From su-infocus at southwestern.edu Thu Mar 6 16:25:49 2008 From: su-infocus at southwestern.edu (su-infocus@southwestern.edu) Date: Thu Mar 6 16:27:51 2008 Subject: [InFocus] In Focus Message-ID: <47D06F6D.9010508@southwestern.edu> IN FOCUS: March 7, 2008 * TOP NEWS * *CALENDAR* SPRING BREAK SERVICE TRIPS TAKE STUDENTS ACROSS THE COUNTRY *CAMPUS CALENDAR * To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click here . Senior Sarah Salinas first participated in Destination: Service as a first-year student in 2005. This year, she will be participating as a student leader, accompanying a group of nine students to Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, to work with Cornerstone Ministries. Salinas and other students from Southwestern will paint a church, help organize medical supplies in a free clinic, and lead learning and play activities for local children. "My first Destination: Service experience changed my life and opened my eyes to service for others," said Salinas, who plans to work for a non-profit organization after graduating. "Originally, I was just looking for something to do, and Destination: Service sounded like a really positive experience. I made a lot of friends on that trip who I wouldn't have met otherwise." Salinas is one of 49 students from Southwestern who will be traveling to five different locations for spring break volunteer work March 14-20. This is the 13th consecutive year that students are participating in the volunteer program known as Destination: Service. To read the rest of the story, click here . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOUTHWESTERN PROFESSOR, STUDENTS TO BE FEATURED ON TELEVISION THIS WEEKEND Romi Burks, assistant professor of biology at Southwestern, and several of her students will be featured this week on "Texas Parks & Wildlife" television program, a weekly, half-hour program airing on PBS stations throughout the state. The program filmed Burks and her students during a 2006 visit to Armand Bayou in Houston to collect samples of an invasive species of applesnail that is threatening the bayou. They also filmed Burks and her students back at her lab at Southwestern. The interview with Burks is part of a segment on the program titled "Exotic Aquatics." In the Austin area, "Texas Parks & Wildlife" can be seen on KLRU TV at 9 a.m. Sunday. For show times on other stations, click here . EVENTS ALMA THOMAS FINE ARTS CENTER DEDICATION MARCH 7 The Sarofim School of Fine Arts presents the dedication of the Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center and presentation of the President's Philanthropy Award to Fayez S. Sarofim Friday, March 7, at 1:30 p.m. The event will be in the Alma Thomas Theater with a reception following in the Walzel Lobby. For more information, contact the Events Office at events@southwestern.edu or call 512-863-1483. MEDIA COVERAGE . The /Austin American-Statesman /ran an op-ed piece written by Sociology Professor Dan Hilliard and two of his students. Read the piece online here . . Biology professor Ben Pierce was featured in articles published by the /Williamson County Sun/ and the /Austin American-Statesman/ about the sighting of the rare Georgetown Salamander near Lake Georgetown. Read the Statesman article here . . The /Chronicle of Philanthropy /ran a two-page spread on Chinese professor Patricia Schiaffini and the non-profit organization she started to help keep the Tibetan language alive. . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article and photo about the March 1 e-recycling event. . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about the Israeli-Palestinian conference organized by students Martin Stanberry and Andrew Mayo. . The online newsletter /Food, Nutrition & Science/ published an article on Biology professor Max Taub's research about the effect of rising CO2 levels on food nutritional content. Read the article here . NOTABLES *Ellen Davis*, director of communications, received two Best of Texas Awards from the Texas Public Relations Association at its March 1 awards banquet. *Mary Grace Neville*, assistant professor of business, had a paper accepted for presentation at the 9th International Association for the Advancement of Gestalt Theory conference in July. President *Jake B. Schrum* received a Cornerstone Award from the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce Feb. 29 in the area of education. Schrum was recognized for his leadership of Southwestern and for his efforts in building town-gown relations. Students *Colin Kyle* and *James McDonough *have received a grant of $1,500 from the Texas Academy of Sciences. The grant will be used to examine the relationship between applesnails and another exotic, invasive species -- the taro or "elephant ear" plant. /Have a submission for "Notables"? Send it to infocus@southwestern.edu. / -- Katy Boose Editorial Coordinator Southwestern University 1001 E. University Ave. Georgetown, TX 78626 512-863-1487 boosek@southwestern.edu www.southwestern.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.southwestern.edu/pipermail/su-infocus/attachments/20080306/e7244a7d/attachment.htm From su-infocus at southwestern.edu Thu Mar 13 10:27:00 2008 From: su-infocus at southwestern.edu (su-infocus@southwestern.edu) Date: Thu Mar 13 10:29:04 2008 Subject: [InFocus] In Focus Message-ID: <47D947C4.5080102@southwestern.edu> IN FOCUS: March 14, 2008 * TOP NEWS * *CALENDAR* APRIL 3-4 SYMPOSIUM AT SOUTHWESTERN WILL EXPLORE THE SELF-WORLDS OF ANIMALS *CAMPUS CALENDAR * To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click here . "What's in your umwelt?" Those who attend the April 3-4 Brown Symposium at Southwestern will be able to answer this question. Symposium organizer Jesse Purdy, a professor of psychology at Southwestern, explains that "umwelt" comes from an influential 1934 paper by German researcher Jakob von Uexkull (Yewks-kill), who argued that to truly understand animal behavior, one must appreciate the animal's "umwelt," (oom-velt) or self-world. This self-world is determined in part by the animal's sensory and motor systems. Purdy will introduce the community to the self-worlds of animals in a symposium he has titled "Umwelt: Exploring the Self-Worlds of Human and Non-human Animals." Topics to be addressed at the symposium, Purdy says, include "How can we understand the self-worlds of non-human animals?" and, "If we can, what will we learn and how will that learning influence our treatment of non-human animals?" To read the rest of the story, click here . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ FAYEZ SAROFIM RECEIVES PRESIDENT'S PHILANTHROPY AWARD FROM SOUTHWESTERN Houston investment manager Fayez Sarofim has received the President's Philanthropy Award from Southwestern. The award was presented March 7. Sarofim has given more than $15 million to Southwestern since he first became involved with the university in 1968. Most of his contributions have supported the university's school of fine arts, which now bears his name. In 1995, Sarofim gave an anonymous $3.5 million donation to fund a new visual arts wing on Southwestern's Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. This gave the university its first fine arts gallery, as well as additional music studios and classrooms, and much-needed studios for painting and drawing. In 1999, Sarofim pledged $8 million for a major renovation to the Fine Arts Center. In recognition of this gift, the Southwestern Board of Trustees voted to name the school of fine arts The Fayez Sarofim School of Fine Arts. The renovation project -- which included a complete overhaul of the 720-seat Alma Thomas Theater, began in 2005 and was completed in late 2007. It gives Southwestern University as fine a performing arts facility as any liberal arts college in the country. When costs of the renovation project rose unexpectedly, Sarofim later gave an additional $1.5 million for the project. In addition to supporting the arts, Sarofim has made regular contributions to Southwestern's annual fund (now called The Southwestern Fund), which supports priority needs on campus such as scholarships, faculty development, library resources, and technology improvements. "Few persons in Southwestern's storied history have had the impact Fayez Sarofim has had," said President Jake B. Schrum. "Through his management of much of Southwestern's endowment as well as his philanthropy, he has played a major part in Southwestern's transformation from a good regional liberal arts college to a peer of many of the best national liberal arts colleges in America." To read the rest of the story, click here . EVENTS SOUTHWESTERN TO HOST TEXAS UNITED METHODIST HISTORICAL SOCIETY ANNUAL MEETING MARCH 28-29 The Texas United Methodist Historical Society will hold its annual meeting at Southwestern University March 28 and 29. The theme of the meeting is "The 40th Anniversary of the Abolition of the Central Jurisdiction: The Church Deals with Institutional Racism." Three papers on the subject of Methodism and race will be delivered on Friday, March 28. William Montgomery will address the group on "No Galleries in Heaven: African Americans and the United Methodist Church in Texas." William B. Jones will speak on "Southwestern History as Seen in Reference to the Old and the New South." Terry Bilhartz will speak on "Conscience and Compromise: Racial Politics within Early American Methodism." On Saturday, March 29, attendees are invited to come with prepared statements of memories, anecdotes, etc. related to their participation in the desegregation of Methodism in Texas. The Saturday session will also feature the Kate Warnick Awards for best local church histories published in the last year and the business meeting of the Society. Other highlights of the program will include the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Texas Methodist Historical Association at Southwestern University in 1908 and recognition of Dr. William B. Jones for his "To Survive and Excel: The Story of Southwestern University 1840-2000" published in 2005. An initiative by the Rev. and Mrs. Oscar Garza to preserve the history of Spanish-speaking Methodists in Texas will also be lifted up. All persons interested in the history of Methodism in Texas are welcome. Registration for the meeting is $25 and should be mailed to the Rev. John C. Johnson, 6766 Silver Saddle Rd., Fort Worth, Texas 76126. A more detailed schedule and a list of lodging in Georgetown can be found at here . MEDIA COVERAGE . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about the dedication ceremony for the renovated Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about the high school environmental summit sponsored by Southwestern. . The /Williamson County Sun /ran an article about students who will be doing service trips over spring break. NOTABLES Senior *Alison Kuo* received the first Fayez Sarofim Passion for the Arts Award. The award was created to honor graduating seniors who exhibit the same passion for the arts that Sarofim has. The award comes with a $500 cash prize and, beginning next year, will be presented annually at the Honors Convocation. *Frank Guziek*, Dishman Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, *Lynn Guziek*, assistant professor of chemistry and honors student *Kyle Marshall* have had their article titled "The structure-based design, synthesis and biological evaluation of DNA-binding bisintercalating bisanthrapyrazole anticancer compounds" accepted for publication in /Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry/. Three student ecologists, *Sarah Hensley*, *Colin Kyle* and *James McDonough*, presented their research on invasive applesnails at the Texas Academy of Sciences meeting in Corpus Christi on Friday, March 7th. Hensley's presentation titled "Small snails grow up fast" received an Honorable Mention award in the undergraduate competition for oral presentations. Professor Romi Burks served as Section Chair for the Freshwater and Marine Section of the Academy. /Have a submission for "Notables"? Send it to infocus@southwestern.edu. / -- Katy Boose Editorial Coordinator Southwestern University 1001 E. University Ave. Georgetown, TX 78626 512-863-1487 boosek@southwestern.edu www.southwestern.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.southwestern.edu/pipermail/su-infocus/attachments/20080313/68db1d63/attachment.htm From su-infocus at southwestern.edu Mon Mar 24 10:29:52 2008 From: su-infocus at southwestern.edu (su-infocus@southwestern.edu) Date: Mon Mar 24 10:31:54 2008 Subject: [InFocus] In Focus Message-ID: <47E7C8F0.9010803@southwestern.edu> IN FOCUS: March 21, 2008 * TOP NEWS * *CALENDAR* BILL BRADLEY TO GIVE 2008 SHILLING LECTURE AT SOUTHWESTERN APRIL 21 *CAMPUS CALENDAR * To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click here . Bill Bradley, an Olympic gold medalist and NBA basketball player who went on to serve three terms in the U.S. Senate, will give the 2008 Shilling Lecture at Southwestern. The lecture will be held Monday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. The title of the lecture will be "The New American Story... Including Nine Questions to Ask Before Voting for President." New American Story is the title of Bradley's latest book, published in March 2007, which offers a review of current politics and a collection of ideas to improve major policy issues, such as the way we elect presidents. To read the rest of the story, click here . To purchase or reserve tickets or to learn more about the Shilling Lecture, click here . ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOUTHWESTERN TO HOST GEORGETOWN MAYORAL FORUM APRIL 18 Southwestern will re-establish a local tradition this spring by hosting a mayoral forum for candidates George Garver and Doug Smith. The event will take place on Friday, April 18, from 7-8:30 p.m. in the Red and Charline McCombs Campus Center ballrooms. The event is being organized by students in Professor Gilbert St. Clair's Media and Politics class at Southwestern. Students involved with planning the forum include juniors Eric Franco, Matthew Maschino and Avery Sheppard, and seniors Eamon Briggs and Laura Gabriel. Audience members will be able to participate in the forum by submitting written questions to a panel of students. Both candidates will have the opportunity to make opening and closing remarks. The forum will be moderated by Eric McKinney, interim chaplain of Southwestern. Garver and Smith are vying to replace Gary Nelon, who has served as mayor of Georgetown since 2002. The election is set for Saturday, May 10. Whoever is elected mayor will serve a three-year term. For more information on the forum, call 512-863-1662. For directions to the campus center, visit http://southwestern.edu/tour/campus-map.pdf. EVENTS BASSOON RECITAL MARCH 31 The Sarofim School of Fine Arts, Music Department, presents bassoonist Eric Stone Miller in a faculty recital at 7 p.m. on Monday, March 31, in the Caldwell-Carvey Foyer of the Fine Arts Center at Southwestern. Miller will be joined by two faculty colleagues: clarinetist Anna Carney and pianist Kiyoshi Tamagawa. Works to be performed will include compositions by Mendelssohn, Tansman, Grantham and Reicha. This recital is free and open to the public. MEDIA COVERAGE . The /Austin American-Statesman/ ran an article about the upcoming Brown Symposium. Read the article at http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/03/14/0314hinotes.html . Romi Burks' First-Year Seminar class on chocolate is featured in the /Chronicle of Higher Education/. Read the story at http://chronicle.com/weekly/v54/i28/28a00901.htm (password may be required) . The March 2008 issue of /University Business/ has an article that mentions Southwestern's online cost calculator. Read the article at http://www.universitybusiness.com/viewarticle.aspx?articleid=1015&p=3#0 . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about Bill Bradley being named the 2008 Shilling Lecturer. NOTABLES *Elizabeth Green Musselman*, associate professor of history, recently presented a paper titled "Companion Animals as Producers of Natural Knowledge in Colonial Southern Africa" at the annual meeting of the American Society for Environmental History. She has also been invited to present next month at a Mellon-funded workshop that examines Native American and African environmental knowledge and practices. /Have a submission for "Notables"? Send it to infocus@southwestern.edu. / -- Katy Boose Editorial Coordinator Southwestern University 1001 E. University Ave. Georgetown, TX 78626 512-863-1487 boosek@southwestern.edu www.southwestern.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.southwestern.edu/pipermail/su-infocus/attachments/20080324/53063602/attachment.htm From su-infocus at southwestern.edu Thu Mar 27 16:21:00 2008 From: su-infocus at southwestern.edu (su-infocus@southwestern.edu) Date: Thu Mar 27 16:23:03 2008 Subject: [InFocus] In Focus Message-ID: <47EC0FBC.5050905@southwestern.edu> IN FOCUS: March 28, 2008 * TOP NEWS * *CALENDAR* CAKE TO PERFORM AT SOUTHEWESTERN APRIL 17 *CAMPUS CALENDAR * To view upcoming events at Southwestern by day, week or month, click here . Cake, a California-based alternative-indie rock band, will be the featured performer at the annual Large Act Concert to be held at Southwestern University on Thursday, April 17. Doors will open at 7 p.m. and the concert will begin at 8 p.m. in the Corbin J. Robertson Center (building #16 on the campus map at www.southwestern.edu/tour/campus-map.pdf). Tickets for the concert are $10 for Southwestern students and $15 for faculty, staff and the general public. Southwestern students may purchase tickets online at www.southwestern.edu/studentactivities/caketickets.htm using Pirate Buc$ beginning Wednesday, March 26. Tickets will be available to the public beginning April 7. They can be purchased in person at the Student Activities Office on the third floor of the McCombs Campus Center or at a table set up on the first floor of the Campus Center. Tickets also can be purchased at the door. To read the rest of the story, click here . EVENTS KEYBOARD PERCUSSION FESTIVAL CONCERT MARCH 29 Percussionist Eric Hollenbeck will be a featured performer at the 2008 Keyboard Percussion Festival Saturday, March 29. The festival is an all-day event intended to provide an educational and performance outlet for percussionists. Participants will be high-school aged percussionists and up from Central Texas. Hollenbeck's concert will be at 4:30 p.m. in the Lois Perkins Chapel. For more information about this event, contact Thaddeus Anderson at 512-863-1369 or andersot@southwestern.edu. This event is free and open to the public. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SOTTO VOCE CONCERT MARCH 29 The Music Department of the Sarofim School of Fine Arts presents Sotto Voce in concert Saturday, March 29, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater. Sotto Voce is a tuba-euphonium quartet. A clinic and master class for euphonium and tuba players will be available from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Please contact Eileen Meyer Russell at 512-863-1732 or russelle@southwestern.edu to attend the clinic or perform for Sotto Voce in the master class. For more information about the concert, contact Lacy Vain at 512-863-1379 or vainl@southwestern.edu. The concert, clinic and class are all free and open to the public. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ VOICES OF MUSICAL CREATION SYMPOSIUM APRIL 6 The Sarofim School of Fine Arts, Department of Music, presents Voices of Musical Creation, a symposium showcasing scholarly work and compositions submitted by music majors. The symposium will be offered in three session: 1-2:45 p.m., 3-5:15 p.m. and 5:30-6:45 p.m. on Sunday, April 6, in the Caldwell-Carver Foyer in the Alma Thomas Fine Arts Center. The compositions will feature performances from guitar, marimba, trumpet, viola, cello, a flute trio and mixed chorus. The paper presentations cover music written by composers from the 17th through the 20th centuries on issues ranging from politics to portrayals of disability, performance practice and religion. For more information on the symposium, contact Lacy Vain at 512-863-1379 or vainl@southwestern.edu. This event is free and open to the public. MEDIA COVERAGE . The /Austin American-Statesman /ran an article about the 2008 Shilling Lecture. Read the article here . . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about the 2008 Brown Symposium. It also ran an article about the Rudy Pozzatti art exhibit that is being shown in conjunction with the symposium. . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about the April 5 art festival students are organizing. . The /Williamson County Sun/ ran an article about the Sarofim School of Fine Arts upcoming performance of "Chanticleer." . Biology professor Max Taub is quoted in a March 24 /New Scientist a/rticle about the effects of climate change on rice crops. Read the article here . The April edition of /Natural History/ magazine also includes a short piece about Taub's crop protein research. . Biology professor Max Taub also was interviewed on /Radio Singapore International/. You can hear his interview here . . The spring 2008 issue of the Pi Kappa Alpha national magazine, /Shield & Diamond/, had an article about the revitalization of the Alpha Omicron Chapter at Southwestern. NOTABLES *Alicia Betsinger*, director of institutional research, recently had a grant proposal funded. The grant was funded through the Association of Institutional Research and is a one-year research grant for $21, 733. The grant will be used towards research designed to measure the "graduation rate performance" category for liberal arts colleges by the U.S. News and World Report's America's Best Colleges. The research will provide a methodology and statistical approach to evaluate a college's own "graduation rate performance" as well as potential models to explain higher or lower-than expected graduation rates. *Aaron Prevots*, assistant professor of French, was elected by the executive committee of the Modern Language Association-Division on 20th-Century French Literature to serve as division representative in the MLA Delegate Assembly for the period January 2008-January 2011. He also received a 2008 summer scholarship from the American Association of Teachers of French for their two-week "Seminar in Switzerland and Belgium" sponsored by Pr?sence Suisse and the Communaut? fran?aise de Belgique Wallonie-Bruxelles. *Frank and Lynn Guziec*, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, recently published two articles: "Six-Membered Rings Containing Selenium or Tellurium" and "Six-Membered Rings with Two or More Selenium or Tellurium Heteroatoms." The articles were published in /Comprehensive Heterocyclic Chemistr/y. /Have a submission for "Notables"? Send it to infocus@southwestern.edu./ -- Katy Boose Editorial Coordinator Southwestern University 1001 E. University Ave. Georgetown, TX 78626 512-863-1487 boosek@southwestern.edu www.southwestern.edu -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://www.southwestern.edu/pipermail/su-infocus/attachments/20080327/b8dff525/attachment.html