2019 Math and Computer Science Newsletter

The 2019 Math and Computer Science Newsletter is now available online. To see past newsletters click here and scroll to the bottom of the page.

Sundberg's new publications

Dr. Kelly Sundberg, Asst. Prof. of English has several new publications this month including:

• Her interview with The Healthy, which is part of the Reader's Digest family, about her book Goodbye, Sweet Girl
• Her column in The Stylist, UK's leading women's magazine

Kiana Ziegler Opens Art Exhibition on Nov. 21

Showcasing the work of graduating senior Kiana Ziegler, the 2019 Senior Art + Design Exhibition will open on Thursday, Nov. 21 with an opening reception from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Coburn Art Gallery. The exhibition will run from Nov. 21 to Dec. 14 and includes painting, printmaking, photography and digital art.

Kiana will graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Art, with a painting concentration, and a Bachelor of Art in Commercial Art, with a graphic design concentration. Upon graduation, Ziegler plans to either attend Ohio University to receive a Masters in painting, or to continue working toward her goals of owning a house and travelling to Japan. Read more at ashlanduniversityart.blogspot.com

Benefit Pop-Up Art Sale, Nov. 21

Just in time for the holidays, the Coburn Gallery and the AU Art Club will host a one day Benefit Pop-Up Art Sale in the Hugo Young Theatre lobby on Thursday, Nov. 21 from Noon-6:30 p.m. 100% of the proceeds will benefit the family of Becky Hale, 2018 AU Art Education graduate that passed away suddenly in October. Becky had a passion for teaching young artists and did so through the Coburn's Art Saturdays program, Summer Art Camp and most recently through the Salvation Army Kroc Center.

Patrons can browse the artful hand crafted items created by Ashland University Art + Design students, alumni, faculty, and community members.

“We are honored to host a unique and temporary pop-up experience for art lovers in our own backyard while raising funds in memory of Becky Hale” said Cynthia Petry, director of the Coburn Gallery.

Credit cards, checks and cash will be accepted. For more information about the shop, or to donate artwork or make a monetary contribution contact the Coburn Gallery 419.289.5652 or coburngallery@ashland.edu.

Spring 2020 Symposium Event Scheduled Released

After a successful fall slate of enlightening events, the 10th Biennial College of Arts & Sciences Symposium Against Indifference releases its Spring 2020 listing of events which is available online and in hard copy. All events are free and open to the public.

The spring events include: 

• a lecture on low-cost improvements to measuring air pollutants in Columbus, Ohio;
• a panel discussion about corporate social responsibility;
• a living history performance of Carrie Chapman Catt's woman's suffrage story; and 
• a 4-part series on the Victims of Communism including: 
• a personal story from a North Korean defector, 
• lessons learned on the downfall of the Venezuelan democracy from a Venezuelan dissident 
• a film screening of The Lives of Others which follows an East German surveillance, and 
• a lecture on Havel's Rhetoric of Truth through Communist Czechoslovakia

Didion interns at WEWS News 5

Last summer Digital Media Journalism major Samantha Didion had a taste of the professional media world as she interned with WEWS News 5 in Cleveland, Ohio. Samantha noted that the rapid pace of news gathering and live production affirmed her passion for this craft. She hopes to start as a multimedia journalist shortly after her May 2020 graduation.

2019 ICPC Regional Programming Contest

Dr. Deborah Wilson accompanied nine students who participated in the 2019 ICPC East Central North America Regional Programming Contest held at Youngstown State University. The teams were:

• Ashland Automatons: Renee Lucas, Brennen Nalley, Huijie (Daisy) Zhang 
• Ashland CPUs: Mohammed Bawazeer, Kelly Fullin, Brennan Kunkle 
• Ashland C0d3r$: Camryn Bickerstaff, Jonathan Meredith, Josiah Moore 

The contest had eleven problems to solve. The Ashland C0d3r$ solved one problem placing them in 78^th place. Congratulations to the AU teams. For some of these students this is their last contest as they are either graduating December 2019 or May 2020. Thank you for your participation. We will miss those graduating and hope to see the others participate again.

AU alumnus, poet Logan Fry offers public reading Nov. 15

Poet and 2010 Ashland University alumnus Logan Fry will read selections from his book, Harpo Before the Opus (winner of the 2018 Omnidawn 1st/ 2nd Book Prize, selected by Srikanth Reddy, author of Voyager), on Friday, Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. in the Schar College of Education’s Ronk Lecture Hall. The reading is free and open to the public. Read more at: news.ashland.edu

Veterans for Peace Members Speak at AU on 11/13

Veterans for Peace members Mary Reynolds Powell and Ian Y. Yee will present “Erasing the Battle Lines: Finding a Path to Peace” on Wednesday, Nov. 13, at 7 p.m. in the Trustees Room of the John C. Myers Convocation Center at Ashland University. This event is sponsored by the Ashland Center for Nonviolence.

The program, which is free and open to the public, will include a selection of letters from those who have been impacted by American wars: friend and foe, civilian and military. Following this, Powell and Yee will share their personal journeys from their military experiences to Veterans for Peace. A question-and-answer period will follow. More at: news.ashland.edu

English Alumni Update: Garrison Stima

Since graduating from AU in 2018, Garrison Stima (Creative Writing major) has been busy with many things including writing his new book The Lost Voices. Readers can find sample chapters of the book and keep up with Garrison at: https://medium.com/@havenlayne7

Reflecting on his time as a student at Ashland University, Garrison notes:

"AU did a wonderful job of engaging me in different forms of literature and media, which showed me how each work could be used as a lens or platform to enhance the others and sometimes understand them. It helped me realize that any form of writing can say something that someone needs to hear. Writing can always give the world something new and I love AU for showing me that."

Read more at: englishatashland.blogspot.com

24-Hour Theatre Project Returns Nov. 9

Ashland University Department of Theatre and Alpha Psi Omega (APO) theatre honor society is producing another 24-Hour Theatre Project this fall. The performance of an original script written and produced within 24-hours will be held on Saturday, Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Ashland University's Studio Theatre.

A limited number of tickets are available for this free performance which is open to the public. Patrons can secure their seat by calling the Ashland University Box Office at 419.289.5125. Read more at autheatredepartment.blogspot.com

PANdemonium4 Flute Quartet Performs 11/8

Ashland University Department of Music presents a guest artist recital featuring the Ohio-based flute quartet, PANdemonium4, on Friday, Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. The concert program will feature contemporary pieces by composers from Ohio, across the U.S. as well as France including an arrangement of the top rock anthem from the American heavy metal band Metallica. The concert is free and open to the public.

Dr. Kimberlee Goodman, Lindsey Goodman, Lisa Jelle and Alison Brown Sincoff formed PANdemonium4 in 2016. For their concert in Ashland, they will be joined by percussionist Liz Procopio and bassist Jeremey Poparad who are also teaching-performer professionals while teaching in their discipline at Ashland University. They will assist PANdemonium on Mark Flugge's Jazz Fantasy for Flute Quartet with optional bass and percussion in three movements (Ahmad, The Letter, Samba Fantasy).

Other pieces in the program include Daniel Dorff's Musetta Steps Out which is based on "Musetta's Waltz" from Puccini's La Bohème, Eugene Bozza's Jour d'été à la montagne, Cynthia Folio's Four 'Scapes (Cityscape, Seascape, Landscape, Escape), Linda Kernohan's My Compass Still to Guide Me, and Nicole Chamberlin's arrangement of Metallica's Enter Sandman. Read More at ashlanduniversitymusic.blogspot.com

AU Psychology Has Key Role in Largest Psych Study

Within the 24 hours, facial perception research involving 11,481 participants from 130 institutions spread across 48 countries and involving 24 different languages has been made public.

It is one of the largest studies in the history of psychology. And it all started at Ashland University.

It marks the completion of the first study undertaken by the Psychological Science Accelerator, the brainchild of AU associate professor of psychology Christopher R. Chartier. The worldwide network of laboratories involving more than 700 psychological scientists was launched in 2017 by a single blog post from Chartier, who reasoned a global collaboration could do for psychology what CERN – the European Organization for Nuclear Research – has done for particle physics.

Quite simply, Chartier said, “the PSA allows us to conduct really, really big tests of human psychology. This first study focused on social judgments we make just from looking at someone’s face.” Participants were asked to look at an array of 120 faces, then rate them on 13 different traits, such as intelligence, attractiveness, and trustworthiness. READ MORE at: news.ashland.edu

Documentary & Panel Discussion About Stolen Children, 11/6

The film "Dawnland," Emmy Award-winner for outstanding research, will be shown on Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7 p.m. in Ashland University's Hawkins-Conard Student Center Auditorium 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 and the Native American Awareness Committee of the United Methodist Church, the free, public event will also include a panel discussion immediately following the film's screening with Kimberlee Medicine Horn Jackson of the Yankton Sioux Tribe; Nancy Udolph, Ashland University Associate Professor of Social Work; and Daniel Hawk, Ashland Theological Seminary Professor of Old Testament.

For most of the 20th century, government agents forced Native American children from their homes and placed them with white families to save them from being Indian. As recently as the 1970s, one in four Native children nationwide were living in non-Native foster care, adoptive homes, or boarding schools. Many children experienced devastating emotional and physical harm by adults who mistreated them and tried to erase their cultural identity.

 "Dawnland" goes behind-the-scenes as this historic body grapples with difficult truths, reconciliation, racial healing, tribal autonomy, and child welfare system reform. Read more at cas-symposium.blogspot.com

Senior Recital: Samantha Eron, Soprano, 11/3

Music and political science major Samantha Eron (Brighton, Michigan) will perform her senior vocal recital on Sunday, Nov. 3 at 1 p.m. in the Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall. She will be accompanied by pianist Deborah Logan and fellow soprano Rebecca Young. Her program will include classical pieces by Debussy, Mozart along with operetta and musical theatre compositions by Menotti, Leonard Bernstein, Cole Porter and Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The concert is free and open to the public.

Sounds of the Stadium Concert, 11/2

The Ashland University Department of Music presents the Sounds of the Stadium concert featuring the Ashland University Eagle Marching Band under the direction of Joseph Lewis, Jr., Director of Bands, on Saturday, Nov. 2 at 7:00 p.m. in Kates Gymnasium. The concert is free and open to the public.

The 2019 Eagle Marching Band will perform selections from their halftime shows including music from Imagine Dragons, The Millenial Show, Toto, The Halloween Show, and others along with other Ashland University traditional favorites. The color guard and feature twirlers will also perform at this concert which will be inside Kates Gymnasium away from inclement weather.