May 2011

Month: May 2011

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.