LOCAL NEWS

Brazilian Marianist art

Brazilian artist Sidney Matias will visit the University of Dayton in September as the Marian Library showcases his vibrant, intricate work, which is infused by a strong Marianist spirituality.

His work will be featured Sept. 17 through Nov. 18 in the Marian Library gallery on the seventh floor of Roesch Library on the UD campus. Matias will be on campus from Sept. 10 through Sept. 20 and will be honored at a reception at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Sept. 18 at the Marian Library lounge.

Mathias, a member of the lay Marianist community in Campinas, Brazil since 1999, said he practices his vow by exploring Mary as an educator, protector and role model. He said he begins his work by meditating on a Scripture passage for inspiration.

According to M. Jean Frisk, S.S.M., the library’s director of art and special projects, each piece shows how "the love we have for our faith can find expression."

A strong sense of Brazilian culture infuses Mathias’s work and contributes to his style, demonstrated by his vivid color choices and use of intricate shapes. Matias’s art has been used on Christmas cards, chapels, murals, mosaics and illustrations. He said he feels “like a missionary, an evangelist using my art to try to inspire people to live like Mary.”

During his 10-day visit, Matias will live alongside UD students in a Marianist house because "he wants the young people to rejoice with him," Frisk said.

The Rev. Johann Roten, S.M., director of the International Marian Research Institute at UD, said Matias’s work reveals a "new look at religious art that brings it to our level."

There is no charge to view the exhibit. Hours for the Marian Library are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday; Saturday and Sunday are by appointment.

For more information on the Marian Library /International Marian Research Institute go to http://www.udayton.edu/mary or call 937-229-4214.

One good minute could mean $11,000

School of Business Administration announces details of its second Business Plan Competition. This year's prize money has doubled from a year ago.

Everyone in the Miami Valley, provided they team with a University of Dayton graduate from the past five years or a UD student, is eligible to win up to $11,000 in UD’s annual Business Plan Competition.

Teams have one minute to convince judges that they have a feasible, profitable, innovative product worthy of going to market. The top five teams advance to present fully developed business plans early next year.

First place wins $10,000, second place $5,000, third place $2,500, and the fourth- and fifth-place $1,000 each. Teams can win additional money, between $250 and $1,000, by having one of the top three one-minute “elevator” pitches. Total prize money has more than doubled from a year ago.

UD will host an open information meeting at 3 p.m. Friday, Sept. 7, in Miriam Hall’s O’Leary Auditorium on the UD campus.

“Winning a business plan competition is an excellent line to add to a résumé,” said Jay Janney, associate professor of management and competition coordinator. “Perfecting an elevator pitch provides a useful skill, particularly in a tight job market where firms have to make judgments on who to invite back for full interviews. This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone with a business idea to test it out well in advance of committing any capital to it.”

UD business faculty will hold free coaching sessions at 3 p.m. each Friday after the information meeting through Oct. 26. Competition organizers also can match area residents with UD students and alumni.

The deadline for entries is Wednesday, Oct. 31. Entries must be original work, involve a start-up company and mesh with UD’s values. Click here for a complete set of rules, the on-line application form and competition schedule.

Competitors will give their “elevator” pitches starting at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 10. The judges will name the five finalists Monday, Nov. 19, and assign each to a mentor.

The five finalists return Monday, March 31, 2008, to present their business plans. The committee will announce the winners two days later at UD’s entrepreneurship program banquet.

Janney said a third of the competitors in last year’s inaugural competition didn’t major in business and included people with a UD law, engineering and liberal arts students. Last year’s winners were former pro football player Andy Harmon and UD students Vince Pecoraro and Stephen Krieger.

For years, UD has developed nationally recognized student entrepreneurs. Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review named UD’s undergraduate program the fifth-best in the nation. Flyer Enterprises, comprised of seven student-run businesses on campus, is the fourth-largest student-run operation in the nation, with more than $1.4 million in annual sales. All sophomore entrepreneurship majors are given $3,000 loans from the Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership to start their own businesses. Businesses in the Dayton region receive free consulting from teams of senior entrepreneurship students.

“The Business Plan Competition is a great way to bring entrepreneurship skills to the entire UD community,” said Dean McFarlin, chair of the management and marketing department and the NCR Professor of Global Leadership Development. “We're trying to teach students how to differentiate themselves from others and stand out. When you actually have to make an elevator speech in front of an audience and compete for real money, it raises the stakes.”

For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson at 937-229-3391.

Voice for the voiceless

PBS and NPR journalist Maria Hinojosa kicks off the 2007-2008 Diversity Lecture series at the University of Dayton on Sept. 7.

Growing up as a Mexican immigrant in the South Side of Chicago, Maria Hinojosa didn't think she had a voice.

Today, this award-winning journalist and author not only has found her voice but also gives ''the voiceless a voice." She's the senior correspondent for the Emmy Award-winning PBS newsmagazine show Now and anchors National Public Radio's Latino USA, a weekly national program reporting on news and culture in the Latino community. She also hosts a PBS talk show out of Boston called ''Maria Hinojosa: One on One,'' which features Latino newsmakers. She just returned from Africa, India and Guatemala, where she conducted interviews for a one-hour documentary on child brides that will air in October on Now.

Hinojosa will kick off the University of Dayton's 2007-2008 Diversity Lecture Series with a free talk, ''Stories from the Frontlines of Modern Journalism: From Katrina to Child Brides to Iraqi Refugees and Immigrant Rights,'' at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 7, in Boll Theatre in Kennedy Union. It's free and open to the public.

As part of Hispanic Heritage Month at the University of Dayton, Hinojosa also will give a breakfast keynote address at the 2007 Midwest Latino Symposium at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, in the Kennedy Union West Ballroom. The cost for the all-day conference, which focuses on ''Heritage and Identity: Honoring our Roots to Build a Stronger Future,'' is $5 for students and $10 for faculty, staff and the general public. For more information, see campus.udayton.edu/~latino

In her acclaimed 1999 memoir, Raising Raul: Adventures Raising Myself and My Son, Hinojosa described herself as "a Latin gringa. This crazy mixture of Azteca-New Yorker, salsa-dancing, goddess-worshipping, hard-hitting journalist, Ivy League-educated, Chicago-raised, barrio-living woman. …Even though I grew up as seeing myself as different from everyone around me, I suddenly realized I wanted what everyone else had. I wanted to be a full, well-rounded, accomplished woman. And though I had achieved a lot in my life, I couldn't get away from the Mexican yardstick for measuring womanhood -- becoming a mother."

The book is a tribute to womanhood and her personal experiences as a Mexican-American career woman living in New York. Her 1995 book Crews: Gang Members Talk with Maria Hinojosa, is based on her award-winning NPR report. Currently, she is working on a new book about how corporate media is leading society away from the values of journalists.

Hinojosa's career also covers eight years as a New York-based correspondent for CNN, where she covered urban affairs. Before joining CNN, Hinojosa spent six years at National Public Radio as a general assignment correspondent. During this time, she also hosted Visiones, a public-affairs talk show on WNBC-TV in New York. She previously worked for WNYC-TV as the host of New York Hotline and served as a producer and researcher for CBS This Morning.

Hinojosa has garnered several awards and honors, including the Ruben Salazar Award from the National Council of La Raza, an award given annually to an individual who has dedicated his or her life to promoting a positive portrayal of Latino historical, political, economic and cultural contributors to U.S. society.

She has been nominated for two Emmys, and listed three times as one of the country's 100 “Most Influential Latinos” by Hispanic Business Magazine. She received the Robert F. Kennedy Award for her NPR story “Manhood Behind Bars,” the National Association of Hispanic Journalists Radio Award and the New York Society of Professional Journalists Deadline Award for her NPR report “Kids and Guns.” Her story “Crews” garnered her Top Story of the Year Award from the National Association of Hispanic Journalists. She also won an Associated Press Award for her coverage of Nelson Mandela for WNYC Radio, and in 2004 was honored with a “Crossing Borders” award from the Feminist Press. Working Mother Magazine also named her one of its “25 Most Influential Working Mothers in America.”

The Diversity Lecture Series is one part of a larger strategic plan to increase inclusion and diversity on campus and prepare students, faculty, staff and the Dayton community for success in a global society. Past speakers have included Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King, Clarence Page, Nikki Giovanni, Azar Nafisi and Johnnetta B. Cole. The series is co-sponsored by the offices of the president and provost, with the support of such community partners as The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), Dayton Chapter of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Victoria Theatre Association, Markey's Audio Visual, Dayton Daily News, WDTN-TV and WDAO-1210 AM.

STEM teachers wanted

If you are a mid-career professional with a science degree, the state of Ohio will pay for you to share your knowledge with the state’s young people by becoming a certified classroom teacher.

A local consortium including the University of Dayton and Wright State University this month won a two-year $850,000 state training grant to recruit up to 80 mid-career professionals with bachelor degrees in math, chemistry or physics and prepare them for second careers as math and science teachers in Dayton-area high schools.

Through the Ohio Core training grant, administered by the Montgomery County Educational Service Center, the program provides free tuition for courses beginning in late October. The University of Dayton and Wright State University are offering either evening or online courses that lead to teacher certification.

The Dayton area, like virtually every large urban school district in the country, reports a shortage of qualified mathematics and science teachers, according to a study by Recruiting New Teachers Inc.

It's a fast-track effort: The teachers are expected to be provisionally licensed and ready to enter urban, suburban and rural classrooms in fall 2008, according to Frank DePalma, superintendent of the Montgomery County Educational Service Center. Each will be paired with a veteran teacher, who will serve as a mentor during the preparation program.

''The partnership provides a unique opportunity for practicing classroom educators and those involved in providing professional development at the university level to work together to ensure that every student in the Miami Valley has an appropriately licensed and skilled math or science teacher," DePalma said.

Other consortium partners include the Engineering and Science Foundation and the West Ohio EXCEL Center of Excellence in Science and Mathematics Education.

For the 2007-8 school year, approximately 20 math and 20 chemistry, physics and life science teacher candidates will be recruited along with an equal number of mentors. Those who want to teach math will enroll primarily at the University of Dayton, and those interested in life science, chemistry or physics will enroll primarily at Wright State University.

Ohio Core will require all students, beginning with the high school class of 2011,
complete a rigorous curriculum before graduating from high school and being admitted into Ohio's four-year state-assisted universities and colleges. All students will be required to take a second year of algebra and more lab-based science classes, as well as two years of a foreign language.

“Wright State University is so pleased to be able to work in partnership with other higher education and P-12 institutions to improve math and science teaching in the region,” said Gregory R. Bernhardt, dean of the WSU College of Education and Human Services.

The Dayton region is not the only one struggling to find highly qualified teachers for high school science and math classrooms. According to a 2002 study by the National Center for Education Statistics, 37 percent of high school math teachers and 31 percent of science teachers lack a major or certification in their field.

It's time to take a collaborative approach to solving the teacher shortages, according to Thomas Lasley, dean of the School of Education and Allied Professions at the University of Dayton.

''The power of the consortium approach is the partnership between the universities and the Montgomery County Educational Service Center,'' he said. ''Given that the math and science problem of populating Miami Valley classrooms with highly effective and licensed teachers has not been solved adequately by individual institutions, we hope that a collective response will be of much more benefit to the region and to the state."

Bernhardt added: ''This initiative will focus on areas of strength for UD and WSU and will marry our efforts with the outstanding abilities of the educational service center to identify the teaching needs of area high schools."

For more information contact Frank DePalma at 937-225-4598 or go to http://www.montgomery.k12.oh.us/montgomerycesc/site/default.asp

Too cool for school

With a sound described as "gypsy-klezmer circus-flea-cartoon-music you mainly hear in your dreams," the musical duo One Ring Zero opens the 2007-08 University of Dayton Arts Series with lyrics from noted authors and sounds from seldom-heard instruments.

"Your coolness quotient shoots up a few points if you're in the know about One Ring Zero," according to the Washington Post.

One Ring Zero will perform at 8 p.m., Friday, Sept. 21 in Kennedy Union's Boll Theatre and offer a preview at the Arts Series kick-off party at 5 p.m., Thursday, Sept. 20 at ArtStreet.

Tickets for the Friday performance are $14 for the public, $8 for UD faculty, staff and alumni, and $5 for students. For tickets, call the UD box office at 937-229-2545.

One Ring Zero performs on a variety of exotic and unusual instruments, including the theremin, an early electronic instrument that is played without being touched and the claviola, a rare wind instrument with a piano-like keyboard.

At the kick-off, members of the Oakwood Accordion Band will join One Ring Zero from 5 to 7 p.m., followed by ArtStreet's Thursday Night Live featuring Rhythm in Shoes in an Old Time Music Jam from 7 to 9 p.m. There is no charge for the event.

As Smart As We Are: The Author Project, a film documentary about the making of the group’s recent CD, will be offered at no cost on campus at 8 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 19 in Sears Hall, Jesse Philips Humanities Center.

As Smart As We Are married the writings of noted authors to One Ring Zero’s unusual music. In this project, the group set music to the words of Canadian poet Margaret Atwood, Garden State author Rick Moody and Dave Eggars, who wrote A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius.

Hear a sample at One Ring Zero

Beating the heat

UD will keep open areas overnight in RecPlex, its on-campus recreational facility, to students living in the University’s first-year residence facilities that are not air-conditioned.

The University of Dayton will keep open areas in RecPlex, its on-campus recreational facility, to students living in the University’s first-year residence facilities that are not air-conditioned.

This affects approximately 1,100 students living in Stuart and Founders halls.

RecPlex, normally open until midnight, will be open until 6 a.m. Friday, Aug. 24.

“We want to provide a safe and healthy learning and living environment for our students,” said Sister Annette Schmeling, UD vice president for student development. “We appreciate the cooperation of others on campus to leave open their buildings to provide cool places for our students.”

Roesch Library also will stay open until midnight.

UD’s Division of Student Development also will provide bottled water to students in Stuart and Founders halls. UD’s Student Health Center is disseminating information about the signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

Stuart and Founders halls are not air-conditioned but will be after renovations are completed by 2012.

All University of Dayton classrooms are air-conditioned.

For more information, contact Shawn Robinson at 937-229-3391 (office) or 937-545-5421 (cell).

Potters for peace

The Rike Center Gallery at the University of Dayton will host Potters for Peace, a nationwide pottery exhibition that aims to raise awareness about the need for clean water in developing countries.

Based in Nicaragua, Potters for Peace works with potters around the developing world to help preserve cultural traditions, while helping to market the pottery locally, regionally and internationally.

The exhibition will feature large, ceramic water jugs from Tuesday, Aug. 21 through Friday, Aug. 31 in the Rike Gallery and is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Tuesdays and Wednesday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.; closed Saturday and Sunday.

An opening reception for the public is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 29 from 7 to 9 p.m.

Since 1998, the organization has focused on teaching potters how to create low-cost ceramic water filters, helping to bring safe, clean water to areas of developing nations that do not have plumbing.

Potters for Peace established a water filtering program in Managua that has grown into a business that supplies 40,000 ceramic water filters to groups like the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders.

For more information contact Todd Hall, Rike Gallery coordinator, at 937-229-3257 or todd.hall@notes.udayton.edu.

Public servant leaders

The master of public administration degree program at the University of Dayton has received accreditation for seven years from the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration.

“Our program is designed to serve early and mid-career professionals, and our graduates have gone on to leadership positions in all levels of government and a wide variety of nonprofit organizations,” said Christopher M. Duncan, chair of the department of political science.

The program focuses on recognized public management skills including working in teams, interpersonal skills and organizational leadership capabilities, with most students attending on a part-time basis, Duncan said.

“We are dedicated to producing public servants who reflect the University’s mission and values and bring those to their work in the public sector as talented and gifted servant leaders,” he said.

Duncan said the program has been strengthened by a strong partnership with the Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, which initiates and sustains partnerships with urban neighborhoods, and has helped make UD a national leader in educating community builders through extensive partnerships.

“Through a collaboration with the Fitz Center, our MPA students have unique opportunities to connect their learning to the larger community and the real-world experiences of our faculty,” Duncan said.

Founded in 1967, UD’s MPA program is one of the oldest in the nation.

For information, contact Christopher M. Duncan at 937-229-3648 or Christopher.Duncan@notes.udayton.edu.

In elite company

Once again, the U.S. News and World Reports lists UD as a top-tier national university and a Top 10 Catholic university.

The University of Dayton again has been ranked as a top-tier national university in U.S. News & World Report’s 2008 edition of America’s Best Colleges.

UD ties for 112 among 262 universities nationally that offer a wide range of undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees. Among national Catholic universities, it ties for eighth. Among national private universities, it ties for 58th.

According to the rankings, the University of Dayton excels at retention and graduation of students. Nearly nine out of 10 first-year students (87 percent) return for their sophomore year. UD's graduation rate of 76 percent is well above the national average. Roughly half of all first-year students enrolled in four-year institutions fail to earn a degree within six years, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Classes are small — only 4 percent of UD's classes enrolls 50 or more students. Nearly one out of four alumni (24 percent) supports their alma mater financially. That places UD fourth among national Catholic universities, behind the University of Notre Dame, Georgetown University and Boston College.

“The University of Dayton's reputation as an academically excellent university with a rich religious tradition continues to attract students from Ohio and all over the country,” said Fred Pestello, provost and senior vice president for educational affairs. “It’s affirming to be recognized for academic quality in various college guidebooks, but we always urge parents and prospective students to visit campus for a true sense of what makes this university distinctive in higher education.”

The latest National Survey of Student Engagement found that nearly all University of Dayton undergraduates surveyed (94 percent) consider their educational experience “excellent” or “good.” No buyer's remorse: 92 percent of seniors say they’d attend UD if they had to start all over again. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) worked with faculty on projects other than coursework, and nearly seven out of 10 (68 percent) engaged in service-learning or other community-based projects.

The University of Dayton is also featured in the latest edition of The Best 361 Colleges: The Smart Student's Guide to Colleges published by The Princeton Review. The book describes UD as a midsize Catholic school that, in the words of one student, “is all about community: community when we study, community when we party, community when we are doing service, community when we pray.” Echoed another student: “You are welcome from the very moment you step foot on campus.”

The University of Dayton’s 1,774 first-year students will start moving in Saturday, Aug. 18, with all other students moving in on Sunday, Aug 19. Students and parents will be greeted with a wide variety of orientation, information and welcoming activities from Friday, Aug. 18, through Tuesday, Aug. 21, when classes begin.

For interviews, contact Shawn Robinson at 937-229-3391.

UD community welcomes new students

The University of Dayton will kick off the 2007-08 school year Aug. 18-20, welcoming 1,774 first-year students to the state’s largest private university and one of the top 10 Catholic universities in the nation.

First-year students move into campus housing on Saturday, Aug. 18, with all other students moving in on Sunday, Aug 19. Students and parents will be greeted with a wide variety of orientation, information and welcoming activities from Friday, Aug. 18, through Tuesday, Aug. 21, when classes begin.

Here are some highlights of this year’s start of school activities:

-- UD is seeing more diversity in its first year class with a nearly 59 percent increase in the number of African American students entering UD. Sundar Kumarasamy, vice president for enrollment management, said the increase can be attributed to more aggressive recruitment efforts at high schools within the region, more competitive financial packages and the strong relationship built with Dayton Early College Academy students. UD’s work with those students for three years on college preparation and planning resulted in 10 DECA students choosing UD. Contact Sundar Kumarasamy at 937-229-3725.

-- A Rudy Flyer welcome. As a Catholic, Marianist university, UD is known for its sense of community and hospitality. First-year students will be welcomed into the UD community by mascot Rudy Flyer, the UD pep band and staff, faculty and other students as they leave Frericks Convocation Center to begin life at UD when the opening convocation ends at 9:45 a.m., Monday, Aug. 20 at the Frericks Convocation Center. Contact Kathleen Henderson, director of first-year student engagement, at 937-229-3774.

-- Red and blue on Brown: Flyer Spirit, a new store specializing in UD-themed merchandise, opens Friday, Aug. 17 in University Place, UD’s new commercial/residential development at Stewart and Brown streets. Operated by Flyer Enterprises, the University’s student-run business program, the store will offer a wide selection of clothing and other items emblazoned with the UD logo for students and the region’s Flyer Faithful. Contact Flyer Enterprises CEO Tony Blankemeyer at 937-229-4722 or Flyer Spirit President Lauren Clarisey at 937-226-7567.

See complete orientation schedules at http://campus.udayton.edu/~esp/Aug%20Orientation%20index.html

Start of School Highlights
Saturday, Aug. 18
8 a.m. – 2 p.m. – First-year students move into residence halls.
9 a.m. – 4 p.m. – Laptop pickup, O’Reilly Hall. UD requires all students to own notebook computers.

Sunday, Aug. 19
10 - 10:30 a.m. – President Daniel Curran will address first-year students and families. UD Arena.
10:30 – 11:30 a.m. – Family Mass of Welcome, UD Arena.
8 - 11 p.m. – Neighborhood Welcome, student neighborhood. A new event to introduce first year students to special interest houses in the student neighborhood.
11 p.m. – 12:30 a.m. – Pancake breakfast, Marycrest Hall.

Monday, August 20
9 – 10 a.m. – Convocation ceremony with academic procession to formally begin new students’ academic careers, Frericks Convocation Center.
9:45 a.m. – The UD community, led by Rudy Flyer and the pep band, welcomes new students (see above).

For more information about orientation, contact Jolly Janson, director of educational and special programs, at 937-229-2229.