Top News

‘THINKING AHEAD’ CAMPAIGN TOPS $100 MILLION

Southwestern University’s Thinking Ahead fundraising campaign has received more than $100 million in gifts and pledges – the first time in the university’s history that more than $100 million has been raised during a fundraising campaign.   

“It is a compliment to this university, our faculty and students, that our alumni, parents and friends would contribute such resources to help us accomplish our mission,” said President Jake B. Schrum. “Their generosity is especially meaningful when we consider the economic challenges our nation and the world experienced during the past seven years.”

Read the rest of the story here.

HBO MOVIE FILMED AT SOUTHWESTERN TO AIR FEB. 6

The HBO movie on the life of Temple Grandin that was filmed at Southwestern in the fall of 2008 will premiere on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. A viewing party on campus will be held in the Cove.

For more on the movie, go to  http://www.hbo.com/movies/temple-grandin

To see photos of the movie being filmed at Southwestern, go to   http://shutterfly.com/

Events

GUITARIST TO GIVE GUEST RECITAL FEB. 5

Guitarist Andrew Zohn will give a solo classical guitar recital on Friday, Feb. 5, at 7 p.m. in the Alma Thomas Theater.

Zohn is a member of the faculty at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University in Georgia, where he directs the annual CSU Guitar Symposium. He also serves as a visiting faculty member at the Istituto Musicale Pareggiato della Valle d’Aosta in Italy. For more information about him, visit  http://www.andrewzohn.com/

The event is free and open to the public.

FEB. 12 EVENT TO BENEFIT GEORGETOWN MAIN STREET PROGRAM

Looking for something to do for Valentine’s Day? The Georgetown Main Street Advisory Board and Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association have teamed up to sponsor an event titled “The Georgetown Swirl…Sip, Savor, Shop” on Friday, Feb. 12, from 6 to 9 p.m. on the Georgetown Square.

Participants will “swirl” around the Square visiting stores and enjoying food from local chefs paired with wines from the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. Tickets for the event are $25 and are on sale now at the Georgetown Visitor Information Center, Williamson Museum, Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, Georgetown Winery, First Texas Bank, and on the Web at  http://swirl.georgetown.org/

Along with the tastings, a silent auction will be held at the conclusion of the event in the Williamson County Courthouse. Several Southwestern-related items will be available at the auction, including a lunch with President Schrum and a poster from the upcoming Temple Grandin movie on HBO. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Georgetown Main Street Program’s Façade and Sign Grant Program, which gives downtown business owners grants to improve their signage and facades.

THEATRE DEPARTMENT SPONOSRING NEW YORK THEATRE TOUR APRIL 1-5

The Theatre Department at Southwestern is sponsoring a New York Theatre trip April 1-5. The trip includes the best available seats to three Broadway musicals, round-trip coach class airfare from Austin to Newark via DFW on American Airlines, airport-hotel transfers by private motor coach, four nights at the Edison Hotel (228 W 47th St.,) and all taxes and bell-staff gratuities at the hotel.

The three musicals trip participants will see are Stephen Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” starring Angela Lansbury and Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Promises, Promises” starring Sean Hayes of Will & Grace and Tony and Emmy Award winner Kristin Chenoweth, and Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth in the premiere of “The Addams Family.”   For more information, visit their web site
or call 512-863-1548.

Media Coverage

The Williamson County Sun ran a page of photos of the MLK Community Dinner held at Southwestern.

Notables

David Asbury, assistant professor of music, performed a guest recital this week at The Baptist College of Florida.

Eric Selbin, professor of political science, chaired an emergency Plenary Session Roundtable titled “Haiti: International Aid or U.S. Military Occupation?” last week at The Pink Tide: Reconfiguring politics, power and political economy in the Americas Conference of activists and activist academics from Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, and North America in Nottingham, England. He also chaired a session titled “To Take Power or Not: Paths to Revolution in Latin America and Beyond.”