AU Prof & Alumni Take Part in Outdoor Ed. Workshop

AU Biology alumna Amanda Kriner recently facilitated a workshop on insects for Project WILD, a national environmental education organization.  Amanda is a graduate of our Environmental Science Program and the volunteer coordinator for the Richland County Park District. AU Biology professor Merrill Tawse led the training at the workshop. Attendees included another Environmental Science alumna, Karie Wheaton (Charlton) '11, who works as a Naturalist for the Geauga County Park District.

"Interrupted " Exhibition Opens Thursday, Sept. 1

Ashland University’s Coburn Gallery will host an exhibition titled “Interrupted,” which will feature a selection of works that address the theme of loss and longing within people’s lives. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, Sept. 1, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. The exhibition includes 35 artworks from 26 artists from across the United States. FULL STORY

Teaching Kids Philosophy

Philosophers have always known that logic, critical thinking, and proper value judgments are the foundations of a productive and educated society...Yet in our current academic climate, which puts "marketable" skills and economic efficiency above liberal education, Philosophy programs are being whittled down and judged as impractical. Focus on STEM programs has become the new norm, to the exclusion of the liberal arts. In the following article, a case is made for bringing Philosophy back to its proper role, especially among middle school children. Teaching kids philosophy makes them smarter in math and English

What John Stratton taught me about Peace

By Craig Hovey

John Stratton passed away at home on Sunday. I knew John to be a deeply generous soul with an enormous heart mostly in his work as a local leader in the cause of nonviolence. I’m honored to have succeeded him in leading an organization he founded, the Ashland Center for Nonviolence. While there will no doubt be a lot of tributes to John in the coming days, I wanted to reflect on what I learned from him about peace.

John didn’t just wish for peace. He was committed to making it happen locally and was flat-out mad at the fact that American society seems to resort to violence so quickly...READ MORE

JDM's Brandyn Hood at WTOV

May 2016 Journalism and Digital Media graduate Brandyn Hood is now a Master Control Operator at WTOV-TV 9 in Steubenville, Ohio. Brandyn will work with the NBC affiliate's vast amount of network and local programming including news and sports coverage.

Theatre Interest Meeting: Monday, Aug. 29

All Ashland University students are invited to attend the Theatre Interest Meeting on Monday, August 29 at 6 p.m. in Hugo Young Theatre. This is an opportunity to meet all of those involved in the department as well as learn about all of the opportunities available throughout the upcoming year including auditions, productions, employment, on-stage, behind-the-scenes, social activities, conferences, and MORE.

Emholtz Interns at Naval Aviation Museum

Emholtz appears at the Battle of Midway Memorial
booth which she designed.

History major Maddie Emholtz interned this summer at the Naval Aviation Museum working with the museum's collections. She cataloged new collections and old collections on back log, worked on conserving artifacts, designed exhibits, archived documents and pictures, and researched the history of artifacts. A good job for a History major.

Coburn Opens New Exhibit Thursday, Sept. 1

The Coburn Gallery will host an exhibition titled “Interrupted,” which will feature a selection of works that address the theme of loss and longing within people’s lives. The theme for the exhibition was inspired by a story featured on NPR that discussed the validity of “unfinished works” by visual artists and the artworks relationship to the whole of their lives and careers.

An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, Sept. 1, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public. The exhibition runs through Sept. 25, 2016.

The exhibition includes 35 artworks from 26 artists from across the United States. The Coburn Gallery also has the honor of debuting a video installation work as part of the “Interrupted” art exhibition. This video work by Cleveland artists Honey Lazar and Lauren Voss is titled “The Year My Sisters Died.” MORE

Ashland Area Chorus Accepting New Members

If you enjoy singing, join the Ashland Area Chorus under the direction of Libby Slade on Mondays as we prepare to perform Dvořák's Mass in D on November 13 and at Ashland University's annual Festival of Lights service on December 11. Fall rehearsals begin Monday, August 29 from 7-8:45 p.m. in Room 242 of the Center for the Arts. FULL DETAILS HERE

Open Theatre Auditions for Campus & Community

Ashland University Department of Theatre announces open auditions for their upcoming productions of Lillian Hellman's drama The Autumn Garden, and the 2013 Tony Award winner for Best Musical Revival--Pippin. Community members and Ashland University students, faculty and staff are invited to audition for either or both of these shows. Auditions begin Tuesday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. in Hugo Young Theatre. FULL DETAILS HERE

Cardwell & Stima Complete Internships at Bookmasters

Emily Cardwell (senior English and history major) and Garrison Stima (junior creative writing and religion major) had a productive summer as interns with book publisher company Bookmasters as part of the Great Lakes Career Ready Internship program. FULL STORY

Lazar lands coveted Florida job

May 2016 Journalism and Digital Media graduate Aaron Lazar has accepted an offer with SDI/TDI/ERDI in Stuart, Florida. The company is a multi-faceted international dive training agency. Aaron, a trained scuba diver, was a perfect fit for the company's video production position. He will work with the product development team on training and marketing videos.

Biology Faculty and Students Conduct Summer Research

Rising Ashland University Sciences seniors Hayden Eighinger and Kelly Murray have been working in Dr. Mason Posner's lab this summer using a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to continue the research program using small zebrafish to investigate the causes and prevention of lens cataract. READ MORE

Winterscheid Continues Radio Career in Germany

In 2013, German exchange student Tim Winterscheid came to Ashland University and enrolled in Journalism and Digital Media courses...At JDM, it was the first time that I had professional journalism and digital media courses in my collegiate experience. I got involved with WRDL radio and AUTV 20...When I returned to Germany, I knew that I wanted to work in this business. I am now working for the most popular radio station in Hamburg, Germany and loving it. However, I could never have achieved it without my wonderful time at AU and JDM.

Alumnus Dubbed "Hot New Face of Chicago Theatre"

Ashland University Theatre alumnus Evan Tyrone Martin (2006) was recently listed as one of the 2016 Hot New Faces of Chicago Theatre by the Chicago Tribune. Below is the article's acknowledgement of him complete with an AU shout-out. Also check out the video connected to the article which interviews all of the recipients. VIEW ARTICLE

Maharjan Interns with J.M. Smucker Co.

Rupesh Maharjan spent the summer interning at J.M. Smucker Co. in the Data Services Solutions Development of the Information Services Department. His internship tasks were to research and recommend web service security policies from Oracle Web Service Manager for SOA applications, work on a SOA virtual machine to learn the basics of application development and deployment, conduct column level dependency analysis of certain database objects and create dSeries job run time reports to see trends using Spotfire.

McCourt Receives Pi Mu Epsilon Award

Grace McCourt received a Pi Mu Epsilon Student Award at the National MAA's MathFest Conference last week. Her presentation was based on the research she is doing with Dr. Chris Swanson for her Honor's Capstone Project, as well as some research she has done this summer under the Good Award.

Honaker Reflects on Internship

Journalism and Digital Media senior Sean Honaker recently completed an internship with the Ashland Area Chamber of Commerce.

Above all, my internship taught me a great deal about the field of video production and how I fit into that career. I learned numerous lessons about working production in remote settings and post-production. In fact, I learned a new non-linear editing system during this internship. I mastered Adobe Premier Pro which I can now add to my growing skill set.

Seventeen Students Complete MFA Summer Residency

The 10th Ashland University MFA Program in Creative Writing Summer Residency recognized 17 students who have completed their degrees including Ashland University's first fiction-writing MFA graduate as well as students in Poetry and Creative Nonfiction. The 17 graduates hail from Ohio, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York and North Carolina. FULL STORY

Ashland Bids Farewell to Steve Haven

Steve Haven, Professor of English, gave his final reading as a faculty member on July 27 during the Master of Fine Arts residency. Reading from his collection The Last Sacred Place in North America as well as some poems in progress, Haven capped a career at AU that started in 1992. He has taken a position as the director of the MFA program at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

What the Khan Exchange Reveals about America

by Craig Hovey

I believe that the Khans deserve deep admiration and respect. But I also wish that the lengths we apparently need to go to in America to communicate the full inclusion of Muslims and / or immigrants didn’t have to involve the death (sacrifice) of members of those groups. FULL STORY

2016-2017 PST Inductees

Ashland University's PHI SIGMA TAU, Ohio Mu Chapter, honors students who have demonstrated academic excellence in philosophy. The new members for the 2016-2017 academic year are Logan Darsee, Melissa Haber, Morgan Harrison, Clayton Hrinko, Bethany Schlemmer, Sebastian Vidika and Tucker Wilkinson.

Parker Joins AU Theatre Faculty

Ashland University Theatre welcomes Robert Sean Parker as the newest member of its faculty. Along with other duties, Sean will be teaching the acting classes and directing this year's musical, Pippin. READ MORE