Press Releases

APPLETON, WIS. — In honor of the centennial of the birth of French composer and organist Olivier Messiaen, Lawrence University will host a screening of the award-winning film “Apparition of the Eternal Church” Tuesday, Nov. 11 at 8 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

The film’s director, Paul Festa, will be on hand to introduce the film and answer questions afterward. The event is free and open to the public.

Hailed by The New Yorker as “mesmerizing…remarkable…intensely personal,” the hour-long “Apparition of the Eternal Church” examines the contradictory reactions of 31 mostly nonreligious artists who listen through headphones to a 10-minute piece of Messiaen’s monumental organ work of the same name, which he wrote in 1931 at the age of 24.

In interviews with the director, the listeners describe what they’ve heard, putting the violent contradictions of Messiaen’s music into words. For some, the music produces spiritual and erotic ecstasy, for others a trip through Dante’s inferno. The music and its interpreters produce something akin to what William Blake once called “the marriage of heaven and hell.”

The screening, which is co-sponsored by the American Guild of Organists, will feature live organ performances by Dan O’Connor and Susanna Valleau playing Lawrence’s Brombaugh organ.

The film, which had its premiere showing at the Library of Congress this past Halloween and will make its debut in the United Kingdom at the Barbican Centre in London on Dec. 8, was named the Best North American Independent Feature Film at the 2006 Indianapolis International Film Festival and earned the Special Director’s Award at the Santa Cruz Film Festival that same year.

Lawrence has been celebrating the centennial of Messiaen’s birth with a variety of events this fall. The composer’s “Quartet for the End of Time” is one of the works on this year’s Freshman Studies list.

APPLETON, WIS. – Mixed-media artist Gretchen Beck, professor of art at Concordia University in California, delivers the opening lecture Friday, Nov. 14 at 6 p.m. for the newest exhibition at Lawrence University’s Wriston Art Center galleries. A reception with the artist follows the address. The exhibition runs Nov. 14 – Dec. 21.

Beck’s work deals with the Djarma and Fulani cultures of Niger, West Africa, where she lived for three years. Her abstract imagery portrays concepts of ritual and tradition within the social structure of Nigerien culture. Beck’s drawings and paintings will be shown in the Kohler gallery.

Milwaukee-based artist Lynn Tomaszewski, a faculty member at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, will have prints, paintings and video exhibited in the Hoffmaster gallery. Often working with large quantities of information or objects, Tomaszewski mixes media and converges art and science with the concept of nature. Her most recent work combines patterns of information — DNA sequence data, maps of the universe — with video captures of everyday events.

The Leech gallery will feature the show “CUTE!,” a selection of small, charming images from Lawrence’s own permanent collection. The works were chosen specifically for their potential to elicit an “aaw, isn’t that cute” viewer response.

Wriston Art Center hours are Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Saturday-Sunday from noon – 4 p.m. The gallery is closed on Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621 or visit http://www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston/.

APPLETON, WIS. — Author and poet Katy Lederer, best known for her 2003 memoir “Poker Face: A Girlhood Among Gamblers,” will conduct a reading from her latest collection of poems Monday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in Lawrence University’s Science Hall 102. Prior to her reading, Lederer will hold a question-and-answer session at 4:30 p.m. in Main Hall 105. A book signing and reception with the author will follow the reading. Both events are free and open to the public.

The current poetry editor at Fence magazine, Lederer is the author of a pair of poetry collections, 2002’s “Winter Sex” and the just-published “The Heaven-Sent Leaf,” a collection of 45 poems which draws on her experiences working at a Manhattan hedge fund to explore the world of money and commerce.

Her memoir “Poker Face” was included on Publishers Weekly’s list of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2003 and Esquire magazine named it one of its eight Best Books of the Year in 2003. Lederer, the younger sister of professional poker players Howard Lederer and Annie Duke, earned a bachelor’s degree the University of California at Berkeley and a master of fine arts degree from the University of Iowa.

Lederer’s appearance is sponsored by the Mia Paul Poetry Fund and the Marguerite Schumann Memorial Lectureship Fund.

APPLETON, WIS. – The Grammy Award-winning ensemble New York Voices and acclaimed trumpet soloist Ingrid Jensen highlight Lawrence University’s 28th annual Jazz Celebration Weekend Nov. 7-8.

New York Voices kicks off the two-concert weekend Friday, Nov. 7 at 7:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. Opening the concert will be the Lawrence University’s Jazz Singers, directed by Phillip Swan, accompanied by vocalist/visiting clinician Kelly Eisenhour and Lawrence faculty jazz pianist Lee Tomboulian.

Jensen headlines the Saturday, Nov. 8 concert at 7:30 p.m. in the Memorial Chapel. She perform with the Lawrence Faculty Jazz Quartet and the award-winning Lawrence University Jazz Ensemble. LUJE was the recipient of Down Beat’s 2007 big band “outstanding performance” award in the magazine’s annual student music competition.

Tickets for both concerts are available through the Lawrence University Box Office, 920-832-6749. Ticket prices are $20-22 for adults, $17-19 for seniors, and $15-17 for students.

New York Voices, renowned for its excellence in jazz and the art of group singing, is celebrating its 20th year of performing. The group’s vocals reflect its jazz, Brazilian, rhythm and blues, classical and pop music influences, earning a reputation as “the most exciting vocal ensemble in current jazz,” according to the Boston Herald.

Swan, who directs the Lawrence Jazz Singers, calls New York Voices the “platinum standard” for vocal jazz groups. “Their attention to detail is unparalleled and witnessed through their tight harmonies, interesting arrangements, creative improvisation and ability to communicate and inspire an audience.”

The group has released six albums, including their latest, “A Day Like This,” in 2007. They have recorded and performed with many jazz luminaries, including the Count Basie Orchestra, Bobby McFerrin, Nancy Wilson, the Boston Pops and Jon Hendricks and they count Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and The Blue Note in both New York and Japan among their numerous concert venues.

Jensen, a 1989 graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, has established herself as one of the top jazz artists in New York City and one of the premier trumpet soloists in the world. In addition to leading her own Ingrid Jensen Quartet, she has recorded and performed with the Grammy Award-winning Maria Schneider Orchestra, Kenny Garrett, Billy Taylor and the DIVA Big Band. She accompanied British soul star Corrine Bailey Rae in an appearance on “Saturday Night Live.”

“Ingrid’s got it all as an improvising artist — artful melodic, harmonic and rhythmic sensibilities, seemingly limitless technique, and a sound of unparalleled beauty,” said Fred Sturm, Lawrence’s director of jazz studies and improvisational music, who created Jazz Weekend in 1981.

Four of Jensen’s seven CDs have been nominated for Juno Awards, Canada’s version of the Grammy, including her latest, 2006’s “At Sea.”

In addition to the New York Voices and Jensen concerts, Lawrence’s Jazz Celebration Weekend involves more than 50 ensembles and 700 instrumental and vocal jazz students from schools throughout the Midwest performing and participating on Saturday in workshop sessions and clinics led by a distinguished team of jazz educators from around the country.

“It’s our mission to promote excellence in teaching, learning, and performing jazz, and we do it without trophies, ratings, or competition,” said Sturm. “It’s all about the joy of making jazz music.”

The weekend also showcases Lawrence’s own jazz talent, with six small jazz groups and the Lawrence Jazz Workshop performing in the Lawrence Memorial Union from 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. on Saturday.

“Jazz weekend is a 24-hour snapshot of the jazz activity at Lawrence and our surrounding community schools,” said Sturm. “We want our Lawrence student musicians to experience the magic of sharing the stage and interacting with renowned jazz artists.”

All of the Saturday daytime performances are free and open to the public.

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University Associate Professor of Classics Randall McNeill has been awarded a $75,000 grant from the Arete Initiative at the University of Chicago for the Defining Wisdom Project.

McNeill was one of 23 scholars in the United States and Europe — and one of only two from a liberal arts college — selected for a grant from a field of more than 600 researchers in fields ranging from neuroscience to philosophy.

The two-year grant will support research McNeill is conducting for the book project entitled “The Price of Wisdom: Community and the Individual in Greek and Roman Poetry.” He will investigate the way wisdom influences how an individual interacts with society, exploring ancient Greek and Roman conceptions of “civic wisdom.”

His study will explore specific literary representations of individuals who struggle to achieve civic wisdom to shed new light on broader Greek and Roman cultural attitudes concerning the relationship of the individual to society.

A specialist in Latin poetry and Greek and Roman history, McNeill’s research will focus on four characters from classical poetry whose personal travails exemplify the tensions that often exist between individual interest and the common good: Achilles in the “Iliad” of Homer; Oedipus in Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex”; Roman poet Catullus’ self portrayals; and Aeneas in the “Aeneid” of Vergil. Each character represents the ethical and psychological challenges of balancing conflicting demands of civic duty and personal identity.

“My research is intended to encourage members of the Defining Wisdom Project and others to consider those issues of individuality and society that must play a role in any discussion of the nature and role of wisdom in the contemporary world,” said McNeill. “By exploring the cultural attitudes of the ancient Greeks and Romans regarding the proper relationship of the individual to society, we may gain valuable perspective on what could be required of each of us as we move forward in the 21st- century.”

Launched earlier this year and funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the Defining Wisdom Project is a $2 million research program on the nature and benefits of wisdom. McNeill and other grant recipients will become part of a Wisdom Research Network that will meet periodically to share research and results.

APPLETON, WIS. – Multimedia artist Hilary Lorenz discusses the role hiking, marathon training and endurance sports played in shaping her artwork in the opening address of Lawrence University’s 2008-2009 Visiting Artist Series.

Lorenz presents “Finding Inspiration in What You Know Best” Friday, Oct. 24 at 4:30 p.m. in the Wriston Art Center auditorium. An exhibition of her work along with a reception with the artist will be held in the Mudd Gallery of Lawrence’s Seeley G. Mudd Library following the address. Both events are free and open to the public.

A painter and printmaker, Lorenz draws on the physical experience of marathon training and wilderness hiking in remote regions like the Adirondacks in New York and the Jemez Mountains in New Mexico to create visual translations of her experiences. Her work often explores concepts of transience, chance and difference.

Based in Brooklyn, N.Y., Lorenz earned a master of fine arts degree in printmaking and multimedia from the University of Iowa. Her visit is part of a four-day residency at Lawrence.

The $35 million campus center slated to open on campus next fall will honor the college’s second-longest-serving president, Richard Warch, who led the college from 1979-2004, and his wife, Margot.

During the public launch of the More Light! campaign October 17, William Hochkammer, co-chair of the campaign, announced that the 107,000 square-foot building will be named the Richard and Margot Warch Campus Center.

“The Richard and Margot Warch Campus Center will be a destination for the entire Lawrence community — students, staff, faculty and alumni,” Hochkammer said. “It is fitting that the college’s principal meeting place be named in honor of the Warches. Rik was a strong advocate for the importance of personal interaction outside of the classroom to a liberal education. Rik and Margot personally contributed greatly to strengthening the Lawrence community.”

Warch expressed excitement both about the campus center’s impending completion as well as it bearing his name.

“The campus center project has been on Lawrence’s agenda for nearly 20 years, and I had the privilege of dealing with it for 15 of them,” said Warch. “There were many starts and stops along the way as we sought consensus. I commend President Beck and the Board of Trustees for figuring out how to proceed. It is a great honor for both of us to have our names on this magnificent building. I’m especially grateful to the anonymous donor for this great generosity and recognition.”

An anonymous donor made the campus center a reality in 2007 with a $16 million gift toward the project, the largest gift in Lawrence history. The four—story building showcases the scenic beauty of its location with striking vistas of the Fox River and vast, light—filled spaces. Features include:

• dining services and catering facilities
• a convenience store and café
• a cinema similar to commercial movie theaters
• a logo merchandise store
• the campus post office
• meeting space for students and student groups
• venues for major campus events

President Beck expressed two points of pride about the campus center: that “it is named for Richard and Margot Warch, who brought so much distinction to Lawrence over the years, ” and that it is being built to LEED “Silver” certification standards” to reduce its impact on the environment.

Warch came to Lawrence in 1977 from Yale University, where he spent a year as associate dean. After two years as Lawrence’s vice president for academic affairs, he was named president in 1979.

During his 25-year tenure, Warch was a steadfast and articulate advocate for the residential liberal arts college model of education.

Among his most important legacies were the creation of the weekend student seminar program at Björklunden, Lawrence’s 425-acre “northern campus” in Door County and the establishment of Björklunden as an integral part of the Lawrence educational experience.

After leaving Lawrence, Warch was honored with the Campus Compact Presidential Civic Leadership Award and been appointed by Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle to the state Ethics Board. He currently serves as the chair of the board of Door Shakespeare, a summer stock theater that performs at Björklunden.

Margot Warch also spent a lengthy career in education, teaching for 27 years at Fox Valley Technical College.

The Warches are spending their retirement in Door County, Wisconsin.

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University President Jill Beck will announce a $150 million capital campaign, the most ambitious fundraising effort in the college’s history, Friday, Oct. 17.

Beck will unveil the campaign’s objectives to a crowd of alumni, trustees, faculty, staff, students and friends of the college at 5:30 p.m. in Stansbury Theatre.

The campaign, which began with a “quiet phase” in 2005, already has raised $104 million toward its goal, according to Beck. Campaign co-chairs William Hochkammer and Harry Jansen Kraemer, led the fundraising efforts during the quiet phase.

“This historic campaign is a commitment to building on our successes and to firmly establishing Lawrence as a national liberal arts education leader — the very best at providing the individualized learning experiences that our students and alumni know are powerfully transformative,” said Beck. “It’s critical that we invest aggressively to keep the defining characteristics of the university strong, ensure its vitality and pave the way for continued innovation that expands our students’ opportunities.”

Lawrence last conducted a major capital campaign from 1992-97 in celebration of the college’s sesquicentennial. That campaign raised $66.3 million, surpassing its goal of $60 million. The theme of the current campaign — “More Light!” — is derived from the respective mottos of Lawrence — “Light, More Light!” — and Milwaukee-Downer College “Sit Lux” (“Let there be light”). Milwaukee-Downer, a pioneering women’s college, consolidated with Lawrence in 1964.

The “More Light!” Campaign, which will conclude in October 2011, will have four major priorities: endowment; capital projects; new initiatives; and the Lawrence Fund.

Half of the campaign’s goal — $75 million — will be directed to Lawrence’s endowment. Of that total, $30 million will be designated for student scholarships and $15 million for endowed professorships and faculty salaries.

“The endowment is an investment in the faculty and students who are at the heart of our mission,” said Beck. “A more substantial endowment will give the college greater security and flexibility and ensure that Lawrence’s traditional strengths will endure and thrive.”

The campaign aims to raise $50 million for capital projects, some of which have already been started or completed.

A $4 million, 20,000-square-foot addition to the Björklunden lodge on Lawrence’s northern campus in Door County was completed in the summer of 2007 and officially dedicated on August 4. The addition more than doubled to 37,000 square-feet the size of the existing two-story seminar and conference center, which hosts adult week-long seminars during the summer and weekend student seminars during the academic year..

All funds for the $35 million campus center, the largest building project in Lawrence’s history, have already been raised, led by an anonymous $16 million leadership gift. When completed, the Campus Center will be one of the “greenest” buildings in the Fox Cities with a LEED Silver certification.

Other capital projects include the construction of The Hurvis Crossing across Lawe Street, connecting the Campus Center with the west end of campus; a riverwalk along the Fox River; and major renovations of the Lawrence Memorial Union and Jason Downer Commons.

A goal of $7 million has been established for the support of new initiatives, including Lawrence’s new Senior Experience, a “bookend” program to the college’s Freshman Studies program, the Lawrence Fellows program and the college’s Posse Scholars.

Founded in 2005, the Lawrence Fellows program brings newly-minted doctoral students to campus for two-or three-year appointments to teach courses, offer individualized instruction opportunities to students, and continue their professional activities as scholars, researchers, and/or performers.

The Posse program brings multicultural “cohorts” of 10 talented students from New York City to Lawrence each fall. Lawrence established a partnership in 2006 with the Posse Foundation, Inc., which prepares students for enrollment at top-tier universities nationwide through an intensive eight-month pre-collegiate training program. There are currently 20 Posse students on campus.

The final campaign priority will direct $18 million toward The Lawrence Fund, a financial infrastructure that covers virtually all of the annual operating expenses of the college, including helping to underwrite the cost of educating students, paying faculty and staff salaries and campus physical plant maintenance.

“It’s impossible to imagine Lawrence without a vibrant and growing annual fund,” said Beck. “As the college charts a course for the future, The Lawrence Fund is prioritized as a way of ensuring the student experience remains transformative and of superior quality. Lawrence is proud that during the past two decades, alumni participation rates for contributions to its annual fund are among the highest of its peers.”

APPLETON, WIS. — What does Newton’s Laws of Motion have to do with playing linebacker? Why isn’t helium used in footballs to give them better hang time? A University of Nebraska scientist explains the connections between science and sport in a Lawrence University address.

Timothy Gay, professor of physics at Nebraska, presents “Football Physics” Tuesday, Oct. 21 at 7:30 p.m. in Youngchild Hall, Room 121. The event is free and open to the public.

A former offensive tackle at Cal Tech and a one-time manager of the football team at Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., that had three-time Super Bowl winning coach Bill Belichick on its roster, Gay began giving video physics lessons in 1999 to the sellout football crowds at the University of Nebraska via Memorial Stadium’s giant scoreboard screens.

Through his in-game video lessons, Gay offered scientific insights by explaining how Newton’s Laws of Motion applied to blocking and tackling, what projectile motion had to do with kicking and punting, the connection between kinematics and open-field running, and what the ideal gas law had to do with filling footballs with air instead of helium.

NFL Films hired Gay in 2001in to write and appear in a series of 5-minute television segments for the show “NFL Blast!,” a half-hour program shown in 190 foreign countries to familiarize audiences with American football.

Gay’s work has been featured on “ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings,” ESPN’s “Cold Pizza,” as well as in stories that appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Boston Globe, Washington Post, and People magazine, among others.

A member of the physics department at the University of Nebraska since 1993, Gay is the author of the book “Football Physics,” which was recently reprinted in a second edition as “The Physics of Football.”

APPLETON, WIS. — The acclaimed Guarneri String Quartet brings the final concert tour of its award-winning, four-decade career to the Lawrence Memorial Chapel for its last performance in Wisconsin Friday, Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. The concert opens the 2008-09 Lawrence University Artist Series, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

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

Since forming in 1964, the quartet has traveled the world many times over, performing in many of the most prestigious concert halls in North and South America, Europe, Asia and Australia. National Public Radio hailed the quartet as “among the most revered and enduring ensembles of its kind in the world.” After 45 years of performing together, the quartet will retire in May at the end of their current concert tour.

Matthew Michelic, associate professor music who has taught viola at Lawrence since 1987, calls the Guarneri String Quartet ” a pillar of the North American chamber music.”

“Each member came to the group with an established reputation as a solo and chamber music performer,” said Michelic, who was mentored by the quartet early in his own professional career. “Their rise once formed as the Guarneri was meteoric. Music lovers in the Fox Valley are very fortunate to be able to be a part of their farewell tour.”

The quartet is known for mastering the best of existing repertoire as well as performing works by many of today’s foremost composers. Their concert at Lawrence will include works by Joseph Haydn, Zoltan Kodaly and one of the most beautiful works in the repertoire, the 1903 string quartet of Maurice Ravel.

In addition to premiering pieces by American composers William Bolcom, Derek Bermel, Richard Danielpour and Lukas Foss, the quartet has collaborated with the Johannes String Quartet and the National Symphony Orchestra.

The Guarani String Quartet have won numerous international awards, including Germany’s Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Award for their recording of Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga’s String Quartet Nos. 1-3 and the prestigious Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in New York City.