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Congressional Reformer Discusses the Country’s “Naked Emperors” at Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — Scot Faulkner, the country’s first chief administrative officer of the U.S. House of Representatives and an advocate of government reform, discusses the failed opportunities of lawmakers to run a more efficient, less corrupt federal government in an address at Lawrence University.

A 1975 Lawrence graduate, Faulkner presents “Naked Emperors — How Republicans and Democrats Have Lost Their Minds and Their Way” Tuesday, Feb. 17 at 11:10 a.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall, Room 102.

Faulkner’s presentation will be based on his 2008 book “Naked Emperors: The Failure of the Republican Revolution,” a first-hand account of how ego-driven, bureaucratic self-interests are served at the expense of national interests.

In the wake of the historic 1994 elections that brought a new Republican majority to the Capitol, Faulkner was offered a job as the institution’s first chief administrative officer by House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who told Faulkner, “The days of special favors are over.”

As a proponent of operating the government “as a business,” Faulkner designed and led the most significant management reforms in the history of Congress, earning praise from Harvard University and the Ford Foundation, which cited his efforts in a list of the top 100 innovations in American government.

But ultimately, as Faulkner chronicles in his memoir, the promise of fundamental change went unrealized and the corrupt ways of the Democrats were replaced with new forms of Republican corruption.

Prior to his chief administrative officer duties, Faulkner held executive positions at the Federal Aviation Administration, the General Services Administration and the Peace Corps during the Reagan Administration. He is currently a managing partner for the West Virginia-based firm Phoenix Consulting Associates, advising international corporations on strategic change and leadership.

In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree in government from Lawrence, Faulkner studied at the London School of Economics and at Georgetown University. He has served as adjunct faculty at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland and lectured at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.

Diversity Scholar Discusses Tolerance, Racial Constructs in Two Lawrence University Presentations

APPLETON, WIS. — John Quincy Adams, professor of educational and interdisciplinary studies at Western Illinois University, will deliver a pair of talks Monday, February 16 in conjunction with Lawrence University’s celebration of Black History Month.

Against a backdrop of global economies and an increasingly diverse national population, Adams will discuss the importance of understanding cultural differences and the steps needed to increase cultural sensitivity in the address “Tolerance – Respecting Diversity” at 12:30 p.m. in the Barber Room of Downer Commons.

In his second address, “Race – A Social or Biological Construct?” at 6:45 p.m., in the Wriston Art Center auditorium, Adams examines the social construction of race and ethnicity in the United States, exploring questions such as why is Barrack Obama Black, and what are the consequences of continuing to maintain this belief system. He also will discuss the implications of new research projects, including National Geographic’s genographic study.

Adams is a five-time recipient of Western Illinois’ Faculty Excellence Award and the 2002 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois’ College of Education.

A scholar of African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic populations in public schools, Adams contributed the entry on multiculturalism to the “Encyclopedia of Race, Ethnicity, and Society.” He is the author of the 2005 book “Multicultural Films: A Reference Guide” and the videotape series “Effective Strategies For Learning and Teaching About Diversity in the U.S.A.”

Lawrence University Cited for Community Service on National Honor Roll

APPLETON, WIS. — Exemplary service efforts have earned Lawrence University a spot on the 2009 President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll announced today (2/9) by the Corporation for National and Community Service.

Lawrence is one of only four Wisconsin institutions that has been named to the Community Service Honor Roll every year since the program was launched in 2006.

“I couldn’t be more proud to have our students’ good efforts beyond the campus borders be recognized nationally once again,” said Lawrence President Jill Beck. “I salute our students, and the faculty and staff who work with them, for the breadth and quality of their efforts to build a stronger community.”

The Community Service Honor Roll is the highest federal recognition a school can achieve for its commitment to service-learning and civic engagement. Honorees for the award are chosen based on a series of selection factors including scope and innovativeness of service projects, percentage of student participation in service activities, incentives for service, and the extent to which the school offers academic service-learning courses.

In the past year, Lawrence, with an enrollment of 1,400, documented more than 9,000 service hours involving at least 400 students, including more than 20 students who performed at least 20 hours of service per week. Of that total, approximately 600 hours were devoted to this year’s designated service area: high school completion and college readiness.

Among the initiatives for which Lawrence was recognized was the Lawrence Assistance Reaching Youth (LARY) Buddies, a mentoring program for at-risk elementary students; a program of foreign language and culture presentations in local schools; the Confidence and Determination in Youth (CADY) student organization which provides younger students an inspirational, college-like experience in learning, and the establishment of a long-term partnership between Lawrence and the Appleton Fire Department to enhance fire safety education.

“Even in the midst of a demanding academic program, our students routinely extend themselves on behalf of others in the community, which speaks volumes about their character” said Alan Parks, Lawrence’s Pieper Family Professor of Servant Leadership and director of the college’s Office for Engaged Learning. “It’s wonderful that their efforts are recognized on a national stage like this.”

The Corporation for National and Community Service is a federal agency that improves lives, strengthens communities, and fosters civic engagement through service and volunteering. The Corporation administers Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America, a program that supports service-learning in schools, institutions of higher education and community-based organizations.

Lawrence University Environmental Series Address Looks at Chinese Success Stories

APPLETON, WIS. — Environmental writer Phil McKenna presents “What China is Doing Right Environmentally” Wednesday, Feb. 11 in the final installment of Lawrence University’s four-part Spoerl environmental studies lecture series. The presentation, at 4:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall, 102, is free and open to the public.

While China receives its share of environmental criticism, McKenna, a 1999 Lawrence graduate, will discuss three Chinese environmental success stories. His presentation will examine a solar water heating revolution taking place across the country, rain water harvesting in the arid regions of north central China and the protection of a critically endangered monkey species led by Pan Wenshi, China’s founding father of conservation biology.

Operating out of Cambridge, Mass., and Beijing, China, McKenna serves as a correspondent for New Scientist magazine. He also has written for Audubon and National Wildlife magazines as well as the New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

After earning a degree in history at Lawrence, McKenna taught English for a year in China’s Sichuan Province and worked as a field biologist on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service California condor reintroduction program in California and Arizona.

He earned a master’s degree at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was a John S. Hennessy Environmental Studies Fellow and served as an environmental journalism fellow at Middlebury College in 2007-08.

The environmental lecture series is sponsored by the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society. Established in 1999 by Milwaukee-Downer College graduate Barbara Gray Spoerl and her husband, Edward, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on the role of science and technology in societies worldwide.

The Book as Art Form Focus of Lawrence University Visiting Artist Series Presentation

APPLETON, WIS. – The evolution of the book as an artistic invention alive with ideas and possibilities will be the focus of a Lawrence University Visiting Artist Series address.

Siri Engberg, curator of visual arts at Minneapolis’ Walker Art Center, presents “Text/Messages: Books by Artists” Tuesday, Feb. 10 at 4:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center auditorium. A reception with Engberg will be held following the address. Both events are free and open to the public.

A 1989 Lawrence graduate, Engberg will trace the changes in the ways books have been used by artists over the course of the last 100 years. While artists once used the book form to create often lavish publications filled with illustrations, according to Engberg, artists in the late 1950s and early 1960s saw the book as a more democratic way to present visual information.

Some artists began exploring the book as an art form that reflected contemporary movements such as pop art, minimalism, conceptual art and feminism. The result was the “artist’s book.”

Today’s artists are defying traditional book parameters, incorporating new modes of commercial printing, handmade papers and unconventional methods of binding to vastly change the book’s potential. They are creating books that have no text or even pages, books that unfold to great lengths, books that become sculpture and books that contain objects, instructions or games.

Engberg, who earned a bachelor’s degree in art history and English from Lawrence, organized the current exhibition “Text/Messages: Books by Artists” at the Walker Art Center, which features artist books from the Walker’s extensive library and collection.

Grammy-Winning Baritone Dale Duesing Performs Feb. 7 at Lawrence University

APPLETON, WIS. — Dale Duesing, hailed as “a singer who changed opera in the 20th century” by the French magazine Monde de la Musique, returns Saturday, Feb. 7 to familiar surroundings — the Lawrence Memorial Chapel. The 1967 Lawrence University graduate performs in concert at 8 p.m. as part of the 100th anniversary of the Lawrence Artist Series.

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

Duesing’s international vocal career has spanned four decades and continues to grow in scope and expertise. The highly acclaimed baritone has sung in the world’s foremost opera houses and has appeared as a soloist with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, the Chicago Symphony and the Saint Cecilia of Rome.

Patrice Michaels, professor of music at Lawrence and an acclaimed opera singer in her own right, calls Duesing “the quintessential professional singer.”

“Dale is the kind of opera singer of whom stage and music directors say, ‘if Dale’s available, then we can do virtually anything.’ His versatility, reliability, and audience appeal have made him a household name in the best opera houses and with the best orchestras in the world.”

Duesing’s award-winning career, which has included new challenges as well as familiar roles, has earned him “Singer of the Year” honors from Germany’s Opernwelt magazine and a 1993 Grammy for his recording of Samuel Barber’s “The Lovers” with the Chicago Symphony. He made his operatic directorial debut in 2004, earning best production and best director nominations from Opernwelt.

Duesing, a native of Milwaukee, makes his home in Appleton and serves as an artist-in-residence at Lawrence’s conservatory of music.

“He is ‘Uncle Dale’ to generations of voice students whom he mentors frequently,” said Michaels. “Fox Valley audiences know that Dale’s singing is informed by his technical skill and theatrical expertise, but moreover by his deep sense of compassion and love of humanity.”

Water Conflicts in China Examined in Lawrence University Environmental Series Address

APPLETON, WIS. — A scholar of environmental policies in China and the United States examines China’s growing water problems in the third installment of Lawrence University’s four-part Spoerl environmental studies lecture series on water and its management.

Jennifer Turner, director of the Woodrow Wilson Center’s China Environment Forum in Washington, D.C., presents “Water is for Fighting: Water Conflicts and Crises in China and the United States” Tuesday, Feb. 3 at 7:30 p.m. in Lawrence’s Science Hall, 102. The presentation is free and open to the public.

Turner will discuss the growing number and severity of water conflicts throughout China in the wake of burgeoning water demand, inefficient use of existing resources and increasing levels of water pollution. While conflicts over large-scale water projects such as the Three Gorges Dam have received attention in Western media, Turner contends other water conflicts over pollution and smaller dams that are far less publicized are equally, if not more, threatening to human and ecological health.

Although China’s water problems are larger than those in this country, Turner will draw parallels with the U.S. experience in dealing with water quality and quantity challenges. She also will discuss how some U.S. non-government organizations are working to help China alleviate pressures on watersheds.

Prior to joining the Wilson Center, Turner was a faculty member of the political science department at Winthrop University. She also has taught English in Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China.

The environmental lecture series is sponsored by the Spoerl Lectureship in Science in Society. Established in 1999 by Milwaukee-Downer College graduate Barbara Gray Spoerl and her husband, Edward, the lectureship promotes interest and discussion on the role of science and technology in societies worldwide.

Deep-sea Exploration, Marine Conservation Focus of Lawrence University Convocation

APPLETON, WIS. — Internationally recognized biologist and deep-sea explorer Edith Widder discusses her efforts to reverse the degradation of the world’s marine environments Tuesday, Feb. 3 in a Lawrence University convocation.

Widder presents “Eye in the Sea: What Does Deep Sea Exploration Tell Us About Marine Conservation?” at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel, 510 E. College Ave., Appleton. Widder also will conduct a question and answer session at 1:30 p.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Union. Both events are free and open to the public.

A specialist in bioluminescence — the light chemically produced by many ocean organisms — Widder has been at the forefront of creating new instrumentation and equipment for deep-sea observation. Among Widder’s inventions is the Eye in the Sea (EITS), a remotely operated camera system that automatically detects and measures the bioluminescence given off by nearby organisms on the ocean floor.

Widder has completed more than 250 dives in deep-diving submersibles and her research involving submersibles has been the focus of BBC, PBS, Discovery Channel and National Geographic television productions.

In 2005, Widder co-founded the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA) in Fort Pierce, Fla., serving as president and senior scientist. The non-profit organization develops innovative technologies and science-based conservation programs for the protection of marine ecosystems. Her expertise in oceanographic research and technological innovation was recognized in 2006 with a prestigious MacArthur Fellowship.

The Bank, Bucky’s Defend Trivia Titles in Lawrence University’s 44th Annual Contest

APPLETON, WIS. — It took a pair of Sunday rallies for the off-campus and on-campus teams to defend their titles in the 44th annual Lawrence University Great Midwest Trivia Contest.

In one of the closest finishes in years, The Bank of Kaukauna came from behind over the weekend to capture its ninth straight off-campus title, racking up 1,465 points to edge the Trivia Pirates Aargh, who finished with 1,435 points. Six Feet Under Inter-Office Memoranda was third among 67 off-campus teams with 1,415 points.

Bucky’s also rallied to win its seventh straight title among 12 on-campus student teams. Bucky’s tallied 1,393 points, while Super Mega Soviet Gang Bang Dream Team Party finished second with 1,332 points and Brokman O’Hiett was third with 1,248.

The Bank of Kaukauna was awarded a stuffed chicken with broken springy legs inside of a black cardboard coffin, signed by all the trivia masters for its first-place finish, while Bucky’s received a gigantic black cardboard armadillo, signed by all the trivia masters for wining the on-campus title.

A total of 346 questions were asked during the 50-hour contest that ended at midnight Sunday, Jan. 25. A server crash during the contest, which is Internet broadcast on Lawrence’s student radio station WLFM, suspended the questions and answers for about an hour.

No team was able to answer this year’s “Super Garruda,” the contest’s final question, which asked: “Who was going to be married next to what was the “world’s largest cedar bucket” in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, in June, 2005, before it mysteriously burned down the week before the wedding date?” The disappointed couple was James Walters and Jaki Neubauer.

Artist Ben Rinehart Featured in Lawrence University Exhibition

APPLETON, WIS. — Lawrence University Assistant Professor of Art Benjamin Rinehart delivers the opening lecture Friday, January 23 at 6 p.m. for the latest exhibition at Lawrence’s Wriston Art Center Galleries. The new exhibition runs through March 5. A reception with Rinehart follows the address, which is free and open to the public.

Rinehart’s “PG: Parental Guidance” will be featured in the Kohler Gallery. In various relief printmaking mediums, including woodcut and pressure printing, book arts as well as in painting, Rinehart explores relationships, gender roles and stereotypes that bring up questions about love, insecurities, social injustices and values in contemporary society.

A multi-media artist who focuses on drawing, painting, printmaking, and artist’s books, Rinehart joined the Lawrence art department in 2006. He is the author of the 2007 book “Creating Books & Boxes: Fun and Unique Approaches to Handmade Structures” and holds a master of fine arts degree from Louisiana State University.

The Hoffmaster Gallery will feature the work of artists Lisa Bigalke, Katie Johnson and Traci Molloy in the exhibition “Women’s Quarters.” Through the playful use of imagery, the works of the three artists are bound by their unique use of color, pattern, design and genuine narrative.

Bigalke, an art instructor at UW-Parkside, creates multi-discipline prints focusing on the natural landscape, layering color, pattern and texture to create macro vs. micro dichotomies. Johnson, who teaches art in the Albuquerque Public School system, creates unique handmade dolls with a special attention to surface, fabric and embroidery work. Molloy is a Brooklyn-based artist whose work investigates social theory and challenges audience beliefs about adolescent culture, loss and violence.

The Leech Gallery will feature “The Critical Hand: Satire in Art,” a collection of 18th-20th century prints from the Wriston Art Galleries’ permanent collection, including work by William Hogarth, Honore Daumier and Warrington Colescott.

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 Mondays. For more information, call 920-832-6621 or visit http://www.lawrence.edu/news/wriston/.