Lawrence University student Alicia Bones will be the featured guest of The Post-Crescent’s weekly “Newsmaker” livestream interview Thursday, June 10 at 1:30 p.m.
Bones, a senior from Omaha, Neb., will talk about the class of 2010 and what it envisions for its future. Bones was chosen as the student representative to deliver a charge to the senior class at Sunday’s commencement ceremonies.
After spending a year in Vienna, Austria on a study-abroad program, Lawrence University senior Christina Blomberg returned home with more than just a love of Viennese culture. She also discovered a desire to explore other cultures she experienced in the city, especially that of Turkey, which has a large immigrant presence in the Austrian capital.
Blomberg, a psychology major from Fleetwood, Pa., soon will immerse herself in Turkish culture after being awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program scholarship to Turkey. Beginning in September, she will spend 10 months as an English teaching assistant, with her specific destination still to be determined by the U.S. Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board.
Blomberg is the second Lawrence student awarded a Fulbright scholarship this spring, joining Sara Wallsworth who earlier was awarded a scholarship to teach in Germany. She is among more than 1,500 U.S. citizens who will travel abroad for the 2010-2011 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.
Since 2001, 15 Lawrence students have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships.
“I applied for my scholarship in Turkey in part because it’s very different from the Western, Germanic background that I’m most familiar with,” said Blomberg, who will graduate June 13 with a minor in German and music. “I’m looking forward to personally challenging myself by living in a culture way outside my comfort zone.”
Blomberg will arrive in Turkey with considerable teaching experience. She spent four summers (2005-08) teaching German to 8-18 year olds at the Concordia College Language Villages program in Minnesota, taught English to elementary students during her year in Vienna and held a nine-hour-a-week internship last fall at Appleton’s Johnston Montessori School, where she taught botany classes for 4th-6th graders. In Turkey, Blomberg will be teaching in a university setting.
While awaiting word of her ultimate destination, she is keeping an open mind.
“I’d love to wind up in a bigger city, but I’m confident I’ll have a wonderful experience in a smaller town with a slower lifestyle, too. I’m open to embracing whatever this fellowship offers,” said Blomberg, a member of the campus organization Greenfire who hopes to investigate some of the environmental challenges facing Turkish citizens on a daily basis during her time abroad.
“And as a lover of improvised music, I’m also excited about exploring Turkey’s rich music culture,” added Blomberg, who plays the tenor saxophone in an eight-member student jazz combo and the Improvisational Group at Lawrence University (IGLU).
The Fulbright Program is the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. government and is designed to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of other countries. Recipients of Fulbright grants are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement, as well as demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. The Program operates in over 155 countries worldwide.
Since its establishment in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided approximately 300,000 students, scholars, teachers, artists and scientists the opportunity to study, teach and conduct research, exchange ideas and contribute to finding solutions to shared international concerns. Forty Fulbright alumni have been awarded the Nobel Prize and 75 alumni have received Pulitzer Prizes.
The work of 14 Lawrence University art majors will be featured in the annual Senior Art Exhibit in the Wriston Art Center galleries.
The exhibition, in the Leech, Hoffmaster and Kohler galleries, opens Friday, May 28 at 6 p.m. with a reception with the student artists and runs through August 1.
The exhibition includes works of ceramic, painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture and video.
The students whose work will be featured are Fariha Ali, Sylvie Armstrong, Chris Dorn, Evan Farnum, Alexandria Gaass, Jennifer Gabriele, Lynn Gilge, Yexue Li, Elyse Lucas, Caroline Parry, Benjamin Salm, Lauren Shorofsky, Allison Slowiak and Nick Michael Stahl.
The Wriston Art Center galleries are free and open to the public Tuesday-Friday from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from noon – 4 p.m. The galleries are closed on Mondays.
The twists and turns of contemporary playwright Douglas Post’s psychological thriller “Murder in Green Meadows” will be recreated in three performances by the Lawrence University theatre department. The play will be staged Friday, May 28 at 10:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 29 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. in Cloak Theatre of the Music-Drama Center.
Tickets, at $10 for adults and $5 for seniors and students, are available through the Lawrence Box Office, 920-832-6749. The production contains adult themes and language.
Set in the serene suburban town of Green Meadows, the fast-paced plot thrusts deceit, adultery and murder into the average American home as it explores the seemingly idyllic relationship between new neighbors Joan and Thomas Devereaux and Carolyn and Jeff Symons. Their perfect households unravel, however, as secrets from the Devereaux’s past are uncovered and Joan pursues an affair with Jeff. Manipulative deceptions, threats and duplicity of character combine to keep the audience in suspense until the very end.
Originally written as a broadcast for Chicago’s WMAQ-TV, Post turned the story into a full-length theatre production. The television broadcast earned six Emmy Award nominations.
Professor of Theatre Arts Timothy X. Troy, who is directing the production, calls it “an especially well-crafted modern melodrama, which is a form we don’t often explore in our productions. A good melodrama works on an audience’s expectations about what makes theatre lively and exciting.”
Lawrence juniors Katie Cravens and Kyle Brauer portray Joan and Thomas Devereaux, while juniors Nate Peterson and Erika Thiede are cast as Mr. and Mrs. Symons.
Troy produced the show in collaboration with student Yexue Li, who developed the set and costume design as her senior project in theatre arts.
A profile of Lawrence University’s student-run, on-campus sustainable garden and its role in providing fresh vegetables to the college’s food service program will be included in an upcoming episode of “The Wisconsin Gardener” on Wisconsin Public Television. Hosted by Shelley Ryan, the program will air Thursday, May 27 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 29 at 10:30 a.m. on WPNE.
The annual honors celebration on Tuesday, May 18 recognized students and faculty for their outstanding achievements at Lawrence. Recipients of honors awards and prizes have shown excellence in the arts, humanities, sciences and social sciences, languages and music. Some have demonstrated excellence in athletics, in writing or in service to others both in the campus community and within the larger community we share. Students elected to honor societies also were recognized.
Read more about those who were cited for their achievements during the 2009-10 academic year.
Lawrence alumni working in the entertainment industry visited campus Saturday to share their advice on pursuing careers in Hollywood. Alumni panelists working as actors, writers, directors, producers, and agents said Lawrence’s liberal arts education provides a solid foundation for successful careers in business – even “show business.” Read more.
Lawrence University student Megan Brown has been awarded a U.S. Department of State Critical Language Scholarship (CLS) to study Arabic this summer at the American Center for Oriental Research in Amman, Jordan.
A senior linguistics major from Saginaw, Mich., Brown was among 575 U.S. undergraduate and graduate students awarded one of the state department’s critical language scholarships. She was selected from among nearly 5,300 applications.
Beginning June 13, Brown will spend 10 weeks in Jordan in a personalized, intensive language curriculum as well as various cultural activities. The scholarship covers all expenses during the 10-week program and includes a $1,000 stipend.
Brown, who has studied Chinese and French in addition to one year of Arabic at Lawrence, says “accurate communication is more essential than ever before due to the growing globalization of the world and the growth of the information industry.” She hopes to eventually work for the U.S. Department of State as a foreign service officer and work “for more integrated international relations.”
The CLS program was launched in 2006 to increase opportunities for American students to study critical-need languages overseas and expand the number of Americans studying and mastering critical-need languages, including Arabic, Chinese, Indonesian Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian, Indic (Bangla/Bengali, Hindi, Punjabi and Urdu) and Turkic (Turkish and Azerbaijani).
Three Lawrence University students have been awarded Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships for the 2010-11 academic year and a fourth has been named an Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar for 2011-12.
Jamie Gajewski, Natalie Grattan and Sonya Weston are among more than 500 students from 29 countries who have been named Rotary Scholars and awarded $25,000 scholarships for a year of graduate studies abroad beginning this fall. Sarah Ehlinger was awarded a scholarship beginning Fall 2011.
Grattan’s and Ehlinger’s scholarships were awarded through the Appleton Rotary Club and Rotary District 6220.
The Ambassadorial Scholarships provide students opportunities to study at participating universities in the 200 countries and geographical areas where Rotary clubs are active. While abroad, the scholars serve as “goodwill ambassadors” for their home countries by participating in community service projects and speaking at local Rotary club events, civic organizations and other forums.
“An important part of Rotary’s mission is to build peace, goodwill and friendships among the peoples of the world,” said Curt Detjen, president of the Appleton Rotary Club. “And we often do this one-on-one through programs like the Ambassadorial Scholarship program. Our club is so pleased to be involved and we congratulate these four women on the opportunity they have to make a difference.”
Nancy Wall, associate dean of the faculty and liaison for the Rotary Scholarship at Lawrence, called the award much more than just a chance to study abroad.
“This prestigious award brings great responsibility with the privilege,” said Wall. “In addition to excellent academic promise, scholars also must demonstrate honorable character and a sincere desire to act as an ambassador for the United States.
“Although Lawrence provides many opportunities for individualized learning, we remind students they are part of a learning community not only on but also beyond our campus,” Wall added. “Today’s students are part of a global community and the Ambassadorial Scholarship is a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn in that larger community.”
Gajewski, who graduated last December with a major in Spanish, will study Arabic at Egypt’s Alexandria University. She also plans to work on a volunteer projected focused on Egypt’s rural poverty or the empowerment of women. She hopes to document the daily life of Egyptians through photography and share those experiences with American audiences when she returns.
A trip to Morocco in 2007 while on a study-abroad program in Granada, Spain sparked Gajewski’s initial interest in Arabic. She will make a return visit to Spain in August on her to way to Egypt.
“While it would be much more comfortable for me to spend my Rotary year in Spain, I am prepared for the challenges, confusion, excitement and mysteries that await me in Egypt,” said Gajewski, who has been substitute teaching in the Fox Valley since earning her degree. “Most Ambassadorial Scholars who study in Egypt spend their year in Cairo, but I feel fortunate I will spend mine in the beautiful port city of Alexandria. It has so much history and a thriving arts scene. The Rotarians I have been in contact with there already have been extremely helpful and welcoming.”
Gajewski received her scholarship through the Madison Rotary Club and Rotary District 6250.
Grattan, a senior from Vancouver, Wash., majoring in biochemistry, will attend the University of Otago in Wellington, New Zealand to study public health. She plans to pursue medical school at the University of Washington when she returns and hopes to eventually work with the World Health Organization.
“As a premedical student interested in working in international infectious disease, I hope to learn about medicine not from the perspective of a doctor, but from a systems perspective,” said Grattan, who served two years as president of the student organization Students War Against Hunger and Poverty (SWAHP). “Learning how to prevent disease is just as important as learning to treat it and understanding the healthcare system of a country is critical to solving many of the underlying problems associated with health.”
Grattan has been active in efforts to raise money for a student scholarship fund for children in Sierra Leone. Last December, she spent three weeks in the West African country working with the elementary school students at Conforti School in Freetown and FAWE (Forum for African Women’s Educationalists) School in the rural village of Mattru Jong.
She also helped conduct nutrition and health surveys while she was there.
Weston, a 2007 Lawrence graduate from Macomb, Ill., will attend the School of International Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, pursuing coursework in Indian politics, history and society, focusing on the social and political implications of India’s burgeoning economic transformation. She also will undertake intensive Hindi language study.
“India finds itself competing with the United States and other highly-industrialized countries in many high-tech industries, but the country has yet to undergo the kind of broad-based industrialization that can deliver jobs to most of its people,” said Weston, who graduated with a major in government. “How India copes with the demands and expectations of diverse constituencies presents both challenges and opportunities.”
Weston, who was sponsored for her scholarship by the Macomb Rotary Club, is currently working as a research assistant at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington D.C.
As a 2011-12 Rotary Scholar, Ehlinger, a junior from Wauwatosa, will have to wait a year before she heads to the University of Ghana in the capital city of Accra. While her interests include environmental hazards and human health, she is still deciding on which area to focus her studies.
“Ghana is a developing country and it’s doing a good job with its development. It’s a model of sorts for West Africa,” said Ehlinger, a geology major. “Developing countries have great environmental issues, but the least amount of resources and protections to mitigate those problems. That paradox is what interests me.
“I’ll learn the scientific aspect of these problems, but working with and learning from people who actually live there will provide valuable context in which these problems exist,” she added.
Ehlinger joined Grattan on last December’s service trip to Sierra Leone and is planning on returning there this December to conduct research on lead contamination in school yards.
Focused on humanitarian service, personal diplomacy and academic excellence, the Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarships program is one of the world’s largest privately sponsored international scholarship programs.
Established in 1947, the program has sponsored more than 40,000 scholars and counts among its alumni former U.S. Ambassador to India and 1959 Lawrence graduate David Mulford, former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker Jr. and Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic Roger Ebert.
Penn State University astronomer Darren Williams presents “The Origin of the Moon and Other Planetary Satellites” Wednesday, May 26 at 8 p.m. at Lawrence University’s Thomas Steitz Science Hall Room 102. The address is free and open to the public.
The program will explore the leading theory on the formation of the Earth’s moon — a cosmic chance collision between a Mars–sized protoplanet and the infant Earth.
Williams also will discuss other bodies in the solar system that were formed from “rings of debris” and through gravity capture. According to Williams, examples of planetary satellites formed through gravity capture suggest moons the size of Earth could be commonplace around nearby stars in our galaxy.
A specialist on the origin and evolution of planet-satellite systems, Williams is an associate professor of physics and astronomy at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College.
His appearance is supported by the Harlow Shapley Visiting Lectureship Program of the American Astronomical Society, which brings professional astronomers to college campuses for two-day visits. The program is named for American astronomer and educator Harlow Shapley, who uncovered the dimensions of the Milky Way galaxy and Earth’s place in it.
