Guanajuato 40th Anniversary Week
This week, we are delighted to welcome to campus our many friends and colleagues from Guanajuato, Mexico. Together, we will celebrate forty years of partnership, student and faculty exchanges, joint programs, and sister-city relationships.
Fifteen Universidad de Guanajuato faculty will be visiting our campus to engage in meetings, class visits, guest lectures, field trips, and a joint strategic planning session.
We hope you will be able to join us for the many events planned throughout the week (see below for a calendar of events). This Thursday, we will host an open symposium on "Envisioning Mexico and the U.S. in the 21st Century" beginning at 1:30 in the CVA's Meese Auditorium.
The Global Conference on Doing Business with Mexico will take place on Friday. Thanks to the Ashland Chamber of Commerce and the School of Business for cosponsoring this conference.
The week will be filled with music, dancing, art, movies, and cultural events. The Estudiantina from the Universidad de Guanajuato will perform throughout the week, with a final performance on Friday evening at Ashland High School. Director of Percussion Studies Terry Longshore and the SOU Marimba Band will perform at the Library at noon on Tuesday. In the evenings, we'll enjoy Mexican movies at the SU and an information session on Wednesday at noon to learn about studying abroad in Guanajuato. You can view the complete schedule at our website.
There are also many activities scheduled by the City of Ashland, Chamber of Commerce, Amigo Club, Ashland service clubs, and others. We will have more than eighty visitors from Guanajuato visiting throughout the week.
Above are some highlights from yesterday's performance by Ballet Folklórico.
I hope you will join us in celebrating forty years of friendship. Here's to many more ahead!
Preview Day
Thanks to everyone who made last Friday's Preview Day the biggest success in our history! More than 550 prospective students and guests visited campus. I appreciate all that each of you did to encourage this high attendance and to make our guests feel welcome while they were here. You can learn more about the event in the Mail Tribune article or watch the KOBI coverage here.
All-Campus Address
In case you missed my all-campus address on Tuesday, April 7, you're welcome to peruse the text at my web page, where you will also find a link to the video.
New Appointments
I am delighted to announce the appointment of Alissa Arp, our new dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Dean Arp has served as Vice President for Research and Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at Hawaii Pacific University since 2006, and she has held the rank of professor since 1994. In her role as Vice President and Dean, she managed a budget in excess of $6 million and led a university-wide research initiative for a faculty of 600. Dr. Arp helped to develop a science division that serves more than 500 full-time students with 55 full- and part-time faculty. She also established a master of science degree program and built an innovative partnership with an affiliate research institute in the marine science area.
As a faculty member, Dr. Arp has taught extensively. She served as the Director of the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies from 1995 to 2006. Dr. Arp garnered resources in excess of $10 million dollars for operations and infrastructure improvement, and she increased grant revenues from $1 million to over $13 million during the eleven years she was director.
Dr. Arp brings extensive experience in all aspects of university administration, from academic affairs to public and governmental relations.
I am especially grateful to the members of the search committee and their chair, Dean of Education Geoff Mills, for the fine work they did to bring well-qualified candidates to campus. I also want to thank Interim Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Josie Wilson for her excellent service as founding dean of the College.
Dean Arp will arrive on campus to begin work on June 1. Please join me in welcoming her to Southern Oregon University.
I also invite you to join me in warmly welcoming Craig Morris to the permanent position of Vice President for Finance and Administration. Craig brings twelve years of experience on this campus and many years in the private sector. I feel confident he will continue to provide positive, effective leadership as we face the challenges of this extraordinarily difficult time. He will begin the permanent position on July 1, 2009.
I want to thank the search committee, committee chair and Provost Jim Klein, and the campus community for hard work and active participation in the search process. We received sixty applications; the committee interviewed thirteen candidates; and three highly qualified individuals interviewed on campus.
SOU Receives $1-Million Endowment from the Osher Foundation
I am happy to report that SOU's Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) has been awarded a $1-million endowment gift from the Bernard Osher Foundation. These funds will support the ongoing operations of the learning program under the management of the SOU Foundation. This is the largest cash gift the Foundation has ever received.
"This is a very generous gift, and we are extremely grateful," says SOU Foundation Executive Director and SOU Vice President for Development Sylvia Kelley. "It's exciting and encouraging to work with organizations like the Osher Foundation that have faith in the future and continue to support education in these trying economic times."
For more information about becoming an OLLI member, visit their website or call Program Coordinator Sally Klein at 541-552-6048.
Native American Spring Powwow
As the focal point of Native American Month at SOU, the Native American Student Union held their seventeenth annual Spring Powwow this past weekend. Each year, this event draws hundreds of people to Ashland and features Native American singers, dancers, and vendors from around the state, northern California, and other areas of the Pacific Northwest. This year's powwow also included the Red Hoop Drum Group from Nevada.
This student-sponsored event is the result of much hard work and is supported by fundraising activities that begin in the fall. Thanks to all of our students and faculty for their hard work on this important event!
Schneider Museum Cultural Events
The Schneider Museum of Art and the College of Arts and Sciences Friday Seminar Series partnered with Southern Oregon Public Television (SOPTV) to screen the PBS documentary, 400 Years of the Telescope, on March 13.
Along with the screening, producer Kris Koenig, writer Donald Goldsmith, and SOPTV CEO Mark Stanislawski held a discussion with the audience. A reception followed in the Schneider Museum with a viewing of the exhibition Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. You can learn more about the documentary here.
A poetry reading of original works by SOU students was held at the Schneider Museum on March 17. Associate Professor of English and Writing Kasey Mohammad invited his poetry students to respond to the current SMA exhibition. Kandy Rachwalski and Tiffany McCormac presented a poetic and visual work entitled "Synchronistic View of Arp the Astronomer and Arp the Dadaist," which connected the astronomy work of Halton Arp with the Dada poetry of his cousin Jean Arp. The presentation was followed by an open mic for local poets, who shared their works about our relationship to the cosmos.
Above are images from an interactive drawing-with-light photography event held in the museum in late February. Ashland photographer Marc Sirinsky led students and guests in exploring the nature of light, time, and space.
These events are part of the International Year of Astronomy, an initiative of UNESCO, the International Astronomical Union, the American Astronomical Society, and hundreds of other partners from around the world. For more information on the 2009 Year of Astronomy, visit their website.
Empty Bowls
The tenth annual Empty Bowls fundraising event took place Friday, April 3, in the SOU Art Building's Thorndike Gallery. The Empty Bowls project raises money to alleviate hunger in our community and is a joint effort by Soroptimist International of Ashland, the Schneider Museum of Art, the SOU Art Department, and Clayfolk.
Clayfolk potters, SOU students, and local school groups donated more than 300 handmade ceramic bowls and other art items. Proceeds will benefit the following local food agencies: ACCESS Food Share, Ashland Emergency Food Bank, Uncle Food's Diner, and Food for People. For more information about Empty Bowls, please contact Sally Jones at 541-482-9677 or Amanda Pyle at 541-535-2449.
Poetry Readings at Hannon Library
An event honoring women's poetry took place at Hannon Library on March 9 as part of SOU's celebration of International Women's Day. Students gathered to present original poems, as well as favorite poems by women from around the world.
Cosponsored by Hannon Library, the SOU Women's Resource Center, and the SOU Women's Studies Program, the event also featured students representing West Wind Review. In addition to English and writing majors, students from many disciplines and nations were on hand to share their poems in celebration of women.
Hannon Library will present Dori Appel in a celebration of National Poetry Month on Tuesday, April 21 at 7 pm in the Meese Meeting Room. Appel will be reading from her new collection of poems, Another Rude Awakening.
Known for her keen wit and compassion, Dori Appel is an award-winning playwright and poet. She is the author of seventeen full-length plays, including three Oregon Book Award winners: Freud's Girls in 1998, The Lunatic Within in 1999, and Lost and Found in 2001. Her plays have been performed throughout the United States and have been translated for performances internationally.
This event is part of the library's Siskiyou Views series and is free and open to the public. For more information, call 541-552-6835.
Wine Basics
ScienceWorks Hands-on Museum in Ashland is hosting a series of workshops on the fundamentals of winemaking, taught by the region's leading experts in the field, including Professor of Environmental Studies Greg Jones ("Unraveling the Mystery of Terroir") and Associate Professor of Chemistry Steve Petrovic ("Wine Chemistry 101"). To register for these and other workshops, visit their website.
Canned Food Statue
SOU's Art Club, Boise Cascade, and S&B James Construction are collaborating on a special art project for the upcoming Art in Bloom event in downtown Medford on May 9Ð10. They are currently accepting cans of food to use as building materials for a nine-foot-tall lighthouse sculpture. While only specific types of canned food will be used in the statue, all donations will be accepted and will benefit ACCESS. Drop off your cans Monday through Friday at SOU's Art Building.
Oregon Council for the Humanities Welcomes Ed Battistella to the Board
Professor of English and Writing Ed Battistella was elected to the OCH Board in February 2009. He is coeditor-in-chief of Wiley-Blackwell's online journal Linguistics and Language Compass and the author of several books, including Do You Make These Mistakes in English? The Story of Sherwin Cody's Famous Language School (Oxford University Press, 2008).
SOAR: Deadline Extended
The deadline for SOAR applications has been extended to April 24, 2009. Please visit the SOAR website for more details.
In Passing: Sebastian Sanzberro Lastiri
I am sad to report the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Sebastian Sanzberro Lastiri, who died on February 21, 2009, at his home in Guanajuato, Mexico, after a battle with cancer.
Many of you may remember Sanzberro from his service as interim dean of our School of Business in 2005–06. He also served as a visiting professor in the School of Business during the 2004–05 academic year.
Sanzberro is remembered as a brilliant and compassionate man. Assistant Professor of Business Dennis Slattery says, "Sebastian was a great man of great intelligence and a great heart. There are too few like him to lose at any time, but to lose him so young and not benefit from his wonderful leadership is an immeasurable loss."
A citizen of the U.S., Spain, and Mexico, Sanzberro was born on November 3, 1958, in Pomona, California, to Basque immigrants. His family later moved to Mexico. He married Edna Leticia Esqueda Cordero in Guanajuato, and they have a son and daughter, who attended Ashland High School and Ashland Middle School from 2004 to 2006. Sanzberro is survived by his wife, children, sister, father, and mother-in-law.
Sanzberro graduated from the Universidad de Guanajuato with a degree in industrial relations. He also had a master's degree in organizational psychology from Southern Oregon University. At the Universidad de Guanajuato, Sanzberro served as dean of the School of Industrial Relations from 1995 to 2000, secretary general (provost) from 2000 to 2003, and interim rector from May to September 2003. His last assignment was as coordinator general for the Institute of Management and Leadership of the Inter-American Organization for Higher Education from 2007 to 2008.
Two memorial services are planned for Sanzberro this week as part of the Guanajuato fortieth anniversary celebrations: one during the Friday night closing events for SOU and UG faculty, and another on Saturday evening for the general closing of the Guanajuato events.
In honor of Sanzberro's role in the Amistad program, as well as his longstanding friendship with the late SOU Professor of Business Terry Gaston, the Gaston Memorial Amistad Scholarship Fund will be renamed the Gaston-Sanzberro Amistad Scholarship Fund.
Raiders Go Deep in Sweep of OIT
Three SOU softball players hit home runs as the Raiders continued to roll along, sweeping Oregon Tech 8-0 and 10-5 Tuesday in Klamath Falls.
The Raiders have now won 9 of 10 and improved to 11-10 overall, but more importantly, they have improved to 7-1 in Cascade Conference play and remained in first place. Oregon Tech dropped to 13-12 overall and 3-5 in conference play.
Raiders Win Nine at OIT
Led by Antwun Baker's double win, the SOU Track and Field Team came away with nine victories at OIT last week. Baker just missed NAIA Provisional times in winning both the 100 (10.86) and the 200 (22.05). Teammate Akeem Jackson finished second in both events, with a time of 11.06 in the 100 and 22.41 in the 200.
Other men's winners include Jared Pederson in the 110 Hurdles (16.29), Kael Steiner-Bailey in the 800 (2:02.04), Travis Pattan in the Pole Vault (14-06), and Alex Waroff in the Long Jump (20-10.25).
On the women's side, Kelly Clark won the 3,000 Steeplechase (13:22.69), Jamie Wells the Pole Vault (10-6), and Adriana Ricks the Long Jump (17-01).
Current Events
Arts and Culture
Music
Student Events
Community Events
Credits (top to bottom, left to right)
The City of Guanajuato.
Fall 2008 Preview Day (Marsa Morse).
President's Campus Address, April 7, 2009 (Marsa Morse).
Alissa Arp (courtesy of Alissa Arp).
Craig Morris (Marsa Morse).
OLLI participants (courtesy of OLLI).
Spring 2009 Powwow (Rory N. Finney).
400 Years of the Telescope image (courtesy of PBS).
Light-painting at the SMA (Rory N. Finney).
Ceramics from Empty Bowls 2008 (Rory N. Finney).
Dori Appel (courtesy of Dori Appel).
Greg Jones at ScienceWorks with students (Rory N. Finney).
Andy Warhol's Campbell's Soup Cans, 1962. Displayed in Museum of Modern Art in New York (courtesy of Wikipedia).
Ed Battistella (Rory N. Finney).
SOAR 2008 (Melissa L. Michaels).
Sebastian Sanzberro and family (Rory N. Finney).
Strohm Fouty slides into home during a recent game against Simpson University in Redding, California (courtesy of SOU Sports Information).
