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Lawrence University Earns Fifth Straight National Community Service Citation

More than 9,700 service hours to volunteer and service-learning programs provided by 786 students earned Lawrence University inclusion on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for the fifth consecutive year.

Lawrence is one of only two Wisconsin institutions named to the Community Service Honor Roll every year since the program was launched in 2006 to recognize commitment to volunteering, service-learning and civic engagement.

Announced by the Washington, D.C.-based Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), a total of 641 colleges and universities were recognized for their impact on issues from literacy and neighborhood revitalization to supporting at-risk youth. A total of 851 institutions applied for the Honor Roll, a nine percent increase over last year.

“The goal of a great university should be to graduate altruistic citizens, young adults with generous hearts to complement their developed minds,” said Lawrence President Jill Beck. “Service is celebrated as a vital part of Lawrence’s culture and it is gratifying to have the dedicated efforts of our students acknowledged nationally.”

Honorees are chosen on the basis of several factors, including the scope and innovation of service projects, the extent to which service-learning is embedded in the curriculum, the school’s commitment to long-term campus-community partnerships and measurable community outcomes as a result of the service.

Among the initiatives for which Lawrence was cited was the Academy of Music’s Young Band Project, a band instruction program that mentored 139 fifth-graders at Appleton’s Lincoln Elementary School; Professor of Biology Bart De Stasio’s research on invasive species in the Fox River involving six student volunteers; and the Lawrence ArtsBridge Program, which creates hands-on experiences in the arts through partnerships between Lawrence student and K-12 supervising host teachers. Last year 192 area students were mentored through Arts Bridge projects.

“With nearly 10,000 service hours, Lawrence student volunteers are clearly sharing their time and talents with a wide variety of organizations around the Fox Cities as well as overseas,” said Monica Rico, Lawrence’s Pieper Family Professor of Servant Leadership and director of the college’s Office for Engaged Learning. “The federal government changed the application significantly for this year’s honor roll, requesting additional data along with evidence of a demonstrated positive impact on the community. I am proud that we met these new standards by providing ample proof of the ways in which Lawrence makes a positive difference.”

According to the CNCS, a federal agency, 3.2 million students performed more than 307 million hours of service across the country last year, service valued at $6.4 billion.

The President’s Community Service Honor Roll is compiled by the CNCS in collaboration with the Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Campus Compact, and the American Council on Education.

Outstanding Student Research Showcased in Annual Harrison Symposium

Exceptional research conducted by Lawrence University students in the humanities and social sciences will be showcased Saturday, May 14 beginning at 9:15 a.m. in Main Hall during the 14th annual Richard A. Harrison Symposium.

Twenty-seven students will deliver presentations on research subjects ranging from black masculinity in contemporary American film, to Yan’an’s influence on the evolution of propaganda music in China to the importance of the potato in Peruvian society.  Each presentation will last approximately 20 minutes followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer session.

Two sessions of presentations are arranged into panels by topic or field and are moderated by a Lawrence faculty member. Student presenters are nominated by faculty and invited to submit abstracts of their research papers. Based on the abstracts, students are selected to present their work in the format used for professional meetings of scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

The symposium honors former Lawrence Dean of the Faculty Richard A. Harrison, who organized the first program in 1996. Harrison died unexpectedly the following year and the symposium was renamed after him to recognize his vision of highlighting excellence in student scholarship.

Shack-a-thon Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Raising Awareness, Support for Habitat for Humanity

Lawrence University’s Main Hall green will undergo an “extreme makeover” May 14-15 when 15 teams of students representing various campus organizations construct temporary homes as the college celebrates its 10th “Shack-a-thon.”

The annual event serves as a highly visible fund-raiser for the Greater Fox Cities Area Habitat for Humanity chapter, pitting the creative design and engineering skills of teams of Lawrence students against each other as they build makeshift shacks from donated and salvaged materials on 10-foot-by-10-foot plots near Main Hall.

Construction begins Saturday afternoon and the shacks will remain up until mid-morning Sunday. At least one member of each team will be required to spend the night in the shack. Monetary “votes” can be cast for favorite construction jobs by contributing to donation jars located by each shack.

Drawing on elements from the popular animated movie “Up,” the theme for this year’s Shack-a-thon is “UP, UP and AWAY!,” symbolizing a move away from poverty housing. Each shack will feature balloons as decorations. A screening of the movie “Up” will be shown on the Main Hall green at 10:30 p.m.

In conjunction with Shack-a-thon and in keeping with the theme, organizers also are sponsoring a raffle for a hot air balloon ride for two provided by Bums in Paradise in the Fox Valley. Tickets, at $5 each, 3 for $10, are available in the Warch Campus Center.

“Shack-a-thon is our biggest fundraiser of the year, but is also a great tool for promoting awareness and advocacy for a plight that includes many families right here in the Fox Valley,” said Meg Bonham, current co-president of Lawrence’s student chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

The first Shack-a-thon was held in 2002 and since then Lawrence students have raised more than $25,000 on behalf of the local Habitat for Humanity chapter. In October 2007, Lawrence partnered with J.J. Keller in co-sponsoring the construction of a four-bedroom Habitat for Humanity home on the northeast side of Appleton.

Mexican Perspective on U.S.-Mexico Relations Concludes International Lecture Series

The close and complex bilateral relationship between Mexico and the United States gets examined from Mexico’s point of view in the final installment of Lawrence University’s 2011 Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies “Latin America: Past, Present and Future.”

Juan Carlos Romero Hicks, former governor of the Mexican state of Guanajuato, presents “U.S.-Mexican Relations: A Mexican Perspective” Wednesday, May 11 at 4:30 p.m. in Thomas Steitz Hall of Science, Room 102. The event is free and open to the public.

Juan Carlos Romero Hicks

Against a backdrop of neighbors and trading partners as well as demographic connections — more than one million U.S. citizens live in Mexico while Mexico is the largest source of immigrants to the United Sates — Romero Hicks will share the Mexican perspective on issues of commerce, migration and security between the two countries.

Romero Hicks served six years as governor of Mexico’s sixth-most populous state before being named general director of Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology in 2006.

Prior to entering politics, Romero Hicks enjoyed an extensive career in education. He joined the faculty of the University of Guanajuato in 1977 and served as the university’s president from 1991-99. He earned a bachelor’s degree in industrial relations from the University of Guanajuato, and a pair of master’s degrees — one in social sciences and one in business administration — from Southern Oregon State College.

The “Latin America: Past, Present and Future” 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 Alumna Discusses Impact of Mexican Immigration on U.S. Economy in International Series Address

Labor economist Sarah Bohn, a 1999 Lawrence graduate, discusses the economic winners and losers associated with the Mexican immigrant workforce in the United States in the fourth installment of Lawrence University’s 2011 Povolny Lecture Series in International Studies “Latin America: Past, Present and Future.”

Sarah Bohn

Bohn, a research fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, presents “Mexican Immigrants and the U.S. Economy” Monday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. The event is free and open to the public.

The roots of interdependence between Mexican workers and the U.S. economy can be traced to the railroad construction boom of the late 1800s. Those historic ties as well as political and economic developments along the way have created structural demand for Mexican immigrant labor in the U.S., producing winners and losers in the process.

With Mexican-born citizens accounting for nearly one-third of the U.S. immigrant population, Bohn will examine whether Mexican immigrants hurt the job prospects or decrease wages of American-born workers and whether employers really need immigrant workers. She also will address the impact of Mexican immigration on overall economic activity, on the prices we pay for goods and services and on social services like education and welfare.

Bohn joined the Public Policy Institute of California in 2007 after earning her Ph.D. in economics at the University of Maryland. As a PPIC research fellow, her expertise includes immigration and U.S. labor markets and labor market assimilation.

The “Latin America: Past, Present and Future” 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 Ensemble Hosts “Interactive” Evening of Baroque Music, Dance

The world of Jane Austen comes to the Warch Campus Center Friday, May 6 at 6:30 p.m. when the Lawrence Baroque Ensemble presents “An Evening of Baroque Dance: Pride & Prejudice Edition.”  The event, scheduled for the Esch-Hurvis Room, is free and open to the public.

The “interactive performance” will feature instruction in two English baroque dances led by Lawrence President Jill Beck and members of  the Meleé Dance Troupe, historical and literary notes by Lawrence English professor Timothy Spurgin and Lawrence music historian Sara Ceballos and musical selections performed by the ensemble. The audience will be invited to perform the dances taught by Beck and Melee members accompanied by the Lawrence Baroque Ensemble. A dessert reception will conclude the evening.

As a preview to Friday’s event, the 2005 film “Pride & Prejudice” starring Keira Knightley will be shown Wednesday, May 4 at 10:30 p.m. in the Warch Campus Center cinema.

In conjunction with the evening of baroque music and dance, pianist Elizabeth Morgan will present the guest lecture-recital “Keyboard Works from the Musical Notebooks of Jane Austen” Tuesday May 10 at 8:15 p.m. in Harper Hall. Morgan, a specialist on keyboard and chamber music of the late 18th- and early 19th-centuries, will explore music in Austen’s life and works.

The Lawrence Baroque Ensemble was founded in 2010 by four students as part of the economics course “Entrepreneurship in the Arts & Society.” It seeks to study, rehearse and perform baroque music that enriches students’ liberal arts experience, inspires passion for period-instrument performance, preserves tradition and celebrates individual creativity. Lawrence Baroque connects audiences to history through unique concert experiences, community education, outreach and access for all.

The ensemble is supported in part by a Class of 1965 Student Activity Grant.

New York City’s Vanguard Jazz Orchestra Brings Big-Band Swing to Lawrence Memorial Chapel

The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, hailed as “one of New York’s institutions” by the New York Times, brings its big-band swing to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel Friday, May 6 at 8 p.m. in the final concert of the 2010-11 Lawrence University Jazz Series.

Tickets, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors, and $17-15 for students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton or by calling 920-832-6749.

Featuring 16 of the world’s finest jazz musicians, the two-time Grammy Award-winning Vanguard Jazz Orchestra traces its roots to 1966 when cornetist/composer/arranger Thad Jones and drummer Mel Lewis founded a band in New York. Among its first bookings was a trio of Monday night gigs at the world-famous New York City jazz club the Village Vanguard.

“When Thad Jones and Mel Lewis launched their jazz orchestra, they elevated the jazz big band to a new artistic level,” said Fred Sturm, director of jazz studies and improvisational music at Lawrence. “Thad’s playing and writing was an extension of the Count Basie swing tradition. Mel supplied the progressive West Coast style of the Stan Kenton band. The sidemen they hired brought the influences of playing with Basie, Miles Davis, Charles Mingus and Gerry Mulligan. The result was a remarkable funneling of the world’s premier jazz talents into an iconic large jazz ensemble.

“A decade later when Jones left, Lewis enlisted trombonist/composer Bob Brookmeyer as musical director and the band’s music became more adventurous,” Sturm added. “When Mel died in 1990, ensemble members Jim McNeely, Dick Oatts, John Mosca and other cutting-edge players stepped up to carry the torch as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. Today, almost a half century since its inception, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra stands as one of the world’s premier jazz ensembles.”

The VJO’S 2008 recording “Monday Night at The Village Vanguard” won a Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble and earned Brookmeyer a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Arrangement for his work on “St. Louis Blues.” The VJO earned its first Grammy Award in 2004 for “The Way—Music of Slide Hampton” in the Best Arrangements for Jazz Orchestra category. Their 2005 recording “Up from the Skies,” featuring the music of McNeely, the ensemble’s pianist, composer and arranger, earned two Grammy nominations, including one for Best Jazz Ensemble.

Today, the orchestra carries on the tradition established by Jones and Lewis by performing regularly at the Village Vanguard jazz club in Greenwich Village.

Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” Gets East Asian Treatment in Lawrence Senior Experience Production

William Shakespeare’s classic “The Tempest” gets an East Asian interpretation in four performances May 5-7 of Lawrence University’s theatre arts production.

The story of love, revenge and redemption will be staged at 8 p.m. each day with an additional 3 p.m. matinee on Saturday, May 7 in Cloak Theatre of the Music-Drama Center.

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

The production is a collaborative Senior Experience of 10 graduating theatre arts majors.

“The variety of knowledge and experience brought to the table both on the stage and in terms of design is astounding,” said student director Andi Rudd. “The design of the island and its inhabitants invokes elements of Shintoism, Buddhism and traditional Japanese folklore, while the court and the text of the play remain traditional European.”

The familiar narrative follows Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, now dwelling in exile as a sorcerer on a magical island with his daughter Miranda, the monstrous Caliban and the spirit Ariel. Their island life is interrupted when a shipwreck brings King Alonso and his crew, including Prospero’s usurping brother, Antonio, and Miranda’s future lover, Ferdinand, to its strange shores.

Rudd said the production should provide closure both for the seniors involved in the production as well as this year’s freshman class.

“‘The Tempest’ was one of their Freshman Studies works this year, so hopefully they will find the show to be an entertaining close to their first year at Lawrence as the seniors finish their college careers with this final production.”

Two State Teachers Recognized as Outstanding Educators

Freedom High School English teacher Janel Hauser and Kristan Kliminski, a chemistry teacher at Madison LaFollette High School, will be honored Sunday, May 1 with Lawrence University’s 2011 Outstanding Teaching in Wisconsin Award.

They will receive a certificate, a citation and a monetary award from Lawrence President Jill Beck in ceremonies at the president’s house. In addition, their respective schools will receive $250 for library acquisitions.

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.

Lawrence seniors Andrew Hawley and Sara Davis nominated Hauser and Kliminski, respectively, for the awards.

Janel Hauser

An Appleton native, Hauser joined the Freedom High School faculty in 2002, where she teaches freshman English and honors English. She started her teaching career at Brillion High School in 1999.

For the past seven years, she has served as head coach of the Freedom varsity forensics team and as advisor to the National Honor Society.  In 2010, she was recognized with the Outagamie County Pre-Action Network Exemplary Service award for her efforts to introduce a program on tolerance and risky behavior into the curriculum. Hauser earned a bachelor’s degree in English from UW-Oshkosh.

In nominating her for the award, Hawley described Hauser’s teaching style as “a breath of fresh air.”

“Ms. Hauser was always upbeat, smiling and energetic,” wrote Hawley, a 2006 graduate of Freedom High School. “She always encouraged me to do my best and had an open door policy without needing to say she had one.”

Kristan Kliminski

Kliminski has taught at LaFollette High School since 1994 after spending seven years in the Poynette School District. She teaches all three levels of chemistry in the LaFollette curriculum, including AP chemistry. Prior to this year, she spent 10 years as the advisor to Key Club, the school’s service organization.

Davis cited Kliminski’s passion for her subject matter and her devotion to students In her nomination.

“I never had any teacher who seemed to go so out of their way just to make sure I was understanding the material,” wrote Davis, a 2006 LaFollette High School graduate. “She was able to generate an excitement in me about chemistry, science and learning in general that I never had before.”

A native of Elgin, Ill. Kliminski earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry education and a master’s degree in education administration from UW-Madison.

Hauser and Kliminski are the 55th and 56th Wisconsin teachers honored for education excellence by Lawrence since the program was launched in 1985.

Helen Boyd Named Recipient of State Community Activist Award

Lawrence University lecturer Helen Boyd will be recognized Wednesday, May 4 by the Fair Wisconsin Education Fund with its annual Community Activist Award. Boyd will be one of four recipients honored at the organization’s Milwaukee leadership reception hosted by newly elected Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele.

Helen Boyd

Boyd, who joined the Lawrence faculty in 2008, teaches in the gender studies department as well as in Lawrence’s  Freshman Studies program . A nationally recognized voice on diversity issues who has long championed gender equality, Boyd is the author of the books “My Husband Betty” and “She’s Not the Man I Married: My Life with a Transgender Husband.”

In addition to Boyd, Fair Wisconsin will recognize the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees of Wisconsin with its Tammy Baldwin Statewide Impact Award, State Representative JoCasta Zamarripa with its Advocate Award and the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center with its Organization Award.

Since 2008, Fair Wisconsin has recognized individuals and organizations that have made significant contributions to the advancement of LGBT equality in Wisconsin.