Lawrence University

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Lawrence Symphony Orchestra Changes Sunday Concert “Kickoff” Time to Avoid Packer Game Conflict

When it is a choice between bassoons and blitzes, flutes and footballs, trombones and touchdowns in northeast Wisconsin, Lawrence University Symphony Orchestra Director David Becker knows where priorities lie.

To accommodate both music lovers and Packer Backers, Becker has moved up the time of the Sunday, Jan. 23 Lawrence Symphony Orchestra concert to 12:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.  The concert was originally scheduled for 3 p.m.  The Green Bay Packers play the Chicago Bears in the NFC championship game at 2 p.m. on Sunday.

“I fully realize that there are people who are not interested in football and would still attend the LSO concert, but I’m also a realist and not just strictly arty,” said Becker.  “The Packers game is obviously a major event not only in this area, but throughout the state and going head-to-head with the game would seriously diminish an audience for our concert.

“Instead of competing with the big game, we want to serve as a ‘musical tailgate’ to it,” Becker added.  “We invite people to come and enjoy a great concert and then go cheer the Packers on to the Super Bowl.”

In keeping with the spirit of the day, people attending the concert are encouraged to wear their green and gold Packers gear.

Sunday’s 95-minute concert will feature works by Vaughan Williams, Poulenc and Rossini.  Guest performers include Lawrence seniors Dario LaPoma and Hazim Suhadi, co-winners of the 2010-11 concerto competition and Lawrence Associate Professor of Music James DeCorsey, horn.

Derrell Acon Wins Metropolitan Opera District Audition

Lawrence University senior Derrell Acon will be one of 18 singers competing in the Upper Midwest Region finals of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions Saturday, Feb. 5 in St. Paul, Minn.

Derrell Acon '11

Acon, a vocal performance and government major from St. Louis, Mo., advanced to the regional competition after being named one of four winners from among 25 singers at the five-state Metropolitan Opera’s district auditions Saturday, Jan. 15 in Lincoln, Neb. A bass-baritone, Acon performed the arias Come dal ciel precipita from Verdi’s “Macbeth” and La calunnia from Rossini’s “The Barber of Seville.” He was awarded $1,200 for his winning performance.

At the February regional competition, Acon will compete for a trip to New York City to participate in the March 6 national semifinals competition held at the Metropolitan Opera.

Wellness Center grand opening by the numbers

More than 500 Lawrence students, faculty and staff attended the grand opening of the Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center January 12, touring the renovated facility and participating in a variety of wellness-related activities:

Wellness stations on the self-guided tour

Blood donors

First-time blood donors

Visitors completing a “passport to wellness”

Sport bags distributed to students faculty and staff

Grand opening prizewinners:

  • Julian Delfino (student)—CopperLeaf Hotel overnight stay with dinner and spa package
  • Linda Peeters (Conferences and Summer Programs)—Ladies Fuji bike with accessories and helmet
  • Nathan Groth (student)—Men’s Fuji bike with accessories and helmet
  • Joyce Lambert (student)—4 Personal training sessions with LU Head Athletic Trainer, Erin Buenzli
  • Natasha Pugh (student)— Massage Connection gift certificate
  • Andrew Finley (student)—Massage Connection gift certificate
  • Josh Dukelow (Development)—Bon Appetit healthy treat basket

And the opening is just the beginning!

Lawrence University hopes you will take advantage of all the Wellness Center has to offer, as well as participate in regular wellness events such as:

  • Join the “On Your Mark, Get Set, Go!” eight-week physical activity program.  Pick up your activity log and a yellow WelLU wristband at the Wellness Center main entrance reception desk. Log your physical activity in increments of 10 minutes and when you’ve completed 400 minutes, turn your log in at the reception desk and receive a new log and green WelLU wristband. Record another 400 minutes of activity for a total of 800 minutes by Friday, March 11, and get a blue WelLU wristband. Wear your wristbands on campus to demonstrate your commitment to being physically active!
  • Check out the new Wellness Center website which is easily accessible through a link on the Lawrence University home page and be sure to visit the link to the WelLU website regularly. The WelLU website features:
  1. FROM THE HEART – Share your personal wellness-related story and read success stories shared by other LU faculty, staff and students
  2. SUGGESTION BOX – What type of wellness programs would you like to see on campus?  Share your suggestions and your feedback with one simple online click
  3. WelLU BLOG – Find out about the latest wellness “happenings” on campus
  4. 2011 MONTHLY HEALTH CALENDAR
  5. NEWSLETTERS – featuring information and resources on the many dimensions of wellness (physical, emotional, environmental, etc.)
  6. PRESENTATIONS: View a video of John Shier’s March 2010 presentation to the Lawrence Community on “How To Live Long and Die Healthy”; View a variety of PowerPoint presentations and recorded webinars on topics such as “Getting Active”, “Letting Go Of Stress”, “Self-Care”, and more!
  7. RECIPES
  8. LINKS to Well City Fox Cities, the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association and many other respected organizations
  9. LINKS to “Student Wellness”, “Health & Counseling Services”, “Athletics”, the “Buchanan Kiewit Wellness Center”, “LU Library Wellness Resources”, “Smoke-Free Campus Map” and more!
  10. Lawrence University’s Healthy Balance Statement
  11. PHA’S – detailed annual aggregate Personal Health Assessment reports

Welcome to Wellness at Lawrence University!

Martin Luther King’s Enduring Spirit Theme of Community Celebration of Civil Rights Leader Hosted by Lawrence University

Ysaye Barnwell, author, actress, composer and long-time member of the internationally renowned African-American a cappella ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock, delivers the keynote address at the 20th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Monday, Jan. 17 at 6:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

The celebration, presented by Lawrence University and Toward Community: Unity in Diversity with the support of numerous Fox Valley organizations, churches and individuals, is free and open to the public. The Post-Crescent and WFRV-TV CBS 5 are media partners for the event.

The theme for this year’s celebration is “Building a Vocal Community: The Enduring Spirit of Dr. King.”

“In 1967, Dr. King reminded us that ‘the arc of the moral universe is long but it bends toward justice.’ That message is just as relevant today as it was then,” said Kathy Flores, the chair of the MLK Committee and the diversity coordinator for the city of Appleton. “While many years have passed since Dr. King was assassinated, it is still so important that we remember his work, which was instrumental in the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and also helped pave the way for the difficult conversations we continue to have today about race, economics, politics, religion, abilities, gender and sexual orientation.

“The Fox Cities certainly has changed considerably in the last 20 years,” Flores added, “but our visionary leaders who founded this celebration could see that our beautiful diversity would continue to grow and become something we embrace in the spirit of Dr. King.”

Pa Lee Moua, assistant dean of students for multicultural affairs at Lawrence, said it is up to today’s citizens to create the kind of society King envisioned.

“A strong community replicates strong citizens, people who support, embrace and educate others on the importance of diversity, social justice and civic engagement,” said Moua. “As Dr. King said, ‘Every step toward the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.’ He took the first step, now it is up to all of us to continue the journey. It is only then that we will be able to create a community that portrays equal opportunity, respect and justice for all.”

Ysaye Barnwell

Barnwell joined Sweet Honey in the Rock in 1979 and has appeared as a vocalist and/or instrumentalist on more than 30 recordings with the ensemble and other artists.

During the past 25 years, Barnwell has established herself as a composer/arranger and master teacher in African-American cultural performance. She developed the workshop “Building a Vocal Community: Singing in the African-American Tradition” that utilizes African-American history, values, cultural and vocal traditions to build community among singers and non-singers alike. The workshop has been conducted around the world and her pedagogy serves as a model for educators, cultural activists and historians.

A native New Yorker who has lived in Washington, D.C., the past 40 years, Barnwell has written two children’s books and composed numerous commissioned works for choral, film, video, dance and theatrical projects, including “Truth Pressed to Earth Shall Rise,” a choral work in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. that premiered in 2003 by the Choral Arts Society of Washington, D.C.

Her acting credits include voice-over narration for film, video and radio productions, including the NPR documentary “W.C. Handy’s Blues” and appearances in the 1998 Jonathan Demme film “Beloved.”

Barnwell earned a Ph.D. in speech pathology from the University of Pittsburgh and taught for more than 10 years at Howard University. She later administered health programs at Children’s Hospital National Medical Center and at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C.

Highlighting the celebration will be the presentation of Toward Community’s annual Jane LaChapelle McCarty Unity in Diversity Award, which honors an area individual who has made great strides in bringing different people in the community together.

The celebration also features readings by area student winners of the annual Martin Luther King essay contest and musical performances led by Barnwell, Lawrence junior Michael Pope, as well as other Lawrence students.

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

Get “Happy” in Wild Space Dance Company Performance in Stansbury Theatre

Inspired by the quest for joy, exuberance and delight, seven members of Milwaukee-based Wild Space Dance Company present the critically acclaimed program “Speaking of Happiness” Friday, Jan. 14 at 8 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Stansbury Theatre.

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

Witty, insightful, compelling and emotionally charged, “Speaking of Happiness” conveys sentiments of warmth and tolerance through intimate gestures and small human interactions in 24 overlapping episodes performed in 80 minutes. One reviewer described the program as “ingenious in a thousand small ways.”

The program is a collaboration among Wild Space Artistic Director Debra Loewen and choreographers Monica Rodero and Dan Schuchart. Dancers with Wild Space for the past eight years, Rodero and Schuchart serve as artists-in-residence in Lawrence’s theatre arts department.

According to Loewen, the production grew out of a conversation she had with Rodero and Schuchart about ideas and writings on the subject of happiness.

“This performance looks beneath the surface at our elusive pursuit of happiness and asks, ‘How do we find it? Why does it matter?”’ said Loewen. “It weaves the obvious with the mysterious, outward appearance with hidden emotions and how we think and express happiness.”

Wild Space Dance Company has served as a company-in-residence at Lawrence since 2000, bringing professional dance to the Lawrence community and providing students principles of dance art in performance through classes and workshops taught by Loewen and members of her company.

Described as “richly imaginative and witty” by the New York Times, Wild Space Dance Company was founded in 1986. Known for site-specific dance events and artistic collaborations, Wild Space combines dance with visual art, film, text, architecture and unusual environments in an effort to expand the audience for contemporary dance throughout Wisconsin.

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)