Top News

NEW PARTNERSHIP ENABLES STUDENTS TO GAIN REAL-LIFE RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

At the Ride On Center for Kids in Georgetown, families and staff members say “miracles happen every day” when children and adults with disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder are given the opportunity to ride horses.

Unfortunately, the center has no quantitative research to back up this claim. And they are not alone.

“There are a lot of equine-assisted programs in the country, but peer-reviewed, published research is almost non-existent,” says Jacquie Muir-Broaddus, a professor of psychology at Southwestern.

That may change soon, thanks to a new partnership between R.O.C.K. and Southwestern. This fall, Southwestern students are working on two different research projects for R.O.C.K. 

Read the rest of the story here.

Events

THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES TO PRESENT PINOCCHIO NOV. 20-22

The Southwestern Theatre Department is presenting “Pinocchio” Nov. 20-22 as part of its Theatre for Young Audiences program.

Performances will be given in the Jones Theater Friday at 7 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.

Tickets for the Friday performance are $18 for adults, $14 for seniors 63 and over, $14 for youth 16 and under, and $12 for students. Tickets for the Saturday and Sunday matinees are $12 for adults, $10 for seniors, $10 for youth and $8 for students.

Tickets may be purchased online at www.southwestern.edu/boxoffice or by calling the box office at 512-863-1378 Monday through Friday between 1-5 p.m. 

WIND ENSEMBLE TO PERFORM NOV. 21

The SU Wind Ensemble will perform in concert at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 21, in the Alma Thomas Theater.

The program will include “A Hymn to Yerevan” by Alan Hovhaness, “Suite Concertante” by Vaclav Nelhybel, “Rule Brittania” by John Hartmann, “Moon by Night”  by Jonathan Newman, “Cousins” by Herbert L. Clarke and “Sketches on a Tudor Psalm” by Fisher Tull. Soloists include Susan Rider, trumpet, and Eileen Meyer Russell, trombone. 

The concert is free and open to the public. For more information, call 512-863-1379. 

Media Coverage

The Austin American-Statesman ran an item about Ernest Clark receiving the SU Medal. Read the story here

A story in Community Impact newspaper mentioned that the movie “Temple Grandin” was filmed at Southwestern in 2008.

Notables

Suzanne Buchele, associate professor of computer science, served on the West and Central/Southern Africa Review Committee for the 2010-2011 Fulbright Scholar Program, which met Nov. 5-6 in Washington, D.C.  This committee evaluates applications and specialist reviews, and makes recommendations to U.S. embassies in 13 African countries and to the Presidentially appointed William J. Fulbright Committee regarding Fulbright Scholar Fellowships for the 2010-2011 academic year.  

Fumiko Futamura, assistant professor of mathematics, recently gave an invited talk at the American Mathematical Society Southeastern Meeting in Boca Raton, Fla., titled “Approximate Joint Diagonalization of Matrices.” Futamura also had a paper published in the December 2009 issue of the Proceedings of the American Mathematical Society titled “Localizable operators and the construction of localized frames.”

The University of Wisconsin Press has published a new book by Shannon Mariotti, assistant professor of political science. The book is titled Thoreau’s Democratic Withdrawal: Alienation, Participation, and Modernity. It explores Thoreau’s nature writings to offer a new way of understanding the unique politics of the so-called hermit of Walden Pond. For more information, on the book, visit http://uwpress.wisc.edu/books/4570.htm 

Kimberly Smith, associate professor of art history, attended the German Studies Association annual conference in early October, where she organized and chaired two panels titled “Munich’s Modernism: Visual Culture at the Turn of the 20th Century.” The paired panel sessions ended with a commentary delivered by Smith.