of Mass Spectrometry in Science Hall Colloquium

Gary Van Berkel, an award-winning researcher at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, discusses the development and applications of mass spectrometry Tuesday, Oct. 18 in a Lawrence University Science Hall Colloquium.

A 1982 Lawrence graduate and Appleton native, Van Berkel presents “What is Mass Spectrometry?” at 11:10 a.m. in Science Hall Room 102. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Van Berkel will provide an overview of the history of mass spectrometry and explain how this important analytical technique is used to identify unknown compounds, quantify known compounds and clarify the structure and chemical properties of molecules. He also will examine some of the practical uses of mass spectrometry, ranging from the detection and identification of steroids in athletes to determining gene damage caused by environmental factors.

A member of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s staff since 1987 and the leader of the lab’s Organic and Biological Mass Spectrometry Group since 2001, Van Berkel was honored in June with the Biemann Medal by the American Society for Mass Spectrometry. The international award recognizes significant achievement in basic or applied mass spectrometry. Van Berkel was cited for his research contributions related to the electrochemical nature of the electrospray ion source.

After earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Lawrence, Van Berkel earned a Ph.D. in analytical chemistry from Washington State University.

Cultural Contributions of Medieval Scribe Focus of Lawrence University Address

Medieval art scholar Lawrence Nees will examine the life and cultural contributions of Godescalc, a talented, but largely unknown, 8th-century scribe of King Charlemagne, in a Lawrence University address.

Nees, professor of art history at the University of Delaware, presents “The Career of Godescalc, Artist at the Court of Charlemagne,” Thursday, Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center Auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Nees will trace the works of Godescalc, the “ultimate servant,” during the “cultural flowering” of Charlemagne’s reign. The presentation will focus on Godescalc’s role in the creation of numerous important works of art for Charlemagne and his circle of advisors, especially the “Godescalc Evangeliary,” a set of illuminated gospels commissioned by Charlemagne and his wife, Hildegard.

A specialist in the art of the early Middle Ages, Nees is the author of several books, including “The Gundohinus Gospels; From Justinian to Charlemagne: European Art A.D. 565-787” and “A Tainted Mantle: Hercules and the Classical Tradition at the Carolingian Court and Early Medieval Art 300-1000.” A member of the University of Delaware’s art history department since 1978, Nees earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D from Harvard University.

Nees’ appearance is supported by the William A. Chaney Lectureship, which brings distinguished speakers in the humanities to the Lawrence campus. The lectureship was established in 1999 in honor of Chaney’s retirement as the George McKendree Steele Professor of History. He was the longest serving faculty member at the time of his retirement, having taught at the college for 47 years.

American Chemical Society President Examines Global Challenges to Chemistry at Lawrence University Seminar

An address by the president of the American Chemical Society will highlight a seminar celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Northeast Wisconsin section of the ACS Tuesday, Oct. 11 at Lawrence University.

William Carroll presents “The Chemistry Enterprise 2015: Do We Have a Future, or What?” at 6 p.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

A vice president at Occidental Chemical Corporation, Carroll will examine the issues facing the industrial, educational and governmental aspects of the U.S. chemical enterprise in the global marketplace. Carroll will discuss energy and raw material supply, the global mobility of students for both undergraduate and graduate education, intellectual property protection and the use of taxation and other incentives to maintain and attract chemical businesses.

Carroll, who holds two patents, began his chemical industry career in 1978. He joined what is now Occidental Chemical Corporation the following year. As Occidental’s vice president of Chlorovinyl Issues for OxyChem, he directs public policy issues related to chlorine and polyvinyl chloride (PVC).

He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, a member of the U.S. National Committee for the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry and has served on expert groups commissioned by the United Nations Environmental Program, the state of Florida and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. In 2000, Carroll was honored by the Vinyl Institute with the Roy T. Gottesman Leadership Award for lifetime achievement.

Carroll earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and physics from DePauw University and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Indiana University, where he holds an adjunct professor of chemistry position and teaches a course on polymer chemistry.
Lawrence University Associate Professor of Chemistry Karen Nordell is the current chair of the Northeast Wisconsin section of the ACS, which includes several hundred academic and chemical industry members from the region.