July 2011

Month: July 2011

Lawrence University Alumnus Eric Simonson Earns Emmy Award Nomination

Lawrence University may be able to claim TWO Emmy Award winners this fall.

Eric Simonson, a 1982 Lawrence graduate, directed the 2010 HBO documentary “Studs Terkel: Listening to America,” which was nominated in the Outstanding Historical Programming – Long Form category of the news and documentary Emmy Awards.

The documentary examines the life and career of legendary author and radio and television pioneer, who died at age 96 in 2008, just six months after his final interview for the film. Award-winning journalist Linda Ellerbee served as one of the production’s executive producers.

Eric Simonson '82

“The Emmy nomination is really more of an honor to Studs Terkel,” said Simonson, a Wisconsin native who grew up in Eagle. “Studs was a good friend and a hero of mine and I miss him, so I’m glad the film received a nomination in that regard.”

An accomplished theatre, film and opera director as well as playwright, Simonson is a two-time Academy Award nominee and a 2006 Oscar winner for his documentary short “A Note of Triumph: The Golden Age of Norman Corwin.” He earned his first Academy Award nomination in 2001 as director of the HBO documentary short “On Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom,” which profiled the South African singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. That film also earned Simonson an Emmy nomination.

He also directed Steppenwolf Theatre’s “The Song of Jacob Zulu” on Broadway, which received six Tony Award nominations in 1993, including one for best director.

More recently, Simonson wrote the script for the play “Lombardi,” a biographical drama based on the life of the legendary Green Bay Packers head coach, which debuted at New York City’s Circle in the Square theater in Oct. 2010.

Winners in 42 categories of the news and documentary Emmy Awards will be announced Monday, Sept. 26 in New York City by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Garth Neustadter, a 2010 Lawrence graduate, earned a 2011 Primetime Emmy nomination for original dramatic score in the Outstanding Music Composition category for his work while still a student on the American Masters documentary “John Muir in The New World,” which aired on PBS in April. Those awards will be announced on Sept. 18 from Los Angeles.

Evan Meszaros ’07 Wins Photo Contest Week No. 3; Send Us Your Guess for This Week’s Mystery Photo

Photo contest image no. 4. Good luck! (click to enlarge.)

We are up to week four already in this summer’s “Here’s Looking at LU Photo Contest.” Time flies when you’re having fun!

If you’ve been playing along since we started…thank you! If you haven’t submitted any  guesses yet, this week would be a good time to dive into the contest and see if you can identify this week’s photo. Get it right and you could win a neat prize and be eligible for the end-of-the-contest $50 gift card giveaway.

Congratulations to Evan Meszaros ’07 of Cleveland,Ohio,our third weekly winner, for correctly identifying last week’s mystery photo as the ornately carved top of the grandfather clock on the first floor of the Seeley G. Mudd library. Evan was chosen by random drawing from our biggest pool of correct responses to date — 38.

Everyone who submitted a correct answer this week will be eligible for the grand prize drawing at the end of the contest.

How the contest works:

Weekly from now through the end of August, we’ll post a photo on the Lawrence website news page, and the headline “Here’s Looking at LU! Contest” on the website home page.

Study the photo carefully and, if you can identify the item or location pictured, send an email to communications@lawrence.edu (see link below), telling us what is in the photograph! Be sure to include your name and mailing address. (Limit one entry per week per email address.)

Win this LU Spirit Tumbler!

A prize each week:

Each week, all entrants with correct answers will be entered in a random drawing for a cool blue, 16 oz. Lawrence University “spirit tumbler.” The correct answer and the weekly prize winner will be announced the following Monday. (If no one correctly identifies the photo, two winners will be chosen the following week.)

On August 29, 2011, at the conclusion of the contest, one entry from among all correct contest entries will be chosen as the “Here’s Looking at LU!” grand prize winner. The grand prize winner will receive a $50 prize package from KK’s in the Warch Campus Center. The more weeks you enter, the better your chance of winning!

Official Contest Rules:

One photo will be posted on Lawrence’s website each Monday for the eight-week duration of the contest. Following the posting of each photo, entries may be submitted to communications@lawrence.edu until 12 midnight CDT (Central Daylight Time) the following Sunday. A weekly winner will be randomly selected by Lawrence University from among each week’s correct entries and all correct entries will be eligible for the grand prize drawing on August 29. By entering, you agree to have your name published on Lawrence University’s website and in other university communications. Lawrence University is not responsible for lost or misdirected entries.

Lawrence University Awarded $50,000 Grant for New “Sustainable China” Initiative

A $50,000 grant from the New York City-based Henry Luce Foundation will support the development of new Lawrence University courses, study-abroad opportunities and collaborative research projects in China, all with an environmental focus, college officials have announced.

Utilizing the resources of Lawrence’s current East Asian Studies and Environmental Studies programs, the new “Sustainable China: Integrating Culture, Conservation and Commerce” program will provide opportunities for students to examine, through a multi-disciplinary approach, the critical issues of economic growth, environmental sustainability and a shifting cultural landscape facing China.

Awarded through the Luce Initiative on Asian Studies & the Environment (LIASE), the grant also will enable Lawrence to expand partnership collaborations with two Chinese institutions, Guizhou Normal University and the Linden Centre in Yunnan province.

Emphasizing integrated sustainability, Sustainable China will focus on three primary areas of study:
• culture, including language, history and the roles of ethnic minorities

• conservation, highlighting the importance of governance systems that encourage both public and private sectors to be good stewards of available natural resources.

• commerce or economic vitality, from the perspective that environmental sustainability should be pursued in ways that also drive economic sustainability.

Professor of Economics Marty Finkler

“The three Cs of sustainability provide a framework for meaningful, multi-disciplinary examination of contemporary China on its own and in a global context,” said Marty Finkler, professor of economics and John R. Kimberly Distinguished Professor in the American Economic System. “That framework will force students to grapple with the reality that environmental science and policy decisions have consequences for economic development, poverty reduction and cultural preservation.”

Designed to attract students from a wide range of majors and interests, the Sustainable China program has three major goals: broaden Lawrence student engagement with China in the curriculum; create new opportunities for students to gain first-hand experience in China and promote mutually beneficial bilateral partnerships with organizations in China.

Details of the program will be developed over the next 13 months with a goal of securing further Henry Luce Foundation grant support to launch the Sustainable China program in the 2012-13 academic year.

Associate Professor of Chinese Jane Parish Yang

“The Sustainable China program is a natural next step for Lawrence, joining the formidable talents of the Environmental Studies and East Asian Studies interdisciplinary faculties,” said Jane Parish Yang, associate professor of Chinese. “The resulting program will greatly increase the number, variety and depth of opportunities for Lawrence students to engage with China and perhaps become interested in learning Chinese.”

Finkler said the Karst Institute within Guizhou Normal University and the Linden Centre are “ideal partners” for the Sustainable China program.

“The Karst Institute’s cultural, conservation and economic context mesh very well with the goals of our program,” said Finkler. “Guizhou province is home to more than 20 ethnic minorities, including many Miao villages. The Hmong and the Miao peoples share the same historic and cultural roots. Guizhou province ranks near the bottom in terms of provincial per capita income in China but features a rich array of natural resources, so those three ‘Cs’ of sustainability are all present.

“The Linden Centre serves as a retreat for those who wish to study how traditional culture meshes with modern economic development, in an ecologically responsible way,” Finkler added.

The Linden Centre is the creation of Brian and Jeanee Linden, who also operate the Linden Gallery in Ellison Bay, not far from Lawrence’s Bjorklunden estate.

Since the formation of the East Asian Languages & Cultures department in 1989 (renamed East Asian Studies in 2003), Lawrence has steadily increased its China-focused curricular and co-curricular programming. Efforts include:

• the addition of a major in Chinese

• a series of study tours of China, Japan and southeast Asia involving 82 faculty members and 166 students from 2001-2005 supported by a grant from the Freeman Foundation

• establishment of a new professorship in 2002 devoted to comparative politics and political economy of Asia through the support of Luce Foundation grant

• co-hosting the “China-U.S. Water Symposium” in 2008, which attracted Chinese engineers and policy advisors as well as Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources officials, members of the NEW North economic development consortium, community leaders, legislators, policy experts and academic experts.

• an investigation of water resource management issues in China by 12 students and three faculty members during a three-week trip to China in 2009 funded by a grant from the Luce Foundation

The Henry Luce Foundation was established in 1936 by Henry R. Luce, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of Time Inc., to honor his parents who were missionary educators in China. The Foundation builds upon the vision and values of four generations of the Luce family: broadening knowledge and encouraging the highest standards of service and leadership. It seeks to bring important ideas to the center of American life, strengthen international understanding, and foster innovation and leadership in academic, policy, religious and art communities.

Enhanced Safety Features Coming to Campus Crosswalks on College Ave.

The Appleton Common Council Wednesday evening approved by a 12-3 vote a Lawrence University proposal to enhance pedestrian and driver safety at two crosswalks on College Ave.

The agreed-to improvements include upgrading eight existing lighting fixtures from 250 watts to 400 watts plus, adding two 1-arm lights near the crosswalks, installing in-roadway warning lights (IRWL) and four amber flashers for each crosswalk utilizing Rectangular Rapid Flash Beacon (RRFB) technology. In addition, Lawrence and the city have agreed to conduct joint efforts to educate users of the street and crosswalks to become smarter and safer drivers and pedestrians.

The safety enhancements will be accompanied by a two-year study designed by Dr. William Skinner, director of research administration and Dr. Rob Beck, professor of education, to measure their effectiveness in improving safety. Using a trained crew of staged pedestrians and technicians, the study will collect data on motorist-pedestrian interactions under a variety of conditions, including time of day, weather and visibility at the crosswalks located at Park and Union streets.

The IRWL and RRFB enhances are scheduled for installation in 2012.

Submit Your Guess for this Week’s Photo Contest; Pam Pierre ’96 is Week No. 2 Winner

Here's photo contest image no. 3. Good luck! (click to enlarge.)

Welcome to week no. 3 of this summer’s “Here’s Looking at LU Photo Contest.” Correctly identify this week’s photo (right) and you could win a cool prize and be eligible for a $50 gift card.

Congratulations to Pam Pierre ’96 of Naples, Fla., who correctly identified last week mystery photo as a window in the vestibule of the Wriston Art Center. Pamela was chosen by random drawing from among 22 correct responses as the winner of the LU sports tumbler.

Everyone who submitted a correct answer this week will be eligible for the grand prize drawing at the end of the contest.

Be sure to try send us your guess for this week’s photo of something found on campus.

How the contest works:

Weekly from now through the end of August, we’ll post a photo on the Lawrence website news page, and the headline “Here’s Looking at LU! Contest” on the website home page.

Study the photo carefully and, if you can identify the item or location pictured, send an email to communications@lawrence.edu (see link below), telling us what is in the photograph! Be sure to include your name and mailing address. (Limit one entry per week per email address.)

Win this LU Spirit Tumbler!

A prize each week:

Each week, all entrants with correct answers will be entered in a random drawing for a cool blue, 16 oz. Lawrence University “spirit tumbler.” The correct answer and the weekly prize winner will be announced the following Monday. (If no one correctly identifies the photo, two winners will be chosen the following week.)

On August 29, 2011, at the conclusion of the contest, one entry from among all correct contest entries will be chosen as the “Here’s Looking at LU!” grand prize winner. The grand prize winner will receive a $50 prize package from KK’s in the Warch Campus Center. The more weeks you enter, the better your chance of winning!

Official Contest Rules:

One photo will be posted on Lawrence’s website each Monday for the eight-week duration of the contest. Following the posting of each photo, entries may be submitted to communications@lawrence.edu until 12 midnight CDT (Central Daylight Time) the following Sunday. A weekly winner will be randomly selected by Lawrence University from among each week’s correct entries and all correct entries will be eligible for the grand prize drawing on August 29. By entering, you agree to have your name published on Lawrence University’s website and in other university communications. Lawrence University is not responsible for lost or misdirected entries.

Emmy Award Nomination Latest Triumph for Lawrence University Grad Garth Neustadter

The budding film composing career of Lawrence University graduate Garth Neustadter received a major boost Thursday (7/14) when the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences announced its 63rd annual Primetime Emmy nominations.

Neustadter was among five nominees for original dramatic score in the Outstanding Music Composition category for his work on the American Masters documentary “John Muir in The New World,” which aired on PBS in April. Neustadter’s score was performed by Lawrence Conservatory of Music students.

Brian Pertl ’86, dean of the conservatory, said this is a proud moment.   (Click on the arrow to listen.)

Unlike all of the other Emmy Award categories, in which the production company submits materials for the Academy’s consideration, the composition category requires the composer to submit the proper materials.

“I felt that it would be good experience to go through process of submitting, but I never expected these results,” said Neustadter, who earned a bachelor of music degree summa cum laude in violin and voice performance from Lawrence in 2010. He currently is pursuing graduate studies in music composition at Yale University.

The Emmy nominations are typically revealed in a live television broadcast at 5:30 a.m. Pacific time and also posted on the official Emmy Awards website. Neustadter was attending a film scoring session in Aspen, Colo., at the time and had to improvise.

“I didn’t have regular internet access, so I drove 10 miles to find WiFi access to read about the results,” he said. “It was a surreal experience to see my name. I am incredibly honored and humbled to be in the company of the veteran and talented composers in this category. I’m excited to meet the other nominees, including composer Alf Clausen of ‘The Simpsons,’ who has earned 30 nominations in his career.”

The 2011 documentary on the life and legacy of naturalist, author and scientist John Muir was written, produced and directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Catherine Tatge, a 1972 Lawrence graduate. During the filmmaking process, Tatge turned to her alma mater, reaching out to Brian Pertl, dean of the conservatory, for a student to possibly write the film’s score. Pertl recommended Neustadter.

“Writing the score for the John Muir documentary has been an incredible opportunity and learning experience,” said Neustadter, a native of Manitowoc. “I am grateful to everyone involved in the project.”

Kimberly Clark Professor of Music Fred Sturm, who served as Neustadter’s faculty composition mentor as a Lawrence student, said he was elated but not surprised at his protege’s latest triumph.

“I’ve admired Garth’s music for several years now and I know the effort and artistry he dedicates to his work. I’m also familiar with the composing of each of his fellow nominees and though it may seem a stretch for a college graduate student to be included in that elite group, Garth absolutely deserves to be there. I won’t be surprised if he takes home the gold on this one.”

The Emmy nomination is the latest in an ever-growing list of accomplishments for Neustadter. He earned first-prize honors (second place behind the grand prize winner) in the 2007 Young Film Composers Competition sponsored by Turner Classic Movies. A year later he was commissioned by TCM to write an original score for a restored version of the 1923 silent film “The White Sister.” In April 2010, he was named one of 37 national winners of the 2010 ASCAP Foundation Morton Gould Young Composer Award for his 15-minute composition written for full orchestra and choir based on a Spanish text entitled “Oh llama de amor viva.”

This past April, Neustadter earned his fifth Downbeat award in the magazine’s annual student music competition for a five-minute arrangement of the 1946 Walter Gross jazz classic “Tenderly” he wrote for studio orchestra and vocalist in 2010.

The Emmy awards will be broadcast live on Fox Sunday, Sept. 18 from Los Angeles with actress Jane Lynch of “Glee” as host.

The soundtrack can be bought at KKs Store.

Week #2 of “Here’s Looking at LU” Photo Contest Underway; Week No. 1 Winner Announced

Here's photo contest image no. 2. Good luck! (click to enlarge.)

Week no. 1 of this summer’s “Here’s Looking at LU Photo Contest” generated 15 correct answers. Congratulations to Lynn Hagee ’58, director of conferences and summer programs at Lawrence, chosen by a purely random drawing as the winner of the LU sports tumbler. She knew the photo was one of four concrete casts located in the Music-Drama Center “court yard” outside Stansbury and Cloak theatres. They are based on larger works created for Chicago’s McCormick Center.

Congratulations to all who submitted a correct answer. Your names will be entered in the drawing for the grand prize at the end of the contest.

If you didn’t correctly identify that photo, try you luck with the photo for week no. 2. The “Here’s Looking at LU! Photo Contest” is a fun way to see if people can identify photos taken of various locations and objects around campus.

How the contest works:

Weekly from now through the end of August, we’ll post a photo on the Lawrence website news page, and the headline “Here’s Looking at LU! Contest” on the website home page.

Study the photo carefully and, if you can identify the item or location pictured, send an email to communications@lawrence.edu (see link below), telling us what is in the photograph! Be sure to include your name and mailing address. (Limit one entry per week per email address.)

Win this LU Spirit Tumbler!

A prize each week:

Each week, all entrants with correct answers will be entered in a random drawing for a cool blue, 16 oz. Lawrence University “spirit tumbler.” The correct answer and the weekly prize winner will be announced the following Monday. (If no one correctly identifies the photo, two winners will be chosen the following week.)

On August 29, 2011, at the conclusion of the contest, one entry from among all correct contest entries will be chosen as the “Here’s Looking at LU!” grand prize winner. The grand prize winner will receive a $50 prize package from KK’s in the Warch Campus Center. The more weeks you enter, the better your chance of winning!

Official Contest Rules:

One photo will be posted on Lawrence’s website each Monday for the eight-week duration of the contest. Following the posting of each photo, entries may be submitted to communications@lawrence.edu until 12 midnight CDT (Central Daylight Time) the following Sunday. A weekly winner will be randomly selected by Lawrence University from among each week’s correct entries and all correct entries will be eligible for the grand prize drawing on August 29. By entering, you agree to have your name published on Lawrence University’s website and in other university communications. Lawrence University is not responsible for lost or misdirected entries.

Enter the “Here’s Looking at LU!” Photo Contest

Here’s photo contest image #1. Good luck! (click to see full size image)

How observant were you during your student days or on your visits to campus? Do you think you know the nooks and crannies of Lawrence University? The “Here’s Looking at LU!” is a fun summer contest to see if you can identify photos taken of various locations and objects around campus.

How the contest works:

For each of the next eight weeks, we’ll post a photo on the Lawrence website news page, and the headline “Here’s Looking at LU! Contest” on the website home page.

Study the photo carefully and, if you can identify the item or location pictured, send an email to communications@lawrence.edu (see link below), telling us what is in the photograph!  Be sure to include your name and mailing address. (Limit one entry per week per email address.)

Win this LU Spirit Tumbler!

 

 

 

 

A prize each week:

Each week, all entrants with correct answers will be entered in a random drawing for a cool blue, 16 oz. Lawrence University “spirit tumbler.”  The correct answer and the weekly prize winner will be announced the following Monday. (If no one correctly identifies the photo, two winners will be chosen the following week.)

On August 29, 2011, at the conclusion of the contest, one entry from among all correct contest entries will be chosen as the “Here’s Looking at LU!” grand prize winner.  The grand prize winner will receive a $50 prize package from KK’s in the Warch Campus Center.  The more weeks you enter, the better your chance of winning!

Official Contest Rules:

One photo will be posted on Lawrence’s website each Monday for the eight-week duration of the contest.  Following the posting of each photo, entries may be submitted to communications@lawrence.edu until 12 midnight CDT (Central Daylight Time) the following Sunday. A weekly winner will be randomly selected by Lawrence University from among each week’s correct entries and all correct entries will be eligible for the grand prize drawing on August 29. By entering, you agree to have your name published on Lawrence University’s website and in other university communications. Lawrence University is not responsible for lost or misdirected entries.

Lawrence Goes Mobile With New Website

The answer to the question “what’s happening at Lawrence University?” is easily answered via smartphone with the recent launch of a new mobile website:

m.lawrence.edu

The home view (click to enlarge)

The debut of the Lawrence University mobile website provides users with easy smartphone access to information that is likely to be used by people who are on or near the campus:

  • Menu selections at Warch Campus Center dining locations
  • Reference tools and resources from the Mudd Library
  • Up-to-date news and a calendar of campus events
  • Weather information from Youngchild Hall’s weather instruments
  • The status of washers and dryers at residence hall laundry facilities

“We wanted to make Lawrence’s website more accessible on a wider variety of computer devices,” said Rachel Crowl, new media and web content coordinator. “As computer screens shrink from the desktop to tablets and smartphones, website content must adjust to fit the tools people are using.  Anyone who has tried to access an older website from a smartphone knows how frustrating that experience can be.”

The mobile website is designed for anyone who wants to know more about Lawrence University.  Students and prospective students are always the highest priority, but the university hopes greater access to campus information will provide more reasons for Fox Cities residents to visit the Lawrence campus.

The Lawrence University mobile site is now in a beta testing phase and smartphone users are asked to provide feedback via an email link at the bottom of each web page.  “We plan to expand the mobile website offerings,” Crowl said.  “User feedback will help us make improvements to the site in the future.

The events view (click to enlarge)

The weather view (click to enlarge)

The laundry view (click to enlarge)