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Lawrence University Shack-a-thon: Raising Awareness, Funds to Fight Homelessness

APPLETON, WIS. — Five years after launching a volunteer project to raise awareness about homelessness and support the local Fox Cities chapter of Habitat for Humanity, Lawrence University students will see their original dream realized later this year.

Thanks to Shack-a-thon, an annual event held each May since 2002, Lawrence students finally reached their goal last spring of raising $20,000, the threshold necessary to partner with other area organizations to sponsor the construction of an area Habitat for Humanity home.

But that doesn’t mean the work is finished. Once again nearly 20 teams of Lawrence students representing a cross section of campus organizations will put their creative engineering acumen to the test Saturday, May 12, turning the Main Hall Green into a weekend shantytown for the sixth edition of Shack-a-thon.

“The objective of this year’s Shack-a-thon is to really return to the roots of how it began,” said senior Emily Palmer, events coordinator at the Lawrence Volunteer and Community Service Center and past president of the campus chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

“Shack-a-thon’s original goal was to co-sponsor a local Habitat for Humanity house. Now that we’ve reached our goal, it is time to remember why we set it in the first place. This year’s event focuses on the current local situation in the Fox Cities. Poverty is not some far away problem in some poor country in Africa. It is right here, in our own town and we have the power and resources to do something about it.”

Palmer said organizers of this year’s Shack-a-thon have set a goal of raising $4,000, which will be donated to the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity to be used at its discretion wherever the need is most warranted.

Beginning early Saturday (5/12)afternoon, students will construct makeshift shelters out of donated and salvaged materials while competing for the title of “Best Shack.” The shacks will remain up until mid-morning Sunday with at least one member of each team required to remain overnight in the shack. Funds are raised through pledges students collect for participating in the event. A panel of Lawrence faculty will serve as judges to determine the winner of this year’s “best shack” contest.

In keeping with this year’s theme of returning to Shack-a-thon’s roots, John Weyenberg, executive director of the Fox Cites chapter of Habitat for Humanity, will discuss at 4:30 p.m. local Habitat activities, the housing needs facing Appleton and the Fox Cities and how Habitat is working to alleviate those needs.

Live music will be performed throughout the afternoon by several Lawrence student bands and the Will Smith movie “The Pursuit of Happyness” will be shown outside beginning at 9 p.m. In the event of inclement weather, the movie will be shown in Riverview Loung of the Lawrence Memorial Union.

A candlelight vigil will be held on the Main Hall Green following the movie to commemorate all those who are living with inadequate housing.

Lawrence University’s Falletta-Cowden Awarded Field Research Fellowship in Cyprus

APPLETON, WIS. — Ashlan Falletta-Cowden isn’t looking forward to having to take her final exams a week earlier than her Lawrence University classmates. But such is the price for a six-week summer fellowship to conduct field research in Cyprus.

Cowden was one of 10 students nationally recently awarded a National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates (NSF-REU) scholarship to Davidson College’s Archaeology Field School in Cyprus.

The scholarship, worth up to $6,100, will support Falletta-Cowden’s work with the Athienou Archaeological Project, a multidisciplinary project in south-central Cyprus focusing on the site of Athienou-Malloura and the surrounding valley. The site was used for nearly 2,500 years and encompasses the Archaic, Classical, Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Frankish, Venetian and Ottoman periods in the island’s history.

Falletta-Cowden, a sophomore from Petaluma, Calif., pursuing a double major in art history and anthropology, leaves June 2 for Cyprus, where she will assist with an excavation of an ancient temple site in the archaeologically rich Malloura valley. In addition to learning research methods through her fieldwork, Falletta-Cowden will design her own individualized research project as part of the program.

“This will certainly be a unique experience,” said Falletta-Cowden, whose mother is an archaeologist. “Cyprus is such a fascinating, diverse place, with many different influences.”

Working in teams of four or five students with a supervisor, daily field excavations will start at 6:30 in the morning and run until mid-afternoon. Beyond the field exercise, Falletta-Cowden will attend lectures by specialists on such topics as archaeological reconnaissance, topographical surveying and dating methods. The program also includes a comprehensive survey of Cypriote history, art and archaeology from the Neolithic period to the Modern era as well as visits to other archaeological sites and museums.

“This should be such a powerful experience,” Falletta-Cowden said. “It fuses my majors so beautifully. It will be a great way to explore my interests in both art history and archaeology. I’m looking forward to working with the specialists and actually handling artifacts that haven’t been touched since ancient times.”

The Athienou Archaeological Project was established by Davidson College in 1990. Since its founding, more than 300 undergraduate and graduate students as well as specialists or professional archaeologists representing more than 45 North American and European institutions, have participated in the project as trainees or staff members.

Award-winning Poet Elizabeth Robinson Conducts Reading at Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — Poet Elizabeth Robinson, a three-time recipient of the Gertrude Stein Award for Innovative American Poetry, conducts a reading of her works Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. A book signing and reception with the author will follow the reading.

Prior to the reading, Robinson will field questions in an open forum at 4:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Main Hall, Room 104. Both events are free and open to the public.

The author of eight collections of poems, Robinson’s most recent work, “Under That Silky Roof” (2006), explores the interplay of domestic life, focusing on topics such as companionship, its fecundity and its losses. Robinson also ventures into the manifestations of the abstract, what she calls “the brick floor from which the kingdom of God extends or could extend.”

Two of her more recent titles, “Apprehend” (2003) and “Pure Descent” (2003), were recognized with the Fence Modern Poetry Series award and the National Poetry Series award, respectively.

Her works have appeared in the Colorado Review, the Denver Quarterly and New American Quarterly, among others. Her writing also has been featured in numerous anthologies including Writing from the New Coast, Poetes Americains and American Poetry: The Next Generation. In addition to writing, Robinson serves as co-editor of 26, a magazine of poetry and poetics and EtherDome Press, which publishes chapbooks by emerging women poets.

Robinson earned a bachelor’s degree from Bard College, a master’s degree in creative writing from Brown University, a master’s degree in religious studies and a master’s degree in ethics, both from the Pacific School of Religion.

She has taught at the University of San Francisco, San Francisco State University and is currently an assistant professor of English at the University of Colorado.

Robinson’s appearance is sponsored by the Mia T. Paul Poetry Fund. Established in 1998, the endowed fund brings distinguished poets to campus for public readings and to work with students on writing poetry and verse.

Role of the World Bank in Fighting Poverty Concludes LU International Lecture Series

APPLETON, WIS. — Drawing upon his extensive experience in regional development throughout the world, a World Bank director examines the agency’s role in reducing poverty in the world’s poorest countries in the final installment of Lawrence University’s Povolny International Studies Lecture Series “Africa Today: Problems and Solutions.”

John Roome, operations director in the South Asia region of the World Bank, presents “The World Bank’s Role in Development” Monday, May 14 at 7 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

Roome’s address will focus on the strategies the World Bank has employed in tackling poverty, its achievements and the organization’s future role in an environment of changing patterns of aid and financing. He also will discuss the growing role of China in Africa and the emergence of private funding sources such as the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, which was created in January, 2002 by United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation jump started the Global Fund with an initial $100 million donation and a pledge of an additional $500 million last year.

Since joining the World Bank in 1989, Roome has worked extensively in Africa, focusing on infrastructure issues, including leading the Bank’s support for large roads programs in Tanzania and post-war Mozambique, the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, restructuring of the Southern African airline industry and reforming South Africa’s water pricing and allocation policies.

A native of South Africa, Roome earned a bachelor’s degree in statistics/actuarial science from the University of Cape Town and holds master’s degrees in econometrics and management studies from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

The “Africa Today: Problems and Solutions” lecture series is sponsored by the Mojmir Povolny Lectureship in International Studies. Named in honor of long-time Lawrence government professor Mojmir Povolny, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on issues of moral significance and ethical dimensions.

Lawrence Academy of Music Girl Choir Represents Wisconsin at Jamestown’s 400th Anniversary Celebration

APPLETON, WIS. — Thirty-one members of the Lawrence University Academy of Music Cantabile Girl Choir will lend their voices to one of the country’s biggest musical events of the year — the 400th anniversary celebration May 11-13 of the founding of the Jamestown colony in Virginia.

The Cantabile Choir has the distinction of being Wisconsin’s lone representative for the three-day-long “America’s Anniversary Weekend,” the centerpiece of an 18-month international commemoration of the 400th anniversary observance of the 1607 founding of Jamestown as America’s first permanent English settlement. The Anniversary Weekend will reintroduce the world to Jamestown, helping visitors discover how the settlement made democracy, free enterprise and cultural diversity defining characteristics of American society.

The Girl Choir’s 7th-9th grade singers will be among several dozen choirs representing nearly every state in the union who will combine to form a 1,607-voice choir Sunday, May 13 for a performance in the historic weekend’s grand finale event. The mega-choir will be backed by a 400-member orchestra selected from musicians from orchestras all around the country.

“We are certainly honored to have been selected to join other top-notch children’s, high school and even adult choirs from across the country for an event of this magnitude,” said Karen Bruno, director of the Academy of Music’s Cantabile Choir. “It’s a special thrill to represent the state of Wisconsin in this historic celebration and the girls are taking that honor very seriously.

“It’s always fun to go on tour, see new places, meet other talented musicians and perform for new audiences,” added Bruno, a 1993 Lawrence graduate. “I suspect the audience for this concert will have a few more dignitaries than we’re used to, including perhaps even her majesty the queen.”

Queen Elizabeth II of England is expected to visit Jamestown for part of the anniversary ceremonies.

The Sunday evening concert culminating the weekend celebration will include a live historical interpretative production told with music, dialogue, color and movement that recounts the key historical events of Jamestown in the years 1607-1619. A finale fireworks display timed and choreographed to the 400-member orchestra and the 1,607-voice choir closes the program.

In addition to their participation in the anniversary’s grand finale concert, Cantibile will be featured in a solo performance Friday afternoon (3:50 p.m.) as part of the weekend’s activities on the festival grounds. They will sing their own combination of American music, including Native American, Hawaiian and colonial-era works.

The choir was selected for the Jamestown celebration by audition tapes submitted from performances of the group during the last three years. Previous trips have taken the Cantibile Choir to New York’s Carnegie Hall and the Colorado Chautauqua in Boulder. The choir also was invited to perform at the 2003 international children’s choir festival in Toronto.

Other anniversary weekend events include a Friday performance of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra, both separately and then combined for the first time ever, to premiere several new works written especially for the commemoration. Saturday’s highlights include performances by three-time Grammy winner Bruce Hornsby & The Noise Makers, legendary funk and R&B artist Chaka Khan, and progressive bluegrass master Ricky Skaggs and his band Kentucky Thunder.

Lawrence University Conservatory of Music Presents Kaleidoscope Concert

The Lawrence University Conservatory of Music presents its first-ever Conservatory Kaleidoscope concert at 8:00 p.m. Saturday, October 21 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, downtown Appleton. Tickets for the concert are $12 for adults and $7 for senior citizens and students. Tickets are available at both the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749, and the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center Box Office, 920-730-3760.

The concert will showcase most of the university’s 365 music majors as well as young musicians from the Lawrence Academy of Music in a theatrical 75-minute show, performed in a continuous single set with no intermission. There will also be art displays in the lobby of the Performing Arts Center by Lawrence University student artists as well as local school children who are participating in ArtsBridge America, an arts and education outreach program that offers hands-on experiences in the arts to school-age children, placing university students in kindergarten through high school classrooms as instructors and teaching-artists.

“The Conservatory has grown dramatically over the past two decades, and we offer hundreds of public concerts and recitals each year. It’s impossible for anyone, even those of us working at Lawrence, to attend all of them. The Kaleidoscope concert presents a broad mix of Conservatory offerings in one concert,” said Fred Sturm, director of jazz and improvisational music at Lawrence University. “So many folks attending our Lawrence musical performances have expressed interest in a ‘sampler’ program featuring multiple facets of the Conservatory’s offerings. Kaleidoscope is a public platform in which most of our musical groups can strut their stuff in a single performance.”

The concert will feature 16 different student groups performing “in the round” utilizing the main stage, orchestra pit, eight side balconies, main floor, and upper balcony of the Performing Arts Center. “Kaleidoscope is a three ring musical circus in a slam-bang sequence of events. You won’t have time to applaud between selections, for as one group finishes, another will begin. You’ll be turning your head north, south, east, and west to watch groups on stage, in the orchestra pit, on the eight left and right side balconies, and behind you in the grand balcony above. It makes for a theatrical high-tech performance in the round, the likes of which we’ve never previously staged at Lawrence,” Sturm said.

Designed to both entertain and educate the public, the Kaleidoscope program will appeal to families and first-time concert attendees as well as regular Lawrence audience members. Accessible classical repertoire, musical theater, opera, jazz, and world music will be presented by six Lawrence large ensembles, eight chamber groups, a solo guitarist, and six hands performing on a single grand piano.

“Our ensemble conductors and faculty coaches have selected music that’s entertaining, accessible, and educational. It’s music that speaks to first-time concertgoers and general audiences, particularly families that love to experience live music together,” Sturm said.

Significant works spanning music history by Gabrieli, Verdi, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Hindermith, and Bernstein will be joined with selections by American blues artist Charles Calhoun and contemporary Broadway composer Rupert Holmes. World music by Argentine Tanguero Astor Piazzolla, Brazilian samba master Anibal Augusto Sardinha, the Bulgarian Mystery Voices, and Cuban bata drummers will also be featured.
University President Jill Beck will present the opening welcome and Dean of the Conservatory Robert Thayer will conduct the full Kaleidoscope cast in “Make Our Garden Grow,” the finale from Leonard Bernstein’s Candide.

The Kaleidoscope concert is sponsored by The Boldt Company. Lawrence University is deeply grateful to The Boldt Company for its generous support of this unique community arts showcase.

The Princeton Review Cites Lawrence University As One of Nation’s Best Colleges

Lawrence University has been recognized for its outstanding undergraduate education by the Princeton Review in its 2007 edition of the annual book “The Best 361 Colleges,” which was released today (8/22).

Only about 15% of the four-year colleges and universities in America, as well as two Canadian universities, are included in the book, which features student survey-based ranking lists of top 20 colleges in more than 60 categories, ranging from best professors, administration and campus food to student body political leanings, interest in sports and other aspects of campus life. The Princeton Review does not rank the colleges in the book 1 to 361 in any single category.

Lawrence was cited among the top 20 institutions in the nation in three of the book’s student-survey categories: 12th in how accessible professor’s make themselves to students outside the classroom; 12th in how accepting the campus is to the gay community; and 20th in how popular college theatre productions are on campus.

The various ranking lists in the 2007 edition of “The Best 361 Colleges” are based on The Princeton Review’s survey of 115,000 students — approximately 300 per campus on average — who attend the 361 colleges profiled in the book. A college’s appearance on one of the 60 lists is a result of a high consensus among the surveyed students about that subject. The 80-question survey asked students to rate their schools on several topics and report on their campus experiences at them.

Lawrence University Cited for Academic Excellence, Distinctive First-Year Program in U.S. News’ Annual Best College’s Guide

For the eighth straight year, Lawrence University’s academic excellence, including one of the country’s most distinctive first-year programs, placed it among the top quarter of the nation’s best liberal arts colleges in U.S. News & World Report’s 20th annual “America’s Best Colleges” report released Friday (8/18).

Lawrence was ranked 53rd among 215 leading national colleges and universities in U.S. News’ “Best Liberal Arts Colleges” category. Lawrence was the top-ranked institution in the national category from Wisconsin and Illinois.

In addition, Lawrence was again cited in U.S. News’ distinctive “First-Year Experiences” category for its signature curricular program, Freshman Studies. Lawrence has been included in the first-year experiences list every year since 2001 when U.S. News first introduced its “Programs to Look For” feature. The first-year experiences list is one of eight specialized categories the magazine uses to highlight what it calls “outstanding examples of academic programs that are believed to lead to student success.”

The specialized categories are not distinguished by institutional size or type, but include those cited as “stellar examples” most frequently in a survey of college presidents, chief academic officers and deans of admission. Institutions featured in the special categories are identified alphabetically rather than by a numerical ranking. Lawrence joined Duke, Princeton and Stanford universities, among other institutions, that were cited for distinctive first-year programs.

For the fourth year in a row, Williams College of Massachusetts earned the magazine’s top ranking among national liberal arts colleges, while Amherst College and Swarthmore College were ranked second and third, respectively.

In compiling its annual “America’s Best Colleges”guide, U.S. News & World Report evaluates nearly 1,400 of the nation’s public and private four-year schools, using data from 15 separate indicators of academic excellence such as selectivity, graduation rates, student retention, faculty resources and alumni satisfaction. Each factor is assigned a “weight” that reflects the magazine editor’s judgment as to how much that measure matters. Each school’s composite weighted score is then compared to peer institutions to determine final rankings.

Institutions are divided into several distinct categories. In addition to the best liberal arts college category that measures national institutions like Lawrence, other rankings are based on universities that grant master and doctorate degrees and colleges that are considered “regional” institutions such as St. Norbert College or UW-Oshkosh.

Lawrence University Receives Record $15 Million Gift for New Campus Center

An anonymous donor has given $15 million to Lawrence University toward the construction of a new campus center university officials announced today. The donation is the largest philanthropic gift in Lawrence’s 160-year history — surpassing an $8 million gift for the construction of Hiett Hall — and represents a major milestone in the funding of the proposed $32.7 million facility.

“The Trustees of Lawrence have made a new campus center the highest capital priority for the college,” said Lawrence University President Jill Beck in announcing the gift. “An unprecedented gift of this magnitude will help make that priority a reality.”

Plans are being finalized for the construction of a 100,000 square-foot facility that will house the campus’ dining services and provide much needed space and support for student organizations and extracurricular activities. The new campus center will replace outmoded and outgrown facilities located in the Memorial Union, built in 1951, and Jason Downer Commons, the main dining hall since 1968.

“Lawrence is by design a residential college and residence life is an integral part of a Lawrence education,” said Beck. “The new campus center, which will be made possible by the remarkable generosity of this anonymous donor and others, is a very important next step in enhancing the quality of the life for students at Lawrence.”

The campus center, which is being designed by Uihlein-Wilson Architects of Milwaukee and KSS Architects of Princeton, N.J., will be located on the Fox River bluff along John Street, just east of Lawe Street and next to Sage Hall.

The center, to be built on four levels, will feature large amounts of glass for natural light and outstanding views of the Fox River. Building highlights include an outdoor cafe, a campus store, a mail room, a 150-seat cinema, a “Great View Room” for special events, a dining hall as well as conference rooms and offices for student organizations and administrators. The center will be connected to the main campus via a wide, landscaped “land bridge” over Lawe St.

Lawrence Academy of Music New Horizons Ensembles Looking for Participants

The Lawrence Academy of Music will host an informational session for its New Horizons Band and Orchestra on August 22 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. in Shattuck Hall, room 163, located in the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, 420 E. College Ave.

The New Horizon ensembles offer adults the opportunity to learn to play a musical instrument in a band or orchestra—even if they have no prior musical experience. As a member of a New Horizons Music ensemble, adults have the opportunity to meet new friends and work as a team to learn music for concerts and other performances in the community. New Horizons ensembles perform many times each year in venues ranging from formal concerts to parades to parks and retirement and nursing homes. There are also a number of annual music institutes that participants can attend that cater to New Horizons musicians in locations such as Door County, Aspen, Colo., Lake Placid, N.Y., Palm Springs, Calif., and Sydney, Australia.

Each ensemble offers three 10-week sessions. The New Horizons Band, which includes brass, woodwinds, and percussion instruments, meets Tuesdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning September 12. The New Horizons Orchestra, which includes violin, viola, cello, and string bass, meets Thursdays from 6:30-8:30 p.m. beginning September 7. Both ensembles meet at Trinity Lutheran Church, 209 S. Allen St., Appleton. The cost is $99 per 10-week session or $270 for all three sessions.

For more information on the New Horizon Music ensembles or to register, call 920-832-6632, e-mail acad_music@lawrence.edu, or visit www.lawrence.edu/dept/acad_music.