Lawrence alumni working in the entertainment industry visited campus Saturday to share their advice on pursuing careers in Hollywood. Alumni panelists working as actors, writers, directors, producers, and agents said Lawrence’s liberal arts education provides a solid foundation for successful careers in business – even “show business.” Read more.
Tag: Lawrence University
Megan Brown Awarded U.S. State Dept. Critical Language Scholarship
Lawrence University student Megan Brown has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Arabic this summer at the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan.
A senior linguistics major from Saginaw, Mich., Brown was among 575 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students awarded one of the state department’s critical language scholarships. She was selected from among nearly 5,300 applications.
Beginning June 13, Brown will spend 10 weeks in Jordan in a personalized, intensive language curriculum as well as various cultural activities. The scholarship covers all expenses during the 10-week program and includes a $1,000 stipend.
Brown, who has studied Chinese and French in addition to one year of Arabic at Lawrence, says “accurate communication is more essential than ever before due to the growing globalization of the world and the growth of the information industry.” She hopes to eventually work for the U.S. Department of State as a foreign service officer and work “for more integrated international relations.”
The CLS program was launched in 2006 to increase opportunities for American students to study critical-need languages overseas and expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical-need languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian, Indic (Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu) and Turkic (Turkish and Azerbaijani).
Four Lawrence University Students Awarded $25,000 Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships
Three Lawrence University students have been awarded Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships for the 2010-11 academic year and a fourth has been named an Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for 2011-12.
Jamie Gajewski, Natalie Grattan and Sonya Weston are among more than 500 students from 29 countries who have been named Rotary Scholars and awarded $25,000 scholarships for a year of graduate studies abroad beginning this fall. Sarah Ehlinger was awarded a scholarship beginning Fall 2011.
Grattan’s and Ehlinger’s scholarships were awarded through the Appleton Rotary Club and Rotary District 6220.
The Ambassadorial Scholarships provide students opportunities to study at participating universities in the 200 countries and geographical areas where Rotary clubs are active. While abroad, the scholars serve as “goodwill ambassadors” for their home countries by participating in community service projects and speaking at local Rotary club events, civic organizations and other forums.
“An important part of Rotary’s mission is to build peace, goodwill and friendships among the peoples of the world,” said Curt Detjen, president of the Appleton Rotary Club. “And we often do this one-on-one through programs like the Ambassadorial Scholarship program. Our club is so pleased to be involved and we congratulate these four women on the opportunity they have to make a difference.”
Nancy Wall, associate dean of the faculty and liaison for the Rotary Scholarship at Lawrence, called the award much more than just a chance to study abroad.
“This prestigious award brings great responsibility with the privilege,” said Wall. “In addition to excellent academic promise, scholars also must demonstrate honorable character and a sincere desire to act as an ambassador for the United States.
“Although Lawrence provides many opportunities for individualized learning, we remind students they are part of a learning community not only on but also beyond our campus,” Wall added. “Today’s students are part of a global community and the Ambassadorial Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn in that larger community.”
Gajewski, who graduated last December with a major in Spanish, will study Arabic at Egypt’s Alexandria University. She also plans to work on a volunteer projected focused on Egypt’s rural poverty or the empowerment of women. She hopes to document the daily life of Egyptians through photography and share those experiences with American audiences when she returns.
A trip to Morocco in 2007 while on a study-abroad program in Granada, Spain sparked Gajewski’s initial interest in Arabic. She will make a return visit to Spain in August on her to way to Egypt.
“While it would be much more comfortable for me to spend my Rotary year in Spain, I am prepared for the challenges, confusion, excitement and mysteries that await me in Egypt,” said Gajewski, who has been substitute teaching in the Fox Valley since earning her degree. “Most Ambassadorial Scholars who study in Egypt spend their year in Cairo, but I feel fortunate I will spend mine in the beautiful port city of Alexandria. It has so much history and a thriving arts scene. The Rotarians I have been in contact with there already have been extremely helpful and welcoming.”
Gajewski received her scholarship through the Madison Rotary Club and Rotary District 6250.
Grattan, a senior from Vancouver, Wash., majoring in biochemistry, will attend the University of Otago in Wellington, New Zealand to study public health. She plans to pursue medical school at the University of Washington when she returns and hopes to eventually work with the World Health Organization.
“As a premedical student interested in working in international infectious disease, I hope to learn about medicine not from the perspective of a doctor, but from a systems perspective,” said Grattan, who served two years as president of the student organization Students War Against Hunger and Poverty (SWAHP). “Learning how to prevent disease is just as important as learning to treat it and understanding the healthcare system of a country is critical to solving many of the underlying problems associated with health.”
Grattan has been active in efforts to raise money for a student scholarship fund for children in Sierra Leone. Last December, she spent three weeks in the West African country working with the elementary school students at Conforti School in Freetown and FAWE (Forum for African Women’s Educationalists) School in the rural village of Mattru Jong.
She also helped conduct nutrition and health surveys while she was there.
Weston, a 2007 Lawrence graduate from Macomb, Ill., will attend the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, pursuing coursework in Indian politics, history and society, focusing on the social and political implications of India’s burgeoning economic transformation. She also will undertake intensive Hindi language study.
“India finds itself competing with the United States and other highly-industrialized countries in many high-tech industries, but the country has yet to undergo the kind of broad-based industrialization that can deliver jobs to most of its people,” said Weston, who graduated with a major in government. “How India copes with the demands and expectations of diverse constituencies presents both challenges and opportunities.”
Weston, who was sponsored for her scholarship by the Macomb Rotary Club, is currently working as a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.
As a 2011-12 Rotary Scholar, Ehlinger, a junior from Wauwatosa, will have to wait a year before she heads to the University of Ghana in the capital city of Accra. While her interests include environmental hazards and human health, she is still deciding on which area to focus her studies.
“Ghana is a developing country and it’s doing a good job with its development. It’s a model of sorts for West Africa,” said Ehlinger, a geology major. “Developing countries have great environmental issues, but the least amount of resources and protections to mitigate those problems. That paradox is what interests me.
“I’ll learn the scientific aspect of these problems, but working with and learning from people who actually live there will provide valuable context in which these problems exist,” she added.
Ehlinger joined Grattan on last December’s service trip to Sierra Leone and is planning on returning there this December to conduct research on lead contamination in school yards.
Focused on humanitarian service, personal diplomacy and academic excellence, the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships program is one of the world’s largest privately sponsored international scholarship programs.
Established in 1947, the program has sponsored more than 40,000 scholars and counts among its alumni former U.S. Ambassador to India and 1959 Lawrence graduate David Mulford, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Jr. and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert.
Origins of Moon, Other Planetary Satellites Focus of Science Presentation
Penn State University astronomer Darren Williams presents “The Origin of the Moon and Other Planetary Satellites” Wednesday, May 26 at 8 p.m. at Lawrence University’s Thomas Steitz Science Hall Room 102. The address is free and open to the public.
The program will explore the leading theory on the formation of the Earth’s moon — a cosmic chance collision between a Mars–sized protoplanet and the infant Earth.
Williams also will discuss other bodies in the solar system that were formed from “rings of debris” and through gravity capture. According to Williams, examples of planetary satellites formed through gravity capture suggest moons the size of Earth could be commonplace around nearby stars in our galaxy.
A specialist on the origin and evolution of planet-satellite systems, Williams is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
His appearance is supported by the Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program of the American Astronomical Society, which brings professional astronomers to college campuses for two-day visits. The program is named for American astronomer and educator Harlow Shapley, who uncovered the dimensions of the Milky Way galaxy and Earth’s place in it.
President Obama Nominates Lawrence Alumnus for Ambassador Post
Lawrence alumnus Christopher W. Murray ’75, was nominated yesterday by President Obama to serve as Ambassador to the Republic of the Congo, a position in the U.S. Department of State.
In announcing Murray’s and other nominations, Obama said, “It gives me great confidence that such dedicated and capable individuals have agreed to join my administration and serve the American people. I look forward to working with them in the coming months and years.”
Murray is a career member of the Senior Foreign Service. He currently serves as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Mission to the European Union in Brussels. He previously served as Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassies in Lebanon and in Algeria. His other overseas assignments include Syria, a prior posting in Brussels, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Jamaica. At the State Department in Washington he has served in the Bureaus of Nonproliferation, European Affairs, International Organizations, and African Affairs. Murray received a B.A in Government from Lawrence University and a J.D. from Cornell Law School.n the U.S. Department of State.
Campbell Scott, Class of 1983, to Screen “Company Retreat” at the Warch Cinema Friday and Saturday
“Company Retreat,” a film written and directed by Campbell Scott ’83 will be shown twice this week at the Warch Campus Center, with Scott taking questions from the audience after both screenings.
The film follows the development of a fictional game show which places white-collar workers on teams opposite their company’s blue-collar workers. The zany characters clash as the stakes rise in the isolation of New York’s Adirondack mountains.
“It’s ostensibly a mockumentary in the Christopher Guest vein about a reality TV show doomed from its inception. It’s about what happens to a bunch of people when they end up in the mountains with nothing to do,” Scott said.
Scott has had a long and successful career, starring in such movies as “Longtime Companion,” “Roger Dodger,” “Music and Lyrics” and “The Secret Lives of Dentists.” His directorial efforts include the movies “Big Night,” “Off the Map” and “Company Retreat.” Scott’s most recent acting performances include recurring roles on the television shows Damages and Royal Pains.
“Company Retreat” will be shown at the Warch Campus Center Cinema at 7:15 p.m. Friday, May 21 and at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, May 22. Audience members are invited to stay after the film for a brief question and answer session with Scott.
Scott will also be participating in the Lawrence Scholars in Business Entertainment Industry Summit May 22 from 4-6 p.m., where alumni will be discussing careers in entertainment with Lawrence students. Click here for more information about the summit.
National Sustainability Expert Closes Environmental Lecture Series
Debra Rowe, president of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, examines the national challenges, solutions, trends and resources regarding sustainability in the final installment of Lawrence University’s 2010 Spoerl Lectures in Science and Society series “The Greening of Higher Education.
Rowe presents “Education and Action for a Sustainable Future” Wednesday, May 18 at 7 p.m. in Thomas Steitz Science Hall Room 202. The event is free and open to the public.
The presentation will include information for individuals and organizations on ways to build a higher quality of life based on a future of less scarcity and more sustainable abundance.
A national leader on sustainability initiatives, Rowe has been a professor of energy management and renewable energy for 30 years at Oakland Community College in Michigan. As director of the U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development, Rowe works with business, education, civic, government and faith leaders to engage them in sustainability initiatives.
Rowe is a frequent keynote speaker at national and international education conferences and has written extensively on the integration of sustainability into education.
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.
Two State Teachers Honored as “Outstanding Educators”
Sharon Easley, an English teacher at Lodi High School and Mary Newgard-Larson, an English and speech teacher at La Crosse Central High School, will be recognized Sunday, May 16 as the 2010 recipients of Lawrence University’s annual Outstanding Teaching in Wisconsin Award.
They will be presented a certificate, a citation and a monetary award by Lawrence President Jill Beck in ceremonies at the president’s house. In addition, their respective schools will receive $250 for library acquisitions.
They are the 53rd and 54th Wisconsin teachers honored for education excellence by Lawrence since the program was launched in 1985. Nominated by Lawrence seniors, recipients are selected on their abilities to communicate effectively, create a sense of excitement in the classroom, motivate their students to pursue academic excellence while showing a genuine concern for them in and outside the classroom.
Easley joined the Lodi High School faculty in 2005 after spending 13 years at the middle school. She began her teaching career in 1975 at Galena (Ill.) High School. In addition to her teaching responsibilities, she is the head coach of the Lodi forensics team, serves as advisor to the National Honor Society, helps direct student plays and was instrumental in establishing a foreign exchange program in Lodi that has expanded the world view of both her students and the entire community.
Her commitment to educational excellence has been recognized with numerous awards, including a Kohl Educational Scholarship, a Bellin Fellowship and a Council on Standards for International Education Travel Global Classroom Award. She also has received the Lodi School District’s Commitment to Excellence Award and been the recipient of the Lodi Outstanding Impact Award four times.
In nominating her for the award, Lawrence senior Amanda Van Lankvelt, a 2006 Lodi High School graduate, called Easley “a superb teacher,” citing her dedication to “individual attention and her support that continues long after students leave her class.”
A native of Cuba, Ill., Easley earned a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in education at UW-Platteville.
Newgard-Larson has taught at La Crosse Central High School since 1985 and is currently part of the school’s advanced placement vertical team, teaching World Humanities, pre-AP English and advanced speech classes. Known for her creative teaching methods and passion for learning, Newgard-Larson has been recognized with the La Crosse School District’s Excellence in Education Award, a Kohl Educational Scholarship and a fellowship from Northwestern University. The excellence of her work also was recognized with National Board Certification for English language arts.
Outside the classroom she is an advisor to the school’s chapter of Amnesty International and serves on the school district’s literacy steering committee.
Lawrence senior David Ranscht, a 2006 Central High School graduate, said Newgard-Larson “emanates profundity and wisdom and commands respect by her calm, thoughtful, inquisitive, knowledgeable demeanor” in nominating her for the award.
“She is a favorite both among her colleagues and her students,” said Rantsch. “Many students who take her classes in their first two years of high school return for a class she offers to seniors solely based on the fact that she teaches it.”
A former newspaper reporter and features editor in her hometown of Albert Lea, Minn., Newgard-Larson taught a story-telling class one summer in Ireland and for the past six years has served as an English methods instructor at Viterbo University.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Mankato State University and a master’s degree in professional development and education from UW-La Crosse.
Riverwalk Opened to the Public
The beautiful new Lawrence Riverwalk opened today, May 14, 2010. The quarter-mile-long trail is the innovative idea of 12 Lawrence students who participated in an environmental studies symposium with Associate Professor of Geology Andrew Knudsen.
The two-level trail loop, located just east of S. Lawe St. between the Warch Campus Center and the Fox River, features a crushed stone surface on its upper tract (designed to be bicycle and wheelchair accessible) and a natural wood-chip surface on the lower trail next to the riverbank.
The trail includes interpretive signs composed by Lawrence students on three subjects: the historic relationship between Lawrence and the Fox River; the early people who lived in the area; and the geological history of the Fox River. Professors Peter Peregrine, Carol and Ron Mason, Jeff Clark and Monica Rico in the anthropology, geology and history departments, respectively, assisted the students in developing the signs.
Highlighting the trail are two African sculptures created from serpentine stone by members of the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe. The two art works were part of a gift from Milwaukee art gallery owner David Barnett and his wife, Susan, a 1981 Lawrence graduate.
The trail also includes several large limestone benches for repose and reflection.
Crossing Lawe Street, the trail continues past the Sustainable Lawrence University Garden, visitors will notice several improvements including gated entrances to the garden, a new garden shed and arbor, and improved landscaping. Progress on the Gilboy Council Ring continues. A gift from Steven ’62 and Joan Gilboy P’90, it features a fire pit surrounded by a stone floor and limestone benches. When completed, the Gilboy Council Ring will add a picturesque meeting place to the Lawrence campus.
The Riverwalk adds a new dimension to the Lawrence campus. The proximity to the river and the restful quality of the trail, benches and art are welcome amenities to be enjoyed by members of the Lawrence and Fox Valley communities for years to come.
Environmental Series Presentation Looks Relationship Between the Arts, Sustainable Development
Amara Geffen, professor of art at Allegheny College, discusses the economic impact of the arts and their capacity to stimulate civic and community engagement in the second installment of Lawrence University’s 2010 Spoerl Lectures in Science and Society series, “The Greening of Higher Education.”
Geffen presents “The Role of the Arts in Sustainable Community Development,” Tuesday, May 18 at 7 p.m. in Thomas Steitz Science Hall Room 102. The presentation is free and open to the public.
Using examples of endeavors in Allegheny’s hometown of Meadville, Pa., and other locales, Geffen will discuss ways arts initiatives have stimulated creative economies and helped create healthy, vibrant communities.
A member of the Allegheny art department since 1982, Geffen specializes in projects that emphasize community collaboration and creative reuse and repurposing of materials and sites to illustrate the role of arts-based and sustainable community and economic development. Projects she has been involved with include an initiative that merges Earth art with best management practices in the environmental mitigation of stormwater runoff as part of an interstate highway interchange.
Geffen also directs Allegheny’s Center for Economic and Environmental Development and serves as the project director of the center’s Arts & Environment Initiative. She has been the recipient of grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation’s Artists and Communities program for collaborations with students and artist colleagues on behalf of the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and the greater Meadville community.
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.
