http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll Grinnell College Grinnell College:: News Releases Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:00:00 CST http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1030091451 Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1030091451 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834 October 30, 2009 GRINNELL SINGERS TO PERFORM FALL CONCERT GRINNELL, IA -- The Grinnell Singers, a 50-member student ensemble, will perform Rachmaninov''s All-Night Vigil in concert on Sun., Nov. 8 at 4:30 p.m. in Sebring-Lewis Hall of the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on the Grinnell College campus. The Grinnell Singers, the college''s premier vocal ensemble, have a reputation for innovative programming in a wide variety of choral traditions. In the past three years, the ensemble has premiered 11 choral works, under the direction of John Rommereim, professor of music. The All-Night Vigil, which the Singers recorded in 2003, is regarded as the crowning achievement of the Russian choral tradition prior to the Bolshevik Revolution. The Singers will also perform the Rachmaninov work in Des Moines at St. John''s Lutheran Church on Sun., Dec. 6, at 8 p.m., and in Omaha at St. Cecilia''s Cathedral on Sun., May 2, 2010, at 8 p.m. The ensemble''s performance is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. The Bucksbaum Center for the Arts is located 1108 Park St. on the Grinnell College campus. For more information about the Grinnell Singers, go to -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1102092943 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1102092943 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834; Caitlin Wells, media relations, 641-269-3401 November 2, 2009 IOWA POET LAUREATE MARY SWANDER TO PERFORM AT GRINNELL COLLEGE GRINNELL, IA-Iowa''s poet laureate Mary Swander and Monica Leo of the internationally renowned Eulenspiegel Puppet Company will present "The Girls on the Roof" on Mon., Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Room 101 of the Joe Rosenfield ''25 Center on the Grinnell College campus. "Girls on the Roof" is a performance piece based on Swander''s most recent book of poetry of the same name. As Swander reads her poems, puppeteer Monica Leo recreates the scenes with hand, rod, and shadow puppets to tell the story of a mother and daughter stuck on the roof of a café for three days during the 1993 flooding of the Mississippi River. Swander was appointed poet laureate for the State of Iowa by Gov. Chet Culver in 2009 and in addition to "Girls on the Roof" is also touring her play "Farmscape." She is the author of numerous books of poetry and memoirs, as well as individual poems, essays, short stories, and articles in such publications as The Nation, The New Yorker, and The New York Times Magazine. She is a professor of English and a Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. Monica Leo founded the Eulenspiegel Puppet Theatre in 1974 as a touring puppet troupe. The Eulenspiegel puppeteers have collaborated with musicians, playwrights, directors, designers, and other theatre companies and have performed at national and international puppet festivals. Eulenspiegel is known for witty scripts, original and expressive puppet designs, and strong graphics. "Girls on the Roof" is sponsored by the Grinnell College Center for Prairie Studies, the Writers@Grinnell program, and the Grinnell Area Arts Council. The Rosenfield Center is located at 1115 8th Ave. on the Grinnell College campus. -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1105095841 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1105095841 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834 November 5, 2009 FIRST MELLON MAYS FELLOWS NAMED AT GRINNELL COLLEGE GRINNELL, IA-Four Grinnell College students are preparing to go to the head of the class as the next generation of college professors. The first cohort of Mellon Mays Fellows, made possible through a $500,000 four-year grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, has been selected from among third-year students at Grinnell who aspire to teach at the college level. The Mellon Mays grant program encourages students, especially those in culturally underrepresented groups, to earn Ph.D.s in the arts and sciences, pursue college teaching careers, and demonstrate a commitment to eradicate racial disparities. The Grinnell fellows are mentored by current faculty and receive funding for conference attendance, loan repayment support for graduate school, and other resources that will connect them to a national network of future college professors. The four aspiring professors are: Rane Baldwin, a history major from McPherson, Kan.; Juan Garcia, a Russian and sociology major from Woodbridge, Va.; Laura Garcia, a mathematics major from Los Angeles, Calif.; and Rosalie "Zasha" Russell, an anthropology major from Houston, Tex. Shanna Benjamin, assistant professor of English and faculty coordinator for the Mellon Mays fellowship program at Grinnell, said that the students are beginning their fellowships by conducting independent research under the guidance of faculty mentors. "Faculty mentors provide an important connection in this program because they reflect the success to which these students aspire," Benjamin said. "The Mellon fellowship helps the students selected to be intentional and deliberate about their choices to teach, plan, and invest in their own success." -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1106090815 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1106090815 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834; Caitlin Wells, media relations, 641-269-4834 November 6, 2009 BIOLOGIST TO DELIVER SCHOLARS' CONVOCATION AT GRINNELL COLLEGE GRINNELL, IA-David Sloan Wilson will present "Evolving the City: Using Evolutionary Theory to Understand and Improve the Human Condition" at the Scholars' Convocation at 11 a.m. on Thurs., Nov. 19 in Room 101 of the Joe Rosenfield '25 Center on the Grinnell College campus. Wilson, an evolutionary biologist, will talk about the relevance of the theory of evolution to many aspects of human affairs, including how evolutionary theory can help solve problems ranging from the quality of neighborhoods to large-scale social interaction. Wilson has a wide range of interests, including natural selection as a hierarchical process, the nature of intraspecific variation, the evolution of ecological communities, and human evolutionary biology. Publisher''s Weekly called his recent book, "Evolution for Everyone: How Darwin''s Theory Can Change the Way We Think About Our Lives," "by far the most accessible account of evolution for a general audience, as well as the farthest ranging." He is a professor in the Departments of Biology and Anthropology at Binghamton University and is a SUNY Distinguished Professor. Wilson''s lecture is part of Grinnell''s Scholars'' Convocation series. For more information about the speaker series, go to http://www.grinnell.edu/car/confops/convocation/. The Joe Rosenfield ''25 Center is located at 1115 8th Ave. on the Grinnell College campus. -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1106091236 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1106091236 FOR LOCAL RELEASE ONLY Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834 November 5, 2009 MID-YEAR COMMENCEMENT FOR GRINNELL COLLEGE SENIORS GRINNELL, IA-Fourteen Grinnell College seniors graduating mid-year will be honored in a private ceremony on Nov. 18 at the home of President Russell K. Osgood. Professor of History Daniel Kaiser will address the graduates with "History You Can Use," encouraging the young alumni to value their own pasts and to use the past to explore their future. The graduates will also hear remarks from Vice-President for Academic Affairs and Dean of the College Paula Smith; Dean of Religious Life Deanna Shorb; Director of Alumni Relations Jim Hess; and Osgood. Grinnell''s spring commencement is scheduled for May 24, 2010, when more than 350 seniors are expected to graduate. webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1106095814 Fri, 06 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1106095814 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834 November 6, 2009 GRINNELL ENSEMBLES, GUEST ARTISTS, COMPOSER COMBINE FOR AFTERNOON OF JAZZ GRINNELL, IA--The Grinnell Symphony Orchestra and Grinnell Jazz Ensemble will combine performances with guest artists James Bovinette on trumpet, vocalist Kimberly Fitch, and composer Robert Nelson for an afternoon of jazz, Sun., Nov. 15 at 4 p.m. in Herrick Chapel on the Grinnell College campus. The jazz performance will feature Nelson''s "Up South" for jazz band and orchestra, with solos by Bovinette and saxophonist Damani Phillips. Nelson, who will be present for the performance, premiered "Up South" in 2003 while on the faculty of the University of Houston''s Moores School of Music. The program also includes Nelson''s arrangements of Creole songs sung by Fitch, mezzo-soprano. Fitch, who has performed with several Grinnell ensembles previously, is an active artist and accompanist for Des Moines area groups including the Des Moines Symphony and the Des Moines Gay Men''s Chorus. Guest trumpeter Bovinette directs the jazz ensemble at Iowa State University and has recorded with his own jazz quartet. Phillips, who directs the Grinnell Jazz Ensemble and teaches jazz composition, history, and improvisation, is actively sought as a guest artist, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the U.S. He joined the Grinnell faculty in 2007 and will release an album next year of original compositions and arrangements that combine traditional jazz with a string quartet. The Grinnell Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Eric McIntyre, associate professor of music, is an auditioned ensemble that performs five to seven concerts annually. The combined November performance is free and open to the public; no tickets are required. Herrick Chapel is located at 1128 Park St. on the Grinnell campus. For more information about the Grinnell ensembles, go to web.grinnell.edu/music/ensembles.html. -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1109095449 Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1109095449 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834 November 9, 2009 GRINNELL COLLEGE PROFESSOR NAMED DISTINGUISHED EDUCATOR GRINNELL, IA-Henry M. Walker, Samuel R. and Marie-Louise Rosenthal Professor of Natural Science and Mathematics and professor of computer science at Grinnell College, has been named a Distinguished Educator by the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), the world''s largest educational and scientific computing society. Walker is one of only 10 educators to receive the distinguished educator designation since the award was established in 2006. The award recognizes ACM members with at least 15 years of professional experience who have made a significant impact on the computing field and is based on nominations and letters of support from professional colleagues. A member of the Grinnell faculty since 1974, Walker chairs the college''s computer science department and has been a member of ACM since 1979. He has served in numerous capacities within ACM''s international Special Interest Group on Computer Science Education, including chair for six years, secretary/treasurer for eight years, and in conference development. At Grinnell, Walker developed a workshop-style approach to introductory computer science courses that emphasizes collaboration among students. He has written eight undergraduate textbooks, been active in curriculum development for national liberal arts colleges, organized numerous workshops for high school teachers, and been a guest faculty member at Nanjing University in China and Unitec in New Zealand. He currently serves on the Advanced Placement Computer Science Development Committee. Walker also served as a building liaison during the two-part renovation of the college''s Robert N. Noyce ''49 Science Center completed in 2008. More information about Walker''s professional activities is available at . For more information about the ACM international computing organization, go to . . -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1110090912 Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1110090912 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834; Caitlin Wells, media relations, 641-269-3401 November 10, 2009 POET TOMAZ SALAMUN TO READ FROM HIS WORK AT GRINNELL COLLEGE GRINNELL, IA-Slovenian poet Tomaz Salamun will read from his work as part of the Writers@Grinnell program on Wed., Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. in Faulconer Gallery in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on the Grinnell College campus. Salamun is the author of close to 40 books of poetry, at least nine of which have been translated into English. He is considered Slovenia''s greatest living poet and one of the foremost figures of the Eastern European poetical avant-garde. Some of his recent publications in English are "The Book for My Brother," "Woods and Chalices," and "There''s the Hand and There''s the Arid Chair." A new book of poetry, "Blue Tower," is due out in 2010. He has been awarded many international literary prizes, including the Preseren Prize, the Jenko Prize, and a Pushcart Prize. Salamun was born in Zagreb, Croatia in 1941, grew up in Koper, Slovenia, and now lives in Ljubljana, Slovenia. He makes regular visits to teach and read in the United States. For more information about the Writers@Grinnell program, go to . The Bucksbaum Center for the Arts is located at 1108 Park St. -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1111092926 Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1111092926 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834; Caitlin Wells, media relations, 641-269-3401 November 11, 2009 GRINNELL THEATRE GOES SHAKESPEAREAN WITH "AS YOU LIKE IT" GRINNELL, IA-The Grinnell College Department of Theatre and Dance will present Shakespeare''s 1600 romantic comedy "As You Like It" on Nov. 20-22 in Roberts Theatre in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts on the Grinnell College campus. Long recognized as the greatest English pastoral play, "As You Like It" sends a group of noble refugees from the pomp of court life out to the pastures and forest of Arden, where the banished Duke and his court make "sweet use of adversity" and the heroine Rosalind, disguised as a shepherd boy, tries and tests her lover Orlando. The play both celebrates and mocks "the simple life" and the follies of romantic love. Court and country, sophisticated and simple, sonneteering swains and goatgirls-Shakespeare builds the play by contrasts and ends it in harmony, as fortunes are restored, the lost are found, and four pairs of lovers are married. "As You Like It" is a holiday, filled with wit, song, dance, pageantry, and the redeeming wisdom of the "good in everything." Grinnell''s production is set in Regency England and draws on 19th-century Arcadian landscape design and art. Ellen Mease, associate professor of theatre, directs the play. Guest artist Stewart Benjamin Farrar designs set, lights, and props, and resident designer Erin Howell-Gritsch provides the Regency costumes. Curtain times are 7:30 p.m. for the Nov. 20-21 performances and 2 p.m. for the performance on Nov. 22. Tickets are required for this free event and may be obtained at the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts ticket office beginning Mon., Nov. 16. The Bucksbaum Center for the Arts is located at 1108 Park St. on the Grinnell College campus. Box office and ticket information is available at or by calling 641-269-4444. -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication) http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1116092750 Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 CST Official media releases http://wm.grinnell.edu/cgi-bin/relish.dll/showrel?UniRef=deppec1116092750 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Cindy Deppe, media relations, 641-269-4834 November 16, 2009 FORMER ISRAELI AMBASSADOR TO SPEAK AT GRINNELL COLLEGE GRINNELL, IA-Former Israeli Ambassador Asher Naim will describe his role in the 1991 Operation Solomon, Mon., Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the Joe Rosenfield ''25 Center on the Grinnell College campus. Naim, who served as ambassador to Ethiopia at the time of Operation Solomon, set in motion the airlift of more than 14,000 Ethiopian Jews to resettle in Israel. Born in Libya, he obtained a master''s of jurisprudence degree from Hebrew University before embarking on his lengthy foreign service career which also involved ambassadorships to Uganda, Kenya, Korea, and Finland. "Behind the Scenes Story of Operation Solomon: Exodus of Ethiopian Jews to Israel," is free and open to the public. Naim will also hold an informal question-and-answer session about an ambassador''s role and responsibilities on Nov. 30 at 4:15 p.m. in Grinnell House, 1011 Park St., Grinnell. Naim''s visit to Grinnell is sponsored by the Rosenfield Program in Public Affairs, International Relations, and Human Rights and in cooperation with Cornell College, where the ambassador will speak on Dec. 1. For more information about the Rosenfield Program , contact Sarah Purcell, purcelsj@grinnell.edu , 641-269-3091. -30- webguys@grinnell.edu (Grinnell College Communication)