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Mikhail Gorbachev Opens Conference Examining Role of Community Based International Partnerships in Helping Secure Cold War Era Weapons Stockpiles

They have been described as “a real shopping mall for terrorists” and “more dangerous than even nuclear weapons.”

They are arguably the scariest legacy of the Cold War: massive stockpiles of chemical, biological and nuclear weapons stored throughout the former Soviet Union.

Many of these weapons stockpiles, some of which are housed in glorified pole sheds “secured” with little more than a single padlock, are well within reach of al-Qaida and other terrorists groups as well as black marketers, creating serious threats not only to nearby communities, but also the world at large.

Earlier this year, an ABC News 20/20 expose focused on 65 such weapons storage facilities 1,000 miles east of Moscow near the Kazakhstan border in the frontier town of Shchuchye. The facilities in Shchuchye alone are home to nearly two million weapon-packed artillery shells, any one of which can hold enough poison to kill a stadium full of people.

Former Senator Sam Nunn, who co-chairs the non-partisan Nuclear Threat Initiative and previously served as chair of the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee, calls such facilities “a terrorist’s dream.”

“If a guard in Shchuchye substituted four or five artillery tubes and put fakes in and took them out and sold them, those artillery tubes full of nerve gas could be on American streets or on an American subway system within a week or 10 days,” Nunn observed in the 20/20 broadcast. “Homeland security doesn’t begin in America, it begins wherever there are chemical weapons, or biological or nuclear weapons, that could be seized by a terrorist group.”

On October 1-3, Appleton, Wis., and Lawrence University will serve as the venue for a three-day “International Community Partnerships Conference.” Emphasizing “security through stability,” the conference will examine the crucial role grassroots, community-to-community, international partnerships can play in reducing the threat posed by the Cold War era weapons stockpiles.

Former Soviet President and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Mikhail Gorbachev will open the conference with the keynote address Wednesday, Oct. 1 in Appleton’s Performing Arts Center.

At the conclusion of the conference, participating community partners will unveil the Communities for International Development initiative, a new non-profit organization dedicated to promoting cooperative programs and activities between sister cities in the United States and Russia.

Experts agree that improving the economic and social stability of the Russian communities where weapons of mass destruction are housed is a prerequisite for security.

Over the past decade, civic leaders and community organizations in five American communities — Appleton (Fox Cities) and La Crosse in Wisconsin, Oak Ridge (Blount County) in Tennessee, Livermore, Calif., and Los Alamos, New Mexico — have worked closely with their counterparts in Kurgan/Shchuchye, Dubna, Zhelezneogorsk, Snezhinsk and Sarov to create more jobs, improve health care, build sound educational systems and strengthen social infrastructure in these cities that house weapons stockpiles or were once major weapons development locations for the Soviet Union in efforts to reduce the threat posed by the weapons.

Representatives from each of the five community partnerships will come together for the first time at Lawrence University to discuss best practices and approaches from their own partnering experiences. They hope to develop practical models for strengthening collaborative programs in economic development, education, health care and the environment and civic development and federalism.

“We have a tremendous opportunity and responsibility as individuals and as communities to make a difference in this world,” said Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities President Dr. Montgomery Elmer, a family physician with the ThedaCare regional health system and conference organizer.

The conference is organized by the Board of the Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities Program, Inc., with the involvement of several community groups and corporations throughout Appleton and the Fox Cities. Funding from the U.S. government’s Open World Program will enable 30 delegates from the five Russian partnering communities to participate in the conference.

In addition to Mikhail Gorbachev, conference speakers will include Paul Walker, director of the Cold War weapons of mass destruction Legacy Program at Global Green USA and former senior staff member of the House Armed Services Committee; Sergei Baranovsky, President of Green Cross Russia; Laura Holgate, Vice President for Russia/New Independent States Programs of the non-partisan Nuclear Threat Initiative; and Paul McNelly, Chief of the Russian Chemical Weapons Elimination Division in the Cooperative Threat Reduction Directorate of the U.S. Department of Defense Threat Reduction Agency.

Further media information on the conference may be obtained from Megan Wilcox, ThedaCare Public Relations, at megan.wilcox@thedacare.org or at (920) 832-5847.

Lawrence University, UW-Fox Valley Co-host National Assembly on Science Facilities

State-of-the-art science facilities at Lawrence University and the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley will be showcased Sept. 12-14 for more than 120 national academic leaders representing 30 colleges and universities during the “Building Spaces for Science That Make a Difference” assembly.

Lawrence and UWFox are co-hosting the assembly, which is sponsored by Project Kaleidoscope, a Washington, D.C.- based national alliance of faculty, administrators and other stakeholders committed to building and sustaining strong undergraduate programs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).

The two institutions were selected as co-hosts of the assembly because of their proven commitment to education in the STEM fields. During the three-day conference, facilities at both campuses, including Lawrence’s three-year old $18.1 million, 78,000-square foot Science Hall dedicated to the molecular sciences and the 74,000-square-foot Youngchild Hall, which underwent a $10 million renovation in 2001, as well as UWFox’s 1998 science wing replacement, the recently opened Weis Earth Science Museum, Wisconsin’s official mineralogical museum, and the Barlow Planetarium, the state’s finest such facility, will be highlighted as case studies of science facilities that are successfully supporting student learning.

Assembly participants will focus on the seven “Cs” needed to successfully plan for 21st century spaces of learning: curriculum, commitment, community, comprehensive, conflict, cadence and cost.

The “Building Spaces for Science” assembly in the Fox Cities is one of 10 Project Kaleidoscope gatherings scheduled around the country during the next three months. The assemblies are designed to provide opportunities for STEM faculty leaders administrative colleagues and other stakeholders o share ideas and insights about what works in building strong undergraduate STEM programs and to set an agenda for action at the local and national level.

Lawrence University Cited in Three Categories in U.S. News & World Report Annual Best College’s Guide

An increasingly global student body, an exceptional program for first-year students and an overall outstanding academic experience has again earned Lawrence University recognition in the latest U.S. News & World Report’s popular annual college rankings.

In U.S. News’s 17th annual “America’s Best Colleges” report released Friday (8/22), Lawrence was ranked 52nd in the “Best Liberal Arts Colleges – Bachelor’s” category, which comprises 217 of the nation’s leading national liberal arts colleges.

This is the fifth consecutive year Lawrence has been included among the top quarter of institutions in the magazine’s national liberal arts category.

In addition to its best colleges national ranking, Lawrence also was cited by U.S. News in two other categories.

Lawrence’s signature curricular program — Freshman Studies –earned the college inclusion in U.S. News’ listing of “first year experiences,” which was one of eight special categories the magazine calls “outstanding examples of academic programs that lead to student success.”

The categories are not distinguished by institutional size or type. Lawrence’s Freshman Studies program was cited along with other first year programs at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford universities, among others. Colleges and their programs in these specialized categories were ranked based on nominations supplied by college presidents, chief academic officers and deans of students.

Lawrence’s global reach landed it fifth, up from 15th a year ago, among all liberal arts colleges in percentage of international students enrolled, with 12% of last year’s student body comprising students from abroad. For the upcoming 2003-2004 academic year, Lawrence’s 1,300-member student body is expected to include 160 international students from about 45 countries.

“The annual publication of the U.S. News rankings has become something of a national event,” said Lawrence President Richard Warch, “though if they are to be, then I’m pleased that Lawrence has again fared well. Of special note is the recognition of our distinctive Freshman Studies program, which was also recognized by the National Endowment for the Humanities as an exemplary curricular offering and of our serious and sustained commitment to serving an international student population. The students from about 45 countries who will attend Lawrence this year contribute meaningfully to the teaching and learning community and we take great pride in having them here.”

Williams College ended Amherst College’s run of three straight number one rankings by earning the magazine’s top spot in this year’s national liberal arts colleges list. Amherst was ranked second and Swarthmore College slipped from number two year ago to number three this year.

U.S. News and World Report’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” guide uses data from 15 separate indicators of academic excellence such as selectivity, graduation rates, student retention, faculty resources and alumni satisfaction. It assigns a “weight” to each criteria that reflects how much that measure matters. Each school’s composite weighted score is then compared to peer institutions to determine final rankings.

In its rankings, U.S. News evaluates nearly 1,400 of the nation’s public and private four-year schools, dividing them into several distinct categories. In addition to the “best liberal arts college” other categories include universities that grant master and doctorate degrees and colleges that are considered “regional” rather than national” institutions, such as St. Norbert College or UW-Oshkosh.

Lawrence University Art Director Wins Design Award for Academy of Music Logo

Lawrence University art director Marsha Tuchscherer has been cited with an Award of Excellence by the University and College Designers Association (UCDA) for her redesign of the Lawrence Academy of Music identity program logo.

The logo, which includes two one-sixteenth notes tied together, will be included in a display during the UCDA’s 2003 Design Show in October in Boston as part of the association’s 33rd annual conference. Tuchscherer’s design was one of 201 award-winners selected from more than 1,500 entries in the UCDA’s annual design competition.

The logo citation was the fourth time Tuchscherer’s work has been recognized with an award by the UCDA. She has served as the art director at Lawrence since 1996.

Lawrence University Convocation Series Explores the Mind, the Environment, Personal Inspiration and Our Funny Bone

Humorist David Sedaris, cognitive scientist Steven Pinker, best-selling author Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK) and environmental historian William Cronon will visit the Lawrence University campus in the coming year as part of the college’s 2003-2004 convocation series.

Richard Warch, who begins his 25th and final year as Lawrence University president, opens the convocation series Thursday Sept. 25 with his annual matriculation address. All convocations are held in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel and are free and open to the public.

Sedaris, an author, playwright and National Public Radio commentator, will break with Lawrence convocation tradition with a rare evening appearance when he speaks Tuesday, Oct. 14 at 7:10 p.m. Convocations are typically held at 11:10 a.m.

A regular contributor to Esquire magazine, Sedaris was named humorist of the year in 2001 by Time magazine and is a past recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor. He is the author of several best-selling books, including “Barrel Fever,” and “Holidays on Ice.” His most recent book, “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” is a series of humorous autobiographical essays.

Pinker, professor of psychology at the Center for Cognitive Neurosciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, presents “The Blank Slate” on Tuesday, Jan. 20.

Named one of the “100 Americans for the Next Century” by Newsweek magazine, Pinker is considered one of the world’s leading cognitive scientists. His book, “How the Mind Works,” was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1998 and his most recent work, 2002’s “The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature,” has thrust Pinker to the forefront of public debate about human nature and the development of the human mind.

SARK, a frequent guest on National Public Radio, presents “Make Your Creative Dreams Real” on Thursday, March 4. She has written 11 personal growth, inspiration and creativity books, including the 1997 self-help best-seller “Succulent Wild Women.” She wrote her first book at the age of 10, and currently has more than two million books in print. She was featured in the PBS series, “Women of Wisdom and Power” and the documentary film, “The World According to SARK.”

On Tuesday, May 25, Cronon headlines Lawrence’s annual Honors Convocation with the address “The Portage: History and Memory in the Making.”

The Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 1992, Cronon studies American environmental history and the history of human interactions with the natural world. He has written four books including “Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West,” which earned Cronon the 1992 Bancroft Prize as the best work of American history published during the previous year and was one of three nominees for the Pulitzer Prize in History, and 1995’s “Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature.”

Cronon was named a Rhodes Scholar as an undergraduate at UW-Madison, and has since been honored as a Danforth Fellow and as a Guggenheim Fellow. In 1985, he was awarded one of the MacArthur Foundation’s prestigious “genius grants.”

Lawrence University Mathematician Receives National Writing Award

Lawrence University assistant professor of mathematics Eugenie Hunsicker received the Mathematical Association of America’s Trevor Evans Award at the organization’s recent Summer Mathfest in Boulder, Colo.

The award, established in 1992, recognizes authors of “exceptional articles that are accessible to undergraduates” and published in the association’s journal Math Horizons. The award includes a citation and a $500 cash prize.

Hunsicker was honored for the article, “Simplicity is not Simple,” which she co wrote with Laura Taalman of James Madison University. The article, published in the September 2002 edition of Math Horizons, examines the simple mathematics behind modular architecture — from geodesic domes to modern space-efficient buildings — and speculates on how such architecture may someday help house the world.

A specialist in geometry and topology, Hunsicker joined the Lawrence faculty in 1999 after completing her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago.

The Mathematical Association of America, with nearly 27,000 members, is the world’s largest organization devoted to collegiate mathematics education.

Fulbright Fellowship Supports Lawrence University’s Mandy Halpin Exploration of Arabic Language, Moroccan Social Justice

Mandy Halpin’s burgeoning interest in Arabic language and human rights issues is about to get some up-close and personal attention.

Halpin, who graduated in June with a bachelor’s degree magna cum laude in religious studies, was one of 1,125 American students who were recently awarded grants by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board to study and conduct research in 140 countries throughout the world beginning this fall. She was selected as a 2003-2004 Fulbright Scholar from among more than 5,000 applicants.

In September, Halpin leaves for Morocco, where she will spend the next 10 months. The first five weeks of her stay will be spent living with a host family in Fez, where she will study Arabic at the Arabic Language Institute. In mid-October, she will move to the capital city of Rabat to begin working with Moroccan-based non-governmental organizations involved with human rights issues in the country. The Fulbright award will provide Halpin with round-trip transportation to Morocco, health insurance and a monthly stipend to cover her living expenses.

Already active in social justice and human rights issues — she’s worked extensively with the Lawrence campus chapter of Amnesty International — Halpin discovered an interest in Islam and the Arab world while completing her religious studies major at Lawrence.

With a Muslim majority, a predominantly Arabic-speaking population, an expansive history of cross-cultural interactions and a government that has shown increased sensitivity to human rights issues, Morocco provided a near-perfect destination for Halpin to pursue her interests.

“Morocco is a place where I can experience a rich Islamic culture, learn Arabic while communicating in French and explore questions of social justice and human rights,” said Halpin, who is fluent in French, which is spoken widely in Morocco. “King Mohammed VI has shown sympathy to human rights and social justice issues in recent years, establishing the Consultative Council on Human Rights. Through the cooperation of several Moroccan organizations, the National Charter on Human Rights was established in 1997. Recent parliamentary elections, in which women played an unprecedented role, have also demonstrated the primacy of such concerns.

“As a student of world religions, the whole intricate web of faith, justice and society intrigues me and I’m looking forward to exploring those connections in Morocco,” added Halpin, who lives in Boscobel. “Moroccans are striving to change their societies. I am interested in seeing how groups navigate the waters of social justice in the context of Morocco. How are they doing it and what do they want to see happen?”

To that end, Halpin intends to contact a variety of Moroccan organizations involved with social justice initiatives, among them the Moroccan Organization for Human Rights, the Moroccan Association for Human Rights, the Moroccan League for the Defense of Human Rights as well as two organizations that focus on women’s rights issues — the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women and the Union for Women’s Action.

“While I’m in Rabat, I plan to interview the local leaders of some of these organizations and observe their work whenever possible,” said Halpin. “I want to learn about the their strategies, the challenges they face and the historical, cultural and political facets influencing the problems at hand.”

Following her year abroad, Halpin plans to return to the United States to continue her Arabic studies as well as speak, write and work with nonprofit organizations here on the topics of Islamic civilizations and life in the Muslim world. Her long-range plans include pursuit of a Ph.D. in North African and Middle Eastern studies.

“I’ve studied Morocco and other post-colonial nations, Islam and Arabic literature in translation,” Halpin said. “But living in a post-colonial North African nation with a Muslim, Arabic-speaking majority will entail an entirely new set of experiences for me. I hope to come away with a much deeper understanding of Moroccan culture, the Arabic language and social justice.”

The Fulbright Program was created by Congress in 1946 to foster mutual understanding among nations through educational and cultural exchanges. Former Arkansas Senator J. William Fulbright, who sponsored the legislation, saw it as a step toward building an alternative to armed conflict.

Since its founding, the Fulbright Program has become the U.S. government’s premier scholarship program, enabling more than 250,000 American students, artists and other professionals to benefit from unique resources in every corner of the world and gain international competence.

Lawrence University Honors Six Alumni for Exemplary Service, Distinguished Achievement at Reunion Weekend Celebration

For nearly 40 years, Appleton’s Austin Boncher life’s work has been music to the ears of generations of Fox Valley arts lovers.

As an educator, mentor, administrator, passionate advocate and driving force behind such notable area organizations as the White Heron Chorale and Fox Valley Symphony, his legacy has continued to resonate throughout the Fox Valley arts community long after his retirement.

Boncher will be one of six Lawrence University graduates recognized Saturday June 21 for their accomplishments and service as part of the college’s annual Reunion Weekend celebration.

More than 1,000 alumni and guests from 39 states and six foreign countries, including China and Russia, are expected to return to Appleton for a series of weekend long activities on the Lawrence campus. Five alumni will be recognized with service awards and one will be receive a distinguished achievement award during the annual reunion convocation Saturday at 11:10 a.m. in the Lawrence Memorial Chapel.

Boncher and David Hoffman, Milwaukee, will each receive the George B. Walter Service to Society Award. Established in 1997 in honor of the late George Walter, a Lawrence graduate and education professor from 1946-75, the award recognizes contributions to socially useful ends in the community.

A 1963 graduate of Lawrence, Boncher devoted his life to developing arts programs in the Fox Valley. From 1963-70, he served as choral director at Xavier High School and Einstein Junior High School and as band director at Menasha High School before becoming the Appleton Area School District’s director of music and later supervisor of music and fine arts, a position he held until his retirement in 1998.

During his 28 years with the Appleton school district, Boncher wrote dozens of grants to bring performances of operas, ballets, instrumental and theatre groups to elementary schools, organized summer school music lessons and initiated a Suzuki pilot program. At the time of his retirement, all but one of the music teachers in the school district had been hired and mentored by Boncher.

His influence extended well beyond classroom as well, helping to change the face of the local arts community. Boncher founded the Fox Valley Symphony Chorale and the Fox Valley Youth Symphony and was one of the founders of the White Heron Chorale, the Appleton Boychoir and the Fox Valley Symphony, all of which are still thriving today.

The Fox Valley Arts Alliance honored Boncher in 1993 with its Renaissance Award for his contributions to the arts. And earlier this year, Boncher was recognized with Thrivent Financial¹s Hanns Kretschmar Award for Excellence in the Arts for his role in “Sing for the Cure,” a musical production to benefit breast-cancer research.

Hoffman, a 1957 Lawrence graduate, dedicated his life to helping families in need. For 38 years — including 28 as its president — Hoffman served Family Service of Milwaukee, the oldest and largest nonprofit, nonsectarian family-support organization in Wisconsin, serving more than 10,000 children and adults each year. He retired from Family Service in December, 2000.

Under his leadership, Family Service grew from a staff of 30 to more than 200. Hoffman expanded the organization’s mission to include a vast array of family support programs, including a training institute for marriage and family therapists, an employee assistance program and a credit counseling service. In 1995, Hoffman established an affiliation with Aurora Health Care that doubled Family Service’s capacity for serving low-income families and the elderly.

A member of the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy and a former president of the Association of Child Psychotherapists, Hoffman convened the Wisconsin Association of Marriage and Family Counselors and served as the organization’s first president. He was twice appointed by Governor Thompson to the Wisconsin State Council on Mental Health.

Terry Moran, Washington, D.C., who has covered the White House for ABC News the past four years, will receive Lawrence’s Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes outstanding contributions and accomplishments in a chosen field.

A 1982 graduate of Lawrence, Moran’s career has been a palette of late 20th- and early 21st-century social history. He began his journalism career as a writer for The New Republic magazine before joining Legal Times, where he covered the Supreme Court as a reporter and later served as the publication’s assistant managing editor. In 1992, he moved to the fledgling cable channel Court TV, where as a correspondent and anchor he covered some of the nation’s highest profile stories, including the murder trials of O.J. Simpson and Lyle and Erik Menendez as well as the Clarence Thomas/Anita Hill Supreme Court hearings.

Moran joined ABC News as the network’s legal correspondent in 1998, where he reported on the trial of Dr. Jack Kevorkian, the “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski and the Microsoft anti-trust case. A story on a reunion of dozens of former death-row inmates who were freed when evidence came to light proving their innocence that Moran covered for ABC’s “Nightline” earned him the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award from the Death Penalty Information Center.

In September, 1999, Moran was named ABC News White House correspondent, where he currently covers all aspects of the Bush administration for “World News Tonight,” “Good Morning America” and other ABC News broadcasts.

Jonathan Bauer, Glen Ellyn, Ill., Michael Cisler, Neenah, and Priscilla Hausmann, West Bend, will each be presented the Gertrude B. Jupp Outstanding Service Award for exemplary dedication, leadership, commitment and volunteerism to Lawrence.

Bauer, a 1983 graduate, is a former president of the Lawrence alumni association board of directors. During his two years as board president, Bauer initiated the Career Contact Program, which connects Lawrence alumni to current students seeking answers to career-oriented questions and founded a student activity grant to support campus activities that enhance student life. A partner in Deloitte Consulting’s telecommunication/information technology business, Bauer has maintained an active relationship with Lawrence’s Career Center, participating in numerous mentoring and networking activities.

Cisler, the president and chief executive officer of Greenville’s JanSport, Inc., has served his alma mater in a variety of volunteer capacities since earning a bachelor of music degree in 1978. After serving seven years as a member of the alumni association board of directors, he spent two years as a member of the 2000 Board of Trustees commissioned Task Force on Residential Life that conducted an in-depth review of all aspects of undergraduate residential life at Lawrence. Cisler is a member of the current Presidential Search Committee that is seeking a successor to President Richard Warch, who will retire in June, 2004.

Energy, infectious goodwill and attention to detail have been the trademarks of Hausmann’s long and varied volunteer service to Lawrence. A 1953 graduate of the conservatory of music who now teaches piano and serves as her church’s organist, Hausmann spent six years as a member of the alumni association board of directors and served as class secretary for 17 years. In addition, she has been a long-time volunteer for the Lawrence admissions office.

Lawrence Academy of Music Awarded NEA Grant to Expand Jazz Education Efforts

The Lawrence Academy of Music has been awarded a $28,000 arts education grant by the National Endowment of the Arts to support its growing jazz education programs for area youths.

The NEA grant will support the Academy of Music’s summer Jazz Odyssey program — a five-day camp that begins July 21 — as well as two new initiatives that will begin this fall. In September, the Academy of Music will launch both a new after school jazz program and a Saturday morning jazz component designed to enhance current school music experiences and provide creative new opportunities.

Both programs will be open to area students in grades 6-12 who are currently playing an instrument or singing. Led by a staff of three or more instructors, the two new programs will feature specialized offerings in the history of jazz and its Afrocentric roots, jazz improvisation and composition and small-group combo performance experiences.

Fred Snyder, director of the Lawrence Academy of Music, is hoping to attract 25-40 students for both the after-school and Saturday morning programs, which he said will be designed to augment, rather than compete with, music programs currently offered in area schools.

“Jazz is extremely popular in this area and we’re very excited about the possibilities this difficult-to-come-by NEA grant will provide,” said Snyder.

“We’re confident the launch of these two new initiatives targeting area middle and high school jazzophiles will provide them with the kind of opportunities that aren’t currently available elsewhere in the Fox Valley. One of the reasons we even applied for this grant was as a response from area school music educators who were asking us for this kind of assistance. We’re hoping these new jazz programs can help meet some of those needs.”

The Lawrence Academy of Music was one of only four Wisconsin arts organizations awarded a grant by the NEA for 2003 in the organization’s arts education category.

Founded in 1874 as a division of the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, the Lawrence Academy of Music provides personalized music instruction to community residents. Originally established as the Preparatory Program, it became known as the Lawrence Arts Academy in 1990. Last summer, it changed its name to the Lawrence Academy of Music to better define its role as a music education provider.

Featuring a staff of close to 50 music specialists, the Academy of Music serves nearly 1,900 area students ranging in age from six months to 18 years old through a variety of enrichment and instructional programs, including early childhood music, private instrument lessons and classes in music theory, voice and chamber music.

The Academy also sponsors eight ensembles, including five girl choirs, two bands and a string orchestra. Its summer Odyssey program features a series of day camps that explore topics on music fundamentals, creative dramatics, singing, eurhythmics, creative writing, visual arts and more.

Lawrence University Mathematician, Classicist Recognized for Teaching Excellence

Lawrence University recognized professors Richard Sanerib and Randall McNeill for their teaching contributions Sunday at the college’s 154th commencement.

Sanerib, associate professor of mathematics, received Lawrence’s Excellence in Teaching Award, given annually to a faculty member for “outstanding performance in the teaching process, including the quest to ensure students reach their full development as individuals, human beings and future leaders of society.”

McNeill, assistant professor of classics, was presented the Outstanding Young Teacher Award in recognition of demonstrated excellence in the classroom and the promise of continued growth.

A specialist in logic, algebra and topology, Sanerib joined the Lawrence mathematics department in 1976. Among the courses he teaches are calculus, foundations of algebra and graph theory while his research interests include the history of mathematics.

Sanerib, who recieved Lawrence’s Young Teacher Award in 1979, is one of only four faculty members to receive both teaching honors in the 29-year history of the two awards.

In presenting the award, Lawrence President Richard Warch hailed Sanerib as the type of teacher “parents hope their children will encounter in college.”

“You fill the classroom with an infectious passion for mathematics and then fill your office hours with the sage and thoughtful guidance of a caring mentor,” Warch said. “Outside the classroom, you are at perfectly scripted times coach, cheerleader, wise counselor, psychologist, quiet listener and good friend. When students need to look into themselves, you hold up the mirror.”

A native of Boston, Sanerib earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics at St. Anselm¹s College and his doctorate in mathematics at the University of Colorado.

McNeill, who joined the Lawrence classics department in 1999, is a specialist in Latin poetry, particularly the work of Roman poet Horace, as well as Greek and Roman history.

His 2001 book, “Horace: Image, Identity and Audience,” examines the techniques Horace used to depict his personal existence and how those techniques influenced, and were adapted by, later Roman poets.

Warch cited McNeill’s passion, energy and enthusiasm for the classical languages in presenting him the award.

“Your classes are like the Lawrence hockey games you love to watch — fast and furious — and that’s why your students get caught up in all the excitement,” Warch said. “Your lectures are stimulating, engaging and entertaining and they are complemented by comprehensive study guides that you faithfully and laboriously prepare for your students. Whether it’s a vexing grammatical challenge or an historical conundrum, your explanations are always down-to-earth and right on the mark.”

Born and raised in Chicago, McNeill earned a bachelor’s degree in classics at Harvard University and his Ph.D. in classics at Yale University.