Alumna Kate Siefert Returns to AU Classroom

2017 AU Digital Media Journalism and Production graduate Kate Siefert returned to her alma mater in late October to both speak and teach. Kate, a television news anchor who will be moving from WTOV 9 in Steubenville, Ohio to a daytime anchor position at WWMT in Kalamazoo, Michigan, was a guest speaker in the JDM 331 Media Management course. Her speech was centered on Managing Your Career. She also reviewed AUTV 20 News Break and Sports Break programs with AUTV 20 Executive Sports Producer Samantha Didion and anchors Lydia Bice and Steve Shrenkel.

Mondal Is Contributor in Fiction at Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference

Dr. Sharleen Mondal recently shared about her experience as a contributor in fiction at this year’s Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Ripton, VT, from August 14-24. The annual conference is the oldest writers’ conference in the United States. Its faculty over the past 94 years have included Robert Frost, Toni Morrison, George R.R. Martin, and Anne Sexton. The conference hosts writers from across the country in fiction, non-fiction, and poetry workshops over a period of ten days.

Some of the most meaningful moments for me--apart from having my manuscript workshopped--included attending the amazing poet Jericho Brown’s reading and most especially hearing him read his poem “Bullet Points.” I loved gathering in the Little Theatre with my fellow Bread Loafers and watching The Pieces I Am, the documentary about Toni Morrison that Bread Loaf leadership got special permission to screen for us. I enjoyed hiking with fellow Bread Loafers up to Robert Frost’s cabin (he was a regular there for many years) and hiking the nearby Robert Frost interpretive trail which includes Frost’s poetry throughout the trail. Other memorable moments happened when I was out by myself; I went out birding nearly every morning, usually in the meadow across from the Bread Loaf Inn, and saw my first Indigo Bunting--and one morning I even saw a baby bear! though thankfully it scampered away as soon as it saw me and was on the other side of some trees that separated us.

 Read more about her experience at  englishatashland.blogspot.com

Auditions for Mamma Mia & The Odd Couple, 10/28

All Ashland University students are invited to audition for its Spring 2019 shows on Monday, Oct. 28 at 6:30 p.m. in Hugo Young Theatre and the Studio Theatre, respectively, as follows:

MAMMA MIA!

• Prepare 16-32 bars of a song in the style of the show, an accompanist will be provided
• Roles available for 6 women & 6 men & chorus
• Dance Audition & Call-backs: Oct. 29 & 30, 6:30 p.m., Hugo Young Theatre
• Performances: Feb. 14-22, Hugo Young Theatre

THE ODD COUPLE (Female Version) 

• Prepare a 1-2 minute comedic monologue
• Roles available for 6 women & 2 men
• Call-backs: Thursday, Oct. 31, Studio Theatre
• Performances: Apr. 1-5, Studio Theatre

Sign-up times and more information is available on the call-boards outside of the theatre scene shop.

Fall Choral Concert, Sunday, Oct. 27

The Ashland University Choir, Women's Chorus and the Ashland Area Chorus present a fall choral concert with an eclectic program centered around the theme of hope, happiness and security including Handel's "Sing unto God," Duruflé’s Requiem along with P. Williams' "Happy" and much more. The concert will be held on Sunday, October 27 at 4 p.m. in the Jack and Deb Miller Chapel and is free and open to the public. More information at ashlanduniversitymusic.blogspot.com

Poet Maggie Smith to give reading iat AU, 10/23

Award-winning poet and Columbus native Maggie Smith will present a free public reading of her works on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at 4 p.m. in the Schar College of Education’s Ronk Lecture Hall.

Smith is the author of three books of poetry:

• Good Bones (Tupelo Press, 2017)
• The Well Speaks of Its Own Poison (2015) 
• Lamp of the Body (Red Hen Press, 2005) 

as well as three prize-winning chapbooks. Her works have appeared in Best American Poetry, the New York Times, Tin House, The Paris Review, Ploughshares and Virginia Quarterly Review.

In 2016, Smith’s “Good Bones” poem was called “the official poem of 2016” by Public Radio International, was translated into nearly a dozen languages and was read by Meryl Streep at Lincoln Center.

A recipient of a creative writing fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Smith has been honored by the Ohio Arts Council and the Academy of American Poets and is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize. A freelance writer and editor and editor at large for the Kenyon Review, she is a member of the core Master of Fine Arts faculty at Spalding University’s School of Creative and Professional Writing.

Coburn Gallery hosts “COMPASSION: The Art of Healing” exhibition

The national juried exhibition, "COMPASSION: The Art of Healing" will have its opening reception Tuesday, Oct. 22, at The Coburn Gallery from 4:30 - 7 p.m.

The theme of the exhibition, which will be on display at the gallery from Oct. 11 through Nov. 13, focuses on the humanitarian nature of the healing process as seen through the arts. Health care professionals and caregivers have played an integral part in the healing process throughout history and this exhibition hopes to highlight these contributions, as well as the process of patient restoration and wellness.

The exhibition's opening will coincide with the Ashland University College of Nursing and Health Sciences, in cooperation with the Rho Nu-at-Large, Fall Scholarly Meeting in the Hugo Young Theatre. More information at: news.ashland.edu

Sangre mía / Blood of Mine editors to share message of peace

On Monday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium, Dr. Juan Armando Rojas Joo and Dr. Jennifer Rathbun, the editors of the anthology Sangre mía / Blood of Mine, will share a message of peace in their presentation and reading from their bilingual collection of 53 poets whose verses denounce violence committed against women along the U.S. – Mexico border region of Ciudad Juárez – El Paso, Texas. The event is presented as part of the College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference which is focusing on "Liberty and Responsibility." Co-sponsored by the Department of Foreign Language, the event is free and open to the public.Read more at cas-symposium.blogspot.com

AU Hosts 13th International Arthur Miller Conference

Ashland University welcomes the 13th International Arthur Miller Conference to our campus this weekend to discuss the relevance of Arthur Miller in 2019.

The conference will include discussion of the relevance of Miller’s life and works from his roots, sources and early plays through the politics in his plays and his work as adapter. Miller’s works will be compared with other playwrights both past and present.

The keynote address will be delivered by distinguished Arthur Miller scholar Susan C. W. Abbotson of Rhode Island College. She is the author of A Critical Companion to Arthur Miller and Student Companion to Arthur Miller and numerous articles on Miller.

The conference will include staged readings of scenes from Miller’s plays and the Ashland University Department of Theatre will present their production of Miller’s An Enemy of the People.

Speaker Presents His Findings on Causes & Consquences of Inequality

Randolph Roth, Professor of History and Sociology at The Ohio State University, will speak about "Inequality and the Quality of Life: A Global View" on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. in the Trustees Room of the Myers Convocation Center. The event is presented as part of the College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference which is focusing on "Liberty and Responsibility." Co-sponsored by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence, the event is free and open to the public.

Roth will present his findings on the causes and consequences of inequality, globally and within societies, with special attention to the question of why inequality had risen so rapidly since 1980 in the United States, Great Britain, Canada and Australia, but not in the rest of the affluent world. The answer bears heavily on the question of liberty versus responsibility. Read more at cas-symposium.blogspot.com

Jazz at the Nest, 10/15

Led by Dr. Scott Garlock, Professor of Music, the award-winning Ashland University Jazz Orchestra will present a free public concert Tuesday, Oct.15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Eagles Nest at the Hawkins-Conard Student Center, 1010 King Road. Audience members are welcome to grab a snack, enjoy a beverage and relax to the live music in the venue’s relaxed, club-like atmosphere. Read more at: ashlanduniversitymusic.blogspot.com

Relating Today's Conundrums to "An Enemy of the People"

On Monday, Oct. 14, at 7 p.m. on the set of Ashland University Theatre's production of Arthur Miller's An Enemy of the People in Hugo Young Theatre, AU faculty representing the disciplines of journalism, history, business and chemistry will join the show's director to relate recent headlines and world events to the timelessness of the play. The panel discussion is free and open to the public and is presented as part of the College of Arts & Sciences' biennial Symposium Against Indifference which is focusing on "Liberty and Responsibility."

The panelists will include:

• Margaret Cogar, Professional Instructor of Journalism and Digital Media
• Dr. John Moser, Professor of History
• Dr. Rebecca Schmeller, Assistant Professor of Management
• Dr. Jeffrey Weidenhamer, Trustees' Distinguished Professor of Chemistry

Read more at: news.ashland.edu

Junior Recital: Kendra Garver, mezzo-soprano, Oct. 10

Junior music education major Kendra Garver, mezzo-soprano, will present her student recital on Thursday, Oct. 10 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. A graduate of Triway High School, Kendra studies voice with Kimberly States and will be accompanied by Deb Logan (piano). Her program will include classical pieces by Mozart, Strauss, and Martini, along with musical theatre compositions by Gilbert and Sullivan and Andrew Lloyd Webber, as well as a Mexican folk song. The concert is free and open to the public.

An Enemy of the People Opens Oct. 11

Ashland University Theatre opens its 2019-2020 Season of Stories of Courage with Arthur Miller's dramatic adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's An Enemy of the People on Oct. 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. in Hugo Young Theatre. Directed by Dr. Teresa Durbin-Ames, Associate Professor of Theatre, the show is being produced in conjunction with The Arthur Miller Society's 13th International Conference which is being held at Ashland University on October 18-20.

Dr. Durbin-Ames explains that she was drawn to Miller’s adaptation of An Enemy of the People because it is a play that asks questions about the value of science, the role of the free and independent press, the democratic right to free speech, and the consequences of fighting for the truth. The answers are not clear as Miller’s characters present audiences with moral conundrums not only of 1950 when he wrote the play, or 1882 when the play was first written, but of today. Read more at autheatredepartment.blogspot.com

A Faith Journey from Galilee to the USA

The Religion Department is delighted to announce that on Monday, October 7 at noon in the Dauch College of Business, Room 115, Rev. Rev. Dr. Fahed AbuAkel is giving a public lecture: A Faith Journey from Galilee to the USA. All students and members of the community are welcome. More info at: ashlandreligionnews.blogspot.com

AUTV 20 Sports Break Debuts New Set

Over the summer, JDM contracted with Uniset, a leading designer of television sets, to fashion and build what department chair Dr. Dave McCoy calls "an uber modern" home for the AUTV 20 flagship sports program. Once the set arrived in the television studio, JDM Director of Broadcasting and Operations John Skrada and AUTV 20 Sports Producer Samantha Didion added some uniquely AU touches to increase the sports theme. Sports Break can be seen locally on Armstrong Cable channel 20 or anywhere by accessing the AUTV 20 YouTube channel.

A Summer of Mammoths

Mammoth tooth found at the Inn at Honey Run

Over the summer, Dr. Nigel Brush, Professor of Geology, has been kept busy identifying various rocks, fossils, and human artifacts exposed by recent heavy rains and flash floods here in NE Ohio. While this summer’s heavy rains were not good for farmers, as well as some home owners living near streams, it was a windfall for geologists and archaeologists as nature accidentally revealed some of the ancient treasures buried beneath the earth’s surface.

The fossil that has generated the greatest interest was a mammoth tooth found by a twelve-year-old boy in a stream bed near the Inn at Honey Run, located a few miles outside the town of Millersburg in Holmes County. Nigel confirmed that this large tooth was indeed a mammoth tooth. Read more at: ashlandscience.blogspot.com