LOCAL NEWS

Two faiths, one voice

Internationally acclaimed musicians Maria Krupoves and Gerard Edery will bring chants, prayers and European and Middle Eastern music traditions to the University of Dayton Arts Series.

The two accomplished guitarists and vocalists will perform 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 8 in Kennedy Union's Boll Theatre. The program entitled Two Faiths, One Voice, will honor both Christianity and Judaism as Krupoves and Edery perform works drawn from the Sephardic Diaspora – the period following the expulsion of the Jews from Christian Spain in the late 15th century.

Krupoves is a native of Lithuania and is an interpreter of folksongs from Central and Eastern Europe. A professor at Vilinus University, she has traveled to preserve folk songs in many languages such as Yiddish, Polish and Lithuanian. Krupoves has performed with the BBC, for UNESCO and has recorded three compact discs.

The Seattle Jewish Transcript and The New York Jewish Week call Gerard Edery “A cultural powerhouse.” Born in Casablanca and raised in Paris and New York City, Edery was trained as a classical baritone at The Manhattan School of Music. Edery is also an acclaimed cantor who has performed in synagogues across the United States and Canada.

Krupoves and Edery will be joined by bassist Danny Zanker and violist Meg Okura. Hear samples of their work here.

The Levin Family Foundation provided funding for the event with additional program support from the Dayton Christian Jewish Dialogue.

Tickets 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.

For more information on the program go to http://artsseries.udayton.edu.

Virtual recognition

Future students no longer have to wait for a campus visit to experience the real UD – now they can take an award-winning virtual tour.

The University of Dayton virtual tour won a Bronze Reel at this year's Annual Media Communications Association–International (MCA-I) Festival. This is the 39th year MCA-I has recognized the best in media communications, and UD was one of only two universities to take home honors.

UD's virtual tour offers prospective students an opportunity to experience UD's campus on the Web. Visitors are guided through campus by student ambassadors and get to explore residence halls, academic buildings and learn about UD's rich history. Take the tour.

Produced in-house by UD's Media Production Group, the virtual tour marks the ninth award for creativity that the group has won since 2006 alone.

"This was a big project for us, and we worked closely with members of enrollment management to make this project a success," said Mike Kurtz, senior producer. "We didn't want to just show off the campus. We wanted to communicate the Marianist feeling -- the community spirit so vividly experienced by anyone who steps on our campus."

Created in 1988 as a resource for the University, the Media Production Group was quickly recognized as a valuable resource by area businesses and began producing external work in addition to its UD productions.

Since its inception, the Media Production Group has won 39 local, national and international awards. Kurtz was also recently named one of the top 35 video producers in the country by AV Video and Multimedia Producer magazine.

Contact Mike Kurtz at 937-229-5432.

Providing a lift to area high-schoolers

University receives close to $1 million to help prepare local high schoolers for college.

The University of Dayton has received an Upward Bound grant to help prepare Dayton public high school students to enter college.

The Department of Education grant will provide $248,679 a year, renewable up to four years. It will target students in four Dayton high schools: Belmont, Dunbar, Meadowdale and Thurgood Marshall. Students in other Dayton area high schools also are eligible to apply.

“Our intent is to establish strong relationships with those schools,” said Monica Adkins, University of Dayton director of diverse student populations, who wrote the grant proposal. “Our goals are to expose these students to college and for them to eventually attend college. Our hope is that many will choose UD.”

Beginning in 2008, the UD program will accept 50 ninth-grade students. UD will provide them tutoring, mentoring and preparation for exams such as the ACT and Ohio Graduation Test during the academic year. During the summer, Upward Bound students will live on campus for six weeks and participate in courses and extracurricular activities. Some of the classes include biology, chemistry and algebra. Activities include campus tours and field trips to the Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati and the Muhammad Ali Center in Louisville, Ky.

UD will hire an Upward Bound coordinator within the next few weeks. UD students will work in the program as mentors and summer residence supervisors.

UD’s Learning Enhancement and Academic Development program staff will aid the project. UD’s enrollment management, student development and career services offices are among the others that will offer support. Local agencies, including the Mentoring Collaborative, Dayton Urban League and Junior Achievement, also will be involved in the program.

Upward Bound is a federal program that serves high school students from low-income families, high school students from families in which neither parent holds a bachelor's degree, and low-income, first-generation military veterans who are preparing to enter postsecondary education.

“Retention needs to start before students enter college,” Adkins said.

Interested students can call the office of diverse student populations at 937-229-3634. Applications will be available soon.

For interviews, contact Monica Adkins at 937-229-3634.

Rollin' on the river

"Eco" pioneers Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison will give a free, public lecture challenging Dayton to rethink the environment.

The New York Times calls Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison “veteran environmental artists” and “masters of community-oriented environmental projects.” They soon will turn their attention to the Miami River valley.

As part of a weeklong residency in UD’s visual arts department, the Harrisons will give a free, public lecture at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 1, in Sears Recital Hall. Parking is free in single-letter lots after 7:30 p.m.

“We believe that in a well-functioning system, cultural diversity and biodiversity exist in a state of mutual interaction,” the Harrisons said. “Underlying our works are respect and concern for the well-being of the planet on which we live and all of its inhabitants; compassion and empathy, as best we can evoke them in ourselves and in others; and awe at the infinite variety of possibilities spread before us.”

The Harrisons’ residency may develop into a long-term project challenging the Dayton community to rethink the environment. Potential partners may include the Rivers Institute of the Fitz Center, ArtStreet, the University of Dayton School of Engineering and the Miami Valley Conservancy District.

For more information on the University of Dayton Arts Series, contact Eileen Carr at 937-229-2787.

Rave reviews

The School of Business Administration's MBA program receives rave reviews from students in the 2008 edition of Best 290 Business Schools.

Students’ rave reviews have landed the University of Dayton School of Business Administration among the top business schools in the nation.

The School of Business Administration is listed in the 2008 edition of Best 290 Business Schools, published by Random House and The Princeton Review. This is the second consecutive year the school made the list, which is compiled based on student surveys.

Noted by students as having “one of the best-kept secrets in the world of MBA programs,” the school made the list based on its reputation, its quality and flagship programs in entrepreneurship and finance.

Student surveys noted that the program has “exceptional integrated core curriculum,” “excellent faculty,” a “strong alumni base” and “a marvelous Marianist-centered campus life.” University of Dayton students also rave about the “guaranteed real-world consulting project experience” and enjoy that the program “allows for a great amount of flexibility, so you can complete it at your own pace.”

Many courses in the MBA program are team-taught, often combining a practitioner with a professor holding a Ph.D. The faculty includes six executives-in-residences who help teach courses including a mandatory two-semester capstone course that matches students with regional companies on consulting projects. The MBA program enrolls 460 students, many of whom are full-time professionals in the Dayton region. UD’s MBA students have finished among the top three winners in the Ohio Graduate Business Student Competition every year since 2000.

MBA program officials make it easy for students to earn an MBA on top of other degrees. Accounting students can earn an undergraduate accounting degree and an MBA in five years. Law students can earn a law degree and MBA at the same time. The School of Business Administration recently launched an “MBA Ready” program that allows engineering and other non-business students to achieve their bachelor’s degree and an MBA in five years.

“Students get real-world experience from the MBA program’s capstone project, which pairs students with companies in the region,” said Elizabeth Gustafson, interim dean. “The project allows students to interact with a company other than their employer, using what they’ve learned in the classroom and widening their business experience.”

The University of Dayton’s MBA program “has an integrated curriculum with an emphasis on strategic analysis and a dual focus on theory and practice,” said Janice Glynn, MBA program director. “And our program is flexible: Almost all of our students are working professionals who can earn their degrees while continuing their careers.”

The School of Business Administration is accredited by the AACSB International (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), the premiere accrediting body for business school globally.

This is the second major national ranking for the School of Business Administration this fall. Earlier this month, Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review ranked UD’s entrepreneurship program fifth in the country.

Contact Janice Glynn at 937-229-3733 and Elizabeth Gustafson at 937-229-3731.

New date, same spirit

Christmas on Campus will move from its customary Dec. 8 date to Dec. 7.

The University of Dayton will move its annual Christmas on Campus to Dec. 7 to ease transportation schedules of the Dayton Public Schools and parents of the 800 children UD will host at the free, public event.

“We can assure you that the event’s spirit and commitment to community service will never change,” the Christmas on Campus committee said in a statement.

The committee, which is made up entirely of students, received feedback that scheduling bus drivers and getting children to designated pick-up sites have become increasingly difficult on weekends in recent years.

“The children already are at school during the week, so it makes sense to accommodate the children’s schedules,” the committee said. “Also, the event lasts well into the evening; so the date change ensures that children won’t be out late on a school night.”

As for the date for next year’s event, the committee said that will be among the topics it will discuss in follow-up meetings evaluating this year’s event.

Just like the past 43 years, Christmas on Campus will start at 6 p.m. with a live nativity scene and the tree lighting, which will take place in Humanities Plaza. It will end at 9:30 p.m. in the Frericks Center with a Mass celebrating the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In between, the children navigate a winter wonderland of cartoon characters, games, dancing, singing, crafts, face-painting and Santa Claus.

The location of many activities changed last year because of campus construction and remain for this year. Children will arrive in C Lot, off of Evanston Avenue by RecPlex. The tree will stand in Humanities Plaza. The carnival is in the RecPlex. Activities formerly held in Miriam Hall will move to a tent near Kennedy Union and the Christmas tree.

The committee will release a complete schedule of events in November.

Ellie Kurtz, director of UD’s student union from 1964 to 1994, started Christmas on Campus for a group of UD students who simply wanted to get together before heading home for the winter break.
Prior to this year, UD has held Christmas on Campus on Dec. 8, which is the official date of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Brian and Renai Lowry, co-presidents of the St. Louis UD alumni chapter, expanded the event by starting the first Christmas off Campus in 1990. Today, most of UD’s 33 alumni chapters celebrate Christmas off Campus.

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

Nationally-ranked entrepreneurship

The University of Dayton has maintained its ranking as the fifth best undergraduate entrepreneurial program in the nation, according to the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine in their 2007 list of the best colleges for enterpreneurial programs.

The magazine just released the list in its November issue, which hits newsstands on Oct. 23. The list is an exclusive ranking of the 25 most exceptional undergraduate business programs in the country.

“For the second year in a row, the University of Dayton has been ranked as the fifth best undergraduate entrepreneurship program in the nation,” said Elizabeth Gustafson, interim dean of UD’s School of Business Administration. “This acknowledgement is a great honor and strong testimony about our commitment to developing practical wisdom in UD students.”

Schools were evaluated on broad criteria including curriculum, mentoring, faculty credentials and the success of graduating students and alumni. According to Entrepreneur magazine and The Princeton Review, 900 schools were surveyed, but high-ranking programs demonstrated particular strength in hands-on learning that translates into real-world business experience.

“Our program is distinctive because we not only teach theory, we make it come alive for students in everything we do,” said Robert Chelle, director of the Crotty Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Fifth Third Bank entrepreneur-in-residence. “Our curriculum ‘bookends’ our students with practical experience, requiring that they start a business as sophomores with capital from the Crotty Center and, as seniors, solve real-world problems at existing entrepreneurial businesses.”

Outside the classroom, Chelle said the UD program offers a significant number of substantial opportunities for students to work with real businesses and entrepreneurs. Those signature opportunities include:

• The UD Business Plan Competition gives students an opportunity to compete for cash prizes as they plan and pitch the launch of a new venture. Winners of the 2007-2008 competition will compete for prize monies totaling in excess of $20,000. The competition is open to anyone in the greater UD community, provided they team up with a current UD student. http://www.udbpc.com

• The Everest Real Estate Challenge is an annual competition that pairs teams of entrepreneurship majors with a commercial real estate professional as an adviser. Teams develop plans to improve growth of a large apartment complex owned by Los Angeles-based Everest Properties, a company founded by a UD graduate, and present their recommendations to company management. Students compete not only for prize money and a great line on their resumes, but also for the satisfaction of seeing their ideas implemented by Everest Properties.

• Flyer Enterprises is a student-run company consisting of seven student-run businesses operating on campus. Opening just this year in a storefront on Brown Street, Flyer Spirit offers UD-themed apparel and items and joins other Flyer Enterprises such as cafés and coffee bars. Flyer Enterprises is the fourth largest student-run business in the country and employs more than170 students. Only Harvard, Georgetown and Stanford boast larger student-run operations. http://www.flyerenterprises.com/

“Our challenging curriculum gives students the opportunity to examine, understand and implement most elements of entrepreneurial success,” Chelle said. “Our graduates have the irreplaceable combination of judgment, enthusiasm and skills necessary to create a new venture.”

In recent years, UD’s entrepreneurship major has been the fastest growing and most selective major in the business school with the average GPA of 3.3. Total enrollment in the major this fall totaled 130.

“Entrepreneurship courses at UD are taught by both Ph.Ds and actual entrepreneurs, which is part of the strength of our program,” said Dean McFarlin, chair of the management and marketing department and NCR professor of global leadership development. “It’s really an unbeatable combination. Our entrepreneurs bring in-the-trenches examples to students while our Ph.Ds — who are world-class researchers on entrepreneurship issues — show students how to connect theory to practice. And through the Crotty Advisory Council, local entrepreneurs act as mentors to the students.”

One of those entrepreneurs is community leader and alumnus L. William Crotty who has provided more than $3 million for the program. "It's no surprise that UD has achieved this honor,” Crotty said. “UD's mission is ‘learn, lead, serve’ and that is what entrepreneurs must do every day."

The University of Dayton’s undergraduate entrepreneurship program ranked fifth in the magazine’s listing in 2006 and was one of the top 10 entrepreneurship programs in the country in the magazine’s 2005 list of the “Top 100 Entrepreneurial Colleges.” In 2004, Forbes.com and The Princeton Review selected UD as one of the country’s “most entrepreneurial campuses.”

Also announced this week, UD’s MBA program is listed in The Princeton Review’s 2008 edition of its book, Best 290 Business Schools. The school profile covers academics, admission, financial aid, campus life and career information.

For more information on the ranking go to http://www.entrepreneur.com. For more information on the University of Dayton’s entrepreneurship program, go to http://ent.udayton.edu.

Building an inclusive community

University of Dayton President Daniel J. Curran will receive the NCCJ Humanitarian Award for social justice advocacy. It's his second honor this year for his commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Daniel J. Curran, president of the University of Dayton, will receive a 2007 Humanitarian Award from the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) of Greater Dayton. He will be honored at the 30th annual Friendship Dinner at 5:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 22, at the David H. Ponitz Center at Sinclair Community College.

It's the second honor Curran has received this year for his commitment to diversity and inclusion. In August, he was awarded the inaugural Joseph E. Lowery Human Rights Legacy Award from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference at its national conference in Atlanta.

"The humanitarian award recognizes those in the community who, through their work, do our work. They are proponents and advocates of social justice,'' said Patricia Meadows, executive director of NCCJ. ''Dr. Curran has lived our mission through his work and leadership at UD. This award recognizes all the diversity and inclusion initiatives that have been developed under his leadership. It's for his personal advocacy and energy toward building a more inclusive community."

Besides Curran, Michael Houser, Joan Knoll and Tess Little will receive 2007 Humanitarian Awards. Treva Wynn will receive the Youth Leadership Award.

''This is not a personal award. This is an award for the faculty, staff and students at the University of Dayton, who are making a difference — on campus and in the greater Dayton community. Together, we live out UD's mission of educating for service, justice and peace,'' Curran said.

Earlier this year, Curran served as honorary co-chair of Dayton's Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration and helped lead the popular MLK march that attracts thousands from all parts of the region. He will take on the same role in 2008.

As part of the University of Dayton's Diversity Lecture Series that began during Curran's presidency, UD has brought nationally recognized speakers to Dayton to keynote both the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration dinner in the community and the annual MLK prayer breakfast on campus. Speakers have included Johnnetta B. Cole, who made history in 1987 when she became the first African-American woman to serve as president of Spelman College, and Clarence Page, nationally syndicated Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago Tribune columnist. In January, Grammy Award-winning songwriter and musician Kirk Franklin, who changed the landscape of contemporary gospel music, will keynote community and campus events remembering King's legacy.

During Curran's tenure, UD also has started new exchange programs in China, hired an executive director of institutional diversity and inclusion, and launched the Dayton Early College Academy with the Dayton Public Schools. DECA prepares first-generation college students -- most of whom are African-American -- for success in college. All 32 members of the first graduating class headed to college this fall. Ten enrolled at UD.

In 2005, Curran joined University of Dayton students on a relief trip to hurricane-stricken Mississippi. In 2002, he received the Eternal Flame Award, an international award given for ''exceptional contributions to the field of Holocaust education."

A sociologist by training, Curran is a noted scholar in criminology, juvenile justice and social problems, with a deep interest in international issues. He is an expert in coal mine health and safety legislation. Most of his research has focused on ways to address social inequality.

The NCCJ is a human relations organization dedicated to fighting bias, bigotry and racism in America. NCCJ promotes understanding and respect among all races, religions and cultures through advocacy, conflict resolution and education. The University of Dayton is one of the preeminent Catholic universities in the nation and the largest private university in Ohio.

Contact Patricia Meadows, executive director of NCCJ, at 937-222-6225, or Teri Rizvi at 937-229-3241. A photo is available.

Giving up fall break to help out

Once again, UD students will devote their vacation time to help the less fortunate.

Once again, University of Dayton students will devote their vacation time to help the less fortunate. Forty-two students have filled every spot in these fall breakout trips:

New Orleans — Participants will work with the Archdiocese of New Orleans’ Catholic Charities to help restore the homes of the elderly on fixed incomes who were greatly affected by Hurricane Katrina. More than 200 UD students, faculty and staff already have volunteered on Katrina relief projects. Following their trip, the latest group to visit the Gulf Coast will recap their experiences throughout UD’s Humanities Symposium Oct. 16-18. “Race, Class and History: New Orleans Post Katrina” also will include talks by:

Ansel Augustine, 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 16; “Faith after the Storm.” Hurricane Katrina destroyed Augustine’s home.

Jed Horne, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 17; Horne, a former metro editor of the New Orleans Times Picayune, is the author of Breach of Faith: Hurricane Katrina and the Near Death of a Great American City.

Gregory Squires, 3 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18; Squires is the chair of the George Washington University sociology department and editor of “There is No Such Thing as a Natural Disaster: Race, Class and Hurricane Katrina.”

All lectures will be held in Sears Recital Hall in the Jesse Philips Humanities Center on campus and are free and open to the public. For more symposium information, call 937-229-3490.

Chicago — Participants will examine the causes and solutions of urban poverty while living on Chicago’s west side for four days. This is an educational experience rather than a work experience. Scheduled activities include visits to the Nation of Islam’s world headquarters and Operation PUSH. Discussion topics will include racial profiling, ghetto policing and building a framework for understanding poverty.

Camden, N.J. — Participants will confront issues like poverty, race and class in a prayerful and constructive environment. During the day, the group will help at schools, hot meals programs, a drop-in center for persons affected by HIV and AIDS, and the South Jersey Food Bank. In the evenings, there will be discussions on urban poverty and social and economic justice.

For more information on the fall breakouts, contact Mary Niebler at 937-229-2012.

Fighting malaria with music

International rising star and activist, African guitarist Vieux Farka Touré, will perform in the University of Dayton Arts Series 8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 30 in Kennedy Union's Boll Theatre, showcasing his unique Malian blues and drawing attention to the global fight against malaria.

Touré will perform in the first of three 2007 World Rhythms Series concerts produced in partnership between the University and Cityfolk, capping a series of campus events to raise awareness about the disease.

Son of the late Malian guitarist Ali Farka Touré, the younger Touré works through the UNICEF “Fight Malaria” campaign to raise awareness about the deadly disease. Malaria is one of the most severe public health problems worldwide, causing an estimated million deaths annually.

In conjunction with Touré’s performance, the University of Dayton will hold several events and lectures on the fight against malaria:

• A panel of UD students who have contracted malaria will discuss the impact of the disease on their lives from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 22 in Sears Recital Hall. Films about malaria around the world, and Touré and his father will also be shown.

• Internationally recognized malaria researcher and president of the newly-created European Research Council, Fotis Kafatos will speak 4:30 p.m. Friday Oct. 26 in Science Center 114. Kafatos is also chair of the department of immunogenomics at Imperial College London, where he studies the malaria-carrying mosquito.

• Throughout the week, UD student-athletes will be working to promote Nothing but Nets, a nonprofit organization using a grassroots campaign to save lives by preventing malaria, through fundraising efforts and purchase of anti-malaria bed nets.

Touré’s recently released debut album has met with critical success and he was featured this summer in a National Geographic Live! Concert in California. He has created his own version of the acoustic, guitar-driven blues style pioneered by his father who was called “Africa’s greatest bluesman.”
Tickets for Touré’s concert are $18 for the public; for $16 UD faculty, staff and alumni; and $9 for students. For tickets, call the UD box office at 937-229-2545.

Hear Vieux Farka Touré’s music at http://www.vieuxfarkatoure.com.